Rapid City South Dakota

We camped (kamped?) at the Rapid City KOA to hang out a couple of days, enjoying the pool, doing laundry, shopping and getting a few chores done.  I gave Bernie a hair cut to help him tolerate the 95% weather and Mike went to his favorite barber;  himself.   One evening we were in the hot tub talking to a group of people and met Jennifer and Chris Calaprice.  Chris has had pancreatic cancer for over six years and he and Jennifer have devoted their lives to educating people about pancreatic cancer.  Chris still undergoes chemotherapy of a fairly new and controversial type, but has survived over five years which only 5% of people with this type of cancer manage to do.  42,000 people are diagnosed annually in the United States and Chris has committed to riding his motorcycle 42,000 miles to educate people.  They have formed a non-profit organization,  Road 2 A Cure, (http://www.road2acure.org/) and give presentations as they go.  Chris' motorcycle is purple, and the truck and trailer that Jennifer follows him in is also very purple.  They have a great web site if you want to check it out.  Chris' trip is much like what Mike has dreamed about doing for Parkinson's disease and Chris rekindled Mike's sharing spirit.  He has contacted people in Minnesota and has three presentations scheduled within the next two weeks.  I really enjoyed talking with Jennifer.  Like so many things, it helps to talk to someone going through something similar to what you deal with and we both decided that we need to schedule time to take care of ourselves too.  Chris and Jennifer were very inspiring, genuine and charismatic.  We felt like they were good friends right away and we wish them the best of luck on their journey!