July 2010
13 posts
June 30th, Beech Grove, KY - McDaniels, KY
Day 35
Today was a real breath of fresh air. We left the Paulsen’s house after a wonderful donut breakfast and started another beautiful day of riding in wonderful weather. We rode the first 38 miles and then were met by Norma Henry. Norma is one of our groupies and has been following our progress as we go cross country. She told of us of her story of overcoming Cancer through...
June 29th, Elizabethtown, IL - Beech Grove, KY
Day 34
There really is no place like my old Kentucky Home. Not even ten miles in to our ride this day we took a ferry across the Ohio River and made it into the most beautiful state of Kentucky. You could tell in the first town we went through, Marion, that we were going to enjoy our home state. It was very classic and homey and we met some very friendly people.
The ride was hilly but we were...
June 28th, Murfreesboro, IL – Elizabethtown, IL
Day 33
Today’s ride ended up well but the first 50 miles really seemed to drag on. Before we reached our first water fill up spot, I was already having some issues. My chain had fallen off a couple times, the kleat of my shoe got loose so Wade had to undue my Velcro shoes to get me off my bike, and I had a flat back tire. I was feeling a little down and out as I was walking my bike to the stop...
June 27th, Farmington, MO – Murfreesboro, IL
Day 32
We left Al’s Place, the local bike hostel, and we said goodbye to our new friend that we made while staying there. His name was Andy and he was from Virginia. He was traveling alone and was on the same path as us. I had a lot of respect for him because he was my age and was doing all of this trip alone. While I think I could do it, I much rather enjoy traveling with all the guys and...
June 2010
25 posts
June 25th, Eminence, MO - Farmington, MO
Day 31
Another morning of waking up sweating in the hot weather. And while this morning was tougher than others as I had lost many of belongings and was very tired, God’s strength seems to surpass all understanding. But, it is funny how bad things sometimes happen in threes.
While these things are pretty trivial in comparison to the hardships people face, I had to laugh at the first 25...
June 24th, Hartville, MO - Eminence, MO
Day 30
After sleeping in the front lawn of the courthouse we woke up to find the weather was still hot and muggy and I was still sweating in my tent. It was pretty miserable but helps get you out of the bed at 5 am because you don’t want to be hot anymore. We said farewell to our friend Mike who was heading west and started our ride.
The hills were very steep to start off the ride. ...
June 23rd, 2010, Ash Grove, MO – Hartville, MO
Day 29
Our ride today would turn out to be a little change of pace. We started at our normal hour after sweating the whole night through camping in the nasty humidity of Missouri. However, after 46 miles we decided to take a break from the heat and visit the nearby town of Springfield, MO.
We first traveled to Missouri State University where the local Fijis provided us with lunch and some...
June 22nd, 2010, Girard, KS – Ash Grove, MO
Day 28
After staying with the town mayor we woke up early to start our ride. The days we cross over into another state are always exciting because we are just getting that much closer to our goal of reaching the Atlantic Ocean.
As we began to leave Kansas we could notice a difference in the terrain. It was not so flat and we realized we had not had the opportunity to even use our break as we...
June 21, 2010, Toronto, KS – Girard, KS
Day 27
We woke up to the beautiful scene of fog over the Toronto Lake, it reminded me of fishing at Kentucky Lake with my dad and cousins. Though it was early we were ready to get up because lying in the humid weather was miserable.
Today’s ride was dedicated to the desk clerk at the Hampton Inn we stayed at in Wichita, KS. She was getting married in a month and her father has...
June 20, 2010, Cassoday, KS – Toronto, KS
Day 26
Following our rest day we had an easier day with only 60 miles of riding. Being father’s day we dedicated the days ride to all those men those who have had their fathers been affected by Alzheimer’s. We all made sure to call our dad’s that morning and even had a time before we prayed where we each stated what our father has taught us in our young lives and what we respect about them. ...
Nickerson, KS – Cassoday, KS
Day 25
This particular ride was really pretty simple but we had a great stay in the First United Methodist Church the night before. We woke up and cooked some oatmeal and had our favorite, peanut butter and bagels. We made sure to clean everything and even through down a couple more slam dunks to warm up our bodies before getting on the bike. We truly had a lot of fun today.
We were on a tight...
June 17th, Rush Center, KS - Nickerson, KS
Day 24
Today we rode in honor of Alice Polakoff from Sacremento. Alice’s mother has Alzheimer’s and is still alive but has suffered in the past few years. Her mother has experienced some awesome things like traveling to Europe and cycling in France and even cycling the Great Wall of China. So we rode in her honor, and trust me we put plenty of effort into the days ride.
The first...
June 16th, Scott City, KS - Rush Center, KS
Day 23
On this day we woke up to our first spell of bad weather. A thunderous storm in Scott City woke us up at 5 am with lightning strikes and big ol fat rain crashing against the windows. However, we had a wonderful breakfast ahead of us and were ready to take on anything. We used the leftover sausage from the spaghetti the Jury’s made us the night before and cooked up some sausage...
June 15th, Eads, Co - Scott City, KS
Day 22
I was very encouraged and motivated to ride today as we rode in honor of someone very special to me. Rowe Hamilton, family friend and father of one of my best friends, was affected by Alzheimer’s through his mother, Katie Hamilton. We rode in honor of his family and Katie today. I never met Katie but if she brought up a man like Daddy Rowe then she had to be special. Love you...
June 14th, La Junta, CO - Eads, CO
Day 21
I returned from my time at home back to the journey across America. The wedding went beautifully and I had a great time being a part of it. I was happy to see my close pal, Eric, and Jessica finally tie the knot. I had several great memories of Eric growing up and getting to know Jess in my time at WKU. I know their desire to seek Christ first and the fact they simply enjoy one another...
June 9th, Fort Garland, CO - La Junta, CO
Today’s ride was one of our most challenging. 123 miles of rolling hills and cross/head winds that were enough to drive you crazy. The winds felt like someone was constantly slapping you in the face. But, eventually I just had to get mad at the wind and yell at it like Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump when he is in the middle of the hurricane.
Though the ride was difficult it proved to be...
June 8th, South Fork, CO - Fort Garland, CO
Day 15,
Last night we were able to stay in a cabin in South Fork, CO. Special thanks again to Bill Hebb for being so kind to us as we travel on our journey. The day began with a wonderful pancake breakfast made by Justin Cave. We got started around 730am and were ready to tackle the 73 mile day.
The day turned out to be pretty flat with some beautiful mountains in the horizon, so we did our...
June 7th, Pagosa Springs, CO - South Fork, CO
Day 14
This was our hardest ride of the year, on paper. We have 12 miles uphill with an average of an 8% grade. We were anxious and excited to take on this challenge of cycling uphill and battling the altitude of ascending to 11,000 feet.
We began our ride with a dedication to Tyler’s friend Beth who works at the Gatton Academy in WKU. Her grandfather was diagnosed with...
June 5th, Mancos, CO - Pagosa Springs, CO
Day 12
This was our 8th day of riding straight without a rest day but our next one was scheduled for Pagosa Springs so we were all looking forward to resting. We left the church early in the morning and headed for Pagosa Springs. The day proved to pretty challenging for several reasons. We were very tired from the several days of riding in a row but also there were a lot of hills throughout...
June 4th, Bluff, UT - Mancos, CO
Day 11
This day was truly remarkable. We rode through Monument Valley on our way to cross into Colorado. Some of the rock formations were remarkable. There was even a rock called the Mexican hat in which a large rock was sitting on a smaller round rock on the top of a cliff. How it got there I have no idea but we do know that the monument valley area used to be an ocean bottom so maybe...
June 3rd, Kayenta, AZ - Bluff, UT
Day 10,
We finally were going to cross out of Arizona today. Our destination for the night was Bluff, UT and we were all very excited to ride. On our way to Bluff, Justin and myself saw several people running on the road with a torch in their hand. After passing a few riders we stopped to talk to a few of them. We spoke with a woman from the Czech Republic, a woman from Great Britain, and a...
June 2nd, Tuba City, AZ - Kayenta, AZ
Day 9
We were all getting pretty tired of Arizona as we begun our ride but we knew that in a couple days we would be crossing over to the next state. On the ride we had some slight climbing but nothing we had not seen before.
We had an 83 mile day and as we pulled into Kayenta, AZ we realized we had not confirmed a place to stay at this point. However, we had talked to a small church about a...
June 1st, Flagstaff, AZ - Tuba City, AZ
Day 8,
This was a memorable day of the trip. After a very difficult past two days coming from Wickenburg and Prescott Valley to summit some very high mountains, we had a much more restful day that was mainly flat. We were fortunate enough to sleep in a hotel the night before, thank you Mom and Dad, and were refreshed by sleeping in a bed instead of the ground.
The ride was pretty plain as and...
May 31st, Prescott Valley, AZ - Flagstaff, AZ
Day 7,
To celebrate Memorial Day we decided to face one of our toughest days of the ride. We were riding from a valley to one of the highest elevation cities in Arizona. We had a good preparation for the ride with stretching, a prayer, and a dedication.
We rode the first 50 miles of the ride with some tough hills but some beautiful sights as we rode into the Arizona town of Sedona. Sedona is...
May 30th, Congress, AZ - Prescott Valley, AZ
Day 6,
This ride had been long anticipated for us. We had been told by all the men at the fire station that the ride we were approaching would be a scenic but difficult one. It was called Yarnell Hill (look it up on youtube if you dare) and we could see it in the distance before our ride even began. But, we knew that one way or another we had to make it up so we decided to tackle the hill...
