The cycle downwards was outlined by vast canyon walls and inspired a full- width stretch of my facial muscles. Megan and I joined up with Caiti and Chelsea in Ten Sleep… A small town nestled below the mountain where we enjoyed snow cones before continuing the 30 miles into Worland Wyoming.

All in all it was a 90 mile day… quite greatly enjoyed. I rode for my family friends crew to inspire me over he mountains. It is incredible how supportive they have all been both in my 4k journey and my life in general. Thank you Jan, Jerry, Ann-Marie, Steve, Wendy, Mark, Helen, Ray, Rebecca, Scott F., Vicki, Bruce, Mary Kay, Scott M., Sharon, Dave… What an amazing network of exceedingly great people!

We stayed the night at the Worland Community Center Complex. It was a mail drop which means we all gorged ourselves on home baked goods and other sent treats.

A group of us briefly perused the town before grabbing some beta waves whilst sunk into the gym floor.

Emily taught me the lyrics to the Garth Brooks song “Rodeo” in preparation for Cody as we rode. In town we stopped at a river to swim before making our way to the host church. Dinner was meat loaf from a diner which when approached with our food requests simply removed the meatloaf special from their daily menu and gave it to us instead. So nice. We also had flagship cheese donated from an organic store and cherries from a local woman. Lovely stuff.

We attended the Cody Nite Rodeo which occurs nightly in the summer. I was thrilled to walk in and have the rodeo song I’d learned with Emily playing on the main speakers. It was definitely a new and interesting experience. We saw bareback horse bucking, bull riding, young kids riding steers, horse races, an event where from horseback individuals lasso calves and then jump off and hogtie them, young children run and grab ribbons off calves, little girls doing tricks atop double horses, a rodeo clown act… Probably more.

western scene at its finest

For dinner we prepared tortillas, rice, and beans. We continued to linger around the fire unto the night… A bit of musical improv, stories, etc.

Good day.

When the van retrieved us we stopped at the Grand canyon of yellowstone to admire it on our way. In West Yellowstone a handful of us went to the Laundry mat to use showers.

Casey’s step-brother works at the park so he and his girlfriend Kate met up with him and Kevin, Sam and I were lucky enough to go out with them at Wild west pizzeria and bar. They bought us appetizers and drinks and also stocked us up with non-perishable items for the team from a grocery store. Cool people… And so kind! much thanks to them for their generosity.

The night was spent at the Fire chiefs house- Scott Waldron. Upon our coming to the station to stay he instead invited us all to his home where he and us wife barbecued for us and provided us with excellent company. It is always a treat to be in a family home and with such great, kind people! Thank you Waldrons!!!

Rode with cross-country tour cyclists Zach and Catherine for awhile… Headed to Portland, their new home. We are now on the adventure cycling Lewis and Clark trail route so we have run into some other cross country cyclist groups… Fun to chat with.

Host was at a community center. We made pasta for dinner with garbanzo beans. We’ve behanging out on the front porch bench which over looks the small main street…Listening to tunes playing from the parked van… Good times with good people.

I rode today for Dean Christensen. Dean is an amazing individual whom I met while fundraising in Bellingham. He has been incredibly supportive and it was a joy to spend time with him at events. He too bikes… And does so in style… Rode with him briefly one night following his giant L.E.D. lit heart which trails behind his bicycle. Great guy… And a cancer survivor… Yay! Thanks Dean.

Upon reaching the East entrance of the park we waited for the van which shuttled us the rest of the way I to our campground at Bridge Bay. We forwent riding through the park in consideration of our safety along the road. We were the first shuttle group to arrive and when we got in we finished setting up tents, gathered firewood and played cards.

When everyone arrived we heated up soup for dinner and ate excessive amounts of chips and salsa which we had donated in mass.

A group of us later rode down to the nearby Yellowstone Lake where Jose, Johnny and I took a quick swim. Settling back into the sand a thunderstorm soon arose. Red lightning spread throughout the sky and dense amounts of rain fell upon us as we scurried to bike back to camp and secure our stuff undercover before grouping together within the tents.

Sumptuous day.

Was a van day for me. Sam and I rocked it. Same road all day… Driving, reading, sleeping. Beautiful. Went past Earthquake lake… Buried land in the 50 s. Again, Montana rocks.

Stayed the evening at Sheridan elementary school. Had a great meal in the yard at a fundraiser for the local hospital.

In Buffalo a handful of us caught the last couple bands at the Bighorn Mountain music festival… A weekend long bluegrass fest which was wrapping up as it was late Sunday afternoon. They let us in for free in exchange for helping clean up a bit at the close.

The closing band happened to be Northern Departure- a crew from the Seattle area turns out… Very cool… They are holding their own bluegrass festival in Seattle the weekend we get there… Hope to connect with them again.

At the festival our jigging attracted the attention of a lovely couple who works a Mexican food cart… Upon hearing of our cause they donated meals to us which were excellent. After putting away tables and chairs and chatting with festival folk we biked down to the city pool for a dip before heading back to the church to meet as a team.

Changed out the tire I tore through earlier in the day and hung out on the porch with people before heading to bed… Psyched to climb up some mountains tomorrow!

Our host in Gillette was the Campbell County Rec Center… They were immensely kind to us. They let us use their facility and we had a blast. We went swimming in their pool, used their hot tub and took part in their body water slide and their tube water slide which both wrapped around the outside of the building and were a lot of fun. We also experienced their whirl pool and tried walking across their floating inflatable course…. Fun times !

A handful of us asked and were granted access to their rock wall… The tallest in Wyoming… Did some top roping which was great fun.

Thank you thank you thank you to such warm hosts!

Further, we had dinner provided by the amazing women of the Eastern Order… It was a big spaghetti feed which I quite enjoyed.

After dinner most of us drove out to meet Linda… A woman Johnny had met earlier that day who invited us out to her ranch. Very cool to find such spontaneous hospitality.

It is a beautiful peace of land- 4000 acres in the sprawling Wyoming wilderness… Cattle, elk, horses… Linda allowed us to try riding one of her horses bare back which was an awesome experience… She and her husband Bob were incredibly kind, cool people. We sat out on their porch and watched as thousands of stars appeared whilst Linda made us elk burgers to try… They said their diet was majority elk which they hunt themselves. I quite liked the burgers. Thank you to Linda and Bob!!!!!

Also saw some antelope today… The only antelope in  North America I hear.

RAD

Checked out the visitor center… Learned facts!

Facts: coyotes run at 30 mph and can leap 15 ft

Bison can run 40 mph and 7 ft fences are no challenge

The hills of the Badlands lose an inch a year due to erosion

The Badlands were previously a flood plain

Popcorn rocks are a part of the scene and can expand 20x in size

We ate lunch and set up tents at the campground. We adventured around some sandy hills and then Jose, Sam, Casey, Caiti and I went and hiked around the park trails a bit. We came back for dinner and then Casey, Johnny, Alex and I continued adventuring the park and went on more hikes through the canyons of the badlands hills… Dusk set in and the moon was stunning… Full and red and lofty above the hilltops. I left feeling satisfied with my exploration… Having had only a day to interact with the scene… Really a cool place.

Climbed to a peak in camp with folks at night to stare at stars and then slept atop a roof cover of a picnic bench…..

Ok day I guess…

We slept in and then made our way to Mt. Rushmore to take in the famous site. I wrote Papa (my Grandpa) on my calf yesterday and today in order to honor him for a) being super cool, b) his and my grandmother’s ultimate support of me in general and in this bicycling undertaking and c) to support him in his current battle against cancer. I found it a fitting day to commemorate the old man as legend has it ( and a video proves it) that he climbed around on Lincoln’s head as a young lad when Rushmore was undergoing construction. Very cool.

Rushmore facts: Why Each President Was Chosen—

Washington- birth (first president)
Jefferson- expansion (Louisiana Purchase)
Roosevelt- preservation (National Parks)
Lincoln- development

A crew of us then went on to explore the Black Hills and Custer State Park via van. We drove some very scenic roads including the Needles Highway which is apparently applauded for its scenery and also includes some natural rock tunnels which were cool. We stopped off at Cathedral Spires… a hiking and rock climbing venue which we waltzed around in… climbed some towering rocks and gazed at the views. Further along we went to Sylvan Lake which was phenomenal… it is pictured in many brochures and advertisements for the Black Hills… and rightly so… very gorgeous. We swam around with large rocks jutting up around us and a few of us indulged in a bit of cliff jumping… fun times

Drove back to the Calvary Lutheran Church where we are staying and cooked up a lovely meal of instant mashed potatoes and bean/cheese/carrot pasta. It’s been nice these last couple days cooking in a kitchen…

Of course, we had to stop at Wall Drug in Wall, SD when we exited the park… signs for the store litter the roads all around the Badlands for many many miles… a local said a joke is that South Dakota has no trees because they were all used to make billboards for Wall Drug… it is just a drugstore that became well-known for giving out free ice-water… so we filled up water and got some 5 cent coffee and then continued on our merry way.

The headwinds didn’t fail to thrash on and the roads provided us with plenty more climbs… the direct challenge of such factors was enthralling…. the last 20 miles after lunch into the city were deceptively smooth until quickly turning into a multitude of large, long uphills…. Ray stated that today he went from boy to man.

Pasta…. then sleep

We moseyed through the day– in the afternoon we rode along a gravel road for over 20 miles which made us quite slow but the surrounding beauty distracted from any judgement of speed. The day in total reached 90 miles, the weather was pleasantly cool. The last stretch opened up from the dirt road into the rolling landscape of Wyoming with vast sights of hay fields and red dirt hills.

Nearly an 11 hour day! So beautiful…

Now truck stop showers and a place to sleep at the high school here in Sundance, Wyoming.

It was Megan’s birthday so we had the lovely birthday crew of myself, Megan, Caiti, Emily and James. Fun times. We cruised quite thoroughly… water stops were dance parties…. the road was flat… tailwinds even helped us out at times. Our group took an accidental detour which pushed us to get in a century… worth it!

We left at 6am and got to Sioux Falls at 12:30 where we had lunch in a park and partially celebrated the birthday.

We stayed the night at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church which was fantastic. It’s a beautiful church with amazing people. They served us a great lasagna meal and we got to rendezvous with many church members as well as folks from a cancer support group. Heard some incredible stories. A shout out to Mark who survived a battle with brain cancer which was supposed to undoubtedly take his life. It’s empowering to continue to hear the positive struggles of individuals across the country.

A group of us made it out to Palisades State Park later which was phenomenal. Apparently this was where Jesse James leaped across a 16 foot gap in the canyon with his horse in order to evade pursuers. The park consisted of a river flowing through a deep canyon of red quartzite rock. A few of us swam down the channel formed by the red walls and climbed around on the rocks. Niiiiiiiice.

Checked out downtown a bit as well with Leslie, a local who showed us some cool spots. She is great. Thanks Leslie!

It was another excellent day… flat/ slightly down-graded roads… we rode at a relatively quick pace without pushing ourselves too much. We all chatted with one another the entire day.

We made it to Mitchell in the afternoon where we are staying with the amazing and generous family of Moe Webster. She graciously opened up her home and her family to our 27 person crew, not only giving us rooms and floors to sleep on but feeding us incredible, healthy (what a treat), homemade food. The family is great. Moe is awesome and insanely kind as are her children Sam, Jeremiah and Maya who are 13, 10 and 4. They are all so helpful, competent and fun! Thank you Webster family!!!!

A couple of us set up a tent in the backyard… first camping night! About to become more frequent as we approach more national parks.

Sam, Casey, Alex and I walked down to Lake Mitchell later where we wandered amongst some trails and then sat at the water for awhile. Very pleasant.

Met some locals downtown when coming back. Chatted with some cattle farmers and a lovely woman named Judy who herself was affected by cancer at a young age.

Met up with more of our team later to hang out in the area. Twas nice.

We had lunch on the Notre Dame campus which was pleasant. Ray attends school there and a few of us biked around and had him give us a tour. Really nice area.

Stayed in an off-campus church for the night… good space.

For dinner, we went to Ray’s friends apartment and they were kind enough to provide us with a giant pasta and grilled chicken meal. We sat and hung out on their patio… some neighbors came over and brought us treats as well… turns out one of the neighbors was Megan from my hometown… Crazy! She was in my high school class and I had no idea what she’d been up to in years… until we randomly ran into each other in this fashion. That was fun… she’s well and attending nursing school. Good luck to you Megan!

All in all it was a good day and a good night… typical!

Twas Casey, James, Jose, Sam and myself…stellar crew

We started off the day on a nice paved trail… Later adventured onto a rolling gravel road… Then cruised down the highway for most the day until lunch.

The end portion of the ride was on smooth country roads and we all chatted and cruised along… Stopped off at dairy queen for ice cream treats and then took a dip in Lake Harriet before riding to the host– to night the host is a Portland riders family…. We are split up at different homes in the neighborhood for sleeping…. Alex, Melanie, Casey and I scored…

We are staying with Mickey and Richie in their incredible home. They are awesome people. After an amazing meal provided by the Cochran family… Including ridiculously beautiful pastries made by kevin’s sister… The 4 of us walked down to the lake with Mickey and richie to watch the NASA space station fly through… We caught a beautiful sunset and some planes… Not sure we quite identified the space station…

We are now hanging out in their beautiful home after snacking on watermelon and cherries and excited to maybe sleep a full nights worth as we have an off day tomorrow and aren’t all congregating until 10am…

Wow

We left at 6:20 am and were able to get to Marshall by noon! This was ideal as it turned into a 94 degree day and we missed a lot of the severe heat this way.

We are staying at the YMCA here and got to use the pool when we got in. We even hit up their water-slide!

Dinner was at the Living Word Lutheran church where Pastor Kelly and other church members were amazing to us. We were served a great meal, talked to some great people… Including Noah- a college student here in town.

We then gave a presentation for various community members… We had a powerpoint and all shared why it is we ride. It continues to be powerful to hear about people’s relation to cancer…

4am wake up for a 92 mile hot day tomorrow! Into South Dakota we go !

The host was an old schoolhouse turned winery turned building owned by Lowell and Jean- a great couple who showed us a bumpin’ time. We had a potluck provided by the community, got to eat with some great folks, AND had a live band to dance to!

I later biked out to the Lake itself with Alex and Casey to watch the sunset and check out the water.

Fireflies dappled the soybean fields with flashes of light as we road back and white-tailed deer jumped amongst the fading glow of the sky… Ooh America

We had a phenomenal morning with Mickey and Richie after having slept in a very real and very excellent bed. Mickey had stayed up late baking us homemade bread which was sooo delicious! We also had fresh fruit and cereal and the pleasant atmosphere of a splendid family home. Really an amazing stay.

Mid-morning a slew of us went out to Lake Harriet and solicited the surrounding paths for donations… as much of a struggle as that sort of interaction is for me… It is incredible to meet and talk with those who feel for and support the cause.

That afternoon we were again treated to the insane generosity of our hosts and Richie took Alex, Casey and I out in his amphicar. Made in the 1960′s in West Germany, 4200 were originally created and there are 350 still in function. They are cars and boats in one ! Wild! It was so much fun to drive into the lake and boat around. Further- on the way back Richie took us to a old-fashioned themed drive-in diner for shakes/ root beer floats. What an awesome day! Thank you thank you thank you thank you to Richie and Mickey… You guys rock!

We then made our way to the Hope Lodge where we performed a variety show. I met some inspiring individuals. Hope Lodges are places for folks to go and stay with their families while receiving cancer treatment. Not only are they then super helpful for folks who have to travel immensely for treatment, they also provide a great support network and care system.

We had an incredibly enjoyable time. Alex and Spencer played a tune on ukulele and guitar. Melanie played with Alex on trumpet. Liz and Emily did a comedy act. Luke played piano and sang. Abe, Melanie, Luke, Spencer, and Alex did a quintet. And Ishpreet, Johnny and Steven did an Indian dance. People clapped and sang along… It was a good time for all. We also took them outside and did a slow bike race as well as a lowest gear race.. Amusing indeed!

Potato bar at a neighbors house delighted us further as we hung out in the backyard until dark. A couple of us tried to run down to the lake to see the space station come through but just missed it unfortunately.

Yayayayayayaya

At our first water stop Alex, Casey and I meandered into the smalltown of Norwolk where we stopped in a cafe to be greeted by the 10am ladies gossip crew of the town. They informed us that the men come at 9am and the women at 10am to drink coffee and competively exchange gossip. ha! Craig- a man we met there- was also hanging out. He bought us all coffee and we chatted with them all about our summer endeavor and their life adventures. It was great to interact with people in such a down-to-earth way.

We learned from Craig of the bar in town that is heated via wood stove and no drinks can be ordered before two logs are deposited. Good system I think.

We also chatted a good bit with Janet who works as a telephone operator from midnight to 8am… cool stories. She also told us about her husband who sounded like an excellent person and who passed away from cancer…

Back on the ride we had a thrilling historical tour… the trail we were on is the first ever rails-to-trails bike path and used to form a railway which at one point had 50 trains go by a day….
Fact boards abounded and we indulged ourselves when we could by reading them. Father be proud…

Very cool aspect— the trail had 3 tunnels! One was 3/4 of a mile long. Scraggly rocks outlined their walls and the long one was dripping from above. fun fun

We played on some old war machines in a park and before rolling into town we jumped off a bridge into a river and splashed around for a while.

The host was a church with an iron man pastor who hooked us up with dinner at his training partners home… twas a surreal home. It was located right on the Mississippi river on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota and had a pool and hot tub which we were allowed to use. They grilled us burgers and had pasta and dessert. Taylor– the homeowner also allowed us to go down the river and use his kayaks. Sam and I took a paddle out and had a blast. The Mississippi is sweet! Sam got even more intimate with it then I by accidently falling in whilst trying to re-enter after a foray onto some logs. I was in hysterics for quite sometime…. while also helping to empty the kayak and get him back on board of course…

Good times again. This is unreal.

Lunch was by a creek… Kevin and I raced in on our lowest gear with legs wheeling incessantly…

a man there fishing claimed he caught 4-5 feet fish in the creek…

noodles and co has been an excellent food sponsor lately– a chain I had yet to experience.

The folks in Elroy were awesome. Pastor Prell graciously set us up in the high school gym where we had showers too. Church members prepared us dinner… Jeremiah was grill master and a bunch of other lovely people helped fill us with a superb meal. They had just done their H.O.P.E walk for cancer a week prior and gave us all t-shirts from the event which they had extra of…. clean clothes! for now…
Very nice of them… now we will carry the memory of Elroy on our backs as we travel westward!

We were fortunate to have come to Elroy on the opening day of the county fair and thus went downtown and were able to engage in this community event. I was quite thrilled to experience my first horse pulling event in which massive horses (belgiums..) are attached to a large weighted truck and compete to see which team can pull the most weight in a consistent manner. Special thanks to Betty who made this possible and donated money to our team to spend at the fair!! So glad to have gotten to hang out with locals and learn about the art of the horse pull.

After the event a few of us went around back to check out the horses… Sam merely had to state that we were “city folk” and they allowed us to pet and lead the horses around.
Such. Large. Animals.

Wow

We had a day off in Madison which was quite pleasant. We used the opportunity to go out on the town and do some fundraising… I lurked around the capital building with Casey, Lindsay, Caiti, and Sam. Together we raised over $300! The team as a whole got nearly$500.

In the process we had the pleasure of meeting many awesome people. A highlight was talking with Brenda- a very kind woman who is halfway through her chemo treatment and unyieldingly positive. Thank you so much Brenda and good luck!

I later ducked into the capital to wander the vast halls and courts… Listened to the nations longest standing sing-along protest…16months and still fighting for the indictment of governor walker…among other issues….

We then trotted down to the lake… 1 of the 2 surrounding our host on an isthmus… Lakes monona and Mendota I believe. Swam around with algae galore… Watched as teammates and locals slack lined in the park… Met local gals with whom a brief water balloon fight was had…fun indeed

Dinner and a coffee shop Internet session was followed by a trip to a different beach where the Madison fire tribe was meeting up.

“spinners” ( hula hoopers) and other tricksters played around with lights and fire which was fun to watch… We were also located on a great dock with benches that overlooked the city… It was nice to sit and stare upon the water for awhile…

We stopped off at a gas station and gave in to Johnny and steven’s new passion… Nos energy drinks.. We all sat outside and drank them… Adding in some zip fizz for extra kick.. Team bonding for sure

With mental focus and high performance energy we again hit the streets… We found ourselves surrounded by the lovely ambient temperature of 96…+ humidity! Toasty… and headwinds too!

Another group indulged our humor along the route with some sly moves… More road tricks to come…

After a rough time we rolled into Madison along the lake which was beautiful. Jumped in before settling in at the church and slipping into sleep…

Good day.

Half the team woke up at 4 in order to bike up a ridge to catch the sunrise over the Mississippi… Bloody amazing.

We stormed over the bridge into Mn in pack formation and raced up the hill as the colors of the sky warped with the oncoming rise of the sun… Good times

We thus had an early start on the day and covered nearly 50 miles before 10 am. We made a spectacular stop at a non-profit thrift store entitled “that place in Utica”. There we met Mary- the co-owner- a great, hilarious woman. Some of our crew exited attired with overalls, vests and fur-lined boots. We signed a paper for them to frame on the wall along with a picture… We win as the farthest visiting shoppers…

We biked onward to stop at a diner in St. Charles– Dells. A splendid breakfast was consumed and due to Chelsea leaving her phone we had the pleasure of again visiting with Mary as well as the other store owner- Jenny… They kindly came in to drop off the phone… They were a hoot which we all adored…

At the lunch stop our extensive team took a 2.5 hr nap together….we moved locations thrice to continue napping in various shade and sun areas… Just more great bonding!

The host in Rochester was the Zumbro Lutheran Church…They were awesome! Thanks so much to Barb and all the wonderful volunteers! We had a taco bar for dinner which thrilled us all…

A few of us walked downtown for a bit… Definitely a hip area.

The lunch stop was at a shady grass area with access to the Lake where there were shale rocks and 3-4 foot waves to splash around it. Absolutely gorgeous… blue-green water and white rocks… woot woot!

I had iced coffee at lunch as well and was therefore quite peppy the next 30 miles into Milwaukee… sang beautifully most of the way in.

Milwaukee is super cool! Right on the water…. that being of similar appeal as described before. We detoured down to the lakefront and swam again… colder water this time! James, Kevin and I held hands and walked in until submerged… great team bonding…

We are sleeping at Lake Park Lutheran Church where Lynda and Ohly have been more than kind to us and allowed us to stay. We celebrated Dougs birthday today as well. His mom sent him a cake here which was nice. Thanks Baffords!

I am also now in “leg leader” role… Johnny and I have planned out the hosts for the next month… lets hope they work out! haha. I look forward to getting to meet all those I have been corresponding with!

We baked with some of the kids there and decorated the baked goods as well. It was great fun and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

I even got to through around some of those white popping firecracker deals with a 5 year old boy… clearly a good time.
The Ronald McDonald house concept is awesome. I talked to one of the mothers there who has a 6 month old who was born with brain cancer and the family has been using the facility for 5 months and found it extremely helpful. It has quite a community feel and creates an excellent support network. I rode the next day for this family who I wish the best of luck.

In the afternoon , Megan and Chelsea and I rode around the city and attempted to go the beach… we were shortly kicked off the lakefront by the secret service because Obama had been in town over the weekend for a wedding and was then leaving…. the cleared the whole stretch of beach for miles because of it. Wild.

Went out to deep dish pizza for dinner…. had to pull that move as we were in Chicago and all… it was indeed delightful.

Then came bed!

We stopped at Dairy Queen where a kind woman named Joyce treated us to blizzards promptly upon hearing of our cause. Hoorah! It was fitting due to it being Kevin’s birthday. We hung around in the shade and chatted for awhile before sauntering into the city. We arrived via the Lakefront Trail which is spectacular! It is right along Lake Michigan with a view of the city on the horizon. We stopped off at the beach to swim and gaze at our surroundings before biking the rest of the way into town where we were staying at the University of Illinois.

The University housing was great. Spacious 4 bedroom dorms greeted us there, as did team Portland who was staying there as well.

Lindsay’s relatives/friends brought us a Sub sandwich dinner which was much appreciated! Luke sang and played piano briefly which was delectible.

James, Alex, Luke and I explored the city by foot that night. We walked out to Millenium Park and saw “the bean” along with some other hip spots. It was raining immensely the whole time and we came back soaked… which I enjoyed. Lightening rose to the occasion for us too and showed off the Chicago sky as we wandered.

We had a great day. Jose naturally enjoyed being the ladies man of our bicycle group…

We were lucky enough to be treated to ice cream from captain sundaes where Nancy was a generous host. When hunger struck in the afternoon we were again exposed to the kindly nature of local folks… This time at the waypoint restaurant- a really sweet diner off the road where Donna and hostess Laurie made us welcome. Laurie also showed us pictures of the last steamship which until a week ago was moored in their town… Very cool to see. Thank you to these amazing people!

Our destination town of south haven was incredible! It is awesome to travel around on bicycle and show up to places we have no known expectations for and discover what they have to offer. South haven is right on Lake Michigan and the church we were staying at was near a long pier and beautiful sand beach. The folks at the church were extremely charming and fed us an excellent dinner that evening. It was great to talk with some of them about their lives and their alignment with our cause.

That night the town was having “Harbor Fest”, so we walked down to the pier where we watched the sunset and wandered through a musical set and some food booths. We stopped by the funnel cake booth where we met Mr. Baushman who donated funnel cakes to 14 of us. Him and his coworker were exceptionally kind to us and we were able to talk with him a bit about his intimate connection with cancer. His mom, Addie passed away from the disease years ago and he was proof of the lasting impacts the illness has on the lives of all who surround it. The next ride day to South Bend I dedicated to this woman who sounded like an amazing person I was honored to bike for.

We later stopped by the Black River Tavern where “Dragon Wagon” was playing… an excellent bluegrass band a handful of us stomped around to for hours. Melanie even went and got her trumpet during intermission and came back and played with the band on stage. She just graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of music and it was fun to see her perform with the band… she rocked it. To cool down after dancing we went and jumped in the lake before returning to the church to get some rest for the day ahead.

One of my favorite towns to pass through I think!

I rode with Luke, Lindsay, Liz and Melanie today. It was beautiful countryside. We rode on dirt and gravel roads for part of the day which was fun… no cars, lots of fields… the temperature was ideal.

Luke and I spent our time singing Cat Stevens and better acquainting ourselves with one another through the discussion of classic philosophical life questions… good bicycling times. Luke is choir president which makes him an excellent ride partner as he whistles and sings cheerily while meandering along. He’s also fashioned a stuffed horse head onto his bike and has a cowboy hat and a fake gun which makes for adventurous times.

Host is the Daystar Missionaries… nice floor, good times!

Our host this evening was Erin and James!!! They are longtime friends of mine who recently moved to Michigan as James is in medical school there. It was a ton of fun to get to visit them and it was awesome that they were so willing to open up their home to our rambunctious crew. Highlight of the night was a game of settlers of Catan… Good times.

Erin and James are the best!

We had a late start and a short day. Pleasant day for sure. Johnny, doug, alex, eric and i took many pit stops along the way. Thanks to frozen boyz and mark, josh and megan for supporting us with ice cream along the way! This has seemingly become quite a habit…

We had a massive lunch thanks to our skilled van drivers and made it into Lansing around 6. Our group stopped off at the Michigan state library for a bit as well.

The host here is amazing! We are staying at the missionary baptist church which has a very large main room for sleeping as well as a microphone system which Jose has taken kindly to… Ha

The people here fed us phenomenally… Soup, salad and sandwiches galore! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

We are now downtown hanging out at a laundry mat with free wi-fi… And free coffee… Oops… I’ll sleep one of these days….

The host was the YMCA… Craig from there was super nice to us and allowed us reign of the excellent facility. He also got us pizzas which was swell.

That night we had a “pow-wow” as a group… Meaning some people had the opportunity to share personal stories about their relationship with cancer. It was very powerful and reinforced the significance of our mission for both ourselves and others.

An excellent day. I rode with Spencer, Johnny, Eric and Steve. We flew at a steady 20-21 mph pace while maintaining a tight line formation and consistently switched leaders. It was fun to pretend to be a hardcore bicyclist…

We set up the lunch stop at a boat landing along an inlet that led out to Lake Erie. Caiti and I wandered across the way and chatted with folks from a local kayak and canoe rental spot- West River Rentals. Their names were Vito and Hallie and they kindly donated the use of two kayaks to us. We therefore got to kayak out to the Lake which was exceptional! Thank you West River kayak rentals!!!

Fact: Lake Erie is enormous! We’ve been riding along it for days… I keep playing the role of idiot and will every once in awhile question fellow riders as to what Lake we are by… still Erie!

Our group stopped off at a beach before making the final entrance into the host. Sandy beaches and a lake view… we skipped some rocks and checked out some dead fish…

That night to our delight we found we were in the midst of Bike Week in Ohio. So many motorcycles! We went out to the main streets and immersed ourselves in the biker environment. We dressed up with bandanas and other biker-deemed attire to fit the part. Hundreds maybe thousands of motorcycles lined the streets… food was to be had and bars were raging. There was also a live concert on stage in front of the water featuring “Midnight Special”— a grooving rock band with middle-aged long-haired men jammin’ their hearts out. I danced away and was well received by the biker community… I told them I “rode from Baltimore” and was biking to Seattle… they were impressed…. I eventually clarified that is was a bicycle not a motorcycle I was riding… they were still awed. ha

We did some great team bonding via massive dance partying and all in all had an awesome time. It was really cool to be a part of such a different culture for a time.

Woot Woot

I think I was more exhausted and sweaty after a day here than on a bike day. ha! I was overwhelmed by the thrill-seeking, fair food- gorging American atmosphere. However, it was a lot of fun… roller coasters are crazy. Why folks strap themselves into metal objects and hurtle themselves at excessive speeds down steep inclines is curious… enjoyable though. We of course hit up the top known rides including “Dragster” which goes from 0 to 120 mph in 4 seconds and throws and twists you straight up and straight back down. Doug was fun to have around as he is a self-declared “coaster junkie” and knew everything about the park and facts about all the rides.

Tired… biking tomorrow… Ohio bike week continues… foam party tonight downtown?

Early in the ride we learned to seriously consider the deer crossing signs posted on the highway as Alex’s front tire was grazed by one that jumped out and frightened itself as well as the rest of us. Crazy deer!

We sang songs and played word guessing games along the ride which was fun. At some point we stopped off at a strawberry farm along route 5 which we were on the majority of the day. There we picked ourselves a crate of strawberries and subsequently gorged on them in the sun.

Our host this night was the YMCA Camp Sherwin which was fantastic! We got cabins and free reign of the summer camp which was situated right on the lake. When we got in alot of us went swimming at the beach before a lovely pasta dinner. Johnny set up his slackline in the yard for folks to play around with and Abe and I made a fire. We ended the night by basking in the glory of the firey warmth whilst roasting s’mores. I was happy.

Caiti, Chelsea, James and I rode together today. I once again got to rock out to James’ speakers which was enjoyable. We had a wonderful ride… smooth with a steady pace and in association with sunny skies#4: Ohio!

We stopped off at an ice cream shack along the road where a splendid man named Doug donated us each an ice cream cone— this of course delighted me greatly.

At a water stop we met a man named nick who was riding around on his handmade double-tall bicycle. A few of us asked to try it which was a lot of fun… Had to stand on a ladder to get on… But I was able to dismount fairly gracefully on my own!

The host tonight is Case Western University where we all have our own beds and even our own rooms.

Stephen Hersey has joined us for the day and will be around for the next couple days which is cool.

Tonight’s dinner was at alumni rider Alex’s house. Melanie’s and Abe’s folks came out as well as they’re from the nearby area (the area being Cleveland). We sat out on the porch and indulged in copious amounts of food along with well-topped sundays. A fire place existed on the deck which we gathered around for a time. Gotta love fire.

To Sandusky tomorrow!

Biked out to a state park on Lake Erie with Casey, Caiti, Doug and Dave after a morning game of basketball. The Lake was beautiful! Sandy beaches lined the shores as did large windmills. A van of other folks joined us there as well.

Meanwhile other team members did service at a hope lodge in the city. Because we have near 30 people we’ve been splitting up who does the service days so as to not overwhelm small facilities.

In the late afternoon a handful of us got all the bikes outside and went through and picked rocks out of the tires and filled the remaining crevasses with super glue. We also degreased and lubed all the chains and overall cleaned the bikes. Megan, our mechanic, is amazing and it is much appreciated that she actually cares for and is aware of the health of our bicycles.

An egg, pancake, bacon breakfast-for-dinner was prepared in mass after which a newsperson came and filmed some people biking around and interviewed Spencer.

We later went out to a restaurant/bar for buffalo wings and watched ourselves on the 11pm news on the bar T.V. The waitress was impressed.

Hittin’ the road with two wheels and a funny spandex outfit again tomorrow… hoorah!

Note on New York- they’re into food joints specializing in chicken and pizza

Main feature of today: Flat tires! Of the 24 riders out on the rode there were over 25 flats. Little rocks have been infiltrating our tires, especially when the road is wet. I myself had two flats. Good skills learning day!

Had a great lunch at a pizza place indoors and then cruised on in to Buffalo, NY. The place we’re staying at is called the “Harvest House”, it is a renovated church which a couple (Gary and his wife) turned into a space which provides a plethora of services to the community. It is a great place to be spending our 2 nights and we are extremely enthused to be able to do so. Thank you to the Harvest House!

There is an indoor carpeted basketball court which has been fun as well as air hockey, fooseball and a handful of arcade games. Fun fun.

Later this same evening we took a night trip up to Niagra Falls in the vans. Wandered around the town a bit and visited the famous falls themselves. Amazing! I love me some powerful moving water. At night the water was lit up in glows of pink and blue reflecting from the Canadian city across the way. Very cool.

Rest/Service day tomorrow.

I really like these people and this biking and these places……….

Sweet area. Home to Cornell University, Ithaca is a city made up of a hill which is split by multiple gorges and waterfalls which cut down powerfully amongst rising shale cliffs. Very cool.

I woke up early and wandered around the YMCA part of town briefly then gathered my bicycle and Johnny and I attempted to get some breakfast donations and also rode down to one of the awesome waterfalls and meandered around. Great adventure to start the day.

Made it back in time to hop in the van and head to the Cancer Resource Center of Ithaca. There a handful of us met with Sharon, Bob, Carrie and Lee- lovely folks who help run the place. The center supports those struggling with the process of cancer by providing a plethora of information and instigating support groups, among other things. We exchanged stories and then got down to working on the place a bit. I was thrilled as I got to use a hammer and pry bar and take part in ripping a deck apart. score! We also cleared the back yard of weeds. With the 10 or so of us there we did an impressive amount of work and it was nice to see a dramatically different scene when we left. The kind people there also provided us with a fantastic lunch which was much appreciated!

Upon our return, we gathered up folks and vanned it to Tauthannock falls- the largest waterfall in the northeast… we hiked up to it from downstream by way of the canyon corridor it sat in. Waterfalls are the greatest!

The night held an expedition to Ithaca fest, an annual weekend long festival they hold with a street fair/vendors/music. We caught the end of it and were able to collect mass amounts of food donations from vendors who were closing up. A cultural feast of indian, thai, vietnamese, american, italian, etc… swell indeed.

bicycles to be mounted yet again come tomorrow morn’. woot woot!

All were in town around 2pm and we sat out in the sun at a local restaurant to kill time as we waited for the church we were staying in to become available. Good times.

The church we stayed in was enormous and had a large kitchen in which we made spaghetti for dinner.

Later, a few of us went outside to explore and happened upon a fireworks show in conjunction with a college reunion… outdoor live band included. Ideal nightlife… thanks Geneva!

We used the afternoon to do cleaning and tune-up of bicycles which was much needed… thank you Megan… our magical mechanic!!!

I am now staring at 3 tables of potluck food and friendly community members in the superb town of Rochester, New York!

Giddiness for the ridiculously wonderful process this journey entails continues….

Heading out from Sellinsgrove we made our way to Mansfield today. The ride ended up over 100 miles and the hills were many. Our group even turned onto “Pleasant Hill” which was a nice accidental side trip… ha (my bad )

The will power in our crew has impressed me immensely. Nearly everyone made it today, leaving at 6:00 am and having most arrived by 8/9 pm. I rode with Ella, James and Abe. I would like to give Ella credit for being extremely hardcore. She pushed herself insanely until completely exhausted and then some… when her knee acted up she tried peddling with one leg. She’s great.

By the time we got to lunch… KFC and disco music… we were at least 30 minutes behind the last group and a good 40 miles away from the host site. But… the three of us decided we’d go at and get ourselves there and that we did. We cruised the next 20 miles in an hour and upon hitting successive hills we kept at it screaming out and grinning as we did. Abe and James rock. James was hilarious attacking the hills with gusto while physically drained. We ended up actually catching up with the last few groups and having just booked it I was still ready to rampage… Abe, Jose, Steve and I slip-streamed down an insane descent and then Steve and I kept up a crazy pace the next 10 or so miles into Mansfield. Good times!!!!!!

This ride I knew would be difficult and wanted to honor someone whom I find inspiring. Helen Stevenson was written on my leg today. Helen is a breast cancer survivor and an overall amazing woman. Her wit and humor and optimism have always amazed and delighted me. Helen you’re super cool!

We 3 also dedicated the rest of our ride that day to Keeley. A good friend of Ella, Kevin and Ray- Keeley died of a brain tumor recently… I know Ella’s efforts would be appreciated by her. And I’d say we finished it off for her well.

We rolled into the church yelling out joyfully to be greeted by an outdoor feast at the church we were staying that was amazing! The food we’ve received thus far has been terrific! Thank you to those folks in Mansfield who fed and treated us so well! Really great homemade meals for both dinner and breakfast (and lunch today!).

New York up next!

Mark, Sam, Jose, Doug and I were a group today. Shortly upon leaving town Marks knees were acting up to the extent that he got supported by the van which made for a lovely break amonst some tall grass. A ways later Sam also got picked up as he had hit a brick wall in terms of biking. Folks had exerted themselves fully yesterday which made today rough. But it’s great that people are aware of needing help and to stay safe in terms of well-being and health.

Hence, I was then in a trio again, and again we cruised along. We stopped off at a strawberry stand where I chatted with Ed. He was impressed by our team and called 2 different news stations who I talked to on the phone. 1 gal ended up coming to the YMCA in Ithaca and interviewed a few of us upon our arrival. Human beings are cool.

Though the day was harder then originally expected (though this in and of itself should probably be expected), it was again a good one. We were on some especially pretty roads winding along surrounded by “mountains” (haha… I called the Appalachians hills earlier and was corrected… I’m clearly a West coast gal).

We had a couple great long descents today… I made use of Jose to draft off of which was fun. When we rolled into Ithaca we stopped and got fries from 5 guys burgers and fries… I’d never had them so Jose went in with his Colombian accent and expressed that we’d been riding for many miles and I certainly needed their fries. He kept me in hysterics all day.

Now we are at a YMCA and have a rest day tomorrow! Off to explore the town….

Stopped off and body surfed down a mini rapid in the river.

Got in by 2pm after taking a long lunch break which incorporated some excellent bagged lunches/ snacks from our phenomenal hosts in Lykens. They really were amazing. They came and sent us off with breakfast this morning and checked back in to make sure we made it to our destination. There have been some very sweet and supportive people along the trip thus far.

We continued to be spoiled in this way upon our arrival and stay in Sellingsgrove here at Susquehanna University where we are sleeping in a dorm building. When we arrived we were able to take advantage of their gym pool which was nice.

And a extremely amazing potluck was for dinner! lasagna, beans, salads, beet pickled eggs, chili, cookies and cupcakes and more… we have yet to be short on food! Donations in this regard have been swell. Thanks to all who have made this possible! Our crew quite enjoys consuming food!

Another thanks to Eric and Marty who rode out to meet us ( we happened to be elusive and sent them on quite a chase… They were great hosts and overall great seeming people. It was also nice to have Nate Wineland from last years Portland ride join us for the afternoon and evening as a  Susquehanna graduate and former rider.

lovely people., lovely places…

Waking up at 4am to get on the rode by 5:30 to try and beat the thunderstorm at 4:pm on our 87 mile ride tomorrow!

The ride today was beautiful. Lots of rolling hills and a traipse through the Appalachians were included. As the route was rather hilly, this 2nd day was a challenge. The Team Seattle crew was fierce… frustrations arose but people overall are fairly determined and good-spirited. In the end however, all but 6 of us were picked up by the van and shuttled to the host.

Johnny and I ended up riding a good ways in the wrong direction and back tracking, to find that after 70 miles or so we were to climb Gold Mine, a lovely road up a mountain, with 3 good climbs involved. Nice and steep too. By the top of the first one I was physically shaking and ridiculously exhausted… then we rode some more! The descent off Gold Mine was insane! Johnny as well as Casey and Luke who also made it up the climb hit 50-51 miles going down.

Rolling into Lykens after 12 hours on the road was excellent. The people at the church here are extremely kind. I am so pleased to be so supported by community members like them. We had a huge chili, pulled pork, fruit, dessert fiest… and those potato filled potsticker deals? It was ideal!

Also we had a lovely showering experience at the home of Theresa and her daughter Hanna’s home. Thank you to them for that!

I imagine I will be sore tomorrow… experienced my first case of buttocks cramping at the end of the day today….

Fun facts: York loves Harley Davidsons

Lyken is an old coal town

Harrisburg is the capital of PA (we went through there today)

Good good. Off to bed in the church…

After a whirlwind few days finishing up school and flying out to baltimore from seattle, the 4k ride has finally settled upon myself and the 87 other young adults bicycling cross country with the Ulman Cancer Fund. It’s totally surreal- and I’m stoked about it

We headed out from the inner harbor of baltimore this morning- had a few words from Stephen (4k program director) and Brock (UCF). Each team then split off and hit the road to begin this 70 day journey.

Cruisin’ through some quaint baltimore neighborhoods I found the city endearing- Maryland folk did inform me however that its got a topnotch crime scene….lovely

20 or so miles along we joined up with a trail that took us the next 40+ miles to York, Pennsylvania. It was a beautiful route along a river and we were shaded from the heat for most of the day. Alumni drove the vans today and got together the lunch and other pit stops which was really nice for the first day. We had alumni riders with us as well. I rode with Dara and Liz from the Seattle 2011 ride as well as Mary from 2009 SanFran… sweet gals, a thank you to them for riding with us today! All 4k alum are absolutely exuberant about the event which is great to see.

I believe the day was around 65 miles but relatively flat the whole time with the majority on the trail which was stellar.

The host tonight is the YMCA in York. Some really awesome people there allowed us showers and arranged a splendid pizza and salad feast with York peppermint patties to top it off fittingly. Thank you to Craig and his wife as well as Wayne and Judy (both cancer survivors) and the other charming women who treated us so kindly on this first night.

The team later celebrated Ray’s 20th birthday with cake and also got to open an adventure box from team seattle 2011 (they rock)

After jumping around in a foam pit and swinging on some gymnastic bars here at the YMCA, we all eventually settled in to the lush mats we have to sleep on.

Pretty ideal first day!

The team seattle crew seems grand and I’m excited to follow through this process with them. biking is sweeeeeet… indeed… but importantly, the charity and community aspects of this ride are things I look forward to fully engaging in. and look, i’m blogging. first time ever. I’m a changed person already!

I legitimately hope to wake up at 5am to Melanie’s trumpet call tomorrow…

woot woot! bicycling! people! cities! nature! no cancer! water! food! mats! foam pits!

thanks to all who made this possible. everyone’s support is supremely appreciated. Seriously.

and a special thanks to my ma and pa and brother. you guys rock! and mom, my light flashes real good… don’t fret!