Getting ready for our break day!!

Today started off with some delicious breakfast at Rico's! THank you again for the wonderful meal and donations! We have been overwhelmed with everyone's kindness!! We then took of, it was a bit chilly and rainy but we were ready for the flats and to get to Sandusky! We were able to keep up a good pace until I got a flat.. The stem of my tube ruptured as did Chances the other day so kinda odd if you ask me.. We then ate lunch and had some delicious fried broccoli and cheese which were very good.. We ended up riding about 65 miles and got into Sandusky with the sun shining. We stopped at Target to get a refill on our shampoo, lotion and toothpaste! Hooray for being clean! We are now at Camp Sandusky and getting ready to hit all the wonderful roller coasters at Cedar Point in the morning! It will be a wonderful rest day! Once our camp was set up Chance and I showered along with wrote in our journals, we did get some rain but luckily we were safe and sound in the tent. We did head over to McDonalds for some dinner and of course a yummy nummy ice cream cone! Ice Cream always makes everyone happy! We hope all are going well! We will try to update as often as possible and will put pictures up once we get to Chicago! Thank you again to everyone for your kindness and support! We have been touched by so many people and we could have never hoped for anything better! Thank you for the e-mails as well! It is good to hear about how you are all doing! Have a great weekend! We sure will!

Day 11..

What can I say about Ohio? It's great and flat! We both love it very much!! Today we got in quite a bit of riding and we hit up a small bike shop where they talked with us for about 1.5 hours. They gave us some fresh water and Century Cycle took some pics for us! We ended up staying there too long and not long after it started to poor yet again! Oh how the weather seems to love us a lot. We decided to eat at Doug Out and hope that the rain would slow down or stop. We ate a delicious burger and started to look for close camp sites. The rain just kept getting harder and thunder started. We then asked our waitress about close camp grounds and nobody could think of anything. So, on very kind man named Grant was like "you can stay in my yard." So we took him up on that offer. We also would like to thank the Doug Out for our meal they donated and the donations we got from their customers. Grant and Laura put our bikes and bags in their SUV and drove us to Grants. There we were introduced to his Daughter Abby who was a very wonderful person to talk with! We really enjoyed our time and are greatful for the food and converstaions with Abby, Grant, Hailey, Nate, Brittany and Alex! We could not be more greatful for Grant taking our crazy butts home with him! Hopefully Chance does not read this, but it was nice to be able to talk to others besides him! hahahah don't tell him that:) Eventually converstion started to simmmer and we were off to bed ready to ride in the morning! Again, thank you Grant and family along with all those people at the Doug Out!!

Hello OHIO!!!

This morning we had some good climbs yet again to take us up and out of Pennsylvania! But guess what??? We finally made it to OHIO!!! When we saw that Ohio sign we could not have been happier! We took pics and ate ice cream to celebrate. Pics will be up within the week! From Ohio our outlook got a lot better. The sun started to come out and we could see the road in front of us for long distances meaning it was some what FLAT!!! The ride from there went really well, it did start to get hot in the afternoon. As we were biking Chance noticed the Cici's buffet sign and of course we had to do! Finally we could eat there after seeing so many commericals on tv at home! $4.99 all you can eat pizza, pasta, salad and dessert, how could anyone ever pass that up? We ended up staying in a nice little campground called Paradise Cove. It was very quiet there with only a few people coming in here and there. There was one nice man named Cliff who was so kind and gave us half a cantalope, which is my favorite fruit!! Hooray for Ohio and a better outlook for our journey!

Day 9.....

Rain, rain, rain and so on.... So that means it has rained pretty much all day. It started raining as soon as we got up. It was just drizzling and so we said that would be fine to ride in and it would keep the temps down for once! We said goodbye to our friends at River Cliff and headed out. Things started off a little rocky, Chance realized his tire was getting low. We walked it to a gas station to get air so he did not have to pump it up; however it cost money that we did not have so he had to pump it up himself! Good thing he is strong:) eventually he had to change the whole tube because the stem had ripped. Finally we thought we were on track, back with the steep inclines and all. That was not the truth, the rain started to fall harder and so we stopped and had some breakfast hoping the rain would slow down. The rain just kept coming so we set out anyways. We had hoped to ride about 50 miles, you will come to find out we were unable to get that far. The rain decided to fall in heavy sheets and it was getting hard to see. At a stop light a guy told me it was hard to see us so we decided it was unsafe for us and the other drivers luckily we stopped at Ellie May's which had great people and food for lunch! We stayed there and again hoped the rain would slow down a bit. While talking with Ellie May, the other employees and customers the rain kept on coming but it was again so wonderful to talk with such kind people! Thank you Ellie May for the free lunch, it was delicious! We then road 5 more miles and are held up in Butler, PA. Hope with us that the rain will back off tomorrow and we can finally leave this state which we have a love hate relationship for! Ohio here we come! Thanks everyone! Feel free to email us!

Day 8

Today we headed out around seven. On our way out a nice man in the lobby donated to our cause! Again, we continue to run into very nice people in PA! From there we got on our bikes and hit the road. The beginning of the day riding went well! We stopped and grabbed lunch after about 30 miles. From there the day got a little tough for me (Kelly) and Chance also started to get frustrated with the terrain. After going up and down 3 million more hills we stopped right out side of Kittanning and got some Dairy Queen! I think the DQ helped cheer us up a bit! We went down the huge hill and stopped at a gas station across from the beautiful Allegheny river and tried to find a place to camp. Yet again we were unable to find camping. We decided to go down a road and see if someone would allow us to stay in their yard. We ran across River Cliff Terrace Personal Care Home. There we talked with Megan who ran the house and was a huge help. She allowed us to stay between their two properties! Not only did she give us a place to set up camp she provided me with ice for my knee and got our wash done as well as allowed us to shower! We set up camp and the ladies at the home were just getting done with dinner so they came outside and Chance and I sat with two of the ladies for a couples hours and had a good chat! Chance then headed to Subway to get us dinner. He came back we showered and called it a night! Thank you to Megan for your hospitality! Hope everyone is doing well and thanks for reading!

Day 7....

Today started off well with Scott and Diane sending us off in the morning. We were able to get in quite a few miles in the morning while it was still cool out. We stopped in Hollidaysburg, PA for lunch. Once we got done we had to decided to cut it a short day or continue and head up yet another long mountain road. After talking to a few gentlemen we decided to take on the mountian and get it out of our way... Good idea, not to sure about that. The heat just continued to rise as were got closer to the mountain. This road was two miles long and was not our friend. We were on our way to Ebensburg from there and little did we know that Ebensburg wad on top of yet another high point. So super tired and hot I was sick of the outdoors. We opted on staying at the comfort inn. It was nice because we got to go in a hot tub and even though it was like bathwater it helped my knee feel a bit better. we ate at KFC where Chance demolished the buffet and was very proud of himself! We went back to the room and were so tired we fell asleep quite early! Thanks everyone for supporting us!

Day 6!

Today was a pretty good day! We were super lucky and got to get up at 8:30! Today was meant to be a rest day so our muscles could revitalize! We headed out of State College, PA and biked about 10 miles. We came across some farm land and later found out it was PENN State research land. Anyways, we went up to a house we saw and luckly somone was coming out. That person was Scott, he is the manager of the farm land. He was so kind and allowed us to set up camp in his yard. We also were so lucky and got to meet his two dogs Levi and Maggy!!! Once we set up our camp we just sat around and relaxed until Scott returned from work. He was then even more generous than we could ask for and invited us to eat pizza with him and his girlfriend Diane! We had some delicious pizza and great conversation as we watched the Penguins hockey game! We then headed to bed! Thank you Scott and Diane for everything, we were so very lucky to meet you! To everyone that reads the blog and is supporting us thank you!

Days 4 and 5 of Riding...

Day 4: The fourth day of riding started off with some good downhill with a pretty good climb in the middle and rolling hills to end it off. While riding we were stopped on the side of the road and a nice man named Roy came over and talked with us and was also very kind and donated to our cause. He had some insight into the rest of our ride that helped us out. From there we stopped in the little town of Nesqepeck and talked with a guy at the gas station. We then left and headed to Bloomburg where we ate lunch at the Bloomburg diner! The gyros and Greek salads we had there were very delicious! We then headed down the road a ways to a local bike shop and got a new tube. The men working at the shop gave us a new route that took more country roads and roads with traffic. That road they sent us on was again a lot of rolling hills, not the best shoulder in the world. It started to get very hot out. We have found that there is not a lot of camping areas here unless you are in state parks so we ended up in Lewisberg at the local hotel there and they were kind enough to give us a discount. We walked down the street of th cute little town and had some pizza for dinner. From there we hit the hay early so we could leave early and beat the heat the following day!
Day 5: Today was an interesting day. Frustrations hitthe both of us and made for a more difficult day then most. We had some climbs but mainly large rolling hills. It was cool because we went by Camp Woodward which e always see on MTV! The day got very hot and we stopped for lunch in a very tiny town. After eating and walking outside the heat hit us. From there we had 25 miles to go in our 55 mile day. We came into State College, PA where PENN State is located. Again here no camping within close distance. We ended up at the Super 8 where again they gave us a very nice discount!

3rd Day of Riding...

Well hello again! Today was our third day of riding and it was quite tiring... We had a short day today doing 20 miles, we went up two mountains one with a 9% grade up hill and another with a 4% grade uphill, so that means very steep and with the sun beating down on us and a 80 some degree day we tired quickly. As always despite the tough riding, there were beautiful sights to be seen! Nearing the end of the day we stopped in a little town called Beaver Meadows and ran into some wonderful people yet again! We ate at the Beaver Meadows Deli and had some delicious food and conversation with the other diners and workers. We greatly appreciate Danny at Beaver Meadow Deli who helped feed us as well as called some hotels and was able to get us a free night stay at the Comfort Inn in West Hazelton! Thank you so very much for everything Danny! We did get a picture with Danny and as soon as I am at a place where I can get pictures online you will see the picture taken with him! After a tough day of riding it was a great sight to see the Comfort Inn sign and have such nice accommodations and their hospitality! We are looking forward to a good nights sleep and getting up tomorrow for yet another day of Cycling 4 a Cure! Thank you again for all of you who follow our blog, if you ever want to ask us anything to just say hi we love getting emails! Thank you again to all of you who have been so kind and donated money and goods along the way, we cannot thank you enough! Hope everyone is doing well and we will continue to travel safe!

first few days...

Day1: Monday was our 1st day riding. It was an interesting day. I (Kelly) got a flat tire and we had to fix that. We have run into great people so far. At Action bike and outdoors we talked with a few guys who wished they could do what we are. I needed a new water bottle and they kindly gave us one free of charge. The riding was pretty good, a bit intense at points with the climbs but we also got a great down hill where we did not have to peddle for 4 miles! We ended up staying in Deleware Water Gap NationalnPark. Our site was good and our neighbors were great! The guys next door invited us to share their fire some brownies and they even gave Chance a beer! They shares some great stories as did chance and I. It's was a good first day!
Day 2: I will sum up today by what a guy we ran into said "most states they build roads around the mountains and we in PA build them over the mountains." So for me it was quite trying and Chance was a bit tired but as always was the stronger of us. We saw a lot of beautiful views and are now in a little town called Jim Thorpe. We are both tired my knee hurts but we are heading to bed and getting ready for our ride tomorrow! Thanks again for you following!

In New York!

Hey everyone! Chance and I arrived in New York this morning around 8 am! It was a long ride with some frustration a lot of sleepyness and laughing! We ran into some interesting characters while stuck in traffic for 3 hours in great old Chicago. Man were there a lot of tolls... We Were expecting a few but 3 dollars just to drive over a bridge? The scenery on the. Drive did not change from the normal Minnesota scenery until we entered the mountains in PA. Upon arrival into New York we were able to check into our room early, drop off our car, eat breakfast and get some much needed sleep! Boy oh boy did some sleep do our minds and looks some good! For the rest of the evening we will lay low at the hotel and head out early tomorrow in the morning to see NYC all day! Thanks for reading as the day gets so very close!

Done With 1 Adventure and on to Another!

There has been quite a bit going on. Last week Chance headed home to Aberdeen to hang out with family and friends along with being interviewed by two radio stations. The radio station interview from Hub City Radio can be heard by clicking on the link under the media headline. I (Kelly) finished up my student teaching at Apollo High School in the PE department and really enjoyed my time with the great staff and students. I have finished one big adventure. That is graduating from college! I am now a licensed k-12 Physical Education teacher in the state of Minnesota! The graduation was on Sunday the 10th and from there Chance and I headed down to the cities to spend time with family and friends before we head off to start the big cross country ride! This week we have been working on getting the last few items needed and making a list of everything we have so we make sure to pack it all. Only 2.5 days until we pick up the rental car and head to New York to start another chapter/adventure in both our lives. As the day grows ever so nearer we both have feelings of excitement and nervousness! The car ride to New York will take us approximately 19 hours and many Red Bulls! Once we arrive in New York will we head to the Big City and check out as many sights as we can while there for 1.5 days. Neither Chance or I have been to NYC and are looking forward to see what they have to offer! From there we will hit the open road on Monday the 18th! If you ever have any questions remember to keep checking the blog, or send us an email and we will be sure to write back when we have a good Internet connection! Once the trip begins we will also have a link to see all the pictures I will take! Thank you again for your continued support!