Day 38: Some Heavy Rains

Picture: Morning breakfast.

As usual it was tough waking up at 5AM after having a comfortable bed to yourself. Breakfast this morning was sponsored by the Rosells which included quiche, fruit, and cookies! The roads this morning were a little wet and it looked as though we would have some overcast weather to start the day. Today we traveled from Wichita, KS to Emporia, KS which would add up to 110 miles at the end of the day. A few guys including myself had flats in the morning which seems unavoidable when the roads are wet and you’re biking on the shoulder of unkempt roads. The rain held off until mile 40 when we biked right into a downpour. The rain was so thick that it was getting tough to see ahead, this was heaviest rain of the trip and everyone was drenched. We were having a blast riding through the 20 minute storm as everyone started singing a little Journey – “Don’t Stop Believing.”

Picture: Right before the downpour.

It was a nice change of pace when we took a right off the interstate and went to down a very country road. We rode through a small abandoned town and a bunch of corn fields on this cracked and sloped road. It’s fun being on these roads sometimes because you feel like you’re the only people out there. Shortly after being on the unbeaten path we stopped for lunch at a sponsored restaurant in the tiny town in Cottonwood Falls. I don’t recall the name of the place we ate but it sure was good, I had a pork burger with a salad and huge potato fries.

Picture: Cameron and I about to indulge on a great lunch.

Getting back on the bike after that was a little challenging, I was so full and my legs were tight but by then we only had 20 miles to go so the ride wasn’t too bad. We rolled into Emporia where we stayed at a community recreation center. The people in Emporia that sponsored us from the Kiwanis Club were exceptionally nice. While eating dinner they had a masseuse come in and give ten minute massages which was not nearly long enough but felt great all the same.

That evening we went as a team to see The Dark Night, the new Batman movie that just came out. It was a great movie I highly recommend it if you love action movies or superheroes!

Picture: Kiwanas Club

Day 37: One Of My Favorite Friendship Visits

We had a busy day off in Wichita that started at Jack and Pat Argesinger’s house, their son rode the Trans Route in 2004. They had a beautiful house and spent hours preparing our breakfast. They served a ton of fruit, quiche, sausage, yogurt, toast, and juice, it was an amazing feast. They turned on the TV downstairs and we got to watch the Tour De France on the big screen, those guys are ridiculous riders.

Picture: Enjoying a breakfast and watching the Tour De France.

After being treated like Kings we left for a friendship visit at Rainbows United. This disability center had a large number of patients with most of them ranging from ages 5 to 21 years old. The kids there were so much fun to work with; they were so excited to see us. We had about 30 kids and staff cheering for us when we walked in. Right when we got there they presented us with a large framed collage of pictures they pieced together of past friendship visits and pictures of themselves. They then sang two songs for us in their choir uniforms; so many of them light up and get so excited when they get a chance to sing, it really brought a smile to my face. At our visit I played with Bryan, Kevin, and Katie all of them between the ages of 5-8 with different disabilities. After serving us lunch a food fight broke out with the whip cream from the desserts, it wasn’t long until people were spraying cream cans everywhere and on everyone. During the sugar high from dessert everyone played some karaoke, all the Pi Kapps would sing a song together then the kids and staff at the disability center would sing, the songs ended with a joint effort from everyone in, “The Hokey Pokey.”

Picture: Rainbows Untied Choir singing in their unifoms.

After the sugar wore off I worked with Sam and Brad in one of the activity rooms. There we made worms in dirt made from pudding, gummy worms, and graham cracker. Brad was blind so Paul and I helped him get all of his ingredients together so he could then prepare his worms and dirt. Brad was a very polite boy and would feel my arm and compare how hairy it was to Paul’s “naked” arm.

Picture: "Why dont you build me up, buttercup..."

It was pretty funny seeing his reaction to the difference in our arms. I also helped Sam with his worm and dirt creation, he was very excited about eating these worms and assured me over and over that they were in fact not real. He kept asking me to count him down when he ate the worms so I would start it 5…4…3… and by then the whole room would join in 2…1… and he would proudly eat those worms like it was the grossest thing anyone had ever seen. We would all cheer and he would feel so brave and funny for what he would did, it was a really fun time and was one of my favorite friendship visits.

That evening we went to the Witchta Independent Living Resource Center where they help families and individuals with disabilities by getting them in contact with other organizations that can help as well as other resources. We didn’t work with anyone there but they did serve us some burgers. That night we got to bed around 11 to get ready for our 5 AM wake up.

Picture: Max and Jesse eat with Andrew at the friendship visit.

Day 36: Kids With Cerbral Palsy

Picture: Here is Mike in morning circle up, he raised over $300 in one evening!

The ride was a long one today as we headed into Wichita, KS where we will have a day off. We have been cycling 8 days straight and it’s been very exhaustive on the body. Today was 92 miles as we started out of Pratt. Thankfully the wind held up and we were able to withstand the hills. We primarily stayed on highway 54, the further we headed East the more hills and trees we encountered. The weather today was warm as it reached about ninety degrees by noon. We had two guys riding with us today that normally don’t, one was Alex Rosell, he is one of our crew van drivers and wanted to ride into Wichita because it is his hometown. Crew guys are allowed to ride as long as they are comfortable enough on the bike. The other ride we had was a local guy named Mike from Pratt who heard about us and was really interested in our cause. He was so excited about the Journey of Hope that he went out and raised over $300 that night for Push America. Its stuff like this that make the Journey so cool, just a random guy that really care about giving and believes in what we do. This guy was a stud; he knew none of us and had never heard of Push America yet he literally went door to door to raise that money.

Picture: Coming into the last stretch of the day.

Getting into Wichita was tiresome and I had the hardest time getting motivated the last 20 miles, I felt like I had nothing left. We did make it and had an arrival into the North Rock Suites where the Rosells welcomed us! Its going to be so nice to stay in another hotel, we are so spoiled. To make things even better the Rosells hooked us up with a free water bottle, gel shots, and cliff bars from the local bike shop! That evening we headed out to the Kansas Jaycees Cerebral Palsy Ranch where they hosted dinner and we got to play with the kids there. The CP Ranch is a camp for kids with Cerebral Palsy; the kids there get to go fishing, swimming, do art projects, and much more. I had the opportunity of getting to know Cody, a ten year old who LOVED fishing. He still had a lot of physical functioning and was a very social guy.

Picture: Cody and I discussing some fishing tactics.

He told me all about the fishing he does in rivers and lakes in the area. I then shared with him the salmon fishing Ive done with my grandpa in the Northwest. Cody was pretty sure he wanted to come fishing sometime out in the Pacific to see what it’s like to catch a salmon. After eating we then got a chance to all go swimming. I didn’t swim but got to sit with Mary, she was limited in the amount of functioning in her arms and legs. She loves to read and loves CP Ranch, we talked for almost an hour. She was so sweet, she couldn’t stop smiling, what a great attitude.

That evening a bunch of guys just watched movies and others went out to the bar. I was just ecstatic about sleeping in a comfortable bed. Also, we had a mail drop today. My dad sent a package from the family with a bunch of goodies. Its great getting something from the fam, it really brings the trip back to reality a little, reminds me that home is still there.

Picture: Mary and I ponder what her favorite book of all time might be.

Day 34: How Can It Be So Flat?

It’s clear why they call it Big Sky country, as we head east it seems like we can see Missouri it’s so flat which really does make the sky look enormous. On a clear day like today the sky engulfs the land, Big Sky country. Today we experienced our first feed lot of the trip. Feed lots are huge plots of fenced land that hold cattle to prepare them for slaughtering. The smell of these lots is a wonderful mix between manure and a dirty wet dog, very pleasant to bike by. Talking with a local lady whose husband works at one of the feel lots and she explained to how they would slaughter anywhere form 5-6 thousand of these cows a day, that’s a lot of beef! We continued east on highway 50 combating the winds coming from the South West. I hate going into this side wind, it’s almost harder than having wind coming straight at you because you can’t have a straight pace line with the front taking all the wind for the back.

Picture: 6 AM!

During our ride we saw a group of about 20 cyclists heading the opposite direction. They were all carrying their gear on their bikes and had long flags attached to the back of their seats so they would be more noticeable to cars. They screamed from the other side, “California.” We later found out they were a group from Georgia cycling to California for fun. None of them had jerseys so I assumed they were a bunch of friends looking for an adventure this summer.

We rolled into lodging at the Garden City Community College gym floor where they hosted a lunch room meal for us. We then headed to a very active friendship visit at Arrowhead West, an organization serving people with disabilities, who had an array of things we could do including whiffle ball, volleyball, bowling, ring toss, and a fear factor challenge.
Picture: One of many feed lots we saw.

There were many people there with disabilities which is nice because it enables us to have more individual time with them. I was able to get to know Tina, Kenny, and Paul who all had mental disabilities with very little physical disabilities. The three of us played in a huge whiffle ball game that a bunch of us joined in on. Kenny was hitting home runs everytime he was up to bat. I couldn’t believe it and I don’t think he could either, he did really well. Tina’s swing was a little awkward but after some coaching she picked up on it and hit on base twice, she was so excited. Paul was kind of a jokster so I gave him a hard time when he would get a strike but he seemed to love it and fire right back with a sarcastic comment. The three of them were a fun bunch to hangout with. It is neat seeing them come out of their shell and really open up to having a good time, some of them think negatively about their disability and don’t want to participate; however, with a little encouragement and a few jokes they seem to hop right in and really let loose, I just love seeing it.



We were at that friendship visit for quite a while until heading back to lodging for a quick nap. For dinner we went to one of the cyclist’s grandmothers house where her and a bunch of the neighbors BBQed for us. They were all very nice people in an older community, I don’t think I have ever seen so many baked goods for dessert as they brought. They made sure we had a chance to go swimming and play horseshoes while we waited for food.

Picture: Play Ball!

Tomorrow we will be in Wichita, KS making it 8 days straight on the bike; I’m ready for a break. Everyone is looking forward to our day off as we will be staying in another hotel. I hear the terrain starts to be a little greener with more trees and hills which is good because I’m definitely getting a little stir crazy with all the flat land around here.

Picture: Kenny and I getting

Picture: Paul and I say our goodbyes

Day 33: Steak For The 1st Time

Picture: Another day another sunrise



Picture: Good morning Kansas

It was a beautiful morning as we started another day with the sun rising over the horizon. Today we headed to Garden City, a 102 mile ride that would finally take us into the state of Kansas. The ride today went well accept for the couple of flats that plagued a few guys. I had many tire problems myself and had to really push it today to make rack point because of the two flats I got on the road. We have been going for quite a few days without a break and my legs were feeling especially tired today. After crossing the border we were assured we were in fact in Kansas by the smell and how flat it was. One thing that was really nice were the roads, the shoulders are excellent and well kept.

Picture: Cody, Me, Nathan, Joel...the 3rd paceline of the day

After a road side lunch put on by our crew chief we fought the winds coming from the south-east as we headed straight east to Garden City. Without a cloud in the sky it proved to be another warm one on the open road. We finally made it and had a quick stage up to where we then double paced into a pool. This pool was apparently one of the largest “free” public pool in the state, it had three water slides and a huge stretch of open pool area. Arriving at the pool was a nice way to cool off after a long hot ride, all the people there cheered and welcomed us.

Picture: Arrival formation


After everyone had their fun in the pool we headed to lodging, tonight we are staying in the Comfort Suites which is a definite treat. Dinner was sponsored by the The Corral, a popular all you can eat restaurant which shows up quite a bit in these Midwestern states. Here I had my first steak of the trip followed by 3 other plates of a variety of foods, I love buffets!



That evening a few us went out to Applebee’s for a few beers before heading to bed at about 11PM. The next day we will be heading to Dodge City, it will be good to get a taste for Western Kansas and see if it’s really as flat as they say it is.

Picture: Thats a BIG pool

Day 32: I Love Homemade Snacks at Crew Stops!

Picture: Our paceline enjoying some of those amazing homemade goodies...thanks Grandma and Carol!!



We awoke to a cool overcast morning, very opposite of yesterday’s 103 degree weather. We had a sponsored breakfast from some locals that heard about Push America on their local news and decided that they would love to do something for the team. They served us biscuits and gravy with eggs and juice, a nice change to the typical cold cereal and half a bagel we usually get. We then started our 65 mile ride towards Lamar. Our ride the whole day was about 15 degrees cooler than normal and had a strong head wind so we tried to keep the pace lines very tight. Everyone enjoyed some of the terrific snacks that my Grandma and Aunt Carol had made. They were the perfect salty, sugar, carb load snacks for the road, the guys devoured all the snacks by the fourth crew stop! It was nice having what seemed like a shorter day as we rolled into Lamar High School around noon, our lodging for the night. We were on our own for lunch and a bunch of us went to Sonic, an old fashioned drive in burger restaurant.





After lunch we showered up and had some time to nap before dinner, always very valued time in the day that is if we have it! Dinner this evening was sponsored by two ladies who run a lot of triathlons and know Push America because of the past teams who have rolled through Lamar. They made a Mexican feast and left us with plenty of leftovers for the next day. That evening at the sponsored meal I met a guy named Kyle who was very interested in our Journey. He had never heard of it and wanted to join us tomorrow on our ride. I thought that was pretty cool, he was a UCLA grad so we had a little to talk about being Pac-10 residents!





This evening we went to a pool that had a huge water slide, you can just imagine the chaos when a team of 21 year olds show up at a pool and there is a big water slide. Before the pool I got to catch up with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins in WA, it’s so great to get to talk stay connected with family throughout the trip! Tomorrow we will be in Garden City, KS and I’m defiantly looking forward to it. After the pool we headed to a nearby drive-in and grabbed some late night burgers! So far Eastern CO has been pretty flat and boring, these last three towns have been interesting to bike through but I would never live around these areas. Kansas will hopefully be some new scenery with a different feel and more friendship visits.

Day 31: Goodbye Mountains

Today we headed from Pueblo, CO to La Junta, CO which is a smaller town of about 7,000 people in the desolate area of South Eastern Colorado. We got to sleep in today until 7 AM which was the perfect for the amount of sleep I neede to catch up on. The ride today was flat and there were no signs of mountains, it was clear that we were heading out of the beautiful Colorado that we had come to love and into some new terrain. The ride was also the hottest it has been all trip as it reached a high of 103 degrees. I was drinking a water bottle every crew stop for the 75 miles that day and half at least half a water bottle in between stops. I was really starting to struggle as the day went on, this Seattle boy only sees heat like that maybe once or twice a year let alone rides bikes with it being that hot. A very nice gesture of generosity happened today when a lady pulled over and asked we were doing, after explaining our Journey she invited the team to have a crew stop at her house a few miles up where she provided fresh peaches and cold water. The lady and her husband were very nice and it was a great change of pace from the normal crew stop. One of the advantages of days like today were the wide shoulders because it makes it possible to double up in your pace line and talk with the guy next to you. We had great conversation all day with the guys in my pace line, it makes the day seem shorter and I love getting to hang out and chat with these guys every day.

Arriving in Lamar was a relief, well sort of. It was great to be out of the heat but without an air conditioned gym it made the rest of the day a little stickier and hotter than usual. After a nap we headed to dinner where the local Lions Club hosted a wonderful feast of food. They were all very nice people with their home country town hospitality. During our time spent there we got to share of our favorite memories thus far. There are too many amazing memories to count but I shared about our day after Yellowstone in WY when we cycled at the base of the Grand Teton Mountain Range and ended in Jackson Hole, WY one of my favorite cities on the whole trip. It was great reflecting on everyone elses memories as well.

We then headed back to the gym and played a volleyball tournament at the gym we were staying at. I love doing fun stuff like this with these guys, it seems even though everyone is beat from the day we still find a way to have fun and mess around whether it be a game of volleyball or whiffle ball.Tomorrow we head for Lamar, CO as we move even farther East and into another smaller town

Day 30: Seeing Family in Pueblo, CO

Today was another early morning out of Colorado Springs as we headed to Pueblo, CO. Today’s ride was a fun one because of all the downhill and flatness of terrain. Early in the morning we saw four deer grazing near our second crew stop, another reminder of how much open land there still is in beautiful Colorado. Soon after our route took us downhill for about 7 miles as we cruised at 33 mph, I think I pedaled about four times the whole downhill because I was drafting off all the guys in front of me, very fun! The steepest part of the downhill was full of construction so we had to slow, luckily the very end of the hill was clear and we all pushed it to 50 mph the fastest I have been all trip. The rest of our ride was flat as we cruised down into Pueblo, the day was getting hot so I was thankful we made it there early.

I have been looking forward to getting to Pueblo for quite some time because my grandparents were going to be there along with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol. Carol is my grandma’s sister and her and Mike are farmers over in Oklahoma but they have a cabin in the mountains about an hour from Pueblo. My grandparents planned to come out to the cabin around the time I was entering Pueblo, it worked out perfect to see them in CO! I was expecting to call them after our sponsored lunch so we could all meet up but instead I they surprised me at the restaurant we had our sponsored lunch at. I was so pleasantly surprised to see them; it was so exciting to see family after having been away for over a month. Getting to spend time with them was so refreshing, especially seeing Mike and Carol because it is rare we get to spend time together since they are in OK and I in WA. I had a big burger at the restaurant and we had wonderful conversation talking about the trip thus far and how everyone is doing at home. They got to hear all of us introduce ourselves, where we are from, and what school we attend as well as take a picture with us after the dinner.

After lunch we checked into our hotel which grandma and grandpa were able to get a room at and we unloaded. Grandma and Carol made me and all the guys some treats that were delicious, chocolate rice crispy with pretzels in them as well as dessert bars filled with tasty jelly. The team is going to devour the home cooked goods! During our break after lunch I accidentally fell asleep and took a long nap until dinner, I guess I needed it.

Dinner was sponsored by a pretty good Mexican restaurant. It was so nice to once again hang out with the family and talk. Following dinner the five of us went to a local farmers market and walked around the booths. Once returning to the hotel we said our goodbyes to Mike and Carol and then I hung out with grandma and grandpa for a while. They extended me some things my mom sent with them to give me which included some much needed soap, some pictures, and stuff for my knees. It was a great night and the time spent with family today was so fun. It meant so much to get to see all them seeing that I won’t see any family until DC.

Tomorrow we have we head for La Junta, CO. We finally get to sleep in until 7 AM, glorious!

Day 29: Cycling with Our Biggest Sponsors

Picture: Cameron gets interviewed after we gave his friend Eric a grant for a new wheelchair





Well today we were off to Colorado Springs, CO. The early hour of 5:30 felt like it came much faster than normal after sleeping in those comfortable hotel beds. I had the hardest time getting myself up and ready with such a great lodging setup. But today was a little unique because we had 6 guys, some Pi Alphas and some guys who work for KRG Capital, riding with us. It’s a unique opportunity to ride with the guys from KRG because they are our biggest sponsors, getting to put a face to a name is so cool. These guys donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to Push America each year. Among those riding was Bruce Rogers, original guy to complete and raise money for people with disabilities. This was huge for all of us, to be able to ride with Bruce and the sponsors. All of them were great guys who all love to ride bikes, a few of them actually race and have some real nice bikes. We had 70 miles to complete on this beautiful day and for the first part of the day it felt like our day was flying by. Once we hit mile 40 the head wind had picked up and was very strong. Soon we were only traveling 12 mph on flat ground and everyone was fatiguing pretty fast. Since we had a sponsored lunch at the US Olympic Training Center we were pressed for time. The day was getting longer and longer and soon we all had to rack, we were going to be late if we kept on cycling. Our final mileage for the day was 70, apparently the total mileage ended up being 90. So we racked the last 20 miles and headed to the Olympic Training Center where once again media, family, and friends were waiting.
Arriving at the training center was real neat. The facility is all gated and is basically a campus for Olympic athletes to train and prepare for their up and coming competitions. On campus is a cafeteria, housing for the atheletes, and a building for virtually every Olympic sport you can think of: Track and Field, Swimming, Gymnastics, Shooting, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wrestling and more. Everything there was state of the art, I was hoping to see some athletes but most of them are already in Beijing. Upon our arrival we were met by Eric, a 36 year old, who has Cerebral Paulsey. He is a good friend of Cameron’s, one of the cyclists on our team. We were able to give Eric a $750 grant and take him around with us for the day. His brother’s company is going to match our grant and the money will go to get him a new wheelchair, the one he currently is in he has had since he was 12 years old. Getting to tour and eat at the Olympic Training Center was quite a treat, I know I wouldn’t mind spending a few weeks there to train for a sport before heading to the Olympics.
After spending about 2 hours at the facility we said our goodbyes and thank yous to the sponsors who rode with us and headed to lodging at the dorms at Colorado College, a small liberal arts school. The Dean of students hosted us for dinner along with a few other faculty members from the university. They catered a turkey burger and dog dinner with big soft brownies and sweet tea. Later I tuned my bike and tried to get to bed early, we had another 5:30 wake-up and I was already exhausted from the day. I am excited for tomorrow because my Grandparents will be in Pueblo,CO along with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol!

Day 28: Day off in Denver

Today was a very low key day that no doubt everyone took advantage of. We are staying here at the Marriot in Denver which means comfy beds and relaxation. Without any programming today until 5 PM I don’t think anyone got up earlier than 9 AM and most guys awoke at the later hour of 11 AM. Days like today are somewhat nice because we get a chance to hang out and get some things done that we usually don’t have time for. A lot of guys did their laundry, tuned their bike, or updated their blogs. There are a few guys on the team with friends and family in Denver. I know a few guys went to ESPN Zone for lunch as well as the Cheesecake Factory, both a nice change from the usual cold cut sandwich and chips! For lunch I was one of the guys who headed to The Cheesecake Factory where I met up with one of my good friends from college, Brandon, who Ill be rooming with next year. He is working at a Young Life camp in Colorado so thankfully it worked out for us to meet up in Denver. Its always refreshing to see a friendly face and catch up with good friends. With so much time on our hands many of us walked up and down 16th Street Mall, the main shopping and restaurant strip that runs through the city. It was a beautiful day in Denver and I was surprised at how many people were out, the streets were packed with business men and women grabbing a quick bite before returning to the desk.
Everyone has had a great time in all the places we have stayed in Colorado and it is cool getting to experience another big city like Denver. The culture here is so different from other places we have been, it seems as though everyone loves the outdoors and that there are more bikes than people. The rest of the day guys ran errands and took naps. It isn’t often that we get so much down time so a lot of the guys like to take advantage of the extra R and R that comes with a day off. Once 5 PM rolled around we all got dressed in our shirts and headed to the sponsored dinner. Tonight a guy from the University of Colorado Boulder sponsored our meal at Chipotle. He was a former JOH cyclist on the South route in 2006 and was more than happy to help out the team by paying for our meal at this very tasty burrito restaurant. After dinner about half the team went to see the movie Hancock, featuring Will Smith. All the guys on the team get along and seeing a movie was a great ending to the day off to just hangout and grow closer to the guys on the team.
Tomorrow we head for Colorado Springs which should end up being a 70 mile day. After a day off all the guys get eager to jump back on the bike and head to the next town. Wake-up is at 5:30 AM and should be another incredible opportunity to continue to increase the camaraderie on the team as well as impact the lives, families, and organizations of those people with disabilities. This summer just keeps getting better and better with every day being a new adventure full of challenges and fun!

Day 27: Pedal for Pennies

It was a short 30 mile ride today from Boulder to Denver. We had a few steep hills those first 15 miles but nothing we couldn’t handle. Today is a pretty big day for the team because we will be meeting up with the North route as well as meeting some of our biggest sponsors at the friendship visit. With only about 10 miles to go a rain storm came into the Denver area and didn’t let up unto the afternoon. It’s the first big rain we have had riding since Seattle and I was quickly reminded how unenjoyable riding in the rain can be. Our stage up was at the Mile High stadium where we waited for the North team to arrive.

Picture: Eric (Middle) and his dad, we had some great conversations while riding those laps.

While waiting we had a sponsored lunch by Chipotle and were able to warm up some from the fresh burritos. The North team arrived shortly after and it was neat getting to cheer them in! I didn’t know anyone on the North route but there were other guys that had friends in their chapter who were on the route so it was good getting to know some of them. After everyone ate we all got a partner and lined up behind the police escort who took us into the city. This was no doubt our biggest arrival as we had about 8 police blocking traffic and intersections so we could pass through. Everyone stared and many were taking pictures as we rolled up to the capital. There were about 30 people waiting for us at the capital, mostly friends, family, sponsors and reporters. After some pictures and media opportunities we headed to the Marriot in downtown Denver, definitely a change of pace from schools and gyms we have been staying in. The hotel was extremely nice and I felt a little undeserving of the luxury of it all.
That night we had a one of my favorite friendship visits, Pedal for Pennies. What happens is about 15 people with disabilities get people to pledge a certain amount of money for however many laps they do around this small lake. We got to ride with them and cheer them on as they completed their laps. With so many people there we had about 30 people at the finish line cheering them on as others got to ride along with them. I had the opportunity of riding with a boy with Autism and his dad who were on a tandem bike (two seats). Eric could not communicate so it was a great opportunity to talk with his dad and learn how Autism has affected their family. It is amazing the strength of Eric’s dad and others with children with disabilities; they have so many things they have to fight with the schools and society just so Eric can have equal opportunities. Every time Eric came around the corner to where all 30 guys were cheering he would get a huge smile on his face and take his hands off the handlebars.

Picture: Bruce Rogers, first guy to ever think up and do the Journey of Hope. Very nice guy.

Being able to be a part of Eric’s day in that way means so much, there are so many more abilities that people with disabilities have then many of us will ever know. For example, Eric loves to ski and bike, what a stud.
Later in the evening awards were given out to the people with disabilities and the head of the Special Olympics spoke. Among all of our big sponsors from KRG Capitol was a man named Bruce Rogers; Bruce was the inventor of Journey of Hope and made the ride solo in 1987, starting Pi Kappa Phi’s own non-profit philanthropy. Bruce is a great guy and gave $5,000 of his own money to the organization that night. After everyone was fed there was a huge dance that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. It was a great time making fools of ourselves as we all danced with the people with disabilities to some of the best oldies hits! The night was so much fun and the people with disabilities loved it, one girl was crying she was so happy.The friendship was a great example of how rewarding it is to be on this trip interacting with these very special people. Tonight we were able to go out and explore the downtown area. Tomorrow we have a day off in Denver, should be fun and relaxing, I can’t wait to sleep in a comfortable bed.

Picture: Gary completed 7 laps and loved getting his dance moves on.

Day 26: : Tubing the River

Today we awoke in Boulder with a day full of fun events. Our day off could not have started better with a sponsored breakfast at The Original Pancake House. The guy sponsoring the breakfast works for Case Logic, a company who used to sponsor JOH, and has always been so impressed with the teams and the cause that he bought breakfast for everyone. In this type of setting where we eat at a restaurant the place will sponsor our meal or give us some sort of discount, but today this guy paid for all of us. There are so many sponsors along the ride and I am astounded at some of the generosity that I have seen. I had an amazing sausage, spinach, and cheese omelet with fresh orange juice. After breakfast all of us got in our swim trunks and headed down to the gas station to buy tire tubes for us to use to float Colorado Creek. Once we got to the river the plan was to float it until we reached the burrito place that was sponsoring our lunch. Before starting our adventure downstream we all jumped off the rope swing which swung out over the river. We were informed that the damn had just been opened and the river had some rough spots but with 28 guys we weren’t about to let that prevent us from floating the river. As we headed down the river many of us began to figure out what exactly those people were talking about. The river was indeed much deeper than normal and some of the drops send you off your tube. There were lots of big rocks and guys were losing each other fast. I only got about ¼ way down the river when I called it quits after getting knocked off my tube multiple times and finding the sharp rocks a little intimidating. My buddy Dan who I was tubing with hit is back on a rock so we both walked the rest of the river as did about half the guys. No one got hurt too bad, just some scrapes and bruises. Though the river was a little rougher than we had anticipated everyone still had a great time, it will be a fun memory to look back on.
Lunch was sponsored by a Big City Burrito where everyone got these enormous burritos, pretty tasty. We then rushed back to lodging to get ready for a friendship visit with Sky’z the Limit, an organization that works with people with disabilities at the local high school. The CU Boulder chapter has worked with this organization before and so some of the kids knew our guys on the team. It was a great time playing volleyball and bbqing hotdogs and hamburgers. I had the opportunity to sit with and get to know Matt, one of the kids with disabilities who had some mild mental retardation. This kid was so friendly, he has worked at Safeway for 6 years and was giving me some advice on the best ways to keep a job. I thoroughly enjoyed his company as we talked about how important working hard and respect is in a job. Matt really had has his head on straight and was a very neat guy who also knew a ton about sports. After talking sports for 20 minutes he was really stumping me on some sports facts, he then informed me that his favorite TV show is ESPN, aw that explains it.
That evening I updated my blog at the CU Boulder chapter house and later met and hung out with the guys staying there for summer school. I really enjoyed Boulder today and look forward to getting into the city of Denver tomorrow.

Day 25: CU Boulder

Oh what another amazing day in Colorado. Today our short 50 miles from Fort Collins to Boulder took us along some really cycle friendly roads with views of farms and the Rocky Mountain Range. There was this one road that we cycled with a shoulder wide enough to ride three deep, that is just unheard of in the other states we have been. Colorado is so biker friendly and the cars respect you when on the road. One of the roads we were on we saw about 150 other cyclists, it was amazing. It’s so cool seeing so many other cyclists out enjoying some physical activity. There was one cyclist in particular that was riding and got a flat near our crew stop. He came over and asked us what we were doing and pretty soon we were all talking for about 20 minutes. He is a pilot for International Airlines and loves it in Boulder, CO. He said that there are anywhere from 500-1000 cyclists on the road we were traveling on a weekend and usually a couple hundred on week days. He went on to tell us about how great Colorado is and how much he loves it here. This got me really excited to go through Colorado and see what each community is like. Rolling into boulder we soon made it to the University of Colorado – Boulder. The campus in Boulder is beautiful; it sits inside a mountain range that spans across the Rockies. The community here is all about the outdoors and I was told there are more bicycle shops per square mile than anywhere else in the country and everywhere you look there is an outdoor sporting store full of backpacking, hiking, rock climbing, biking, river rafting, canoeing, and all other outdoor gear.
After showering at the local Pi Kapp chapter house we headed to lodging at a local church where we set up for the next two nights. In the afternoon we headed to a gym where we met some very special people that play a sport known as Murderball or quad rugby. This was hands down the most fun friendship visit we have had. We got to learn how to play rugby in wheelchairs. Its played on a basketball court and the rules are you have to dribble every ten seconds and must cross the half court in 15 seconds. To score you must have both wheels roll over the “end zone” line with ball in hand. The score does not count if you catch the ball while in the end zone. Watching these guys play was intense because the game is so physical and just like any sport there is a lot of different strategies in both offense and defense. All players had physical disabilities because of damage to their spinal cord, many of them were fully functional before they became paraplegic or quadriplegic. One individual broke his neck while riding a mechanical bull, another dove into a shallow pool, one woman had Muscular Sclerosis. Some of them have more function in their arms and hands than others. All 12 of the individuals were astounding people, all of them fully functional mentally there. After watching them play a game they invited us to play with them. We all took turns playing 4 on 4 and it was one of the coolest things we have done all trip. They really didn’t ease up on us at all, I went head to head against their big man and he knocked me backwards on my wheelchair onto the ground. Everyone watching got a good laugh out of it and I couldn’t believe how physical they get. Two of them are going to be attending the Olympic Games in Beijing and were extremely quick and physical players. Once everyone got to play they then challenged us to a game of our best 4 against their best 4. I was one of the lucky ones to represent our team! They had no mercy on us and burned us a few times; however, we held our own and scored on them twice. They said it was the best a random group has ever played against them. After the game I was sweating and my heart pounding. This was such a fun opportunity to get to know these guys and play their sport. It’s once again the perfect representation of the abilities of people with disabilities. I am continually learning that just because some of us look different or are born different, we all have abilities. Some of us more strengths than others but none the less, each of us are individually made with different unique abilities.
Leaving the friendship visit none of us could stop talking about how cool those guys were and the game they played. Getting back to lodging a lot of us were hungry for dinner. Some of the local guys recommended a pizza place down the road. All of us sat down at this home-made pizza parlor and ordered some great dishes of pizza! After dinner a bunch of us went to the bars in Boulder to get a feel for the culture around here. It was a great day and I’m looking forward to our day off tomorrow in Boulder to explore.

Day 24: Happy Birthday America

Aw finally in Colorado! The next 4 or 5 days are going to be great because we have some short riding days with time off in between. The reason Colorado is a little more laid back is because Push America has developed a lot of good relations with the disability centers around here. Also, there are Pi Kappa Phi chapters in Fort Collins at CSU and CU Boulder which are only an hour apart. We get to visit both chapters as well as do a bunch of programming in the areas. The ride today went great, it was funny thinking that a 50 mile day felt short but I guess after doing a couple of 100 mile days prior made today feel like a breeze. The weather was nice and we had a little tail wind in the morning so we were just flying down the road at about 25 mph. Since we were riding on the fourth of July we couldn’t help but light off some fireworks! Right before crossing the WY-CO border the pace line I was in stopped just short. Cameron had bought some smoke bombs and insisted we light them because we were at the border and the whole team was stopping for pictures. All five of us lit the smoke bombs and then proceeded to ride with them in our hand towards everyone! We were all yelling in celebration of America’s Birthday while leaving our trail of smoke! It was pretty funny and I think everyone enjoyed the little celebration. After getting pictures at the border we started downhill at a fast pace. We were traveling at about 30 mph when I got a flat in my back tire. It’s never fun having to stop when moving at a pace like that but flats happen. Luckily my tire only went flat, later in the day Cameron’s tire completely blew out. It’s easy to tell when this happens because it usually sounds like a shotgun going off. His tire had a huge hole in it due to all the pressure built up, this usually happens due to too much wear of the tire or from too much air in the tire.
It is nice to be back in some civilization, Fort Collins is hot and beautiful. The CSU chapter hosted our lunch, it was cool meeting some of their members and touring their chapter house. Their house is pretty big and is one of the nicer Pi Kappa Phi chapter houses I have seen.
Later we left for the church where we stayed for lodging. Dan Wallis, one of the cyclists on the trip, is from Fort Collins and his family came out to see him and meet the team. His dad is a chiropractor and offered to adjust us if we liked. I had him adjust my back and neck which felt great and loosened up the stiffness I had from keeping it in the upright position all day. He was a really great guy and adjusted guys for almost two hours. After some down time we headed to our sponsored dinner Noodles, a pasta restaurant that served some delicious varieties of pasta and salad.
Later tonight everyone got to go out and celebrate July 4. There was a local firework show that all of us wanted to check out. Walking over to the park there were hundreds of others attending the same firework show. I couldn’t believe how many people have bicycles around here. It seems like there are equal number of people on bikes as there are cars. They put on a great firework show and we all had a great time just hanging out with each other. A few of the older guys headed to the bars before hitting bed. It was a really fun fourth and great memory getting to hang out with all these cool guys on a holiday!

Day 23: 4:13 AM Wakeup

Today we left Wheatland, WY and headed towards our last stop in Wyoming, Cheyanne. The day was really tough, everyone’s body was so fatigued from the 115 mile day yesterday. Last I checked I wouldn’t be jumping back on the bike the next morning after going over 100 miles the day prior; however, this is the Journey of Hope and pushing our bodies to their limit is part of the trip. Also, the early wake up due to one of the guys missing curfew the night before didn’t make things any better. The sun wasn’t even up when we awoke and we were on our bikes starting our day at 5:15 AM, I call that crazy. I could tell that everyone was struggling today, my body was repeatedly saying no and the mind saying yes. To make matters worse we had a steady head wind all day that gradually picked up every hour. Guys were racking because of knee, ankle, and achilles pain. Sometimes we will have a rack point for the day, this means that if the team doesn’t make it to a certain mileage by a certain time then the team will be racked. This only occurs if we have a sponsored event that we can’t be late for. We have had rack points in the past and thus far the team has always made rack point, meaning we get to finish the day on the bikes because we were still on schedule to be on time. Today was different though, rack point was set for 70 miles by 11 AM. Even though we got an extra early start the combination of the strong head wind, fatigued muscles, and little sleep the guys just weren’t able to push through. We were averaging 12 mph for the day which is sluggish at best. The rack point was 60 miles by 10:30 which in normal circumstances is an easy task. The day was just so tough though, the team hit mile 50 at 11 AM so we were all forced to rack. Even though the day was tough everyone was in high spirits. After getting all the bikes on the racks we all piled in the vans and drove the rest of the way to Cheyanne.
We had a scheduled lunch with the Cattle Women at a local ranch. The lunch was pushed back an hour because of our late arrival. After showering we headed to this famous ranch where the Cattle Women hosted a feast for us! The ranch is known as Wyoming Hereford Ranch and is famous for showing and producing prize winning Bulls. The place was established in 1883 and used to own 1 million acres. As you could imagine the amount of history here was ridiculous. The ranch was notorious for having some of the best Bulls in the country, people would come from all over to buy a Bull from them and only the wealthiest could afford it. Currently they have a herd of about 100 and the ranch is open to the public. The bidding room where we ate is no longer used because of how the evolution in buying Bulls and cattle has progressed. It was a great stay and the Cattle Women there were really neat people and all had some very interesting stories while living in Wyoming.

Picture: Here is Mary, she made sure we were good friends by the end of the visit!

Later this evening for lunch we met the The Arc of Cheyanne who is a disability organization that combines a bunch of different disability communities together. All together The Arc has about 135 people total and many of them were at the park! I got to meet many of them and we all had a great time joking around and getting to know them. One lady, Mary, is 46 years old and is very cognitent of her disability. She told me I was lucky not to have one and she wished she could be more like me. It is tough hearing these kinds of things sometimes beause there is nothing I can do about it but be an encouragement. She went on to tell me her mom was an alcoholic and was drunk when she birthed Mary. Her dad had diabetes and refused to seek medical help for his condition. Now she lives three roommates and has some mental disabilities that she is very aware of. She is a slow learner and has a hard time comprehending. What a sweet lady though, she really made me think about how important it is to be there for my family and friends. What a great visit!
Tonight I tried to catch up on some blogs and get my bike tuned for the next couple of days. I am really excited to get into Fort Collins, CO tomorrow. Getting into a new state is so exhilarating for some reason. Oh yeah I almost forgot, today we had one of the crew members return to the team. Half way through Washinton he had to go home because he was breaking out in hives. Its great to see him back with the team and now healthy. Also, Dan recked today and was rushed to the hospital. Thankfully he was ok and only had some road rash. He hit the ground when he rubbed the back tire of the guy in front of him, he and his bike was alright. Safety is the number one thing out here on the bike and seeing that the crew guys are taking care of us is encouraging. They have been doing a great job sticking to protocol when someone is injured or sick.

Day 22: 115 miles, Longest Day of the Summer

Well Jay told us it was going to be 125 miles but ended up only being 115, I was just fine with that! It was a day full of hills, head wind, and distance. The day started great with my pace line being very upbeat and talkative. It seemed like the first week of the trip when we were in Washington everyone was always talking while riding and getting to know each other; however, recently there has not been much conversation because everyone knows about each other which made today great because we talked the entire first 60 miles of the ride. Holding conversation really makes the ride go faster and days like today are perfect for it. Once we hit about lunch time the head wind really started picking up making it harder to talk. As the conversations died down the ride started getting tougher. At about mile 80 Matt, one of the guys in my pace line, was really starting to struggle. I headed to the back of the pace line to encourage him up the hills. Him and I were a little ways from the rest of the pace line and I started talking to him to get his mind off the ride. His responses were short and sometimes he wouldn’t even say anything back. I figured he was really trying to concentrate and wasn’t in the mood to talk. At the next crew stop one of the crew guys was talking with Matt and noticed he was dehydrated. After taking a look at the color of his face and eyes I realized how dehydrated he was. We advised him to rack and sit in the van to get hydrated and cool off. It was good he did because talking to him after the ride he didn’t even remember me saying things to him when he was struggling before the crew stop; something Ill look out for with other riders and myself on these upcoming hot days. About mile 100 we just about ran into some T-storms. The crew was thinking about racking the whole team but after seeing the lightning storm pass quickly they determined it was safe for us to ride. Those last 15 miles were tough but I finished them, later realizing I had a slow leak in my front tire leaving me 50 PSI short of a fully pumped tire. All who finished felt very accomplished for the day and were ready to go to bed immediately.
Once again the local Cattle Women sponsored a wonderful dinner of tender beef, fruit salad, salad, bread, and home backed desserts. I had two huge plates full and was pleasantly satisfied after leaving their ranch where we ate. We stayed the night in the local middle school and all popped in a movie, most everyone had fallen asleep by 9:30. Tonight was it was actually really important to get to bed early because we had an extra early wake-up the next morning. Last night one of the cyclists missed curfew buy 17 minutes. One of the punishments for missing curfew is that he whole team has to wake up 30 minutes earlier than normal plus the amount of time they were late. Tomorrow we are scheduled for a 5 AM wake up which is now moved back to 4:13 AM. The reason everyone suffers is because we are a team and everyone is supposed to keep others accountable. This guy will not be able to ride tomorrow for being late and also the whole team has to get up early. I think it’s a pretty fair rule and if anything will remind everyone not to be late for curfew for the rest of the trip.