South Bend, Indiana 95 miles

Well, today we rode through Gary, Indiana, the former murder capital of the country but found that the people we saw were all actually very friendly wishing us well as we rode on by. Pretty cool actually. The ride was long at 95 miles but went by very fast. The coolest part was that we staged up and had lunch about 15 miles from town, then enjoyed a 3 vehicle, sirens blaring police escort. We arrived to a children's museum and had a fun time checking out all the exhibits that explained the human body in ways that we could all understand! From there we headed to St. Patrick's church for our lodging and enjoyed a sponsored pizza meal at a very busy and popular local joint. After dinner a few of us went up to the Notre Dame campus to walk around and explore the campus. At left is the famous "Touchdown Jesus", a mural of the Savior with his 12 disciples. The mural faces towards the football stadium and is as big a part of Irish football as Knute Rockne.

Illinois.......Again

First we rode to Glenview from Milwaukee on a day that was filled with great weather and TERRIBLE potholed roads. We had breakfast provided by the S.C. Johnson Company, makers of Ziploc, Raid, and stuff. They were very nice and provided a great meal about 2 hours into the ride. Our arrival was at Saturn and once again, they came through with a great meal. We stayed at a YMCA and had a dinner friendship visit that went well. For the evening a bunch of us watched the new Pirates of the Carribean movie. All together, this stop was pretty uneventful so I chose to keep it short.The ride in to Chicago was really fast, urban riding with much of it along the shores of Lake Michigan. As we rode into Chicago I was pretty impressed by the incredible skyline. Notice to the left our team as we are stopped at a red light in downtown Chicago. We arrived at the Palace Grill, a diner founded in 1938, for lunch then headed on over to the Palmer House for lodging. This very historic hotel was pretty immaculate. At left is a photo of me standing in the main lobby of the hotel. For the afternoon we were recommended by the concierge to make a visit to the new Millenium Park that was built within the last 5 years and was only a block away. Ben and I took a walk through the park to check it out and were pretty impressed. One of the coolest sculptures I have ever seen is shown in the third picture. It reminded me of a large mercury orb. The angles of reflection were awesome as you can see the city in the reflection at left. Another attraction at the park was the two tower fountains. These towers spilled water over the top edges which spilled down on children below who were running around splashing and playing. The towers face each other and have human portraits of Chicago citizens who will occasionally "spit" water from their mouths. That's Ben Luster in the photo at left standing in front of one of the towers. For the evening we were once again treated to a feast at ESPN Zone that was quickly followed by some fun gaming at their arcade. The best game that I played was the street luge game that Scott and I played, pretty cool stuff.



The day off started with a breakfast of Dunkin' Donuts and coffee before heading to a children's day camp via school buses. The camp was on Lake Michigan and included kayaking, swimming, lunch, and just hanging out with the kids. I spent most of the day with a 2nd grader named Anthony. He was a very smart kid who was so full of energy and a tons of fun to be around. A lot of the kids at this camp, including Anthony, were missing some sort of limb or hand but were otherwise very highly functioning. Everyone had a great time on the water and a few of us even came away with bad sun burns, what a deal! For the evening we had a sponsored dinner at a Chicago style pizza parlor called Lou Minnoti's. The food was once again great. In case you havn't noticed by now, the food has been amazing on this trip! On the walk to dinner we got DOUSED with rain so afterwards I hit up a huge, 3 story Old Navy store for a rain jacket. At the time I am writing this I have yet to use the jacket. Go figure.

Off in Milwaukee

Off the bike but on with programming. Today was rediculously busy, starting the morning off with another successful Kids on the Block show. Another funny story with KOB, I play Renaldo, a blind kid, and was informed by one of the kids that he wore glasses cause he was half blind. Renaldo replyed, "Oh really? I have contacts too!" Then Renaldo quickly made a recovery by saying, "Actually, this guy Ian behind me has contacts, right Ian?" After the show we all grabbed a little caffeine pick-me-up and headed to a day camp for people with disabilities. At the camp we got our mail including our team cycling hats and a ton of post cards, thanks if you sent one! At the camp I spent a lot of time with a 17 year old named Danny who loves to flirt with all the counselors. Typical teenager for sure, pretty funny kid too. From there it was time to head to the Pettit Center Ice Arena which is the Olympic training facility we are staying next to. We played some wheelchair ice hockey which was awesome. We had so much fun on the ice despite freezing our toes and fingers. It was pretty funny watching all our guys spin out on the ice whenever we tried to go. Despite having twice as many players, we still lost to our experienced foes. Following hockey it was straight to the Brewers vs. Pirates game. We did a little tailgating with our friends from Independence First. Miller Park was an incredible ballpark and during the tailgating we had a little frosting fight with Wes' birthday cake. Travis from bowling two nights ago joined us for the game and it was nice seeing him again. We were also joined at the game by 3 former cyclists. It was sweet seeing guys who want to stay involved with the trip even after theirs has ended.

Into Milwaukee

This morning we had a nice and short little ride into Milwaukee. Since we had such a short ride and didn't have to be there until after 1, we got to sleep a little extra. The catch was that breakfast was scheduled for 6 AM so we had to get up, eat breakfast, then go back to bed for a few hours. We arrived to a large school recreation area where we did all kinds of wheelchair sports and ate lunch. To the left is a little girl named Gabi that I met. She was the cutest little girl and it was amazing to see her cruise around despite the fact that doctors said she would not walk with the spina bifida. It was great talking with her parents, learning about their struggles, and seeing the smiles that she brought to their faces. After playing sports we went downtown to a cycling criterium (street race with lots of laps on a closed course) that was sponsored by Saturn. They hosted us for dinner and we got to watch some incredible athletes in action. We then made our way to lodging which is the Tommy Thompson center, a large motelesque facility that houses Olympic athletes who train in the facility next door.

Waukesha, WI 75 miles

The ride this morning was great with ALL flat terrain and great overcast weather. The only downer about today's ride was that Winston had a rough accident. Sadly, he was riding towards the back of his paceline and didn't see the huge dead racoon on the shoulder. Unfortunately he NAILED that sucker dead on and went flying off his bike! He got a few scrapes but we are all laughing about it now. Anyway, as we got in to Waukesha we went to a former cyclist's parent's house on the lake for an afternoon of relaxing. We ate some lunch, tubed, and played on some jet skis for a few hours. From there it was on to lodging at the local Lutheran church where 6 of us were lucky enough to catch a Saturday evening service, the first I've been to in over 2 months, kind of a weird feeling. Anyway, we had a great friendship visit at the local bowling alley. This alley was gigantic though, over 40 lanes total. It was at this visit that I met Travis, a boy that we would spend time with for the days in Milwaukee as well. He was on my team for bowling and our team of 5 beat the 5 next to us in a pretty competitive but fun-natured $2 game. After the bowling fun, we headed back to lodging for the evening but had a short pit stop at Wendy's for a late night snack. It was a pretty funny though, we did a "Frostee Challenge" with just the guys from our car. The 5 of us each bought a small Frostee and raced to see who could eat it fastest. Rules were that the Frostee had to enter the mouth on a spoon and the cup could not touch your lips. Other than that, it was free game! The picture at right is of DJ (left) and Josh (right) our project manager in a dual for the title. The other three of us (Bill and Wes) lost in round one. Ultimately, Josh became the Frostee Queen of our car. Good times, good times!

Madison, WI via Rockford, IL

For time's sake, I decided to combine these two entries. We had a ride of 110 miles from Dubuque to Rockford, IL starting out with a TON of rain that was left over from the intense thunder storms from the early morning hours. Early in the morning we crossed the Mighty Mississippi. The Lusters kindly brought us lunch on the road of wraps and a great supply of Gatorade and fresh fruit. Just before Rockford about half of the team missed the turn off and headed for Chicago. After some re-routing and laughs we were all safely at the Saturn Dealership for some great dinner before we headed to the motel for the night that was also provided by Saturn. It was nice to sleep in a bed for a change. We hung out for the evening eating leftover snacks and watching terrible old Arnold movies. Good times. The next morning's ride to Madison was pretty hilly but good weather. Once again, the Saturn dealership bought us lunch at a local bowling alley. We stayed the night with some friends of the Lusters who have a huge beautiful house from 1904. It was a great fit for us with Luster, DJ, and I staying in the upstairs study. We had a great time at dinner down at State Street Brats. This restaurant is the happening place for Madison. State Street itself is nightlife central for this college/capitol city. We enjoyed some great brat sandwiches and darts while there. For the evening some of us soaked in the hot tub while others just hung out.

Dubuque, IA

Today we had a nice ride to Dubuque, great weather and pretty easy terrain. Once in town we made our way to Camp Albrecht where we would stay for the evening. We ate lunch with their campers and had fun with them while the thunderstorms rolled through. We had the afternoon to play around and a few of us went to Ben Luster's grandparents house to hang out, eat some great snacks, use the net, and hit some baseballs into their pond. We had a great time there just relaxing for a bit. Dubuque is very close to the actual "Field of Dreams" field but since it was raining SO hard we didn't end up going...kinda disappointing but oh well! For the " Sarah Cooper drove down spend some
evening, "sisterto time with me. It was really nice seeing her and catching up. She joined us for dinner and a rockin' crazy dance in the evening. To the left is a picture of her and I and our dancing partner. We all had a great time bustin' some moves and dressing up as rediculously as possible. Tomorrow it is on to Illinois!

For Grandma Beckman

I would like to send out my condolences to Grandma Beckman, Brent, and the rest of the Beckman family for the sudden loss of your husband and grandfather. I want to thank you for the support and comments throughout this summer for our team, I look forward to meeting you in Michigan. Please know that you are definitely in my thoughts and prayers. May God be with you during this difficult time for you all.

Sincerely,

Ian Turner

Cedar Rapids 85 miles

Today was a frustrating ride to say the least. We tried to stay off of the busy highway and were taking beautiful backroads until we were no longer able to find a good route through. We ended up back on the busier road and added 20 miles to the day by doing so. Either way, we made Cedar Rapids and had a great time at the local park. First we had a sponsored China Buffet for lunch right before Adam and I performed another KOB show. Once again, this one was unique and a lot of fun for everyone. We were able to swim and shower at the pool facility that was in the park as well. One funny story about that was watching a teammate named Peter try to do a "gainer" off the diving board, in his cycling spandex, and flailing like a fish before finally landing on his side.........then we convinced him to try it again resulting in the same comical disaster. The visit was a dinner and conversation session. I had a blast talking to a 37 year old named Trent. He was hilarious and told story after story about how he has a 10th degree blackbelt in arm wrestling and that he is known as the "Chinese Dragon" and if I am ever in trouble to just yell that name and he will be there to rescue me, pretty funny! I also met Ken, a very nice guy who works janitorial work at a local school and expressed how he just wanted a friend to do stuff with but that nobody would ever talk to him at work. It was interesting how he was expressing disappointment in everyone always being in such a hurry around him that I couldn't help but think about those with disabilities that I see daily and never do more than just say hi. Anyway, after the visit we went to Camp Courageous where we stayed for the night. The campers were all out in the woods for the night so we went and hung out with them as you can see in the picture. After spending some quality time with them we decided to build a campfire of our own and have a little team smores eating time around the fire. Great times!

Marshalltown, IA: 40 miles

This morning we enjoyed breakfast at Pi Kapp alum Jeremy Galvin's house in Ames and got on the road for our short day. As the morning grew older the heat intensified but we got to lodging before it got too rediculous. We stayed in a music room at the community college that was set up in a "pit" formation, kind of interesting. Today was easily the hostest most humid day and puts yesterday to shame! After showering we were instantly sweaty again, very unfulfilling. For lunch we were treated to pig roast sandwiches by the local Optimist Club and headed to a community center for a Kids on the Block. Thankfully the KOB was in AC because lunch definitely wasn't! After the KOB we played with the kids, the game of the day happened to be cops and robbers. The kids decided they were the cops and that we should all be in jail. Our evening was a lot of fun as we spent some time with the local ARC clients eating dinner and bowling at the local alley. The picture at right is of our lane of bowlers. Winston, Scott, and I had a great time with Katie and Brandi. Katie was one heck of a bowler and dominated Winston in both games. Whe was also quite the dancer to all the music that was playing overhead. Brandi was a country music lover and sang the words to all the songs with Winston and I. The whole team had a blast bowling and really appreciated having another Friendship Visit after our long break since Omaha.

Iowa State University: Ames, IA

Today was quite possibly the hottest and most humid day of the trip. We rode to Camp Sunnyside in Des Moines for lunch and spent some time touring the camp and helping the counselors prepare for the camper's arrival that afternoon. From there it was on to Ames in the sweltering heat. We made awesome time though thanks to the flat terrain and tail wind. We ended up staying on campus in a nice air conditioned room and went to the Pi Kapp chapter house for dinner. They have a very nice facility and did a great job with dinner including fresh corn and a roasted hog. After dinner we spent the evening hanging out as a team as well as spending time with our fraternity brothers from Iowa State. Kind of a funny story, after we got back for the night we found that someone on the team had switched around all of our beds. There were guys sleeping where others thought their beds were. It was a pretty funny time of trying to figure out what had happened!

Winterset, home of The Duke

The ride this morning was sweet, we got to lodging by 11AM and had a pretty smooth ride. Sort of a funny story though, as we went across a small bridge a van passed us. No big deal normally, but this van made a "brakes screeching" noise as it came across the bridge behind us. We all locked our brakes, ducked, and swirved off the road. Turns out it was just the noise of the tires on the bridge. Anyway, our lodging is at a school but the principal went all out for us making a bulletin board of things to do and setting up an internet account on their server. For dinner we were hosted by the local Rotary club. After dinner a few of us decided to check out the sites around town. This small town actually has quite a bit of history. Not only is it the birthplace of John Wayne himself, but it is also the location of many historic covered bridges. So it should not come as a surprise to learn that it is the site of the movie "Bridges of Madison County." To the left is the house that "The Duke" was born in. At the right is a covered bridge that has been relocated to the city park and is pretty cool to look at, especially from an engineering perspective...

On to Iowa

As we left Omaha we had to deal with the heavy traffic and narrow shoulders, not the best riding conditions in the world. Soon we were out of Omaha, across the Missouri River, and into Iowa. Although the traffic subsided a bit, the shoulders remained very narrow. The ride was short and scenic with more drastic rolling hills full of green corn and soybeans. After the short ride and a couple miles of gravel we arrived at our lodging, a rustic looking retreat center in Griswald, Iowa that is owned by Creighton University. Soon after arriving, the Adickes family (long time JOH and Push supporters) brought us fixings for some great sandwiches for lunch. After lunch they led us to the local rock quarry swimming hole so we could cool off and relax. We
played on the docks and rope swing, eventually being treated to a great steak dinner by some local supporters. After arriving back at lodging for the evening we realized that the lodge didn't have AC and was hot as ever inside. So a hand full of us guys decided to play some football out in the lawn until dusk. As the sun went down I got to experience my first fireflies and for those of us who were new to fireflies, we thought they were pretty sweet. As for sleeping in a sauna, that was another story. However, after who knows how long of tossing and turning in the heat, we all managed to get some sleep.

Two Days in Omaha

This morning we rode into Omaha and had an arrival and luncheon at the Saturn dealership. After the great lunch we rode on through the city to our lodging at a church. We spent most of the afternoon running errands and resting up for the second half of our trip. In the evening we were hosted for fajita dinner by Ben Kramer's uncle. A few of us had a great time playing Boche Ball in the backyard after dinner. For evening entertainment we went to a place called Dave and Busters, its basically the same thing as ESPN Zone but with more emphasis on the arcade games. The next morning on our day off we actually got to sleep in a bit and woke up at 9AM. Scott Campbell and I went golfing down the street at a sweet par-3 course and had a great time with that despite the HORRIBLE humidity. We had a sponsored lunch at Outback and more relax time in the afternoon to escape the heat. Around 3PM or so a huge thunderhead moved in and dropped a lot of rain on the city which had an impact on the evening's friendship visit. We went to a local community center and had a dinner/dance/swimming party with nearly 100 people in attendance. The event was a hit as you can tell by all the swimmers at left. I had a good time hanging out with Joey, a teenager with Down's Syndrome. He was very interested in some of the girls who worked at the center but wouldn't ask them to come and dance. Finally he talked me into asking the girls to hang out with him and that absolutely made his night! The two days in Omaha were both very relaxed. While the team thoroughly enjoys all the programming we get to do it was great to have a day of R&R.

Husker Country!

Today we rode into the heart of Cornhusker country, Lincoln Nebraska. The ride was VERY nice considering it was 95 miles. The ride absolutely flew by thanks mainly to the overcast sky and the flat road. We had an arrival at the state capital and got a quick tour of this great building. The architecture here was incredible to say the least. To the right is the new Nebraska state quarter to be released later this year. Pretty neat to see it before production. After the arrival we headed to our hotel that was in a pretty sketchy neighborhood but turned out to be pretty nice. After getting cleaned up we headed to the city park for a Popeye's fried chicken dinner put on by the University Seratoma club ladies. After the tasty meal we headed to the community center for a dance. There were nearly 150 people there to dance with us and the DJ mentioned that he had been doing this dance for close to 15 years! Everyone had an awesome time, at left is a picture of Dave Brown and a friend of his singing
"Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi.

Best Day Yet!

The day off in Grand Island was simply amazing. I will warn you in advance that this entry will be long but I wouldn't do it justice to cut it short. Either way, this was a VERY busy day despite no riding. This morning we went to the local HS for breakfast with the special education students. I ate with a boy named Danny and had a fun time talking and karaokeing with him. To the left is a picture of us waving our hands back and forth dancing. Anyway, he couldn't talk but it was cool being able to communicate through expressions. I would ask him and question and he would nod or shake his head as well as "ham it up" if it excited him. Pretty cool connection. After that we went to the local library for a Kids on the Block show by the other team of puppeteers. I also helped a little boy find some library books to check out. We had lunch back at the hotel from Runzas, a pocketed-hamburger sort of thing. We then went to an elementary school where I got to play kickball with some 4-5 graders. It was pretty sweet teaching a boy named Daniel how to play and more importantly, how to chest bump. The picture to the right is of us displaying our excitement for a successful play. (From the picture it looks like I'm enjoying the chestie more than he is... oh well.) After the kickball game we went and checked out a local park that the GI Ladies had worked hard to make 100% accessible for their children to play on. It is a special place for them and is normally the location of the JOH picnic but today was very rainy and the picnic has been moved to the hotel. At the dinner back at the hotel we had a funfilled "Christmas in July" themed pizza feast. Nearly 150 people showed up, all either with or impacted by disabilities. Danny and his mom were there and it was fun chatting with him again. Adam and I did our KOB puppet show again making the best appearance yet, it seems that every show is better than the first! Then Chad Coltrane made a presentation to the Grand Island Ladies of the Chairman's Award. They are only the 2-4 people to ever receive the award with Bruce Rogers being the only other, a pretty prestigious award! After the presentation we had some karaoke and dancing going on. We had a rediculously funny serenade to Chad of the John Michael Montgomery song "I Swear". He was so uncomfortable! Also because it was "Christmas in July" Santa made an appearance and brought presents for everyone including great Case Logic CD wallets and camera cases. For those who do not know, Case Logic is one of our presenting sponsors. During most of the dancing was when I had one of the best moments of the trip. Sue's 7 year old daughter Brittany is visually impaired and cannot speak but has one of the cutest faces and biggest brown eyes ever. As I sat next to her and we tickled and touched each other's arms I felt an incredible connection although we couldn't communicate. She loved having her palm tickled and would lean in and look at me with her big eyes. It was through this connection that I realized what JOH is all about. I thought about how far we had come so far and all the amazi=ng experiences and friendships we had formed. I thought about how special this whole trip truly is. Most importantly though, I finally felt that JOH magic of knowing that Brittany was just a normal little girl whose body refuses to cooperate with her brain. It is a great feeling though when you are able to feel a connection with someone like Brittany despite the obvious communication barriers. Needless to say, I will always remember her. Later on I danced with Brittany's sister Taylor who just wanted to be twirled and eventually gave me a "sobbing hug" expressing how much she didn't want us to leave. Finally, as things were being packed up for the night, Sue's son Winlee, who is probably about 1 year old, was having a rough time. For the next hour I had a great time holding him and walking him around the hotel as he fell asleep on my shoulder. I had a "first" of the trip when Winlee had what I believe was a seizure, although it was not a full body spasm seizure that most of us would think of when we hear the word. Anyway, it was great just holding him and thinking about all the amazing loving people we had met along the road this past month. As if raising kids is not hard enough, the Grand Island Ladies lovingly adopt children with disabilities. What a statement of unconditional love!

Flat to Grand Island

Ah, today was great with the 50 or so FLAT miles to Grand Island. Chad Coltrane, CEO of Push rode with us today and will spend some time in Grand Island with us the next two days. It was fun having him along the ride. When we arrived at the Holiday Inn we were greeted by about 30 people, some media, and Arby's roast beef sandwiches. In the afternoon Woody and I watched a sermon from his home church in Colorado. It was kinda nice considering that we havn't been to any sort of church activity for over a month. For the evening we went to a lady named Tammy's house. Tammy is one of the "Grand Island Ladies", a group of three women who have all had children with disabilities and have also adopted many children with disabilities to make their lives as normal as possible. These three women have also been HUGE supporters of Journey of Hope and are the ones who make the two day stop in Grand Island a success. At Tammy's house we just hung out and relaxed for the evening after eating a delicious steak, potatoes, and corn dinner. It was nice getting to know the Grand Island Ladies, Tammy, Sue, and Andrea. I got to talk to Tammy the most and learned about her late daughter Katie and how much of an impact her short time on earth had on those around her, it was a pretty touching story. After the time at her house, the team headed to Island Oasis water park for a fun time with a bunch of kids who came to hang out with us. We spent some time on the big drop off slides but had the most fun goofing around on the lazy river ride. Altogether, the day was a fun time and everyone is looking forward to the day off tomorrow.

Nebraska is NOT flat!

Although our itinerary says we are staying in Axtell tonight, we actually ended up having to go to Minden, 10 miles further, for the night. Today's ride may have been the best actual ride of the trip. Definitely not the best scenery, but the best ride. The sky was very overcast and cool. The terrain was gentle rolling hills. The roads weren't too bad. The conversation was great. And there was a tractor pull along the way! A bunch of us stopped to check it out but they hadn't started yet so we had to keep riding. It was actually a community celebration for a town of about 250 people. They had some antique gas engines, some livestock, booths, and the tractor pull of course. It definitely symbolized the beauty of smalltown America! I rode the day with DJ and Winston and we had a fun time. We got to talking so much that we didn't realize for at least an hour that we were riding only 12 miles per hour! We knew the team was waiting on us for lunch so we had to kick it into high gear. Tonight we are staying at the local middle school and had a great dinner sponsored by the local Pizza Hut. We will be resting up tonight though for a funfilled, busy two days in Grand Island starting tomorrow. We are pretty excited about this stop due to the amazing things we have heard. I'll do my best to keep everyone posted on the programming. Oh ya, and I can't believe that it is day 28 already, getting pretty close to half way!

Onward to Nebraska

Just a few miles outside of Wray we hit Nebraska, but only after a great breakfast by the Wray Boy Scouts. By looking at the Nebraska sign at right I am guessing that folks from Colorado are not too keen of the folks from Nebraska based on the multitude of bullet holes in their sign. A few more miles down the road we took a half mile detour into Kansas just to say we had been there. Then it was on to McCook, NE. For lunch we were met along the road by Brett's (a teammate) parents. The Buchanons brought us salmon, BBQ chicken sandwiches, Gatorade and some delicious salads. It was such a great lunch! Finally the wind died down for today's ride but it was replaced by a hot sun instead. At left you can see that we passed through the town of Trenton, Nebraska. Trent, I thought you might like to see this picture even though I told you about it last night! In McCook we stayed in a cool little motel called The Chief. Once again, the Buchanons sponsored the motel and we all got our own beds! Winston, Ankit, and I decaled the new van we picked up to replace the one that got rear-ended in Park City after we enjoyed a lasagna and root beer float dinner at the United Methodist Church. After the decaling the three of us made Walmart run and grabbed some ice cream before settling in for the night. As I said before, it may seem that these days are pretty uneventful but that is simply because we are putting in OVER 90 miles per day for 4 days straight in efforts to get to the larger cities with more programming opportunities.

Last full day in Colorado

We headed for Wray, CO this morning after eating a warm breakfast from the Elks Club in Fort Morgan. Once again, today was a long ride and VERY windy! The team stayed positive all day though and didn't let the wind get to us. We played a game called sharks and minnows today. If you are a shark you get to smear chain grease on your face and try to catch minnows to turn them into sharks. Obviously we were all sharks but we had a great time catching guys throughout the day! Good times for sure though. Once in Wray we stayed at a community center and put on a Kids on the Block show again. Adam and I did not get to perform but I had a fun time watching the other guys. The dinner was quite possibly the best of the trip. We had a good old fashioned, small town flavor, love packed potluck! We had so much food but it was all very good. Other than that, the evening was pretty low key. This 4 day stretch has been more riding than friendship visits due to the small towns but we have some HUGE days coming up in Grand Island and Omaha, can't wait!

Fort Morgan, CO 100 miles!

Give us a mountain or some heat but please go light on the wind! That was the story of the day for the team. The wind was VERY strong out of the south and caused us to have a fairly tough ride despite the flat terrain. We all made it to lodging on time though and got to stay at the local Methodist Church. Today I decided to deck my bike out with a flag as a way to celebrate our amazing country's birth. We finally got a chance to clean our bikes today after going through the rainy mountains, some of us took them to the car wash and just sprayed 'em off. We also managed time for hair cuts before being treated to a sloppy joe dinner by the Elks Club. Following dinner we were very fortunate to be sponsored by a local laundry mat, what a great deal it was for all of us to get our laundry done for free! We ended the evening with a team gathering of appetizers and a pool tournament at a local joint called Cables. Today was the start of what I believe to be the heaviest mileage load in a 4 day span for the entire trip.

Denver Day Off!

Remember that when you hear we have a day off that is a little misleading. All it implys is that we do not RIDE. As I was thinking about the riding we have done so far though, I can't help but comment on how incredibly beautiful the rides have been for the last few days, ever since Craig, CO. Anyway, this morning we were still up bright and early, heading for breakfast sponsored by Tony Macias' folks and some parents of a Transamerica cyclist. The breakfast was enormous with everyone being completely stuffed. We soon realized that today would become the "Journey of Food". From breakfast we drove straight to a sponsored lunch at the Handlebar & Grill, a cycling themed restaurant in town. Check out the picture at left. For the evening we walked to dinner at ESPNZone where we were also able to have a great time playing all their sportsbased arcade games. Our time at dinner was cut a bit short though cause we had to get to the Rockies game. The game was a blast and we had literally top row, upper deck tickets. The perspective from up there was different than I had ever experienced but was sweet, especially once the 5th inning rolled around. At that point the thunder storm rolled in and the game was delayed. It rained so rediculously hard that most fans left. Luckily, we had some of the only covered seats so we stuck it out for an hour before heading back. It was pretty disappointing, we were definitely looking forward to the 4th of July fireworks that were to take place after the game. From the stadium we went back to ESPNZone to use up our points on the games then it was back to the Marriott for the night. I was able to squeeze in some time in the hot tub before bed which felt great. We should all be well rested in the morning and ready to put some more miles behind us.

Denver here we come!

This morning started out very rainy but ended up fairly nice in Denver. Today I was a sweep again with Brent. We were the last into Denver for our lunch under the freeway. Lunch was donated and was some great burritos, this meal would be our first interaction with the Transamerica team. We would spend the next two days with them in the city of Denver. Since Brent and I were sweeps, we also got to be the first to ride into our big arrival at the Ronald McDonald House. It was pretty awesome to lead a group of nearly 40 cyclists through the streets of Denver behind an incredible police escort! At the Ronald McDonald House we had around 100 people there to greet us and we ended up putting on our Kids on the Block puppet show. The show was once again a huge success and had the crowd laughing. After the arrival we rode on into the downtown area to lodging at the Marriott. We were definitely hooked up with lodging for our stay in Denver, thats for sure! The hotel was very nice although we were almost too busy to enjoy it! For the evening we went to the city park for an event called "Pedal for Pennies". In this event, a bunch of special olympics cyclists pedal laps through the park to raise money for their team. We help out with whatever is needed and serve primarily as cheer leaders and ride along buddies. Following the cycling, there was a great banquet in the Denver Zoo with food and speakers. The meal was delicious and Case Logic, one of our presenting sponsors, provided a bunch of free goodies for the guests including camera and CD cases. After dinner I had a fun time with an interview for a childrens network program. The interview is supposed to air sometime this fall which could be interesting. For the rest of the evening we spent some time as a team exploring downtown Denver and having a fun night out on the town.

Loveland Pass on to Empire, CO

Today's ride was one of extremes. Right off the bat we climbed out of Breckenridge for about 8 miles up Loveland Pass, elevation nearly 12,000 feet! The picture at left and below are both taken from atop Loveland pass, what a beautiful view it was from up there. Then it was all downhill from Loveland. That part of the day was a lot of fun and eventually took us to lunch in Georgetown, CO. We ended the day of riding with a great arrival at Rocky Mountain Village in Empire, CO. This camp serves all sorts of people with disabilities and just happened to have a camp for children starting today. It was great to see all the kids arriving to camp and to be able to welcome them. We also got to spend the afternoon with the Build America team which was also a treat. In the evening we had a great dinner with the campers before we joined them around the campfire. The campfire was by FAR the highlight of the evening. We stood around with the campers and tryed to keep up with all their campfire songs. It was pretty surreal, I always thought those songs only existed in movies but nope, they are all very real. Each cabin did a Disney skit of some sort and so they challenged us to come up with one of our own. This picture at left is our rendition of "Circle of Life". It was a big hit and was pretty funny. Notice the body language and the painted faces by some team members. All in all, the visit to Rocky Mountain Village was a very rewarding one getting a lot of time to talk and just hang out with the campers. Tomorrow is on to Denver!

When it rains it pours!

Today we took off from Steamboat and right away we had a long steady climb up Rabbit Ears Pass. The ride was pretty steady and not too bad, just pretty long, a total of 115 miles on the day! The picture at left is from that climb. The ride was absolutely beautiful and would rival yesterday for the prettiest ride of the trip. From the top of the pass we took a group photo of the guys who were riding with us today. The group included DJ, Winston, Josh and Bruce Rogers the founder of Journey of Hope. Ever since he did the original ride he has ridden this stretch with the team due to his close proximity of living in Denver. Following the pass we had some easy rolling hills all the way to lunch. After we were done eating we saw a thunder head rolling in from behind us. We tried to get a jump on it but were easily caught within 5 minutes. With over 50 miles to go still we were soaked to the bone with two shoes full of water. The rest of the ride was wet and cold but we eventually made it to Breckenridge. The lodge we stayed in was right up on the ski hill and was very nice. It was all log and had a big open balcony. For dinner we were treated to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company by KRG Capital, Bruce Rogers company. The food was great and the environment was even better. At dinner my table got to eat with Bruce's sons Layton and Chase. It was a lot of fun talking with the two of them. The picture at left is of Chase and I. It was pretty funny cause the waitress passed out two stickers to each of the kids. Chase didn't want it on his clothes and didn't want to put it on at all. I made a deal with him that whereever he wanted to put in on himself, he could put it on me too. He thought it would be funny to wear it as an earing so obviously I had to also. Anyway, after dinner we just went back to the lodge and hung out, resting our bodies after the long day.