Its the official finale today for the Typically Canadian Tribute Tour.  The event for today is scheduled for 11:30 at the Confederation Building and all that is left is a small 10 km escort.  There were alot of people there to greet us at the beginning of the escort.  Along with the St. John’s Fire Dept., the police, a few family members, a motorcycle brigade and some other cyclists were there to wish us off. 

When we arrived at the Confederation Building it was overwhelming.  There was a crowd of people there cheering our arrival and there was a platform set up on the stairs of the building for the speeches.  We quickly hugged some family then proceeded to our formalities.  The event today was very emotional from the get go.  The ceramony was MC’d by Tony Angelo from VOCM and began with the singing of “Salt water joy”, a beautiful song and a favourite of Kyle’s grandad.  It was performed by Peter Halley and Shelley Neville of Spirit of Newfoundland.  It was hard to fight back the tears because of what it meant to everyone at the event.  We were then welcomed and congratulated by Leuitenant-Governor, Honourable John Crosbie, St. John’s Mayor, His Worship Dennis O’keefe and Attorney General, Honourable Jerome Kennedy.  We honoured Alan Doyle for his work with the Daffodil Place and the St. John’s Fire Dept. for their efforts in fundraising for us with a boot drive.   

Our final stop also had special significance because one our goals was to raise awareness of the presumptive legislation for fire fighters with cancer and Newfoundland-Labrador is the last remaining province without it.  With the help of the Halifax Fire Dept. we were able to have our old friend Gary Harris, a retired firefighter and cancer fighter present at our event to say a few words on behalf of the firefighters and cancer in the workplace.  Gary was instrumental in getting the presumptive legislation in Nova Scotia and we were honoured that he made the trip, even in his condiditon, to help us raise this awareness.  After his compelling story we closed the ceremony again with Ronalda, Miranda and Hilary singing a song that Ronalda wrote called “Ride with me” in honour of the Tribute tour. 

 We thank everyone who helped us in our journey without you this trip could not have been possible. 

We are certainly riding with you all.