In 2023, Scott Watson fractured his pelvis and his elbow on a cross-country bike ride with his Naval Academy classmates. And while he was in the hospital in Nebraska, he met Loretta Daniels, a physician assistant who said Watson was her “divine appointment” for the day.
Then this year as Watson and his group prepared for another long bike ride — the Bama Rama 500, a 530-mile ride from Huntsville to Orange Beach — Daniels told him that the whole group was her divine appointment. She came along with them as team medic.
Watson, a member of Valleydale Church in Birmingham, said during the ride Oct. 4–13, Daniels ministered to every person on the 17-member team.
Ministry to all
“Whether sharing the gospel or ministering to them when they get beat up and banged up or sitting with them over dinner talking about life things, she shared her faith with every one of the guys,” Watson said.
One of the men had a similar experience to Watson’s 2023 ride — he came off his bike and cracked his pelvis. Another had to leave the ride because his home in Florida was hit by Hurricane Milton.
All of them left the ride with personalized Quilts of Honor made by Daniels and her friends in Nebraska.
“She made such an impact on us,” Watson said of Daniels’ ministry.
Members of the support team also got a quilt, as well as a “few special people” along the way, Watson said. He presented the last one Nov. 10 to the pastor and veterans at Eagle Creek Baptist Church in Dadeville, which hosted the riders for lunch on day four of the ride.
Churches ‘made such an impact’
Twelve other churches also hosted the riders for meals along the way.
“It made such an impact for those guys to come down here and be loved on during the ride,” Watson said.
This year, Watson rode for Operation Patriots for Children, a fund set up at Lifeline Children’s Services to help veterans who are pursuing adoptions. Others rode for other veteran-related causes, such as Operation Heal Our Patriots, a Samaritan’s Purse project to help foster healing in veterans’ marriages and families.
As of Nov. 10, they were “closing in on” $150,000 raised through Bama Rama 500, bringing them to a total of more than $800,000 from the two rides combined.
For more information about Bama Rama 500, visit navy-cycling.com. For more information about Operation Patriots for Children, visit lifelinechild.org/veteran-cycling.
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