Cycling 4 A Cure

New Beginnings!

2011-07-16T10:20:00.002-05:00

Hello to anyone who might still be connected to this site! Chance and I wanted to again thank those of you who helped us out on our cross country ride in 2009! It's crazy to think that it was 2 years ago. Time sure does fly these days! We would like to share our news with you! We got engaged on June 21st 2011 while on vacation in Gatlinburg, TN! Crazy as it is the bike ride was something that taught us if we could survive a 3600 mile bicycle journey and sharing a tiny tent for 2.5 months we could most likely make it through anything else that was tossed on our plate! We look forward to sharing our life together and out aweomse memeories of a once in a lifetime adventure!

We hope everyone is doing wonderful and having a great summer!

new blogs

2010-11-23T21:51:00.004-06:00

hey hey everyone! well, I'm not sure anyone still follows this blog, it does say there are 8 followers. So any of you that are still interested in us we each have our own blogs now talking about our own things. Mine is selfsponsoredcyling.blogspot.com and Kelly's is beansbookreview.blogspot.com
so check them out!

Colorado Road Trip

2010-07-13T11:46:00.005-05:00

Hello to those of you who still follow!! Just thought I would fill you in on some of our recent excursions. This one being our July 1-11th road trip around the lovely state of Colorado. It was our intention to go on this trip not only for adventure and fun but to meet up with some of the wonderful and helpful people that we met on our cycle ride last summer. It was wonderful to see Joe and meet his family Courtney and the two little ones! What bundles of energy, I think they scared Chance in the fact that he is not use to being around little ones:) So we started off our Journey visiting Randy and Amber, some college friends from college and staying with them in a suburb of Denver. It was great to see them and fun to spend time grilling out and hot tubing/pooling it at night! Thanks so much for your hospitality and the delicious food and great company. From there it was off to Telluride to meet up with Joe and he is friends and family to celebrate the 4th in one of the best ski towns around. We had a marvelous times seeing the beautiful scenery and haing out with everyone we met! Telluride is for sure some place to visit if you are ever out in COlorado.
Second, we made our way over Dallas Divide into the quaint town of Ouray, a big 4 wheel/jeeping area in the summer and outrageous ice climbing in the winter. We met Shane who owns the Company Ride-N which offers 4 wheel rental and tours over certain passes in the area. It was a great private tour with him up Imogene pass to just pat 13,000 feet! The town was lovely to walk through and I might have had the best burger ever at a place called Maggies Kitchen, delicious!! If you are ever in the area you must stop by and eat/look for our names on the wall!!
After our great day in Ouray it was off to Gunnison and Crested Butte which is now mine and Chances favorite town ever!! I would love to live there, so if anyone has 1 million dollars and would like to buy me a house there, I would be very greatful he he he!! After wandering around Crested Butte it was off to the campsite for the night to get some rest!
In the AM we went up MOnarch Pass and took the gondola up to where the continential divide is located and took in the amazing views! Again another little place to stop on your way through the ROckies! We then headed back down the mountain to Salida and again wandered ates some grub and headed to Canon City where we would have the awesome adventure of white water rafting!!! In our lovely campsite haha not really, we played some poker to waste time as we watched the sunset over the mountains. We woke up very excited to see our friends at the White Water Adventure Outfitters (WAO)Thanks to Kathy, Tony and Dave for a great experience through the Royal Gorge!! We are going back next year so anyone wanting to go with us let us know! We did get lucky rafting, it was a beautiful day and right at the end when we got back it poured so hard that when we were driving we actually had to pull over on the side of the road...... After rafting we started towards Colorado Springs to finish our Journey. We set up camp at a nice little camp ground outside of Colorado Springs, the only bad thing is that the fire pits did not have grates and we had steak. So, smart Chance used hot dog pokers to pretty much rotisery the steaks and they turned out well!!
After a nice evening rest with perfect sleeping temp we woke up packed up and headed for some tourist attractions. We would be meeting up with Jerry Funk and his wife Gayle later in the evening. We stopped off in the little foot hills of the mountain town called Manitou Springs, again wandered around saw some cute little shops ate lunch and headed to the Manitou Cliff Dwelings to see how the Anzai and Pueblo people once lived. It was fun to tour and get to know some historical facts. After that we didn' tknow what to do so we played some mini golf hit up the bike store and REI...... More time left what to do.... Smart me, I found the free tour at the Olympic Training Center so we headed downtown. WHat a place it is crazy to see the facilities our Olympic athletes used and see their crazy crazy training habits.
Finally, time to meet up with Jerry and Gayle. they are so kind and allowed us to stay with them for the night and shared some wonderful Chinease food with them! Jerry talked with us about our next days climb of Pikes Peak. He has climed all 55 14ers otherwise known as 14.000-15,000 foot peaks in Colorado and has written a wonderful book called 14er Fan Club. So we knew he would have some much needed knowledge and wisdom for our climb! If you love the outdoors and reading you will want to get Jerrys book! Sat we got up at 5am to get ready for our Trek... I will tell you it was no easy task and I was glad when it was over. The views were worth it and I felt accomplished after! Again, thank you Jerry and Gayle for your hospitality and for celebrating our first 14er with us! Then it was time to head home for the 16 hour ride back!!
We had a great time and got to spend time with amazing people in wonderful places! Hope everyone is doing well!

long time... no word...

2010-06-02T21:54:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long since I've wrote, how have all you been? well everything is going well here on the home front. Kelly is still working for Argosy University as a high school recruiter, her go time is starting to slow down and begin the revamping and training time for the summer. I'm still working at the Hartford, some how some way... I can think of a million other jobs I would rather be doing but right now its providing health care and paying the bills. We have some serious plans for the summer. We hope to continue climbing and back packing as much as possible. As of right now we have a week long trip planned for Colorado that will be jam packed with adventures like climbing pikes peak and white water rafting. We or mostly me would love to do some mountain biking but just don't have the funds right now to make that happen. We will also be doing about a week in the black hills the end of August with the family! As for cycling I'm still shredding, try to ride everyday just to keep the legs going, Kelly is still dealing with some knee issues so she does what she can when it's not bothering her. I'm in the market to try some racing, right now I'm planning on giving cyclocross a go in the fall and maybe try to do a gravel race if I can find one in late summer early fall! on the immediate agenda Kel and I will be guest speakers and the Aberdeen/Brown County relay for life, in Aberdeen SD on Friday June 4th, I believe it will be at 11:30pm I know that's after many of your bed times but you should grab a dewski and try to stay awake and come watch us. Even if I suck at speaking in front of crowds, there should be a cool slide show... well keep on truckin' as wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'!

What's going on?

2009-11-14T11:13:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone, I know it's been a long time since we wrote anything and I apologize for that. Things have been really busy for us. We are still trying to settle into the "real" world, proper adult life. Not as much fun as the bike ride that's for sure. As you all know we did complete the ride. It was absolutely amazing. We had so much fun and we couldn't have done it with out all your guy's support. Since the bike ride Kelly and I went to Hawaii with her parents for two weeks, which was very cool. When we got back from that the serious job hunt began for me. Kelly had already found a job as a substitute teacher for a couple districts in the Twin Cities. It took me about six weeks but I ended up landing a job at The Hartford, a large insurance company. It's a pretty nice job, it's not exactly what I want to be doing, I mean I'm not living in the mountains or anything, but is a start and an income. Other then that we are still bunking at Kelly's parents house, saving some money and looking for an apartment to call home. Oh, also we finally got all of our pictures added to our photo bucket site which you can access from the pics so far link. Once you are at that site you have to click on the most resent uploads link on the left side. Enjoy the new pics. We enjoyed taking them! Thanks again everyone!

Much Thanks!

2009-08-05T14:33:00.004-05:00

Hello to everyone who has been following and supporting us for this great adventure and Cycling 4 A Cure! We would both like to thank you for all donations made to helping us help the American Cancer Society! For anyone who is still wanting to donate please do so, our website on the ACS website will stay active for a bit longer! or fell free to make a check out to the ACS and you can get the needed sheet off our ACS website or sent it to Chance and 922 3rd ave ne, Aberdeen SD 5701 and he will take care of the mailing for you. We hope that everyone enjoyed reading about our trip and if you have any questions please feel free to send us an email! For all of you that we have been so lucky to meet along the way, thank you for all of your help and generosity! We have been so lucky to have met all the wonderful people that there are spread across this great country of ours. If you travel across the country remember take the back roads I know it may be slower, but you see so many wonderful sighs most people miss. Don't forget to stop in the small towns they usually have the most to offer in the form of kindness! Again, thank you all! We could have never done it without you! Look forward to pictures to come! As for what we are doing now. Chance is back home in Aberdeen, SD working construction and hanging out with family and friends. I am in Maplewood, trying to unpack from school, and enjoy the things of summer I love so much! I will be going to Aberdeen on the 17th for Chances birthday and he will then be coming back to teh cities in September to get ready for our trip to Hawaii! Again thank you all so much and we hope to stay in touch!

San Francisco and the end!

2009-08-05T14:29:00.004-05:00

The last two days we spent in San Francisco before we would fly on home. We had a great time seeing the sights, sleeping in and getting things ready to go home! In San Fran we saw the typical tourist sights of Pier 39, Fishermans Warf and so much more! We even rented these little cars called Go-Cars! They took us all over the city and navigated us by GPS we both had agreat time! IT was nice to relax and kind of weird to think that we were done and it was about time to go home. The last day Chance and I spent relaxing, and packing for the plane! It was time to get home. We took the Red Eye flight home on the 2nd of August and arrived in MN at 6am! It was a great trip and one that will be memorable for a lifetime!

The last day of riding...

2009-08-05T14:17:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time coming! Today was our day we would enter San Francisco. IT has been a very long 2.5 amazing months and we are ready to see the ocean and head home! The morning ride was quite easy as we zig zagged our way through city streets. We were headed to Dublin where we would get on the BART and head into San Francisco! My knee was bothering me quite a bit today but I kept my spirits high as we were excited to complete our journey! Chance was wonderful as always and worked with me so that I could feel strong the rest of the way. We knew this afternoon we would have our last larger climb. we had no idea what we were in for. As we approached this climb, we knew the summit would be roughly 1,500 ft and we started at 35 feet so we had a pretty good climb left in front of us. The first part of the climb was pretty gradual and a bit a of a head wind. Chance flew ahead as usual but I took my time as I always say the turtle wins the race! Eventually the wind picked up and things got a little crazy. I got blown off my bike 2 times and I was like screw it I have all day so I got off and walked. It got so windy I was stopped in my tracks and could not push m y bike. Eventually I saw Chance again making it to the top having to push his bike as well! The kind guy that he is, he ran back down to help me out! As he was pushing the wind just kept picking up, the wind was so strong at one point, that it actaully took two of us to push my bike. At the top we took our time and got ready to make our way down. we both had a great time going downhill and cruised into Panda Express for lunch and a little break before we our final lag of the trip.. After lunch it was a great ride, full of excitement we made our way to the BART station and got on and let out a deep breath! We made it! We were on our way into the city and talked with a few of the locals who were a big help. once we got off the BART we of course got back on our bikes and made our way over the Golden Gate bridge dodging the tourists on rentals and took our pics! The last task was to find the bike store. At the bike store they would box our bikes and ship them home for us! It was agreat feeling to be done! We were both exhausted and headed to our hotel for a shower, food and a night of relaxation! It's been a great trip!

Rode to Modesto.,..

2009-08-05T14:10:00.004-05:00

The ride this morning was pretty good. We had a bit of climbing in the morning to get out of Groveland. The one major exciting part of the day was the hill we got to go down called Priests Grade. Now, we were told there are 2 hills to chose from, old priest grade and new priest grade. When we got up to the split we looked down old priest grade and it was crazy, at some points it can get to over 20% and is 3 miles long. The New Priest Grade which we went down was 6 miles long. Chance really enjoyed the ride, flying down and cutting corners as you could see 3 turns in front of you. I however, did not like it as much way too fast for me. So I took my time and took pictures along the way as well. Chance had to wait for me and was not too happy about it.. So we continued on our way! It was great to see the mountains start to dwindle, they didn't disappear but they got smaller so that is always good! The ride went fairly quick and the temps stayed nice with the wind so we were not boiled like other days. We stopped in Oakdale, CA for lunch at Denny's! Lunch was delicious and we continued to get more excited to almost be in San Francisco. Once we left Oakdale we were in city limits for the rest of the ride into Montrose. In Modesto we did our normal routine and hit up the library. The library is so packed that we had to wait to get a computer and then you only got it for 30 min. From there we headed to the tourist info center and talked with the lady there about camping. we were told there was no camping within the city area but we could ride another 30 miles. That was no sounding good so we made our way to the Motel 6. Once we were settled and showered Chance was very excited for his first taste of In and Out Burger. While he enjoyed it, it was not super great. After dinner we stopped by the gas station to pick up a few things headed back and got ready for out last day of riding on this crazy trip of ours

Oh, It's all down hill out of here!

2009-08-02T14:32:00.004-05:00

This morning we woke up a bit later then normal but it was ok, it was suppose to be all down hill to Groveland. We gathered our things and packed our bags, said goodbye to Joel and hit the road. We knew that we had a little hill to climb and then it was suppose to be down hill, and it was, for a bit. We went up to 8500ft and then flew down to 7500 feet and then had to climb back up to about 8300, WTF! Does know one from the west coast understand the concepts of down hill and flat, because it looks like they don't get it to me. I don't know, maybe I, a mid-west boy need to make a guide for dummies to riding your bike in the west, because someone needs to set the story straight and I guess the locals can't fathom it so they have to bring in a consultant. Well at the top of the other hill I stopped to take a pee and wait for Kelly. It wasn't long and we heard a familiar voice, "Hey slow pokes" it was Joel he had caught up. I guess we got one more day of riding together. The rest of the ride was rolly and there was a pretty big down hill and Joel and I got separated from Kelly. We thought it was because of traffic or just because she didn't want to join our draft line. Joel and I were really moving down the hill. So we waited and it took a little longer then normal and finally when Kelly rolled up to the turn out she didn't look good. We asked what was wrong and while she was crying she told us a bee had flown into here helmet and stung her before she could get stopped and take it off. So I looked at it and sure as could be she had a stinger in her head. Joel handed me a tweezers and I pulled it out. It looked to be already swelling and we could only hope that she didn't have an allergic reaction since there wasn't any medical around. But Kelly's tough and she rode it out. We had one more hill and then a huge down hill to the turn off were we stopped at the gas station to grab a bite to eat and bid farewell to our new friend. At the corner we went right towards San Fran and Joel went left into the valley to enjoy some more beautiful wilderness. The rest of the ride wasn't too bad. It continued to be rolly but we had some amazing down hills, Kelly calls them scary and rides her breaks but I love them. As we dropped elevation we could feel the temperature rise and it got hot for the last 20miles and stayed that way till the sun went down. When we got to town we ate some ice cream and found this really weird "motel" where you rent trailer houses, little cabins or tents and if you had your own tent it was only $25, ha only. We set up camp and went to 2 guys pizza. The food was good but I don't think it set well with Kelly or I, we spent quite a bit of time on the toilet. The rest of the night was spent trying to figure out our escape plan from Cali. Unfortunately we didn't get that great of sleep since at about 10pm all sorts of people decided it was time to have a party! Oh well, thanks for your support!

Welcome to Yosemite 9945ft

2009-07-29T15:59:00.007-05:00

Alright finally a good nights sleep, it was cool right from the start and no crazy animals to wake us up. There were a lot of really creepy birds all over the camp ground, seagulls. It reminded me of the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds." I guess Mono Lake is one of their major breading grounds and they stick around because all the dumb foreign tourist keep feeding them since they think it's so cool. Well anyway back to the ride. We got up on our own this morning, no alarm since it was suppose to be a shorter ride with only a large climb up Tioga pass and then we were told that it was pretty much down hill to the other side of the Park. So we said goodbye to Joel and told him we would wait for him at either the top or Tuolomne Meadows Village. We headed out and started a very grueling grind to the top but it was filled with endless gorgeous views. It wasn't too long into the ride and I was waiting for Kelly. Her knee was starting to bother her and I knew it would take awhile to get to the top. I was had been waiting for Kelly for about 5mins and figured that she had already gotten onto her own break schedule so I decided to continue riding and it wasn't more then 3mins later and I heard her voice, "how did she catch me" I thought to myself and then I looked back to see her sitting in the front seat of a jacked up white Ford truck. She said she was getting a ride to the top. This didn't upset me since she was having knee troubles but it was now a personal challenge to see how fast I could make it to the top. I began to peddle as hard as I could and when my legs burned too bad to peddle I got off and walked until they felt better and then got on and road. It took me only 1 hour and 45mins to summit the beast and found Kelly waiting at the top cheering me on. It was a welcomed sight since I was extremely exhausted. It turns out that she was dropped off at Ellis Lake about 3 miles from the top. The ride from there was very pretty and not too difficult. There was only one 200 foot climb and the rest was basically flat.
While Kelly was waiting she met one of the workers that cycled to work, her name was Anna and she thought what we were doing was amazing and told us that she would give us guest passes so we didn't have to pay the $10 a person entry fee. So we waited for Joel so that he could get in free too. As we sat there we chatted with people that drove by and asked us what we were doing. We wrote down our website for a bunch of them so the could check us out. We kept getting mixed messages about how far Joel was back but he eventually made it to the top and we headed to Tuolomne Meadows to get some food. Tuolome Meadows is a very eclectic gathering point. It was interesting to meet all the hikers stopping for a piece of civilization. The term civilization means something different to a cyclist than a backpacker. To backpackers civilization is any place with facilities and people, to me as a cyclist, since we run into towns pretty regularly it's a place that offers amenities that I guess you could call luxuries like Mc Donald's. After we had ate, sent a few post cards and grabbed some food and a 6 pack to enjoy later we hit the road. According to a motorcyclist we had met the day before it was all down hill from here on out. We learned very quickly that they must have been on some good drugs because we had some pretty good hills to climb before we got to our campsite. When we finally made it to the campsite we tied our beer to a rock and through it in the stream, set up camp and then joined the beer in the stream to cool off and soak our tired feet. The after noon was very relaxing and enjoyable. We got to chatting with some of our neighbors and they were super cool. One couple were doing a National Parks tour and almost done and the other couple were just out doing some mountain biking for a couple days. The first couple invited us over to enjoy their curry with them and we spent the rest of the night sitting by the campfire and swapping war stories. It was a good time! Thanks for your continued support!

A new companion and the wonderfully pricey town of Lee Vining

2009-07-29T14:44:00.013-05:00

This morning we woke up around 5.30 or so but we were up on and off through out the night. Around midnight there was a siren that went off for about 10 mins. I'm assuming it was a rural fire volunteer wake up call because about 10 mins after that we heard a couple fire trucks go tearing by. Then around 4.20am this damn rooster started crowing and didn't stop, he was soon followed by a quartet of dogs and then some other animals that were unrecognizable. According to Joel the rooster was trying to stay on central time just like us. That was unfortunate for us, so much for a good nights sleep. Well we readied ourselves and headed out about 30mins before Joel. The mornings ride was absolutely brutal. We had a 7 mile climb that hit grades of 10% at times and that wasn't the worst of it. The head wind was almost unbearable and we had to push our bikes for much of the 7miles. Then there was a very long down hill and then right back up a long gradual grade. At the top Kelly and I stopped for a snack and saw Joel for the first time this morning. He was about 3miles behind us and we figured that he would catch up so we continued on. The next section was labeled the 5 mile dips. it was absolutely ridiculous. It was like a giant whoop section down a road. The hills were short and steep. As Joel later put it, what the f@#$, how lazy is California, why couldn't they just flatten that road. There are a million illegal Mexicans that will work for pennies. Just take a little damn sand out here and add a little there! Haha, it was hilarious because we felt the same way. Joel caught up to us at the top of the next hill as I was waiting for Kelly. He rode with us for the rest of the day. The most of the day was filled with climbing. We were told we would have about 10miles of climbing and then it would be down hill. I guess they can't judge distance very well or they just forgot about the summit of 8600 some feet. It was such a relief to see that summit sign. We had climbed about 3500 feet so far this morning and we were ready for some down hill. At the top of the summit sat an RV and they were setting up some sun shelters so we stopped by to see what they were doing since they had two nice road bikes on the back of the RV. When we got closer we saw the sign on the side. They were the Sag for a ride to help raise money for the Eastern Sierra Disabled Sports program. They were really nice and couldn't believe that we had ridden as far as we had with all our gear. They asked if we wanted to have a soda and we gladly excepted. Then they asked if we would stay for lunch so all their riders could meet us and we could meet this amazing man who was riding a hand bike and doing all the hills, unfortunately I can not remember his name, sorry. So we stayed around and enjoyed an amazing lunch. Joel almost ate them out of house and home. I thought I ate a lot. He's super skinny and eats like a horse! haha, but it was nice to meet all the people and we gave them our information. They guy on the hand bike was absolutely amazing and it was so motivating to see him climb that last hill and ride all the terrain that we struggled to. It was great to meet all of those great people and they were so supportive, they gave us some Cliff Bars and cheered us on as we road away. The rest of the ride was very scenic and extremely different to what we had gotten use to for the last couple of weeks. We dropped quickly into a densely forested area along Mono Lake, one of the oldest lakes in the US and it is a salt water lake that has a 25% higher salt content and is a 100% more alkaline than the ocean. The day was nice and cool but unfortunately we were not done climbing. We had one more shorter climb and then it was a gradual climb into Lee Vining. When we got to town we stopped at the Mobile Station just out side of town and ate at the Whoa Nellie Deli like we were instructed to by the other cyclists. The food wasn't super amazing or even that cheap but that's not what it was about. It was about the scene. It was a super cool laid back area were people from all walks of life stop to meet other interesting people. There were tons of tourists like everywhere but there were also longs of hikers and some mountain bikers and there was live music to enjoy while you ate. The manager of the deli loved what we were doing and gave us a free piece of pizza and a free beer. We ate our food and enjoyed the music and asked about camping opportunities and were directed towards the RV park since it was the only place were we could shower. So we headed over to Mono Lake Resort and RV Park, what a joke this place was. It cost us $23 dollars to set up our two tents on a plot of grass and then we had to pay $1 for every 5 minutes of hot water we wanted in the shower. They also advertised Wi-Fi so we were excited to use that but they failed to mention that it was $6 to connect. It was even worse then staying at a KOA. Fortunately there were some nice people that we camped by so that made it worth it. When we had set up our tent we went down to the local camp store to try and find Joel a new sleep mat since his blew out the back of a truck in NV when he was hitching a ride. When we got back to the camp site we sat around and chatted for a while enjoying the cool weather. Kelly was pretty tuckered out so she went to bed early. Joel and I met this guy doing a tour on his motorcycle and chatted with him for awhile and then made our way to bed as well. It was a biter sweet day. We had quite a struggle in the morning and then met some amazing and inspiring people and were blessed with a beautiful ride in the afternoon. Thanks again for all of your support. We are almost there!

Hmmm?

2009-07-28T17:16:00.006-05:00

Well Well, where to start? I guess I will start from the beginning. We were staying with Carl, who was extremely hospitable, and when we had first met him outside the bank we had inquired if he knew anyone that was heading in our direction, namely Tonapah. It was more or less a rhetorical question, since it was half way across the state and everyone we had asked earlier had told us we wouldn't find anyone going that way until we passed the Hiko turnoff. He of course didn't know of anyone and said he would have loved to help us only if his wife would have been home to take care of the cats. Fortunately for us he decided after awhile that he would take us since he was retired and didn't really have anything better to do on a Saturday. So he went looking for us and found us at the laundry mat. It was amazing, probably one of the best days of the trip to that day. So that's how we ended up staying with him. So we woke up Saturday morning and ate breakfast with Carl and hit the road about 5.45am. We made pretty good time. When we stopped in Ash Springs, about 40miles into the ride, I (Chance) took over driving and lets be honest here. I was a little on the fence here. I didn't really want to take such a large helping hand. I was struggling with the idea of "cheating" not completing the trip ourselves but there were a few variable involved in the final decision. One being the intense heat, two being the large distances without services, even though there was water available that we could filter, and the third and most important to me was that Kelly's knee was starting to bother her again. So I talked it over with my dad and was still a little on the fence but decided it was the best idea and by the time I had driven two hours through the most desolate land I had ever seen in my entire life I knew that we did the right thing. After about three and a half hours of riding we pulled over in a turn out, just pass the ghost town of Coaldale NV and loaded up our bikes ate our sandwhichs we got at the gas station, thanked Carl for all his help and said goodbye.
We had about 35 miles to ride that day and we had a pretty good since summit to climb before we reached California. The summit was long but it wasn't too demanding. The heat was starting to intensify very quickly and we had no real idea if there was anything waiting for us in Benton CA or not but we pushed on. The decent was quick and a little iffy because we had a 15-25mile an hour head wind. Wind is that variable in riding that one cannot predict or train for. You never know what it's going to do and it can really make your bike unstable at higher speeds. From the top of the climb to Benton was only about 10miles but due to the intense head wind it took us one and a half hour to do it. When we were getting back on our bikes after taking our boarder picture I was almost blown over by an intense gust of wind. For the first time ever I had been stopped by customs inside the US. When you cross over the CA boarder you have to declare if you have any fruit, veg, or livestock from another state. Of course we didn't and they didn't pursue it and we proceeded to Benton. Benton was basically a ghost town. The only thing in it was a park, a dinner/gas station and a church, where we spent the night. The Dinner was alright, nothing special but the Indian taco I had was amazing. While we were there we met this really nice couple from Tonapah and spent the next hour talking with them about our trip and what lay ahead of us. The were so kind they paid for our lunch, thank you! After lunch we sat around and chatted with the ladies working there, trying to beat the heat. Finally we decided to go set up our tent but when we got to the park the wind was blowing so hard it would have been impossible to set it up and then it started to pour, so we were chased back to the dinner. We decided to pick up some snacks for later and some pop tarts for dinner, unfortunately we didn't check the dates on either and both were out, fortunately the checks mix was only out a week or so and it taste good still but the pop tarts were out 6months! They have a year shelf life! That means they had been there for a year and a half!! wow, well anyways the weather died down and we were going to go set up our tend commando style in the park, even though it said "no over night camping" on a big sign. As we were walking out this lady stopped us and asked if we were the "kids" looking for a place to camp and she told us she was the pastors wife, as she was holding a case of beer and a bottle of booze, haha how ironic. She said we could camp at the church. So we did. It was sand, not grass but it was nice. We set up camp and used the sink in the park bathroom to clean up and were just hanging around.
That's when we met Joel! He was riding by and we waved him down, it turns out he was looking for a place to set up camp as well. So we told him he could join us at the church and he did. He had just graduated from Western Illinois and was riding his bike to LA where he was going to catch a flight to New Zealand and hitch hike and ride his bike around there for three months. He was traveling alone because his friend that was going to go with him had gotten a DUI and couldn't afford it. It turned out that he was going the same way as us, at least for the next couple of days, so we had a new member of our team! The rest of the night was spent getting to know each other and reminiscing about the each others trips so for. It was pretty ironic that we had both pretty much made our own routes and taken more or less the same way and met a lot of the same people. What a small world! Thanks for all your support!

Short Day?

2009-07-24T15:25:00.002-05:00

Well, last nights sleep was a little off due to the immense train traffic at night. Man are those things loud. The dogs also like to bark at nothing so every once in a while I would wake up to that. But all in all the night cooled down and sleeping was pretty good. When our alarm went off the sun was still not up so we went back to sleep. This mornings ride was very easy to say the least. The only climb we had was Panaca Summit. Once we got to the top there it was pretty much all downhill from there. We FINALLY got into Nevada!!! That means we are almost home and ready to be back. It's been a long time away, but an unforgettable adventure. So we stopped in Panaca at the gas station to grab a little snack and some Mt.Dew. We didn't get our Mt.Dew yesterday and it is crazy because Chance and I actually got headaches from our lack of caffeine. So we asked what the road was like to Caliente and they told us it was pretty flat one little hill. So when entering Nevada we also entered the Pacific time zone. So we got into Caliente at 9:00 am and had already done 47 miles and our stopping point for the day! You may ask why so early? I will say today it was already 88 degrees by 8am. So if you go into the afternoon you hit the 100 degree mark and it is horrible to be in. So we stopped and were going to do our laundry but had to stop at the bank to get some change. We ran into a very wonderful and hospitable man named Carl who is our life saver and has been a great help. After our laundry was finished Carl took us to his house hooked us up with some cool temps, lunch, shower and a nice place to sleep! He is defiantly a man of all trades. He designed and built his own house that is absolutely beautiful. Also his cool cars that he restores! Carl thank you for everything! We are now going to continue to rest and have such wonderful conversation with Carl. Thanks again for supporting us and we will hopefully see you all soon!

Modena Utah..

2009-07-23T20:44:00.002-05:00

Hello again. Today we woke up at our over priced piece of dirt campsite at the KOA to a fairly cool morning, not cold enough to wear jackets. This was the first campsite ever that other people were up at the same time as us. So we got rolling this morning and stopped at the gas station to fill our tires. Chance got a new tire last night so we had to make sure that had proper air in it. We had a very gradual climb for most of the morning and then reached the summit. It wasn't too bad of a climb. If only all climbs could be as such. We then had a very nice downhill for quite a while. Today so you know was pretty lack luster for the most part. We got into a town called New Castle and stopped at the gas station and had a little something to eat. They told us Modena had nothing in it and we were disappointed because that was going to be our stop for the day. So we decided we would continue riding as far as we could and take a break in the shade and let it cool down a bit. SO we road the flats all the way to Modena about 50 miles from Cedar City. We found an old abandonded building and were going to take up camp for a little rest. So, we sat down and noticed this oasis of vibrant greens and beautiful flowers across the street. We then saw Carol. I needed to use the restroom so I told Chance I would see if she would allow me to do so. But she was so very kind and allowed us to come over have some cool water, and sit on the patio that was cooled by the swamp cooler so it was super nice. WE took a little nap and talked with Carol for a bit. It did not get cooler. So we decided to stay here and again so kind she is allowing us to set up camp in her front yard! She also had the fixings for sammys and some soup that filled us both up! After awhile it finally started to cool down probably around 7pm mountain time. We set up our tent and Carol's husband Vince came home. So we continued to chat while the rain came down in a heavy sheet! So as you can see today was pretty boring for you to read about. Tomorrow we will be in Nevada, a new time zone and closer to our destination of San Fran! Thanks for reading and continue to pray and hope for cooler weather, kind people and healthy bodies!

Circleville to Cedar City, UT..

2009-07-22T17:30:00.004-05:00

Howdy to everyone reading our blog. Today we find ourselves in Cedar City, Utah and now you will hear the oh so wonderful story! This morning started off a little later then most, roughly 6:30 Mountain time. The great thing about this morning is that it was nice and cool to ride! We were lucky enough to get to ride between canyons so the sun stayed off us for about 37 miles until we hit the large climb for the day. Now when I say large I mean very very long. The summit was only at 7,000 some feet but with an 8% grade and 2-3 miles long it was one we were not looking forward to.. However, while the climb was difficult, it was also easy. That means compared to other climbs in Utah we were able to ride all the way to the top with only half a mile of walking or less! I must add it was a beautiful ride to the top and all the way to the interstate. When we got to the top and saw that down grade sign we were very happy! We got to go downhill at an 8% grade for 6 miles and that pretty much took us to our date with the interstate. Now to you cyclist out there, of course you never really want to go on the interstate, but when it makes you ride shorter and it is pretty much flat with some downhill you are happy to take it! Utah is one of the only states where cyclist are allowed on the interstate, that may change though because a cyclist and a few others were killed just the other day. Once we hit the interstate it felt like the temperature suddenly got much hotter and that is probably because we were in the mountains all morning. With cars zipping by us at 75+ miles per hour and the sun beating down on us in the valley between all kinds of mountains, I must say..... I am ready to be out of the mountains and not see them for quite some time.. I hope all of you in MN don't complain too much about your weather because I would rather have your weather then the 90's-100's we continue to run into here. So any ways back to the interstate, we decided to stop off at a truck stop to grab some lunch at Subway. Upon entering we meet James and Tara a very nice couple who were very interested in hearing about our journey! We are always grateful to run into such people. We then set out to beat the heat! As we got going there were a lot of blown tires on the side of the road, it is bad for bicycle tires because of the wire running through them. Yes, I ran one over! So in probably one of the most dangerous places to be standing, Chance had to change my flat tire and hope all the drivers speeding past us were able to see us. I also must say it is crazy to think that we sat there for like 10 min and not once did someone ask if we needed help! So in the future for you all reading if you see a cyclist on the side of the road in some place they probably should not stop, be kind, slow down and ask if they need anything! About 2 miles from our exit into Cedar City I ran out of water and was pretty much dying. So we stopped into a truck stop yet again, cooled down and had tons of water. So after a 75 mile day we are in the library getting you all up to date and going to hit the bike shop, campsite and get some dinner! Tomorrow will be our last day in Utah!!! So you can all cheer with us! Thank you all for your support and please continue to spread the word! Thank you also to everyone who has been emailing us, it helps keep us in high spirits when others tell us how we are doing such a great thing! See you all soon!

Grumpier Old Man Saved Our Day

2009-07-22T17:15:00.003-05:00

Well today we woke up this morning a little later then normal since there was going to be a free continental breakfast at 6. It was nice to sleep in and especially in a nice comfy bed. After breakfast we hit the road. It was pretty chilly out since we were technically in the mountains and there was a chance of thunder showers and the sky was overcast. It didn't take us long to get to the next town of Bicknel, unfortunately nothing was open but the post office so we stopped in there and dropped off our post cards and asked the lady about the ride to come she said its not bad once you get to the top and well the ride to the bottom of the hill was really easy but we could see what laid in front of us, a daunting hill, from at least 10 miles away. When started to climb we just couldn't efficiently turn our peddles over so we gave up and began to walk, luckily for us we didn't have to push long before an older guy stopped and asked if we wanted a ride to the top and of course we wouldn't turn that down, we made that mistake once and never again. As I was putting my bike in the back the guy was like "hurry up lazy bones I've got places to be!" So yeah one would assume that if they offer you a ride they would typically be a nice person but not this guy. He should have been a fill in on grumpier old men! He didn't talk much. He asked some questions about us and asked if Kelly was old enough to be hanging out with me, haha and he didn't seem to keen on the fact that we weren't married. Oh well he helped us out big time and we thanked him and coasted into Koosharem. It was intended to be our destination for the day but it was only 10.30am and we were feeling pretty good. So we stopped at the local dinner for a bit to eat and asked about the ride to Circleville. They told us it was flat with a down hill lie but of course it's Utah and there must be at least a couple hills. When we had finished eating it was still pretty nice our and the sun remained behind the clouds so we took off. The ride was nice, probably the best ride in Utah. It was filled with nice scenery, that we could actually enjoy since we weren't busting our butts up hill after hill. The best part of the ride was through Kingston Vally, it reminded me of Colorado, unfortunately there was a slight head wind to slow us down. There wasn't much of the way of towns along the way so we didn't have much need to stop. We made great time and were in Circleville around 2.30. We weren't quite ready to call it a day, but we knew that there was a large climb between us and the next inhabited area. Kelly was hungry again so we went to the local dinner to get some grub. We met some Mormon Missionaries, and yes I know what you're thinking. The guys in the white shirts with their name tags that come to your door but you pretend you're not there. Well I typically do the same thing but these guys were actually really cool and not pushy at all. They did make sure to tell us about their mission and get in a few things about their religion but what can ya do. They were actually more interested in our trip then spreading the "good word" so when we were finished we said good bye and tried our luck at hitch-hiking for a bit but were unsuccessful so we had to call it a day and find a camp ground. The campground was nice, the guy running the place was a little weird and we couldn't get the Internet to work but it had nice facilities and that's all we need. We met a guy from Cali there and we got a little excited, hoping maybe he was heading our way, but he actually had just moved there and told us how much better it was in Utah then Cali, personally I think he's nuts. Utah is beautiful but it is too hot and way to sparsely populated for me. We both were pooped so we enjoyed the cooler day and took a nap under the shade tree and cleaned up before spending the rest of the afternoon reading. We both hit the hey early! Thanks again for your support!

It's not Utah without hills...

2009-07-20T14:38:00.005-05:00

Today started off on the right foot. We were well rested after a good nights sleep and got up around 5am to head out before the major heat. It was already about 77 when we woke up but it was nice because we had some cloud cover for most of the morning. We packed up, filled water bottles and said goodbye to Lucas then headed out. The morning was actually really beautiful with the red rocks that surround the Utah landscape. We knew we had to climb about 2000 feet before out destination we just didn't know when it would come.. It was some rolling hills and again Chance and I were able to ride close and chat for a bit. It really helps me to keep a positive attitude and not think about how hot it is or how tough the terrain is. Then the afternoon hit. We had two big climbs but we just went right back downhill so we still had that 2000 feet to go up. Our ride today was 47 miles and they will continue to be short in Utah because of the extreme heat. We road through some beautiful canyons and some wonderful scenery that we would love to come back and see in a car so we can go off our route and see all the amazing things we have heard about. On the road we ran into two other cyclists who were going from CA to NY. Man did they start late and we told them about the heat they would hit and they told us how we might get a little cool down in temps. So we chatted with them for a bit and headed off again. We got to the visitor center about 11 miles from our destination of Torrey Utah and used the restroom and sat down for a bit in the AC. Then we were off. The sun came out from behind the clouds and it got hotter, not as hot as yesterday. We then knew we had a 11 mile climb the whole way to Torrey. We got to a climb that was about a 9% grade and was very hard to bike. I could see Chance in the distance start to walk and so I did the same. I was not walking for that long when a truck pulled up and asked if I needed a ride. Now get this they asked me if I needed a ride I did not hitch hike today. So I said well yes of course. We stopped and got Chance and headed to Torrey. The ladies who picked us up were sisters, Sarah and Else from California. They were on a road trip and heading back. They were very kind and even told us if we were in Santa Barbara to come and stay with her. Once we were in Torrey, I decided I wanted a bed, AC and pool to take a dip. So I choose to get a hotel at the Days Inn. Very nice!! We headed to Subway and got some lunch. We also stopped at an outdoor shop and talked with the ladies there for a bit. Now it is time to take a nap, rest the muscles and take a dip in the pool!! Thanks again for following and keep sending emails we love to hear from everyone!! We also decided to go off our Adventure Cycling Maps and use a route Chance and his Dad made. Another note to travelers like us, unless you are an absolute die hard that loves the pain of climbing relentles hills for no reason and riding miles and miles out of your way to get to a particular location never say no to a helping hand and it doesn't really hurt to find your own way. Our new fly by the seat of our pants route will cut 200 miles off our trip and hopefully a couple summits. Thanks again for everything!

105 degrees is not fun.....

2009-07-20T14:27:00.005-05:00

This morning was an early one. We left our campsite about 4am.. It was nice because it was cooler out but it was very scary. It was so dark I could barely see Chance in front of me. We were in the middle of the desert and all you could hear was coyotes and other animals. The morning ride was good for the first couple hours. Then the terrain changed and we had one huge climb that pretty much killed us. With the climb the temps grew. Now when you read the rest of this blog, remember it was 105 degrees and Utah is not the place to be in July. So we started to head towards our destination which was an 80 mile ride with absolutely no services. It was extremely hot and it was getting harder to breath with the stale air along with I was not feeling well. The night before I got sick from the heat and was not feeling well. So as we were riding we were desperately hoping for a truck to come by and help us out by giving us a ride. It took awhile, but eventually two really nice people came along. We would like to apologize to all the purist out there reading this that believe you truly don't complete the Trans Am if you don't peddle every stroke across the US, obviously they have never been in Utah in July on a bike and in fact we don't feel as if we cheated, we consider it improvising and it is our journey and we see it as a supplement to our adventure, a little of our own spice. Plus we get to met a lot of really cool people this way, like Todd and Jerry were so nice. They had a loaded truck but they said we could make it work. So we strapped our bikes to the 4-wheeler in the back of their truck and road a few miles where we met their dad and brother. They were all headed out towards where we were going to get a car unstuck. So we got in the other car with more room and AC which was awesome. I fell asleep because I was not feeling well while Chance chatted. So they ended up dropping us 26 miles from Hanksville which would have taken us two days. So we got a jump ahead. Then we started biking again. The environment around us was all sand so it made the ride that much hotter. About 18 miles from Hanksville, we were lucky enough to get another ride the rest of the way. That is when they told us it was 105 degrees out. Good thing we got a ride because not long after there was a wild sand storm. So we got into Hanksville and sat and ate at Stan's Burger Stand for awhile. Then we decided to head to our camp ground that we got for free! It was still super hot. The bathroom was much cooler so as crazy as it sounds I went and sat on the bench in the bathroom for a bit while Chance changed his flat tire. Eventually we both showered and went in the nearby restaurant to get something cold to drink, really it was just to sit in the air conditioning. Later that night a guy name Lucas from Calgary came in on his motorcycle and so we chatted with him for a bit. He was riding his motorcycle from Calgary all around the states for 3 weeks. The sun finally went down and we headed to our tent to get some much needed sleep. So again, with getting rides, like other cyclist have told us especially through Utah and Nevada it is a must to get a ride if you need one, it is not enjoyable to have a massive sufferfest, this is a voluntary adventure not a prison sentence, so don't kill yourself. We see it as part of our adventure and have met some great people along the way!

Oh my gosh it is hot!

2009-07-18T16:22:00.004-05:00

Well I'd like to start today's blog thanking everyone we met yesterday at the amazing Hollywood Bar, sorry if I don't remember your names but I would especially like to thank Whiskey Don for the meal last night and Tara and Scott for being so hospitable, sorry if Misha woke you up this morning! Well we actually got up and going a little earlier than normal and it was great. It really helped us out because the heat intensified very quickly! The ride thus far was not too bad. We are currently in Monticello UT. That's right another one bites the dust! 10 states down and 3 more to go. Right away this morning we had a climb out of Dolores and from there on out it was pretty much rollie. We could tell right away that it was going to get hot, the scenery around us quickly began to look more and more like desert as we approached the Utah boarder. We stopped in Dove Creek to grab a little lunch at Deb's Dinner and quickly got back on the road, hoping to beat the really heat of the day. Kelly was the first to fall victim to the heat and began to slow and complain about a head ache so we decided that it would be better to hide inside for a little bit before we pushed on to Blanding. So we continued on to Monticello and took refuge in the local public library. We have spent the last two hours reading, journaling and surfing the net, slowly waiting out the heat of the day and replenishing our body with plenty of liquids. Unfortunately we wont be out of the heat anytime soon. Actually it will only be getting hotter, pray for rain! Tomorrow will be our first real challenge in a while. We will have to travel about 80miles between services and then another 60 miles the next day until we reach a proper town. So wish us luck and continue to follow our progress and we proceed towards California and tackle the desert!

Lizard Head Pass....

2009-07-17T17:48:00.002-05:00

Today we left Telluride in the cold cold morning. It was only about 45 degrees this morning when we left for yet another day on the bike. We found a sneaky way to get around one huge climb that we would have had right out of Telluride. So we took the gondola with our bikes and bags up to Mountain Village and started off from there. We then started our 65 mile ride to Dolores, CO. The morning went well, it was a bit chilly but we had quite a few hills to climb so it kept us warm. Yet again the scenery is to die for. As one guy in a bike shop once told us "You work for the beauty around you." meaning those climbs are worth it in the end. So we started up Lizard Head Pass. This pass was still long but the percent grade was workable. I was still breathing a bit hard and I was actually not far behind Chance this time. We got to the top which was 10,222 feet above sea level and once again we were overjoyed! From there it was pretty much a downhill ride. We stopped in a little town called, Rico to get some lunch. So we stopped at one place that we thought looked open. They were open but they were limited on their food and drinks because they had just opened 5 days ago. we would have eaten lunch there but they only took cash and we had only 4 dollars. So we had something to drink and decided to eat a quick snack and make our way towards Dolores. So we continued our nice ride downhill. We had to stop one time to eat because I was starving. We then got into Dolores and called Tara who we would be staying with tonight. She told us where she lived and we headed that direction. They live in a really cute house with an awesome bathroom! So we talked with Tara and the cute dogs for a bit. Then we headed to the bike shop but it was closed. So she showed us where she works tonight and we will most likely head over there to eat! Tara is super cool and gave us some snacks and really good cold lemonade! Thanks Tara for allowing us to crash here! Again the great people we keep meeting. BIG excitement for tomorrow... We will be entering UTAH!!!! That means out of Colorado and one state closer to being home!! Thanks for the support and lets hope that instead of the 90-100 degree days it will be 60 hahaha! Thanks again!

Beautiful Telluride Colorado!

2009-07-16T21:15:00.002-05:00

Today was a great morning! We got to sleep in and I think it was a great thing for our bodies and minds. So since we slept in that obviously means we decided to take a break day today! Upon waking up Chance and I cane downstairs to eat breakfast with Will. Melissa made us the most delicious breakfast of waffles, bacon and fruit! Then we sat around for a bit and packed up our bags. We then said goodbye to Melissa and her son Will because they would be going out of town for a swim meet and to pick up the other son Jake. So Chance and I rode our bikes into the beautiful town of Telluride! The views are absolutely amazing, probably one of the most fantastic views I have seen! So in town we took the gondola up to the Mountain Village. Mountain Village is where a lot of celebrities and wealthy people reside for shorts amount of time during ski season. Let me tell you these houses are left empty most of the summer which is absolutely nuts. So we walked around the village for a bit going in and out of shops while taking in the breath taking views. I keep talking about the scenery and the pics will be up soon hopefully! Then we made our way back down the gondola to Telluride where we headed to get some lunch. Our lunch destination was this cool little place called Smugglers. The food was good and Chance had one of their home brews and had only good things to say about it. From there we headed to the library to catch up on our internet doings. Then it was time to head back to Mark and Melissa's to get our bags and find a place to crash for the evening. When we got back, Mark was home and told us to just stay here again which was more then we could have asked for. All we wanted was to camp in their yard but he said " you sleep in a tent every other night, a bed is much better for tonight." We then made some noodles for dinner, checked our maps to see how much longer we thought we would be riding and took showers. Again, we would like to thank Melissa, Mark and Will for their wonderful hospitality and great stories and conversations they shared with us. And for you Will, I will get you in a game of Egyptian rat slap when we come back this way :) Thank you so much! We would like to thank all who continue to read and donate, as you all know we are riding for the American Cancer Society and with your help we can help to make a difference. So please tell all of your friends and help spread the word!

We should have just stayed in bed!

2009-07-16T15:01:00.004-05:00

Well today started off like any other day. We woke up did our normal routine and thanked our new friends for letting us stay in there back yard and for helping us out so much! We were just about to leave and Harris offered us a ride "if we wanted to cheat we could ride with him to Ridgeway" but we declined and hit the road. The first 10miles or so weren't too bad, but than the wind began to blow and it only took a couple miles and my legs were shot. We both began to regret not taking this ride. It was only 26 miles but it would have put us pretty much right at the bottom of Dallas Divide with fresh legs but we didn't and Kelly began talking about how she wasn't going to make it up the mountain and how she would do anything for a ride over and I was actually pondering the idea myself but I told her we would discuss it over lunch. By the time we had got to Ridgeway it was settled we would try to find a ride over the pass or we would have to pull up short in Ridgeway. I don't think we would have made the pull over the pass. So we ate at Kate's Place and met an interesting fellow. I'm pretty sure he was a gypsy drifter and definitely a relic from the 60's. When we were done with our meal we road back to the gas station to see if we could find a ride. Kelly lucked out on her first try. We met this guy named Joe, our saviour for the day. He was a blacksmith and was filling up his propane tank and said he would be going to Placerville which was over the pass and about 14mile from Telluride. We asked if we could pay him and he said he'd take a 12pack if we didn't mind so we grabbed a 12pack and loaded our bikes and we were off. We cheated, we both admit it but I think in all honesty it just ads a new angle or twist on the whole adventure aspect, hitch-hiking and I guess that's the thing to do in the mountain towns so we fit right in. It was nice definitely a much quicker and easier way over the pass. It didn't look like it was a difficult pass but a very long drawn out one and on the back side there was road construction that would have made our life hell. There was only one lane and dead stop traffic that we would have had to try to avoid since the cars were part way in the shoulder. The ride was nice and greatly appreciated. We had a great conversation with Joe about his interesting career as a Blacksmith. I didn't even know that that career was still really around with all the modern manufacturing. So I guess you learn something everyday and it was really interesting. We went back to his shop and he showed us all his tools, he actually made most of them himself, even cooler. He told us about his family, two children and his wife Courtney who is the director of adaptive sports in Telluride, way cool! It was just a great afternoon spent talking and learning about new things. Finally we had to get back on the road and finish out the last 14 miles and man I'm glad we got that ride because I don't think that we would have made it even if we made it over the pass. We had to climb Keystone hill and that should have been considered a pass in it's own right. It was long and step and I was exhausted but had to remain strong because Kelly was done and ended up having a bit of a mental break down about a mile from the top. It took a bit to get her back on the bike but she pulled it together and showed her true toughness and I'm glad I didn't have to stay were she wanted to quit. It was on the posit side of the guard rail and the edge of a cliff, probably not the safest place to camp. When we finally got to the turn off where got on the bike path we were so close to victory I could taste it and my legs were screaming for it to be over. We pulled into Melissa and Mark's house, absolutely amazing! It would probably be my dream house located in one of the most amazing spots in Colorado! They were absolutely nice people, even though the dog didn't like me, I guess I wont take it personal since I saw the dog about eat the Fed Ex guy, haha. We met their son Will, great kid, good luck at your swim meet! Their other son Jack was at ski camp at Whistler, luck duck! It was so nice to be done today. They had to go to Will's swim club dinner so we took showers and tried to journal but I just couldn't keep my eyes open and I was out. I woke up just before they got back. We spent the rest of the night hanging out talking and getting to know each other. Mel made us an amazing dinner and afterwards we play some crazy card game that I think Will made up and ofcourse he one, cheater! haha jk. When it was time for bed I was more than ready and it felt good to crash in a cool bed. The room was completely dark and we could see the stars out the window and they were just amazing. Over all the day couldn't have worked out any better. We continue to meet amazing people along the way and hopefully make friendships that will last a life time. Thanks so much Joe for the ride, you were a life saver and thanks Melissa and Mark for being so hospitable and letting us enjoy your amazing house with you! Take care everyone and thank you for supportin us along our journey!

Windy is all I can say.....

2009-07-14T17:03:00.004-05:00

This morning we woke up in the hostel and it was nice to sleep in a bed again. Carolyn got up before we left and gave us some no bake cookies she made and we said our goodbyes. We got about 4 miles out of town and Chance realized he forgot his phone so we started to go back. I got behind and didn't hear Chance tell me to stop and some how on his way back from the hostel we didn't cross paths so I was at the hostel and he was back down the road. So eventually I caught up with him. The morning ride was actually quite cold and we kept our jackets on for some time. We went through some very beautiful mountain and lake areas that were rolling hills pretty much! We have some great pictures so I can't wait to get them up so you all can see them! We stopped about 15 miles into the journey and had one of the cookies Carolyn made for us and they were delicious! Then we were off again. We had a pretty nice climb up the Blue Mesa which was a bit rough but we also had a 4 mile downhill that was crazy. But because of the winds I actually had to peddle downhill quite a bit. So we stopped right out side the small town of Cimarron, CO and had lunch. The lunch was pretty good. The man there told us we would have a pass that was about 4 miles long. I was very disheartened by this and not looking forward to it. So after eating lunch and drinking our Mt.Dew we were off to our destination of Montrose,Co. The climb was not really that bad. Yes, it was tough but it was way way way better then Monarch Pass. So we stopped at 2 miles up the hill to take a break, I was really tired and would not have minded just laying down right there on the side of the road. I figured with semis and RVs passing at 60 it was not the best idea. So we kept going. At the top we took a picture and then it was downhill again 4 more miles. This time down was kinda scary for me because it was super windy and kept blowing me sideways. At the bottom I met up with Chance and we rode the last 7 miles into Montrose. Once we entered Montrose or you can call it the desert of Colorado we headed to the tourist info center. There we met Jodi and Yvonne who were helping us out. Yvonne was so kind and is allowing us to stay in her back yard tonight! What can we say the nice people just keep showing up! They enjoyed hearing about our journey! So they sent us in the direction of the library where we are now to do a few tings. Once Yvonne is done with work we will head over to her house for the evening and get up tomorrow and do it all again! Thanks for reading and please hope for a safe ride for us!and continue to support us by reading, writing and spreading the word!

Up and Over Monarch Pass....

2009-07-13T18:42:00.003-05:00

Well today was the big day. By the big day I mean it was time to go up and over our biggest pass for the whole trip. We got up, ate some breakfast packed our bags and we were off. We were told to go on a bike path that would go to the road we needed but the bike path we took was a dead end so we had to go back. The ride from Salida out was a constant uphill not very much at first but as we got closer to Monarch pass we hit a grade of 6.5% for quite a while. This pass felt like it was never going to come to an end. It also was harder because we went up so much in elevation so our breathing was a lot harder than normal. We thought we were close to the top and we both see a sign that says "Monarch Pass Summit 6 miles." Chance said he almost cried and I am pretty sure I stopped right at that sign and maybe let a few tears come out.. So we stopped and took a break, had some gold fish and a bathroom break and then we were off. As most of you know Chance travels a lot faster then I do so he was off and I could not see him. I had been having problems with my tire leaking but it was holding air ok so we did not change it. So about 3 miles from the summit I picked up a little piece of wire and there went my tire. Chance was who knows where in front of me and I was not going to push my bike the whole way. So I ended up pushing my bike about a mile and then I tried to wave down a truck to help me out. Everyone just thought I was waving at them and they would wave back. So I walked a bit more. Finally a nice guy named Stac stopped and gave me a lift to the top which was not much further. We ran into Chance and he was just about to the summit. He told me right before that he thought he was going to die and went off the road feeling dizzy so he had to take a break just .5 miles from the top. The ride up was kinda scary at points because we had no shoulder for a lot of the time and some cars did not go around very well. But we made it to the top all 11,310 feet. So at the top Chance changed my tired while I went inside to sit down because I was not feeling well. Eventually we ate a snack of pretzel and cheese and our mt.dew. Sat around for a bit talked with some of the workers and then it was going to storm so we wanted to get off the mountain before it hit us. So we took our few pictures and then we were off. We did not get out in time half way down the rain came and it was really cold. I was shivering and I could not feel my fingers nor could I move them. So we got to the bottom of the mountain and stopped at a place to eat some real food for lunch. The morning ride was intense, to put it simply it took us 30mins to go from Salida to the beginning of the pass and 3 hours to go up the pass and 20mins to fly down it! At the bottom we ran into two guys who are riding their motorcycles on dirt roads from Mexico to Canada. They were very interesting guys and we ended up eating lunch with them and talking a bit more. From there we headed out for our destination of Gunnison, Co. The ride in the afternoon was awesome despite the rain we hit again. So we flew because it was pretty much downhill and we increased our average miles per hour from 7 to 11.6 mph which is awesome. We rolled into Gunnison right before the rain and lightening hit.. We stopped at the tourist place and asked where we could camp or stay and where a bike shop was. They told us where the campsite was which was 10 miles farther and it was quite a lot of money. So we decided to stay and the new hostel in town called Wanderlust. It is really a cool place and it is nice to shower and relax. It seems more homey then any other place you stay! We also stopped at the bike shop to pick up a tube and hit the post office to mail my huge book home. So now it is time to go grab some grub and get some rest after our 68 mile day and huge climb up Monarch Pass. Thanks to ya'll who read for the support!

Canon City to Salida, Co! 7/12/09

2009-07-12T19:59:00.002-05:00

Well it was up with the sun today... Actually we were up before the sun and left camp as the sun was coming up. The morning was the hardest part of the day besides the wind. We had a 7 mile uphill climb up to Royal Gorge area. It was not too bad, rather gradual but still we were breathing a bit harder then normal. We made it to the top quite quickly. We then had a great downhill with spectacular views of the Rockie's as well as the Arkansas River which we rafted yesterday! The ride for most of the day followed the river so it made for pretty flat/rolling terrain! Our only enemy was the wind. It as about 9am Mountain Time and I was starving. So we stopped in Texas Creek at a small diner for lunch. I had a wrap and Chance had a burger. Sadly, they didn't have Mt.Dew so we had to have a Dr. Pepper instead, we need our caffeine to help us make it through the day. After lunch again the ride continued to be beautiful with similar terrain. There were a lot of points where we had no shoulder to ride on and an RV actually ran me off the road. Luckily, there wasn't a large drop so I only ended up on the gravel. We took small breaks here and there. About 15 miles before Salida Chance started talking with lady named Shelly and once I got there I chatted as well! She was very nice and filled our water and gave us some snacks for the road. Once we left the sky started to get darker so we knew the rain or storm was coming. We rode quickly hoping to get to Salida before the rain came down. we were pretty lucky and it only drizzled on us. We then pulled into Salida where Chance had a bad encounter with a rude man driving a truck but it's all good and worked out fine. We were told to go to Absolute Cycle once we got into town, so that is what we did. we picked up a few thins we needed and talked with one of the workers for a bit. He then told us there was no camping near by but there was a hostel we could check out. We went to the hostel and nobody was there so we went over to Amicas to eat! It was recommended by Aaron our rafting guide from Canon City. Chance and I both had pizza and it was rather good! After that we ran into a group of guys who are mountain bikers and asked us all about our journey and took a pic with us. So, we made our way back to the hostel called Simple Lodge and met the hosts. John and Julia greeted us and we come to find out they were originally from Minnesota and moved out here a couple years back! The hostel is really great and we got a good deal! It is decorated really cool and they are super friendly ( just like all people from MN!) So Chance and I showered up and headed down the road to check out a few shops, get some ice cream and some groceries. Now back to the hostel to relax for our big day tomorrow! We will be going over our biggest pass tomorrow called Monark pass which is roughly 11,000 feet and we will be going up hill for about 15 miles or so with a nice down hill! Wish us luck and continue to pray for good weather! Thanks for all of your support! We are looking to have Colorado behind us in just a couple days here!

Canon City Break Day! 7/11/09

2009-07-12T19:48:00.002-05:00

Day of Adventure!! Today we woke up ready to white water raft. The amazing company we chose to raft with was the Whitewater Adventure Outfitters otherwise known as WAO!! So we made our way down the the office where they were so hospitable yet again and were very accomodating. We met a guy from Wisconsin who was on a month break from work and riding his motorcycle around to many different places. He was quite interested and again very proud of us for our bike ride! We met our guide Aaron the night before and were looking forward to getting in the boat. I have rafted before but this was a first for Chance and it was great to see the excitement before, during and after the trip. So we loaded the bus and headed for Big Horn Sheep Canyon to start our white water adventure. We got in the boat and we were off! Aaron was a great guide and we all worked as a team to successfully get down the river. In the morning we got to stop at one point and get in the water no boat and white water swim if that's what you want to call it! That was pretty cool! I kinda hit a rock though and it pushed me under water, but it's ok I was pretty thirsty and the water was cold! Then it was time to take a break and eat some lunch. The food was delicious and really hit the spot. So, we signed up for the all day trip and so we still had half the trip to go. The last part of the trip was throught The Royal Gorge!! The sights and rapids were simply amazing. We had a few close calls with falling out of the boat, I guess the tow Dougs liked to try and get Chance out of the boat but he stayed strong and kept himself in the boat. Then my turn, we came up on one larger rapid and it pretty much popped me up and almost out but because of my super strength I stayed in the boat:) Then the trip came to an end! We were both shrivled up prunes but had a BLAST!!! We got back to the WAO headquarters and talked with our guide for a bit. He then invited us out to get a cold drink with him and some of the other guides! So he was super nice drove us there and back! They are all very cool people! Thank you Kathy and Tony at WAO and Aaron for being a great guide and letting us keep our lives and for everything else you did for us!! If anyone wants to raft in Colorado let us know cause WAO was an amazing outfitter!! It was then time to clean up make some dinner. Again, it was too hot to sit in our tent so we sat on some chairs to read and write journals. Night Night from there.

Colorado Springs to Canon City.. 7/10/09

2009-07-12T19:40:00.003-05:00

The morning was wonderful. We woke up with cooler weather and ready to ride. Jerry was eating breakfast with us in the morning and we said our goodbyes and we were off. The first bit of the ride was pretty nice, a lot downhill with slight inclines here and there. We went past Fort Carson on our way out and stopped at the grocery store to eat a sammy before we hit the road to Canon. Oh yes, I forgot to mention but I bet you all already would know, we had nice head wind again today. When I say nice I mean very mean and strong. So it was into the beginning range on the Rockies so that means more up hill and for longer periods of time. Now for Chance it was good for him because on the downhills he flew down them but for me, the stupid wind just tired to push me back up the hill so going down hill was actually very tough for me as I had to peddle quite hard to try and catch Chance. But all in all it was ok and not too difficult. Eventually we pull into the town called Penrose, CO to fill up on cold water and take a short break before out last 11 miles into Canon City, Co. While we were outside a nice family from Missouri came up to talk with us and were very happy with the adventure we decided to take on, they even asked to get a picture with us which in a way was odd but also very cool! So we had finished our snacks and it was time to go out in the sun and wind to Canon. We were very hungry so we stopped at the first food joint we ran into and that was Chilis. It was pretty good, the server gave me the wrong food, but that's ok. After dinner we made our way to Wally World (Walmart) to get some snacks and beverages for the night time. The rafting company that we were going to be rafting with the following day was ever so kind. Kathy and Tony allowed us to camp on their property and it was nice to chat with them and some of the guides while we were there. We then said our good byes and set up camp. This night was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hot, we were sweating in the tent and it was almost unbearable, but we stuck it out and it finally cooled down later in the evening and made for much more comforatable sleeping.

Break Day in Colorado Springs.. 7/9/09

2009-07-12T19:31:00.002-05:00

WOOO HOOOO!!! This morning we got to sleep in until 9:30! It felt nice and it was great to get a bed to sleep in last night. So we ate breakfast watched some tv until the cleaning lady needed to clean the living room. But that's ok, we had errands we had to run. So our first stop was the bike shop. There we got my bike looked at and it was super cool, they didn't charge us! We also chatted with them a bit about our trip and told us about a bike shop to hit when we went to Salida, CO. So then it was up a nice hill to REI to pick up some other needed items for the rest of our journey. Then guess what up yet another hill to the grocery store to get some snacks and sun screen. We go through sun screen very quicly so we always need some on hand. Then guess what???? You got it, another hill back to Jerry and Gayles house. When we arrrived back there we noticed a different car in the drive so we figured it was their son Travis. So Chance went around back to let us in and yea Travis was probably like who the yankee doodle are you. But Chance introduced himself and we were all good! So from there we did some things on the computer and even got to take a very nice nap! Oh how break days are so nice! Once Jerry came back he asked if we were hungry and again was ever so kind an made us dinner. It was great and consited of; steak, baked potatoes and rice! Yummy! Lucky for us it was Thursday and that meant we got to watch our two favorite shows. So Jerry, Travis, Chance and myself sat and watched Burn Notice and Royal Pains. From there we were quite tired and it was time to call it a night so we could get ready to hit the rockies in the morning! Overall, we would like to thank Jerry, Gayle, Travis and Mozart for taking us in and all of their very wonderful hospitatlity!

Limon to Colorado Springs!

2009-07-09T15:07:00.002-05:00

Today we again woke up a bit later then normal. Not something good by any means. We packed up as quickly as possible and hit the road. Yet again we were unlucky and had a horrible head wind the whole way. This head wind was so mean that we actually had to peddle down a hill. Now who wants to do that, going down hill is suppose to be a break. So we continued on the lovely rolling hills and as we got closer the traffic started to get more and more. We are still lucky and have people honk and wave at us giving us their support and well being! At least they see us on the road, that is about all we can ask for! So we rolled into a little town called Calahan to eat lunch at a little place called Taste Buds. The food was quite good and we enjoyed some good converstation with our server and the cook. This other older guy started talking to us and we did not know whether he was trying to scare us or be informative in his own weird way. So from lunch we had about 28 miles left until Colorado Springs. The ride in was pretty good, we had more downhill and less hills. We then got to our location. We are staying with my Aunt Sues friend from college. Jerry and his wife Gayle have been very kind to us! Upon arrival we took showers and had a nice little rest. Once Jerry was done with his staining of his back patio he was so nice and took us on a car tour to the Garden of the Gods, Balancing Rock and on Gold Camp Road. Gold Camp Road is this really cool winding dirt road through the mountains! It was a lot of fun and places we would not have been able to see if he did not take us there. From there we stopped and picked up some Chinease food and brought it back to eat. The dinner was great. To end the night we sat on the patio and shared stories along with showing them our route the rest of the way! Thank you so much Jerry and Gayle for having us! Thank you to everyone else out there for supporting us. We are about to hit the rockies so wish us luck!

Road to Limon, Colorado.

2009-07-09T14:56:00.002-05:00

We woke up this morning a little later than normal, packed up and headed out. We stopped at a nearby gas station to fill up our water becuase there would be absolutely no serivices for 75 miles until we got into Limon. So the morning ride started off chilly with a nice head wind. We had decided since we would not be stopping at a place to eat for lunch we would stop every 10 miles and have a snack instead of taking one long lunch break. That was working out fine until we hit the very little town of Last Chance. We stopped there and took a picture for Chance and found a picnic table in the shade. Here we sat and to take a little break and a super duper short nap. The only problem with not being able to stop for lunch is we did not get our Mt.Dew fix for the day. So while we were sitting in Last Chance hoping a Pepsi truck would go by. Now if a Pepsi truck were to go by Chance would run out and try to stop it and we would beg for them to sell us a Mt.Dew. But no luck with the Pepsi truck. So off we were again heading to Limon. The day started to get very hot with no wind and many large rolling hills. We got to one point where we both ran out of water and we still had about 15 plus miles to go. Now we both have 4 water bottles and did not think we would run out. So Chance saw on the GPS that there as a river, so upon approaching this river we were going to get some water to get us through the trip. So we get to this so called river, and what did we find? We found nothing but two puddles. Oh no, not good. So there was a house nearby where we went up to the door and knocked yelled and so on to see if we could get some water. No luck. But there was a hose on the front of their house so we borrowed some water from them. So, to the farm house right out of Limon thanks for the life saving water! If you're ever in MN and need water come find me! So we finally roll into Limon, both starving and hot. We end up eating at Pizza Hut. It was pretty delicious! From there we went over to the KOA camp ground. Let me start off by saying we have tried to avoid KOA's for one reason..... We had to pay $26 for one night tent spot that did NOT include water or electric. So as you can see the price is the reason we try to avoid such places. From there we set up our tent. I went to shower and I come back to find Chance holding up the tent. He told me the wind flattened it like a pancake. So he had to guide line it while I held it up in this crazy wind and hard rain. But in the end all was good and we did our normal routine at night and hit the hay!

Another State Bites the Dust!

2009-07-06T16:24:00.003-05:00

This morning we woke up and got our stuff together. It felt great to get a good night sleep in a climate controlled environment with really comfy beds. When we had everything in order we mosied on down to the amazing continental breakfast! They had waffles, cereal, fruit and even biscuts and gravy! It was awesome to not have to eat pop tarts for breakfast. When we were leaving Shelley was pulling up and we thanked her again and hit the road. We road into a slight head wind and but it was more pleasant than a nussance. The ride went pretty good although we had literally no shoulder to ride on but the white line. The road wasn't too heave with traffic so we managed to do alright. It was a good feeling to see the Colorado boarder sign. So once we hit the sign, we took our picture! Nebraska another state down, so we are on the the 10th state! The morning went well and we pulled into Sterling to grab a bite to eat. Chance also called Garmin to try and figure out what was wrong with our GPS. So after lunch we headed out and the temp was definentaly hotter then it was in the morning. We thought we had 38 miles to go but the sign said 35 so that is awesome!! The afternoon ride continued to go well and the rode was nice, not much traffic so it allowed us to not worry so much about having to ride the white line. This afternoon was the first afternoon that I was not tired and Chance was! So I tried to cheer him up to make it the last 20 miles. Finally we made it to our destination of Brush, CO. We stopped at the gas station, got some COLD water and COLD gatorade then hit up the library. So now we are at the library trying to finish our GPS. We will be leaving shortly to set up camp at a nice campsite we found for free!! Tomorrow we will head to Limon and hope to be in Colorado Springs by Wednesday! Thanks again for all your support and emails!

Here comes the wind... July 5th

2009-07-05T17:25:00.004-05:00

Wow, finally caught up on blogs!!! Today was a tough day with the wind coming from the south as we were heading south. Our GPS also decided to crap out today leaving us riding blind. Chance claims he does not like traveling the old way and I say "dude, we are on bikes, have you ever heard of these things called cars with engines in them!" So anyways, we said our goodbyes to our new rodeo friends and headed out. The morning was very long and we got in about 45 miles to Sidney after I got another flat tire. But it's ok, I have not gotten once since Minnesota, so this time Chance was not too unhappy. We pulled into Sidney right as the rain started coming down. We ate at Perkins and then headed over to the very first Cabelas and talked with a man about our GPS. We also found out that some thunder storms were coming in and we did not know if we would make it any further. So we called the day a short day and will just add on the extra miles tomorrow. So our task then was to find a place to stay. We ended up going over to the AmericInn where we talked with the assistant manager Shelley! She is a dear and helped us out very much! She lost her father to cancer and wanted to help the cause, so she knew she could not give us a comp room so she offered to pay for our room out of her own pocket. This was something very kind and we could never ask for anything more!! Thank you Shelley, we wish you all the best. The hotel is very nice and it is great to actually take a shower and get to sleep in beds tonight and have tons of room unlike our little tent where it pretty much fits us. So all in all, today was a pretty short day and tomorrow will be a longer haul into Colorado! Thanks again for all of your support! We have made it about 2200 miles so far and are continuing to have high hopes.

July 4th the day of Independence!!

2009-07-05T17:14:00.004-05:00

What a great day we had today! We left Hay Springs with a very wonderful tail wind that helped push us right along!! On our ride we ran into this wonderful little place called Carhenge, it was like the stone henge only made out of cars. So there we took some pictures talked to a nice couple traveling and played with the very cute kitty!! The morning was like the rest, same old scenery and flying with the wind! Our speed brought us into Alliance very quickly and because it was the 4th of July there was not much for food options. So we stopped at a little Mexican place where we both got BBQ sammys ahhahaha!! They were delicious. After lunch it was on to our destination which was suppose to be Angora. So as we start to see Angora we notice there is nothing there but a bunch of old boarded up buildings. We were both feeling really good and decided we would push our miles to about 86 and stop in Bridge Port. This was a very good decision. This city is full of much history, the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail and Pony Express were a few trails to run through this great American City! we stopped a small history museum and look around and talked to the nice lady who told us of a few places to get some ice cream. So we were out to find some dairy deliciousness! There we started talking with a nice older couple about the rodeo that was in town and they told us about their grandson who was 2nd in the world for steer wresting. Steer wrestling is something I had never heard of and was very intrigued by the who dealing of such an event. This got me very interested in the rode and I had to see it. So Chance asked about camping and they told us we could camp right at the fair grounds with those folks in the rodeo! This was awesome! We were camping right next to some nice fellas who were part of the wild horse racing. Again something I had never heard of and I come to find out it is a very intense and dangerous sport. I was so very excited to see the rodeo and Chance just laughed at me.. I got my camera ready and watched the rodeo after getting a wagon ride from John and his father around the fair grounds! We got to sit in box seats right by the shoots so we could see all the action! I took lots of pictures and you will all be able to see them at a later time! The rode was wonderful and the best thing I could be doing on the 4th of July. It was so great to meet all these wonderful people watch the rodeo, fire works and celebrate the freedom we are so lucky to have but so many take for granted. So to all of you out there who are so very brave and are fighting for our freedom and for all of those who have lost their lives or loved ones Thank you for allowing us to live the life we live today!! God Bless America, it is truly one beautiful country and I am proud to live here!!

Mountain Dew is addicting!!! July 3rd

2009-07-05T17:08:00.002-05:00

Well thanks to the storm I did not sleep well. So when Chance woke up I was very tired and actually went back to sleep for a short while. Once I got up I had trouble staying awake for the morning ride. Chance actually got very tired as well, we stopped to take a break and I closed my eyes and actually fell asleep.. CRAZY!! We ended up eating lunch in the town of Gordon around 11am. After our early lunch we headed out. The afternoon was very difficult to stay awake too. Chance and I tehn decided we had to stop and get a Mountain Dew, which is our only hope to keep us awake. The Dew definently saved our lives! Then the second wind hit and I was having troubles with trying to stop laughing. We also were making up crazy people we were seeing and it helped make the afternoon a bit more enjoyable. Hay Springs was our destination for the day. We pulled in at the right time. Because the thunder stared up and the sky did not look happy. we were directed to the park to camp and I saw a pool so I thought they might have showers. So while Chance was setting up the tent I asked use the shower and they were totally cool with it. The water in teh shower was freezing so it was a very quick shower. The rain then started to come so we hid out in the tent for a bit until the rain let up. We then headed into town to find there was only once place to eat and the only things we could get had to be fried. So that's what we did, we got fried food and we are kind of sick of that, but it was food. Then back to the tent to hang out and get some much needed rest!

July 2nd! Merriman, NE.

2009-07-05T16:57:00.002-05:00

Today was a pretty quick day. We got up packed our things then headed up the hill into Valentine before we ate lunch. The mosquito's drove us up that hill very quickly. The morning started off with rolling sand hills and the temps were very nice so it was a great time to ride! We actually crossed into mountain time zone but decided to keep our watch in central time so we can get up early and get to bed early. We ended up with a nice tail wind which helped push us into the small town of Cody. We got there a bit early so we had to wait about 30 mins for the Husker Hub to open so we could eat. We had only $14 dollars so we went to the bank to get cash, we find out they do not have an ATM, the only bank Chance I had seen up to that point that did not have one. So we could only eat a little bit. We sat outside waiting for the place to open and a kind lady came up to us and stared talking. She donated money to us and told us we should be able to eat a nice meal! Yet, again all the wonderful people in small town America! After lunch we continued with a nice tail wind and continued to make great time. We then came across an RV on the side of the rode. Sitting there taking the RVs owner came back and we talked to them. Come to find out they had a flat and the RV did not come with a wrench to get the lug nuts off. After we chatted for awhile we were off like the wind... We saw an antelope that I thought was a something else and Chance started to laugh at me.. Not very nice if you ask me:) We eventually pulled into our designation of Merriman around 2pm Mountain Time. The town was quite small but had a huge heart! Ther we sat in a gas station and ate some candy and drank some lemonade. It was nice because it was air conditioned and the lady working told us we could camp in the city park and it had a shower! A shower is always something positive in a day! So we headed over to the park and set up our little orange tent! We did a little reading and then headed back to the gas station to make a pizza for dinner. While eating dinner the forecast changed drastically and started to rain cats and dogs. SO some kind folks gave us a ride to our tent and said we could come hang out at their house if we got sick of sitting in our tent all day. It was a very kind offer but we were both very tired. Chance eventually fell asleep but it took me a little longer. Once I fell asleep the rain and storm came very loud. It woke us both up and we found out the next day that it had rained 3.5 inches!

The City of Love! Valentine, NE July 1st!

2009-07-05T16:52:00.002-05:00

The ride today was pretty boring for the first part. We did stop at the gas station in Spring View before we left to fill water and grab a quick bite to eat. We then rode and chatted for what seemed like forever and we ran into the smallest little town called Sparks. There we found a general store and grabbed some snacks. The lady working there was very kind and donated to our cause! From there the terrain changed and actually was rock with cliffs near the Niobrara River Valley. It is really beautiful what you see in all these states once you get off the main road ways! Today turned out to be a short day with 50 miles. So we got into Valentine fairly early and it allowed us to get some much needed chores in. We grabbed some lunch at Subway and then headed to the laundromat to do some laundry so we would not scare away the town folk in the days to come with our lovely aroma! Finally we also had some internet!!! Nebraska is a lot of very small towns so it is hard to find a place where you can actually get some wifi connection. After sitting in the library and air conditioning for a few hours we ate our dinner and headed down a fairly steep hill to our campsite. We were camping next to two guys who were riding their motorcycles back to Minnesota from Colorado. So we had some nice conversations yet again, set up camp and called it a night!

June 30th the sandhills of Nebraska!

2009-07-05T16:38:00.003-05:00

Today stared off being a wonderful morning with cool temps and very well rested for once! So we packed up, ate a pop tart and set out on our days adventure. To start things off we had some good climbs out of the Missouri River Valley but it was a georgeous view! I got to see my first mule deer and I thought it was very odd how they hopped around instead of run like normal deer, but whatever gets them to their desitnation is fine by me. They probably look at us and think we are crazy too! We got to a point where we needed to take a snack break. Once we were through eating we saw two young lads coming towards us on bicycles and they had been in our camp site the night before. So we decided to wait for them and hear their story! We find out they had just graduated from high school and were riding from Illinois to Boulder, Co to see a friend. They had some great stories. 1) A raccoon ran off with one of their hats, but someone was kind enough to give him a new one 2) they ran into many dogs some kind but those that were mean they found out if you bark louder then them they are very likely to stop bothering you! 3) they ran into an old man who called himself "Chief" and they think he might have been one of the many mirages they saw in Iowa!! They were absolutely wonderful to ride with. We ended up riding with them for 4 miles until we both had to split off and go our own routes! We then hit the Nebraska border took our normal picure and were ready to see what NE had to offer us. We stopped off in the town of Butte where we were warned that the water was not good so don't get it:0 We ended up eating at a little cafe with a crazy owner who told us she wanted to open a whole chain of shitty resutrants in Nebraska! We stopped to take a little break about 1 hour after lunch and it was right next to a cemetary. There were some workers out there doing the duties they had to take care of after a funeral. Many of you know I am fascinated by many weird things. So we stayed there and watched what goes on after the people have left the funeral. It was acuatlly very interesting and we talked with the workers! They said it was a good job to have because people were dying to get in there so they did not have to worry about losing their jobs during this time of economic distress! A lot has been learned so far on this trip! We then rode and rode and rode, we saw a little sheep with it's head stuck in a cattle fence and I was worried for it. So Chance being the ever so wonderful hero he is jumped the fence and saved the sheep! He is now a celebrity in the sheep community! The destination we were hoping to stop at was a little town called Mills. It would have been about a 60 mile ride which would be good through the very rolling sandhills of Nebraska! We then come to Mills and find out there is nothing there but some houses, a church and 4 people. The man that lived next to the church told us we could camp there and use the restrooms in the church. That would have been ok if we had packed some extra food and were not in desperate need of a shower. So we took a short nap, ate a snack and rode 24 more miles to Spring View. It was a good decision because they had some place eat and a nice park with great showers.

Off to Fort Randall....June 29th

2009-07-05T16:27:00.003-05:00

Well it was time to head out from our little campsite and start yet another day! The morning started off with a really good outlook for the day! I(Kelly) thought it would be really nice without the wind.. However, let me tell you now. It is much better to have some wind coming from any direction to keep the heat down. So anyways, We only had to ride 20 miles to eat breakfast/lunch because there would really be no other places to eat on the way. So we stopped in to Corsica, SD and ate at a truck stop type place! We both had the Belly Busters, however it busted my belly before I could finish and Chance's did not bust his belly so he had to eat the rest of mine as well! So milk is something kind of hard to come by on the way. I wanted chocolate milk and Chance decided he did as well. We asked the lady and she asked what size we would want, so she compared the small to our waters which were about the size of a small jar of jam and said the large would be just a bit bigger. Well bigger sounded much better. Then it came, the large pickle jar sized chocolate milk:) It was really delicious and as crazy as it sounds I finished mine before Chance yea!!! After that we headed out on what was kinda of a boring road of corn fields which we had been seeing for multiple days. We went about 10 more miles to Armour and stopped at the gas station to fill up on water. Once we left the gas stations things started to change for me. I was very tired and hot and was not enjoying the weather at the moment. Chance continued to be the strong support and we made it to Fort Randall Casino where we stopped at the gas station for a much needed COLD Gatorade!! Yummy in my tummy! That little boost helped complete the rest of the ride downhill to the Fort Randall Dam Park where we set up camp for the evening. It was a nice area with very nice facilities! We then took showers and moved from shaded spot to shaded spot trying to avoid the immense rays of heat the sun was giving off. Eventually the day cooled off and we were just sitting by a tree chatting when a very nice fella named Al came over and started up conversation! He and his wife Carma were in the RV next to our tent. He mentioned he had a Nebraska map we could have so we headed over to their plot of land! Carma was a wonderful gal who we talked to and enjoyed talking with into the evening! They were ever so kind and invited us over to eat some delicious Nebraska beef burgers, cole slaw, baked potatoes and of course dessert! So to the end of the day was wonderful and relaxing with cool temps which made for very comfortable sleeping!

Stepping out into the wide open spaces!

2009-07-01T17:20:00.004-05:00

So after our nice break in Aberdeen it was time to hit the road and I found it a bit more difficult to try to leave home and for the first time understood what Kelly was talking about when we left Woodbury, but before we got on the road we had to tie up a couple loose ends. We packed our stuff and got everything ready to go and then we had my mom take our pictures for our individual pictures and we picked out a good picture of us together and added them to the envelope. Then we went outside and after about 8 or 9 takes we had our video complete. Finally we had finished our application for the Amazing Race, now we can just cross our fingers! Well with that all finished we said our good byes and hit the road. My mom and grandma were waiting at the end of my Grandma's driveway to wave us good bye one last time. The trip to Redfield didn't take too long and went with out much of a hitch. We had to ride on a bit of gravel because old hwy 281 all of a sudden was no longer paved. When we finally got to Redfield we stopped in at Terry's Steak House, where my Grandpa set up a tab for us since they were out of town and we would be staying at them place. The people at Terry's were super nice and we hung out there for a little bit and then headed to my grandparents place. When we got there we unloaded our gear and started to watch tv and quickly fell asleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up we orderd pizza and enjoyed our dinner watching the beautiful sunset over the Redfield Lake.
When we got up we had a little more hustle in our step since we knew we had a long ride to Plankinton. Once we left Redfield we headed towards Wolsey and the last sign of Civilization until we got to Plankington. We stopped to eat in Wolsey at the truck stop and rested up. The rest of the afternoon was spent peddling and talking to cows. The ride was so boring and decolate it was almost unbarable. When we got to Plankington we stopped in at DJ Drive-In. It was a nice little place and the food was good. We had corndogs and a shake. After dinner we made our way to the campgrounds, which we found out was owend by the same people, what a coinsidence since the town was so huge, haha. But it was really nice they had a pool, which we took advantage of and very nice facilities. It was a long day but over-all it wasn't too bad.

Aberdeen down time....

2009-07-01T17:11:00.002-05:00

June 25th
This morning we woke up at a nice leisurely pace without a care in the world. I got up and took a shower and let Kelly take her time getting up. When we were both showered and ready for the day we grabbed our stuff and checked out and headed back to my parents place. We had a few errands to run, like going to the bank and cashing some checks. When we were done driving all over town we went to my good buddy Doug’s mom’s house to pick up the BBQ and bars she had prepared for Kelly and mines meet and greet, it smelt delicious. We dropped that stuff off at home and relaxed for an hour or so until it was time to get our massages! They were absolutely amazing, a little weird being in the same room. I guess that the massage was so good that I fell asleep and snored a little. Kelly made a joke when we were done about how the massage was suppose to be relaxing but how could she relax with me snoring the whole time. After the massage we went home and backed our bags and loaded our bikes up and made our way over to the Eagles Club to help my mom set up the food and everything. The meet and greet went well. It was nice to see all the people come out and support us and our cause. We chatted with people about our trip so far and where we were going next. Some people wanted to know about our gear and what we brought with us, so we showed them how we cooked our food and some of our other neat gadgets. Some people picked our bikes up and wanted to know how much they weighed. My dad weighed it on his big game scale and my bike weighed in at 87lbs, that’s quite a bit and I’m sure it fluctuates from day to day a little bit. After that was all said and done we made our way back to Doug’s house to watch some of the shows he had taped for us. That’s where we spent the rest of the night relaxing until we fell asleep on the coaches.

June 26th

Today we started off the day with the radio station in Aberdeen at 8:20 so not much sleeping in for this rest day. Were lucky enough to get up and get yet another massage that Bethlehem Church provided to us! It was yet again a wonderful massage. After we met Brenda Chances mom for lunch and chatted for a bit about the days activities. From there it was home to relax and get ready for the rest of the days events. We then ended up going to the movie the Proposal which was absolutely wonderful! From there we hurried home to have some delicious ribs, salad and corn on the cob! I can't wait to go home and be able to have delicious meals every night and tons of food in the fridge! After the wonderful meal we headed out to the brown county race way to watch some Friday night stock car racing! It was a good time and Chance was able to hang out with a couple of friends. Thanks also to the kind people of Aberdeen for your wonderful donations! Sadly, it started to rain and the races were cancelled early. We headed out to Chances friend who was racing and had some good laughs and conversation. From there it was home and to bed so we could be ready to ride in the morning!

Last stretch to Aberdeen!!

2009-07-01T17:08:00.000-05:00

June 24th
When I woke up there was no fog, it was a nice change of scenery being able to see when you get out of the tent and Kelly got up without much struggle, so that was a bonus. We had everything packed up and ready to rock out the last 38miles by 7am. We stopped by city hall on our way out to use the bathroom but it was locked, but luckily I remember the guy at the bar saying that there was a gas station on the west edge of town so we headed that way and when we got there it wasn’t open either. Fortunately there was a group of older guys standing there and they told us it would be open in about 5mins. They lady finally showed up and we used the restroom and filled up our water bottles and hit the road. We had a light tail wind and it made a difference. We made awesome time to Groton which was 20miles away, but when we get a tail wind, that means storm and that great time was negated by a 45 minute wait inside the grocery store as a very small but nasty storm blew over. There was one thunder that shook the table we were sitting at. After the storm passed we hit the road again but this time we had a strong head wind and so I buckled down expecting a long 18 mile ride to Aberdeen but the head wind only lasted like a 5 minutes and then we got a really strong warm tail wind and we flew down the road, averaging 22 mph for about 3miles. Then the wind died down and became a light head wind again but it didn’t take long to get home, just over an hour. My mom, grandma and aunt were waiting on the side of the road to cheer us on and take pictures. When we got to my house I was mauled by big baby of a dog, Scooby. He whined and yelped for a good 10minutes making me continually pet him. Oh but it was good to be home. After an afternoon of unpacking and relaxing we headed out to the motel, my mom had won a free nights stay at the Best Western so we went out there for the night and a couple buddy’s came out and we sat around drank a couple beers, watched baseball and shot the breeze until the wee hours of the night, ok 11 but that’s the wee hours for us.

In the middle of no where!!

2009-07-01T16:35:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone sorrry for the lack of corrispondance but we were really busy in Aberdeen durring our break there and once we stepped out of Aberdeen we stepped into the middl of BFE, I wont elaborate on that acranim but you can figure it out for yourself. Today is the first day that we have had access to the internet, let alone the library. So thanks for baring with us. Now let me give you the run down.
June 23rd
When we got up in Milbank it looked like déjà vu, I woke up at 5.30 and it was so foggy I could hardly see. The fog put a hold on our riding until later into the day which ment hotter weather. I asked Kelly what we should do and she asked if I was hungry so we headed down to the corner dinner called Trevet’s Café. The food was alright and we met some nice people when were waiting for our food. Like most older people we met along our way they were interested in what we were doing and in turn thought we were a bit crazy and we probably are but heck we’re having a great time. When we were finished eating Kelly paid the bill and I went outside to call the radio station to give them an update on our progress. They told us there was a storm front moving our way but it looked beautiful to me, by know all the clouds had lifted and the sun was shining bright. When we left Milbank we had to climb “Mount Milbank”, it was a small over pass leaving town but it was the only hill we had seen in days. The ride started out fine, we were making good time but it didn’t last long. Within about 5 miles we were met with a brutal head wind. This turned the ride into a tooth and nail battle to stay on the small shoulder while tractor trailers were flying by almost pushing us off the road in typical condition now it was causing a confusing swirl of wind that forced me off the road. It was a bit dangerous because of the small shoulder and then there was loose gravel on the side that caused my bike to get a little squirly at times. The morning ride didn’t quite go how I expected, I thought it would be a pretty easy ride with a small hill section and we would have made it to Webster by lunch, which was about 45miles. Instead had only hashed out 19 miles to the Summit truck stop. It was a very long morning and we sat down to enjoy some chuck wagon burgers and ice cold Mt. Dew. It was a much needed hour break that rested our legs and put our differences for the morning at rest. After lunch the ride was a little easier. The wind had died down but someone had turned the thermostat to 11! It was hot, in the upper 80’s and there is absolutely no shade on hwy 12. There isn’t much shade on any highways but especially not in SD. It was nice though that the shoulder had quadrupled in size so Kelly and I could ride side by side and talk about all sorts of good things. It was nice to see the farther west we go the people become more receptive and friendly. We were getting a lot more waves, honks and thumbs up, so that was cool. By about mid afternoon we had made it to Waubay and had to stop and get our usual afternoon cool down break, which consists of sitting in air-conditioning and eating ice cream. Waubay has a cool little ice cream shop call the Purple Cow, and the ice cream was great. We were both a little reluctant to head out in to the heat again after such a nice break but we couldn’t sit there all day. Once again, back to the bikes. It wasn’t too long before the heat drove us back inside though. We road about 10miles further to a little bit bigger town of Webster and since it was too early for dinner, it was only 2.30 or so we located the library and went there to kill some time and beat the heat. After an hour or so at the library we head back down the street the way we came and decided it was still too hot to ride so we pulled into a little dinner and ate an early dinner. The food was great and by the time we had left it had almost dropped another 10 degrees. So it made riding a bit easier. We pulled into Bristol SD. It looked like a ghost town there were a few cars parked on the road but all the shops were closed and it looked as if no one was around. We flagged down an older couple that were headed our way in a golf cart. We ask were we could get a cold drink and they were like right here and we told them it was locked and they said nonsense you must have tried the wrong door. It turns out that the older couple in the golf cart knew my grandparents. So we paid the $2 tab and head to the park. We were so tired we just sat in the shade for a good 30mins before we even tried to set up the tent. Just after we got the tent set up we saw a red truck that had a familiar decal on the side and Kelly was like hey isn’t that your mom’s truck and I was like no it can’t be but it was my parents drove down to see us, they couldn’t wait another day to see me. It was nice though. We said good bye to my parents and headed over to the outhouse, to find it was locked. So we had no bathroom and we were in the middle of the neighborhood so we couldn’t just do our business outside. So the public restroom was only about 4 blocks from the park and city hall wasn’t much but a two room brick building, one being the bathroom. So we did our business and cleaned up in the sink and then made our way back to our tent. I was so exhausted, all I wanted to do was sleep so I covered the bikes and put the rest of the stuff away and got in the tent but I couldn’t sleep. I still felt gross and sticky and it was humid out. After a bit it cooled off a bit and I finally fell asleep.

Hey Hey Hey Everyone

2009-06-24T17:14:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-06-22T18:15:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-22T17:41:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-06-20T12:33:00.004-05:00

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...

2009-06-17T18:44:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-15T20:42:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-06-15T15:15:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-15T10:47:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-15T10:06:00.006-05:00

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

2009-06-15T09:18:00.005-05:00

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

2009-06-14T19:34:00.004-05:00

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...

2009-06-11T18:39:00.001-05:00

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..

2009-06-09T15:26:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-06-09T15:15:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-06-07T21:41:00.002-05:00

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!!!

2009-06-06T21:59:00.004-05:00

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!!!

2009-06-02T19:55:00.008-05:00

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..

2009-06-01T18:01:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-06-01T17:53:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-06-01T17:46:00.002-05:00

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!

Getting ready for our break day!!

2009-05-29T19:46:00.002-05:00

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..

2009-05-29T19:40:00.003-05:00

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!!!

2009-05-29T19:35:00.002-05:00

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.....

2009-05-26T17:02:00.007-05:00

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

2009-05-26T14:27:00.006-05:00

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....

2009-05-26T14:18:00.006-05:00

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!

2009-05-26T14:01:00.005-05:00

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...

2009-05-23T08:01:00.005-05:00

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...

2009-05-20T16:51:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-05-19T19:38:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-05-16T13:51:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-05-12T18:28:00.002-05:00

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!

It's Official!

2009-04-29T09:06:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone, it's official. You now will be able to follow our progress day by day simply by clicking on the "SPOT us" hyperlink. We have purchased a SPOT personal GPS tracking system and it is now online. With this device we can send a signal as often as we need or want simply by pressing the OK button. When we send the signal it contacts our chosen contact people and tells them we are alright and also marks our location on an Online map powered by Google Earth. So that means that all of you can check in on our progress daily. This device also gives us the opportunity to contact emergency help and rescue if needed by simply hitting the 911 or HELP button. As for us and our training we continue to work out regularly and ride as often as the weather allows us. We are just tying up some loose ends here in St. Cloud over the next week and then it will be Kelly's Graduation and then just getting the last bit organized and we will be on the road! We're so excited! Thanks again for all of your support!

A Windy Night

2009-04-24T22:47:00.002-05:00

So we went on our overnight training session and it went very well. We didn't ride far since Kelly had to teach till 3pm and we had to be back in St. Cloud early in the morning so we could get ready for a wedding we had to attend in the afternoon. So we road to Mill Stream Park in St. Joseph and set up camp and then played a quick round of disc golf. After we had finished with our game we tried out our new stove and we are sure glad it came with a wind shield because it was extra windy. After dinner it cooled off very quickly so we went into our tent and settled in for an early night. The first night in our tent went well. It had just enough room for the two of us and a little gear inside but vestibules kept the rest of our gear dry from the little rain we got. Unfortunately we didn't choose the most ideal spot and we were slightly on a slant and ended up sleeping closer together then we both may have wanted. Along with the slanted sleeping arrangement we were met with a bright lamp by the latrine and a gale force wind that lasted much of the night good deal our tent is plenty sturdy! All in all we would have to label this a success and a good warm-up. Thanks again for all your support and we will keep you up to date as we get closer to our big day!

What's goin on as the "DAY" grows nearer....?

2009-04-22T14:12:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone, well here's what we have been up to. Our lives are getting very busy as Kelly is getting ready to graduate and we are both packing our stuff to move back to our parents' houses. We have been go go go for the last few weeks trying to get rides in when ever we can. The weekends have been pretty full and unfortunately we don't have a bike rack so we can't take our bikes with us to ride. So we are getting our miles in how ever we can, mostly commuting from work to home and to the grocery store and so on. Unfortunately we had our first incident last Wednesday morning as we were riding to Kelly's school. A car pulled forward into the cross walk as we had a green light and the lady wasn't looking and ran into Kelly, knocking her down and leaving her with a few nice bruises on her right leg and a cut on her hand. Yes, Kelly was hit by a car, but she is alright and back riding her bike. Last weekend we were down in the Twin Cities, we bought most of our remaining items for our trip. I was playing in a disc golf tournament, I took 5th place. We also went out to dinner with Kelly's family for her little brothers 21st birthday!! This week we are continuing to ride as often as possible and are planning on riding tonight and then tomorrow, Thursday the 23rd we are going to ride and then camp and ride back home in the morning before we have to go to a wedding in Litchfield MN. That is correct our first overnight bike ride and we are both pumped!! We plan to ride 30miles or so Thursday and then set up camp and get up in the morning and ride back to St. Cloud. Then the rest of the weekend we will be back in the Cities for yet another of Kelly's siblings birthdays. This time it's her older sisters birthday! Thanks again for your support and we will be keeping you posted on our progress as we continue to ramp up our training!!

The First Big Tester!

2009-04-14T21:24:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone as I'm sure that you all know, at least if you have been following our blog, that Kelly and I were planning to ride from St. Cloud to St. Paul for Easter. Well we did it. It was a success, but let me tell you 87miles and 11hours in the saddle riding against a head wind the whole way can really take a toll on your body but we decided that it takes the biggest toll on your mind. It takes a strong will to continue riding when your quads are burning and you look down at the GPS and it says you are only going 10.4 mph when you're use to ride closer to 15mph, but we just kept trucking on remembering why we are doing this. It's for all the people with cancer, the people we have lost and the people that believe in us, but when we arrived at Kelly's parents doorstep we were completely wiped out. There was one point close to the end, probably only 3miles or so before the end that we had to stop and evaluate the options. We could either do two shorter steeper hills or one long and gradual one. We ended up taking the long and gradual one and it turned out alright. Kelly didn't last long after the ride. We arrived at 6.30pm and ate and Kelly was out about 9, but my second wind hit and there was some of Kelly's parents' friends over and they wanted to hear all about the ride so I stayed up and spoke with them. Easter was good, legs were a little sore but there was lots of great food and more people that wanted to talk about our ride. That night Kelly's legs were a little more sore, so we decided that it would probably be better if we got a ride part of the way since we both had to work all day the next day and didn't know if we would be able to walk. So we got a ride from her mom to Maple Grove and road our bikes from there. The ride on Monday went a lot better we had the wind at our back and we knocked out that 5o miles in about three and a half hours.
Over all this week has been a very successful training week for us. We made our first ride completely loaded to Clearwater and back that was about 25miles and then we road to the Twin Cities and back successfully. Proving to our self that we can ride that far and can be in the saddle for a complete day if we need to. We ended the week totaling 190 miles of riding. Prior to this week we have only ridden a total of 155miles since we got our new bikes. So we are really psyched about our accomplishments and are planning a few more shorter over night rides for the next few weeks to come. Thanks for all your continued support!!

Kelly Won

2009-04-10T10:02:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone, well we have been riding everyday this week trying to get ready for tomorrow. The weather is looking like it will be great for riding. They are saying that we could get into the 60s! We couldn’t ask for anything more. The rides are going great, we are definitely getting better shape. Neither one of us is sore after our rides, but we will see how our butts will feel after 85miles in the saddle. I am going to go with a bit sore, haha. Well on our last ride Kelly won, she became the first victim to get a flat so I had to give her a crash course on the side of the road on how to change a tire. So we will have to see next time if she learned anything. Thanks again for your support and stay tuned as we will keep you updated on how our first real tester goes.

It's Been Awhile!

2009-04-08T14:50:00.004-05:00

Well we thought as the weather improved we would get out and begin to build our legs and stamina. On Sunday March 29th we went on a 35mile ride from St. Cloud to Avon MN. The ride went well, we paced at about 12miles an hour which is what our goal for the trip is. The rest of the week was a bit crappy and we were unable to do too many long rides. Now as the weather has began to warm we have gone a few longer rides. So far we have not topped the 40mile mark but we have been riding more often and consistently. We slowly build our strength up. Our first big test will be this weekend. We are planning on riding to Kelly's parents house in Woodbury MN for Easter. We will be riding down HWY75 on Saturday and riding back to St. Cloud on Monday. We are estimating the ride will take about 8hrs one way. We are both very excited to get out and test our legs on a long distance ride fully loaded. We would both like to thank everyone who donated items for our silent auction and benefit that was held on Monday, also thanks so much for those that came out and supported us and our cause the benefit was an absolute success!! Now that the funding aspect is more or less out of the way, we can concentrate completely on our riding! Also for everyone that missed the event we still have t-shirts for sale, only $15 all proceeds will go to the ACS! Thanks again for all your support!

Still working hard and Shamrock Benefit

2009-03-25T11:54:00.006-05:00

Hey everyone, well sorry for the lack of blogs. Kelly and I have been very busy with everything. Still working out the minor details of our route and making all the travel plans. One of the most important thing we have been working on is putting together a Benefit and Silent Auction. The event will be held at Shamrocks Irish Nook in St. Paul MN on April 6th, 2009. Everyone is invited to come down and have a great time eat, drink and speak with Kelly and I. There will be two kegs that people can buy a cup and drink till they are gone. All proceeds from those will benefit us and the American Cancer Society. The silent auction begins at 5.30 and ends at 8. There are also some other cool things in the works, we will keep you posted. Kelly and I hope to see everyone there, come out and support a great cause and if you don't know us yet come get to know us!! Other then that we have been training hard the weather had been great and we had basically ridden everyday. Unfortunately the weather hasn't been cooperating this last week. On the bright side we finally have our racks and panniers and are planning on doing some longer two day rides in the near future! Thanks again for you support!

Spring Break

2009-03-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone here's what Kelly and I have been up to over our spring break. We spent the beginning of the week speaking with more potential sponsors. The people of Aberdeen were very receptive and supporting of our cause. We received a lot of great advice about our trip and were pointed to more potential sponsors and people that may be able to help us in other aspects of our journey. The second half our break we made the journey from Aberdeen to St. Paul to spend some time with Kelly's family and speak with a Shamrocks Irish Pub about a possible benefit dinner and silent auction. This will hopefully be taking place the end of March or the first week of April. We'll let you know more when we get things finalized. Thanks again for all your support!

The Bikes Have Arrived!

2009-03-07T12:45:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was the big day! The bikes finally arrived and were put together in a flash! With the bikes in our possession we have become even more excited then we were before! It was exciting to see them being built and even more exciting once we finalized our measurements and actually got to get on the bikes! It was a bit chilly but that was not going to keep us from riding the new bikes home! It felt amazing for me (Kelly) to have a bike that was not way too big for me, and for Chance to have a bike that was not too small for him, both of us now have the perfect fit! Thanks to the guys at Revolution Cycle and Ski for the great job of putting the bikes together and to Mike for the fine tuning to make us feel as comfortable as possible in the saddle for our cross country trek! The sun is finally starting to peek through the clouds for days at a time and the weather is starting to warm. We look forward to warmer days so we can continue with our outdoor training! Keep your eye out for future events to help support Cycling 4 a Cure in the near future! Thanks for your continued support!

Got Fitted!

2009-03-02T22:35:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! Well the anticipations grows! On Friday Kelly and I got our money from our Space Aliens benefit, then went and got custom fitted for our new bikes. We decided to go with the Surly Long Haul Trucker for sure and thanks to Mike at Revolution Cycle and Ski our bikes will be a perfect fit after just a couple minor adjustments when we get them later this week. Neither one of can wait to get our hands on our new rides or get out and hit the road!

The Space Aliens Benefit

2009-02-22T22:39:00.000-06:00

First off Kelly and I (Chance) would like to thank Space Aliens Bar and Grill in Waite Park MN for allowing us to have an all day benefit dinner. We are currently not sure the total funds raised but we feel as if it was rather successful. Along with Space Aliens we would like to thank everyone that attended our benefit and made it as successful as it could be. Thank you! We would also like to thank everyone that made donations directly to us and anonymous donations in our donation boxes. Special thanks to our friend Randy and our family members and friends that made the drive from their home to show their support!

As for us and our training, we continue to training hard indoors just waiting for the weather to warm up and clear the roads for riding. Our workouts consist of cardio five days a week along with regular strength training. Thanks again for everyone's continued support!

Back in Aberdeen for the week

2009-02-06T20:18:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone, this last week I (Chance) was in Aberdeen doing a little campaigning for our cause and rounded up a some cash donations to help us purchase gear and other equipment needed, thanks to all those individuals that helped us out!! I also picked up another sponsor, Charlie Mehlhaff the owner of the Subway restaurants in Aberdeen, and I am in negotiations with a couple others. I also spoke with the local radio station in Aberdeen, Dakota Broadcasting 107.5 and 105.5 FM for all you SoDak people. Finally I got an interview with the Aberdeen American News, so you should all check that out by clicking on the link under the Media title. Thanks again to everyone for their continued support! Keep it up and we will continue to work hard and don't forget about our benefit dinner at Space Aliens on Feb. 22nd!!

Gettin' in Shape!!

2009-01-22T19:19:00.000-06:00

Well Kelly and I have begun to kick the workouts into high gear. Trying to workout in the gym four to five times a week. We've been working on our cardiovascular strength the most with a combination of stationary bike riding, wind sprints, stairs and swimming, along with jogging, cross-country skiing and some good old pond hockey! Just the other day we went to Afton Alps and went on a couple hour skiing adventure. It was such a beautiful day and we even saw a deer which let us get really close and take some pictures. Thanks again for following our progress we will continue to train hard and keep you all up to date. We just can't wait for it to warm up and get out and hit the road!!

Got Another Sponsor

2009-01-13T20:29:00.000-06:00

Hey how's everyone doing? Well Kelly and I are doing great. She just started student teaching at Lincoln Elementary and I am still working at Space Aliens Bar and Grill in Waite Park and continuing our training and continue striving towards our goals. Our new sponsor is Space Aliens, they have offered to give us 25% of the proceeds of our benefit dinner day. We receive 25 cents of every dollar paid by patrons that bring in our flyer and eat at Space Aliens on Sunday February 22nd. If you are interested in obtaining a flyer and helping us out by attending our benefit dinner please feel free to contact us via email, (cycling4acure@gmail.com) or stopping in and visiting our other sponsor Revolution Cycle and Ski and pick up a hard copy.

Happy New Years!!

2009-01-05T17:17:00.000-06:00

Happy New Years to everyone!! Well our holiday went well, we hope that all of yours we just as wonderful! I (Chance) finally graduated from college, to bad the job market is not so good but I'm staying optimistic, I still have an exciting spring/summer coming up and I'll just keep working the job I have now. Kelly and I spent time with both families and had a pretty good time. The New Year celebration was pretty uneventful unfortunately, since I had to work the first at 10am. As for activities and training. Kelly is still going to the gym on an almost daily occurrence. I unfortunately have ran out of a gym membership due to graduating and have been forced to do a workout at home and run in the cold but that's ok. We have been able to make it out a few times skiing and even went sledding with the roommates. Finally got my cross-country skis up to St. Cloud when my parents visited but haven't had a chance to use them yet. As for preparation for the trip we are getting back on the horse and sending out more funding request and information letters to people. We are also planning a couple benefit dinners so I will let everyone know about the time, date and restaurants that are willing to help us. Thanks again for all your support!!

Tis the Season

2008-12-06T20:42:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone as we all know as it gets closer to the holiday season it is getting colder and Kelly and I are really looking forward to some snow fall so we can get out of the gym and do some fun activities outside. We are planning on skiing as often as we can. Kelly will be teaching lessons at Powder Ridge Ski Area so we should have plenty of opportunities to go skiing. We are also looking forward to snowshoeing and renting Nordic skis from Revolution Cycle and Ski and getting on the trails. So we will continue to make the best of the season and continue working towards our goal in May. Thank you again for your continued support!

2008-11-24T11:10:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,
Well we have moved the workouts indoors to the gym located at the SCSU campus and are continuing our quest for funding and pledges to the ACS. So if you have any suggestions or would like to help us out please feel free to let us know via email, cycling4acure@gmail.com, On the up side we have accepted a sponsorship from Revolution Cycle and Ski, located in St. Cloud, MN. They have said they will help us with gear and setting up our bikes and equipment. We will keep you updated as time goes on and thank you very much for your continued support!

Givin' the seat a rest!

2008-10-26T12:48:00.000-05:00

Hello again, this weekend was a long one because of fall break so we decided to change it up and take a break from biking and go hiking instead. So we loaded our gear and headed up North to the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT). Everything was set to be an exciting and relaxing weekend. It was a little cool but almost perfect hiking weather, about 50 degrees during the day and getting down to around 35 at night. We got off to kind of a late start the first day and only made it about 6 miles and set up camp and had a nice dinner in an amazing camp site under a clear star lit night. It began to sprinkle a couple of hours after we went to bed and the night got ugly about 3am. After about three hours of pounding rain our old tent began to leak and we were awoken by Kelly's scream "I'm wet, I just got rained on!" The rain finally leaked through the window and dropped on Kelly's face. We woke up and realized that the foot of our tent had a puddle in it and our sleeping bags were wet and so was our TP! After a short discussion and a look at the map we decide that we would finish the Split Rock loop and call it a day. We were beaten, unfortunately! We had come prepared knowing that there was a good chance of rain unfortunately we didn't anticipate that our old tent wouldn't hold up. I guess it's time to start looking for a replacement, there's no packing up and going home in May. On a good note we went down and visited family in the Twin Cities and went for a nice day hike through Afton State Park.

Just a little tour of the country side.

2008-10-13T10:25:00.000-05:00

Last Friday Kelly and I woke up to a not so appetizing gloomy day with a good possibility of rain all day but decided to make the best of our day off and get some riding in. We set off on a two hour ride. We rode from St. Cloud over to Sauk Rapids and then had a nice little ride along the river to Sartell, were we crossed the river and made our way over to St. Joseph. From there we fought an awful head wind back through Waite Park to St. Cloud. With this trip we gained a little experience with adverse weather conditions, wet rodes and got a good leg work out bucking that head wind for 15+ miles. Over all another great ride!

The First Break Down

2008-10-05T17:53:00.000-05:00

Well yesterday was our first break down. The game plan was to do between 40 an 60 miles on the Lake Wobegon Trail but that didn't go as planned. Kelly got in a thirty mile ride while I only got in a 15 mile ride and about a 3.5 mile walk in as we were about 15miles into our ride and my back tire blew out. It was beyond simple repair and patch it needed to be completely replaced and we didn't have an extra tube with. So Kelly made the 15mile ride back home got the car and picked me up in Saint Joseph, MN. During the walk back to the trail head a nice gentle man stopped and offered to fix it but he also only had a patch kit but he gave me some encouraging words since he had just recently road across Peru on his bike and was himself planning a cross county ride for 2010. It also goes to show how many nice people there are in the world and we look forward to meeting many more not only in our training but on our actual trip! One thing we learned is that we always need to be ready for anything! This has spurred us to continue adding to our gear and purchasing extra tubes along with a carrier. It's starting to come together very slowly, but we keep getting more and more excited with each ride and the increase in our gear!

What we are all about!

2008-09-22T18:05:00.000-05:00

We have started to train for our cross country cycle trip. We have been doing rides as many days as possible per week. This past Saturday we did a 60mile ride from St.Cloud, MN to Monticello,MN and back. It was our first test and we would both have to say that it was quite successful and we are looking forward to our future rides and training. We hope that you will all stay with us through this journey from training to hitting the open road May 18th 2009! Again if you are willing to help sponsor our journey or looking to donate to the American Cancer Society please send us an email or check out our website at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/cycling4acure. Thank you all!