Our Challenge Continues

Again, thank you to all those who assisted us on our ride. From the well wishes sent by friends, to the generous people taking us into their homes, your support got us through some rough parts of the road. Even though the miles are far behind us, the challenge still continues.

The good people who benefit from the Luekemia and Lymphoma Society and the Brain Tumor Society continue to need your help. Please take a moment to click on the charities' links and see what you can do to assist these wonderful organizations. If you are interested in doing something like we did in order to raise awareness to a cause and you have questions about organizing a fundraiser, please contact us.

Look through our pictures, read our posts, but most importantly, get out there, see new places, meet new faces, and make a difference in a person's life.

No more mountains!!!...or smelly tents!

Well a lot has happened since the last time I made a post. I pulled into Buffalo, NY as it was hailing on me. I guess it had to happen since we began the trip in Washington getting hailed on. I've actually been rained on 7 of the final 10 days...weather just wouldn't give me a break. In Buffalo I ate at a restaurant called Anchor Bar and they claimed to have created the Buffalo wing. Now I don't know if it was because I had biked 120 miles that day, or if it was because they really were the inventor...but I do know those were the best wings Ive EVER had! The next day I biked into Canada and saw Niagara Falls. It was pretty crazy to be standing in the exact spot where Superman saved that kid from falling into the falls.

The Adirondacks came and went...before I knew it the same day I was through them. I wish I would've spent some more time there. I also met some interesting men up there that ran their entire house off propane and car batteries. They make enough money off their recycled beer cans to buy the batteries and propane and still have $60 left over at the end of the year. Hmm...good for the environment or just alcoholics?

Probably one of the most exciting parts of the trip was cresting that final mountain of the Appalachians. I was yelling "No More Mountains!" the entire ride down with people just staring at the bearded man on the bike like he was a crazy lunatic.

The final days were a blur, I was trying hard to imagine what it would be like not to have to get up every morning and ride for 8+ hours a day and sleep in a tent that made me want to plug my nose every time I got in. The last day was Sunday the 17th and I had 130 miles to go to Bar Harbor. I knew I could do it if I got an early start. Well of course I couldn't coast in to the finish without a major problem with the bike. After all, it had held up great for a month and a half with nothing more than a few flat tires. Well luckily I found a bike store and showed them my rear wheel (see pic below). All of the spokes decided to start to explode out of the rim and I had dime size holes all throughout the rim. Well I replaced it and was on my way. My family made it into town 4 miles before I finished. It was a great feeling to see familiar faces. That evening I had a huge feast, lobster of course, before I crashed out in a real bed. Oh yeah and wearing clean clothes that I hadn't been wearing every day.

Overall it was an awesome experience. I met some very nice interesting people, saw some incredible sights, and definitely will want to go back to a few of the areas to revisit. Even now that its all over I'm reliving many of the moments and I catch myself daydreaming. I cant wait to start planning the next big trip whatever that may be....any suggestions?

I especially want to thank everyone who helped me reach my goal of raising money for the National Brain Tumor Society. Also those who contributed to Matt's fundraiser for Leukemia and Lymphoma. It made this trip all the more worthwhile. Please consider raising money for a worthy cause if your ever competing in a race or participating in an event. Its easy to do, and makes the event much more meaningful....and be sure to send me your donation page!

Making History in Cleveland

Well after spending half the day trying to get out of Chicago I finally made it into Indiana. I think I've managed so far to do a pretty good job in my sightseeing selection. I made it a priority to stop and see where Rudy prayed everyday, which eventually led to him being selected onto the Notre Dame football squad. Actually the grotto and the campus in general is quite impressive (definitely nothing over JMU though).
Ohio seems to not want to let me leave. First, the road was flooded. However, instead of adding an additional 10 miles onto my tour, the scenic route through the corn field seemed like the better option. Then, the drawbridge was being worked on for some minor repair. This I couldn't avoid and it added about a 90 minute ride. The wind blowing off Lake Erie is continuing to test my sanity as well.
Although I do miss having Matt around, I'm making plenty of friends. Luckily, if I encounter a nuclear attack on the remainder of my trip I know just where to go. Ron was an interesting man, his yard pictured below, decided to make an Atomic Blast Shelter in his back yard with his dog guarding it.
As I pulled into Cleveland I found out that there was a preseason game between the Browns and the NY Jets. The Cleveland Police were very friendly and let me pull my bike in under the stadium and park next to the VIP cars and Jets buses so I could attend the game. There was a rain delay, which only scared off a few fans and allowed me to grab front row seats on the 30 yard line. Right behind Brett Favre. Yep, he was there dressed in his favorite Jets jersey learning all the plays. It was hilarious listening to all the Brownies taunting him the ENTIRE game. The picture below is when he is leaving the game with his head down in the white hat.
Well now I'm on my way to PA and then NY, hopefully the weather holds off.

Windy City Takes the Wind Out

Well, we managed to make it to Chicago, the "Windy City," in just under a month, 27 days to be exact. Along the way we traveled 2,300 miles, rode through 6 states, over various rivers and mountains, and into wind blowing the wrong direction. We met many interesting folks, some that made us shake our heads in amazement at the human race, and a lot who made us smile at the kindness and generosity of our fellow citizens. Our bikes held up with minimal repairs and maintainance needed and our bodies held up too, that is until our first official day off here in Chicago. While walking to breakfast on Wednesday I noticed that both my legs were experiencing some pretty severe pain. It came and went during the day Wednesday as we toured the city but I was able to ignore it. That changed Thursday morning when it became a challenge to even walk down the stairs. Deciding against having our friends construct a makeshift triage with their readily available IV bags, I went to get checked out at the Illinois Masonic Medical Center. It only took them about 15 minutes to take me in, hook me up to an IV, and to tell me that I was in some pretty serious trouble. The past month of biking had managed to tear and damage muscles in my legs and my CK levels (muscle enzymes) were severely elevated. That means that my muscles were torn and broken down and now the toxins from the dead muscle tissue were flooding my kidneys and liver with stuff that my body does not like. The admitted me for 23 hours to fill me with IVs and checked my blood to ensure my CK levels went down. After 23 hours, to the amazement of the doctors, my CK levels actually increased while I was receiving treatment. So, I won first prize and received another nights stay in the hospital in Chicago. My cousin Holly came by to cheer me up and visited for a few hours and Soule brought some cards and gummy cola bottles and we played poker for a while to get my mind off of things. I was finally released from the hospital on Saturday morning with strict instructions from the doctors to participate in no physical activities of any kind for at least two weeks. I do admit to being stubborn, however, in the face of possible liver and kidney damage, I am affraid that Chicago will be the end of the line for me. Soule intends to carry the torch for the remainder of the ride to Maine. He will be heading out of Chicago on Monday as I depart for home. We are finishing up some tourist stuff here in the city before we leave. It is hard to do a lot seeing how it takes me 25 minutes to walk a distance that would normally take only 5. We did manage to take in a Cubs game which was truelly awesome. You really can't pass through Chicago without seeing a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Continue to follow along on the blog to see where solo Soule is and to support him for the rest of the trip. It is a hard road to ride but I know that he will fly through these next couple of states and will be on the east coast in no time at all. I want to thank those who have followed us along the ride so far and encourage you to go out and challenge yourselves on a daily basis.

Chicago

We are in the home of the Cubs, we know because we saw the "Save Ferris" sign on Wrigley Field when we pulled in. We rode straight through Minnessota and Wisconsin and into Illinois. We had a few great nights of sleep, one of which was on a beach along the St. Croix River when we crossed over in Prescot, Wisconsin. Some folks (Paul, Jeff, and Marilyn) at a local restaurant Muddy Waters took care of us and set us up on their friend's beach for the night. It was awesome. We rode 120 miles from Prescot to La Crosse where we stayed with Marcus and Jamie, two college students we ran into earlier in the trip in Washington. They were biking to the west coast and told us to stop by if we were in the area. They took us in, made us tacos, gave us a place to crash, and then fixed us a great breakfast to power us on the road. We managed to find some big hills in Wisconsin and to our dismay, we had to battle the wind yet again. I am convinced that the wind gods have it out for us on this trip. We are staying with two guys, Lloyd and Adam, from Jeff's unit out in Hawaii here in Chicago and have taken a day off to see the sights. Oh, something crazy, I ran into a TC grad out here in Havard, Illinois. He was out visiting his grandmother and just happened to be at the gas station we stopped at. It's a pretty small country after all. We are off to Indiana and then on to Cleveland and Buffalo.