Part
II
In Syracuse, Kate was there to meet me. My flight arrived late, so I missed
the dinner with the missing persons' families back in Utica, so Kate and I
went to the hotel restaurant and ate and had a wonderful conversation. Frank
made a good match for me with Kate. We had many things in common with our
children and our Catholic faith. We couldn't stay long, as it was getting
late, and 5am would come quickly. I had to get up at 4:15 to make sure I was
in the lobby at 4:45am to ride to the New York State Police Troop D
Headquarters for the start of the race. We had to be there by 5:30am sharp to
prepare for the ride.
In my hotel room, I found a gift package filled with various goodies and a
note of encouragement that read: "May you find comfort knowing that your
loved ones are being acknowledged and honored as we ride. A community
dedicated to making our children safer, one child at a time!" I was very
touched by this. Kate gave me my ride jersey, a ride jacket, and a Ride for
Missing Children t-shirt. I surprised her with one of Project Jason's Miles
for the Missing t-shirts, which was from our bike ride held in early May.
Morning came quickly. In the hotel lobby, I met the other missing persons'
family members. There was Mike and Ahmad, who both had daughters who had been
abducted and murdered. There was Jane who had a grandson (in spirit) who was
murdered. Then there was Shirletta, whose daughter was missing from right
there in Utica. She had been missing for over a year. Mike and Ahmad would be
riding all day, and Jane and Shirletta would be in the family van as a part
of the large caravan that followed the riders. Deborah, who was the liaison
to the families, also rode in the van, along with Kathy Slocum, Director of
the Utica NCMEC office. There were other families of the missing who
were not able to stay with us all day long, such as Doug and Mary Lyall,
parents of missing Suzanne Lyall, so they drove behind the caravan for as
long as they could.
We arrived at Troop D Headquarters and Kate had already located my loaner
bike in the sea of close to 300 other bikes that were inside. The bike was
perfect in every way. It was my favorite colors of wine and black. I wished I
could take it home. I teased Kate that I could take it as a carry-on, and no
one would notice.
We prepared our bikes and filled our water bottles. It was time for the
opening ceremony, and then we would ride.
