Cyclists from The Ability Experience’s Journey of Hope, who are riding from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., to raise money and awareness for the disabled, stopped to pay a friendship visit with Chasing Dreams families of Northwest Indiana. The event, held west of the the park’s pavilion, included participants eating lunch on picnic tables and blankets, building sand castles, swimming in Lake Michigan and making new friends.
For cyclist Adam Bujnowski, a Virginia Tech college student from River Forest, Ill., his first year riding across country is the realization of a long-time goal. Bujnowksi, who has worked with disabled individuals in three of his jobs, said this first portion of the 3,600-mile ride across country has been gruelling physically but eye-opening from the experiences including dancing for more than two hours at a party held in the cyclists honor in Lincoln, Neb.
“I felt like this is a once in a lifetime experience to reach out nationally to the disabled,” Bujnowski said. On Friday, Bujnowski, and his new friends, Darius Binarski, 5, of Valparaiso, and Lainy Babjak, 6, played in the sand while others, including Lainy’s mom, Denise Babjak, chatted nearby with friends.