Through My Eyes

Fall Eats!

2011-09-19T15:20:00.007-04:00

The summer garden crops are winding down and autumn is in the air. With a current abundance of apples (thanks to my neighbors) and frozen pumpkin still in the freezer from last year I have been on a baking spree. Here are two of my recently discovered favorites!

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Ingredients

For the Donuts:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree

For the Buttermilk Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Donuts:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spice and sugar. Whisk together all of the remaining ingredients in a second, medium bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir them around the bowl until the mixture is well combined. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, rolling the donut dough to approximately 3/4" thick, then cut with donut cutter. Transfer to a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or just until the donuts are cooked through. Dip immediately into buttermilk glaze. Eat warm or let cool.

Buttermilk Glaze:
Whisk together in a small bowl until smooth. Dip hot donuts in the glazed, then allow to dry on a cooling rack.

*Personally I find that the donut taste (rather than bread) is enhanced if you let them sit for a day before eating.

Homemade Apple Cider (Spiced)

Ingredients

10 apples, quartered
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground allspice

Directions

Place apples in a large stockpot and add enough water cover by at least 2 inches. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, and allspice. Bring to a boil. Boil, uncovered, for 1 hour. Cover pot, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 hours. Strain apple mixture though a fine mesh sieve (some sort of strainer). Discard solids. Drain cider again though a cheesecloth lined sieve. Refrigerate until cold or drink warm.

Summer Scrapbook

2011-08-05T20:31:00.008-04:00

The job search continues, the garden grows and the wheels on the bicycle go round and round...

Flowers along the road on a bike ride to Cooperstown

Vegetables Galore!

Dinner Pickings

Pickles!

Fresh Blueberries

Homemade Pesto on Triscuits

Homemade Currant Jelly on Toast

With a Masters Degree in hand, now what?

2011-05-14T16:31:00.005-04:00

When I finished my undergraduate degree program in December of 2003, I knew that I someday wanted to return to school for my Master's degree I just didn't know for what. I'd played around with the idea of returning to school for photography or design but to me these things were more hobbies than careers and I didn't want them to lose that aspect of 'fun'. After spending consecutive summers riding with the Illini 4000 bike team (2007 and 2008) this 'what' started to become much more clear and in the spring of 2009 I was accepted into both the Experiential Education master's program and the Nonprofit Leadership graduate certificate program at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minnesota. Throughout my time with the I4K I quickly began to see the connections between education and experience and developed a great interest in John Dewey's educational philosophy that genuine education comes through experience. Having spent a combined 15+ years sitting in a classroom learning via traditional methods it only took a summer on a bicycle to show me that Dewey is indeed right and that there is much that can be learned on the open road through experiences. I graduated from Minnesota State on May 7th and am now actively perusing the job market while also considering the idea of starting my own program - which I created a 'Pilot Program' for as part of my graduate course work. Oddly I'm not stressed, more or less taking things one day at a time as I wait to discover what the future has in store.

I passed through Chicago on my way to and from graduation and got to stop and see Alex which was a treat as we always have a lot of catching up to do. I sent out an email to see if any of my other I4K teammates were going to be around but only got a couple of responses so I guess everyone else was busy - which is understandable as it was mother's day weekend. Alex ended up working just the morning shift on the Monday after graduation/mother's day so I actually stayed in Chicago an extra day and went to work with her, hanging out in the cafe while she worked. We then repaired her bicycles and went riding in and around the Chicago Botanic Garden that afternoon. It was fun to ride bicycles with her again and brought back many I4K memories from our time on the road during the summer of 2007!

Alex and I by the Skokie Lagoons before riding to the Botanic Gardens

Bottle Drive

2011-04-26T19:32:00.013-04:00

Long story short and related to my prior post about my surgery, Bassett Healthcare and United Healthcare do not seem to be getting along regarding my bill and it looks like I may end up having to pay all of the bills related to my tumor removal as an out-of-network patient (despite the fact that I have documented proof that my doctors and hospital were listed as in-network when I checked prior to all of this - and still are). So as a starting point I think I'll start collecting the recyclables (bottles and cans) I find along the road when cycling to put toward my bill. If anyone knows where I can find 176,880 bottles or cans, or would like me to pick up their recyclables that would be lovely - unless of course I can get them to Michigan then I'd only need 88,440! If a Colorado college student can pay his tuition bill in pennies, I can pay my medical bill with nickels...

**Update** Apparently I was a lawyer in a past life or something as based on my documented evidence my insurance company has agreed to cover the difference between in-network and out-of-network. Only 125,098 more bottles/cans! :)

Bead Making

2011-04-03T20:43:00.011-04:00

I've been in a jewelry making mood, so I made my own beads... more can be found on my Flickr page here.

Blue Swirl Necklace and Bracelet

Zebra Bead Bracelet

Tootsie Roll Twist Necklace

Earthy Bracelet

Waffles!

2011-03-13T19:42:00.005-04:00

St. Patrick's Day Green Waffles

Ingredients:

1 cup Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
3 tbs vegetable oil
1 egg (separated)
Green food coloring

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl.
2. Stir in milk, oil and egg yolk until smooth.
3. Beat egg whites and fold into batter.
4. Add two drops of green food coloring. (For mixed waffles separate batter before adding color)
5. Spray iron and cook until golden. (Green waffles will start to brown on edges)

Enjoy!

Why I'm Lucky

2011-03-11T22:57:00.009-05:00

It could have been a lot worse. It could have been malignant.

The world of health care is complex. I got my first real taste of how health care works when talking to a woman with cancer during my first bicycle tour for cancer research. She told us her story of how her diagnosis had prevented her from getting medical insurance leaving her to live off of government-funded programs. In the years since hearing her story I’ve heard similar stories over-and-over about both children and adults being denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. When the government passed the health care reform bill in the spring of 2010 this is one of the issues it addressed, so that in time, no one will be able to be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. However this is just one small piece of the world of health care. As I’ve discovered over the past year not all insurance is created equally.

When I left my full-time job to return to graduate school in January of 2010 I said goodbye to the “plush” benefit package I’d had during the six years in which I was employed by the State of New York and picked up the plan available through my school. I’d briefly considered COBRA but after running the calculations I came to the conclusion that $500 plus a month was a bit much, and as an active, healthy young person the student plan through my university would be sufficient until I finished school.

Fast-forward three months to April of 2010. I was out riding my bike enjoying the unusually warm Minnesota spring when I stopped in a small park to stretch. As I was rubbing my legs I noticed an odd lump deep within the muscle of my left calf. There was no bruise and it didn’t hurt so I ignored it for a few days. When it was still there a week later I decided to call the health center to see if it was something I should be concerned about. The nurse who answered the phone told me that it was probably nothing but that she’d have someone check it out if I wanted to stop by the center, which I did later that day. The practitioner who examined my leg agreed that the lump was probably nothing serious but advised me to continue monitoring it for changes and have my doctor at home look at it if it hadn’t disappeared in a month.

After the spring semester was over I headed home to New York where I continued to monitor my leg but saw no changes. Toward the end of May I called my doctor at home and made an appointment to have it looked at once again. She agreed that as I was young and healthy chances were that it was nothing but also suggested an MRI to make sure. Wanting to get to the bottom of the matter I agreed to the MRI but also began making phone calls, as I knew my insurance would only cover the first $750 of an MRI. I was advised that MRI’s vary in cost and normally run around $1,800. I wasn’t thrilled with having to foot $1,000 out of pocket but instinct told me that it was better to be safe than sorry so I went forward with the MRI.

I had my MRI on the evening of June 14^th, the night before I was scheduled to begin orientation for my summer camp job. I really don’t remember what went on that week at orientation, as the three days following my MRI were probably the longest and scariest days of my life. It’s strange because I wasn’t scared at all before the MRI, yet afterward waiting those three days for the results was absolutely terrifying. I managed to get a hold of someone at my doctor’s office in the afternoon of the 17^th who told me that while they still didn’t know what the lump was they had determined that it was most likely benign. It was a relief to hear this but it also still left a window open, as they still didn’t know what it was. Speaking with my doctor by phone the following week calmed my nerves a bit and she scheduled me for an office visit to check on it at the end of July. In time I calmed, I continued to self-monitor it but I’d been told that as long as there were no changes there was nothing to worry about. Instead I could shift my attention to other matters.

Having anticipated the MRI to cost $1,800 one can only guess my surprise when a bill came from the hospital in mid-July for $3,826. Take away the $750 that the insurance would cover and I owed them $3,076. Ouch! (Months later in November of 2010 I would discover that I’d been changed out-of-network costs when it should have been billed in-network a difference of $349, however my bill has yet to be adjusted as the hospital and my insurance company continue to argue over who is covering this cost.)

At my check-in at the end of July my doctor felt that there were no changes to my leg and suggested a follow-up MRI in three months. After explaining the situation with my insurance and that I really couldn’t continue paying $3,000 plus per MRI out of pocket she decided that she would see me in three months to reassess the situation and possibly refer me for a biopsy.

I ended up in Louisville, Kentucky doing an internship during the second half of the fall semester meaning my three-month check-up got pushed back until I was home during Thanksgiving break. I had not noticed any significant changes so a few weeks didn’t seem like a big deal. At this appointment my doctor seemed to think that the lump had gotten slightly larger but didn’t seem too concerned. As we had talked about over the summer she decided that the best thing would be to refer me to a surgeon to do a biopsy and get to the bottom of the matter.

My consultation with a surgeon was scheduled for mid-December after my internship was over and I was back home in New York. I really had no idea what to expect going into the appointment aside from the fact that I was concerned with the idea of having the lump punctured when they knew it was encapsulated. The purpose of the appointment was for the surgeon to assess whether he thought a biopsy of the lump was a good idea or not. After speaking with the surgeon for a few minutes and letting him examine my leg he told me that he had reviewed my MRI and felt that the lump was most likely something called an organized hematoma – blood that had pooled within my soleus muscle and hardened. These kinds of things usually dissolve on their own but as it had been eight months at this point he felt that chances were that it was not going to do that. He told me that he could schedule surgery to remove it if I wanted him to but that he didn’t feel it was urgent. There were two things that went through my mind at this point. One was that they still didn’t know what it was for sure, it had been there for eight-months and I wanted this mystery lump out of my leg. The second thing was that while he said it wasn’t urgent, it was documented that it was there and with the pre-existing clause for adults not going into effect until 2014 (if they don’t nullify it before then) and my student insurance expiring in July, what would happen if I couldn’t get insurance because I of this? I gave him the ok to schedule me for surgery thinking that as it wasn’t urgent it would be a few months before it happened.

A week later I got a phone call from my surgeon’s scheduler asking if January 13^th worked for me. I really wasn’t expecting the surgery to happen that soon but this was my chance to finally put the mystery lump behind me. While on the phone I asked her whom I would contact to get an estimate of what the surgery might cost me. I quickly got the impression that I’d just opened a whole new can of worms as she transferred me to my surgeon’s secretary to leave a message. Over the next few weeks I tried numerous times to get an estimate of what it might cost leaving messages and finally talking to a real person who said she would check into it and get back to me. Guess what, they never did. As I began to look into medical expenses I quickly came to see how complex the whole system really is, yet it still astonished me that they could not even give me a ballpark estimate.

I had the surgery on January 13^th and left the hospital that day. My leg was a bit swollen and sore but overall everything had gone well. I returned to see my surgeon for a follow-up visit at the end of January and learned that the lump was actually a benign granular cell tumor (a rare kind of tumor that’s found in the neck or mouth 50% of the time). Because of its rarity it had been sent to Mayo Clinic where they confirmed the diagnosis. Aside from the thick scar tissue where they had to cut into the muscle my leg has healed and while there is a chance of reoccurrence my surgeon feels that he took enough of a margin out that this chance is minuscule.

The initial bill for the surgery included surgeon and anesthesiologist fees and went through my insurance company in late January showing that I would owe about $650 out-of-pocket for the surgery. After getting caught completely off guard with the cost of the MRI last summer I was actually ok with this. Three weeks later another charge appeared, a much greater charge of which I calculated I would owe close to $5,000 out-of-pocket. I immediately requested a itemized bill which in turn showed that these were charges associated with the surgery, things like the hospital gown, the pen used to mark my leg, the drugs they administered during the surgery, the tools they used, etc. Having been charged as an out-of-network patient for my MRI I had a feeling that this may have happened again and contacted the insurance representative at my school to inquire. After examining my bills and contacting the insurance company she confirmed that I was indeed right.

I have yet to get a corrected final bill and am thinking it may be months as I’m still waiting for them to correct my MRI bill. Either way I’m expecting to owe a couple thousand dollars. Overall this ordeal has made me see things through a different lens and opened my eyes to the fact that health care really is a significant problem in this county. I know my situation could have been a lot worse and that those with chronic conditions often have medical bills that run in the tens of thousands of dollars and more. I don’t know what I would have done had my tumor fallen in the 2 - 3% of granular tumors that are malignant but I’m extremely grateful that I didn’t have to take that road. While I hope I never find myself in this situation again there is one thing I would do differently if such a situation were to arise. Buy a ticket to Europe, health care is a lot cheaper over there.

Winter

2011-01-05T23:25:00.006-05:00

The return of snow.

How I miss the hot humid days in Ghana.

The 15th State

2010-11-14T12:00:00.005-05:00

I'm currently in Louisville, Kentucky for an internship that is fulfilling the requirements of my Nonprofit Leadership Graduate Certificate. I'm not sure Louisville is somewhere I'd want to live forever but I am enjoying the warmer fall temperatures. Between the internship and the two graduate classes I'm taking this semester things have been a bit chaotic. Only three more credits next semester and I'm done! Woot! Until then it's back to the books for the next four weeks...

Lazy Summer Days...

2010-08-30T11:44:00.006-04:00

After spending the first seven weeks of summer working at a youth camp down in Pennsylvania I returned home for a night before heading to Vermont for a relaxing week on the lake with the family.

Enjoying the sunset on Lake Champlain

I returned home from Vermont just in time for school. Classes started last week and while I'm not in Minnesota this semester I'm taking two online classes as part of the nonprofit leadership certificate program that I'm combining with my masters degree. I'm also searching for an internship with a nonprofit organization. Ideally this should have been done back in July but with the technology regulations at the camp where I was working, and only having contact with the outside world one day a week it was a challenge to set up interviews, complete applications, etc. If anyone has connections with a nonprofit organization looking for an intern this fall, email me ASAP! The only two requirements I have are it must be with a nonprofit and I need to be somewhere that I have decent internet service to complete my classwork - in other words I should probably stay in the U.S.

Yesterday the weather was beautiful and sunny so I decided to take on a DIY home project. The cart on the back porch before, and after.

From rusty and brown to forest GREEN!

Signs of Summer in Upstate NY

2010-06-10T23:44:00.005-04:00

Spring time in the valley

Green meadow along the road

Daisies!

Illini 4000 Awesomeness

2010-05-08T20:41:00.006-04:00

Who would have thought I4K withdrawal would be a lifetime disorder? As I write this the 2010 Illini 4000 team has raised $95,740! (YOU GUYS ROCK!) They have yet to start their ride and I'm already completely envious and itching to tour again. Anyone up for joining me on a grad school capstone project ride next spring?! (I'm only partially kidding - so, where do you want to go?)

On a side note and a little plea... I4K screened "What People Do" last week. I have been patiently waiting 3-years and have YET to see this! If anyone with "connections" happens to read this and could make this happen, a second donation out of my check book could be arranged. :)

Bicycle

2010-03-18T16:41:00.006-04:00

Hello 60 degree weather how I've missed you! Today I went exploring the bicycle trail system around the Mankato area. Some of the trails were closed due to the height of the local rivers which run near the trails but it was a beautiful day for a ride.

Bicycle Parking

Snowy trail ahead - this is when I decided it was time to turn around

New York

2010-02-28T21:36:00.003-05:00

Hello! I'm currently back in New York for two weeks as I have a summer job interview later this week and then spring break next week. It's hard to believe that it could possibly be spring break already but apparently time flies when you do homework 24/7!

On my way home from Minnesota I made a detour through Iowa and into central Illinois where I stopped and visited some amazing I4k'ers in Champagin-Urbana. Despite my relatively last minute notice that I was going to be in town about eight of us were able to get together for a mini reunion. It was great to see them and catch up, it also reminded me just how much I miss the awesomeness of I4K.

Speaking of I4K - they just recently launched a new website! This years team is nearly twice the size of the original team and has been hard at work having already raised over $55,000! Check them out at www.illini4000.org

One of my favorite photos from I4K 2K8

Hello February

2010-02-06T21:20:00.003-05:00

Brain Food? Dinner on a budget.

12 hours of class, 156 hours of homework, repeat. Life is good.

Minnesota

2010-01-21T19:47:00.003-05:00

Hello from Minnesota! Due to popular request I'm revitalizing the blog - though I can't promise that I'll be writing daily or even weekly, just as my schedule permits.

It's been quite some time since I last posted here and while I'd really planned to blog last summer from Ghana that didn't go as planned (dial-up internet is not all that compatible with modern web design). But here I am, in Minnesota fresh off quitting my real job and currently working on the core courses part of my graduate program at MSUM.

I arrived in Minnesota on Saturday, January 9th after three wonderful days of driving. Originally the plan was to drive out in two days but then snow hit and well there is no denying mother nature the power to make snow. I made a planned stop in Normal, Illinois along the way where I spent a night with my friend Alex from I4K 1.0 catching up on everything that's happened over the past two years while refreshing many I4K memories. I still miss I4k oh so much!

My first day of class was the 11th of January. I'm taking four classes this semester - which is apparently a lot from the reaction I get when I say I'm taking four classes. One of the classes is an online/occasional Saturday class so I really haven't gotten a true taste of it just yet but I can honestly say that I like the other three classes a lot! I have a lot of reading to do which can be time consuming but other than that the work isn't that bad at all. I don't know a whole lot of people yet but the people in my major seem like a pretty cool group.

The weather hasn't been too bad thus far and has actually been above average temperature wise since I arrived something I will not complain about. There is still quite a bit of snow on the ground but we're suppose to get a rain/snow mix this weekend so that could make things interesting. I went to the grocery store today so I should be good to stay inside and spend the next three days doing homework. 150 days until summer!

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“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.”

~Ernest Hemingway

The Children

2009-10-28T18:14:00.002-04:00

Here is a video I put together that gives you a short glimpse at the children in the Children's home I was associated with in Ghana. They were amazing.

Kpando

2009-10-14T18:36:00.002-04:00

As the snowflakes fly outside my window in upstate New York... here is a glimpse of where I stayed in Kpando, Ghana over the summer. Miss the tropical climate? Yes.

Home!

2009-08-15T11:42:00.004-04:00

I returned from Ghana last Sunday. Updates will be posted as soon as I finish the project I'm working on related to this summer for graduate credit.

In the meantime a few photos with more to follow...

With one of the children at the Children's Home

At the Wli Waterfalls near the Togo border on the 4th of July

Ghana!

2009-07-10T06:52:00.005-04:00

Hello from Ghana. I had planned to keep this blog a little more up to date on my summer in Ghana but due to a lack of high speed internet in the town where I am located it has been impossible.

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Accra (the capital of Ghana). My group decided to come to Accra this weekend for the Obama festivities and half of the group is currently out searching for a hotel while the rest of us catch up on life back home and plot out travel week plans with the high speed internet.

It's hard to describe my summer so far, so I'm going to wait and update later. But let me just say I am very thankful for what I have in America, clean water, toilets and dairy! I have so much respect for the people over here. I basically just wanted to drop in and say I'm safe and sound and will be home in less than a month!

Health Talks & Banku

2009-06-29T18:24:00.001-04:00

This morning we got an early wake up call rising between 6:00 am and 7:00 am so that Edem could take us to Fesi for our first community health talk. I woke up at 6:00 am to use the bathroom and then read until everyone else started getting up at 7:00 am and we began to get ready. I skipped out on showering this morning and just got dressed and had a slice of bread with groundnut paste on it for breakfast. At 8:00 am Edem showed up and started shuttling us to Fesi where our presentations were. I went with the second group and began walking with Edem’s friend Erik and the rest of our group before Edem met us along the way and picked us up off the side of the road. When we arrived in Fesi we walked down a dirt road to a school where kids were sweeping the yard. We gave our talks to a group of community members and had Erik translate for us. Around 11:30 am we returned to our home in Kpando stopping at the post office where I had three letters from home waiting for me! Sarahann, Megan and I made fried plantains, eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers for lunch to go with groundnut paste on bread. After lunch we went back to the post office to drop off some mail and pick up some Aerograms. We also made a stop at the FanMilk store to buy everyone FanIce on our walk back home. I spent most of the afternoon just relaxing and reading at the house. At 4:15 pm Sarahann, Megan and I headed to Patience’s house to watch her prepare Banku for us for dinner as we are going to hire her to cook our dinner meals three days a week starting this week. When she was finished we walked the Banku back to the house to eat with the rest of the group. It was good but the sauce or soup as they call it was a little spicy for my taste. After dinner I wrote a letter to my parents and journaled before heading to bed. We have another early wake up call tomorrow morning – 4:45 am!

Another interesting note from today was that on our way into Fesi this morning Edem told us that he didn’t know how many people would show up for our health talks because the goats had been arrested in Fesi this morning. Upon inquiring as to what this meant he showed us driving past a big truck with a giant container on the back that “officials” were placing tied up goats into. The officials were chasing the goats around throughout yards within the village of Fesi. Apparently they were being arrested because they goats were out roaming when they were not supposed to be out. The whole process seemed to work like a Police Lockup in the Untied States where the goats were taken and money had to be paid to get them back. However in this situation if money was not paid to get the goats back the goats were then sent to auction.

Nigerian Sleepover

2009-06-19T18:19:00.002-04:00

Friday, June 19th 2009 & Saturday, June 20th 2009

Around 10:30 am we boarded our plane from Germany bound for Lagos, Nigeria our final stop before Accra. I slept for the first part of the flight and then woke up just as they were bringing around our lunch, which consisted of chicken and noodles (I ate the noodles and left the chicken), salad, and something that resembled cheesecake. Awhile later they brought around something that resembled a vegetarian pizza pocket before we landed in Lagos, Nigeria around 3:30 pm Ghana time (Lagos is an hour ahead). When we landed about half of the people on the plane got off as it was only suppose to be a short stop before we took off for Accra. We ended up waiting awhile before the pilot eventually came on the intercom telling us that there were mechanical problems and that we would have to get off the plane. It was starting to get late at this point and unable to put us on different planes to Accra they told us they would be putting us up in a hotel for the night. There was a slight catch to this plan as we soon found out. Because we didn’t have Nigerian Visas the only way that they would let us leave the airport was if we handed over our passports. Meanwhile we were reading the tour guide someone in the group had for Nigeria that basically told us how dangerous of a city Lagos was at night, which made us rather uncomfortable with the thought of handing over our passports. Since they wouldn’t even tell us where the hotel was they were sending us we ended up demanding that we keep our passports even if it meant staying and sleeping at the airport. At first the airport security people objected to this however after a bunch of negotiating by our group leaders they decided to let us stay at the airport and led us to a much nicer area than where we had came in to spend the night, sleeping in airport chairs. For the next 24-hours I slept off and on however never got more than 2-hours of consecutive sleep at a time. The airline (Lufthansa) fed us two meals at the airport cafeteria. I had spaghetti for breakfast/lunch and then some rather spicy rice mid-afternoon before we boarded the plane for Accra. Around 3:30 pm we headed toward our gate only to find everyone who had spent the night at the hotel already there. They checked us and our baggage before we boarded the plane at around 5:00 pm. During the day in the airport I was able to send my sister an email from Alex’s iPhone after she discovered she had wi-fi at the airport. The Flight to Accra took about an hour and we arrived in Accra at about 5:20 pm (Ghana time). After going through customs and collecting our baggage we met a former Crossroader, Albie, who was our counterpart in Accra and had a bus waiting to take us to our host for the night – the dorms (Volta Hall) at the University of Ghana. After washing up and dropping our bags in our dorm rooms we headed to a brief orientation session where they gave us beads and Ghana names that are based on the day of the week which you were born. My Ghana name is Akou as I was born on a Wednesday. (They had a book to tell us which day of the week we were born on if we didn’t already know). Albie and his wife Rose who is also a former Crossroader then served us a wonderful dinner of Yams, Palaver Sauce, Fish, Chicken and rice. After dinner Rose let us use her cell phone to call our parents and tell them we were safe before we headed back to our dorm rooms to get ready for bed. I took what may be my last real shower of the summer in the dorm and then talked with Yvonna (my roommate in the dorm) for a while before heading to bed at around 2:00 am. The jetlag has my body a bit off after our extended stay over in the Nigerian airport.

And so it begins... Ghana bound.

2009-06-18T18:10:00.003-04:00

I woke up at 6:30 am and unable to fall back to sleep I lay in bed until my roommate Alex’s group, The Gambia, was ready to leave for the airport at around 8:00 am. After Alex left I got up and showered before heading to the commuter lounge to grab breakfast. I bought a bagel and coffee and took it back to the dorm so Megan, Sarahann and I could do our laundry before everyone else got up and wanted to use the washers too. After putting our wash in the washer Megan and I headed downstairs to register our travelers insurance and register our trips with the State Department’s website. At 9:30 am I had my pre-trip individual meeting with Alex Shirreffs (my group leader) to discuss my expectations of the trip for myself, for the group and of Alex. I then picked up my laundry from the dryer and went back to my room to pack my bags. After I puzzled my backpack back together and got everything to fit I headed out to find a postal box on campus to mail a letter to my friend Alex (from Illinois) and an envelope of stuff from orientation home to myself. It was still pouring rain at this point and I was soaked upon returning. Once back at the dorm I headed up to the third floor (where there was a secret computer) to check my email one last time and found my financial aid for MSUM for next year finally posted and leaving me with a pretty big decision to make. Peter who is also in my group then came in and still needed to register his insurance so I let him take the computer and headed to my dorm room to gather my stuff and take it downstairs. Both of the OCA groups heading to Ghana for the summer departed around 1:00 pm with Ghana II (I’m Ghana I) leaving a little before my group. We hit a bit of traffic on the way to JFK airport but it wasn’t too bad and once there we found the lines rather short to check in and check our baggage. After checking in and going through security I headed to find something to eat for lunch and call my sister. I ended up paying a lot for a piece of spinach quiche and a bottle of mango Snapple juice, which I ate while talking to my sister as we waited to board. Our plane left JFK on time and was rather uneventful for the first leg to Frankfort, Germany. We ate dinner, watched a movie and then ate breakfast before landing in Frankfort around 5:30 am Frankfort time. After landing in Germany we found our gate for our departure to Lagos, Nigeria/Accra and then caught up on rest while we waited as we had a 5-hour layover.

Bicycle Separation Anxiety

2009-06-11T00:26:00.010-04:00

It hit me last week as I was crossing the New York state line on my way back from Delaware that I was in New York in June for the first time in three years. I traveled down to Newark to meet up with 2009 Illini 4000 bike team and talk about their journey during a church service on healing the day prior to their arrival in Newark. It was awesome to see them and hear their stories from the road thus far; it was also a little weird, as aside from Brad I didn’t know any of the riders! Salem United Methodist in Newark gave the team a warm welcome for the second straight year showering them with food, arranging showers at the local YMCA, providing dinner and rising early to make them breakfast. From Newark, I rode out to the first water stop with the team hanging with Brad, Sarah, Kristen, Erik and Matt. Less than half a mile out of the church driveway Sarah got a flat as a piece of wire made its way through her tire. After stopping to change it we continued on through Newark and into Maryland on 273. Riding along the same route we rode in 2008 it all seemed so familiar, as though I’d just ridden the route yesterday. Miss it, I did.

Part of the 2009 Illini 4000 team in Newark, Delaware

I don’t know where the past nine months have gone. While it seems like it’s been forever since I parted ways with my I4K 2K8 teammates the memories are still crystal clear in my mind as if it were yesterday. From the roads we traveled, the sights, the sounds, the people, and the weather. They are all part of a continuous timeline in my mind that put a smile on my face whenever I think of them - something that occurs on a daily basis. Since I4K I guess you could say I’ve gotten the cycling bug – riding to and from work whenever my schedule permits and trekking through the rolling hills/mountains of upstate New York whenever I get the chance. I had surgery on March 31st which sidelined me for about 4-weeks while I regained my strength but as soon as I could I was back on the bike. The 800 miles that I’ve ridden this spring pale in comparison to the past two years while training for I4K.

What I’m about to say probably makes me a bicycle dork but in five days I will leave for a 7-week journey to Ghana and I’m already going through bicycle withdraw!!! I have spent the past couple of days riding through the green rolling hills of Otsego and Delaware County and had forgotten just how much I miss beauty of upstate New York summers. This summer will be the longest I’ve been off a bike since I started riding in 2005 and the longest I’ve ever been separated from Squeakers (my precious road/touring bike). I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing that my bicycle seems to have overtaken my identity as when people hear I’m heading to Ghana 9 out of 10 people reply, “to bike?” As crazy and exciting as that would be, that is not the case. Why on earth have I decided to spend my summer in Africa you may ask? Long story short – blame I4K for opening my eyes to the cultures of others, the long days of daydreaming on the bike that anything is possible and realizing that there are a lot of extra materialistic things that I don’t need to be happy - i.e. I'm looking forward to life at a slower pace again. I’ve always had an interest in Africa but my views are from the prospective of what I see on television, read in magazines, etc. Through traveling to Ghana I’m hoping to see things and experience the culture from another point of view (there is a word for this that is slipping my mind).

Anyway, I’m headed to Kpando, Ghana where I (along with the eight others in my group) will be working with the HardtHaven Foundation and the Community Health and Safety Network conducting a community education program focusing on health issues and working with children in the HardtHaven Children's home – at least that is what my program description tells me. As a bonus (a big reason I decided to invest in this) I will also be earning credit toward my master degree in Experiential Education at Minnesota State University. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I’m excited for the experience but nervous as the 16-total hours of flight time to get to Ghana is not something that excites me. I leave for orientation at Adelphi University next Monday, June 15th and fly to Ghana on the 18th/19th. I then return to New York August 9th. I admit, I’m not even close to being ready to leave; I guess I need to work on that soon as I have a long list of things that need to be done prior to getting on the bus bound for NYC. I’m not sure what kind of access to the outside world (interwebz) I will have over the summer but I’m thankful to know that the place where my group is staying has running water and electricity, a luxury in many parts of the world. If I do find an Internet connection I will try to update here, via email or twitter (yes, I caved as I though it would be a simple way to post updates). You can subscribe to this blog via email (when I update it will email you my latest update) by clicking the link on the top right side of the page. A link to my twitter page is also there.

I know it’s not officially summer until next week but Happy Summer to all!

Spring/Summer in Oneonta, New York

Rhubarb Pie!

2009-05-12T23:07:00.003-04:00

I promise I will post a real update soon (ie sometime in the next month)! But, my mother wanted me to let anyone who may still be lingering know that she made me the rhubarb pie that I was longing for and she refused to send me last summer.

And for the record.. it tasted just as good as I dreamed it would all last summer!

Over the river and through the woods

2009-01-30T23:36:00.008-05:00

Hello from the great white north -- in this case the north I'm referring to is snowy upstate New York. It's been awhile since I last posted but fresh off a 16-hour work day I'm strangely wide awake.

It's been about six months since we rode into Seattle and in those six months not a day has past that I haven't thought about I4K in some way or another. Having spent the past two summers with the Illini 4000 it seems extremely weird not to be preparing for another ride this summer. I feel like I should be sending out fundraising letters, calling host of potential stay overs and beginning to train. It's a feeling I really can't describe, nor can I describe just how my experiences the past two summers have changed my perception of the world and those around me. From the countless memories that wonder through my mind at any give time to all the amazingly generous people that we met, I will cherish the memories of the past two summers forever. In a time of economic crisis I often find myself thinking what the world would be like if everyone was like the people we encountered day in and day out the past two summers. It's a question I don't know the answer to, but I'm pretty sure it would be amazing.

I leave you with the 'trailer' to a DVD I put together from videos and photos of last summers ride. If you are a 2008 rider or a family member of a rider and you would like the full DVD just email me with your mailing address. (The actual movie is to big for youtube which is why I'm calling this the trailer.) Enjoy and Happy riding!

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-23T23:44:00.005-05:00

Happy Holidays to all and thank you for your support the past two years!

72 days of cycling, working for a cure

2008-08-22T11:48:00.002-04:00

72 days of cycling, working for a cure

Hitting the Pacific Ocean, Brad Topol, senior in engineering, was as far west as he could go. After bicycling for 72 days, Topol and the other 20 members of the Illini 4000 team finished their cross-country journey from New York City to Seattle, Wash... <more>

72 days, 4000 miles, 1 cause & memories to last a lifetime!

2008-08-18T20:43:00.005-04:00

Hello again! As promised here is my ride wrap-up, something that I’ve been putting off in part because writing this brings to reality the fact that the ride is indeed over. It’s been exactly two weeks since I said goodbye to my Illini 4000 teammates in Seattle, 14 days that have seemed like months and years as I miss them so much. For 72 days they were my family, our daily destination my home and we got up each morning and rode our bicycles. It may sound strange to say I feel homesick but then maybe that makes sense after spending 72 days with such an amazing group of people. Disconnected from the so called real world for sometimes days at a time it didn’t matter the day of the week or what the weather might be, braving the elements we got on our bikes and pushed through it together.

Since returning home I’ve often been asked the ever so popular question “How was your summer?” Impossible to sum up in just a few words I often find myself at a loss for words and reply amazing or awesome neither of which can really justify just how incredible the experience really was.

Starting in Central Park that chilly May morning with the Atlantic Ocean to our east we got on our bikes and pedaled through cities and over mountains, on back roads and highways. We laughed and cried and laughed some more growing as a team with each passing day. While I was reminded of the reason in which I was riding every day as I put on my (ever so wonderfully smelling) Illini 4000 jersey, it was the people we met who grabbed our hearts with their stories and brightened our days with their kindness and enthusiasm that made the hard days so much easier. There were days where the climbs seemed to last forever. Days where a lack of sleep and aching legs made me want to stop to nap or walk, but onward we went; rejuvenated by the thoughts of those affected by cancer, the sight of tippy hill signs and the sound of a teammate whistling or singing a silly song to take our mind off the task at hand. From the busy city streets of New York City, Philadelphia and D.C. to the rolling green hills of South Dakota. Over the Big Horns and Rockies, westward to the Pacific and north to Seattle, it wasn’t always easy, but it was an amazing summer that I will never forget.

I realize that not everyone has the luxury or means of taking 72 days to cycle across the country and hope that through our stories, photos, videos and blogs we were able to share our journey with those following along both near and a far. The support of so many people made the ride what it was and to them all I can say is thank you. From family, friends and alumni to generous strangers who so kindly opened their homes, places of worship and schools to provide for us, giving us food and donating however they could to the cause for which we ride, thank you – you’re amazing!

The memories from those 72 days will last a lifetime, spent with friends I will never forget. I can’t even begin to list the memories from this summer, but am reminded of them each day in some way or another. Onions will never be the same, as I learned this summer they are much more than a vegetable you grow in the garden. Sixth grade boys may not be able to cross state boundaries but with their moms permission can lead you in the right direction when you get lost. It’s amazing how a 120 mile day on the cue sheet can be shortened to 80, thanks to one special rider playing a joke on teammates! Bugs CAN find your ear canal when riding down the road, however thankfully come out with a few drops of water! From using plastic bags as rain jackets to eating blackberries off the side of the road, cold nights in Yellowstone to the mosquitoes of Wisdom, Montana. Ice cream circles, fiestas and mustache Montana. Christmas in July, Panera Bread, warm springs the list goes on forever!

We talked with numerous people touched by cancer this summer whether it was while touring hospital oncology units, sitting down in Portrait Project interviews, attending Relay for Life or the Northwest Cancer Summit! Together these experiences provided us with a small glimpse at the lives of those affected by cancer, with people telling us their stories of struggle and hope. The ride may now be over with everyone having gone their own ways, but the cause is still there and I know that as long as it is The Illini 4000 will continue to do its part in the fight. I’ve been asked numerous times to compare this summer’s ride to last and while I could I’m not sure that would be fair as while both were similar they were also quite different. Like an infant in its first year of life the Illini 4000 has grown by leaps and bounds in the last year, learning through experience to build toward a future that looks quite bright.

Looking back on the summer I have to say that this may just be the most amazing team I’ve ever been a part of and I’m truly proud to have been a member of it.

I4K 2K8’ers I miss you! Thanks for the memories!

Mini update!

2008-08-06T20:40:00.002-04:00

It's been awhile! I haven't put together a final post yet as I want to let things sink in a little more and maybe write some post for all the weeks I missed before I post my final recap, however I know people have been patiently waiting for updates so I thought I'd say hello and let everyone know that I've made it home safely. So far I've moved and uploaded my photos (it looks the same just a different link address - with a lot more photos), I'll be adding video and filling in some blogs from my journal throughout the coming days so check back often as I'm not done yet!

I4K'ers - I MISS YOU!

Packing up

2008-08-03T20:45:00.001-04:00

I woke up this morning with the mindset that it was just another rest day – which it was. Kind of. Those of us staying in the Chabad house were up at 8:30 a.m. and headed up the street to the AEPi house where we met the male members of our team and headed out on our final bike ride together making our way to downtown Seattle where the University of Illinois College of Medicine was hosting a brunch for us at a rather fancy restaurant called Campagne. The food was an amazing spread of egg casserole, fruit, organic yogurt and granola with enough food to send everyone out the door full. After leaving the restaurant we gathered in the street near Pike Place Market for a final team photo before exchanging hugs and saying goodbye to our teammates who were leaving from the brunch. A group of us headed a few blocks north to Olympic Sculpture Park where a press conference was suppose to be held. We waited in the park and then waited some more and finally took a group photo in front of the fountain before departing as the press forgot to show up! Nick, Dana, Rachel, Andrea and I all headed back to 21st Avenue NE (our stay over location) passing by Seattle’s Space Needle on the way. Back at the Chabad house Andrea left to spend the afternoon with her mother and Dana and I each spent about an hour re-packing our bags in preparation for our flights home tomorrow. I then journaled for awhile before heading out on my bike to explore the streets of northern Seattle stopping at Tully’s to buy a Green Tea Mango smoothie and then finding a shady spot on the University lawn to sit, relax and journal some more! (It’s been a busy few days and I have a lot to catch up on!) Around 6:00 p.m. I headed back to the Chabad house just in time to say goodbye to Brad and Yiming who were both getting ready to leave. Andrea, Dana and I sent them off by chasing the Topol’s car down the road waving to them! We then walked up to the AEPi house to see what our teammates there were doing for dinner. We ended up walking to the QFC grocery store with Allen managing to take the long way there, as we walked almost a mile when the store was actually just down the hill from where we were staying. I bought Ritz crackers and cheese for dinner along with peanut butter cup ice cream – the dinner of champions! On our walk back we dropped Andrea off at her mom’s hotel and then went to the AEPi house to dine. When we finished eating Jon and I began the daunting task of unpacking and repacking the support van. Doing this involved taking everything out of the van, sorting it into boxes that would be taken back with riders as checked baggage and securing everything with tape to ensure it all made it back safely. Around 1:00 a.m. Praveen and Dana joined in the packing party and by 2:00 a.m. we had everything sorted and the boxes ready to be tapped shut. I fell asleep around 3 a.m. to get three house of sleep before getting up at 6 a.m. as that’s when we will begin shuttling people to the airport in the morning.

Seattle = check!

2008-08-02T21:05:00.002-04:00

Distance: 85.10 Time: 7:03:29 Avg: 12.0

Seattle! After 72 days on the road we arrived in Seattle, Washington today riding to the University of Washington and then Magnuson Park where we were greeted by family and friends.

The day began in Yelm where Pastor Gerry at Emmanuel Lutheran Church got up early to make us pancakes before sending us on our way. We all sang the 12 days of I4K for the pastor before Jay gave an amazing Mosher speech inspiring us and reminding us of how far we’ve come in the past couple of months. Nick then had everyone take a McDonald’s toy from the briefcase John and Allen had given him yesterday to attach to our bikes. I took a TailSpin toy of Kit in his racing plane and attached it to my handle bars so that my bendy Uncle Sam was hugging it. We then rolled out of the driveway of the church with roughly 70 miles separating us from a toilet paper finish line in Seattle.

Less than three miles up the road Amy got a flat and John, Connie and I pulled over to wait while she changed it. When she was done the four of us continued on until meeting up with our amazing morning van drive Allen Tran around the 20 mile mark for our first water stop. We grabbed a few handfuls of Fruit Loops and other random cereals that were in the snack door, filled up our water bottles and chilled for a few minutes with Jon, Nick and Brad before continuing on. Jon, Nick and Brad shortly caught up to us and rode we all rode the next 20 miles to lunch in Kent as a group. About two miles before lunch Kit tried to make a Dinosaur Dave escape, jumping out of Uncle Sam’s arms when I hit a bump crossing a bridge. Thankfully he bounced backward and not into the water below allowing me to rescue him and secure him inside my jacket pocket until we reached lunch. Lunch was in the parking lot of Safeway in Kent. There we met up with Mr. Ger who had kindly offered to drive the second part of the day thus allowing everyone to ride into Seattle together including honorary I4K 2K8 member Allen. We feasted on leftover toasted cheese sandwich from the night before along with the traditional peanut butter and jelly one last time. I reattached Kit to my handle bars this time with a shoe lace to prevent any further escapes in the busy Seattle traffic. Brad copied down the directions for Mr. Ger and by the time we were ready to leave lunch Nick’s bike was covered in toys all taped to the handle bars, seat post and fork.

We had about 20 miles to cover before reaching the University of Washington where we were meeting at the fountain before riding to Magnuson Park together as a team. I rode with Jon, Nick, Brad, Allen, John, Connie and Amy after lunch and as we got closer and closer to the city we could see the Blue Angles flying overhead as part of Seattle’s Summer Celebration. This celebration added a few complications to our route as a few of the roads we were going to follow were closed. After navigating up and down some rather steep hills we met up with a friendly biker who worked at the University of Washington and kindly led us the final few miles to campus and the fountain where our teammates were waiting. We had Allen take a few team photos in front of the fountain before getting back on our bikes and beginning to make our way toward Magnuson Park. The Burke-Gilman Trail took us the majority of the way from the University to the park, although getting into the park after getting off the trail proved to be a bit confusing. Once we finally made our way into the park we turned to the left and could see the orange and blue colorful Illini banners along with our family and friends gathered alongside the lake. In two lines we made our way down the sidewalk and toward the crowd where a toilet paper finish line was stretched across the sidewalk. As we approached the line Jay made a sprint for the finish crossing the line and breaking the toilet paper. About 20 people had come out to show their support for our team and their warm smiles greeted us along with two picnic tables of food! We took a few team photos in front of the lake before making our way toward the food tables covered with Pizzas, salads, veggies, fruits, chips and much more. Jill from ACS in Tacoma, WA was there to show her support on behalf of ACS and thanked us for what we had done while also reading some cancer statistics. Jon and Nick thanked everyone for coming out and Matt’s parents made a surprise presentation of t-shirts with the slogan “We Did It” to all team members! After about an hour of mingling with the crowd we packed all of the left over food into Nick’s father’s car and got back on our bikes to ride to our host location near the University.

The girls are staying at the Chabad House while the boys are only a few blocks down the street at the AEPi Fraternity house. It’s rather weird to be separated after spending 72 days together but in two days we will all go our own ways which I know will be an even bigger change. When we arrived at the Chabad house the Rabbi gave us a tour of the house after which we unloaded our bags from the van and said goodbye to Xixi as she has opted to forgo the Chabad house and stay with her parents at their hotel. After unpacking our bags we took advantage of the facilities offered to us and showered! It feels nice to be clean again although I still seem to find dirt that’s permanently attached itself to my legs. There are six of us staying at the Chabad house tonight with Amy and Xix both doing their own things. When we were all nice and clean Dana, Andrea, Yiming and I headed up the street to the AEPi house to see what the guys were up to. We found them gathered around a large screen television watching a movie ready to celebrate our arrival in Seattle! I was so tired that I fell asleep on the couch watching television. Around midnight I woke up and found most of my teammates downstairs celebrating. Still overtired I walked back to the Chabad house and went to bed. I’m a tired girl.

A day at the Northwest Cancer Summit

2008-07-28T00:13:00.001-04:00

Today was our off day in Portland meaning I got up at 7 a.m. to head to the Northwest Cancer summit. Nick, Jon and I got on our bikes around 7:45 a.m. and headed down to the Portland Convention Center arriving around 8:15 a.m. Upon arriving we talked with a number of people before walking around to explore the vendors, picking up some breakfast from the continental spread and heading into the conference room to find a seat for the day. Sue Frymark welcomed everyone and introduced our group even though there were only three of us there at the time. We then listened to another speaker before listening to the band Wideawake play a selection of songs including “Maybe Tonight, Maybe Tomorrow” aka. the LIVESTRONG song. A bunch of our teammates showed up around 9:15 a.m. with a few more trickling in at 11 a.m. and noontime. The morning session consisted of a number of different speakers many of whom were cancer survivors with stories to tell. At around 12:30 p.m. the conference broke for lunch which consisted of boxed lunches with sandwiches, potato salad, chips, apples and brownies. We took a group photo with the organizer of the event after which many left to go out and explore Portland. A group of about five of us stayed through the presentation by Kathryn Fitzpatrick from the Lance Armstrong Foundation departing the convention center at around 3:30 p.m. I rode my bike around downtown for awhile before heading back to the church stopping by the bike shop on Sandy Ave. on the way. When I arrived at the church I found Brad outside cleaning the garbage out of the van and trying to arrange things into some kind of order. I helped him for awhile before heading across the street to Albertsons where I purchased a new pair of shoelaces for my bike shoes and ice cream for post-dinner snack. I then headed back to the church where some women from the church were preparing dinner for the team. When the majority of the team was back we started dinner which consisted of a veggie and noodle stew for the non-meat eaters and a turkey noodle soup for the meat-eaters. There were also many salads to go along with dinner including brownies and ice cream! Jill and fellow University of Illinois alum Susan ate dinner with us and then loaded a group of eight of us into their cars and took us to nearby Beaverton, Oregon for a tour of the Nike Campus where Susan works. The tour of the campus included a look at the outside of the Tiger Woods building, a stop at the track made of the soles of running shoes and visits inside the Mike Schmidt and Lance Armstrong buildings. It was almost 10 p.m. when we left the campus and around 10:30 p.m. when we arrived back at the church. I still had the ice cream that I’d bought earlier in the freezer however after already having had ice cream couldn’t come close to finishing it so I put it back in the freezer to offer to my teammates at breakfast. I then journaled for awhile before heading to bed around midnight with a 90 mile riding day to the ocean to wake up to in the morning!

The team at the Northwest Cancer Summit in Portland, Oregon

Wild Goose Campground, Lowell, Idaho

2008-07-19T23:49:00.002-04:00

We woke up this morning at our campsite at Wendover Campground along Rt. 12 to a chilly Idaho July day. We quickly packed up our belongings and tents so the van could be packed before opening the cereal for breakfast. After finishing our cereal and rinsing the dishes Jon introduced us all to “Peel the Banana” as this mornings Mosher before we set out on our way cycling quickly along shade covered Rt. 12.

About 6.5 miles into the ride we came to the Clearwater National Forest Warm Springs (Jerry Johnson Hot Springs). Here we got off our bikes and walked them across a foot bridge and about a mile and a half into the forest until we came to a hot waterfall pouring out of the side of the hill and into the river below. Some of the team went down to shower/swim beneath the waterfall while Andrea, Nick, Andrew, Yiming, Dana, Takaya, Xixi, Fei, Amy and I all continued on up the path until we came across a series of hot spring pools. While the air may have felt cool to start the morning the spring water was a lot warmer than the air making it an easy choice to jump into the water. We spent a few hours in the spring which I suspect was the closest thing to a bath that we will see all summer aside from swimming in lakes and rivers. The spring was also right next to a river making it easy to run back and forth to cool off. I spent about 10 minutes lying in a warm but cooler spring close to the river where I almost fell asleep it was so comfortable. At around 10:30 a.m. we decided we should probably start riding again and headed for the road. We arrived at the road to find that Amy who was driving had already left with the van but thankfully Jon had thought ahead and grabbed some granola bars for us from the snack drawer before she left as it was well beyond our normal morning water/snack break.

We got on the road and rode about 20 miles before meeting up with Amy at our first real water stop around mile 26. From there we continued on another 15 miles until lunch at around mile 38. I rode that stretch with Jon, Jay and Andrew averaging about 17 mph along the winding roads that ran aside the river. After consuming two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and refilling our water bottles Jon, Jay and I continued on our way pushing a 16 mph pace the 22 or so miles to Lowell. When we reached Lowell we stopped at the gas station where Jay bought us ice cream. We then sat outside eating it while we played “knock Connie’s water bottle over by throwing rocks at it” as other groups began to roll in. From the gas station it was a quick two mile ride to the USNF Wild Goose campground just west of Lowell.

Once we reached camp we immediately began to unpack the van and set up our five tents. Nick and Rachel then began to prepare dinner which consisted of spaghetti and sauce made over the campfire. Some people took a quick swim in the river next to the campsite while dinner was being made however still feeling clean from my morning bath, I helped to gather firewood and wash the dishes and coolers. When the food was ready we ate dinner overlooking the river with the sun still shining on it. After dinner I was still hungry so I opened a package of pop-tarts that had been in my jersey pocket all day to eat while I sat next to the river and caught up on my journal. As dusk began to fall we enjoyed Smores over the campfire a special treat which was provided to us thanks to Andrea’s mom. After brushing my teeth and securing my bag inside the van I headed down to the beach to sleep on the nice soft sand! Tomorrow we will re-connect with people again as we head to Craigmont where we have a church lined up to host us.

Hello Missoula

2008-07-16T20:39:00.001-04:00

Hello! Today's ride took us from Hamilton to Missoula where I am typing to you from the public library. The ride was flat and short, a change from recent days and with a rest day in Missoula tomorrow will almost make it seem like we get two rest days! After getting kicked off the computer after 30 minutes of use at the library in Hamilton yesterday, my sister sent me a text saying I'd left her in suspense as to what happened next - thus I had her finish my blog over the phone last night. Thanks Kimmy!

I'm happy to report that today I did not hit any large rocks and my tires seem fine. We arrived in Missoula by lunch time and had a peanut butter, jelly and honey sandwich picnic outside the van on the lawn of St. Paul's Lutheran Church (our host in Missoula). After unloading the van I headed to the Post Office to check the status of a general delivery package my mother sent me however apparently the postal service sent it to another post office in Missoula so I will have to pick it up tomorrow. I tried to upload some photos to my Photo Album however the connection here is SLOW and inconsistent so it doesn't seem to be working very well.

I4K Girls celebrate Mustache Montana!

I'm Alive!

2008-07-15T20:37:00.002-04:00

Hello! I apologize that it's been awhile since my last post but today marks the first time I've touched a computer since July 4th. While I can not update the world on the past 11 days in a matter of 20 minutes I just wanted to check in and say that I'm alive, doing well and have returned to somewhat normal civilization after having spent the past week or so in Wyoming and southwestern Montana free of technology! This afternoon we cycled into Hamilton, Montana and will head to Missoula tomorrow. It seems hard to believe that we are less than three weeks away from Seattle - how fast time flies when your having fun! To be honest I don't even know where to begin this post as there are so many things that have happened in the past two weeks. We have gone from the flat lands of South Dakota through the Black Hills and by Mt. Rushmore, celebrated the fourth of July in Gillette, WY climbed the Big Horn Mountains where we got to play in the snow, visited Yellowstone National Park, worked as a team to find a last minute stay over after our plans fell through in Ennis, MT and made several trips to Dairy Queen among many, many other things. I'll update you on all of this stuff in time however it would probably be easiest to just start with today.

This morning we awoke in the tiny town of Wisdom, Montana where we were staying in the community center. I heard people moving around and looked at my watch only to see that it was 4:00 a.m. and that I had an additional two hours to sleep. When my alarm finally went off I'd been laying awake for at least 30 minutes so getting up was no problem. I packed up my stuff and headed to the kitchen to put on water for the oatmeal. While I was preparing breakfast Xixi Moshered me, I tried to pass it off on Nick by handing the Mosher card to him with the team credit card (since he was driving) however as he went to put the credit card in his pocket he saw the Mosher behind it and handed it back to me. After a breakfast of oatmeal, rice and Golden Grams (all mixed with milk and maple syrup - creativity is key) we cleaned up and headed outside where I gave the daily Mosher speech. I hadn't prepared anything so I had the team form a massage circle and spoke a few words before we all sang Happy Birthday to Matt and headed on our way. The morning included a gradual climb and marked the third and final time in which we cross the continental divide. We reached the top of the climb around mile 25 before beginning our decent. I was riding with Xixi, Fei and Takaya all of whom were ahead of me. Going down the mountain around mile 29 I went around a bend where gravel and rocks sat alongside the road. Looking at the rocks on the side I paid no attention to the rock that was right in front of me and hit a jagged rock about the size of a tennis ball at about 32 mph (not something I'd recommend doing), when I saw it I knew it wouldn't be good and immediately after hitting it I heard my tire make a hissing sound and knew I'd just gotten my first flat tire of the summer. (I'd been pondering only a few miles earlier as to if I'd be able to go the entire summer without a flat so apparently I jinxed myself.) Riding in the back of my group everyone else was well ahead of me and didn't hear me yell "STOP" so I pulled to the side and quickly began to change the flat. Cell phone service which has been hit or miss the past few days had resurfaced by this point in the descent so I turned on my cell and tried to call my group to tell them that I was ok however nobody answer their phone so I began changing the flat. After a few minutes a man in a white truck pulled over to check and make sure that I was ok. I told him that I was fine and just had a flat tire and he went on his way. A few minutes later I looked up to see Takaya making his way back up the hill to make sure that I was ok. About a mile after my flat my group realized I was no longer behind them and had sent Takaya back to check on me worried that I may be hurt. Takaya helped me put the tire back on the rim and we headed down the hill. When we got to the bottom we found Fei and XiXi sitting on the side of the road. As we approached them Nick who was driving the support van pulled up to make sure we were ok. We refilled our water bottles, grabbed a snack and I re-pumped my tire before letting the van go to catch the front group for lunch. 23 miles later we pulled into Darby MT where we ate a fabulous PB&J lunch in the parking lot of a super market gas station. From lunch we quickly made our way to Hamilton where we are staying at the Big Sky Baptist church.

After unpacking the van Andrea and I headed to the post office, the library and the grocery store where we bought ingredients to make Matt a brownie banana ice cream cake. We then headed back to the church where Andrea, Dana and I made cake and heated up the Chicago style pizzas which Matt's grandfather had bought for the team. When the pizzas were done we ate dinner which was immediately followed by our brownie banana ice cream cake in celebration of Matt's birthday. We are now watching the movie Super Troopers while celebrating Mustache Montana!

That updates you on today. Updates along with pictures from the previous two weeks will come in time. Tomorrow we ride into Missoula, a short 45 mile day meaning we will be sleeping in an extra hour!

Dayton, Wyoming

2008-07-06T00:28:00.001-04:00

We are currently in the small town of Dayton, Wyoming where we are spending the night in the high school cafeteria. Today’s ride was short and easy as we arrived in Dayton around 1:00 p.m. with a one-hour stop at Starbucks in Sheridan along the way. We departed Buffalo this morning shortly after 7:15 a.m. and rode on the shoulder of I-90 for awhile until exiting onto Rt-87 where we met up with Nick and the van alongside a creek for our first water stop. After departing the water stop we followed 87 through rolling hills until things flattened out around Sheridan where Nick was stopped outside a grocery store for water stop number two. By this point it was about 10:30 a.m. and we had already covered 40 of our approximately 60 miles for the day so Andrew, Dana, Yiming, Stephe and I decided to make a detour to Starbucks in Sheridan for tea and coffee iced drinks. We spent about an hour at Starbucks sitting outside on the patio in front of the shop drinking our iced drinks. A kind woman noticed our jerseys and gave us a small donation and before we left we strategically left a few business cards on the tables hoping someone will pick them up and check us out and donate! Everyone else had gone onto Dayton by this point so the five of us made our way out of town along 338 before crossing train tracks onto 339 and climbing a rather steep hill that led us to I-90 again. The time our ride along I-90 was brief as we descended down a hill getting off after only about two miles and riding 345 into Ranchester and then turning onto 14 that led us to Dayton. About five miles before reaching Dayton, Dana and Yiming decided to switch bikes. Because they both have smaller bikes the change worked out fine until about a mile left when Dana got a flat on Yiming’s bike. As we were fixing the flat it started to pour leaving us soaked as we didn’t have our rain gear on us. As we were getting back on our bikes after changing Yiming/Dana’s flat my chain decided to fall off my bike just as I was standing up to pedal causing me to come crashing down onto the crossbar. It was a rather painful experience and left me thankful not to be a guy as that would have hurt a bit more. When we pulled into Dayton the directions I’d been given were go to the end of town and the school would be the last building on our right. As Randall who I’d set the stay over up with told me “if you don’t see anything else, you’ve gone too far!” Dayton was indeed small as we quickly passed through it and came to the last thing before vast nothingness - the high school. When we arrived we found a number of our teammates resting in front of the school, some on the school roof and finishing lunch. We quickly ate lunch as well and then a group of us headed back to the other side of town to go for a swim in the creek as we couldn’t get into the building until 3:00 p.m. The creek was cold and fast moving but felt very good on my somewhat sore legs. After cooling off Matt, Yiming and I walked our bikes back to the school where we waited around for the doors to open at three as they were supposedly set on timers to open at that time. When the doors did not open at 3:00 I called Randall who then called the school secretary Toni to come and let us into the building. Apparently the switchboard in the main office was down causing the doors not to open. Toni let us in and gave me a tour of the building showing us where both the refrigerator and locker rooms were. We then chilled in the building for awhile, took showers and waited for dinner. Amy and Dana made a wonderful dinner of chili and rice along with garlic bread. After dinner as the football/track coach was leaving the school from his summer practice sessions he told me that we were welcome to use the school laundry facilities and showed me where they were. After dinner I rode my bike to the gas station/grocery store to buy crackers for tomorrows ride as my stash is getting low. It started raining as I was riding back to the school and when I got back I found everyone inside doing various things. I sat outside under the small overhang in front of the entrance to the school and ate my rather melted Fastbreak chocolate bar that I’d bought in Rapid City while talking to my sister on the phone for about and hour. It’s rather late and I’m now waiting for the laundry to get done so I can head to bed. I think I’ll give it about five more minute and then hang dry it if it’s not dry as I’m beginning to get rather sleepy. Tomorrow we climb a VERY large mountain!

Mail Stop in Missoula!

2008-07-04T20:36:00.001-04:00

Hey-Happy 4th of July! It's getting late and with the fast internet connection I've been focusing on catching up on uploading photos so I'll keep this short and call my sister with a longer update tomorrow but I just wanted to let everyone know that we are going to do a general delivery mail stop in Missoula, MT. How does this work?

If you would like to send the team or a specific rider something you may mail it to the post office in Missoula via general delivery.

Thus if you were mailing me something you would mail it to...
Sandra Moxley
C/o General Delivery
200 E. Broadway
Missoula, MT 59802

*Note - you can replace my name with another riders name, just make sure the rider knows that you are sending them mail as the rider will need to be present with ID to pick it up.
Mom - the team loves MOXLEY cookies!!!

Rapid City Rest Day

2008-07-02T20:34:00.000-04:00

Hey! After a 60 mile ride yesterday we are currently enjoying a rest day in Rapid City our final stop in South Dakota.

Yesterday's ride from Wall was rather short with the majority of our group reaching Bethlehem Lutheran Church by 1:30 pm. Upon arrival we made a quick dash to the Dairy Queen located right next door to the church (who ever planned this stay over knew the importance of ice cream!). The American Cancer Society here in Rapid City generously donated water, pickles, PowerAde mix and free kids size blizzards from Dairy Queen - which we all used on our trip to the DQ.

After unpacking the van Praveen, Matt and I headed out to look for dinner donations. After coming up short at the first few places we stopped we pulled into Domino's where the manager generously gave us 8 pizzas to feed our hungry teammates. Many people headed back to DQ after dinner to complete their daily dairy fix.

This morning Andrew, Jon, Nick and I got up and made the team pancakes as a pre-breakfast. (One box of pancake mix doesn't go as far as it use to.) I then headed downtown with Fei, Xixi, Andrea, Takaya and Yiming where we completed our breakfast at a local diner. From there we headed to the bike shop as I needed to get my bike checked out after the chain fell off three times yesterday afternoon. Upon measuring my chain I was told that it measured beyond the "needs to be replaced" mark meaning that I needed to have my chain replaced. Thankfully they were able to do it quickly and hopefully this will mean the end of my skipping, falling off chain! After visiting the bike shop we headed to the library for awhile where I uploaded some photos and started this blog. (Note: 30 minutes goes by quickly thus why I'm back here at the library 5 hours later to finish bringing you this update!) From the library I headed to the grocery store to buy some food for lunch and then went back to the church to install my new break pads and do a Portrait Project interview.

Mt. Rushmore, the Black Hills and Wyoming tomorrow!

Rolling through South Dakota

2008-06-30T20:33:00.001-04:00

Hello from Wall, SD. In the past few days we have seen a little of everything. From windy rainy days to sunny hot days with rolling hills that seem to roll on forever.

Friday PM - Members of Ben's family provided us with dinner on our rest day in Mitchell. They made some of the most amazing veggie/bean burgers that I've ever had to go along with Spaghetti. Dessert topped it all as they had cake (to celebrate Ben's belated birthday!) and homemade Rhubarb Pie!!! (which I must add, Ben helped make and tasted very much like my mother's rhubarb pie).

Saturday - For me Saturday's ride was one of the hardest of the summer. I new it was going to be a challenging day as soon as I stepped outside to take my sleeping bag and pad to the van as I was greeted by a fierce wind that was coming from the direction in which we were riding. I rode with Xixi, Yiming, Amy, Fei, Jon S, Nick and Takaya and we formed a dynamic double paceline that we rotated in a counter clockwise rotation for the entire day. Toward the end of the day we ran into a fast moving rain storm that hit us just as we were leaving the last rest stop. Thankfully we were able to grab our rain jackets from the van to partially protect us however with the rain coming down as hard as it was we still got rather soaked. After the rain let up the sun came out and the winds seemed to calm a bit as we approached Chamberlain. (Note when I say a bit I mean calmer than the 30 mph winds we were riding into for most of the day.) When we arrived it Chamberlain we dropped our bikes at the church and then walked next door where we enjoyed ice cream sundaes as a reward for a long and windy 80 mile day on the bike. Jon, Nick and I then biked back up the hill that we had descended down entering town and headed to the high school where they were holding a relay for life event. It was nice to meet people who are also working to help in the fight against cancer as well as many survivors. They had us go up into the press box of the football field where they were playing music and announcing and tell a little about our organization and ourselves. Afterward we met their "Relay Angel" took some photos and walked a lap with her. Overall it was a very positive experience and I encourage anyone who might want to help in the fight against cancer to check out Relay for Life events in their area.

Jon and Nick participate in a game at Relay for Life in Chamberlain

Sunday - On Sunday we rode from Chamberlain to Murdo a distance of about 73 miles. The ride was very "plain" in that there was not much to look at other than rolling grass hills that seemed to roll on for miles on end. We saw some cows here and there along with horses and other animals that you might expect to see in parts of the west/South Dakota along with a turtle which we rescued from the middle of the road and pointed to safety alongside the grassy bank. When we reached Murdo Connie and Andrea made another amazing dinner which we all followed with a trip to the Dairy Shack for ice cream!

Monday - TODAY! Today's ride was 90 miles and included a change in time as we are now in Mountain Time! The morning seemed to fly by as we reached mile 42 and lunch right around 11 am. From lunch we continued on another 20 miles until reaching the turn for Badlands National Park. A group of about nine riders decided to brave the conditions and take the Badlands loop through the park while the majority of the rest of the group went to the entrance and turned around to head back to I-90 which we followed to Wall. My back has been a bit sore the past few days so I rode up to the entrance and decided that it looked much like the parts of Utah which I spent a week cycling through last summer and joined up with Jay and Yiming to head back to Wall. We got some pretty awesome tailwinds once we got on 90 and flew to Wall in no time with the wind pushing us the majority of the way. It was a welcome change from the headwinds we saw two days ago. Once we reached wall we changed and headed to the highly anticipated Wall Drug. We have been seeing signs for Wall Drug since Minnesota and the frequency has increased in the past few days to the point that while riding today it seemed as if there were signs every mile if not more often. Yiming and I each got 5 cent coffee and I also bought a homemade maple frosted doughnut and some flavored toffee.

Corn Day, SD + PHOTOS!

2008-06-27T20:33:00.000-04:00

Hello! Today we are enjoying a rest day in Mitchell, SD home of the famous corn palace and a library with a fast un-firewalled internet connection!

Yesterday was my turn to drive the support van. I stopped a couple grocery stores on my way out of Sioux Falls picking up a few food donations before catching up with the team about 22 miles down the road for the first water stop of the day. The weather was rainy at times in the morning before finally clearing up right around lunch time. It feels so different to drive after riding everyday as things seem to go by so fast when in the car - I'm excited to be back on the bike tomorrow! When we arrived in Mitchell a group went out looking for dinner donations and were rather successful. They got us a sampling of Chinese food and pizza from a local cafe in town. It's amazing how generous people are when united by a common cause!

Today has been a rather busy day thus far. We were up early for a tour of the Avera Queen of Peace Cancer Center. The entire team took a tour of the center while also getting to talk with the nurses and a doctor from the center. After leaving the center I went to the post office to pick up some General Delivery mail before heading back to the school (where we are staying) where I participated in a portrait project interview with someone we had just met at the center. I'm currently sitting here uploading photos, working on team stuff, blogging and trying to catch up on email all at the same time!

I have to say congratulations to my twin cousins Catherine and Michelle who graduate from high school today - have an awesome summer and hopefully I'll see you in August before you leave for college!

Hello Minnakotwa!

2008-06-25T20:30:00.000-04:00

We woke up at 5:30am with a long day ahead and a questionable weather forecast. After a breakfast of cereal and milk we were out the door and on our bikes before 7am. Praveen drove today and waited for the grocery stores to open in Marshall Minnesota where he did an awesome job getting donations of food.
The morning was very flat and windy however it was also nice and cool. We rode through an area of wind turbines that lined the land for as far as we could see. At around mile 60 we stopped for lunch of PB&J and Cheetos on the side of the road. From lunch we continued on to about mile 80 where we were about two miles from the Iowa border.
Nick, John S., Andrew, Stephe, Rachel and myself decided that we would go check out the tri-state mark where the three states meet. Doing this involved about a four mile detour, two miles of which were on a sand/dirt road. When we reached the marker we took photos by it before dancing around it yelling the states we were in as we circled (Nick has a video of this which I will try to get and post).
From the landmark it was about 16 miles to the Zion Lutheran Church where we are spending the night. When we arrived we found that the pastor had generously gotten us ten pizzas for dinner which were very delicious.
Tomorrow it's off to Mitchell South Dakota and the Corn Palace!!! Total mileage for today 100.39 miles!

New Ulm, Minnesota

2008-06-23T20:25:00.001-04:00

Hello from New Ulm, Minnesota! I am sitting at the public library and yet again the computer is firewalled to prevent me from uploading photos - so no photos at this time, however I currently have about 400 to upload down the road!!

Yesterday we rode into Owatonna arriving rather early and eating lunch at Lake Kohlmier. About half of the team also went swimming in the lake. After lunch a group of us stuck around and went out in the canoes and kayaks after the people at the lake offered to let us use them for free! Andrea and Connie put some of our current massive bread stock to use and made a wonderful dinner of soup, bread and humus.

Today we rode from Owatonna, MN to New Ulm. The most exciting part of the day for me was visiting a bike shop in Mankato. The guy there fixed my bike so the chain no longer skips when I go up hills or just get on it!!! It's extremely nice to ride and not have my chain skipping all the time and it didn't skip all afternoon! We ate lunch in the parking lot outside the bike shop before continuing onto New Ulm. There were no winds today so the afternoon went rather fast and we managed to push out about 30 miles in what seemed like no time. We are in Mitchell, South Dakota in three days some I'm hoping for fast un-firewalled internet access there.

Ear Bugs, Photos and the past few days

2008-06-21T20:22:00.002-04:00

First of all let me just say my ear is fine - the bug on the other hand, did not make it out of the ordeal alive. Since I last posted we have crossed into yet another state and are currently in Rochester, Minnesota. I'm currently at the Rochester Public Library where the internet connection is extremely slow (dial-up is fast compared to this) but I will try to update some photos if I get a chance to use the church computer later today.

The ride into Reedsburg, WI on Wednesday turned a bit interesting with about 10 miles to go when I had a giant bug fly into my left ear. It went all the way into the canal to the point where when Stephe looked in my ear he couldn't see it. I sat on the side of the road shaking my head as if there were water in it for a few minutes as I could feel it moving around inside my ear making a loud echoing sound (a rather unique experience). Shaking my head was an immediate reaction as I didn't know what to do. After a few minutes Stephe started dripping water into my ear at which time the bug came out. A truck driver passing by saw me sitting on the side of the road and stopped to see what was wrong however by this point the bug had fallen out of my ear and was lying on the pavement. We decided to put the bug in a bag and keep it in case anything should happen to my ear but thankfully all is fine. As if the day needed to get more interesting, when we arrived in Reedsburg I went to the post office to mail some stuff home and free up some space in my bag. I locked my bike to the stairs while there and when I went out to unlock it afterward found that my lock had jammed! After unsuccessfully trying to free my bike for about five minutes a man came out of the post office and offered to help. He was also unsuccessful at freeing it so I walked back to the church to find help. Jon walked back to the post office with me and was also unsuccessful at freeing it however thankfully we were able to find someone who had a pair of pliers in their trunk and used them to cut my lock. It was a rather thin cable so it cut rather easily - a good thing in this case but not for the protection of my bike. Jon K. and Ben made us dinner which we followed with a trip to a local ice cream place where they had homemade waffle cones. Yum!

On Thursday we rode into Lacrosse, Wisconsin it was rather uneventful compared to the day before and luckily we didn't have any "bug in the ear" incidents. I rode with Xixi, Yiming, Fei and Takaya for the day and we made a stop for ice cream at McDonald's with about eight miles to go. (I'm on an ice cream diet this summer, as in eating as much of it as I can!) The church where we stayed in Lacrosse provided us with dinner, which tasted amazing as most food does after a 90 mile day and connected us with the local YMCA to take showers.

Friday - In our first "early" day of the summer we rose at 4:30am in anticipation of a 100 mile day to Rochester, MN. To our surprise we awoke to find that the route was only about 85 miles however we still needed to cover it and get to Rochester by 4:00 pm. (While in Reedsburg we had been contacted by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester about possibly touring the clinic. After a team vote we decided that this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up and with a full team effort we re-routed and changed our route to go to Rochester rather than the Twin-Cities area.) We were on the road shortly after 5:30 am hitting the road just as the sun was rising. Less than a mile down the road we crossed the Mississippi river and crossed into Minnesota. Crossing into Minnesota reminds me of crossing into Missouri last summer as the rolling hills seemed to appear right after crossing the Mississippi. We climbed a rather long and winding hill and then had a long decent where I reached 42 mph. Some people decided to re-climb the hill so they could fly down it again and broke the 50 mph mark on the final stretch. Mid morning we cycled along a bike path that was so muddy in parts that our bikes quickly looked as if we were mountain biking. I was riding with Andrew, Stephe and Jay and Andrew’s bike got so muddy that the mud clogged his breaks so he could barely pedal. When we exited the path at about mile 35 we found the rest of the team cleaning the mud off of their bikes as well. From there we continued on to lunch at around noon time at mile 60. We departed lunch around 12:30 with about 25 miles to cover by the 4:00 pm, which is when we wanted to tour Mayo. With about six miles to go we all met up at a gas station in Chester, MN. When Nick and Jon pulled into the water stop they informed us that Mayo had just called and that they were unable to give us a tour thus allowing us a bit more time in our schedule. About half of the team decided to still go and see the Mayo Clinic so after a short break at the gas station for slushies and water we continued on our way. While we didn't get an official tour of the clinic we were able to walk around and talk with a few people. The building is rather amazing and I was amazed to learn just how many people come to Mayo from all over the country and world. Unlike a normal hospital/medical building Mayo is rather open and a very people friendly environment. I'm glad I went to see it even though we didn't get to talk with any doctors or specialist.

Andrea and Connie made an amazing dinner last night and afterward we celebrated Ben's Birthday with cake and ice cream! Today we are off enjoying a rest day, taking care of team business and hopefully in a little while I'll find a way to upload photos for your viewing pleasure!

Happy Summer!!!!!!

Wisconsin

2008-06-17T20:19:00.005-04:00

Ride-a-long with 2007 I4K alum
(Nick, Anish, Jon, Sean, Sandy, Keith)

Hello from Fitchburg, Wisconsin! Since my last post we have crossed into our 10th state and are currently just south of Madison. The team departed Highland Park yesterday morning and headed to Evanston Northwestern Healthcare for a tour, breakfast and a sit down panel with some doctors, nurses and cancer survivors. It was extremely informative and well worth the delay in the riding schedule! At about 11am we departed the hospital to begin our 60+ mile ride to Lake Geneva, WI. The first part of the day consisted of riding on bike paths before we took to the open back roads for the second half of the ride. Around 2pm we pulled over to the side of the road and enjoyed bagels for lunch. I need to note that I opened up my rhubarb pie for eating and a few of us made rhubarb pie bagel sandwiches! After lunch as we were approaching the Wisconsin State line we got lost but thankfully out of nowhere a 10-year old named Matthew appeared on a bicycle and after getting his mother's approval and his helmet rode us about 1/2 a mile down the road and pointed us in the right direction. Matthew if you’re reading this - YOU SAVED THE DAY! When we arrived at Brad's lake house the majority of us went for a quick swim in Lake Geneva before another amazing dinner prepared by Brad's mother and father and Andrea's mom. This was followed by Smore's!

Today began bright and early with a pancake/french toast breakfast prepared by Brad's parents. After a few photos we were on our way ready for a short 60+ mile day that turned into a 77 mile day!! I'm not sure if it was the weather or maybe I'm just allergic to the state of Wisconsin because I was extremely tired all day. We stopped somewhere around mile 50 for lunch on the side of the road where I had peanut butter and jelly with Moxley cookies in the middle. (While my mom won't send pie in the mail she has sent the team cookies!) After lunch the hills seemed to become more and more frequent and I was extremely happy to see the church by the time we reached mile 77. My bag seems to have grown a bit in the past few days after receiving a box that my parents sent me and while I'm waiting to find a post office to send it home it's become an art to fit it all in. One of the extra things in my bag was handlebar tape so after arriving today I gave my bike a facelift and I now have boring black tape on the handlebars as I have removed the dirty light blue tape that kept insisting that it fall off. I then took a short nap only to wake up to a cameo appearance by the one and only Drew Webster (I4K '07)! Drew and noodles & company treated the entire team to dinner which was amazing - a BIG thank you to both Drew and noodle & company! Drew also told me that he has peanut butter ice cream in the freezer for us here at the church - Drew you Rock!!! I have to mention that Praveen is letting me use his laptop to update this and some photos so Praveen you rock too!

I have too many photos to upload them all to my album right now (hopefully I'll find a library on our next rest day to catch up on that) so here are a few from the past few days. There are a few new pictures in the album but there are many more to come!

Highland Park, Rhubarb Pie and Ice Cream.

2008-06-15T20:19:00.001-04:00

Hello! We are currently in Highland Park, Illinois spending the night at Highland Park High School. We woke up this morning and departed the dorms at UIC at about 7:15am after a quick breakfast on the sidewalk outside of Marie Robinson Hall. Shortly after departing the dorm the weather took a turn for the worse and by the time we reached Michigan Avenue the skies had darkened and we could see storms approaching. I was ridding at the back of the pack and as the rain and lightning began we quickly sought shelter heading down into one of the parking garages where we entertained ourselves with silly hand games and waited. After awhile we met up with the other half of the team and moved to the sidewalk to wait under the store awnings until the storms let up.

Today was the ride along from Millennium Park to Highland Park. When the storms let up we all headed over to the Bean to meet up with family members, fans and other guests. From the Bean we rode about 18 miles to Evanston where we all met up at Northwestern University Medical Center. While we were waiting at Northwestern Medical Center John K's mom approached me about my blog and scared me a bit when she said that I needed to be careful what I wrote it in. I quickly tried to recall what I may have written wrong, only to hear her say that she had read my blog from the night before and had a strawberry Rhubarb pie with her! (To fill people in my father grows Rhubarb in his garden and mom makes strawberry rhubarb pies in May and June when the rhubarb is fresh. I have been joking with my mom since I left that I wanted her to send me a pie however she doesn't think that it would keep in the mail.) That said I was completely shocked when John's mom pulled out a strawberry rhubarb pie, something that was totally unexpected but ever so appreciated! Thank You for making my day, I will be sure to share it with my teammates to enjoy!

Once in Evanston we ate lunch and got on a bike path that took us to Highland Park. We had three I4K alum ride with us today as Sean, Keith and Anish all rode with us at least part of the way. Nick and Jon Schlesinger's families provided us with snacks when we rolled into Highland Park and helped to arrange dinner donated by a local Italian restaurant. Once we had unloaded our gear a group of us went swimming in the ever so cold waters of Lake Michigan before dinner. It was extremely cold but felt refreshing. After dinner they had ice cream with all the works for us. I will post pictures of my ice cream creation when I get internet access. We finished the night by watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off while eating popcorn. Tomorrow it is on to Wisconsin!

Happy Fathers Day and Happy Birthday Dad!

Chicago!

2008-06-14T20:10:00.001-04:00

Oh the joy of public technology! I spent an hour writing this post at the library this morning before internet explorer crashed on me causing me to lose the entire post. Now I come to you over the phone through the fingers of my sister typing as I try to recall what I wrote. The library was also anti USB devices so photos will have to wait a little longer. Please note that I don't have the ability to edit these posts so please excuse any typos or errors.

Now on to the update! We are currently in Chicago and staying at UIC in Marie Robinson Hall on West Maxwell Street.

Since my last post we have crossed into the central time zone and the great state of Illinois.

We woke up Tuesday morning in Rockville Indiana and were treated to a pancake breakfast put on by members of the memorial Presbyterian Church in Rockville. It was pouring while we were eating breakfast however it cleared up just as we were preparing to leave. From Rockville we headed to Chrisman Illinois where we were scheduled to stop at Mooney's Auto Dealership for a PR event. For those that don't know Mooney's generously donated/ lent us our fabulous support van that we are using this summer. It was an honor for us to stop and see those who helped us out. After spending some time at Mooney's Jon, Nick and Brad headed to Paris Illinois where they were guest at a Rotary event while the rest of the group pushed on to Urbana- Champaign. I rode with Fei, Takaya and Jay after leaving Chrisman. We faced some strong head winds, navigated some closed and flooded roads and changed Fei tire that insisted on being flat a few times but managed to make our way to Urbana by about 5pm. I should also mention that we stopped at Miss Becky's in Homer Illinois where she generously provided us with water and granola bars to fuel us the final 20 miles- Thank You Becky!

After the Rotary event Jon, Nick, and Brad pushed hard all afternoon to make it to Urbana-Champaign in time for an event at the University of Illinois alumni center that was suppose to start at 5pm. The event at the Alumni center featured food and a number of speakers including someone from the American Cancer Society, someone from Camp Kesem, a cancer survivor and someone from UIUC who has been involved in cancer research, along with people from the UIUC alumni association. After the event Nick and Jon decided to go for a dip in the fountain behind the alumni center. This was followed by a party in the fountain when Andrea, Dana, Andrew, Matt and myself all joined in on the fun by jumping in the fountain as well (I have photos and videos of this when I obtain non fire walled internet access). After our fountain party we went back to Nicks old house to change and then Jon, Nick, Matt and I went to Papa Bells for pizza with Geoff (our sponsor and owner of That's Rentertainment), his girlfriend Jill and I4K 2007 alumni Allison!

Both Jeff and Allison joined us for the first 20 miles of our ride on Wednesday, riding to our first water stop in Rantoul Illinois. In Rantoul we caught some rather amazing tail winds that pushed us most of the way to Chebanse making 80 miles seem ridiculously simple.

Zion Lutheran Church hosted us in Chebanse. It is the church that Jon Schlesinger's grandparents attend and the entire Schlesinger family made us feel at home during our stay in Chebanse. Providing us with an amazing dinner followed by an awesome breakfast- that included their ever so amazing overnight French toast!! From Chebanse we headed to Homewood Illinois on Thursday. We were once again greeted by amazing hospitality and generosity staying at Faith Church. We once again caught tail winds heading to Homewood and everyone arrived at the church by lunch time. Our host at the Faith Church provided us with dinner and then got up early to make us pancakes before we left- a big Thank You to them.

Our team departed Homewood on Friday morning in great anticipation of our arrival in Millennium Park where friends and family were gathering to welcome us. We met up as a group on the lake front bike path and then rode down Michigan Avenue and into Millennium Park as a group. I would estimate that there were over 30 people there to great us and it was nice to see some familiar faces even though I’m not from the Chicago area. We took some photos and ate lunch at the Bean before heading to the UIC dorms to drop our stuff off and change before going to UIC medical center. We walked from the dorms to the medical center where we met with a few pediatric oncology doctors and patients during an ice cream social. After leaving the medical center we had a brief team meeting before people went separate ways for the night. About 75% of the team is from the Chicago area so many people went home for the night. I think Jon, Nick, Andrew, Sean Laude (I4K 07) and myself were the only I4K affiliates in the dorms last night. The five of us met up with Anish and James, both I4K riders in 2007 and went out to dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant. After dinner I took a warm shower and then went to bed as I was extremely exhausted.

Today I spent my off day eating, sleeping and battling technology! I woke up early (as in 6am) because that's the time that we usually wake up. After lying in bed for awhile I got up to write some postcards and headed to the coffee shop around the corner where I found Jon using the wireless internet access. Sean Laude showed up shortly after and we headed to breakfast a few blocks away. Andrew joined us there and after we were all done eating we headed to the library down the road to use (or fight with) the internet. After leaving the library I headed back to the dorm room where I promptly fell asleep and took about an hour long nap.

At 1:30 I began trying to figure out how to get to John K's house for the picnic his father was putting on. I asked a number of different people how to get to Wheaton and after getting a different response from each person decided to call Jon myself. We determined that I needed to get on the west line at the Ogilvie Transportation Center so I walked there only to discover that they didn't take credit/debit cards thus I need to find an ATM. After obtaining cash at the ATM the lady at the transportation center informed me that I missed the 2:40 train by 3 minutes and they only ran trains every 2 hours. I tried to find a cab but after getting the "you have two heads looks" and a "do you know where your going?" I found the fairs rather ridiculously expensive and opted to go to the super market and buy myself dinner instead. I ended up buying microwaveable Chicago pizza and strawberries for a well rounded dinner! Strawberries made up for the fact that my mom refuses to mail me homemade Strawberry rhubarb pie for some reason... just kidding mom.

Tomorrow we have our ride along to Highland Park- if you are in the Chicago area come join us!

P.S. A big thanks to my sister Kimmy for taking the time to type this rather long post!

A warm day in Indiana

2008-06-08T20:07:00.000-04:00

We have made it to Carmel Indiana just outside of Indianapolis and are spending tonight at the Carmel Lutheran Church.

Today began in Richmond Indiana. Wake up seemed to come a little earlier then normal due to the fact that I was still rather tired from yesterdays 110 mile ride. After pulling myself from my sleeping bag and packing my stuff Brad Moshered me- marking the first time I have had the Mosher card this summer. It was right before breakfast as well so I ended up giving the Mosher speech with little time to prepare.

Once on the rode it warmed up quickly as the morning progressed. We stopped for lunch shortly after mile 50 at around 12:30 pm and arrived in Carmel shortly after 3pm with 75 miles on the day. After unpacking the cooler I walked to the grocery store with Praveen, Stephe, Jay and Matt and bought ice cream and pop tarts.

Someone from the Indianapolis area who is an Illinois alum took our laundry home to wash it while the church and another area alum provided us with pasta for dinner. The church has also provided us with food for breakfast ensuring we will leave with full stomachs in the morning. Tomorrow we ride 80 miles to Rockville Indiana-another warm day on the road.

110 Miles

2008-06-07T20:06:00.000-04:00

We made it! Today we rode 109 miles from Andrew’s home in Dublin Ohio to Richmond Indiana. The day began with an early wake up at 5:30am giving us extra half an hour riding time. We were on the rode by 6:45am and had covered 20 mile by 8:15.

The excitement of the morning came when the entire team met up on a road with a bridge out. We decided to take on the challenge and forward the river- actually we all picked up our bikes and walked them across the wooden plank at the bottom (pictures to follow when I get actual internet access). The morning passed rather quickly and we rolled into lunch at mile 65 around 12:30pm. I rode with a number of different groups this morning before hanging with the caboose for the afternoon. XiXi had a bad back tire and for the final 20 miles of the ride we stopped every 2 mile so she could put air in it. When we reached the century mark (100 miles) we stopped and celebrated with a caboose photo. Around mile 104 we crossed the Indiana state line marking our 9th state in 16 days!

Once we arrived at the church we showered and relaxed while Brad and Yiming made pasta for dinner. Tomorrow is a short day compared to today- 75 miles.

80 miles later...

2008-06-05T20:05:00.000-04:00

Hello! We are currently at Andrew’s house in Dublin, Ohio. We have seen a mixture of different things in the past few days with a wet and rainy day yesterday, followed by a hot and humid day today. The land had flattened out significantly in the past few days as we have made our way out of the Appalachian Mountains and into the plains of the Midwest. Today we spent a good portion of the morning riding on bike trails before hitting flat back country roads for the majority of the afternoon. With the change in landscape we also got our first taste of the Midwestern winds today while also experiencing hot and humid weather with the temperatures reaching near 90 degrees. I rode with the “green girls” and Steve this afternoon and felt fine until the last 10 (of 81) miles when the hot and humid weather started to get to me and zap my energy. We rolled into the Erikson residence late afternoon and were greeted by Andrew’s parents, our teammates, air conditioning and showers along with a lot of great food! Andrew’s parents put together an amazing dinner tonight and have gone above and beyond to put us up in their home here in Dublin. After riding all day in the rain yesterday – I can’t even explain how nice it was to have a warm shower today. They are doing our laundry while we are here as well and will make it nice to hit the road on Saturday wearing clean clothes. Tomorrow we will have our second off day of the journey, which I’m sure will be spent resting and relaxing. I’ll try to upload photos at some point tomorrow.

Carnegie, PA

2008-06-02T20:04:00.001-04:00

I am currently sitting in Carnegie Free Library in Carnegie, Pennsylvania typing my own blog for the first time since DC. My sister Kim has been updating it the past few days but with a short 30 mile day today I've found internet access at the local library and have photos uploading while I type!!

We spent last night in Murrysville, PA where the Calvary Lutheran Church provided us with an amazing meal. One of the members of the church then went out after dinner and bought us breakfast food for this morning ensuring we left energized for our ride today!

While we have not gotten the get-up-get-out practice down to an hour just yet we are getting closer and closer. Today we were up at 6am and had our bags packed around 6:45. Compared to many of our recent rides I felt today was rather easy although the fact that it was only 30 miles probably had some effect. Today was also the first day in about a week that my legs felt fresh on the bike so I'm hoping that means I'm getting stronger! We did not take a water break today as Amy and Jay needed to visit a bike shop and we were riding through areas where we could get water if needed so after a few stops here and there the group I was riding with arrived in Carnegie a little after noon. The church where we are staying has continued the streak of generosity and will be providing us with dinner tonight and breakfast in the morning. It's really amazing to see complete strangers go out of their way to help us doing everything from opening their churches and places of worship for us to sleep to providing us with meals and opening their homes for us to shower. I can't seem to say thank you enough for all that everyone has done in just over one week on the road.

Yesterday while I was waiting for dinner to begin I got a phone call from a Denise Richardson a staff writer at The Daily Star (my hometown newspaper). The story she wrote can be seen here however it was a question she asked me while on the phone that got me thinking. I can't remember just how she asked it but she asked me something about what this experience has taught me about cancer. In a way I really didn't know how to answer the question as I have a hard time putting the experience as a whole into words. When we meet people that have been affected by cancer and hear their stories day after day it’s a truly eye opening experience. It makes me realize that some of the things that seemed so hard in life really are not that hard after all. The one thing that I seem to find in common with many that we talk to is hope. They are all fighting the disease the only way they know how and they all seem to have faith that they will beat it! They are who I ride for and for the hope that soon doctors will find a cure so that even the toughest cancers will be beatable!

Woman pedaling for a cure

2008-06-02T19:38:00.002-04:00

Woman pedaling for a cure
The Daily Star, Oneonta, NY - June 2, 2008

By Denise Richardson
Staff Writer

Sandra Moxley said sometimes the burning in her legs and the inclines of the hills are so intense that she wants to get off of her bicycle and walk. But thoughts of the challenges faced by cancer patients, she said, refocus her determination and ``keep pushing."...<more>

25 mile rest day

2008-06-01T20:03:00.000-04:00

Hello we are currently in Murrysville, PA after a short 25 mile ride this morning. Because of the days short mileage we got to sleep in an extra hour this morning waking up at 7am instead of 6am. The United Methodist Church in Mt. Pleasant donated cereal and English muffins for breakfast and after packing up we were on the road around 8:30am. The ride today was rater uneventful- so short that we didn’t even take a water stop. I rode with team out of state again plus Matt and after thinking we were lost about 17 miles into the ride we found our way and arrived in Murrysville around 11:15am. The ride included some hills including one very steep climb about 20 miles in however other then that it was pretty easy.

When we arrived at Calvary Lutheran Church in Murrysville they were in the middle of their Sunday service so the majority of us waited outside playing games on the grass until they finished. I spent the afternoon catching up on things, writing thank you letters, drying my wet laundry from yesterday and journaling.

The Calvary Lutheran Church generously provided us with an amazing buffet dinner that included hot dogs, salads, stuffed shells, chicken, fruit and much more. They then shuttled us to different houses to take showers before returning to the church for the night.

I’m not sure where we are headed tomorrow but its west of Pittsburgh. We will be riding on our off day in order to break up what would have been an extremely long day on Tuesday.

I have been having my sister update my blog the past few days so if you have sent me an email in the past week I have not read it. I will get back to you next time I have access to a computer. I will also try to add pictures to my photo album next time I have computer access.

Wet, windy, wet, sunshine

2008-05-31T19:59:00.000-04:00

This morning we woke at 6am and enjoyed a filling breakfast of cereal, danish, fruit and coffee provided by the United Methodist Church in Everett. We were on the road by 7:30am and were greeted by our first rain and thundershowers less then 5 miles into the ride. At around 10 miles we rolled into a little town where we sought shelter and snacks at the General Dollar while waiting for the storm to pass. I purchased my first box of pop tarts of the summer for a dollar and Connie and I used plastic bags to make water proof shirts to keep dry. I spent the morning riding with the out of state crew that consisted of Andrew, Stephe and myself. After the thunder stopped we continued on to our first water stop of the day around mile 30. The first 30 miles consisted of some small rolling hills but nothing major. The hills seemed to grow significantly after mile 30 until lunch in Somerset at mile 50. The sun broke through the clouds as we were eating our PB&J sandwiches outside of the CVS in Somerset allowing us to dry off a little bit before heading back out on the road for the final 30 miles.

Connie and Dana joined our group for the afternoon which consisted of hills, rain and sun. My legs were feeling rather tight after lunch but were 100% better then yesterday when I was tired the whole day. Near the end of the ride as we were going down a steep and long hill the rain picked up along with the wind blowing so hard that it felt like hail hitting our faces. Around 6:30pm the group I was riding with pulled into Mt. Pleasant and was greeted with a warm dinner of Spaghetti, salad, and bread at the United Methodist Church. They topped it off with cookies, brownies and ice cream for dessert - a perfect meal after a long wet day on the bike. We finished the day covering 80 miles in just under 7 and a half hours. It was definitely a long wet day on the bike.

A long day in the hills...

2008-05-30T19:57:00.000-04:00

Hello from Everett PA. Today we biked from Boonsboro MD to Everett PA a distance of over 85 miles. Today’s ride consisted of many hills, as we have now hit the Appalachians Mountains. We departed Boonsboro shortly after 7:30am this morning after packing up and eating breakfast. At around 40 miles we stopped for lunch and a swim in the lake at Cowans Gap State Park. The hills seemed to intensify after lunch growing longer and steeper. About 16 miles after departing Cowans Gap State Park we stopped for a water break and fed the horses and ponies on the side of the road. We then continued to climb capturing many great views as we made our way through the mountains. With about 10 miles left in the day we stopped at McDonalds for ice cream sundaes to refuel ourselves for the final leg. We are currently staying at the Everett United Methodist Church where they fixed us dinner of lasagna, scalloped potatoes, beans and salad along with pie for dessert. Tomorrow we head to Mt. Pleasant on another 80 plus mile day that’s sure to be full of many more hills and possibly our first rainy day of the trip.

Photos and DC

2008-05-28T19:55:00.001-04:00

Hello! I am currently coming to you from Catholic University in Washington D.C. where my sister's kind friend Tori is letting me use her computer resources. Today is our first off day of the journey and we are using it to catch up on things and rest our legs for the hills that await us in the coming days.

This morning we took a tour of Walter Reed Army Medical Center visiting the Comprehensive Breast Center. It was an amazing opportunity for our team and I think we all took a lot away from it. After our tour we visited with an U. of Illinois alumni who was receiving a treatment at the center. It was another experience that reminded me why I'm doing this ride and that I will remember in the weeks ahead.

Yesterday we rode into D.C. following the paths that run through Rock Creek Park. After riding on many busy roads during our first few days it was a nice break and the trees and scenery made for a beautiful ride. The end of the ride yesterday made up for the first part of the day when things got off to a rather shaky start. About a mile after leaving the Frisby House in Baltimore, Dana and I both fell on a rather bumpy stretch of street. We are both fine and escaped with just a few scrapes however I broke one of the cables on my bike which I need to get repaired if I want to ride in any gear other than granny gear (where it is currently stuck!).

I know this is short but I will try to add more later. Before I sign off I want to thank the Mr. and Mrs. Gehres and the members of the Salem United Methodist Church in Newark, Delaware for putting us up for the night and feeding us during our stop in Newark. Though I'd never met them before the Gehres married my parents 29 years ago and when they heard we were going to be stopping in Newark offered to help out. The generosity of their church was amazing from the food to connecting us with someone to let us take showers at the local YMCA - so Thank You, Salem UMC!

Finally - I've uploaded some of my photos to my Picasa Web Album and they can be viewed by clicking the photo album link on the right side of my profile. More will be added next time I get non-firewalled internet access!

On the road again...

2008-05-23T19:52:00.001-04:00

Hello from Hillsborough, NJ! We have completed one day of riding putting in over 70 miles today after a number of missed turns and detours. We departed Central Park in New York City around 8am this morning crossing over the George Washington Bridge and into New Jersey. The majority of today’s riding was stop and go traffic with many lights, pot holes and missed turns. The group I was riding with managed to find the lunch stop around 2pm and then later had a nice holdover snack of pizza when the kind owners of Maria's Pizza & Restaurant offered us a free pie at a stop mid afternoon.

We arrived in Hillsboro around 5:45 pm where we are spending the night at Anish's home. His parents fixed us a wonderful dinner followed by cake.

Tomorrow we head to Philadelphia a distance of between 50 and 60 miles. Others are waiting to use the computer so I won’t post them right now but hopefully within a few days I'll have photos posted in my photo album.

Thank You!

2008-05-21T13:37:00.002-04:00

Thank You Erick Mosher!

Part II - 2008!

2008-05-19T23:15:00.005-04:00

When I arrived in San Diego last summer I had no plans of riding this summer however here I am about to set out another journey in just two days. The next 24 hours are going to be crazy as I rush around getting things done before I leave. Thank you to all who have supported us and the cause we ride for. This summer we will not be using blogger to update our team blogs however I may copy my entries over to hear as well so I can include photos, video, etc.

Speaking of San Diego, I want to congratulate the Nation Run team as they are just a few days from completing their four month run across the nation! Congratulations on living your dream!

T-7 Days!

2008-05-14T19:50:00.001-04:00

It’s hard to believe that in just seven days we will be meeting in NYC to begin this summer’s journey. Between work, training and other stuff this past month has been absolutely crazy and I’m really looking forward to taking life at a slower pace, meeting new people and hitting the road for our cause. Training has been going alright and despite a slight twitch of the knee about a week ago I’m feeling great and ready for a change in scenery!

For anyone in the Oneonta area, I will be speaking about my experience as a member of The Illini 4000 (both last summer and as I prepare for this summer) at the Davenport United Methodist Church this coming Sunday at a brunch following church services - all are welcome to attend!

Thanks to everyone who has continued to donate – it’s still not too late!

Spring?

2008-04-14T19:48:00.000-04:00

Hello and Happy Spring! Despite the snow flurries and chilly temperatures we are just over a month away from the start of this summers ride. I’m excited to have the opportunity to ride again and am looking forward to meeting everyone in about 37 days!

Outdoor training got off to a slow start due to the weather. I was finally able to get outside the first week of April and have been riding outside ever since, although not continuously. I rode to Sidney and back last Sunday for a round trip total of 57 miles and was planning on riding to Cooperstown yesterday however the weatherman had other ideas when he invited a cold front to town for the day. Personally, I blame Punxsutawney Phil, even though it’s far surpassed the six weeks since he saw his shadow I'm pretty sure he had something to do with it. Despite the cold and wind I did manage to go out and ride 20 miles mid-afternoon. It’s suppose to warm up over the course of the week so hopefully that will equal some quality training time!

Thank you to everyone who has donated thus far, it means a lot to have your support.

The westward trail...

2008-01-31T19:36:00.000-05:00

I know many who thought I was insane when I decided to embark on a 4000 mile, coast to coast bike ride. However these guys make me feel like a slacker.

Tomorrow fellow Oneonta State alumni, Andy Wahila and Matt Durkin along with current senior Ken Stannard will set out on a coast to coast journey of their own - on foot! Yes, you read that right they are RUNNING across America! No support van to provide them with water every 20 miles rather they are pushing their gear in baby joggers! The three will leave from near Savannah, Georgia on February 1st and continue westward until hopefully arriving in San Diego sometime around June 1st. Their friend Dewey DeLisle will be riding along on his bike. Andy, Matt and Ken all ran cross country and track at Oneonta State and Andy interned in the office where I work his senior year.

From one Oneonta graduate to another I wish you guys 116 days of amazing adventures!

Check them out at http://www.nationrun.com/

Happy Trails!

On a side note, the first day of summer is only 141 days away!

You know your a member of the Illini 4000 when...

2007-12-08T07:11:00.000-05:00

I'd completely forgotten about this list until I found it in the back of my journal the other day. Alex and I started it one day after we got lost in Kansas and it grew throughout the summer. Please note this was created with humor in mind, however if there is anything you find offensive let me know and I'll remove it. (http://moxley4000.blogspot.com/)

You know your a member of the Illini 4000 when...

to fend off danger you just point to Mark's calves.
you realize that not only did Nick invent the jukebox but he knows the lyrics to more songs than are in it.
you have played country road slalom, London bridge, cracker toss and catch and bicycle telephone while cycling.
you have played the Keith game and also know what Keith pockets are.
there are four food groups - peanut butter, pasta, milk and ice cream.
you realize you have been wearing the same clothes for the past three days.
showering twice a week is accepted and you think taking a shower in the sink or with a garden hose is normal.
you look like an Oreo cookie when not wearing your bike clothes from your crazy tan lines.
70 miles is a short day.
your clothes for the summer consists of two different bike jerseys and spandex biking shorts.
you actually know where Rush Center, Kansas is!
you've gotten use to Brandt sneaking up and scaring you and constantly whispering about peoples moms.
you wash your clothes by shoving it in your backpack dirty and taking it out to wear again three days later.
you've woken up to "Hey, do you know where Alex slept - I can't find her" on numerous occasions.
you know it only takes the Police/Fire Department of Gunnison, Colorado about 20 seconds to respond to a 911 call on the fourth of July.
you've gone faster than the speed limit - on your bike!
you have some random object you found on the side of the road attached to your handlebars and your always on the lookout for trash treasures to use as bike ornaments.
the local library is the "coolest" hangout in town.
you know who bird shark, tiger bear and banana man are.
you have a love/hate relationship with the state of Utah.
you celebrate Christmas in July and shop for gifts along the side of the road.
you've been Moshered or fake Moshered.
there is a special place in your heart for Erick Mosher.
you've mastered the art of packing the van.
the town of Monroeville scares you.
you can sing Jimmy Cliffs, Hard Road to Travel - backward.
you've slept on the side of the road in Caineville, Utah.
you've been woken up an hour early because cell phones don't register the time change in Fredonia, Arizona.
you see groceries on the side of the road and stop to collect them.
you go to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game and the next thing you know Andrew is running around in center field with four women.
Golden Puffs make a good addition to your sandwich.
you've mastered route writing 101.
you've spent significant time at the gas station in Hite, Utah.
you know that it really does rain in Utah and Arizona.
you know who Baby Alicia is.
you know what PLKP means.
you cycled by the "great wall" separating the United States from Mexico.
you spent your summer cycling 4000 miles raising money for cancer research giving someone, somewhere hope.

On a side note... I've uploaded over 2,000 photos that I had on my computer from this past summer to the web. Email me for access!

iMovie

2007-12-04T06:03:00.001-05:00

Greetings! A while back (September) I took all the video that I had taken on my digital camera from this past summer and combined it using iMovie. I've been meaning to put this file online for awhile but didn't know how to compress the file to upload as it's rather large. I've finally figured it out and have uploaded the file to YouTube. It's rather random (I kept it in chronological order for the most part) however it gives a 10-minute glimpse at some outtakes from of our 72 days on the road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4swWISVejoI

Fun Facts

2007-10-04T23:32:00.000-04:00

Fun facts from the summer
Number of Days: 72
Number of Miles: Approximately 4455
Number of States traveled through: 12 (NY, NJ, PA, OH, IN, IL, MO, KS, CO, UT, AZ, CA)
Number of Riders at Start: 18
Number of Riders at End: 16
Hottest Day: Approximately 110+ degrees (Hite, UT)
Longest Day: 116 miles (Grand Rapids, OH to Huntington, IN)
Shortest Day: 43 miles (Zion NP, UT to Fredonia, AZ)
Highest Elevation: 11,312 (Monarch Pass)
Longest stretch between "real" showers: 8 days! (Fredonia, AZ to Chandler, AZ)
Number of sink/garden hose/river/lake showers: 31
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches consumed: 144 +/-
Pop Tarts consumed: 61
Bottles of water per day: 6-8
Weight gain/loss: 0
Hail Storms: 1
Animal grease spots: more than I can count.
Chased by dogs: 2x (that I recall)
Flat tires: 2
...

I like to ride my Bicycle...

2007-08-19T21:49:00.000-04:00

Hello... It’s been just over two weeks since we arrived in San Diego and I’m finally getting around to writing my summer wrap up. I am back home, back at work and yes back riding my bicycle – although I guess I never really took a break from that! Things are slowly getting back to the so called normal.

The first week back was completely foreign to me as I was still in I4K mode. I arrived home on Wednesday afternoon (the 8th), went for a ride on my XC mt. bike that night and spent Thursday catching up on sleep before pulling an all-nighter at Oneonta’s Relay for Life Friday night. (The ride may have ended but the cause is still there.) I then headed to Vermont for a week of camping with the family. As great as it was to be back with my family it was very anticlimactic after the camping I did this summer with I4K and I felt out of place camping without my Illini 4000 teammates around. I’m now back home preparing to go back to work the day after tomorrow something I’m not sure I’m ready to do.

In a way, as silly as it may sound, I feel homesick. For 72+ days my teammates were my family, our daily designation my home and I got to ride my bicycle everyday meeting amazing people and hearing their inspiring stories. It was beyond amazing. I remember the May night before I left to go meet the team at Anish’s home in NJ. Just what I was about to do suddenly hit me and for a moment I was scared. I was going to be spending my summer with a group of complete strangers whom I’d never met and had only corresponded with via email until that point. I reminded myself of the cause and purpose of our ride and my fears disappeared. The next day upon meeting my teammates I knew within minutes that they were an awesome group, committed to our cause with positive attitudes and ready to do something big.

I’m still in I4K mode in a way I guess. To be 100% honest, I have yet to sleep in my bed. It’s currently covered in stuff and I’m just as comfortable sleeping on the floor with my pillow and comforter. I still enjoy peanut butter and jelly or apple butter or honey, even after having eaten it all summer long. Ice Cream – I shouldn't even need to argue the fact that it’s impossible to get sick of ice cream! I now have Jimmy Cliff’s – “Hard Road to Travel” on my IPod and I don’t think I will ever listen to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, “Hotel California” or “Don’t Stop Believin” without thinking of I4K. I picked my bike up from its tune up yesterday and rode both yesterday and today – squeak free! When out riding my eyes are constantly scanning the side of the road for trash treasures! The only thing missing - my comrades!

All expectations I had going into this summer were well surpassed in every way possible. From the thousands of generous people we met along the way, to the thousands who supported us in helping us reach our fundraising goals. The outpouring of support was remarkable and the beauty of the country from the seat of a bicycle is something I will never forget. The media so often portrays what’s wrong in America but this summer I was able to see firsthand how great Americans and complete strangers can be when brought together by a meaningful cause. Like the Portrait Project points out almost everyone has been touched by cancer in someway or another and thus can relate to our cause. Without all these people, the support of my family, friends and teammates this journey would not have been what it was and I thank everyone for making it so amazing!

While I’m sad that this journey is over and I miss my Illini4000 family terribly, the memories of this summer will last forever and I know that the journey is really only beginning as people will continue to unite in the fight. I’ve been asked countless times since the ride ended if I would ever do a ride of this magnitude again. While my immediate thought is that I don’t ever want to forget or overwrite the memories of this summer, I have to admit there is a part of me deep down that is craving the adventure and desire to help others. What my next adventure will be, I don’t know but suggestions are always welcome! There has got to be someone out there who wants to snow bike across Antarctica!?!

Random Thoughts and the Real World

2007-08-18T21:46:00.000-04:00

I spent the majority of this past week camping with my family in Burlington, Vermont. Somehow I managed to acquire 75 bites on my hands while there not counting all the bites on my legs and feet. That's more bug bites than I had all summer biking across America!... I go back to work on Tuesday and honestly I'm not ready to go back to the real world of working 9-9 Monday-Sunday, not at all... I arrived home from Vermont around 2:30 pm Friday, found the box with my bike which had arrived from San Diego while I was in Vermont, assembled it and had it to the bike shop for a tune up by 3:30 pm. I went to pick it up this afternoon and Squeekers no longer squeaks! Squeekers has also gotten a face lift and is currently sporting sky blue grip tape. I kind of wish I'd gone with the dark purple as the sky blue looks a little funny, maybe next time... It was odd riding home today and not having anyone from I4K around. I kept wanting to yell "gravel", "glass", "pothole", "car back" but there was no one to yell to but Squeekers. I4K'ers I miss you!

I'm slowly updating the missing entries in my blog from my paper journal so keep checking back below for updates.

Another Update

2007-08-12T00:56:00.000-04:00

I pulled an all nighter last night at Relay for Life here in Oneonta and then worked today thus the blog is going to have to wait until I return from Vermont. I've published my approximate trip distance totals on Google Spreadsheets for your viewing pleasure - check it out!

Here is a photo from the top of Angels Landing to hold you over...

San Diego!

2007-08-08T17:39:00.000-04:00

Hello all, just a quick update to say that after reaching San Diego on Saturday, I've reached home in upstate NY safely. I will update everyone on the final few weeks of this amazing journey in the next few days (when I unpack and find my daily paper journal).

**Update** Help, I'm not sure I'm home? The first thing I did when I walked in the door was make a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich followed by yes a bike ride on the ole clunker?!?! Now I'm pulling out my sleeping bag and getting ready to sleep on the floor as a hurricane seems to have hit my room. hmm...?

San Diego - We Made It!

2007-08-04T23:11:00.002-04:00

Day 72: San Diego, California!

Starting out in NYC on May 25th this day seemed so far away both in miles and in time, but here we are Day 72, in San Diego – it’s been an absolutely amazing summer!

This morning we got to sleep in until 5:30 due to the fact that we only had 65 miles to cover. We woke up rolled up our sleeping bags and packed the van while our ride leaders (Jon, Nick, Anish and James) along with Mark made us breakfast consisting of French Toast, eggs and sausage along with Milk galore as we were trying to use up anything that would spoil. By 7:30 we had everything cleaned up and packed and were ready to hit the road. We circled up like usual and I gave my Mosher speech in the middle of the circle. I have to admit I read it from paper as I was afraid I’d end up in tears if I just winged it with it being the last day and all. We then took a few pictures before setting out one last time. We were very grateful to have Nick’s brother Brian join us to drive the van today so that we could all ride into San Diego together as a group. Zach also rejoined us overnight and rode in the van with Brian today.

I set off from Campo with the Caboose and ride leaders. Less than a mile into the ride we came across the Slushy/Gas Station Crew (Keith, Brandt, Dan and Drew) stopped along the side of the road as Brandt had a flat. They assured us that they were ok and we continued on our way.

The first part of the ride today was rolling hills before we hit our final “big” climb about eight miles into the ride. The second half of the ride was mostly downhill as we passed through many towns and even did a little highway riding as we approached the outskirts of San Diego. The ride went fairly well with the exception of one point where we were on the highway and saw signs telling bikers to exit the highway. Part of our group had already gone ahead but luckily we were able to take a parallel road and met up with them a few miles down the road.

With Brian driving the van, today was the first and only day in which we all got to ride together as a team. At a gas station about 3.5 miles from our destination at Mission Beach we met up with Don whom we had spoken with at the church yesterday. Don led us the final 3.5 miles to the waters edge at Mission Bay where we dipped our wheels in the ocean and took pictures while celebrating the moment. The whole day seemed a bit surreal. When we started out in May, August 4th was just a far off date on the calendar, then riding all summer you loose track of the days and all of a sudden here it is August 4th, and we’re in San Diego. I think it will take some time before I realize just what we have done. Atlantic to Pacific, East to West, NYC to San Diego on a bike – it still sounds kind of crazy – but we did it!

From Mission Beach Don led us on a trail around the Bay and over to De Anza Cove where many parents, friends and San Diego Illini Alumni were there to congratulate us. About ¾ of a mile before we entered De Anza Cove, Nick’s brother was waiting for us with Nick’s little pink trike, a cape and goggles! In case you’re out of the loop, Nick has said all along that he would ride a big wheel across the country and thus wanted to finish the ride riding into the ocean on a big wheel. While that didn’t happen his brother bought a little pink trike with training wheels for him to finish the ride on. We stopped so that Nick could put Gilligan (his bike) into the van which Brian had already unloaded at De Anza Cove, and throw on the cape and goggles. He then set off with his brother blaring Eye of the Tiger on the van speakers!

It was awesome to enter the park and see all the orange and blue as we passed through the finish line that the Alumni had set up for us, slapping hands with our supporters on the way through. The San Diego University of Illinois Alumni Club had a picnic barbeque waiting for us upon arrival and all present had smiles on their faces despite the fact that we were about two hours late arriving as navigating the streets between Campo and San Diego took longer than we had expected. It was close to 3 pm when arrived and we enjoyed a picnic lunch with the alumni, family and friends who had showed up to congratulate us. After we all ate one of the Alumni sang for us singing Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York before the San Diego Illini Alumni Club presented our group with a check for $2,500 – Thank You San Diego Alumni! The also gave us each an orange San Diego Illini hat while Anish’s parents presented us with team photos taken when we were in Chebanse, Illinois.

It was then time to crown the beard off champion! Hatim, who did not ride but did a lot of behind the scenes work with the Illini 4000, was there to measure the beards of our three beard off survivors - Sean, Mike and Nick. While he may not have won on length, Nick won the fan vote and was crowned 2007 Illini 4000 beard off champion winning a San Diego Illini t-shirt. We then had cake and hung out a little longer before people began to disperse.

I had to get my bike to a bike shop to ship back to New York so around 5:30 we put my bike in the van and Anish dropped me off at Bicycle Discovery north of Mission Bay where I then spent the next hour packing my bike in a box to FedEx home. Oddly enough it really didn’t hit me until I was packing my bike that I won’t be riding tomorrow and that we are really here in San Diego. It’s sad in a way as today may have been the last time we were all together as a group, it’s definitely something that’s going to take getting use to after having spent the past 72 days together 24/7. I spent so long packing my bike that the bike shop gave me a break on the shipping cost – which is kind of funny because with it being the first time I’d ever packed a bike I really had no idea what I was doing! I then walked around a bit, took pictures of the pacific ocean as the sun was starting to set and wondered some more as I waited for Nick and James to take the rest of the bikes to Mr. Giles house before coming to pick me up. Mr. Giles is a University of Illinois Alum who generously offered to let us keep our bikes at his house until Monday when we will pack them in the van to take back to Chicago. I walked a ways down Grand Street before flagging down Nick and James and heading back to DeAnza Cove where the picnic was winding down with only a few people left. We repacked the van and said our goodbyes to Jon and Zach before James drove them to the airport to catch their evening flights back to Chicago. I then went to dinner at On the Boarder with Alex, Nick (and his family) along with Allen, Mayank and Jeremy (all friends of our ride leaders from Illinois who are now in California).

Our housing arrangement in San Diego is with Jared a University of San Diego student whom generously volunteered to house us at his apartment. Anish’s mother had called the University to see if it would be possible to get housing for us in a dorm while we were in San Diego. Jared just happened to answer her phone call and told her while the University was unable to house us he would be willing to let us stay at his place! Allison, Mike and Mark had made other housing arrangements and a few riders are staying with their parents who flew into San Diego but the majority of us are at Jared’s. It’s a bit cramped but after spending our first night of the summer in Manhattan where we all managed to sleep in a one room studio this is nothing. I’m absolutely beat so I think I’m going to go shower and head to bed. I still can’t believe we’ve finished. It’s been an amazing journey! I will now spend the next three days in San Diego before flying home late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. I’m not sure what I will do in that time but it will be odd not riding my bicycle.

Thank you to everyone for their support, both at home and on the road and to our ride leaders for all their hard work in making this ride a reality. Last but not least, to all the amazing people that we’ve meet this summer who have been affected by cancer, stay strong and stay positive – you have inspired me each and every day and will continue to do so in the months and years ahead.

Take care,

Sandra Moxley (bikexc at gmail dot com)

I see Mexico! Campo, California

2007-08-03T22:38:00.001-04:00

Day 71: Campo, CA

Tonight was our last night together as a team. While I’m excited to reach San Diego a part of me is also sad to think that tomorrow at this time we will be done.

Today’s ride from El Centro to Campo was a difficult one because of the heat. We departed the church in El Centro as soon as the sun rose (5:15 a.m.) after a send off by Clay. Jon and Anish were in the van with Jon driving and Anish putting the finishing touches on the Portrait Project interviews that we will be showcasing in San Diego.

Our first water stop came 20 miles into the ride and after refueling we continued on upward with a 3,000+ foot morning climb. We did some highway riding on I-8 before exiting onto Old Highway 80 where we could see the Mexico border as we approached Jacumba, California at our fourth water stop of the day. In Jacumba we took a short break at the Mountain Sage Market. I bought a Hot Fudge Sundae Pop-Tart while others bought Pop-Tarts, granola bars and other snacks and of course Milk to hold us over until lunch. Before leaving Jacumba Jon and Dan switched driving duties and we were on our way. Right after leaving Jacumba we came as close as we would get to Mexico while on the ride. Riding along Old Highway 80 off to our left the Mexican border was only about 200 feet away. I have to say I was rather entertained by the fence that stood between the US and Mexico as having never been out west prior to this summer I’ve heard and read about the US wanting to build a giant fence to separate the two countries. As you can see in the photo the fence is currently nothing more than a simple wooden fence. I guess it serves the purpose of marking the border but I find it funny after all the hype the topic has gotten from Washington. As we came around a corner and headed up a small hill we were only about 150 feet away from the border and stopped to take pictures of the almighty little fence while Andrew and Nick decided to test their arms and see how far the border really was. I think if their hadn’t been border patrol cars passing us every few minutes some of us would have ran to the fence and put a foot in Mexico so we could say we’d been to Mexico but with the patrolmen on the road this didn’t seem like a good idea.

From Jacumba we continued on to Boulevard where we stopped outside a restaurant for lunch. Jon, Nick, Andrew, Anish, James, Sehee, Alex and I enjoyed a traditional I4K lunch of cold cuts, PBJ and whatever other concoctions we could come up with while the rest of the team went inside to eat.

From lunch we had a hot 15 mile +/- ride to the Lake Morena Community Church in Campo. Shortly after departing lunch we ran into flat tire trouble as both Andrew and Nick got flats at virtually the same time. Our group of eight pulled over to wait as they changed their tires seeking out shade under the roadside shrubs to escape the heat. Once fixed we were on our way making one last stop about five miles out of Campo to refill our water before continuing on toward the church north of Campo. We were about 2 ½ miles from the church when we heard a loud pop. Alex’s back tire had blown out and now had a giant hole in it requiring the van to give her a lift to the church. It was around 4 p.m. by the time we reached the church.

When we arrived the church was wrapping up a week of vacation bible school with a picnic for the children and their families and invited us to join in on the festivities. They gave us bread, cheese and watermelon to snack on as we relaxed, rested and went over our plans for the ride into San Diego tomorrow with Don a University of Illinois Alum who lives in San Diego. Jon and Nick made dinner for us while everyone else unpacked the van. Once we had the van unloaded Anish and James headed to San Diego in search of a Kinko’s to print off our Portrait Project previews that will be on display at the picnic tomorrow afternoon. For dinner Jon and Nick made Nachos and beans while the church let us partake in their picnic of hot dogs and cake!

After dinner we had a meeting to talk about the future of the Illini 4000 including what can be done to make things better in the future. All in all I think the meeting went well. I think this year involved a lot of learning as nobody in our group had done anything of this magnitude before. When we rode with the Hopkins 4K team in Colorado it was obvious that they were a veteran program by the way they operated. I personally have very few complaints with the way things went this summer as I came into the summer with a very open mind knowing that this was new for everyone and that there would be bumps in the road. Being on the road for two months it would be silly for me to think everything would follow a script, that's something that would be a challenge for a veteran program. Sure I may have eaten 200 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches over the course of the summer but that’s just something that adds to my memories from this summer. (For the record I still like Peanut Butter and Jelly) I really hope that I4K will continue to grow in the coming years and that every year they will be able to raise more and more money for Cancer research until Cancer becomes a thing of the past!

When the meeting concluded many people headed to bed to rest up for our ride into San Diego tomorrow. Sean and I just finished writing out the route for tomorrows ride and now I'm sitting here still awake enjoying the warm night and journaling. Brandt Moshered* me this afternoon and I now hold the almighty Erick Mosher card. I’m honestly rather excited and honored to have it as it’s only the second time I’ve possessed it since we started the Mosher game in Colorado. It’s getting late; I think I’ll jot down a few things for my Mosher speech before calling it a night. Goodnight!

[* The Mosher explained – the Mosher is actually a little plastic card that Nick found on the side of the road as we were entering Telluride. The card appears to be the ski pass of Erick Mosher from the 2000-2001 ski season in Telluride. Whoever possesses the Mosher card after breakfast each morning has to give an inspirational quote or message for the day prior to leaving. Normally this is done by having the person with the Mosher stand with their bike in the middle of a circle while everyone else surrounds them on their bikes. One may pass off the Mosher but must do it without the person being Moshered knowing. After the Mosher card has been on the other person for more than five seconds the person who passed the card off tells the Moshered person that they’ve been Moshered. If one is caught in the act of Moshering the person who is being Moshered can reject the card. There are other rules like you cannot Mosher someone while their sleeping or on their bike and you cannot pass the card after breakfast has started among others I cannot remember at the moment.]

Off Day in El Centro

2007-08-02T23:38:00.000-04:00

Day 70: El Centro, CA (off day)

Today was our last off day of the trip. To me it’s sad to see this journey coming to an end as I feel I’ve met and continue to meet so many amazing people whom I will miss a lot. This morning despite the off day I woke up at 6:45 a.m. however not feeling the need to get up right away I stayed in my sleeping bag listening to my iPod for awhile. Around 8:00 I got up, had a pop-tart and continued working on transcribing video for the Portrait Project. This basically entails listening to the audio of one of our Portrait Project interviews and transcribing everything the subject says so we can later go through and take out quotes. I’m rather excited to see how the final project will turn out!

Around 10:30 I headed to the grocery store with Dan and Jon. Along the way we met up with Drew who joined us on our walk to Von’s. Once there we bought bagels, fruit and other food items then headed to the picnic area in front of the store to enjoy it. After we finished eating Jon, Dan and I left and headed to Main Street to find a bookstore. Unable to find what he was looking for at the first bookstore Jon headed to find another while Dan and I headed back toward the Church.

Back at the church I spent a few hours transcribing video before Jon took over for me. It was still rather warm out however the heat was nothing new, so I decided to go for a bike ride. I rode through some of the neighborhoods around where we were staying at the church before finally making my way back to Von’s to buy food for dinner. On the way back I met up with Alex who was walking along the street. Once back at the church I helped her fill the big plastic tub with water so she could wash her clothes while I decided to clean off my bike.

I then went inside to dry off and eat dinner before heading back out to the gym behind the church to change the back tire on my bike. With close to 5,000 total miles on it (this includes pre-I4K) it has seen better days. Despite the wear it has held up good with my only flat on the back tire coming the day we rode into Chino Valley, Arizona when I pulled three staples out of it. It took me awhile to change it as my spare (the one I’d bought in Prescott, AZ) was new and didn’t seem to want to go on the rim. After putting a hole in my tube trying to put the tire on the first time I finally got it on the second try (with a new tube of course). When I got done I was covered in black grease so I took advantage of having real showers and showered before heading to bed.

Sand Dunes and Changing Landscapes

2007-08-01T23:02:00.000-04:00

Day 69: El Centro, CA

Today we rode 70 miles without services before reaching Brawley and finally El Centro, CA.

The ride started out in Palo Verde where we quickly exited town and found ourselves riding along fields with what appeared to be irrigation canals running alongside the road. We then hit a stretch of desert with small brush and reddish colored dirt as far as I could see. When we crossed into the ever so small town of Glamis we suddenly found ourselves riding though Sand Dunes that quickly appeared on both sides of the road with giant dunes on the left side and smaller dunes off to the right. I was riding with Alex, Allison and Andrew at the time and we stopped to walk around in the sand and take pictures. I found the sand to be more solid than I expected it to be as walking on it only left faint footprints. While we were stopped Anish, Jon, James and Sehee caught up to us after they had stopped to put air in Jon’s tire just prior to Glamis. When we exited the dunes we were in an area that again looked like desert. At our final water stop before lunch (about 25 miles outside of Brawley) we found ourselves right near the Chocolate Mountain Naval Res. and rode for about two miles with jets circling in the sky above. As we entered Brawley it amazed me how fast we went from desert like conditions to land significantly more agricultural with crops and green fields. We literally crossed one road and all of a sudden everything was green!

We reached Brawley around 12:30 p.m. and set up lunch outside a Texaco gas station. I had a Chili/Ramon and cheese sandwich (creativity is key!) before going into the gas station and buying a 25-cent brownie to put on my second sandwich along with a small bottle of milk to drink. After lunch I headed to El Centro with Anish, James, Jon and Sehee while Allison, Alex and Andrew stopped at a fruit stand on the way out of Brawley to get fresh fruit. The ride from Brawley to El Centro was a nice easy ride however it was sprinkling and the roads were wet meaning we were covered in mud by the time we reached our destination at the First Christian Church in El Centro. I was happy to find that there were showers available for us to use and after unpacking the van wasted little time hitting the shower as I was covered in mud. The church put us up in a large room that appeared to be the youth room or a youth center with video games, a man made wooden stage, arcade style games and a caged in recording studio all in the room. We relaxed and hung out as the rest of the team began to arrive with some people taking naps while others read or played video games. Anish, Alex and James went to try and get dinner donated and returned with melons, eggs, OJ and ice cream popsicles! Dan and Brandt made us pancakes and eggs for dinner which proved to be a nice change from or normal dinner meals.

After dinner I worked on transcribing more video for the Portrait Project. Clay one of the Ministers at the church stopped by with cookie dough, ice cream and root beer for us to make root beer floats. To clarify we ate the cookie dough and did not put it in our root beer floats. After enjoying our root beer floats most of us headed to bed. Tomorrow is our last off day with San Diego just three days away.

Palo Verde - California here we come!

2007-07-31T23:20:00.000-04:00

Day 68: Palo Verde, California

Hello from Palo Verde, CALIFORNIA! Today’s ride was hot and humid. We departed Salome, AZ around 6:00 a.m. and arrived in Quartzsite, AZ (about 38 miles) by 8:30 a.m. We had planned to visit a bookstore in Quartzsite that Marcia had recommended however it did not open until 10 a.m. and with it being hot and humid we didn’t want to wait around in the heat. In Ehrenburg, AZ we crossed the Colorado River into California at around mile 60 for the day. We then stopped for lunch at the library in Blythe, CA where we ate, napped and hung out in the library while Jon and Anish went looking for food donations.

After a short nap I went with Alex and Andrew to the eye doctor to try and get Alex a replacement contact lens after she unfortunately lost one of hers in Wickenburg. Because she has a special kind of contact they were unable to replace it however she was able to get her eye doctor to fax a copy of her prescription to the optometrist in Blythe so she could get a regular contact allowing her to see a little better. While we were waiting for the fax to come through we went to the ice cream shop next door and had ice cream! I had a “dirt & worm” freeze which was fresh California night crawlers mixed in dirt and frozen… ok, I’m kidding it was the normal chocolate and vanilla ice cream with gummy worms and crushed Oreo cookies. After we got Alex’s contact we headed back to the church where we found the majority of people had left for Palo Verde. I quickly ran to the gas station down the street to fill my water bottle with ice water and then returned to the Library where I checked my email before heading toward Palo Verde with Alex, Sehee, Andrew, Sean, Drew and Brandt. We met Keith and Dan who were driving the van at a gas station about 10 miles out of Palo Verde where we filled up on water before continuing on to finish the days ride.

When we arrived in Palo Verde we met everyone at the Lagoon Lodge where Alex’s aunt had generously purchased us hotel rooms for the night so we wouldn’t have to camp in the heat. (Thank you!) Alex, Sehee and Brandt made an amazing dinner of sweet & sour chicken and rice along with fruit cocktail for dessert.

After dinner I showered before heading to bed on one of the couches in the suite. It’s amazingly nice to have air conditioning in this weather!

Short day to Salome

2007-07-30T23:11:00.001-04:00

Day 67: Salome, AZ

Tonight is our last night in Arizona as tomorrow we will head to Palo Verde, California. Our ride today was perhaps one of our easiest yet as we got tailwinds the majority of the way and arrived at the Lion’s Club here in Salome around 10:15 a.m.

We woke up this morning at 4:15 a.m. and were on the road by 5:30 a.m. A bunch of us wanted to stop at Marcia’s before leaving Wickenburg so we split into two groups today with one heading straight for Salome and the other to Marcia’s. I was in the group that stopped at Marcia’s and when we arrived at her home about a mile from the church she was outside waiting for us. After showing us her garden and fascinating Peace Pole she brought us out more goodies with a little something for everyone. For me she had a juggling kit as I told her the night before that I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life and thus she thought I could figure it out while learning to juggle. James who did not have an “ornament” on his handlebars now has a squeaky foot! We left her house with a bike bag full of goodies that are sure to entertain us throughout the remainder of our journey. After departing her home we met up with Drew who was driving the van about 15 miles down the road. We then caught tailwinds and cruised the next 15 miles to our second rest stop before catching up to the first group at rest stop number three. From there we finished the rest of the ride arriving in Salome around 10:15 a.m. It was a short day as we only covered 55 miles.

Once at the Lion’s Club (our host here in Salome) we unpacked our coolers and ate lunch after which the majority of the team decided to take advantage of the extra time and catch up on sleep. I took advantage of the chance to use James’s computer while no one was on it and downloaded all (1,500+) of my digital photos to his computer. His computer is the holder of the photos so that after we finish the ride DVD’s can be made for everyone containing everyone’s photos.

I have to admit I’m rather glad that we got in early today as I stepped outside mid-afternoon and quickly returned inside as it was unbearably hot out. At dinner time Sean and I made Chili and rice and then had our master watermelon carver Brandt cut watermelon for desert.

After dinner I began working on transcribing Marcia’s Portrait Project interview to for presentation in San Diego. We are hoping to be able to get at least three Portrait Projects transcribed and put on boards to show at our welcoming picnic in San Diego.

Goodnight from Salome.... California here we come!

Wickenburg Part II

2007-07-29T22:50:00.000-04:00

Day 66: Wickenburg, AZ

We are now once again in Wickenburg after having traveled a much shorter route from Chandler this morning. We managed to get on the road around 5:30 a.m. and were able to enjoy riding through the neighborhoods of Phoenix with relatively little traffic with it being a Sunday morning. My riding group today consisted of Allison and Andrew. Within the first hour of the ride Andrew had two flats (apparently there are tire sharks in the streets of Phoenix!) I gave him a patch to repair his second tube and luckily it seemed to hold up the rest of the day. After stopping for the second flat we figured that we were most likely a ways behind the rest of the group, however to our surprise we were soon caught by the “coffee boys” (Mark, Mike and Sean) who unbeknownst to us had made a detour to Starbucks shortly after we left the Temple in Chandler. We followed them for awhile until we reached the canal path at which time they turned it up a notch and took off. After riding the canal path into Phoenix two days ago I realized that we were entering the canal route in the middle of the route rather than the start where our first water stop was so I called Dan (today’s driver) to tell him not to wait on us and that we would be fine until the next stop. At this point we thought we were still playing catch up however about 10 miles after we got off the canal path Allison got a call from a group who had just gotten off the canal path meaning somewhere we managed to pass about ¾ of the team without realizing it. Andrew, Allison and I then stopped at a gas station for a mid-morning snack and to refill our water bottles before proceeding on to meet Dan in Surprise, AZ for a quick water break. Soon after we left Dan we got a call from the group behind us telling us to flag Dan down as they were having trouble with flats and needed van assistance. We successfully flagged him down and refilled our own water before continuing on and sending him back. At this point we were only about 20 miles from Wickenburg so we decided we would finish the ride and wait to eat lunch once we got into Wickenburg.

When we arrived in Wickenburg we stopped at the library to see if it was open before realizing that it was Sunday and most libraries are not open on Sunday. It’s easy to lose track of time/days when you’re on the road. After stopping at the church and finding nobody there we called the pastor to have him come unlock the church before heading downtown to find Mark, Mike and Sean who were relaxing in a coffee/sandwich shop. We still hadn’t eaten lunch so I had a small ice cream at the shop before heading up the road to Safeway to buy some fruit and Yogurt. When I got back to the church I ate my lunch and made a few phone calls while waiting for the van and rest of my teammates to arrive. Soon after the van arrived a woman from the community showed up for a portraits project interview. Mark and I spent about half an hour interviewing her before everyone else showed up.

The pastor and his wife then came by generously bringing us dinner consisting of an assortment of foods from Kentucky Fried Chicken and Long John Silver. As we were finishing up our dinner Marcia stopped by with some trinkets for us along with many more stories to tell. Shortly after Sean and I left to go get dinner for the following night since it was our turn to cook. After pricing everything down to the penny we found the ingredients to make Chili and had enough left over to buy Watermelon and still be within our budget!

I’m now sitting in the back of the fellowship hall where the “gas station boys” (Dan, Drew, Brandt, Keith) are watching Saw III while everyone else is either outside working on their bike or has headed downstairs to go to bed.

On a side note I found a little rubber ducky on the side of the road today in Surprise, so now my squeaky bike has its own squeaky toy to join Uncle Sam on my handlebars! Yes, I think my chain and derailleur need a good cleaning.

Also, Congratulations to the Hopkins 4K team as they finished their ride today in San Francisco!

Take me out to the ball game...

2007-07-28T23:22:00.000-04:00

Day 65: Chandler, AZ (Off Day)

I awoke this morning bright and early covered in Arizona dirt after spending the night outside. Apparently I’d rolled off of my sleeping mat in the night leaving me covered in a nice coat of Arizona dust! All is good though as it is day 65 and a little dirt isn’t going to hurt me. With the luxury of having showers at the Temple the first thing I did upon waking was head for the shower. Alex was up and talking with Malcolm but it was still early and everyone else appeared to be sleeping. After my shower a few others had awoken and were in the kitchen helping Malcolm prepare breakfast so I joined Alex, James and Anish as we made tortillas and some kind of spicy rice.

After breakfast a group of us decided we were going to venture into Phoenix via public transportation to go watch the Diamondbacks play the Braves. We headed to the bus stop about a half a mile from the Temple where we boarded a bus and after one transfer made it to Chase Field a little over an hour later. On the second bus I met a guy who actually knew where Oneonta was and told me that his daughter had been shopping in Oneonta the day before. Apparently he had spent some time working in nearby Greene and his daughter is still in the area – it’s a small world! Once we got to the stadium we purchased $11 tickets at the window outside the stadium for the upper leftfield section. It was Carlos Quentin bobble head day meaning they gave each person who entered the stadium a bobble head doll of outfielder Carlos Quentin. Alex and I wandered around the stadium for awhile before finding our seats. Keith, Brandt, Sehee and Drew were already seated when we arrived while Dan and Andrew had wondered down to field level to try and snag some seats. In the middle of the fifth inning we suddenly heard “And now we have Andrew here…” announced over the PA system. We look up and there on the jumbotron is none other than ANDREW BARFIELD! Next thing we know we look down on the field and there he is out running around in the outfield after having been selected for a “between innings” promotional game. He had three chances to catch three fly balls, if he caught two of the balls he would win 3,000 US Airway miles and if he caught all three he would win 5,000 Airway miles. He ended up catching all three baseballs and came away with the 5,000 air miles, a t-shirt and a baseball. The game ended up going into extra innings with the Diamondbacks winning in the 10th inning 4-3.

After the game we took the bus back to the Temple where we had dinner donated by Keith’s cousin from Old Chicago Pizza of Chandler. Old Chicago gave us each an individual salad along with enough pan pizza’s to fill everyone. (Thank you to Old Chicago and Keith’s cousin for the delicious meal!) After dinner we had a team meeting to discuss some things before heading to bed. Tonight I’m opting to stay away from the dirt and sleeping on the sidewalk!

Video Update - Andrew on Chase Field!

2007-07-28T22:54:00.000-04:00

Here is the video I captured of Andrew on the field in Phoenix!

Chandler - Part I Parking Lot Naps

2007-07-27T22:05:00.001-04:00

Day 64: Chandler, AZ

I’m happy to say that after a loooong day, we have made it to Chandler!! Today’s ride was long and warm. We departed Wickenburg bright and early headed toward the Phoenix area. After our first water stop about 30 miles into the ride we continued on and quickly made our way into the suburbs of Phoenix. In Peoria, Anish, Jon, Nick and I stopped for a mid-morning breakfast snack off the McDonald’s breakfast menu before continuing onward.

We met Alex who was driving the van in the parking lot of an office complex and decide we would hang out there for awhile allowing the groups behind us to catch up so we could ride through Phoenix together. While waiting we got a call from one of the groups behind us saying that both Brandt and Keith had flats and needed van support. Soon afterward Dan and Drew showed up telling us the same thing. We called Alex who had left to support the group ahead of us telling her to come back but with the mid-day traffic in Phoenix this was easier said than done. We waited about an hour napping in the shade of the car shelters before Alex arrived with Brandt and his bike. Brandt’s back tire was in poor shape so after interchanging his back wheel with Alex’s back wheel, Alex left to go pick up Keith. After Alex left Brandt discovered that his helmet was still in the van and thus we decided to split up the group with Dan, Anish and I continuing on toward Chandler while Jon, Nick, Drew and Brandt waited for the van to return with Keith. Also while we were napping in the parking lot, James had called to tell us he was at the airport. This came as a surprise to us all as we didn’t think he was arriving until tomorrow. In order for Alex to get to the airport in a timely manner we decided it would be best for her to pick up Keith, drop off Brandt’s helmet and then continue on to the temple to drop off Keith and our lunch before going to get James at the airport.

Back on the road Anish, Dan and I decided we would take the bike route through Phoenix rather than deal with the traffic. It was extremely hot out and we made a few stops to fill up our water bottles and at a fruit stand purchase fresh mangos before stopping in Guadalupe for lunch. Anish and Dan each had some form of Mexican food while I enjoyed my mango and a protein bar. From lunch the temple was only about four more miles. When we arrived at the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center Iskcon Phoenix we found Alex and James there waiting for us. I was extremely excited to find out that there were showers at the temple and that we were allowed to use them as it had been an extremely warm day and a nice cool shower was perfect. Malcolm (who does the cooking at the temple) had prepared an Indian type of rice for us that was really good (sorry I can’t remember what it was called as it was different than normal rice). The rest of our teammates slowly began to trickle in within the next hour. After everyone arrived we had a short team meeting before a group of us attended a service in the temple that included music and singing. At the conclusion of the service the temple president brought our group into a circle and explained the different parts of the ceremony to us. I was impressed by the fact that they change the deities clothing everyday, dressing them in their pajamas at night and then redressing them every morning. The deities were dressed beautifully and I imagine a lot of work goes into dressing them.

After we got done talking with the temple president a few riders meet individually with our leaders to voice their concerns on certain issues. When the meetings concluded Andrew, Dan, Drew, Keith and I headed up the street to get ice cream at the Circle K gas station. While the ice cream at the Circle K could not compare to that of Woody’s in Monticello, UT it was still delicious! I was rather tired from the long day so after eating my ice cream Dan and I decided to head back to the temple. It’s beautiful out so I’m sleeping under the stars on the “Arizona dirt lawn” outside the back door. Goodnight!

Wickenburg Part I

2007-07-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

Day 63: Wickenburg, AZ

We are now in Wickenburg, AZ a small town of about 5,000 people 50 or so miles northwest of Phoenix. Today’s ride was a good one and I’m happy to report that after my two flats yesterday the tires held up fine today! The morning began like any other morning with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, Sehee then presented the daily Mosher before we picked our groups and were on the road by 5:20 am!

My group today consisted of Allison, Jon and Andrew. About 10 miles into the ride Allison and Brandt (who was in the group right in front of us) both got flats simultaneously at a stop light. After Allison changed her flat our group headed onward to Prescott, our first water stop of the day. In Prescott some groups stopped for coffee however with a climb right ahead my group opted to continue on and get the climb out of the way before the temperatures rose to high. We climbed some very curvy roads for awhile before descending down some very similar roads. Apparently we were making good time because we pulled into Yarnell, our lunch stop, at 9:45 a.m. and stopped at Cornerstone Bakery to wait for the van and get a little bite to eat. By this time we had gone 30+ miles since our last stop in Prescott and I was rather hungry so I had a small maple frosted doughnut from the Bakery and then made myself a peanut butter-oatmeal cookie-apple butter sandwich when the van showed up.

From lunch we climbed a small hill before beginning our decent down into a small town called Congress. The view at the top of the hill before the decent was rather amazing as everything below looked extremely miniaturized. The rest of the ride was mostly flat and we were able to reach Wickenburg by noon.

Once in town our first stop was at the Wickenburg library where we stopped to check our email and take care of a few things before heading over to the church. Our host in Wickenburg was St. Albans Church and they opened their fellowship hall for us to use while also letting us use a couple of rooms down stairs that had extremely soft carpeting which made for comfortable sleeping! When we arrived at the church we took turns taking showers with the hose in the small courtyard and rested as we waited for all of our teammates to arrive.

Late afternoon a woman named Marcia stopped by to share her experience with Leukemia with us as part of the Portrait Project. Marcia is an artist and also shared some of her work with us. She also gave us each two postcards which she had made. If you get a chance you can check out some of her work on her website at YellowMoon Rising. As we were talking with Marcia the pastor’s wife stopped by with pizza for dinner. While we were eating dinner she left and went to the grocery store where she bought us apples, oranges and bananas along with pretzels and chips to go with the cookies Marcia had brought us for dessert! A special thank you to both women for their generosity in making sure we were fed properly! After dinner we spent a little more time talking with Marcia about how cancer has impacted her life before she headed home for the night. We will be back in Wickenburg in three days and hope to be able to visit her home and see her peace poll then. It’s getting late and we have a long ride to Chandler tomorrow so I’m heading to bed. Goodnight!

One Flat, Two Flat...

2007-07-25T23:57:00.000-04:00

Day 62: Chino Valley, AZ

Today’s ride was a rather easy and good despite the fact that I got my first two flats of the trip – both within a 20 mile stretch! Congrats go out to Keith on being the lone survivor in the no flats club!

We got to sleep in an extra hour this morning due to the fact that the Pine Country Restaurant where we ate lunch yesterday, loved us so much they decided to have us back for breakfast at 5:30 am! The generosity of the people we meet continues to amaze me and the Pine Country Restaurant is definitely one awesome place in my book. I enjoyed a delicious Cinnamon Roll French Toast breakfast that came with sausage and scrambled eggs along with coffee. (Yes, French Toast!) After breakfast Zach had the famous Mosher card and did the daily Mosher inspiration/quote before saying goodbye as he left for the final time before he rejoins us in San Diego.

Shortly before 7:00 am I set off with Jon, Andrew and Sehee. The first 20 miles of the ride was all highway as I-40 was the only way to Ash Fork. There was quite a bit of metal and other garbage along the side of the highway and when I got to our water stop in Ash Fork I noticed my back tire appeared a little soft so I added some air. After the water stop we headed south on SR 89 for about 26 miles. Just about a mile before we reached our third water stop in Paulden I encountered my first flat tire. I was going down a hill when my front tire suddenly started making a zipping sound. I knew immediately what it was and yelled to the guys ahead to stop. (The photo on the left is the site of flat #1 - AZ SR89 South Mile 340) Having seen flats changed numerous times but never having actually changed a flat myself Jon, Sehee and Andrew assisted me. They pulled a piece of glass and a small pebble out of the tire before I finished changing the tube. We then continued on to Paulden where we found numerous people changing flat tires at the water stop – apparently it was a day for flats. After everyone was set and ready to go we made our way toward Chino Valley. The dark sky finally opened up just as we arrived in Chino Valley so Jon, Andrew, Sehee and I pulled into Walgreens to take shelter and get directions to the library where we were meeting everyone for lunch. As we were leaving Walgreens I noticed that my back tire was now completely flat and because I had used my one tube already I did not have another one on me. Jon, Andrew and Sehee then left to go track down Sean who was driving the van and see if I could get another tube out of my bag. While waiting I noticed Sean drive by in the support van and turn into the Safeway across the street. Once at Safeway I found Sean and Drew (who had also gotten a flat) and retrieved a spare tube from my bag before they headed back to the library to provide lunch to the rest of the team. Thankfully I was able to change the back flat myself, pulling three staples out of the tire before changing the tube. After changing the tire I headed to the library for lunch covered in dirt and grease.

At the library I ate a quick lunch and used the internet for a few minutes before departing for the church to unpack the van. Sean, Keith, Dan, Drew and I all needed things from a bike shop and since we were unable to locate one in Chino Valley we headed 15 miles south to Prescott, AZ where we found High Gear Bicycle Shop. After the piece of glass went through my front tire today leaving a rather large gap I figured I could probably use a new tire. I had purchased a spare in Springdale, UT that I could use on the front. Despite the three staples and almost 5,000 total miles the back tire still looked ok however I decided to play on the safe side and purchase a spare to have on hand. I also purchased new break pads as my back breaks were wearing a bit thin.

When we got back to the church Allison and Andrew left to go find dinner and came back with personal pizzas, watermelon and ice cream! Alex and I added to the food supply by making the Christmas cookies that we were unable to make in Williams because the oven was broken.

Tomorrow morning it is off to Wickenburg at 5:00 AM!

Christmas in July

2007-07-24T23:58:00.000-04:00

Day 61: Williams, AZ

Hello and Merry Christmas! Today is July 24th and we are celebrating Christmas in July! We would have celebrated on July 25th but Zach leaves us tomorrow morning and we wanted to share our Christmas in July festivities with him.

This morning we woke up at the Grand Canyon packed up camp and enjoyed Peanut Butter and Jelly for breakfast before getting on the road toward Williams, Arizona. It was my day to drive so after the group left I did one final sweep of the campsite to make sure nothing was forgotten before getting on the road. I had company in the van today as Zach is still with us so we enjoyed some old school songs on my iPod as we got on the road. Let's just say my music collection from HS was merged into my iTunes collection and thus are on my iPod.

At our first water stop just past Tusayan I had Brandt check the van as the speedometer had not been working. After a few minutes he was able to get it working however noticed that the gas seemed low so after making sure everyone was set I headed back to Tusayan to put some gas in the tank. Gas in Tusayan was $3.69, knowing that was a bit on the steep side due to Tusayan being right outside the Canyon I opted to only put enough in to get us to our destination.

The next place I met up with the group was in Valle, Arizona at Flintstone Bedrock City where part of the group stopped to take photos while others stopped across the street to wrestle the giant bear statue and visit the gas station. After stopping for a few minutes at Bedrock City I proceeded on a few miles before pulling over and waiting for the group to catch up, after they passed me I continued on to Red Lake (eight miles outside of Williams) where I waited for everyone before heading into Williams.

Once in Williams Zach and I found the church fairly easily and then found the rest of the team at a thrift shop where they were shopping for Christmas in July gifts. For our Christmas in July celebration we had each picked a name out of a hat while in Monticello, UT and had to find a gift for our person under $5.00. Upon hearing what we were doing the woman in the thrift store offered to let us borrow whatever we wanted and told us she would pick it up at our host church the following day. Alex, Allison and I all decided we would dress up for our Christmas in July dinner and each picked out dresses to wear. I also found a CD of Christmas music to play. While I was in the thrift shop Dan arrived and told me that Drew had a flat and needed a lift. I found Drew sitting alongside the road with Keith about six miles outside of Williams patiently waiting for my arrival. After loading Drew’s bike on the roof and giving Keith my cell phone in case he needed anything Drew and I drove on to Williams chalking the way for Keith.

When we arrived back at the Church we found the majority of the team there waiting and were informed that Alex had gotten the Pine Country Restaurant around the corner to donate lunch. We then walked to the restaurant where we were allowed to order anything we wanted for lunch and then pie for dessert! I got a turkey melt for lunch with potato salad and then coconut cream pie for dessert – it was very good and we all left the restaurant full. Before leaving we took a photo with the owner outside the restaurant (photo left) and then headed back to the church. We had been unable to get in touch with the pastor so we hung out on the front steps for awhile letting our food digest and hiding from the rain. While we waited Anish, Nick and Jon went to try and find showers and were successful as the Williams Aquatic Center said we could use their showers. I drove the van over to the Aquatic Center so people could get their stuff out and then walked back to the church to give everyone there directions (it was literally just around the corner). When I got back to the Aquatic Center Anish and Nick were done with their showers so Nick waited with the van while I went in to shower. After I showered I collected everyone’s stuff in the van and headed back to the church.

We were still trying to get in touch with the pastor of the church and I was also waiting for Mark to call from the grocery store as he and Mike were cooking Christmas dinner and had rode their bikes to the store to pick out the food. While I waited I decided to head back to the thrift shop to browse as it was just around the corner. The lady that runs the store recognized me from earlier and asked if we had gotten into the church yet. When I replied that we were still trying to get a hold of the pastor she made a few phone calls and got someone from the church to come unlock it for us as the pastor was not in town. I then headed back to the church once again and shortly after I got there a woman named Julia showed up to open the church. After unloading the van I headed to Safeway to pick up Mark’s dinner groceries and transport them back to the church. While dinner was being prepared I helped Alex do a little Christmas decorating, wrapped my secret Santa gift and got dressed in the black dress that I had borrowed from the thrift store. Alex and Allison also got dressed up in their dresses while Nick was dressed as Santa - white beard and all!

Dinner consisted of carrots, greens, rice and chicken with hot apple cider to drink. We then had Mark’s cookies and milk for dessert! After we were done eating we took turns going around the table passing out our gifts. I was Sean’s “secret Santa” and had gotten him a book on Cactus’s from the Grand Canyon, a sesame street Christmas coloring book (he and Andrew had a good time coloring in Hite, UT), crayons, silly putty, a little toy I found that looked like a giant Lego man, and a candy bar. Mike was my Santa and gave me a pair of sunglasses, a Cactus Egg Greenhouse and Sour Jelly Belly’s (Mark’s nickname for me is Sour Sandy). And that was our Christmas in July. Goodnight and Merry Christmas eve!

The following photos are from our Christmas in July celebration.

Grand Canyon - Part II The Grocery Store

2007-07-23T00:14:00.000-04:00

Day 60: (Off Day) Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim

This morning I woke up at 5:00 am in order to get a little hiking in before heading to a Canon Photography workshop at 9:00 am. Our early morning hiking group consisting of Anish, Nick, Jon, Zach, Alex, Sehee and myself reached the top of the Bright Angel trail at 6:15 am. Around 7:00 am Sehee and I turned around in order to head back up and get to the photography workshop. We did not know how long the hike up would take and decided to play it safe however we reached the top a lot faster than expected and decided to go get coffee before heading over to the Canon Workshop.

The workshop was free and sponsored by Canon meaning they let us use all their top of the line equipment (while they held on to our credit cards as collateral.) Unfortunately it started raining right after they started talking about the Histogram and we had to turn the cameras in. While using the cameras we were allowed to take as many photos as our memory card would hold (mine held 111 photos) and they then burnt all of our photos onto a CD for us to keep while also printing one photo onto a photo postcard. I ended up taking over 70 photos while Sehee ended up with 13 after he deleted many of his.

After the photo workshop we went to the grocery store where I bought Raisin English Muffins, Apple Butter and a bottle of milk for lunch before heading back to the campsite. We had just begun to eat our lunch when it started pouring. With everyone else still out and about Sehee and I quickly gathered everybody’s stuff and threw it into the tents and van before seeking shelter for ourselves. Just as we were finishing gathering the stuff Dan, Drew and Brandt came running back to check on their things which they had left out. They were very thankful to find their stuff safely dry in the van with the exception of Brandt’s sleeping back which we missed as it was on the picnic table of a neighboring campsite where he slept the night before.

I then headed to Post Office to mail some postcards before catching the bus to the Yavapai Observation Station. About five minutes after I got there it started raining harder and began thundering sending me back to the grocery store where I bought a cup of French Vanilla/Hot Chocolate and sat with Anish, Nick, Sean, Andrew, Jon and Zach at the Canyon Village Deli for the next six hours. We spent the time refilling our cups of hot chocolate (numerous times), eating, reading magazines and books from the magazine/book area and trying to figure out Zach’s brain teaser games. Around 6:00 pm I left the grocery store to head over to the Shrine of the Ages where the people from Canon were doing a wildlife photo slideshow and were also handing out our photo CDs from the morning.

Following the wildlife slideshow I returned to the grocery store where I found everyone right where they were when I left. I then bought myself a grocery store dinner that consisted of a frozen pizza burrito which I was able to warm using my cup of very hot, hot chocolate. At 7:45 pm we all finally left the grocery store heading back to camp for a team meeting at 8:00 pm before heading to bed.

Grand Canyon - Part I

2007-07-22T23:06:00.000-04:00

Day 59: Grand Canyon, AZ

Hello from the Grand Canyon! Today’s ride from Cameron was a nice change from recent days as we had cloud cover keeping it cool throughout the ride. My legs felt good today and considering we were on an uphill grade most of the way into the canyon we made excellent time. Our entire group was together at the first water stop before breaking off into groups so that we could enter the Grand Canyon staggered.

My riding group for the day consisted of Anish, Allison, Nick, Seheee and Alex. A few miles from the canyon a group of motorcyclist had passed us and as we approached the “Welcome to the Grand Canyon” sign we saw them stopped alongside the road. We thought this would be an awesome opportunity for a photo and stopped to ask if we could take a photo with them which they happily obliged, posing for a group photo with our small riding group.

After paying our entrance fees at the entrance we headed to the first viewpoint to check out what we had been anticipating for days. It was a rather cloudy day so while the view was not quite as I had imagined it would be I was still in awe at the size of the canyon. After spending about half and hour at the viewpoint Allison, Anish and I decided we would head toward the campground in the Grand Canyon Village with the sky looking like it could pour at any given second. When we reached the village we made a quick stop at Mather Point before continuing on to the village where we found Jon, Mike and Sean sitting at the Grocery store dinning area eating. With it being lunch time I went and bought a Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal bar and small bottle of milk to hold me over until the van reached the village. When the van arrived we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly along with numerous other interesting combinations of sandwiches. Sean made an amazing discovery in that you could buy a small cup of hot chocolate for $1.27 and refill it as many times you wanted throughout the day so with it being a cool day we also enjoyed hot chocolate with our lunch.

As more and more of our riders started arriving at the grocery store some laid down to take naps while a few of us began plotting out possible hikes we could take before dinner. After settling on a shorter hike we headed toward the campground with the van to set up our tents in hopes that we would still have time to hike. When we reached the campground we found Mark and his father there waiting for us along with Allison and Mike. Mark had taken a two day hiatus from riding to spend some time with his father. Dr. Landreneau offered to treat the team to pizza for dinner so while we set up camp Mark and his father ran to pick up pizza. There was not enough time to hike before dinner so Zach, Alex and I took a walk up to the grocery store so Alex could get quarters to shower and then stopped at the showers before returning to camp. When we got back to camp Mark and his father were there with many varieties of pizza for us to enjoy. Then knowing our team Mark goes over to a bag and pulls out three cartons of ICE CREAM for dessert! (Thank you Dr. Landreneau for providing us with this awesome meal!) After dinner a group of us sat and talked with Dr. Landreneau before he and Mark left to head back to Tusayan for the night. We then headed to bed with an early hike planned for the morning.

Cameron, Arizona

2007-07-21T23:38:00.001-04:00

Day 58: Cameron, AZ

We are now in Cameron, Arizona and staying at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Today’s ride was a hot one as we rode 75 miles in extreme heat. We departed camp in Lees Ferry as soon as the sun was up and were on the road shortly after 5:00 am. We got a pleasant surprise at breakfast when Mark showed up with a box of homemade Cookies! Mark’s father had flown in from Louisiana to spend a few days with him and had brought and entire suitcase full of homemade cookies made by Mrs. Landreneau. Mark had spent the night at a motel (the only motel) with his father in Marble Canyon but had woken up early to bring us all a special treat! Cookies are always a welcome addition to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

Once we got on the road it got hot fast and most people had finished both of their water bottles by our first water stop at mile 18. After our second water stop at mile 30 Alex, Sehee and I made an exciting discovery alongside the road while riding. We found FOOD! Now while the thought of eating food off the side of the road may gross the majority of people out you have to understand, we are in the middle of the desert, it’s day 58, and we’ve been living off of peanut butter & jelly, pasta, and ugali for the most part. So we reacted like little children at the sight of FREE snack food dropping our bikes on the side of the road and running back to check it out. Meanwhile… Andrew who was driving the van and had just given us water at the water stop five miles back comes driving by with Zach. I can only imagine what they thought as they approached us scurrying around on the side of the road jumping up and down at our discovery! Among our findings were unopened boxes of Cheese-It, Triscuit, Wheat Thins, Gram Crackers and a new sealed jar of Strawberry Jelly. Thankfully Andrew came by just as we were pondering how we were going to carry our findings and we threw it all into the van.

Our next stop was in a small town called Gap where I stocked up on fluid downing a small 12 oz. jug of 2% milk and a peach Snapple while also eating a Reese’s Fast Break bar for some quick sugar energy. Alex, Sehee and I left Gap and cruised the next 16 miles to our lunch stop where we stopped for about five minutes before continuing on to Cameron. When we reached Cameron we stopped at a Shell station to ask for directions. Once we got to the church we found that it was locked and that the pastor would not be returning until late in the evening so we sat in the shade of the front overhang for awhile before a group of us headed to the grocery store to buy food for dinner.

While we were at the store Alex called and said that she had gone next door to the Church of Latter Day Saints to use the bathroom and upon hearing what we were doing they invited us all to stay at their church and that they would feed us as they were just wrapping up an outdoor barbeque in celebration of Pioneer Day and had food left over! After checking out at the grocery store we headed over to the Church of Latter Day Saints (which was right next door to the first church we had talked to) and enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, chips and fruit. We spent quite a while talking with members of the church after we ate before they put on a small music program which Dan took part in playing the guitar. There were numerous young children at the church all of whom seemed to have a great time throwing water balloons around outside with a few of our riders.

Around 8:30 pm we began to head to bed with another 4:00 am wake up in the morning as we head to our final National Park the Grand Canyon!

Rising Temperatures...

2007-07-20T22:34:00.000-04:00

Day 57: Marble Canyon, AZ

Tonight we are camping out once again, this time near Marble Canyon, Arizona at Lees Ferry – right on the Colorado River.

This morning we got an unexpectedly early wake up as some of our cell phones didn’t register the time change from Mountain Time to Pacific leading those on wake up duty to think it was 4:00 am when it was actually only 3:00 am. I had changed my watch to Pacific Time the night before so I could only laugh when I looked at it and it said 3:00 am. After double checking the time I promptly laid back down and fell back to sleep until it actually was 4:00 am.

I enjoyed oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast along with Birthday Cake which Allison had bought to celebrate Mark’s birthday.

We took full advantage of the fact that we had crossed time zones without going west and were on the road by 5:00 am! The first 30 miles involved a bit of climbing before we stopped at Jacob Lake for a short “snack break”. From Jacob’s Lake we descended into a valley where we stopped alongside the road at mile 50 for a van lunch of peanut butter and jelly or baloney. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich along with a raisin bagel that I had left over from the package I had bought in Zion.

After lunch we continued about 15 miles to Cliff Dwellers where we stopped to refill our water bottles before the final 10 mile ride to Marble Canyon. It was extremely hot today so when my group reached Marble Canyon we found the first group who had bypassed lunch in an attempt to beat the heat eating at a small restaurant and another group of riders enjoying slushies and ice cream at the gas station. The van had missed everyone and gone past Marble Canyon so Jon, Nick and Sehee set off to find the campsite four miles down the road at Lees Ferry and check to see if the van was there. When they did not return after a little while the rest of our team began departing for Lees Ferry in small groups. After the majority of our group reached the campground we set up our tents before heading down to the Colorado River to cool off.

With the temperature hovering near 110 degrees the extremely cold water felt good. Zach had asked Alex and I to cannonball into the water however there was no dock so we decided that we would just run straight into the water without feeling it. After Alex and I ran into the water Anish, Nick, Jon and Sehee who were sitting on the shore did the same along with Zach. A few other members of our team showed up to test the waters before we all headed back up to camp where Mike and Mark had fixed us spaghetti for dinner. Sean and I were on dish duty tonight and cleaned up after dinner.

The view from where we are camping tonight is amazing but because we are surrounded by red rock cliffs it also makes it extremely hot. So hot that when we turn on the water spicket only hot water comes out! We actually took our water bottles down to the river to cool the water while we swam this afternoon. I’m hoping to get to bed by 8:00 pm tonight with a 72 mile ride and 4:00 am wake up tomorrow morning.

Hello Arizona!

2007-07-19T22:26:00.000-04:00

Day 56: Fredonia, Arizona!

Hello from Arizona! We have now left Utah as our ride today took us from Zion National Park to Fredonia, Arizona.

This morning we awoke at 5:00 am, packed up camp and ate breakfast before forming groups to shuttle out of the park. We were forced to use the van to shuttle out of the park as bicycles are not allowed in one of the tunnels in the middle of the parks eastern entrance route.

We could really smell the wildfires burning this morning as the winds had shifted and were blowing the smoke from the fires in the northern part of the park southward.

I was in the second group to shuttle out of the park along with Brandt, Keith and Dan. Allison was driving the van today and shuttled us through the first tunnel before dropping us off and going back to get the next group. After getting dropped off we rode about six miles, leaving the park and stopping at the Zion Trading Post where we met up with the first group of riders and got coffee while waiting for the final two groups to arrive. After shuttling the final group of riders through the tunnel Allison had to return to camp one final time to pick up Zach and load all of our gear.

I left the Trading Post with Dan and Jon continuing on to Mt. Carmel Jct. where we stopped at a gas station for water before continuing on to Kanab, UT (our last stop in Utah) where we stopped at the Library to use the internet and eat lunch. Jon taught me how to use the big gear on my bike today while riding the hills between Mt. Carmel Jct. and Kanab. The big gear is a gear that I honestly had ignored until this point, to me it just always seemed to make it harder to pedal but today I learned how to use it going downhill. I must say it seems to make everything else soooo much easier! Thank you Jon!

Around 3:30 pm I left the library with Jon, Nick and Keith and headed to a thrift shop in Kanab to do some Christmas in July shopping. I found a few little things that I could use along with a Santa hat for Nick as he plans to dress up as Santa for our festivities in Williams, Arizona on July 25th!

From Kanab the ride to Fredonia was extremely short as Kanab basically sits on the Utah side of the Utah/Arizona border and Fredonia on the Arizona side. When we crossed the state line we stopped for a photo next to the Welcome to Arizona sign, propping my camera up on my bike in self-timer mode so we could all be included. From the welcome to Arizona sign it was about two miles to the Trinity Church of God where we were staying in Fredonia. The pastor was outside waiting for us when we got there and took us inside to give us a tour of the building. The building smelt of fresh popcorn as the pastor had made us fresh popcorn in the church’s movie theater style popcorn machine and gave us permission to make more (which we did numerous times throughout the night!)

We then talked with the pastor for awhile as we waited for the rest of our team to arrive. When the van arrived we unpacked it and enjoyed popcorn while Drew and Keith made Taco’s for dinner. After dinner I walked to the pastor’s home for a real shower before heading back to the church for a team meeting. After dinner I walked to the gas station in front of the church with Anish, Allison and Zach to get ice cream! I got Cookies & Cream in a cone – which was very good! Later on that night the pastor’s wife sent a plate of fresh chocolate chip cookies over to the church and we enjoyed them along with our popcorn and hot chocolate before heading to bed. So far Arizona has been very good to us!

Zion National Park - Part II

2007-07-18T23:00:00.000-04:00

Day 55 (Off day, Zion National Park) - This morning Jon, Anish, Nick, Alex, Zach, Sehee and I all awoke at 5:30 am in order to hit the trails early for a day of hiking. Our designation, the top of the Angels Landing trail. We took the shuttle to the start of the trail to begin our hike. Jon and Zach hiked ahead while the rest of us took our time exploring the caves in the rocks on our way up. When we reached the final part of the climb we were basically using the metal chains to pull ourselves up the rocks. When we got to the top the view was amazing looking down on the canyon below, and well worth the climb.

After taking a break at the top we headed back down the trail. About halfway down we got a scare when we heard two children screaming at the top of their lungs. Not knowing exactly what was going on Nick started running back up the trail until a woman around the corner pointed down trail and shouted that she thought a man was having a heart attack. Nick took off down the trail while Anish dialed 911 and the rest of our hiking group followed them. We were at the top of a switch back trail when we heard the screams and the man and his family were about halfway up the same switch back so we were unable to see anything until we reached them. When we arrived the man was conscious and appeared a bit dehydrated but insisted that he would be ok. We let the park officials who had answered the 911 call know where the man and his family were in the trail and made sure they had water before leaving them to continue our hike downward. When we got to the bottom of the trail we were met by a park ranger who was on his way to check out the situation. He asked us a few questions before beginning his trek up the trail. (I don't know if the family finished hiking the Angels Landing trail or not but I did see them later in the day while hiking the Riverside Walk trail so I know the man made it back down ok.)

We took the shuttle back to camp and then Anish, Sehee and I headed to the grocery store to buy food for lunch where I got a bagel and ice cream (no I didn't eat the ice cream on the bagel but maybe I'll try that sometime!). By this point it was mid-afternoon and the majority of our group was scattered, either off hiking, sleeping or escaping the warm temperatures someplace in town. I hung around the campsite for a little while writing some postcards before setting off to explore more of Zion.

After stopping at the Zion Welcome Center to mail my postcards I took the shuttle up the canyon getting on and off to take pictures along the way. When I reached the top of the canyon I headed to do the Riverside Walk and found Jon there as well. The Riverside Walk leads to a number of trails in the upper part of the canyon, some of which were closed due to the wildfires currently burning in the park.

When we returned to camp we found dinner ready and ugali waiting for us. All in all an adventurous day in Zion!

Zion National Park

2007-07-17T23:38:00.000-04:00

Day 54 - Today we rode from Cedar City to Springdale, Utah and Zion National Park. With a 5 AM wake up we were able to get on the road around 6 AM. Today's ride was fairly easy as the grade was downhill the majority of the way and my group reached Springdale (just outside of Zion) by 11:30 AM - just in time for some PBJ! After lunch we broke into groups to enter the park a few at a time. After finding our campsite we unloaded the van before jumping on the shuttle to head up the canyon a bit where we found a swimming spot in the Virgin River that runs through the park. The water was cold but very refreshing. When we got back to camp we enjoyed a delicious dinner of Spaghetti, bread and watermelon prepared by Nick, Alex and Sehee. Many of us headed to bed early as we will rise early tomorrow to hike Angels Landing before it gets warm.

Photo Update!

2007-07-16T16:14:00.000-04:00

The group gathers before departing Natural Bridges National Monument.

Jon, Sehee and Nick en route to Hite, Utah.
Andrew and Sean show of their artwork in Hite - this is talent!
Me and Alex pose next to the summit of one of our climbs in Utah.
Making Smore's while camping out on our rest day in Escalante, Utah.
Zach, Nick and Alex in the river during our first climbing day in Colorado.
Me, Drew, Alicia, Zach and Brandt fighting rapids in the river in Salida, Colorado.
The Illini4000 and the Johns Hopkins 4K before saying our goodbyes near Telluride.
The Illini4000 with our hosts in Telluride, CO.
Welcome to Utah - thats Alex and Nick atop the sign.

The ups and downs of Utah...

2007-07-16T14:52:00.004-04:00

Days 45-52:

Hello! It's been over a week since I last touched a computer (YES - life does go on without the Internet!). Since my last update we have entered into the HOT State of Utah, seen many amazing sites and changed up our schedule a bit.

We entered into Utah on July 8th, making our first stop at the First Baptist Church in Monticello, Utah. Drew and Keith had discovered an ice cream stop in Monticello at lunch time so after dinner Drew, Keith, Dan and I headed to Woody's for massive amounts of ice cream! I got Moose Tracks with Cookies-n-Cream sandwiched in the middle while Drew and Dan each went four four giant scoops while Keith topped us all with his five flavor, five scoop mountain of ice cream - which I must say he did finish! (See photo)

From Monticello we rode to Natural Bridges National Park. After realizing how hot it was and that we had limited resources we decided as a team to continue riding the following day rather than spend an off day in Natural Bridges. Nick, Sehee and I got up early the next morning to see the Bridge Arches before we departed while Alex caught up to us on her bike while we were out sightseeing.

After leaving Arches we headed to Hite, Utah where we enjoyed the afternoon swimming in Lake Powell escaping the extreme heat - with very little shade. Jon, Nick, Alex, Mike and I all decided to swim across the lake to explore the rock cliff on the other side - it didn't seem very far from shore but ended up being a good workout. We spent over an hour on the other side of the lake before Alex and Mike swam over to join Nick in a little cliff jumping.

On Wednesday we left Hite headed to the tiny town of Caneville, Utah. We got up early leaving Hite at 5:30 AM in an effort to beat the heat. We arrived in Hanksville, Utah around 10:30 AM where many of us enjoyed lunch and milkshakes at Stan's Burger Shak. Around noon while some of the team slept in the booths at Stan's others got back on the road bound for Caneville. About halfway to our designation we stopped at a little organic farm/market called Mesa Market where some people had melon smoothies and I had an iced coffee. We spent over an hour at Mesa Market listening as the owner Randy told us story after story before we headed out. We had planned on spending the night at a campground west of Caneville however as we were preparing our dinner the owner showed up and told us we would have to leave due to "facility problems". Mark contacted Randy at Mesa Market who informed us of a spot we could camp at five miles down the road on public land off the side of the road. The site was very sandy so we ended up using large rocks to hold down our tent as the tent stakes were not holding. All was well until it got very windy and started pouring in the middle of the night causing some of the rocks to come loose. There were people sleeping outside who jumped into the tents when the rain came as we all tried to stay dry. It turned into a very muddy morning as the tents and much of our stuff were covered with sand.

On the 12th we headed to Escalante, Utah riding 85 miles on the day. We choose to combine two days in favor of a rest day in Escalante and dropping our stop in Dixie National Forest. The morning involved a climb before a 10 mile decent into lunch at a gas station in the small town of Boulder, Utah. After lunch I headed toward Escalante with Drew. We climbed for awhile before passing over the hogs back which provided an amazing view. Riding over the hogs back was almost like a video game where your riding over a small strip of road up in the air. The drops from both sides of the road were hundreds of feet and you could see miles in each direction. Nick took a video of it on Alex's camera which can be seen here. After riding over the hogs back we rode through a canyon and had one more climb before our decent into Escalante. The people at Escalante Outfitters were kind enough to let us stay at their very nice campground that had facilities including SHOWERS! (Our first showers since Monticello!) It was Sean and my turn to cook dinner so Sean made spaghetti and sauce while I went to the store to buy bread, fruit and ice tea to go with the dinner.

It was nice to sleep in the next morning as we hadn't had a day off since Westcliffe, Colorado on July 2nd. A group of us went to breakfast at a small place downtown where I had an amazing cheese omelet with hash browns and toast. I'd forgotten how nice it is to eat a warm breakfast as I'm so use to peanut butter and jelly. I spent the majority of our rest day just hanging around camp. We got yet another rain shower (with hail too!) mid-afternoon. So much for it never raining in Utah!

The next day we headed to Panguitch, Utah. Our lunch stop was near Bryce Canyon and a group of us decided to venture to see the Canyon after lunch. It was hot and I was unsure if I wanted to go at first but upon seeing the view from Bryce Point it was worth it and I was glad Alex talked me into it! When we reached Panguitch we learned that Allison had hooked us up with a church to spend the night in and dinner at Cowboy's Smokehouse Cafe where they provided us with an amazing meal. I had an appetizer platter of chicken wings, quesadillas, potato skins and jalapeno bites along with cottage cheese and potato salad. After dinner we headed to a free horse roping contest downtown. We stayed there until dusk before heading back to the church to get some rest.

That brings me up to Cedar City, Utah where we are today. We arrived in Cedar City yesterday and after a grueling 35+ mile climb enjoyed an amazing 20 mile decent. I'm not kidding when I say I went 20 miles without pedaling - it was awesome! For me the climb was one of the hardest yet as the dry air of Utah has been bothering me and my calves kept cramping. Nick and Jon got a grocery store to donate food for dinner last night so we all enjoyed our own personal pizza and then had ice cream for dessert. About 10 of us then went to the movie theatre near the church where we are staying for an Illini4000 movie night. Allison, Mike, Mark and Anish all went to see Transformers while Alex, Andrew, Nick, Sean, Sehee and I all went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was good although at that point I was so tired I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, its a good thing today is a rest day!

Now it's lunch time so I think I'll go grab something to eat.

Till next time,

Sandra

Montrose, Colorado

2007-07-05T16:46:00.000-04:00

Hello, from the library in Montrose! We are now in Montrose, Colorado after enjoying the Fourth of July in Gunnison. The 4th started with a nice little climb up Monarch Pass (elevation 11,312 feet) and ended with fire trucks and fireworks.

The climb up Monarch Pass was not nearly as tough as I anticipated - it was a good climb but rather gradual and when you ride with the Caboose the rides are always fun! Anish and Nick
stopped for a swim in a stream midway up the mountain and once we reached the top we stopped to check out the view, get a team photo by the Monarch Pass sign (see photo in Allison's blog) and do a little rock climbing.

I chose to climb the "little hill" across from the Monarch Pass visitors center with Zach and Alicia. We thought we could take a short cut and catch a trail that switched back but it ended up not switching back so we continued to climb the gravel and rocks until we reached a point where there was only gravel above and we could go no higher so we ended up climbing back down.

Once we reached the flat ground safety I headed toward Gunnison. Midway down the mountain it started to rain and the wind picked up making for a "fun" chilly ride down however 10 minutes later the sun was out and it was hot again... gotta love the weather!

Once I reached St. Peter's Parish Center where we were staying in Gunnison, Keith and I headed to the supermarket to buy groceries to make dinner. (Actually Keith made dinner and I treated the team to strawberry shortcake for our 4th of July dessert!) While we were eating dinner we smelt something burning and after checking to make sure it wasn't coming from the Kitchen we realized it was coming from the lighting fixture near the ceiling, prompting Jon to call 911 and have the fire department come check it out. After a 15 minute or so evacuation they told us everything was ok and just not to turn on the one set of lights until they could be replaced.

The night ended with fireworks in downtown Gunnison!

That's all for now,

Till next time,

Sandra

Also, Danielle if you read this - you and your family are in my thoughts.

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-03T14:52:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th of July from me and Uncle Sam!!!

A day early as I'm not sure I will have access to a computer tomorrow.

Mountains!

2007-07-03T14:42:00.001-04:00

We have reached the mountains and are currently in Salida, Colorado en route to Poncha Springs where we will be staying tonight. The mountains are a nice change from the Corn and Wheat fields of Kansas.

Our first day in the mountains was Sunday in which we traveled from Pueblo to Westcliffe. I rode with the back group and we took our time enjoying a swim in a stream a pop tart party and some rock climbing before reaching our destination in Westcliffe.

The ride was not nearly as hard as I anticipated it to be as we slowly wound through the mountains reaching the top where Alex, Nick and I had a pop tart party before we began our decent to the bottom.

We spent Monday in Westcliffe, CO a beautiful little town nestled in the mountains relaxing and taking care of things that needed to get done.

My computer time is running out so...

Till next time,

Sandra

Pueblo!

2007-06-30T16:41:00.000-04:00

Hello from Pueblo, Colorado! We arrived in Pueblo this morning and can now see the mountains ahead of us! We spent last night at the Sugar City Baptist Chapel in Sugar City, CO where they provided us with an amazing dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread along with ice cream and popcorn for dessert and then an amazing breakfast this morning of biscuits with sausage gravy and pancakes! Thank you to all the people of Sugar City for your wonderful hospitality. Sugar City may be a tiny town but I will not forget it!

Today's ride was another short one (57 miles) however I did manage to get lost in Pueblo and add another eight miles onto the ride with a tour of the northern edge of the city. Luckily I ran into Anish and Jon on my way back toward the southern side of town and after asking for directions a couple of time we were able to find the library where we were meeting for lunch. (Also where I'm blogging from right now!)

Tomorrow we hit the mountains - our first real climbing since the Ozarks in Missouri! I'm excited for the challenge right now however time will tell if I feel the same way 10 miles into the climb! That all to report for now.

Till next time,

Sandra

A few photos...

2007-06-28T18:08:00.001-04:00

And now for some photos since this computer is uploading my photos at a fast speed...

Alex and Jon from atop the lookout tower!
We were stranded at a closed store in the middle of a storm!
Hey Hunt Brothers want to sponsor us? (Drew, Alex, Nick and Jon)James Goodbye Dinner at Time Out Pizza in Ash Grove, Missouri. (James and Nick)

The group at Time Out Pizza! Thank you to Time Out Pizza of Ash Grove, Missouri for a wonderful dinner!

Video III

2007-06-28T18:05:00.000-04:00

This was at Hedrick's Bed & Breakfast Inn and Exotic Animal Farm just outside of Hutchingson, Kansas. Here Sehee is teasing an Ostrich.

Thank You!

2007-06-28T17:57:00.000-04:00

As I know my donors have not been update since early May, I would like to thank the following people for making generous donations to our cause!

Sport Tech of Oneonta, NY
Medical Coaches
Carol and Brian Drew
Nan and John Moxley
Loyal Order of The Moose 465
Cavanagh-Wright
Pickett Building
Emipre Toyota
Les Grummons
Weigel's Auto
Otsego Automotive
William Shue
Len Reynolds
The United Methodist Men - Davenport, NY

If there is anyone I have forgotten just drop me an email and I'll add you to my list.

Video II

2007-06-28T17:49:00.000-04:00

The Illini4000 on the move. This is from June 24 en route to Rush Center, Kansas!

Colorado

2007-06-28T17:12:00.000-04:00

We have reached Colorado!!

Yesterday we crossed the Kansas/Colorado border and have officially reached the mountain state! I'm kind of excited to see the mountains after a week of flat corn and wheat fields. Yesterday morning started with another wonderful breakfast of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches before hitting the road at 7AM! About 18 miles into the ride we reached the Colorado border and stopped to take photos next to the Welcome to Colorado sign. Shortly after reaching Colorado we found our support van stopped along side the road at a elevator for a water break with many team members checking out the view from above. Riding through the plains you see many grain elevators as they are often a sign of the next town along with water towers. I did not climb as high as some of my teammates but did go up for a view from above.

Our ride consisted of just 59 miles (yes, 59 miles is considered a short day!) so we reached our designation - Eads, CO by lunch time and ate once we reached the Community Center/Fair Grounds where were are staying.

The people of Eads have been amazing as three churches combined to put on dinner last night at the community center serving a pot luck type of dinner of lasagna, pork, potato salad, along with many other delicious foods and desserts. We were able to spend dinner talking with many of the local residents getting to know a little about them and telling them about what are doing.

This morning we awoke to a delicious breakfast of Chocolate Chip pancakes, eggs, bacon made by Mark, Mike, Jon and Nick. It is always nice to get a hot breakfast on an off day after having peanut butter and jelly most mornings.

After breakfast I went to check out the local Art Gallery and then headed "downtown" where I visited a few small shops and stopped at the post office to send somethings I have not used home, before heading to the grocery store to buy English Muffins, cheese and tomato sauce and make English Muffin Pizza for lunch.

We are off to Ordway, CO tomorrow before we reach Pueblo on Saturday where the mountains start!

Till next time,

Sandra