Hey Hey Hey Everyone

We are in Aberdeen and having a meet and greet tomorrow night at the Eagles Club here in Aberdeen. It starts at 4pm and goes until 8pm. There will be a free will donation dinner. The menu consists of BBQs, hot dogs, chips, bars and some other stuff. Kelly and I will both be there to mingle with the natives and answer any and all of your questions. If we can rig something up for pictures we will have them to look at, no promises, we will try our best. We hope to see everyone from this area out in full force! Thanks again to for everyone’s continued support!

country road take me home!

Today we were planning on getting up early and getting in as many miles as we could before lunch since we were crashing early and it was suppose to be hot, but that didn't happen. I woke up at 5.30 to go to the bathroom and I couldn't see the baseball field that was 25 feet away because it was so foggy! All I could hear was trucks on the highway and I knew that it would be way too unsafe to attempt a go in this weather, so I went back to sleep and didn't wake Kelly until 7. When we finally got up it was a little clearer. We could actually see the hwy but it was still pretty dense. When we were about ready to get going Milt pulled up in his truck and asked how the night went and we spoke for a couple more minutes and he gave us $20 for breakfast. So we thanked him for all his hospitality and we desided it would probably be safer if we waited a little bit longer so we went to the Sunburg Dinner and ate. When we walked in the place was filled with familiar faces. All the folks from the baseball game were there having coffee and no one even not even the people we didn't know staired. I guess news spreads quickly in small towns and everyone already knew all about us. After breakfast we hit the road and hoped that the overcast skies lasted all day. It was a plesent ride even though the air was heavy with mist and there was no more then a white line to ride on. We were both feeling fresh this morning and you could see it in our riding. We were pacing much faster then normal. We covered the 18 miles to Benson in just over an hour. In Benson we stopped and used the restroom and discussed our options for eating since there was only one small town between where we were and Ortonville, which was 35 miles away. We decided to stop at this gas station just outside of Danvers. At the truck stop/Oil supply company we chatted with some of the employees and enjoyed a sandwich and coffe cake while we told them some stories of our adventures to date. After our break we hit the road, hoping the shoulder would improve, unfortunately it didn't, but about 18 miles out side of Ortonville we met our second traveler. Her name was Beth and she was traveling alone from Seattle to Minneapolis. We told her about our trip and that she was only about 170miles from Minneapolis and she was very excited. We spoke a bit longer about our trips and then we were back on the road. By this time the cloud cover had pretty much completely left and we were really feeling the heat now. I think the temperature was increasing with every passing minute. Finally we had reached Ortonville and we saw a familiar and exciting sight, Dairy Queen! We stopped in and got our usual blizzard and sat in the airconditioned shade of the booth and tried to recover for the rest of our journey since we were still 11 miles from Milbank where we had decided our destination for the day would be. When we got back on our bikes it was almost painful to sit on the seat it was so hot but my butt quickly adjusted but the last 11 miles were by far the most trying. Kelly fell behind and looked like she was going to die from the heat, I found the only way to deal with it was to drink as much water as I could and distract my mind with random song singing. When we finally got to Milbank we popped into the first resturant we could find and got out of the heat. After a very drawn out dinner, we spent the next couple hours in the library to let the temperature hopefully drop a bit before we made our way to our camping spot. Thanks again for your continued support!

County Line Baseball and Rain

Today went quick to say the least. We had 65miles in by 2:30pm. Today was on of the only days we had a tail wind but with a tail wind that usually means rain, the direction that we are going. We woke up around 6.30 and were on the road with in the hour. We said our good byes to Tommy and hit the road. We were almost out of St. Cloud when we were stopped by an older gentleman that asked us where we were headed. The weather was cool and the ride was nice for the first 25miles or so then it began to drizzle, which wasn't actually so bad. It felt like someone had one of those misters in front of you the whole ride, but it didn't take long before the mist turned to rain and we had to take a break in Paynesville. It was only 10.30 but we figured since we stopped we would grab some food. After our brunch we hit the road, or should I say bike trail. It was nice and relaxing to be able to ride on a bike trail for a few miles and it even shaved a couple miles off the trip. It began to rain pretty hard right before we got to New London and we figured we should take a break there but there was nothing open, I guess the whole town shuts down on Sunday, but luckily the rain stopped. We did run into an open place just out side of town it was called Pete's Surplus. It was a pretty neat little shop. It had all kinds of outdoor gear and army surplus equipment but we just needed the bathroom and a candy bar. We stopped and chatted with the clerk and a couple locals while we ate our snack. It was this time that Kelly made the call. We would most likely call it quits in Sunburg, but we would decide over lunch. When we got back on our bikes it started to mist again. It wasn't too much further to Sunburg. When we pulled into Sunburg there was a baseball game going on. We found the only diner in the giant metropolis of 109 people. Unfortunately the entire town and surrounding community was at the baseball game. So Kelly and I made our way to the game and parked our bikes under a picnic shelter. It was the same old same old. Everyone in the little town stared at us as we road in and most likely missed a nice play in the field. After a couple minutes a older gentleman walked up to us. He looked to be a biker with his Harley shirt on and POW cap on, not to mention his masterful braided beard and amazing mustache, his name was Milt, I think. We asked him about camping and he told us about a state park 5miles away and then we asked him about places to eat and he told us they had awesome brats. So we decided to grab a brat and a soda and mingle with the locals, who knows we may score a place to sleep. We chatted with a couple gentlemen about this and that. One was the county and farming commissioner and we asked if it would be possible to camp in this open area and they said it would be no problem and Milt said he would leave the fire house unlocked so we could use the bathroom, which was really nice. The baseball game was good, Sunburg won 3-2 and the announcer was absolutely hilarious. They had some really weird but funny commercials during the inning breaks like that the team was sponsored by "Sham-Wow" and some others about people in the community. We had no idea they were fake but one came on about an Optician and I made the comment that it was odd that a town this size would have an optician and one of the guys told us that it was a joke, the guy they were talking about was a half blind trucker. Now it all made sense and they were way funnier now that we knew he was just takin' the piss out of the locals. After the game he announced us and we chatted with a few more people and handed out our cards. When everyone cleared out we set up our tent under the picnic shelter for added shelter and a good thing we did. It started to rain so hard we couldn't see across the field and it rained on and off for the rest of the night. We stayed mostly dry under the shelter and made dinner and then called it an early night.

On the road to St.Cloud...

Friday the 19th we packed up our gear and headed out from Maplewood after a relaxing 4 day break. Lets just say it is hard to get back on your bike when it is super hot and you have been watching tv and eating ice cream for four days.. The morning started off ok, we road on a nice sidewalk for a bit. About 8 miles into the ride our friend the flat tire visited Chance. Lets just say that this friend was not welcomed by Chance with kind words:) After our little fix it session we headed out. We were lucky enough to be able to ride on sidewalks almost all the way out of the cities. We were starving by the time we got to North Oaks so we went to Rainbow and had a littly sammy! We then continued to ride on hwy 10 most of the time. We stopped off in Elk River at a little joint to have a bite to eat for lunch. I was hoping they would have air conditioning but sadly they did not:( After lunch I was very tired and could have fallen asleep while riding. The wind also decided to pick up and made the ride less enjoyable for me. We road to Big Lake where I got a gatorade to help pump me up. It did work for a bit, but riding 88 miles the day after a 4 day break is not so easy. We eventually made it into Becker, MN where we said goodbye to our friend hwy 10 and started our ride on county road 8 to St.Cloud! We saw a nice little kitty but he decided to lay in the road and look at us funny. I told him he would get run over if he did not move. So I hope he took my advice and moved to the field next to the road! As we got closer into St.Cloud our legs were starting to wear out and the sky just kept getting darker and darker. Then it happened the lightening, thunder and rain graced us with its presense. We stopped put on our rain jackets and continued the 4.5 miles we had left until we got to my brothers house in St.Cloud. Upon arrival at Tom's(my brother) he had some nice little confetti poppers to great us and in his living room he said he had another surprise. That surprise was his tent set up with streamers and a congratulations sign! It was really cute and nice! What a nice brother! From there we had to get our bikes to Revelution Cycle and Ski so they could help us with tuning and adding some new parts for the rest of journey. We talked with the staff for a little and then headed back to shower. Once we we finished showering Chance decided he wanted to go eat at Bonanza where he could pretty much eat all he wanted. So my brother and his girlfriend Shannon took us and yes both chance and I dominated the buffet! From there it was back to Toms to watch a movie and do Chances favorite activity, sleepy time! We will head out on Sunday towards Aberdeen! Thank you all for your continued support! As always, pray and hope for good weather, kind shoulders and a safe journey!

Shamrocks and the Dr...

Thank you everyone that came out to Shamrocks to hang out with us! Karen it was really nice to finally get a chance to meet you and we are so happy you are there to support us as much as you have! Family and friends thank you for continuing to show great support and being there for us all the time... It is greatly appreciated!

Ok so, most of you know that I have been having some knee troubles on the trip and today I was able to go in and see the GREAT Dr.Dahl! He worked magic and I got a mind zap(shot) of cortizone and I am hoping it will help me make it through the remainder of the trip. Dr.Dahl also drew me a very lovely picture which everyone I have shown has got a kick out of it! Thank you Dr. Dahl and staff for helping my doctor visit go well and hopefully helping my knee hold up for a bit longer!!

We will now be leaving the cities on Friday morning and will be in St.Cloud on Friday night through Sunday morning when we will head off to Aberdeen, SD. Our estimated date of arrival in Aberdeen is this coming Wednesday.

Thanks again to everyone for your wonderful and gracious support and donations!

T-Shirts

Alright everyone, so far we have been limited to whom we can sell our shirts to since we can't bring them with us and we have had a couple people ask us about obtaining one. So we discussed it with our parents and have come up with a solution. Anyone that is interested in getting a Cycling 4 A Cure T-shirt can contact either my mom, Brenda Glasford at 605-229-2231; 922 3rd Ave NE Aberdeen SD 57401, or Kelly's mom, Terri Platzer at 651-731-6875; 1031 S Lakewood Dr, Mapplewood MN 55119. The shirts are lime green (shown in the picture) and say Cycling4acure, its our logo, and have our sponsors on the back and they are $15 each plus $2 shipping and handling, unless you are in the area and stop by and get it. They have most sizes. The proceeds go to help us help the American Cancer Society, since that is what this adventure is all about!

Flat Tire!

Well Well Well, where to begin. So we woke up a little later then normal knowing we only had a short 40mile ride it wouldn't hurt to sleep in a little extra. So we got up about 7 and noticed Kelly's slow leak the day before was completely flat so we had to replace it, unfortunately that was her last tube so we hoped we wouldn't have any more problems. After we got her bike moving again we went to Randy's Resturant for breakfast. Around 9 we finally got on the road and the ride was going alright but it wasn't more then 10miles into our ride and Kelly fell behind and I noticed her waving so I stopped. I figured she needed to go to the bathroom and indeed she did but that wasn't the reason to stop. She had another flat tire. Yeah not good she had no more tubes. Kelly said "guess that's the end of the ride for me." and I told her no, we'll patch it, persevering is part of the adventure. So we spent the next 20 mins patching up her tire and we got back on the road. It seemed like the patch worked, it was holding air. So we kept riding, we weren't planning on stopping for lunch so we pushed on. About 5miles out of Hastings we had to climb a hill and as soon as I got out of the saddle to go up the hill the back tire washed out a bit and I looked down, dang it, another flat! So I got to the top of the hill and started changing the tire and Kelly came up and gave a little laugh, "I guess the bad luck hasn't stopped yet." That was my last tube so now we were riding on pure luck, just hoping we would make it home. When we got into hastings we stopped at Coborn's and went to the bath room and filled our water bottles. Just before we got to the other side of Hastings a motorcycle pulled infront of me, it was Bob, Kelly's dad. He had stopped by to give us a spare cell phone and water since kelly's and my phone had died and it was a good deal that he did. We didn't get more then 2miles out of Hastings and tink tink, what is that noise kelly? "I think I have something in my spokes." Well it wasn't in her spokes it was a sixteen penny nail stuck in her tire! yeah that was the 4th flat tire today 3rd for kelly and 6th in two days. It was hot and we were both completely exhausted, frustrated! We were only 11 miles from Kelly's parents house and we finally had given up, we called it a day. We don't like to quit so close to a destination and more often we don't get that oportunity. So we called it in and got a ride. Unfortunately we ruined the semi-surprise party Kelly's mom had planned for us, most the people weren't even there but we were glad to be home and they all arived shortly and we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and chatting with them about the trip! Thanks again everyone for all of your support and please come join us for a little meet and great at Shamrocks tomorrow!

Meet and Greet

Hey everyone in the Twin Cities Area! Kelly and I are going to be at Shamrock's Irish Nook on 7th and Randolph in St. Paul on Tuesday night around 6.30 so anyone and everyone that wants to stop down and chat with us, have dinner or a drink is more than Welcome to stop by and just hang out. There will also be T-shirt for sale. The procedes go to help us help The American Cancer Society! So we hope to see you all there!!

The Beautiful Red Wing Marina

Today we woke up and it looked like it could rain and Greg told us that it was suppose to rain all day, I'm not sure were he got his info from but they lied to him. We did have to pack up all our wet gear since it rained all night! The sun was shining to the East and there was thick fog on the hills to the west so we couldn't see the sky to the west but as soon as we got on the road the sky was blue and clear. We rode into Winona and ate breakfast at Perkins, what a great way to start off the morning. After breakfast we road along the Greater River Road until we got to Kellogg, it was dinner time and Kelly was fading fast. She said she was tired so we found a place to eat. It was called Town and Country Dinner and ordered a Mt. Dew for Kelly. We chatted with the lady that ran the place. Her name was Peggy and she was super nice. She gave us our meal for free and told us about a young man that was riding from Boston to Washington and had stopped in here just the day before and was headed for the cities. I guess we are just going at the right pace to miss all these people. Greg had met two others and us and he had only been riding two days. Well after that we got back on the road and it was hot. The ride went well, we stopped in Lake City for some Gilato and chatted with some of the patrons about what we were doing. The break was nice since the heat was getting to us. We only made it a few miles outside of Lake City and bam Kelly got a flat tire. She had a thorn in her front tire so we changed that and, a couple of motorcycle riders swerved at us on the shoulder and reved up their load pipes to scare us. How dumb, I don't think they realize that they could really hurt us or themselves! Anyways we were about 2 miles out of Red Wing and we were both like wow our back tires are low. So we got into town and I tried to pump my tire up and heard the air leak so I had to replace my tube. We both agreed that we needed a break so we went to Stewy's and ate. Kelly got on the phone and tried to find us a place to crash and everything was full, the campgrounds and all the hotels. We were like what are we going to do. So we were getting a little nervous but things always work out. We were talking about where we could try to camp and a couple of guys that were sitting outside heard us and one of them was Randy the owner of Stewy's and they said they could help us out so they made a couple calls and sent us down to the Red Wing Marina to meet with Cindy. So we thanked them and gave them a card and headed to the Marina to catch Cindy before she left. When we got there it took us a bit to find her. When we did she showed us were we could camp and gave us the code to use the bathrooms. The bathrooms were awesome. They were in this old Caboose and extremely nice. So we set up camp and took turns showering and chatting with the locals. They loved what we were doing and wanted to hear all about it. After showering we sat on the swing for a bit until we were driven into the tent by the bugs! Thank you Randy and Cindy for your help and thanks to everyone who continues to support us!

Mini PA

Today started off great, we ate breakfast with the boys. Cam was being as cute as ever, playing with his feet and we had to remind him that big boys don't put their feet on the table even if it is extremely cute. After breakfast we said our good byes and took a couple pictures and hit the road. We both knew what was in store for us or at least had a good idea. We knew that Wisconsin would eventually get hilly but once again we underestimated just how hilly it could get. Bryn had given us a route that was supposedly beautiful but I think we missed our turn as some point. We never did find Dodson Hollow Road so we road the County roads all the way to Chaseburg. The scenery was absolutely amazing. We went down this awesome down hill and along this beautiful lake that didn't look like it could actually exist in Wisconsin. It felt like a mini PA and then we went up a killer climb out of the valley and it really felt like PA. The ride remained up and down until we reached La Crosse. Unfortunately we had a little incident before and had to except a ride and didn't get to rip this amazing multiple mile down hill. Kelly had gotten some mud on her tire and it was making her unstable and shaky so she needed to stop. Typically when one stops you unclip both feet from the peddles before one stops. Kelly had gotten a little careless and only undid one foot and unfortunately it was her left foot and the road side was slanted and as she was trying to unclip the second foot the weight shifted that direction and she fell down, not the first time for either of us, unfortunately there was a steep ditch there and she went down and the bike went over on top of her. She ended up with a pretty good bruise just under her knee. There was a couple of guys that stopped in a truck and asked if we needed a ambulance and if she was ok and where we were headed. They said they would give us a ride to La Crosse if we were still here in a half hour because there were coming back this way. We sat there for a little bit and Kelly said she was fine and could ride but we only got about a half mile and she had to stop again so we said we would wait for those guys. We found our ice pack and taped it to her leg. Kelly was laying on her back beside our bikes and it looked like she was dead. This really nice lady named Kelie stopped and asked if everything was ok. We told her what happened and that these guys said they would stop back but it had been 45mins. She offered us a ride but she was in here SUV and said that she would come back in 15mins with a truck and if we were still here she would take us to La Crosse. She came back in just a short while and we were still there, I guess those guys forgot or something. When we got to La Crosse we thanked her and she was on her way. We ate at this place called the Cheese Corner. It was pretty good but a little expensive. After we ate we got on our bikes and Kelly said it was tender but it didn't bother to ride so we hit the road and didn't stop till we saw the "WELCOME TO MINNESOTA" sign! Finally a state we were familiar with! When we got out of La Crescent we got on the "Greater River Road" and road that all the way to Homer and the Pla-Mor Camp Ground, just outside of Winona. The ride was beautiful along the river. Actually the entire day was beautiful! We chatted with the guy at the front desk of the camp ground and he thought we were doing a great thing so he gave us a free campsite. So we went down and set up our camp and Kelly went to go shower. When she came back she told me about this other bike traveler was here. He came down and set up camp right beside us. His name was Greg I believe. He is riding from Apple Vally Mn to New York. He had a lot of gear with him in respect to what we were caring but he said he needed his luxuries because he's old, haha. It started to rain so we set up our tarp to sit under and we ate some noodles and hot dogs and went and chatted with him for awhile before we went to bed. Thanks to Kelly for the ride and everyone else that helped us along our way and everyone that has supported us this far!

Bryn, Cam, Sky and Blue Dog Cycle

The ride from Mazo to Viroqua was very beautiful and very scenic. We woke up a little later then normal but it was ok since all our stuff was still packed from the night before since Jay and Heidi were so kind and let us sleep in the spare bedroom. The morning ride was fabulous. We quickly got into a nice pace and cruised side by side. We had a nice ride were we got to chat and ride together. It was probably one of our best days of riding. It was very enjoyable and not too strenuous. We had one little scare with Kelly's knee but i think it was a bit of fate, Kelly had said she needed to go to the bathroom but would wait till the next town and we were approaching a rest area and right as we got to the entrance she let out a little scream and so we pulled into the rest stop and took a nice little break in the shade and use the facilities. After that we rode till Richland Center and ate lunch. The funny thing about the ride was every sign would be only one mile closer and the GPS would say we had ridden 2 or 3 so we didn't know what to believe, but we finally got there and ate the Center Cafe. We got a lot of food for the price and since we spent more then $6 on one entree we got a free slice of pie. After lunch the ride got a little bit more hilly every mile, and before long it began to look more and more like PA again, everything. The road, the trees and the hills. It was like we were having flash backs, that wasn't too good for the morel, but we managed to laugh it off. Kelly had blamed me for jinxing us by saying that Wisconsin has not been too bad to us so far and then things started to get a bit more intense and we got a taste of real Wisconsin and went on a nice roller coaster of hills until we reached Viroqua. When we got to the edge of town Kelly said lets get ice cream and so I looked it up on the GPS and I found a Dairy Queen and Kelly was like well I bet it;s on top of a hill and it was, the whole town was.
When we got to DQ it was right next to this cool little bike shop so we stopped in there first and picked up a couple tubes and got to chatting with Bryn one of the mechanics about our ride and our bikes and we started asking about a place to set up our tent and the owner Pete was telling us about a couple campsites that weren't too far away and then Bryn chimed in and offered us his back yard and we said that we would think about it over some ice cream and we would be back. So we walked our bikes to DQ and ate a blizzard, and discussed our options, there wasn't much discussion and we went back to Blue Dog Cycle and told Bryn that we would love to stay at his place but we had to eat first. He gave us his address and told us that we could stop by whenever. We ate this little Mexican joint and then went to the library and checked our emails and finally we went to found Bryn's house. It wasn't too far away. When we got there we met his to awesome boys, Cameron and Skylar. Although there were only 2 and 4 respectively, they helped us set up our tents and checked our bikes and then we played a little bit after our tour of the house. Cam said the cutest thing. I was helping him pick up his marbles and I went to hand them to him and the dog stuck her noise in at them and I told her those aren't for puppies and cam was standing right there and looked at me with a big smile and said "I'm not a puppy" with the cutest little voice. After that it was time for the boy's to get into bed so we let them do their bed time stories and we settled in. After the boys were in bed we went in and chatted with Bryn and enjoyed a cup of tea. He was a very interesting man. He had lived the life that dream of doing. He had been a mountain guide for many years working with Outward Bound and helping challenged children, which I find very admirable and awesome. He was also at one time teacher for troubled youth. So we talked about all kinds of interesting things and before we knew it, it was almost 11 and we headed off to sleep. Thanks guys for letting us crash at your place and being so cool and thanks to everyone that supports us!

Janesville to Mazomanie...

An interesting day to say the least. We got up and said our goodbyes to Jim and started our days journey. The trip started off different than most!!! Chance was finally not ready to get up at his usual 6 am wooo hooo!! That means we finally got our around 7:45 or so! The ride started off with wonderful weather and no sign or rain which is always a plus! We rode well for quite some time and stopped off at about 20 miles for a little breakfast at the great old McDonalds! There we rested a wee bit and headed out in hopes of my knee holding up.. That did not happen. We got about 30 miles or so in and the kliner(knee) was very angry with me. So I stopped and allowed it to rest, of course Chance was anxious to get going but he understands that without a happy klinker the ride will not go as planned. So after a nice little rest we headed out along hwy 14 towards Madison. Once we got into Madison it was a beautiful ride around the lake and into town. There we stopped at a little place for some lunch and a long much needed break. Like usual some other customers were very interested in hearing our story! It's so great to have so many people interested in what we are doing! After our break we tried very hard to get out of Madison, however, the construction on the roads were tryin to keep us there. Despite their great efforts we broke free of the city of Madison. The afternoon portion of the ride went pretty smooth! I was able to keep pace with Chance so we could talk and laugh about things we have seen along the way! Once riding in to Mazomanie, Wisconsinwe had finally broke the 1000 mile mark! As soon as we got into town we stopped off at the library to find a campground for the night. We were unable to find something close and the librarian offered to take us in! Then another lady came in and started talking to us so we ended up staying with her since the librarian was not sure when she would be able to show us to her house. So we rode with Heidi home and met her husband Jay and her very cute and rambunctious boys; Emmaus, Uriah and Micaiah and her beautiful baby girl Zipporah! They were so kind to allow us in their home and it was fun to see how excited the boys were to see us and show us all the cool things around their yard! We shared great conversation and travel stories with Jay and Heidi along with a great dinner of meatloaf they made! I think the meat loaf made Chances night, he was very delighted by the menu for the evening! For the remainder of the night we talked with Heidi and Jay and they even let us take a shower and stay in their guest room! Could not have asked for anything better! They seem to be the adventerous couple like us! Heidi and Jay, thank you so much for your kindness and hospitality! We have come to see that behind the parts or our world and country that are crumbling, there are wonderful people with open hearts and great spirits! Thank you to everyone for following and continue the emails.

Two seasons in the Midwest.... Winter and Road Construction..

So we hit the road construction season here in the great Midwest! Starting off out of Woodstock, we were headed towards Janesville to stay with my dad's cousin Jim! The morning started off very cloudy and we were hoping it would not rain. Again, it was very windy and of course my (Kelly) knee started hurting again. After four days of rest you would think that maybe just maybe it would feel better. NOPE:( So as we road we ran into lots of construction which would put us on very bumpy roads and the bumps hurt my incredibly smart brain! We stopped in a small town and had lunch at the X-14 Bar and Grill. The reason it is called such, is because it is at the corner where hwy X and 14 come together. We sat there for a while where I ate probably the best pulled pork sandwhich I have ever had! We talked to the lady there who was intersted in our ride and at the end she hugged us and said she felt like we were her kids. She was very nice and we were happy we ran into her! Again, we keep running into such wonderful people. I would have to say personally meeting all these wonderful people is one of my most favorite parts of the trip! After lunch we walked out and crazy as it may seem the sun was shining and the sky was the most beautiful blue! We took of with our spirits happy and bodies full of food. It was a nice afternoon ride, not to trying or difficult. Chance and I had our crazy silly conversations as we rode. Along a country road we ran across the most beautiful field of flowers. I stopped to take a few pictures which you will see up in our album shortly! Our afternoon ride was quite short and we ended up riding 50 miles as I said before to Janesville where we were welcomed with open arms to a warm shower and what sounds like will be a deliciious meal made by Jim! Thank you very much for allowing us to stay with you! It's always great to get to know family you only see every so often are reunions and such! We are still looking for a place to lay our heads tomorrow night and then we will be ready to go! Hope everyone has a great week and continues to follow and pray for GREAT weather!! FYI when we get to MN we will be getting together one night at Shamrocks to eat and talk so I will fill you in with date and time!

End to the summer vacation....aka Chicago...

Well today was the day we packed up our things and said goodbye to Chicago. The morning was pretty stressful as we might have gotten up a bit too late. We were staying in downtown Chicago with my (Kelly) parents so we had to get the train back to Ben's house to get our bikes and the rest of our gear. If we would have gotten up a bit earlier we could have got an earlier train and not had to rushed so much... Because, once we got to Ben's we had 25 min to pack our things and bike 3 miles back to the train station. The reason we had to get back to the train station is becuase we were taking the train out of the cities instead of having to hit so much traffic and not so nice roads. Luckily we made it to the train station with 1 min to waste. Sadly, it was a quick goodbye to my parents. Once on the train we had a nice ride back to the city where we then had to go 4 blocks to the other train station and get on another train to Clear Lake. Once we got off in Clear Lake we rode about 15-20 miles to our camp site in Woodstock, Illinois. The ride was not a pretty one. It was dark as night and the wind was blowing very hard, hard enough to blow me off the road a few times. Then the temps dropped and the rain came in heavy sheets with some hail, which I must say hurt the arms a bit. But we toughed it out and arrived at our campsite. Once we settled in, we headed into the historic downtown of Woodstock, which I might add was very charming. There we ate some grub and headed to the library to look up our route and lodging options for the next day or so. We found out there was not too much on our way and remembered relatives my dad talked about lived in Janesville, Wisconsin. So that was the day and it was time to call it quits! Thanks everyone for reading! If you know of any place we can stay between Janesville and Woodbury off of hwy 14 and hwy 61 let us know, it would be a great help!!!

Kelly's Birthday Weekend!

Well, what I (Kelly) would like to call her summer break in Chicago has come to an end.. It has been a great few days here in Chicago! Not only did my parents come down to celebrate my 23rd birthday but I got to see Ben and spend time with him after it has been so long! So this weekend we got to do some sight seeing, and go see penguins at the aquarium, remember old times and eat some good old Chicago Deep dish pizza! I am worn out after a long day! Even Chance who likes to go go go can admit he had a great "vacation" and is glad we stopped! Tomorrow morning we will be heading out yet again on our bikes and headed to the Twin Cities and hopefully be there within a week or so! So again, pray for good weather and safe travels! Again, thank you mom and dad for everything and coming down to visit and thank you Ben for allowing us to stay at your place and for being our tour guide! Click on the link that says pictures and you can see a selection of our pictures from New York to Chicago! Hope everyone is doing well and thank you for the birthday wishes!!

CHICAGO!!!

Well we made it to Chicago after a very long 97 mile day! We got up from our campsite and let me tell you, the night before I was all set to hit Chicago and go the extra milage. However, when I woke up I was not feeling like I could make it. However, once lunch came around my knee was feeling well and Chance was like it is actually only 15 miles in the other direction if we bypass our camp ground and hit Chicago. So, we decided to go all the way! We got near the end of Indiana which only took us 1.5 days to get through and we started to hit the farthest ring of suburbs to Chicago. So we just kept biking without stopping because they are not the best of neighborhoods to ride through. By that point our bodies were dead up our minds were thinking about a comfortable place to stay and watching TV and doing nothing else. So the weather stayed nice and we made it to Harvey where it would take us into Chicago. We then get into Chicago and to another area to get to Ben's house in Warrenville. We then made it to Bens house around 10pm and called 3 pizza places until we were able to find one that would deliver! Eventually we did and were so happy to eat after not eating since 12:30 or so in the afternoon! It was nice to take a shower and fall asleep watching tv! To me the TV was like a new invention and for some crazy reason I was so happy! We actually stayed up unitl midnight holy cow! We usually go to bed by 9 pm at the latest! For those of you that are unaware, we are staying in Chicago for a few days to visit with my friend Ben who has been so kind to allow us to stay at his condo! Also, my family came down from the twin cities to celebrate my birthday with me! So today in Chicago we went to Navy Pier and went on a architectual boat tour of the city, then we went to eat and walked back to the hotel then went to 711 to get yummy ice cream! Thanks again for all of you who support us and read! One last day in Chicago tomorrow for my 23rd birthday and then it is off on the bikes again! Have a nice weekend!

And I found 20 dollars!!!

Today started off wonderful with Carolyn making us eggs toast and some delicious fruit for breakfast! It was so nice of them to let us stay with them and be able to stay in a bed was wonderful! The morning started off in the 50's so a little cold on the hands and such. We were riding pretty good and at about 30 miles it started to down pour. At that point we stayed in a gas station and tried to entertain ourselves with a 25 cent pull tab. That fun was short lived. Once it stopped raining we headed out again only for it to start raining again after 3 blocks. So this time we stopped off at the Eagles club in Kendellville Indiana for an early lunch. The day was pretty lack luster until we stopped off at a gas station to use the bathroom while pulling into the parking lot we spotted $20 stuck to the ground!!!! from then on things went pretty well, we kept up a good pace and stopped for ice cream in
Nappanee Indiana! There Chance
Thought the Amish people were the most interesting thing! One nice Amish man on a bike hrlped us to locate a close camp ground! We then were nearing our end of the day and stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. Luckily we came across Pla-mor campground which is an awesome camp ground with so much to do! Again more nice people and they set us up with a nice camp site free of charge! Than you Rod for your help! We are now winding down and getting ready to end day 16! After 75 miles today and 780 total miles our bodies need a lot of sleep! May tomorrow bring us good weather, company and most of all safe travels! Thank you everyone for reading!

Not so friendly morning..

Today we woke up with clear skies and expected to have another nice day. That was not the case. We started riding into the darkest part of the area and I saw two strikes of lightening. Chance however did not see the lightening and though we should continue. I said I was not ready to die in Ohio so I insisted we get off about 10 miles down the road where there was a truck stop. So as we were exiting a huge streak of lightening crossed the sky right in front of us and so Chance was finally ok with stopping. At the Pilot gas station we sat for a good 2 hours or more as it down poured and gave a nice lightening show. After it started clearing up a truck driver told us we would have about 3 hours or clearance before the next set of storms came about. So we got our butts in gear and started peddling. We got about 20 miles in and my knee did the same thing as yesterday and did not want to work. So I decided I was not ready to quit for the day and took it slow. The wind again stared to pick up and it was drizzling on and off during the remainder of the ride. We then got to a town called Edgerton where we stopped to have lunch. At that point we had rode 45 + miles and were trying to decide if we should go more or stay put. We then called my dad and did some research on camp sites and then hit up the library to see if there were any campsites close by. We ended up finding out the next closest camp sites were 30 miles away and we were not ready for that. So the lady at the library made a call and found us a place to stay! We are now staying with Carolyn and Vern in their home! Their son had done a long distance bike ride from Ohio to Florida so they help take in bikers when needed! We had good conversation and some pizza and Carolyn made a delicious salad and yummy bread pudding! We could not have asked for a better place to stay. And after a day of things not going our way this is one thing we can say was a positive for the day! Thank you so much Carolyn and Vern for allowing us to stay in your home with you! For those of you that read this blog, remember all the nice people that have helped us out and in if any crazy bikers like ourselves ever come across your door step remember kindness pays off!! There are thunderstorms in the forecast, but we hope they will pass by the time we need to leave tomorrow! Keep us in your thoughts and do some crazy sun dance in your front yard! Thanks so much for the emails we have been getting, we love to hear from others! Thank you for following and donating and we look forward to hearing from you! We estimate we will be in Minnesota within 2 weeks!

Ohio... Did we move at all?

Today was the first day that Chance was tired and I was not! Hooray! That may sound crazy but I always am the bum in the morning so I was happy it was him once! Todays riding stared off quite chilly and due to the weather and the flatter terrain we were able to get in quite a few miles early on! We got to a point where we were at a very fast pace and I was going to get a drink of my water and dropped the bottle, so I stopped to grab it, as I got back on my bike and ready to ride my knee hurt so badly that I thought it was dead... I could not see Chance and I knew if I stopped I would end up being miles behind him. I started biking with just my right leg and probably did that for about 3 miles until Chance realized I was not behind him. Once we caught up to each other we stopped and took a break hoping my knee would work again. After about 30 mins I was ready to go. From then I was the leader incase I had to stop so he would know to stop as well. We stopped at Subway for lunch and a little break! It was then time to get back on the saddle and head into the wind that had picked up. Caution: this part in kinda sick so skip ahead if you are not ready:) I was biking along and an RV came crusing by and ran over an animal, it made a thud noise and blew out many chunks of the animal right besides me and in front of me. It was nasty and I thought I was going to throw up:P We got to about 60 miles and we were soooooo hungry and finally at 70 miles we were able to find a small bar called Heftys to eat! The nice man Art got us a free camp site from Ned and Joyce! So after eating up our food we headed over to the campsite, set up our home, washed up and hit the sack. All-in-all we road 73 miles today! Continue to pray for good weather!

Cedar Point!!! Day of fun!

Well today was the big day!! It was time for some fun and something that I(Kelly) have been looking forward to for a long time! I could not sleep, the one day that I didn't have to get up early and I was up before I usually am! Chance laughed at me because I kept asking him when it was time to go. The camp ground we were staying at had an all you can eat pancake breakfast for $3.99 per person, it was delicious! We then called Mr. Taxi to get a ride to Cedar Point which was about 7 miles away, but they do not allow bicylces or pedestrians across the bridge. Luckily the night before we were at the gas station and found Pepsi cans that had $7 off a ticket so of course we bought two cans. Once we got to the park we headed to the first coaster called the Raptor, the type or ride where your feet dangle down! Over all the roller coasters were awesome despite the hour plus wait in line. The best roller coaster was the Maverick, it blew us away! The fastest coaster we went on was called Top Thrill Dragster and it went from 0-120 mph in 3.8 seconds. It was a crazy ride, you could not even breath for the whole 17 seconds that you were on the ride. It was fun to see Chance have so much fun because I was worried he would not get the thrill out of it that I did and he definentaly did! After being there for 6 hours it was time to call it quits. Chance said "I am more tired from Cedar Point then I am after a day of riding!" We called up Mr. Taxi headed back to the camp ground and went to Subway to get dinner. Then we both crashed early! Again, thank you all for your support and following!