3rd Day of Riding...

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

first few days...

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

In New York!

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

Done With 1 Adventure and on to Another!

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

It's Official!

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

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....?

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!!