Day 99, how fitting, Woodstock to Brantford, Ontario

Day 99 St. Mary's High School in Woodstock, Ontario. The medal bearers are front and center for the Rick Hansen 25th anniversary relay presentation.

One of the medal bearers today was Kathryn, who is the daughter of my friends from Woodstock, Rob and Barb. She is very active in her school and community, and is a very deserving medal bearer today.

Kathryn on the bus with Kayla as her host. I was back on the pace motorhome today.

Lis,a our photographer today being a little camera shy?

A little hint of snow this morning. Here's Kathryn with our newest bike escort Ken, who also worked on the Olympic Torch relay with me. He was part of the Coke team.

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, or hail will stop the medal bearers and their families from completing their 250 meters!

There they go. I try to judge my distance from the medal bearers by that little red line in the middle of the square.

Outside of Oliver Stevens School in Woodstock.

A little celebration with the medal bearer.

St. Rita's catholic school in Woodstock. Saint Rita, born in 1381 and forced to marry at 12 has quite a story. If you are interested here it is:

Ground-hog day again, another sponsor stop at McDonalds, and arguably my favorite clown.

Our next visit was in Princeton, Ontario. That made me think of a more familiar Princeton in B.C.

Another school stop, this time at St. Francis Catholic school in Princeton. The town has a population of about 500

Introducing Eamon, the schools' choice to be their difference maker today.

Every time we went to a different county we had to change our police escorts. It was either local police, or the O.P.P. depending on the jurisdiction. Here our security lisason Mike and our relay command Otto, have a strategy meeting with the police.

While we wait, Deena (participant operations), Lisa, and Marilyn catch up on some work, a little chill time.

Josh and Ken taking advantage of the free popcorn at the Brandt Sports Complex in Paris, Ontario, population approx. 11,000

Tyrone, our endurance athlete seems to have some fans.

Kinda got blocked in by our own team.

These students at Cobblestone Elementary in Paris worked hard to make signs in support of Rick Hansen and the relay.

I should pay attention to the road, but couldn't resist this shot in my rearview mirror, I can just barely see the people walking with the medal bearer behind the motorhome.

One more shot of the medal bearer from my side mirror.

Paris was a really cool little town.

A very nice repception at the Paris city hall.

A little shrine to the Olympic torch relay when it came through town in December of 2009 (I don't really remember coming through here)

Deena and Kyle hamming it up. .

What did you expect? Of course they fed us lunch. Thank-you all the wonderful people of Paris that made us feel so welcome once again.

Another relay first. Medal bearer Doug here decided to do his segment on his stilts, very impressive. Here is Doug's Story:

-Past member of the Ontario Cerebral Palsy Assoc. -inducted to the OCPA builders Hall of Fame -Helped start a Wheelchair Basket ball team in

Brantford -part of the Southern Ontario Wheelchair Basketball League Presently the Director of Fund Raising, Marketing & Volunteer Services at

Participation House Brantford. Three times nominated Brantford Citizen of the year. Brantford Tourism Ambassador Award winner, Guinness

World Record for Tallest Heaviest Stilts & Most People on Stilts which raised funds for Persons with Physical Disabilities and served on the

Brantford Rick Hansen Committee twenty five years ago!

Brantford court house

Downtown Brantford

Darkness sets in on the relay

End of day celebration in Brantford at the Wayne Gretzky sports complex. That was my reference to day 99, Brantford is home to hockey's greatest player. Here Jordan is introducing the co-end of day medal bearers Mary and Walter, Wayne's dad. 

On-ice dignataries

At every end of day celebration we sing O Canada, tonight we were fortunate to have this very harmonic youth choir sing the anthem

The difference makers of the day.

I was taking pictures for the medal bearers with Walter Gretzky, when he said it was my turn for a pic. How could I resist a photo op with a local celebrity almost as famous as his son.

Day 98 London to Woodstock, Ontario

Day 98, outside the hotel in London. Looks like a good day for ducks! It is was cold and blowing as well, I was lucky enough to be driving the pace motorhome. The escorts and the medal bearers were not so lucky.

Dreaming about going back to bed.

The start of our day was at the Central London Secondary school. Our school program team put on a presentation in the school theatre.

My view through the rear camera. Lots of umbrellas out today.

A quick stop at the University of Western Ontario

Another school stop at Gabriel Dumont Secondary school. The subtitle translated is "defender of minority rights". Click on his name to learn more. The school is a french language first school, and is also the french catholic school Monseigneur-Bruyere

The man himself, a Metis leader in the 1800's

Our lunch stop today was at Fanshawe College in London

A blurry picture of Jeremy with the school's difference maker Veronica.

We were graced by the presence of the Fanshawe Falcon!

Spoiled rotten again, a great lunch of salads, wraps, and sandwiches

It's gotta break sooner or later.

A small gathering in Thamesford at the public library. Thamesford is part of the township of Zorra

Our endurance athlete Tyrone with the three medal bearers, Eric, Michael and Austin
Here is Eric's story:

Hi I am Eric. I was born with Spina Bifida/Hydrocephalus 15 years ago and live in the rual community of St. Marys Ontario. I love to play

wheelchair sports, especially basketball. I have participated the last 4 years in the Rick Hanson demo day in London. I am a leader and mentor

with the Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association. We demo wheelchair sports in the rural communities once a month. Along with Bridging the Gap

we make sure disabled kids that don't have have access to wheelchair sports the opportunity to try them out. We also take the London

wheelchair basketball chairs to schools in the Huron-Perth district and introduce wheelchair sports to the student bodies. All the kids get to try

out the sport chairs and the SMILES on the disabled kids when they are able to show WHAT THEY CAN DO is awesome. It gives respect for

them and their sports. I was lucky to travel alot this year with Wheelchair Basketball. I made the Ontario team and was at the Canada Games in

Halifax where we got the silver medals this past Feb. I played with the Team Canada Juniors in a tournament in Minnesota USA. To be able to

share what I have learned and the benefits of being part of a team and the selfconfidence it brings, is so awesome! I would be honoured to be

part of the relay! thanks Eric

On our way to Woodstock, next stop Ingersoll, a town of less than 12,000

Downtown Ingersoll

Our ATAB (after noon time adjustment break, (keeps on schedule), was at the town hall. Here Tyrone does an interview for the local news, something he will be doing a lot of in the month that he is with us.

dusk, the rain finally breaks as we head into Woodstock, population under 40,000

Our end of day celebration was at the Woodstock District Community Complex

Another proud group of difference makers, it is always great how many show up at the end of day. A lot of them are coming from other towns just to be here.

Chad has his own fan club, some of his fellow students. Tonight I was invited by my good friends Rob and Barb, (who used to live in Summerland, B.C.) to a home cooked meal at their house, followed by a couple of beers and Rob and I swapping lies! The stories just keep getting better!(and more exaggerated)  We are certainly legends in our own minds!