We Got Guts!

2010-05-29T10:59:00.004-04:00

pictures from St. Augustine

2010-05-22T08:24:00.007-04:00

Day 56

Saint Augustine Florida

Here it is - The final day, the day we ride into St. Augustine. We all got ready to leave Palatka, and start our ride to the finish. We took some pictures of the three of us getting ready to head out, did our final checks and we were off!

Within minutes of starting for the day we had what would be the largest hill of the day - the bridge leaving from East Palatka over the St. John River. We found ourselves traveling along some very scenic roads along the St. John River, in very nice well shaded neighborhoods.

The roads were flat, with very little traffic so we were able to ride as a group and talk. We found ourselves reminicing about the t=last couple of weeks riding together and what we thought life would be like after the ride. We could not help but wonder what we would do and how we would get back to our "normal" lives.

The neighborhoods along the river turned into farm lands as we started heading East towards St. Augustine. As we rode through Hastings we were met by signs proclaiming this to be the potato growing center of Florida. We watched as field after field was being harvested today, and finding many trucks taking the pototo crop from the fields along the roads we were traveling.

We stopped at a local store for a quick break before we started the last few miles into St. Augustine. The store was something out of the past still exsisting, the cash register was an old push button type mashine that would normally be seen in an antique store, and the store was extremely busy ( it was luch time so I guess we should expect this) they were selling buckets of deepfried chicken livers and gizzards, and the locals say that we need to try them - they are good. We did not try them, none of us was quite that brave.

We again set out on the road, and continued to ride together to talk, and occationally drop back and ride alone to reflect opun where we are, where we have been and what we were about to accomplish. It all seems so surreal still. All the talking we were doing made the time pass very quickly, and we were at the St. Augustine city limits in no time at all!

We stopped and just stared at first, no-one saying a word. Then we looked at each other with tears in our eyes and realized we were here and almost finished. We took a few minutes and got some pictures at the sign and then continued on to the center of town for the "official finish". The Adventure Cycling maps have us finishing by Flagler College.

So we left for the king St. finish by the college. We were now on very heavily traveled main roads with no shoulder, this lasted right up to the end at the covered pavillion. When we arrived we were met by my wife Tammy, my son Jeremy, Gerry's Sister and her Husband, and 4 riders from Get Your Guts in Gear. (Gary Beckman, his Mom and Dad, and Susan D'Aulerio). It was an amazing few minutes of gathering our thoughts, taking pictures, and enjoying the beauty of the St. Augustine.

After our pictures, greeting friends and families, it was pointed out that the final launch of the space shuttle Atlatis would be starting in a few minutes. We decided to make our way to the Lions Head Bridge to watch for the launch.(we had to cross the bridge to get to the ocean for the ceremonial dipping of the tires anyway!!)

We sat on the bridge and within minutes were greeted by a long plume of white smoke and a visible trail of fire from the solid rocket boosters of the shuttle. Wha an awesome finish to an amazing ride, who could ask for better fireworks that this??
After the liftoff of the shuttle they lowered the drawbridge (it was left open during the launch so that no one would stop and cause a problem otherwise) and we all went on our way to Anastasia State Park to complete the ride by dipping the tires.

Gary Beckman, his Mom and Dad, and Susan D'Aulerio all rode the last few miles with us to the ocean and cheered us on as we finally got to dip the tires in the Atlantic Ocean - we had done it- pedaled our bikes from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. We all took turns with the photo oportunities that were around us, and enjoyed Gary and his family, Susan, Gerry's Sister and husband all clapping as we dipped our tires. When we looked back from the water we realized that many beachgoers were also standing around and clapping for us too!!

We left the beach for the picnic area where Tammy had set up a party for us. Sandwich platters, soda and a cupcake cake for all to enjoy. Gerry, Ron and I, all toasted the safe finish of our journey with a glass of Asti Spumanti. We were also met there by Joy Hooper and her husband, they drove in from Tifton, Georgia to watch us finish the ride. Joy is an ostomy nurse, that has an awesome passion for her job. She has developed an "Anatomical Ostomy Apron" to explain ostomies,and colon resections.
Here are some websites to check out Joy's aprons:
www.youtube.com/gacwocn
www.apronsbyjoy.com
www.medicalcraft.com

and if the ride down from Georgia wasn't enough she had brought with her $180.00 in donations that she had raised for our cause!!! She also treated us to a full presentation of her apron, and her knowledge and presentation were fantastic!

I will no doubt write more as I gather my thoughts and some more pictures too!
It has been a great deal of fun for me to ride to bring awareness to Crohn's colitis, colorectal cancer, and ostomies, and blog along the way for all of you to get a sense of what I found on the road.

Thank you all for following, writing and supporting this cause.... and stay tuned for more as time goes on.........

The garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 56 Palatka to St. Augustine by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-22T08:24:00.005-04:00

Day 55

Lake City to Palatka

Before I got on the road today I received a call from Ron saying that they had a good day yesterday and were feeling extremely good starting today. They were interested in making a big ride today and rejoining to finish the ride together. That was awesome news, it is far better to ride with others than to ride alone!
I told them I would love to finish the ride with them but the way we had finished yesterday would make it difficult to get back together. We all decided to finish today's ride and meet tomorrow in Palatka for the final ride into Saint Augustine.
With that, I got to where I was supposed to turn yesterday and headed out for Palatka.

Heading out on the road today, I had two distinct features that grabbed my attention, the first was the sighting of what appeared to be Texas Longhorns on a farm, (not only is Florida hilly like Texas but has Longhorns too!), and the second was the constant sound of helicopters flying around, (I later learned that this was due to the close proximity of the National Gaurd's Blanding Traing Center). i again took a wrong road today that put me about 8 miles out of my way(round trip). I got myself back on track and before long found I was again on the rolling hills of Texas - I mean Florida- and the wonderful, heavily cracked chipseal pavement just made for an awesome riding Day!!

I was riding with purpose, I had to finish in Palatka so that tomorrow I could reunite with Ron and Gerry to finish. Not an easy task given the road conditions and Florida weather being hot and humid, but I did make it. At this point I am starting to have mixed emotions about finishing - on the one hand am very exited to be so close to the end, to be able to say I pedaled from Coast to Coast. But on the other hand it was going to be over, the friendships made, the talking about colon health, the views, the kindnesses shown, the hills were all going to be done.(ok so I won't really miss any of the hills!) But, basically all I have had to do for the past 55 days or so was to clean up camp everyday, pedal to my next stop and eat, each and every day.

It is all about to end and I will have to try a resume a "normal life" again. But what am I thinking??? I still have one more day of riding so why worry about such things as the end when I have one more day to enjoy with friends!!! Let's cross that bridge when we get to it - for now I will enjoy more riding!

Today's Garmin information is as follows:

Day 55 Lake City to Palatka by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-22T08:22:00.002-04:00

Day 54

Spirit of Suwanee Park to Lake City

With a good nights rest and camp picked up it was on to the business of the day - where are we going to stop for the night? While talking to Ron and Gerry, it was decided that they did not want to push on too fast and that they would slow the pace and finish a day later than I would. We talked a bit and I decided to try and make it as close to St. Augustine as possible. We took a few pictures of the three of us, and said our goodbye's and I was off on my own to finish.

I had mapped a route different than the Adventure Cycling route for today mostly on route 41. It was rather hot and sticky already this morning so I wanted a fairly early start. I immediately was met by more Florida rolling hills, (I think we have established and documented quite well by now that Florida is definatly not flat!!)and also some very nice colors from the flowers in bloom along the road. It was hot and humid and quite a pretty ride to start the day - UNTIL - the dreaded chase dog approached from the left, ok so it was 4 dogs... but only one was fast enough to be a threat,(the other three were little dogs mostly barking)and I was going fast enough and had enough of a head start that he did not catch me.

I was back to my relaxed pace and doing well when I was chased by another dog from the right this time - he came out of nowhere quitely and when he was about 10 feet away - started barking. I grabbed for my dog repelant spray and sprayed at him, it seemed to work even though I did not directly hit him, he backed off and I continued.

I passed through White Springs, a nice little town along the Suwannee River, it has some nice old scenic buildings and homes along main street, and not much traffic. I had not eaten breakfast, so I was beginning to feel hungry, I found a gas station just before I-10 and stopped for some snack type breakfast foods. After some food and a juice, I was again on my way. I passed I-10 and before long made it to Lake City, and by this time I was quite hot and sweaty. After I passed my turn for the route I was supposed to take, I decided to call it quits for the day (about 4-5 miles past my turn) I will start tomorrow where I was supposed to turn today! A good starting point to start a new day.

Todays Garmin information is as follows:

Day 54 Spirit of Suwannee Park to Lake City by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-11T22:49:00.005-04:00

Day 53

Waukeenah to Spirit of Suwannee Park

Today we got to start the day with a waffle breakfast provided by the KOA, with coffee, and orange juice. It was a good start to the day, along with conversation with a couple that is touring the country by car.

When we hit the road we started by following route 90 for a good part of the day, this section was very nice – not much traffic, and good scenery around. We finally went back to the side roads, where we experienced the rolling hills of Florida, every bit as bad as the hill country in Texas (just in case you didn’t read my other posts, Florida IS NOT FLAT!!!!)

As we rolled along the biggest thing I noticed was the moss in the trees, and how much if it there was. Some areas seem worse that others but either way there was a lot of trees covered in it. It was very picturesque, and I found myself stopping more than once for pictures. When the moss seemed to disappear, the fields opened up and we began to see a lot of flowers again. The fields and roadsides were covered in yellow and purple flowers, and they were in full bloom everywhere you looked.

The hills did not change all day except to maybe get a little worse as the day wore on ( I don’t know if they were worse or we were getting beat up by them!). We were heading to Spirit of Suwannee Music Park for the night. We called to make sure they had room, and they did. The bad news – it’s the only night of the week they have no restaurant or music!!! Try to avoid Tuesday nights at Spirit of Suwannee Music Park if you can.

We passed through Lee, Fl. today and I have to say they are quite proud Their motto even proclaimes it - when you enter town there is a sign that reads: "Lee Florida - little but proud" I guess you have to be awfully proud to boast about your size!!

We arrived and went to the convenience store down the road to get provision for cooking this evening, the prices were a little high so we decided to wait and check the camp store. After checking in we were advised the camp store closes at 5:00pm it was now 5:10 – of all the luck – we now had to set up and go back to the convenience store.

We picked our sites and set up, then Ron took his bike (he unhooked his trailer so it was light and fast) and shopped for dinner for us. He returned and we made elbow pasta, marinara sauce, and hotdogs. Good enough for me. Dinner finished and cleanup all set we turned in for the night, we have a 79 mile day again tomorrow.

Today’s Garmin Information is as follows:

Day 53 Waukeenah to Spirit of Suwannee Music Park by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-11T22:46:00.003-04:00

Day 52

East Shore Campground Ga. to Waukeenah, Fl.

Getting up this morning was tricky. I had to shake my tent pretty good to get rid of some of the ants before I climbed out. Once I did this and removed my belongings, I moved the tent to the paved area to shake it really good and pack it away. Once finished it was up the 85 ft. or so climb to the park entrance, and back to Chattahoochee for coffee and breakfast at Subway.

Today is a planned 79 mile day and the weather is looking really good, a chill in the air to start and no humidity to speak of. We hit the road and were able to make good time, we passed some logging areas that were getting ready to be closed off, so they were burning the remaining trash they did not want. This filled the area with so much smoke that it was like a fog at times.

The fields have changed to mostly open land and not much to speak of on our route for farming, but we did see something for the first time today – a pig farm – up to this point I think it is the only thing we have not seen being raised.

We arrived on the edge of Tallahassee, and were to get on a bike trail. This did not happen; we ended up at Florida A&M, with no sign of the bike path we were to take. We asked a worker for some directions (Dez) and he was more than able to help us, we followed his truck right to the bike path we were supposed to be on. He explained where we went wrong and said it is not marked well (I think he was trying to make us feel better at this point). We thanked him and said good bye and were again on course.

We still had a good way to go but were able to make good time, and before long(even with all these rolling hills) we arrived at the KOA Tallahassee East. What a nice campground. We again had purchased food on our way so we could cook in camp. Tonight it was macaroni, sausage, diced tomatoes, and chili beans. It was far better than it sounds. It was dark while we were cooking, so the mosquitoes were quite unbearable, we ate quickly and showered for the night, and off to sleep.

Today’s Garmin information is as follows:

Day 52 East Shore campground to Waukeenah, Fl. by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-11T22:44:00.004-04:00

Day 51

Ponce De Leon to East Shore Campground, Ga.

We got a good early start to the day today and were going to go to Subway for breakfast, but instead decided to go to the next town, so we were farther up the road. This was a mistake, we did not find anything close by and ended up taking two small detours off course to try and find food –unsuccessfully.

The Garmin on my bike said there was a Waffle House about 6 miles away from where we were, so we decided to go there. By the time we stopped for breakfast we already had 22 miles in for the day. Neither Gerry nor Ron had been to a Waffle House before, so they were surprised to see that they had such a good menu and well priced to boot! We ate and back tracked to the route and were again on our way.

During our ride today, we ran across a sign that kind of bewildered us all. It was in Caryville, Fl., and read: "WELCOME TO CARYVILLE,FL.-WORM FIDDLIN' CAPITAL OF THE WORLD" Annual Festival. If anyone out there can enlighten me as to what exactly "worm fiddlin' is -- I would greatly appreciate it! Otherwise it is just one of those things no one would believe - unless they saw it for themselves. You know-- things that make you go HMMMMM?!?!

We had a choice of two campgrounds, but could not get in touch with either of them to be sure we could get a site. Tammy had called and offered her help; she made some calls and got through to East Shore Campground. She looked up the information on East Shore and found it was an Army Corps of Engineers park. It is alongside a manmade lake with a dam and power plant at the end. It is known to have beautiful sunsets, as well!

We finally arrived after a late day hill climb of about 80 – 100 ft. 2 miles before the campground. As we approached the campground we were met by an unexpected surprise - the campground was in Georgia. That is pretty cool, because now we have made a ninth state!!!

The campground was down about 85ft. from the guard house. That was going to be a rough start to tomorrow! When we got our sites and set up camp for the night. Just before we got to Chattahoochee we bought some stuff for a dinner at the campground again. This time we did Penne with olive oil, garlic salt, cheese, string beans, and canned chicken. It was actually way better than it sounds as you read it! We ate dinner and---oh yeah--- I forgot to tell you about the ants – the ants are like sugar ants – but they number in the millions…literally!! There were nests everywhere, and as soon as you put anything down they swarmed it. This was a bit of a pain, but the good news, is they don't bite.

We finished dinner shook off our tents and climbed in for the night – I only hope they don’t find their way in.

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 51 Ponce De Leon to East Shore Campgrond, Ga. by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-11T22:40:00.003-04:00

Day 50

Blackwater River State Park to Ponce De Leon

Leaving the park this morning we passed through a lot of forest area, and it was very muggy today. We were camping about 2 miles off the route, so we had to back track a little to get back to the right road out.

If I haven’t mentioned it yet, let me say right now for the record – Florida IS NOT FLAT!!!!! It’s like we are back in the hill country of Texas, with its slow rolling hills, and never ending rolling hills. We have climbed along the shoreline and into forest areas that were higher than I ever expected.

We had a planed day of about 65 miles, which it ended up being very close to, what we did not expect was the extreme humidity we were encountering. It was a short day, but because of the heat and humidity we took our time and ended up riding for 5 ½ hours. Along the road towards the end of our day we came across a father and son who have been on the road for three years, the son was 15 – it seemed a little strange to us, and did not know what to make of it. They said they sleep in the woods along the way and they had just passed the 14,000 mile mark. They were headed for San Diego, then heading up the coast.

The only real town of note today was De Funiak Springs; it is a very cute town that seems to be centered around the historic district at Lake De Funiak. We stopped at the lake to check it out, and it must have been prom night, as there were several kids in formal attire getting their pictures taken. We stayed out of the way and went to see the ducks. There were several large rather ugly ducks in the water, so we focused our attention on a few pictures of ourselves at the lake. That’s when all the ducklings started swimming our way. We instantly got our leftover bread from last night and fed the duckling so we could get some pictures.

A little girl came over to watch and demonstrated just how easily one could grab and hold and duckling, we were a little more cautious, since the mother ducks were in the area and closing fast. We used up our bread and rode around the rest of the lake. The homes in the area are beautiful, and show many different architectural styles, and some nice elements of scroll work on the porches.

It was time to move on as we still had a few miles left to go for the day. We arrived at Ponce De Leon, and headed for the hotel, it would be nice to sleep inside in the air conditioned room for a break. We showered and headed out to do laundry and dinner. The laundry mat was on the way, so we stopped and put our clothes in the washer, and would return after dinner to dry them. We were not too concerned with someone stealing our clothes because -1) there was nobody around, and, 2) who wants somebody’s biking shorts and a few Cycling Semicolons biking shirts?????

It was off to dinner, we walked the mile to the end of the road and we chose the Bar B Q place over Sally’s, because none of us has had too much Bar B Q on this trip. Excellent choice, the food was unbelievably good – I had the 2 meat dinner (brisket and sausage) the brisket was awesome – the best I have had since I was in Texas. The people were extremely friendly and we began talking about how difficult it is to get a good brisket meal home, unless we do it ourselves. The owner came out with his just smoked brisket to show off how it looks, and I think he burned his hands in the process. The place was called 4 c Bar b q and they are on the web too!

We could not resist and also ordered desert, strawberry pie, it too was very good. We had to leave soon so we could dry our clothes, the laundry mat closed at 9:00 pm and it was already 8:15. We walked back a half mile to the laundry mat and dried our clothes and went back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.

The Garmin information for today is as follows:

Day 50 Blackwater River State Park to Ponce De Leon by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-11T22:18:00.002-04:00

Day 49

Big Lagoon State Park to Blackwater River State Park

Today started very overcast and dreary, we did not hold out much hope to stay dry. We left our campsites and headed out for breakfast. The clouds did give way to sunshine, and we were starting to feel the Florida humidity. We went through Pensacola today and passed right in front of the entrance to the base there. We did not get to see the Blue Angels (this is their home base) as they were not flying today. We rode through town and decided to take a break next to a statue, that we found to be “The Sanctuary” by Sam Nettles – it is a beautiful sculpture of a mother, father, and child. It listed as both a shelter and memorial for the families, parents and friends of lost and missing children.

We ran into two Pensacola police Officers there so we stayed and talked for a few minutes with them, one was a female officer who, as she explained to us was the first female officer in Pensacola to be promoted, and the first to be awarded their highest honor. They gave us some advice about riding through town, and wished us well.
We drove along many miles of beautiful white sand beaches and really nice homes along the beach area. As we pressed on we crossed a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, and got to watch boats of all sizes navigating the waterway. At this point we were not far from our destination – Blackwater River State Park. We found a Wal-Mart and bought some provisions for dinner.

When we arrived we were amazed that the park was full, the ranger was not in so we went to the campground to find the camp host, we found one site open, told the camp host but when we went back someone came in and set up a tent. We were without a site; we went back to the office and awaited the rangers return at 5:30. When he returned he had to do a drive through the campground, and said he would see what he could do and if not then we would have to use the overflow with a cold shower, yuck!
We were fortunate enough that someone booked two sites and only needed one, so we had a site for the night. We set up camp and made dinner for the night- Farfale pasta, with Sausage, and red sauce. It was quite a meal for camping. We all turned in for a well deserved rest!

The Garmin information is as follows:

Day 49 Big Lagoon State Park to Blackwater River State Park by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

We Got Guts!: End of the ride

2010-05-09T07:42:00.000-04:00

We Got Guts!: End of the ride

2010-05-08T23:55:00.002-04:00

Day 48

Dauphin Island, Al. to Big Lagoon State park, Fl.

Got an early start this morning packed up camp with Gerry and Ron, and headed to the fort. The fort is Fort Gaines – site of Battle of Mobile Bay. This is the battle where Admiral Farragut, aboard his Flagship U.S.S. Hartford, uttered the now famous words “Damn the Torpedoes-Full Speed Ahead!” The fort is pretty amazing to walk around, it is completely open and you can explore virtually every inch of the area. It is a $5.00 fee to get in which we were told is barely enough to keep it open. It is well preserved and has many of the big guns still in place at the corners. The museum had some interesting artifacts found on site and a lot of history as well as good examples of daily life in the fort.

It was now 10:30am, we were only riding a short distance today (about 50 miles), and so we were in no great hurry, but the ferry to Fort Morgan had arrived so we needed to go - or wait an hour and a half for the next one. We headed for the ferry and could not help but notice the presence of the news media; they were there to keep track of the impending landfall of the oil spill from the collapsed oil rig in the gulf. They were not interested in us or our rides; they were busy with the “big story”. We boarded the ferry and enjoyed the ride and the awesome views we were afforded on our way.

As we were docking in Fort Morgan, we could not help but notice about a hundred people putting together containment booms, and boat after boat going out with 500 ft. sections to be anchored off shore to help protect the island. We rode down the street a little ways and decided to look for something to eat, we found a place called “Tacky Jack’s”, we decided it sounded just like us so we went in. It was a nice place and were welcomed and told the story of how this building is the only original building left in the area, it had survived all the previous storms that nothing else did.

The food was very good and the service was even better, we were wished well by the staff and were once again on the road. We still had most of our day ahead of us so we picked up the pace a bit to Make it to Big Lagoon State Park. We stopped along the way to check out the beautiful white sand beaches, and see what kind of indigenous life there was in the area (bikini watching).

The weather was warm and very humid, and it was tempting to jump in the water, but it was so far to walk over the sand and we would eventually have to get back on the bike – not fun when you are soaking wet! We continued on and before long found ourselves at a “Welcome to Florida” sigh. We stopped and spent several minutes talking about how we had finally made it our last state, and how it was starting to sink in that we were almost done. After several pictures we started off again, it was only 10 miles or so till we arrived at the state park. As we rode on we passed a fire station, the guys know I like to stop and headed right in. We talked to the firefighters on duty, they would try and send me a patch – but more importantly they told us where to go for dinner. We left and arrived at the Big Lagoon State Park within minutes, and immediately set up camp, showered and were ready to go get dinner.

Dinner tonight was at Trigger’s, a nice family restaurant, a little high priced but very good food. We sat and ordered dinner and toasted ourselves for the accomplishments we have made. After dinner I decided to have dessert, the list was long and the decision difficult – but in the end I went for the fried cheesecake. It was a piece of cheesecake rolled in corn flake, deep-fried, then covered with a hot caramel and pecan sauce. It was amazingly good! If you have the chance, go and try it!

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 48 Dauphin Island, Al. to Big Lagoon State Park, Fl. by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-08T23:41:00.002-04:00

Day 47

Slidell, La. to Dauphin Island, Al

Today as I woke up I decided to change my endpoint for the day. I skipped ahead to the next waypoint of Dauphin Island. It was a 100 mile day, but I was ready to do a century ride. Wit Tammy helping ( I think she makes an awesome logistics coordinator) we decided that the best way would be down Highway 90, the Google map pictures showed a decent highway with shoulders. I set out from Slidell since I arrived late and did not have exact change for the overnight drop.

I went in and paid after I broke down camp for the night. I remembered a Waffle House down the street, so I headed out for breakfast. Hitting the road at 9:30am it was already 82 degrees. I took the necessary roads to get me to highway 90, and was on my way. The roads were nice and not much traffic to speak of; the wins were light and variable, so no problems there either. I was doing very well time wise and had no doubts I would make Dauphin Island by nightfall. I passed several nice communities and crossed many rivers, marshes, and swamps before coming to Bay St. Louis. There is a nice bridge with awesome views looking out to The Gulf of Mexico.

After crossing the bridge I started to ride along the Gulf of Mexico beaches, they are beautiful white sand beaches, and nice parking spots all along the roads for the public. There is a worried air about the people with the threat of the oil spill hitting their beaches. The house along this stretch of road are quite beautiful, and some houses were noticeably absent or in the process of being rebuilt. There were many areas of the beaches that are set aside for nesting Least Terns, so as you walk or drive by, they fly off and then return, and there are hundreds of them.

I rode through Biloxi, Mississippi, and saw the Hard Rock Hotel and casino, and the Beau Rivage casino. After Biloxi I went through Ocean Springs, Ms. and found a firehouse on main street, so I stopped for a patch. The Battalion Chief was not able to find one quickly so he said he would send one off to me when he finds them. I left a patch for their patch collection and was again on my way. Next up Pascagoula, and Grumman ship building, you could see the facilities from the highway, and it looked quite expansive. By now I was hitting rush hour traffic and people were driving much more erratically, so

I was glad to see the highway starting to go back to a little more of a rural highway. The traffic eased as rush hour waned, and before long I came across the welcome to Alabama sign. Wow two states in one day, I felt reenergized as I began to doubt I would make my destination. Now that I was in Alabama I only had two roads to follow – Rt 188 to Rt 193 straight to the campground, but the sun was getting low in the sky. As I rode through the last few towns before Dauphin Island, the sun had started to disappear behind the trees, and then I finally got to the Dauphin Island town limit – it is at the start of a long and tall bridge I must cross to get on the actual Island. As I started to cross the bridge, the sun had almost completely gone down and had left beautiful hues of red, orange, and purple in the sky. I still had another 6-8 miles to go and darkness was upon me, I had my taillight flasher on and my headlight (not a true headlight-but it worked) on and finally crossed onto Dauphin Island, after getting all the way to the East end of the Island, I found the campground just about to close for the night.

I went in and got a spot for the night and some food for dinner. The woman behind the desk put me next to two other sites with bicyclists on them, cool I could exchange stories in the morning. When I walked to my campsite, I could not help but think the tents next to me looked familiar…. I called out “Gerry?-Ron?” and they both answered. I just commented that they could run but they can’t hide! They came out of their tents and helped me set up mine, while we exchanged some stories of the past few days since we parted ways. The mosquitoes were quite bad, so they went back to their tents, after telling me how nice the showers were. I finished setting up and went for a shower and quickly went to bed – it was after all 9:30 at night!! A LONG day, it ended up being 125.69 miles total for the day, and now for some well deserved sleep.

The Garmin information for today is as follows:

Day 47 Slidell, La. to Dauphin Island, Al. by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-08T23:36:00.002-04:00

Day 46

New Orleans to Slidell, La.

I have enjoyed my second night in a hotel. I was buried in pillows with the A/C on high and snuggled comfortably into the bed; I had a nice hot breakfast and a nice tub to soak in. I was desperately trying to enjoy as many conveniences as I could before I start the home stretch to St. Augustine!

I started a little later that I wanted (by about 2 ½ hours), but it was a beautiful day and I had not far to go (Slidell is about 50 miles). By the time I got to the Gretna ferry, I was for the second day in a row -late- I had to go to Algiers to get to Canal St. an extra 6.5 miles. Today it took an unusually long wait until we were able to cross. When we made the crossing over the Mississippi for the final time, I was ready to take a SLOW day and check out New Orleans. Tammy was on the phone with me as I walked the bike off the ferry and through the street of New Orleans, I was thirsty and she found there was an Arby’s just blocks from me (the internet can be so fun), so I decided to eat lunch now then do some exploring.

The Arby’s was two floors of seating and quite different than I am used to seeing, I finished lunch and checked out the little shop next door. It had lots of beads in all assortments from a “G” rating to almost an “X” rating, who knew they made beads like that too! I started to walk around the streets again and was enjoying the street cars driving by and people watching. There are truly many different lifestyles and looks represented on the streets of New Orleans, and was fun to watch!
Tammy called again to see where I was and told me to trust her when I gave my location. She told me to go 3 more blocks and take a right – which I did – and found myself on Bourbon St. What a sight, it was daylight and you could still see all the neon and reflective signs all the way down the street. There were people everywhere and the activity was somewhat frantic with people in and out of shops and bars. I went to Jesters and bought myself a souvenir plastic Jester full of a frozen something-or-other, that was incredibly good, and STRONG!! After drinking this magic concoction I decided I needed to get going, so I found an empty spot in a front bag on the bike a left the very long straw sticking out to finish as I walk.

Drink finished, and time to head towards Slidell, it was nearly 3:30, and I still had 25 or so miles to go. I headed out on the pre-prescribed route, and before long found myself on the side of Lake Ponchatrain , and was trying to closely follow these shores. This did not work, before long I ran right into a construction project and had to divert to a new route – out to Rt. 90 and over the Highway 11 bridge to Slidell. The bridge here is only 5 miles long instead of the 12 mile bridge on I-10, and much less traffic. I was able to make good time over the bridge which was a relief since there is no shoulder on the bridge for bikes to ride in. Before I finally left New Orleans, I came across a fire station, and was able to trade patches, to help add to the growing collection.

Arriving in Slidell, I was looking forward to a nice shower and some rest. I rode right past the campground I was to stay at on the wrong road and ended up in front of Textron, makers of tanks and armored personnel carriers. When I finally figured where I went wrong I headed down the right street and got a spot at the campground. The campground was closed for the evening when I arrived, so I had no codes to use the bath/shower and no internet access. After checking the 3 sites listed at the office for help, and finding no one at all 3, I stopped at a campsite and asked the people there if they knew the codes, they did not. After making some phone calls to no avail, they finally insisted on me showering in their Trailer. After a few moments I reluctantly agreed and finally was able to shower and freshen up.

Pam & Hollis Davis were the names of the people who were so kind to me. We sat and talked about how they lost their home in hurricane Katrina, and have been living in their fifth wheel trailer in the campground (it is a beautiful trailer and the site is very well decorated). They offered me a burger for dinner, and then said they were cooking steak, when all was said and done they did not have the steak they offered, so Pam took it upon herself to order take out at Outback Steakhouse two exits down the highway. She came back with a dinner for me consisting of Filet Mignon (feta cheese encrusted), shrimp, and salad. Pam placed all of this on nice plates and a tray, and had a home-made piece of carrot cake from a friend for dessert.

I want to say a HUGE thank you to both Pam and Hollis for their kindness; it was far above anything they needed to do. They owed me nothing and showed me one of the greatest kindnesses of the trip – for this I am forever grateful. Thank you both and maybe our paths will cross again. Thank you – Thank you – Thank you!

The Garmin information for today is as follows:

Day 46 New Orleans to Slidell, La. by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-08T19:44:00.000-04:00

photo blogging tonight

2010-05-08T19:35:00.002-04:00

I am going to just do some random pictures over the last couple of days.

Just kinda a picture book. I do have blogs from the last couple of days but I need to get out and walk and stretch my body. I have been sitting way to long. I will try to keep things up to date as I can this week. I have had little to no internet over the last couple of days but I am excited to post the end date for the ride and plans that have been made.

Thank you to all who have supported this awesome adventure. It has really been a great time and I look forward to getting all the pics together and finding a way to share them. But for know enjoy some from over the last few previous days!!!!

End of the ride

2010-05-08T13:02:00.002-04:00

The end of the ride is near and will be on May 14th in St. Augustine Florida. For anyone planning to come out to celebrate with me or better yet ride with me (PLEASE DO) the following arrangements have been made.

I will arrive at the covered pavilion area at 124 Charlotte St. off of King Street and the official end of the adventure cycling maps at 3:00 pm on Friday, May 14th.
I would love to have a group of people to ride and run with me to the water for the ceremonial tire dipping and celebration of the end of my ride that will take place at Anastasia State Recreational Park. The following arrangements have been made to join me.

We will leave the covered area at 3:30 pm and travel 3.7 miles to the parking lot and south portion of Anastasia State Recreation Facility. For parking arrangements you can either, park at the State Park from where we will be ending and ride to meet at the covered area on Charlotte St. or there was limited street side parking in the area.

I have included the link to a map of the area and the route we will ride to Anastasia State Recreational Park.

http://www.mapmyride.com/view_route?r=404127333779396181

2010-05-02T20:45:00.002-04:00

Day 44

Laplace to New Orleans (Harvey)

I started today from the fire station in Laplace (station 3). The guys came out to let me know they had left coffee and mugs on the counter. To all you guys whom I never got to meet-- A BIG THANK YOU!

When I finished my coffee and folded my tent I was ready to hit the road, but a thunderstorm hit. I waited under the front porch until it eased a little. I started off and was met by another wave of heaver rain. I managed to get some shelter at a Shell stsation for a little while. When I started down the road again I found my self ducking for cover every few miles for the first hour or so. I came across a McDonald's, and stopped for coffee(to warm back up) and some breakfast.

This time when I hit the road I never had much more than a quick rain shower to slow me, the wind was in my face all day but manageable. I rode until I ran out of road - then I got to take a break on the ferry across the Mississippi. Once on the otherside I was only 6 or so miles from my hotel. When I Arrived the woman at the desk was very kind, and was able to get my room ready early. I was finally able to get some well deserved relaxation, and a good warm bath. Off to bed for some rest, then off to the convention center tomorrow!

Todays Garmin information is as follows:

Day 44 Laplace to New Orleans by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-02T19:16:00.002-04:00

Day 43

New Roads to Revere

Today will be a difficult day and at the same time a very exciting day. When I leave the campground, I will be leaving the last of my new friends to go on the route with my own time schedule, and destinations.

We all got up early today, to figure our schedules and try to make sure we beat the rain that has been threating us the past two days. We watched the ducks, and their ducklings swimming around the edge of our sites, while we drank coffee and discussed plans. Karman and I will leave this morning together, and split so that he may rejoin Emilio in Baton Rouge. Ron and Gerry are heading off together, as they share a similar time schedule to Florida(around May 19th), by way of the regular Adventure Cycling route.

We packed our sites and took some final pictures and were off, my objective for the day - Revere, La. - to meet a fellow colon clubber at a relay for life there. The survivor lap is at 6:00 pm, should be no problem with our early start!

Karman and I headed for the ferry in St. Francisville, this was kind of the long way around, but we heard the town is quite beautiful so we decided to go through it. We caught the ferry(being on a bike we went to the front of the line and made the next ferry)and crossed the mighty Mississippi. When we got to the other side we were met with a couple of hills, we have not had many of those so it just felt weird. The architecture was instantly like that in the history books, columns, and southern influenced buildings.

We headed down Rt 61 and dodged all but the smallest of a mist for rain, the roads were wet and we were not, this was a good sign for the day. Karman got to his turnoff and said good-bye with hopes of seeing each other possibly in New Orleans.

I was off to revere, I still had some 45 to 50 miles to go to get there, to make 6pm. The wind was in my face all day; at times so much so, it was like someone was pushing on my chest to stop me. When I thought I was getting fairly close I turned the garmin directions on and folowed it to what I thought was going to be the RElay for Life. Boy was I wrong, the Garmin took me to Gramercy, and was leading me to a sugar plant - I don't think thats right. I got directions and headed further down Rt 61 ( I was told 5-7 miles), but now it was 5:35, and I had to fight a headwind to get there.

I pulled into the stadium as they were just finishing the last speech and looked for Darcey. The registration table was very helpful and when they found I was a survivor they set me up with a shirt, and my tickets for the survivor dinner. I parked the bike donned my shirt, and Darcey showed up and introduced herself. We walked the survivors lap and exchanged stories and got to know each other a bit.

I was introduced to her family, at their booth - They were "The Tough Cookies" - "Eliminating cancer one bite at a time". They were selling fried oreos (and a bunch of homemade cookies as well)- I finally got to try them and I am entirely hooked on them. I will be making them when I come home - so stop by a try some!! We walked and talked and I was introduced to many survivors that Darcey knew, they all had such unique and inspiring stories, Then it was time for the luminaria ceremony - they used purple glow sticks in the white American Cancer Society bags - tehy stopped the walkers and shut the stadium lights one by one, and lit the word HOPE on the bleachers for all to see.

The speech was beautiful, then they played a few songs --- "I Can Only Imagine" - by MercyMe, "Save a Place for me" - by Matthew West, then Came "Amazing Grace" - by LeAnne Rymes, "Cryin for me" - by Tobey Keith, and ended with "The climb" - by Miley Cirus. By then there was not a dry eye to be found.

After the lights were turned back on we went back to walking and enjoying the people there. The winds stayed srotng and the severe threat of weather brought an early end to the night. I helped Darcey and her family pack and they were kind enough to drive me and my bike around to find a motel in the next town(it was midnight now).

All the hotels were full so we stopped at the local fire station (Laplace Station 3)where the on duty staff said it would be ok to pitch my tent in the yard for the night. I said goodbye and went to setting up for the night. The predicted rains never came(thankfully), I stayed dry and was able to put my tent away dry the next
day!

Todays Garmin information is as follows:

Day 43 New Roads to Reserve by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-02T17:03:00.003-04:00

Day 42
Simmesport to New Roads

To start today we had to cross the Atchafalaya River, it was a pretty good size hill leading to the top of the bridge, one we have not seen in a while! The roads were extremely rural with very little traffic. The farm lands are getting bigger and bigger as we travel. Corn seems to be the predominant crop now (as compared to crawfish and rice). We found several old churches along the road that each had its own cemetery. We were approached by a farmer when we stopped (he wanted to make sure we were ok), and so we asked about the churches, and found that most of them date 50-75 years back when the plantation system was in place and that most people did not move very far from their homes back then. This is why they each had their own graveyard and were not far from homes.

It did not take but a mile or two of riding today to start seeing the levee system around the area, we followed levees all day on the roads. The farmer we talked to pointed out a spot where we can cross the top of the levee and get right up to the shores of the Mississippi River (legally at a ferry stop), so we headed out and did just that. We found the road and went to the shores of the Mississippi for some pictures. Our first encounter with the river and it is running high and strong.
After passing this area we were riding along a flood control area that was quite well flooded, and very impressive with amount of water that was contained there. After following several more miles of rural farm road s in the head winds, we were finally in New Roads, La.

We were now trying to find Jim’s bar and grill, and campground. It took a while but we finally arrived to find a very nice area on the false river. We actually had campsites right on the waterfront, it was a nice setup for camping, we had food on site, and local entertainment in the bar (I will leave it at that!) We set up camp, showered, did some laundry and finally were able to sit and eat.

After dinner we sat and talked, as this is the last night I will be with Jerry and Ron. Karman and I will head towards Baton Rouge tomorrow while Jerry and Ron head out on the Adventure Cycling route. Emilio went to Baton Rouge tonight, as he is looking to get his spokes replaced (3 of them broke) and true the wheel up again. He and Karman are going to try to meet up with me in New Orleans; I hope we can make this happen as that will be the last I get to see of either of them. I will be Leaving New Orleans on May 4th and riding 11 straight days to finish the ride on May 14th, while they are planning on finishing on May 17th or so. Right now it seems that Ron and Jerry are planning on finishing in that same basic time frame.

I would have really enjoyed finishing the ride with my new friends, but this is not to be as I have a mission of finishing this ride for Crohn’s, colitis, colorectal cancer, and ostomies. I wish them all luck and safe riding and hope that I will be blessed with more friends, experiences, and stories as I continue…..

Today’s Garmin information is as follows:

Day 42 Simmesport to New Roads by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-02T17:00:00.002-04:00

Day 41
Washington to Simmesport

Leaving Washington, we stopped for breakfast at the local Citgo gas station, and it was better than you can ever imagine. Eggs, toast, hash browns, and bacon, all cooked like a gourmet restaurant. We were on our way again! This day we were off to Simmesport, La.

Before we started on the road we stopped at an old church by the water tower for a couple of pictures. On the way out of town we ran across an old school house or church that just yelled photo opportunity. Leaving town we were riding 5 strong now, as Jerry from New Hampshire was now riding with us as well.

The roads are starting to get more winding and tree lined, so now we are encountering shade that we have not had since we were in California. The crops are all growing very well now, we see a lot of corn starting, wheat, and hay. I think the biggest change we have seen today is the water and swap area is definitely getting more frequent. The trees are starting to look like they should be in a swamp; I think they are Cypress trees. The trees are so different to us that we decided to get off our bikes and take some pictures by an area that had some particularly large trees, in a fairly small area.

Today’s destination is Maddie’s truck stop, it is not on the new maps but was well received on many blog posts. They are very bike friendly and offer free showers to all the bicyclists. As we were about 15 miles out of Simmesport we stopped for a quick snack and were talking to the owners who informed us of some bad news – the truck stop we were heading to had burned down two days ago! We were in a state of disbelief, what were we to do. We did have a plan “B” – the city park in Simmesport. We got on the phone to make sure this would be ok at this late time, and the supervisor of the park said he would leave the bathrooms open, and the water on. The only major drawback was that we had no showers, we were reduced to the old washup with a facecloth in cold water routine.

When we arrived in Simmesport we set up camp in an extremely windy park, and set off to find dinner. We had seen a diner on the way to the park (next to Maddie’s), so we headed out to see what they had to offer. Unfortunately, they had nothing, they were closed. As we were standing there a man called to us from Maddie’s parking lot, we went over to find it was Maddie himself. We told him how we were to be spending the night when we found out about his loss. He still offered us a spot in back of the property and apologized, that he could no longer offer a shower as he did in the past.

He and his family were there checking the extent of the loss, so we asked what happened, and were told there was an electrical short in the electrical room at 10:00am. No one was hurt, but he was upset that it took the local fire department 30 minutes to respond and when they got there the truck could not provide water, it was either broken or empty. He mentioned that there were 17 towns with 88 firefighters when all was said and done, but it was a total loss. He did say he planned on being back up and running in about 3 months, better than before. With that he recommended the “Family Grill” for dinner and wished us well. We ate a very tasty dinner and headed back to the park before our tents could blow away, and got what sleep we could for the night .

The Garmin information for today is as follows:

Day 41 Washington to Simmesport by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-05-02T16:52:00.002-04:00

Day 40
Mamou to Washington

Today is to be a short day of riding – we are only going 30 miles – to Washington. We took our time getting ready for the day; we ate breakfast at Maxie’s Cajun Diner. Good food and the people (including Paul the owner) were VERY friendly.
After we ate we went back to the hotel, to finish packing and leave. As I went to take my bike outside I found that my front tire had gone flat. I changed it quickly and we were again on the road moving forward towards St. Augustine.

The roads today started out very bumpy and rough (ok, so they were that way for most of the day!) The weather was perfect-sunny and cool. The scenery was getting very nice with many tree lined roads. We actually had several stretches of road that were partially shaded by the trees, something we have not had since California. Since it was a short day we took our time and explored a little more than usual. We were able to find a lot of cool pictures that one or all of us wanted, so on this day we stopped frequently for photo opportunities.

I still can’t believe how many crawfish “farms” there are in this area, and they are quite expensive as well, we were told they are going for about $10.00 a pound. Maybe

I will look into starting a crawfish farm!
We ended our day at Willie’s Washington Campground, all the blogs we have read up to this point said don’t go – we just spent a night in a hotel so we figured it would all average out. It is a small Campground, and the tent area is right next to the river, and very scenic. We set up camp quickly to let our tents dry out from the rains of 2 nights ago (it took about 10 minutes to dry everything). We went to get dinner across the street at The Steamboat Warehouse.

The campground was not as bad as I had pictured, it was not as good as I had hoped either. The shower was good and hot, with plenty of pressure, the floor was concrete and peeling a bit, the walls are buckling a bit from being wet too long. The right sink in the men’s room did not work and the left only had cold water. The right sink has the mirror though!!!! The electrical plug in the bathroom was broken on top, and had the light behind the mirror on the right sink plugged into it. And yes I said light BEHIND the mirror, it is almost useless as a light because of its position. Over all it was not too bad, I think we made a good choice still stopping here. If they ever decide to fix the bathrooms and upgrade a little, I think it could easily be one of the best stops on the route!

After dinner we again went to Willie’s and turned in for a good night’s rest.

The Garmin for this short ride today is as follows:

Day 40 Mamou to Washington by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-28T00:09:00.006-04:00

Day 39

DeRidder to Mamou

Leaving Pleasant Valley RV park was bittersweet, it was time to move on, but the place was awesome. Everything we could want in a kitchen(except the food of course), clean warm showers, and friendly people running the park.

It rained a bit last night so we took our time picking up and leaving. Emilio had a second spoke break on his bike, so we replaced one of them this morning with Ron. Ron has been riding with friends and stayed with us to assist with the spoke operation. And yes it was a success!

When we hit the road it was cool and sunny to start our day and the wind was at our backs. I have really enjoyed watching the scenery change into a lot of taller trees and rivers and new landscapes over the last week or so. It has become more dramatic in the past couple of days, with all the pine forests here.

The rivers we cross all seem to have what I can only describe as "beach sand" all along the banks, and have a large number of people playing and fishing in them. As we crossed our second river of the day we started to change to a forest, and then quickly to what we thought was farm land. Well, we were partially right - in some of the fields they were growing rice, while the flooded fields were crawfish breeding grounds. A very different sight for all of us.

We were about 6 miles out of Mamou when we turned North, right into the wind! We followed the road and were amazed at the number of dead turtles we found on this stretch of road. We passed a rather large turtle who had made it to the double yellow line, and we were concerned for its safe trip, not concerned enough to stop with the headwinds beating us. When we turned one more corner the wind was at our back again, we stopped for pictures and all decided we could not live with ourselves if the turtle died. So what did we do you ask? We went back to help the turtle, 1.26 miles we went back knowing we would again have to face the headwinds. And when we got to the spot where the turtle was;(yes I said was) we could no longer find it. So heres what we figured ---
1) It had made it across safely(yeah right)
2) Someone stopped and helped it across(not likely)
or 3) Someone brought it home for soup(there was absolutely no sign of it anywhere!)
We can let everyone pick their own ending on that one.

Facing the headwind we headed for town and a well deserved rest. Emilio stayed at the hotel in town, Karman, myself and Ron all headed for the RV park. Big mistake - it was a run down dive that did not even have showers! We too went back to the hotel for the evening. We showered and were off to find dinner. This turned into a nearly 2 mile walk across town, to David and Lori's kitchen. Good food at a good price. I had the country fried steak while the others tried the fried fish basket and salad. We were full and tired, so it was back to the hotel for a good nights rest.

The Garmin Information for today is as follows:

Day 39 DeRidder to Mamou by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-26T23:03:00.002-04:00

Day 38
Silsbee, Tx. to DeRidder, La.

We were camped at the Red Cloud Rv Park last night, and as luck would have it, so was the group from Adventure Cycling. We talked some last night and this morning before we headed out for the day. There are some amazing people with amazing stories in their group, from a mother son team doing the crossing to the man with double cochlear implants. It was awesome to meet and talk with them all. We stopped at a local Walmart for breakfast(McDonald's in the store). Emilio set out already and is going to wait for us in Buna.

The roads today are starting out well, we are on Rt 96, and it has a nice surface and wide shoulders. We made good time to Buna - about an hour where we met up with Emilio and Adventure Cyclings group. We rode together for a while and soon found only a couple of riders ahead of us. The wind was blowing at us so Emilio, Karman and I decide to try a pace line to get through the day. We each stayed in front for a mile, then moved to the back. In no time we had caught and passed all the riders and found ourselves 6 miles from Merryville, and at the restaurant we were looking for to eat lunch.

The riders we passed arrived within minutes and we all sat and had an extended lunch, and got to learn a little more about each other. I was able to explain the "semicolons) theme of the ride and the causes I am riding for. I handed out cards for all to look over and we all exchanged information, as they were all staying in Merryville while the three of us were heading to DeRidder since we were doing so good timewise.

We ate and headed for the border....the Louisiana border. Finally a new state. Texas officially took up 1/3 of the entire trip. I have as much left to go as I travelled in Texas, thats a big state!

Arrived in DeRidder, La. and found the campsite for the night. The Manager was not there, he had gone to get supplies for a workman on site, rather than wait, we headed with a couple of others to an RV Park listed on the older Adventure Cycling maps....Pleasant Hill RV Park. When we arrived we found the cutest little Rv park, complete with TeePees that sleep 2 with air conditioning and tv(they are really made of wood), to a little western town looking building that has 2 showers a bunk room,laundry facility, kitchen(2 sinks, pots and pans, and refrigerator) Cable TV, and WiFi throughout the park. I would recommend this over all others in the area that we saw!!!!
Jennifer (the on site manager) and her daughter Lilly are the best hostesses, and make you feel very welcome. They love bicyclists and even have a scrapbook of many visiting bicyclists form over the years!

As the days go on I am finalizing my arrival into the New Orleans area. As I get more concrete date I will post for all to see. The way points are changing a little as I go and find I am able to travel farther, but I remain on the Adventure Cycling route until DDW in New Orleans. Then I will again head towards the route and continue to St. Augustine, Fla.

18 days to go until St Augustin, Fla!!

Todays Garmin information is as follows:

Day 38 Silsbee, Tx. to DeRidder, La. by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-25T22:53:00.005-04:00

Day 37
Double Lake National Park to Silsbee, Tx

Whomever told me that it is flat here was definitely pulling my leg!
We still have some hills to contend with, granted they are not as bad or as frequent, but, they are hills just the same!

Karman and I set out from our campsites, after one more stroll down to the dock on the lake at the end of our sites. The view was awesome and very relaxing, but we had to leave to meet Emilio in Shepherd. When we got to town we found we went right by his motel and did not even realize it. When we stopped it was at a donut shop at the corner of SR 150 and route 59, so we stopped for some coffee and donuts. While we were there George Reed happened upon us. It seems that George has been leapfrogging Emilio and Karman for a while now. We were introduced and George explained that his trip is being cut short. He has friends on the way to pick him up and bring him back to Illinois. It seems he has a close friend back home who is not doing well, suffering from Stage IV colon cancer. I told him about the ride and that I would now be riding for his friend as well. He rode with us the rest of the day until Kountze where he was to meet his friends.

We were still in the Sam Houston National Forest and it was quite amazing to ride through. The forest was thick and very alive with many birds and animals running around. It was amazing to listen and actually hear the animals in the distance.

We hit the road with George and finally found Emilio just past Romayor. We decide to stop for lunch in Votaw, but when we got there food was off the route some so we opted for Honey Island. When we arrived we found a real general store still in operation, it was modern, but it was a true general store! One of the people having lunch had just finished, went to the counter to pay and bought two bags of corn while he was there! they sold everything from hardware, seeds, feed for animals, to food for us, and it was very good!

After filling ourselves up, we hit the road only to find one of the longest most desolate stretches of road I have ever been on. It seemed to be an extremely long slow uphill (gradual, but uphill just the same)that never ended. There were sections of the forest on the side of the road that had been clearcut, and looked very strange with the surrounding of the remaining forest. We arrived at Kountze and said our goodbyes to George, wished he and his friend well and were on our way for the last 10 miles to Silsbee.

We arrived in town and Emilio decided to stay at a motel so we said good bye until morning and Karman and I went off to the campground. Karman found many familiar faces there, as he explained he has been also leapfrogging a lot with a group from Adventure Cycling, doing the same trip!

He introduced me to many people (there are 14 I think in total), we sat and exchanged stories for a bit. We set up camp, showered, relaxed a little then it was off to bed for a good night's rest!

The Garmin information for today is as follows:

Day 37 Double Lake State Park to Silsbee by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-25T20:25:00.002-04:00

Day 36
Navasota to Double Lake National Park

Last night I stayed at the Navasota Fire Department, I set up my tent in the back yard next to their training building. The weather reports were not promising, severe storms possible by morning. After a while I decided it would be best to be a little better protected in case the storms hit, so I moved my tent around the corner to the area that had a wood deck over it. I was about to start doing some catch up on the computer, when the Assistant Chief, his wife, and young daughter drove up to check on me.
We got to talking and he said the Chief had asked him to offer me the upstairs training room to sleep in for the night, with the threat of weather moving in I accepted. I tore down my camp and brought it inside and repacked my bags for the morning. I caught up on my blogging and talked to Tammy (my wife) while she was on her way back to Irving (she had an early morning flight back home). She drove through much of the severe weather that was in the area, and about that time the local news was reporting a Tornado watch for my area until 6 am.
When I awoke at 6:30 am I was amazed to find we did not even get a drop of rain! I got up went downstairs to talk to the chief and day crew before I left; they were very kind and gave me a T-shirt to remember them by. I took some photos of them and of the statue in front of the building and was on my way.
I rode to McDonald’s where I grabbed a quick bite to eat, and was greeted by two fellow cyclist who were “going my way”. Lee and Karman sat and talked with me and they went on their way while I finished eating. Once on the road, I found the rolling hills of the hill country were still among us, but with less frequency. I approached my first change of roads and as surprised to find I had caught up to Karman, Karman is from Vancouver riding the same route. We started down the road together but he quickly was ahead of me and I was only keeping pace with him and not catching him so I slowed down to enjoy the day.
I rode a couple of miles and found Karman on the side of the road with a flat; I pulled over and helped him change it. We were soon met by7 or 8 people out for a day ride together, they stopped to render assistance if needed, we talked for a few minutes and they were again on their way. As Karman was just about finished we were met by another rider doing the southern tier route, his name is Emilio, from Italy who is now living in Brussels. Emilio, Karman, and I all headed out together.
We rode and talked and before we knew it we had gone some 50 miles and were in New Waverly, Tx., and it was lunch time. We grabbed a quick lunch and hit the road for our final destinations, Karman and I to Double Lake National Park and Emilio to Shepherd to a motel for the night, with a group from Adventure Cycling.
When we got to Pumpkin/Evergreen the fire station was open with a lot of activity. It seems they are doing some renovations. I had to stop to see if they had patches, and they did! I traded a patch with the Chief who was working on the station with about 8 or ten people, And myself, Emilio, and Karman all took pictures and were again on our way.
Karman and I set out to find the grocery store in Cold Spring to get some food for the night, and headed to the park where we set up our camp sites and sat by the lake to relax. After we showered and ate we had a cup of coffee and turned in for a good night’s rest.
What an awesome end to a great day!!!!

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 37 Double Lake State Park to Silsbee by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-24T01:28:00.002-04:00

Day 34
Brenham to Navasota

Like I explained yesterday - I didn't really ride quite all the way to Brenham, I was 9 miles short. I started at the same spot I left off with yesterday (right next to this cute little camper I wanted to buy on route 290). Today was a bit overcast but not to hot - a perfect riding day! I rode into Brenham historic district to meet Tammy for lunch - and rode right through without ever seeing her. I was about half a mile from the Blue Bell creamery when I called her. I ended up riding back about a mile and stopped in town for lunch at Funky Art Cafe & Coffee Bar.

When we finished lunch, I rode down to blue Bell and met Tammy to go for the tour. It was really fun and the ice cream sample at the end made my day!!!! I had looked forward to the tour for several weeks now and was not disappointed. Now if we can only get them to sell it in Connecticut I will be all set. It was interesting to find out they are the third largest ice cream company in the country and they only sell it in 19 states - yes it is that good. And when you buy a half gallon of their ice cream, it is still two quarts - a REAL HALF GALLON!!!!!!

After the tour I set out for Navasota, it was starting to rain, so I tried to speed it up a bit. It never more that drizzled so it felt refreshing as I rode. The hills did eventually let up and get easier as I approached Navasota. Once in town I rode to the Firehouse to get a patch and find out if it would be possible to stay on their property Friday night so I can start fresh Saturday morning. The Chief found a patch for me, and showed me where he lets the cyclists passing through stay. Awesome a safe place for the night - mission accomplished.

They are VERY bicycle friendly at the firehouse here, so if you know someone crazy enough to do this (cross country bicycling)- have them stay the night here if they need it!

The garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 34 Brenham to Navasota by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-24T00:41:00.005-04:00

Day 33

Bastrop State Park to Brenham

OK I get it already - Hill country - Today was full of more rolling hills, you get to the top of one and there is a triple hill coming that is just a little higher than you started. If not for a bit of a headwind, it would have been a great ride down the first hill and most of the way up the next. Not today, I had to work a little for it!

The weather was bright and sunny and hit 85 degrees for the first time in a while, it was nice to have the sun again, to dry me out. The Bluebonnets down in this area are about at peak and I could see many fields of them in full bloom, it is quite beautiful to see. If you ever get a chance to come to Texas, try to make it for this time of the year and check out the Bluebonnets (The Texas State Flower).

I rode out today with my wife Tammy following me for the next couple of days, as this is her vacation time( not much of a vacation following me on my bike), we are staying in Bastrop State Park, and riding out each day to stay on schedule and going back to the park each evening. Today I stopped just short of Brenham (home of Blue Bell ice cream), so that tomorrow I can ride into Brenham have lunch with Tammy, and go take the tour of Blue Bell Creamery. (can you tell I like Blue Bell ice cream?)

The ride was nice and scenic with the Blue Bonnets along the way, the only downfall for the day - chip seal roadways - over simplifying it, Oil and rock rolled on the ground to extend the life of road surfaces. Extremely bumpy and rough on the seat!!!

As I stated earlier I stopped short of Brenham, packed the bike in the SUV, and was off to the Oasis at LAke Travis for a sunset dinner. If you have not been there - look it up and go (Beautiful sunset views) if you have been there I don't have to say any more - you already know!!!!

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 33 Bastrop State Park to Brenham by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

The more things change . . . .

2010-04-23T07:31:00.002-04:00

Greetings from the viewing stands! I'm finally updating you all now that I have far more concrete information about what is to come for me in this endeavor.

As you all know, I left the route with a severe case of bronchitis that just did not want to get better. I pedaled 3 days with a head cold and 3 days with bronchitis - - and oddly enough, felt great while pedaling. (It only hurt to breathe when I stopped, which seemed kind of odd.)

I knew I was sick, and I knew I needed to rest for an extended period. Thus, I came off the route and home to New York to figure out what was next. As the bronchitis cleared (through a combination of rest and prescriptions), I felt like I could start training to hopefully rejoin the ride from New Orleans to Florida. Unfortunately, on an easy training ride over flat terrain in ideal weather, I discovered that I was in a major, major asthma flare - only the second I have ever had since developing mild asthma in my early 20s. Things went downhill since that easy little ride, and it became clear that I would not be able to train back to the level at which Todd is riding given that he now has 1,500 continuous miles under his belt. In fact, right now, any riding at all is a problem.

I started this project knowing that I risked physical harm - - whenever one gets onto a bicycle, one faces all manner of health and safety risks. I planned for the best, trained hard, and happily accepted those risks in order to fulfill a dream of riding cross-country self-contained. When I got sick, I re-evaluated those risks and, heartbreakingly, I have realized that "risk of harm" has turned to "certainty of harm" given all of the circumstances.

It's going to be a long-ish road back to full lung function. By late May, I hope to be ready to start training for Get Your Guts in Gear's Seattle Ride. For now, I am going on walks and trying to reintroduce shades of cardio activity into my life. I'll get back on my bike, of course. Just not in time to ride into St. Augustine on May 14th.

It's completely heartbreaking. I know for certain that there are some folks out there who are deeply disappointed, and I do not blame you. I, too, am deeply disappointed. This is not how this was supposed to be!

However, it's still true that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And the one thing that seems inevitable is that plans change, and one must constantly adjust.

And so we adjust.

As I wrote initially when I got sick, this is not unlike experiencing a Crohn's flare. You evaluate, adjust, and figure out how to deal with the changes to your health and to your life. It's not "fair" in the way that we'd like things to be fair, but living with a chronic illness never is. We just have to figure out how to meet the new situation.

I will be onsite in New Orleans as Todd arrives at our previously-scheduled visit to Digestive Disease Week - - a gigantic conference of gastroenterologists, and we will hopefully garner additional media attention at that venue. But for the spaces in between, it would be great to have additional folks out there with IBD, ostomies, or CRC. If any of these conditions has touched you or your family (and especially if you are able to speak as someone affected by IBD as a patient, family member, or other caregiver), and you are in East Texas, southern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, or northern Florida, please get in touch with us so we can get you and your bike on the road with Todd!

Many of you have sent me messages of concern and support. Thank you. I'm gonna be fine; you don't need to worry about that. I recognize the difference between taking a risk and ignoring certainty. That said, here is what we DO need: please continue to support Todd while he and his dad continue their cross-country odyssey, and please continue to support our larger mission for Crohn's, colitis, colorectal cancer, and ostomies, either onsite or from afar.

As always, thank you for reading & following. Now back to the regularly-scheduled awareness- and fund-raising!

- Jay

2010-04-19T22:30:00.005-04:00

Day 31
Lampasas to Austin

I seem to be finding an unusually uncommon theme for the weather lately. Am I still in Texas? The common theme here as of late is COLD. It has not even hit the 70's in days now. I have had to wear long pants, jacket, and full gloves just to start the day. I really miss those awesome Texas sunsets, and all the stars in the sky at night.

At least it is not raining today! I started late in hopes of a last minute possibilty of a meeting, but that was not possible today. So its off to Austin where I may be able to make a couple connections.

The roads today picked up where I left off yesterday, lots, and lots of rolling hills. I did finally see more Bluebonnets today along with a lot of colors along the roadside, unfortunately there is not much more to the day than that. I rode until traffic became a problem, this was in the Jollyville/Anderson Mill area. There were no bike lanes and I was on a 3 lane road alongside the highway and both were very busy, so I pulled into a parking lot and called it a day.

Finding a place to stay was very difficult, there are no RV parks nearby, and there is a convention in the area. We were forced all the way back to Cedar Park!!

The Garmin information is as follows:

Day 31 Lampasas to Austin by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-17T23:44:00.004-04:00

Day 30
Hico to Lampasas

Today started much like yesterday, dark, dreary and wet. We decided (my dad and I) to go to the Koffee Kup for breakfast- this was a recommendation from several people. We were not disappointed, the food and service were both awesome. While checking out the owners could not believe I was about to head out on my bike on a day like this. I told them I had ridden in from Weatherford the day before. They then agreed with me that today was not so bad. They asked about the ride, and so I talked with them for a short while and explained what the ride is about, gave them some information, (asked them to check it out and follow) and was again on my way.
Today it was easy to find my way, we got on highway 281(the American Legion Memorial Highway) and followed it all the way to Lampasas. The rain stopped within a half an hour leaving Hico, so I stopped and changed out of my rain gear and into my long pants and jacket.

All I can say about the terrain today is – “Welcome to Texas Hill Country!!!” The roads are a roller coaster of hills, nothing really too steep, just lots of them. I managed the worst of the hills pretty easily as I rolled toward Lampasas. I was hoping to see lots of Bluebonnets today and was disappointed that I did not get to see lots of fields full of them. I did stop at one field that had a lot of bluebonnets later in the day and took a picture….the one you see above… when you have that many Bluebonnets they are quite beautiful.

The traffic today was quite heavy in both directions; there were a large number of campers traveling in both directions, as well as a lot of motorcycles too. I could not help but wonder what the large amount of both were for or where they were off too or coming from, is it possible that the Bluebonnet are that much of a draw? They say this about peak for them and in the areas surrounding us, and there are supposed to be awesome fields full of them – we will see what tomorrow brings as far as that goes.

We are staying overnight at a home my father-in-law is renovating in the area, so we had to wait for him to arrive and show us exactly how to get to the property (it was only 20 minutes or so). As he arrived to guide us in, my family came driving up as well to surprise me with a visit. They were in Abilene and weather postponed my daughters’ softball game so they took a road trip to visit for a while.
Before they left for the evening we went into town and had dinner, Bar-B-Q, at the firehouse@@@@@@. I had the two meat platter-Sausage and brisket with beans and potato salad. It was the first Bar-B-Q I have had since getting to Texas, and it was GOOD!
We went back to the house said our goodbyes and I showered and went to bed for a good night’s rest.

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 30 Hico to Lampasas by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-16T10:15:00.004-04:00

Day 29
Weatherford to Hico

Ok it was back to the bike after a few days off. The weather did not cooperate at all, it was raining all night and wasn't letting up. The drive to Weatherford was long and dreary, I was hoping the rain would let up by the time we arrived. This was not the case, so we started the day with a cup of coffee, at the local Waffle House, when we were done the weather had not changed any. We went to a hotel accross the street and used the cover of their enrty way.

I donned my rain gear and finally hit the road. I did not get to see much in the way of colors, or sights as I was looking down most of the day to keep therain out of my face. The rain was unrelenting all day, but thankfully the traffic was very light on most of the roads. I pushed myself harder than usual just to try and finish as soon as possible, warm up and rest for a better day tomorrow!!(I hope)

As I arrived in Hico for the evening, the skies began to clear and the rain stopped -just my luck - I am done for the day and the rain finally stops. Took my shower to warm up get dry clothes on and went for a bite to eat and to explore the town. We went to the Billy The Kid statue and walked around to check out the town before stopping for dinner. Dad and I both had the Chicken fried steak at Jersey Lillys, and it was very good.

One last thing before going to sleep - the local laudry mat to dry my shoes a little for tomorrow. Mixed reports for tomorrow but maybe a little more rain.....Lets hope not!

The garmin information for today is as follows:

Day 27 Weatherford to Hico by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-14T17:47:00.006-04:00

Day 27
awareness and meetings dfw area

Had a meeting kind of set up with Kathleen Reaves, but we had a miscomunication with phones and I missed the opportunity to meet her - Kathleen I am so sorry we missed each other!

I did meet with Mike Kimbrough, ( I stayed at his parents home in Ranger), we had lunch and talked about our stories and the similarities. Mike is very sure of where he wants to be in the future and how he intends to get there - Mike - I have no doubts that you will win. I am looking forward to The Hotter that hell 100 in Texas next year! (Mike wants to ride it next year, and I told him if he rides I will meet him and ride with him!)

It was nice to hear someone else who thinks like me and refreshing to see his tenacity. Mike you are an inspiration, keep up the good attitude and don't let anything hold you back.

2010-04-14T17:46:00.009-04:00

Day 25
Ranger to Weatherford

Before we left Ranger this morning the Kimbroughs' were determined to make sure we were fed well(again!) We had a wonderful breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast with home made Peach jam. I was stuffed and did not know how I would sit on the bike and ride eating so much, but I climbed on the bike, thanked our hosts and wished them a good day.

Heading East again along the I-20 access roads, there was a bit of a head wind, the road ways and medians were all starting to get big bunches of flowers blooming, the colors were starting to get more vivid. It was much hillier than I expected but ultimately it was downhill. I went below 1000 ft. of elevation for the first time in weeks!

Had to ride on the highway several times, as the access roads just stop at certain points. It was one of these quick jaunts on the highway that produced my 3rd flat - a rear flat this time. I changed this in quick time and was again on the road.

A friend of my dads' happened upon us at the exit back to the access road, so we stopped and talked. As we were talking I realized my tire had a slow leak,(this was a tire I patched last week), we were near the end of the day so I just pumped up the tire and went on to Weatherford.

Arriving in Weatherford we pulled off the road to the tuckstop and loaded the bike for the ride to DFW metroplex area. We started down the road, and received a call from my dads friend (Ed Hernandes), it seemms he went to his local bikeshop and was picking up his own bike when he mentioned me and the ride and my situation with tires and tubes. He said to meet him at the bikeshop in Hurst,(Bicycles, Inc.)and they could help me out.

Help me they did with tubes, lube, patch kits, and a water bottle -- you guys are awesome. Rick shared with me that he had lost a daughter to Leukemia, and was appreciative of what I was doing.

After leaving the bike shop we made our way to Irving, our destination for the next couple of evenings. This was only the beginning of my eveneing though - It seems my wife (Tammy) had found a way to keep our original plans in place and flew in without my knowledge, and surprised me at my inlaws home. This is to be the only vacation time I will have with my family since I will have a lot of paybacks to take care of this summer.

A real big thank you yo my wife for her help and support throughout my journey, the countless hours of talking, supporting, routing and reservations.

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 23 Ranger to Weatherford by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-14T17:45:00.017-04:00

Day 24
Abilene to Ranger

Today is exciting and very sad at the same time, as I ride out of Abilene away from our daughters and son we don't get to see often, I am sad and do not feel like moving on. I do on the other hand have new friends to meet today in Ranger, which has helped to get me back on the bike.

But first things first----I had to pick up my bike from Bike World. I can not give them enough of a thank you for the tune up they performed on the bike. I brought it in with 1,500 miles on it with nothing more than a cleaning of the chain on the first day being done to it. The shifter picked up a phantom shift and was dirty and noisy. Gary cleaned, tightened, and torqued everything back to new. The cassette had loosened up, the non drive side spokes were loose, and it was filthy. Gary--you did such a good job I was bored and did not even have the sounds of the pedals turning to break the monotony of parts of the day, but thank you for a job well done!!!!

A member of the Colon Club message boards read my call that I posted back on April 7th, to meet others in my travels, and responded that his parents live in Ranger and he set it up so that My dad and I were able to stay with them for the evening.

The road to Abilene was again along the access roads of I-20, but this is starting to get prettier form the aspect of flowers. The bluebonnets are coming out and are beautiful, along with Indian Paintbrush, and so many more colors all along the way.

When I arrived (after riding 3 extra miles because I missed a turn) I was pretty tired, We introduced ourselves to the Kimbroughs', and were invited into their home. I have to comment here a little about their home it is a bit unusual but beautiful just the same. Their house is an old Chevrolet dealership that went defunct in 1968, they have purchased this bowstring truss roofed building and built a beautiful apartment into what was originally the parts room and Showroom. The Kimbroughs live with their dog Thomas who was quite a bit of fun. The garage area that surrounds their apartment is where the stove, smoker, workshop, extra bathroom and a whole lot of storage is. They can cook all day and never heat up their apartment - very ingenious, and effective.

We were treated to a wonderful Lasagna dinner, and then treated to a bit of history of the area. It seems that Ranger, back in 1918 - 1919 was quite the oil boom town of some 30,000 people. They had every car dealership known at the time, and if you did not get a parking spot on main street you had to walk quite the distance to be on main street at night. The Kimbroughs owned the truck stop in town at one time, and then the local diner for some 20 years, so when I tell you the food was good you can rest assured it was GOOD!

After a while we got to talking about Mike, Mike is a stage IV colon cancer survivor from the colon club. I was amazed to hear his story as it seemed to be similar to my story and he had the same attitude I had and then some! Mike never believed anything but survival and made sure to tell his doctors this very quickly. His story is different than mine in that he has had more extensive liver involvement than I had, but has persevered through over a year of chemo now and is currently 16 months past his diagnosis date!( I did meet mike, but I will talk about that in another post)

I felt good knowing that I can be at his parents home and show them that stage IV is not always terminal....There is hope. Sometimes people just need to see it for themselves to believe it.
We were offered a place to sleep for the night in a beautiful 1984 travel trailer in the garage, we soon turned in a had a wonderful nights rest.

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 22 Abilene to Ranger by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-14T17:44:00.004-04:00

Day 21
Lake Colorado City State Park to Abilene

Leaving the park this morning we had to wait for the gate to be unlocked, then we continued onto the access roads of I-20, and right away we were in the middle of the windmill farms that we were on the edge of yesterday.

After passing the windmills, finally, I started passing old cotton farmlands with cotton from last years crop on the ground still. The road passed under the highway and there were several caged carts full of what appeared to be last years cotton, just sitting around.

I was trying to make good time today as the Firefighters from Abilene were to meet me in Trent and ride the balance of the day to Abilene with me. Of course the wind gods had other plans, I was heading East - guess which way the winds were heading?? East/Southeast all day!! I was still able to manage some decent times, and at lunchtime I was in Sweetwater. I had my first whataburger, and was impressed at the service they provide, and the burger was good as well.

After lunch I stopped at the Sweetwater fire department and traded patches with them, I was able to give them their first patch from Connecticut, for their patch wall! Time was still ticking and I was to be 15 miles away in about an hour, that was a little tight time wise. I called Kevin Johnson (Local 1044 President) to let him know I was running a little late. It seems they had a later start than anticipated as well, sounds like we will both be there around the same time still!

I pedaled until I finally arr rived at the new school in Trent, and as I arrived the group of six firefighters had just left to come down the road to meet me. We pulled into the school for a moment, I was introduced to the firefighters, I am sorry to say I am terrible with names and cannot remember them all. I will get their names to be posted.

They were 6 strong and myself when we set out for Abilene, 25 miles left for the day. It was a nice ride, I shifted from front to back to talk with the firefighters as we rode, it made the last 25 miles pass very quickly. When we arrived in Tye one of the firefighters looked up and said, "I think your kids are up there", and when I looked my daughters Adrianne, and Kristin along with Adriannes' boyfriend Daniel were there to ride the last 8 miles with me as well.

I was overwhelmed and excited to have such support and encouragement. We stopped at the Sam's club parking lot where we were met by the press, 2 TV stations, the Abilene newspaper, a MetroCares Ambulance, and a fire engine from Abilene Station 1, to welcome us and follow us to station 1 for refreshments. Sam's club donated some Gatorade, water, and ice for us to rehydrate while talking to the press and winding down.

Kevin Johnson found the local bike shop - Bike World - who was willing to work with me to get the Long Haul Trucker tuned up and cleaned up, to continue the rest of the trip.

Thank you Kevin, Local 1044 firefighters, Bike World, MetroCares Ambulance (David Bulloch, and Samantha Keck), and all the Abilene press willing to help spread our words of awareness!!!

The garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 21 Lake Colorado City State park to Abilene by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-14T17:43:00.004-04:00

Day 20
Midland to Lake Colorado City State park

Hitting the road this morning was very touching, for the first time I had some family ride with me... it was only a few blocks but it was an awesome feeling! After hitting the roadways it was back to I-20 and the access roads it offered. It was a very rural ride today, and was able to see some unusual things on this day.

My dad (Mike) has been leapfrogging around me everyday carrying my bags and extra water bottles. Sitting in the car (probably bored out of his mind watching me ride by every 30 minutes or so). This day was a day that he could truly enjoy, we ran across several small Salvage yards?(I don't care to call them junk yards), that have awesome selections of old cars available to purchase. One of these was a yard with 35-40 1955,1956,and 1957 Chevrolets. And several private yards with old cars for sale. My dad enjoying cars as he does (especially his 1935 Ford, back home in Denver), was enjoying the sights and the occasional conversation with the owners. It was good to see him having some fun on this otherwise monotonous following of my riding. THANK YOU DAD!!!!

After seeing some of the cars and stopping to see some myself (I am a huge fan of 1965-1966 Mustangs, and got to see some of those as well!), I was chased by my first loose dog. Thank goodness I had my pepper spray - it did the trick - a little hit it's nose and back home he went!

The next biggest thing I found is the windmills, lots and lots, and lots of windmills. It is amazing that those huge things can be turned by the smallest of breezes, not a problem today as I had 10 - 15 MPH cross/head winds. It is amazing how many of them are out there on that ridge. It does make for cool viewing a night as you look from a distance and see all the red lights blinking.

Other that the wind mills and cars the only other notable thing this day was the FINA refinery in Big Spring,TX. It is quite the site to behold, i have never seen a working refinery before, and was amazed at the size of a working refinery, it has been in operation over 80 tears and gets its raw fuel from the Gulf of Mexico and puts out 4 million tons of fuel products and asphalt a year, so I guess they do it pretty big in Texas!!!!

We ended the day at Lake Colorado City State park, a little off the beaten path but a very nice park.

Instead of ending the blog here, I get to share a little about the State park.... We were camped next to a camper from New Hampshire, (neighbors, since I am from Connecticut). We met and talked to Jean Everson and Dick Spurr, in the camper and told the story of our ride and mission, and we shared stories from the road as well.
We turned in for the night and got a much needed good nights sleep.

The Garmin Information for the day is as follows:

Day 20 Midland to Lake Colorado City State park by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-14T16:41:00.005-04:00

Day 19
Pecos to Midland

0
It was good to get back on the bike today, the day of rest was good and I have a long ride ahead of me today. Today's destination Midland to stay with a distant cousin that I have not seen since I was in 20+ years.

Today's ride parallels I-20 and I am told that there are a few hills that I must contend with. I headed out and was quickly met by the smell of oil. I did not realise how many oil wells were actually along side these highways. As I rode I started thinking why they call it light sweet crude, it really did have a sorta sweet odor, but it wasn't very pleasant just the same. As I was riding along I was also quickly reminded that I was near railroad tracks. I was passed by 6 trains in the first hour of riding, being the big kid that I am and loving trains as I do it was fun waving at the trains to see how many I could get to sound their horns. It was quite amusing and took my mind off an otherwise monotonous section of road.

We pulled into Pyote, TX and found a little diner for breakfast. As luck would have it they were not longer serving breakfast but the special today was chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed vegetables, sweet tea, and German chocolate cake for $8.95. What a deal and IT WAS GOOD! While we were eating I was approached by another customer of the diner and asked where I was headed to on the bike. I explained I was headed to Florida and started in San Diego on a fundraising awareness bike ride for Crohn's Colitis, Colorectal Cancer and Ostomies. The man (Paul Tucker) said he was an avid cyclist who rides frequently in the Midland area and was amazed at the ride I was undertaking. We talked for a while and as we got up to pay our bill, he came up and told us not to worry he had us covered and would not allow us to pay. It has been amazing to me the outpouring of support from complete strangers such as this who are willing to help in any way they can even if it is just to buy lunch. I believe this "grass roots" effort to spread awareness is by far the best way to get our voices heard. It is these so called little people that will get the word out far more effectively than the mass publications can ever do. These are the people whose lives have been touched by everything that we are riding for.

Thank you very much to Paul Tucker of TORQUED-UP Energy Services for the kindness you showed us today!

After lunch we again hit the road. Before long we found ourselves in Odessa. In Odessa we peaked at 3137 feet for the day. I do not know if this is where we happened to come into town but Odessa is not what I was expecting. We were met by long lines of cars and trucks with trailers trying to bring their scrap to the scrap yards and there were a number of scrap yards in this town. It was scrap yard lane for a good mile. Finally, what I was expecting appeared. A bustling town with store fronts and business. I happened across the Central Fire station and had to stop for a patch. I went inside, explained who I was and what I was doing and the secretary handed me a patch and took one of mine in return for their collection. she offered me a tour of the station and took me to a room where a couple of guys were on light duty and asked on of them to give me the grand tour. I was treated to a tour of the station that is only 8 months old and it was quite modern and very well laid out. It was kind of funny to see a partial slide pole sitting on the apparatus floor, that they still had to show the probies and tours of kids what it was like in the old days with fire poles. I said thank you and again I was on the road for the last 15 miles to Midland.

The last 15 miles to Midland by this time of day (4pm) on business loop 20 was very busy and congested. Riding with traffic was getting very difficult and at times aggravating. I did not get a break in the traffic until we hit the residential streets of Midland where I was to rest for the evening.

I arrived around 5pm and looked at the garmin and realised that today was the longest ride I have had to date. 94.64 miles. With that we pulled in, parked the bike and rested for the evening.

The garmin information for today is as follows:

Day 19 Pecos to Midland by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-11T10:43:00.002-04:00

Day 18
Guadalupe Mountains National Park to Pecos

Today was very difficult for me, after making such a big climb yesterday, I was really looking forward to the down hill today. The winds this morning have only gotten worse, we stopped at the visitor center to look at the weather station. My dad (Mike) and I were amazed at numbers we were seeing before our eyes, 35-40 MPH sustained winds and the high gust so far this morning was 75 MPH! All this at 8:00am!!

I made the decision to pack up the bike and drive it to Pecos, and if along the way the winds were better I would ride the balance of the day from that point. Needless to say the winds were no better until that evening. So I had to endure a car ride over the route I was supposed to ride, this was more disappointing to me than you can possibly know. I was not ready to risk the ride to try and make an extremely windy day.

Arriving in Pecos was very different than I was expecting, I thought it was a much bigger city than it actually is. The signs welcoming you to town say "Pecos..Home of the worlds first rodeo". We did find a Laundromat to do some laundry, after much searching, and began searching out our options for food.. there did not seem to be many of those.

We stayed in a motel this day to try and get some sleep, which was much needed at this point. Driving around town we finally happened across a restaurant called terrazzos (I think that's the spelling). They actually had a very good Mexican menu, the chips were warm and fresh, and the salsa was awesome!

After dinner I returned to our room to repack clothes wash my water bottles, make up more Gatorade and get ready for tomorrow. Finally we were able to get a good nights rest!

No Garmin data today....more for tomorrows ride!

2010-04-10T22:53:00.004-04:00

Day 17
Hueco Tanks State Park to Guadalupe Mountains National Park

I left Hueco Tanks State Park when the gate opened at 8:00 am, I got back onto rt 62/180 and headed for Guadalupe Mountains National park. The ride started with some fairly easy hills and slowly got to a high point for the day of 5,394 ft. from there I rode down the road to Cornudas, Tx - about the halfway point of the day. This is where we found an oasis of sorts in the middle of nowhere, Mays Cafe.

My dad and I stopped for lunch here and were very surprised to find a very nice restaurant with a gift shop. The food was awesome, I had the Cornudas burger... a burger with the works including green chili's... it was out of this world good!!! Dad had a club sandwich which looked equally appetizing. I tried the onion rings while he had chips, theses were potatoes cut into ribbons and deep fried, both were very good. The decor was amazing, the table legs were dressed in jean pant legs and boots. The sign in back of the counter said "Cornudas,Texas..population 5 plus one dog", and when you are there you can't help but believe it's true! If you ever happen to be Near Cornudas you must stop in.

From there I rode to the low point of the day - 3,617 ft. in Salt Flat, and yes it looks just like it sounds, very flat and white for miles around! I thought the worst climb for the day was behind me, but I could not have been more wrong, the last 15 miles ended up being a 2,207 ft climb into Guadalupe Mountain National Park, with a headwind trying to keep me from my finish. I arrived and set up camp in stronger winds than I had while riding, the winds were so strong I had to put rocks on the edge of the tent to keep it from blowing over (after chasing it down the hills into the cacti once fist!). After camp was set up I set out to make dinner....dehydrated spaghetti. It was actually pretty good, I split it with my father and turned in for the night.

Normally I would end my blog post here, but not this time, this was a night of absolutely no sleep. You could hear the wind howl over the top of the mountains and within moments it would hit my tent. Every time the wind gusts came down the canyon the tent would buckle and lay flat on top of me, for the first time in my life I wished I was 40-50 pounds heavier, I really thought I was going to be blown away. Not only did I have my weight and all my equipment in the tent, but I also had 6 large rocks on the outside helping to hold the tent in place! The night consisted of pushing the tent back upright every couple of minutes so that I did not roll or blow away. I hope to never have to experience that again!!

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:(and remember you can hit play and see speeds and elevations as they relate to the map!)

Day 17 Hueco Tanks State Park to Guadalupe Mountains National Park by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-10T20:05:00.002-04:00

Day 16
Las Cruces,NM to Hueco Tanks State Park,Tx

Happy Easter!! form Las Cruces - meaning "The Crosses" how fitting for Easter Sunday!

Started today with a sighting of the Easter Bunny, a little cottontail in the next campsite. My father knew thre were a couple of small kids camping accross the way so he went and told their dad to have them come over and see the bunny. The two little girls were aglow with the sight of a bunny on Easter--what a way to start a day.

I had recieved word late yesterday from a news station that they were interested in doing an interview with me along the way near El Paso. So I headed out for the day to make El Paso as soon as possible to spread our story and awareness. The day started much like yesterday ended... lots of Pecan trees, I did not realize how many groves of trees were in this area.

Within a few hours I had crossed into Texas, that makes 4 states, 3 timezones, 2 Adventure Cycling maps completed to date. Texas is a milestone as it makes up 1/3 of the entire trip in one state. As I rode on towards our destination (Hueco Tanks State Park, I passed the largest collection of junk yards, possibly in the world, just a town full of them! The road turned a little steeper and signs appeared for the park, when we arrived, I was amazed to find we would be locked in a 6:00pm and the gates would not reopen until 8:00 am.

We got to the office to check in to find this is a working geological site that has indian paintings on the rocks and artifacts throughout the park. We were requiored to watch a 15 minute video about the park, it's boundaries, and the do's and don'ts. It was a basic history and very interesting and informative. Check out a link to the park if you are interested here---http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/hueco_tanks/

I set up camp and went picture taking, the flowers, animals and the beautiful Texas sunset.

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 16 Las Cruces to Hueco Tanks State Park by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-10T19:10:00.002-04:00

Day 15
Truth or Consequences,NM to Las Cruces,NM

Leaving T or C (thats what the locals call it) we headed out and quickly learned that they do not mark road very well out here. We stopped a jogger to ask the best way to Las Cruces, and she recommended rt 187/rt 185 as it parrellels I-25 and the Rio Grande River, she said it was very scenic and a good downhill through some really nice farming communities.

Sop we were off and it was only minutes before I had my first glance of the Rio Grande! I headed down the road and quickly realized that the jogger must have meant that if I look at a map it should be all downhill as I was going North to South, because I ended up doing several decent climbs. That was ok, after all I just climbed Emory Pass-right? Well the wind gods were against me this day, I had all I could do to peddal 4 MPH for most of the morning. I actually got blown off the bike because I was going so slow! Talk about embarrassing, that was probably the only time all day I saw more that two people at one time, what timing. Only a couple of marks and minor bloodshed and I was off again.

The farmlands that were promised appeared before long, and it seems they really like thier hot stuf down here. They grow a lot of Green and red chilli peppers, along with fields of onions too. Some of the fields produced the occational car -yes I said car- sprouting up on the land as well--very unusual!

I passed many small comunities of populations less than 300 people before we reached the interesting town of Hatch. Not that it was much bigger that the others, but it had a main street and people walking about. The sighns on the lamp posts through town said "Welcome to Hatch Chilli pepper capitol of the world" there it was that is why they really seem to like thier chilli's- they DO!!

As I rolled on and got closer to Las Cruces I found myself in the midst of the largest Pecan plantations I have ever seen. There were literaly miles and miles of Pecan tree groves, all with signs that read "Pecan thieves will be prosecuted".
Who would have thought this to be such a problem!! The trees slowly slipped to the distant past and Las Cruces quickly was before me, nothing really unusual, a city like most, but very vibrant with people walking and riding along it's streets.

I headed to the KOA for the evening and was pleasantly surprised to find my name on the board welcoming me for the night( the office had closed for the night). I went to the reservation box got my site and set up camp. Tammy - thank you for finding this one - it was probably the best campgroung I have ever stayed in. She later told me it was one of the top ten in the country. I can see why--they had nice mats for the shower, everything was clean and well manicured and the sites were fabulous. I showered for the night and went to sleep so I could see the Easter Bunny in the morning!

Garmin info for the day is a s follows:
Day 15 Truth or Consequences to Las Cruces by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-06T22:51:00.005-04:00

Day 14

Silver City over Emory Pass to Hillsboro (actually Truth or Consequences)

Today started out at 27 degrees with a wind chill of 19 degrees, I was glad to have been in a motel for that! Started late to allow for the temperature to rise a bit-this was a big day-the day I take on Emory Pass, all 8,230 feet of it.

Dad (Safety and Support) and I went for breakfast while waiting for the temperature to rise. We found this little cafe called Grandma's Cafe in Silver City. It is a well decorated little place run by mom and her daughter. They have run this place for 21 years. The food was great and it is all cooked by mom herself. I had french toast, eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast. Good start to a big day!

Went and checked out of the motel, and finally hit the road. The ride started with gently rolling hills, and a few good climbs. I had an awesome downhill, into a really scenic valley. I stopped for a couple of pictures, and when I was about to get going I noticed a burr in my front tire. I pulled it out and all was well. I started off again, went about 2 miles and realized my tire was going flat. I stopped and changed the tire and realized I was at the base of the Emory Pass climb.

This is to be the highest point of the journey across the southern tier, I was actually looking forward to this, and getting excited to make it to the top. It was a long and winding ride up. The ride offer a stream running almost the whole way, snow, and camping areas throughout the climb. The views were awe inspiring and took my breath away. The sights kept me so busy that when I reached the top it hardly felt like work at all!

The views from the top were incredible, you can see for many, many miles. the view included mesas and buttes, valley's and hills, and a great view of the descent I was about to undertake (8 miles worth)I soaked up the sights got some pictures and was off to Hillsboro. I still don't know how I did not wear out my brake pads on the way down. It was very curvy and fast, and when I finally hit Hillsboro I was amazed, confused, and freaked out that what I thought was a town we were to stay in looked as if it were a ghost town. I rode through town and found no lodging, so it was off to plan "B", a motel in Truth or Consequences, 20 miles to the north. We loaded up the bike ans drove to T or C (as it is written on the signs, for a well deserved rest!

The really fun Garmin data for the day is as follows:

Day 14 Silver City - over Emory Pass- Hillsboro by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-06T21:59:00.006-04:00

Day 13
Lordsburg to Silver City

I started today with a beautiful sunrise over the KOA Kampground. It was a very windy night and I woke to a layer of fine dust all over everything in my tent, I ended up showering again just to hit the road. Temperatures last night were in the high 30's.

I packed up and hit the road towards Silver City. I was looking forward to today's ride, because today I cross the Continental Divide (6355 ft.) It was a nice ride somewhat hill but still quite picturesque. I passed a rather large copper mine, which is really cool because of the height of the piles of dirt rising high above the actual mine, all you see are well manicured piles of dirt surrounding and hiding the actual operations.

The ride over the Continental Divide was a little less exciting then I was hoping for but it was a milestone I was looking forward to.

Before entering Silver City I passed into Grant County, and the welcome sign read "Grant County, Beef Country", and from there I can see why they say this, there was a rather large population of cows, made me wonder what the cow to person ratio was...

I arrived in Silver City just before sunset and was happy to see another beautiful sunset to end the days ride.

The Garmin data for the ride is as follows:
Day 13 Lordsburg to Silver City by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-03T01:44:00.003-04:00

Day 12
Thatcher,AZ to Lordsburg,NM

I left Thatcher with my sights set on Lordsburg. Got a decent start with breakfast at Denny's. I was talking to the waitress and struck up a conversation about our ride. She said that Denny's is very supportive of things of this nature and would see if management could do anything for us, with no promises made. Here's hoping for that!!

Finally left town and headed out on route 70 started with a bit of a tailwind, but that did not last for long, the winds turned and it was a long go of things. This day was probably the most desolate to date (except for maybe the Imperial Sand Dunes).

Things started looking up when I rolled into Duncan, it was a cute little town where we stopped to get lunch. I rolled into the center of town to find 2 antique fire apparatus, and took the photo oportunity, gladly.

After lunch it was back to the desolate highway where I finally crossed into New Mexico.... The Land of Enchantment (and wind). While riding along I kept looking back at the dust that had been blown into the air during the day, wow was it ever dingy looking back there! No sooner did I start pedaling, and I noticed a sand storm in distance, so out came the camera again to document this.

As I was riding my last two miles to the KOA Kampground, I was greeted in the street by a white van full of people waving and yelling and beeping the horn. It was the Wandeing Wheels group again, it seems they were staying down the street at a local church--what a welcome wagon they make-- I was all smiles from there!

When I finally arrived at the lordsburg KOA, it was nearly closing time, we got our site, and the woman warned us of the extreme winds expected tonight. I was advised to stake down the tent, and boy was I gald I did. The wind howled so bad during the night that my tent was shaking right down to the stake, and the dust blowing around gave a very fine coating to everything in the tent, including me. I was glad when morning came and I was able to move on from that mess!!

The garmin data for the day is as follows:

Day 12 Thatcher to Lordsburg by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-03T00:44:00.002-04:00

Day 11
Globe to Thatcher

Leaving Globe we started out with breakfast at Joes, just up the road. After a good breakfast I stopped at the Globe Fire Department and left information to follow the ride.

I headed out on Route 70 and through the San Carlos Apache Reservation, including the towns of Peridot and Bylas,before leaving the resevation again. I traveled through Geronimo and on till lunch at Fort Thomas.

At Fort Thomas I ran into the Wandering wheels again as they were departing from thier lunch stop. They all asked how Jay was doing, I let them know he was diagnosed with Bronchitis, and had left for New York to recupperate and rejoin the ride later. It seems sickness is spreading, the Wandering Wheels group has been experiencing virus like symptoms and upper respiratory problems throughout thier camp. We parted ways, I had lunch and again was on the road. Two more towns and another nights rest was in order.

I traveled through Pima on my way to the nights destination of Thatcher. This nights rest was at the Red Lamp RV Park, where I was greeted by the owner. She was very kind and offered the camp space for free as a donation to our ride and cause. After thanking her for the site I set up camp and set my sights on dinner.

The Garmin readout for the day is as follows:

Day 11 Globe to Thatcher by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-04-02T23:45:00.004-04:00

OK now for some catching up!!!
I will start with Day 10 )Mesa to Globe)and put a new entry for each day to keep them a little shorterand as alway I will have the garmin readout of each day

The ride out of Mesa was difficult as I found myself riding alone for the first time. Jay is off to see the doctor to find out what is wrong. After getting the maps and some supplies I bagan peddaling out of Mesa. The ride must go on, people with Crohn's, colitis,colorectal cancer, and ostomies go on everyday - so must the ride to bring awareness!!

The scenery changed quickly from city to open land as I approached and went through (yes that fast) Apatche Junction on my way to route 60. As I cameup the entrance ramp the colors of the flowers started and continued to get better as I arrived in the Tonto National Forest, through Florence Junction, over Gonzalez Pass(2651 feet), to Superior.

Lunch in Superior was at Los Hermanos Mexican restaurant, really good food resonably priced and good service. With lunch finished it was time to climb some more. Leaving town I haeded up the hill to the Queen Creek Tunnel, a quarter mile tunnel that is the noisiest, smelliest thing I have ever been through. Onward to Miami - The Copper Capital of the world (thats what the sign says!)

A short trip through Miami and Claypool to Globe, our final destination for the evening. While riding through Miami I noticed the signs that proclaimed "Miami, the copper center of the world). One last climb and we were at the Gila County RV Park. The owners were great people offering us a dicounted rate (for cyclists) of $7.00 for the night, and the offer of a shower also for cyclists in an old adobe home they are Remodeling.

The Ry park was small and only had a port-a-potty bathroom, but they did have free wi-fi.It was interesting hearing the church bell chime (westminster chimes)on the hour until 11:00 pm and starting again at 6:00 am

The ride for the day according to the Garmin:

Day 10 Mesa to Globe by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details

Wait, you mean it takes more than guts or partially missing intestines to ride every mile?

2010-04-01T07:42:00.011-04:00

Greetings, all. I know you have been looking for updates, but alas, all of the recent changes have made it far more challenging to give them. Thank you for your patience and thank you for your support of this project and both of its riders!

I am (enviously) following Todd on the Spot Tracker, lending support from afar, and also following everyone's comments on Facebook and this blog. Since Saturday, Todd has ridden from Mesa, AZ to Globe, Globe to Safford, AZ, and Safford, AZ to Lordsburg, NM. Today he heads back north toward Silver City, NM.

For my part, here is the short version: it turns out you need lungs, not just guts, to ride. What started as a headcold the day before we left San Diego (annoying but not a big deal) deepened into a chest cold (a big deal but not the end of the world) and then blossomed into a true problem of lung function. When you have a history of pneumonia, medical folks like to make sure that you know just how easy it is to get it again. In Mesa, I visited an urgent care clinic and was diagnosed as bronchitis complicated by asthma, and was advised to seek follow up from my regular doctor. (BTW - I read in the newspaper article that Todd had a cold as well, but he didn't - - just in case you were wondering how I got so lucky to have mine progress while his did not!)

I have had a lot of time to reflect on what getting sick means, especially in the context of this project. It was not unlike my diagnosis with Crohn's disease in some ways. In both cases, I kept going and going and going and achieving each goal I set, until my body made it clear that there was permanent damage on the horizon if I kept going. As with the Crohn's, I realized over the weekend after a couple of days of rest that, in fact, I really was sick and that it was not going to go away on its own. Always an unpleasant realization, and moreso in this context. I have worked for months in planning, training, obtaining sponsor funding, and more. There is a lot riding on this project - - including the respect of many of you who have stated that it means a great deal to you that both people on this team are riding for YOU.

The experience of being sick while the project rolls on makes me once again empathize with every single person out there who wrote or thought, "I would love to do that, but the reality of my disease is that I can't, at least not now." When I read those comments, I was put in mind of how lucky I am indeed. And now, though my lungs are the culprit, I know precisely how you feel.

But even more - - let's all take a moment to think about kids with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Did you know that Crohn's and colitis can manifest and be diagnosed in a child as young as 3 months old?

Yep.

I know many people who were diagnosed Crohn's or colitis as children - - at 3 months old, 18 months old, 10 years old, and as young teenagers. It probably also goes without saying those cases of IBD were not "easy" ones. I know their stories, I know how hard those individuals worked to make it through elementary school, let alone high school and college and into the workforce.

Crohn's and colitis do not just cause pain and frequent bathroom stops. They literally ulcerate and inflame the intestines causing not just pain, but profound fatigue. Read the back of our postcard for more information about the diseases and their effects on the body. In children, these diseases have profound impacts not only on a kid's ability to leave the house to go to school, but on their ability to absorb the nutrients needed to grow and develop.

Being sidelined makes me think of the kids out there right now living with Crohn's or colitis. It's not easy as an adult to know that while I am technically capable of riding my bicycle right now, I would do so at great peril to my long term health. How about if you're a young kid facing that? Think about missing school, or having to get all of your classwork done at home because you are too sick to leave your house, or being the kid who is singled out because you cannot do what all the other kids do, missing field trips, or not having a shot to become a "normal" part of what is going on in your community. Learning that "normal" is not all it's cracked up to be is not easy as an adult, let alone as a young child dealing with a disease that is surrounded by silence.

I never had to live through that. I got sick when I was 28. I had already graduated from high school, college, and law school and had started a professional career. I was able to deal with my disease and its repercussions as an adult.

The same is true of this project. I will remain involved because I can choose to do so, even if I end up not being able to pedal another mile toward Florida. I am not at the mercy of Crohn's or colitis in a 9-year old body. Or 1-year old body. Or a 3-month old body. I do not purport to understand those kids' pain.

But experiences like this make me think about them and wish much strength to those kids, their parents, their siblings, and to everyone else who is a part of those kids' lives. Stay positive, folks. I understand that it's tough - I know many families who have had their lives ravaged by Crohn's and colitis. So yeah, maybe this field trip will pass you by, but there are other creative ways of getting involved in things and of finding community. I am learning that yet again by trying to be part of this project while not pedaling.

For the rest of us, especially the healthy adults out there, remember these kids. Please join me in wishing them all the strength and positive energy in the world as they grow and learn to move through a world with a vicious disease that they will need to figure out how to manage until, at some point in the future, a cure is found.

- Jay

P.S. While I wish that my being sick was an April Fool's joke - - alas, it is not. : /

2010-04-01T00:15:00.002-04:00

Day 12

Just a quick note to update you all, Curently I am in a very windy Lordsburg, NM.
I have a short day tomorrow and will update with garmin, and fill everyone in the rides each day. Sorry for the delay in updates....Stay tuned tomorrow.

Thank you all for following!! -- Todd

Days 6, 7, & 8 (but who's counting?)

2010-03-27T23:06:00.004-04:00

This is Jay writing, and I can really only report on road conditions for Days 6 & 7. Even then, I only saw day 7’s route from a Suburban. (D’oh!)

We rode out from Blythe on Thursday after experiencing one of the noisier campsites I have ever stayed at. If you ever camp at the KOA in Blythe, CA, don’t let them give you the tent sites by the Kamping Kabins. These little patches of green grass are the absolute closest thing to I-10 on the property. Worse yet, there is ZERO sound break between the overpass over the Colorado River and the sites. And the traffic does not let up at night. What I am trying to say is that it’s loud. Don’t get me wrong, overall the KOA is very nice, but man, those sites are loud. Now, that said, Todd didn’t think it was that bad!

Anyway, we rode out over the Colorado River and entered I-10. We climbed a lot, and by the time the terrain flattened out on Route 60, the wind kicked up. It was a strong cross-wind that sometimes blew in our faces a bit. Then we climbed some more.

We were riding in the midst of the Wandering Wheels group again, since their route still overlapped with ours. The day’s route led through desert terrain, and the wildflowers were amazing. Tons and tons of wildflowers. I stopped to take several photos which yes, I will eventually post. We rode on I-10 to Quartzsite, which I am told has a population explosion in February - - it’s the site of some gigantic swap meets. We hit I-10 again, and climbed some more before exiting on Route 60.

We rode through Brenda, stopped for lunch at a place called the Kofa Café (good food, no comment on the service), and then through Hope. Yes, they *do* have a nice new sign just outside town that reads, “YOUR NOW BEYOND HOPE” (typo in original). For the record, Audrey from the Wandering Wheels group told me that the original sign was grammatically correct.

Todd was riding well as usual, and my cold only bothered me when I tried to breathe deeply. Not so important, right? I was riding fairly well, but my cough was getting worse and the cold was really settling into my chest. We made it into Salome after one final climb for the day. Salome is small, but bigger than Ocotillo or Palo Verde. Seems like a well-kept little town. I ended up finding a room in a small hotel (which was really nice, the Westwood, right on Salome Road) and sleeping indoors.

Day 7 dawned and it was clear to me that I had to rest if I was going to get better. Luckily, I have friends in the Phoenix area. My fiance’s brother and sister-in-law live in Mesa, and Barbara, one of GYGIG’s former Board members lives in Anthem. No matter what the backup plan ended being, I was not riding.

Todd and I met in the morning - - we had three choices of route into Phoenix - - the Adventure Cycling Route, the route suggested by a local cycling club with whom Barbara had put us in touch, and the Wandering Wheels route. We opted for the Wandering Wheels route, since we knew that the terrain would be easy and that Todd could catch up to that group if he left his panniers behind.

Lara’s brother Dave (who proved to be a wealth of information about the landmarks and terrain) drove 2 hours from Mesa to collect me, my bike, and all of Todd‘s and my bags. I followed Todd on the Spot Tracker until I was picked up, and then Dave and I followed the route and caught up to Todd in Buckeye. Todd had experienced tailwinds for much of his ride and had made fantastic time. (I was unashamedly jealous since the only wind I had experienced was a headwind and vicious sidewind.) He covered 86 miles in record time. And in the end I headed off to a hotel in Mesa. (Lara’s brother and sister-in-law have cats, which wreak havoc with my asthma).

Todd here reporting on the day 7 ride:

I left 1 ½ hours behind the wandering wheels and made haste with a tail wind..reaching speeds of 27 MPH ( boy it was fun not having bags). Racing down Salome Rd. to Interstate 10 where I rode for several miles to Tonopah. That is where I finally caught up to the Wandering Wheels — at the local fire station. The group welcomed me and rushed me inside where they had met the crew for the day and filled them in on me being a firefighter. They already had a fire patch ready for me.

I stayed and chatted with the crew, rested a few minutes and took a picture with them, they gave me some water and soon I was again on my way. The road from here was fairly flat and again I was able to make good time until Jay met up with me at around mile 60. He bought me some water to replenish my bottles. After a short rest I continued until I reached the end point of The Salvation Army in Avondale. After a short discussion it was decided I would stay with the Wandering Wheels for the evening.

They did not provide dinner that evening so I tagged along with the van to the “hoot and Holler” sports bar. I had an awesome cheeseburger, and good company—I would definitely recommend them if you are in the Avondale area. Ask about their 6 pound burger challenge—in case you never get there here is what it is--- 6- ½ lb. burgers in a bun with lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickles. You must eat the burger with all the fixins, (the bun included) 2 baskets of fries, and a pitcher of soda with no ice---all in 45 minutes or less, and boy was I tempted.

Day 8:( Todd writing again)

I rode again with Wandering Wheels for 14 miles today, Day 8, and rode another 14.79 into Tempe without them, to stay with a friend for the night, before spending time on Sunday with family.
The ride was not much to speak of, there was alot of stop and go - for traffic lights and it seems they have part of I-60 closed and traffic was routed locally. I rode several miles on the sidewalks to avoid the traffic and allow me to cross at intersections with the pedestrian crossing signal. I finally left the worst of the traffic and was able to meander throug some nice suburban areas until I reached Tempe, I just wished I had the tailwind from the day before.

Jay Here:

I am on the mend, and am glad that I took these two days off from riding. Because I had a nasty bout of pneumonia in 2008, I can’t take chances, and it was clear that when I rode, my energy was going into pedaling and not into healing. I hated to admit it, but I was not going to kick the cold while riding.

Tomorrow is our planned rest day, so Todd will be off the bike as well, and we will continue our eastward trek on Monday morning.

Again, I cannot say enough good things about the warmth and support offered by the Wandering Wheels group. Without their support of Todd, it would have been difficult for me to take these rest days with a clear conscience, since we are riding together not only for the camaraderie and because we are joining forces to ride for under recognized diseases - - we are also riding together for safety.

As always, thank you for following!

The Garmin for day 6:
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Day 6 Blythe to Salome

The Garmin for day 7:
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Day 7 Salome to Avondale

The a\Garmin for day 8:
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Day 8 Avondale to Tempe

Days 4 and 5

2010-03-24T19:43:00.004-04:00

A short post for now, just to let you know what's what. We rode out of Brawley on Tuesday and covered around 69 miles to Palo Verde. There is pretty much just open country between those two spots, with a couple of places where you can rent sand buggies and a border patrol checkpoint thrown in for good measure.

The scenery was amazing. We left the agricultural Imperial Valley and entered the desert again. Then we entered the Imperial Sand Dunes. Impressive. From there, it was back into the desert with a lot of "rollers" - up and down, up and down, on winding roads. Things finally (mostly) flattened out about 20 miles out from Palo Verde.

The weather was cool - started overcast and got sunny as the day wore on. At about mile 30 (I think), we hit memorable headwinds that just kept going and going. Rollers are no fun with headwinds & panniers, just for the record. It was a long, tough day but we made it!

Made new friends as well - - Lee and Jeff from Michigan who are also traveling on the Southern Tier route, as well as the folks at Wandering Wheels - a supported cross-country trip with an itinerary that is similar to ours for a couple of days. They are welcoming and have already fed us one meal, and another coming soon!

We ate breakfast with Wandering Wheels before departing for Blythe, and the group's leader, Bob, invited us to speak to the group about our ride and the cause for which we are riding. Several people showed interest in getting more information about what we are doing - - thank you, Bob, for that opportunity to spread our message of awareness and hope!

Today's ride was a short 25 miles (flat, with a mild breeze in our faces - - not a big headwind) from Palo Verde to Blythe. The scenery was mostly agricultural with mountains on the horizons in most directions. We're resting, relaxing, and generally trying to catch up.

As always, Garmin data here:

Day 4 Brawley to Palo Verde
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Day 4 Brawley to Palo Verde

Day 5 Palo Verde to Blythe
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Day 5 Palo Verde to Blythe

Day 3 - Ocotillo, CA to Brawley, CA

2010-03-22T20:34:00.011-04:00

Still in Brawley, ready to bring you the highlights from Day 3.

We started off fairly early, with Jay bidding Mr. Jackson farewell at about 7:40 a.m. Todd had left a little earlier so that he could talk with the firemen on duty at the Imperial County Fire Services, which maintains a 24-hour duty station in Ocotillo. They are a very bicyclist-friendly station, FYI.

As you know, we are following the Adventure Cycling Association's Southern Tier maps. They publish addenda to the maps, and the most recent addendum stated that road conditions were bad on the main route, Evan Hewes Highway. Robert Sigal (who had just ridden that road a week earlier) warned us of the same thing, but when he saw that we are riding Long Haul Truckers with 1.5 inch tires, he advised us to just go with Evan Hewes. He said that it's really only rough from Ocotillo to Plaster City, and that our wheels and tires could handle it. John Jackson from the RV Park agreed. They saved us a 9-mile detour on a road with lots of high-speed traffic. Evan Hewes Hwy was pretty rough on and off for about 5 miles, but some patches were not so bad. Once we got to Plaster City, it improved substantially. We were passed by maybe 10 vehicles in that entire stretch. We took it easy on the rough patches, and were glad we took that route.

A few words about Plaster City: if you are wondering where drywall comes from, we found the place.

After Plaster City (which consists of just the USG plant), the terrain changed from desert to agricultural, and by the time we were in Seeley, we were in green farmland. We stopped for breakfast in Seeley and wolfed down some delicious breakfast burritos. After a few more miles, we saw the first traffic light we had seen since leaving Alpine the previous morning. Just before the light, we passed some other self-contained cyclists, but they were on a mission, and probably not as talkative as we are. (We kind of doubt that anyone is.)

We left Evan Hewes Highway and skirted outside El Centro and headed to Brawley. We spent about 14 miles parallel to a canal as we rode through more farmland. One truck that passed us was loaded with boxes labeled "Desert Vegetables." Indeed.

We got onto a busy road for a few miles that brought us into Brawley, and after double-checking our directions, were at our destination quickly. We opted for a hotel tonight (not realizing that we would not be camping either of the first two nights) and thus have yet to set up our tents - - that'll come tomorrow!

After settling in for a bit, we found lunch at a local Jack-in-the-Box restaurant. Todd was enchanted with the little Jack ornament things, and before we knew it, we had two personalized Jack mascots! Group photo posted on Facebook.

Wrapping it up for tonight - - we have a long day ahead tomorrow. Awesome conditions thus far - we are very grateful.

Click here to see the Garmin data for today, then push play:
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Day 3 Ocotillo to Brawley

Day 2 - Alpine, CA to Ocotillo, CA

2010-03-22T18:57:00.012-04:00

Greetings -

We are writing from Brawley, CA, where we arrived just after noon today following an easy 38-mile ride. More on that in the next post.

It was a day for climbing, as you can see from the profile in the Garmin link at the end of this post.

We rode out from Alpine after a great send off by our hosts at the Alpine fire station. We slept like kings that night. Bob Pfohl from the Viejas fire district rode with us as did GYGIG '07 rider Robert Sigal. Both were great company and awesome sources of local information.

We rode a little over 10 miles into Descantes, where Brad Rushing (our host in Alpine) was waiting to have breakfast with us at the local restaurant. Brad, his father Scott, wife Charly (sp?), and daughter Brenda kept us good company. (Thank you again for breakfast, Scott.) Bob then left us to ride back to Alpine - - he had taken our panniers, and was going to meet us further up the route. Robert remained with us for another hour, and Jay overheard Bob tell him, "push 'em hard" - - basically, once Bob caught back up to us, we'd have our bags again.

Robert (who has been riding the route from San Diego to El Centro since he was 14) accompanied us up two more long cliimbs to just outside of Pine Valley, where he wished us well and gave us the lowdown on road conditions to El Centro (he had just ridden there a week earlier.)

Halfway down that descent, we passed a border patrol station. They were stopping cars coming the other direction. Todd spent some time talking to the border partol agents.

We had more climbing ahead, and thankfully the weather all day was really perfect - - in the high 70s with thin cloud cover. On the last bit of climb into Live Oak Springs, we met up with our first fellow self-contained riders. Kat & Anthony were coming the other way from Jacumba en route to Alpine. They are riding the entire perimeter of the United States - 14,000 miles. Yes. For real. We're not putting ourselves down or anything, but it definitely puts our ride into perspective! They are riding for MS. Please check 'em out at http://biketheborderline.blogspot.com/ and see the photo we'll post later on Facebook.

We were discussing the day's climbing, and Anthony said, "wait 'til you get to New Mexico. Oh. My. God." Jay's new goal is to lose at least 10 pounds before New Mexico. (Kidding. Sort of.)

After stopping for some food at the Golden Acorn Casino (and truck stop), we descended into Boulevard. Bob caught up with us there - - he had spent a little extra time at home to give us a head start, bless him. Of the 68 miles, we rode the most difficult 40 without panniers - a great way to ease into the journey.

We reached Jacumba and had really splendid views of the border fence. It was well under a mile away. Border patrol vehicles passed us constantly, and we saw planes patrolling as well.

The climb out of Jacumba was our last for the day. As we slogged up that last hill, the landscape already started to change. Jay pointed to the left and said, "did you see Galaxy Quest with Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver?" Todd almost immediately replied "GORIGNAK!" We're both pretty sure that movie must have been filmed just off I-8 between Jacumba and Ocotillo.

Our route joined up with I-8, where we knew a long downhill awaited. We'd read many accounts of the Souther Tier route, and some of them mentioned the treacherous downhill with the potential for high crosswinds. We both rode our brakes, but the 6% grade was completely manageable since we had no crosswinds to battle. Jay stopped halfway down (in a safe place) to snap a quick Gorignak landscape photo and felt literally zero wind.

We coasted for 12 miles until exiting onto Highway 98. We saw a sign welcoming us to the Yuha Desert. Welcome indeed - - as Todd stopped to take a photo of the sign, Jay got the first flat tire of the trip. On the rear wheel, of course. A thorough inspection of both tire and tube showed no punctures, but rather that the hole was a small slit on the rim side of the tube. We figure that Jay must have hit a rock on the descent that caused a split in the tube.

After a bit of directional confusion, we located our digs for the night - Jackson's Hideaway RV Park. We were greeted by John Jackson, our host for the night, and another resident of the park. They regaled us with stories and were fantastic hosts. Instead of having to pitch a tent, we were able to sleep in the rec room. We each opted for the recliners rather than our sleeping pads. We highly recommend this place to anyone going cross-country on a bike - - really wonderful hosts.

Thus ended Day 2 - - please see below for the Garmin link,and Facebook for photos!
Click here, then push play:
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Day 2 Alpine to Ocotillo

Day 1 - San Diego to Alpine, CA

2010-03-20T22:28:00.008-04:00

Fantastic. We had picture-perfect weather all day and a support crew second to none. We started off with the ceremonial trudge through the sand with the loaded bikes to get the wheels wet with the Pacific at Dog Beach. Todd managed to keep his feet dry, but Jay did experience the Pacific seeping through his shoe into his sock. At that point, we trudged back and got ready to ride.

We started off at about 8:20 a.m. We were on a bike path for a few miles, sharing the path with a small running event that was happening. We found the correct road when the path ended and began our trek through the San Diego streets. We were in plenty of well-marked bike lanes, but neither of us would really want to start this ride on a weekday! We crossed several on/off ramps (all safely, no sweat) but thought it'd be a challenge on a weekday.

At about mile 2, Jay turned to Todd and said, "this is the craziest thing I have ever done, and the bar is already set pretty high for me." Todd replied that yes, this was also the craziest thing he's ever done. 10 miles later, we realized that our job for the next 9 weeks will be to ride - - and noted that no, that really does *not* suck at all.

Once we realized that no, there'd be no pink signage, we settled into the maps and figuring out the vagaries of the waypoints we had loaded into the Garmin on Todd's bike. We had plenty of starts and stops to verify where we were on the map, and it paid off with no wrong turns.

We had our first real climb of the day at about mile 10, and then entered a fantastic park road through Mission Trails Park. Several people asked us where we were going, and we replied, "Florida," to which they replied, "no, really, where are you going?" We gave out several Cycling Semicolon postcards, which inform people about Crohn's, colitis, colorectal cancer, and ostomies.

We had a couple of long stops, and the day edged into the afternoon. The riding was pretty reasonably, and then once we exited Lakeside, we really began climbing. The grade was not extreme, the climbs just lasted for a bit. We were joined for 4 miles by Frank, a local, who gave us some tips and information about the road ahead. He said that the road would climb more steeply just outside of Alpine, and he was right!

On the ascent into Alpine, we saw a fire department vehicle parked off to the side of the road. Brad, our contact at the Alpine Fire District, was waiting for us about a third of the way up the hill. He said that they were expecting us, and that they were planning a spaghetti feed for us.

We climbed steadily into Alpine in bright sunlight, arriving at around 2:40 p.m., where we were welcomed and told to make ourselves at home.

The crew fed us well and we are being spoiled tonight with real beds and great company. Jim Smith checked our bikes before departing, and Tammy and Jeremy spent some quality time with Todd before taking off. (Kyle and Carol had already departed earlier in the day.)

We're not sure how often we'll be able to blog, so we might be posting several at once. We are working on getting the Spot Tracker to do its thing - - thanks for bearing with us on that! Meanwhile, please see the link below for a review of today's speed and elevation profile. It's funny to Jay that he can look the lower speed sections and say, "oh yeah, we were trying to figure out xyz street at that point!"

We are aiming to do about 60 miles to Ocotillo tomorrow - - we will have company for part of it - - and then we will descend into the desert and a completely different landscape.

Thank you for your words of support, both here and on Facebook!

Here is the link to see our ride for the day 1, To see our progress through the day, hit play.
Love the Garmin!!
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Day 1 San Diego to Alpine

READY FOR DAY 1!

2010-03-20T07:25:00.002-04:00

We leave in 3 hours, and I for one am very excited. Panniers packed and re-packed, maps ready, GPS ready, riders ready - here we go!

We'll blog as often as we can, though I am sure that it will not be every day due to limited internet access and other factors. We'll also be tweeting, and you can of course track our progress on the Where page starting later today. Please note that it might take us a day to get that link totally working, since it will be linked to an outside page. Our web guy is setting it up for us, so please be patient as we put that final piece of the site into place!

Thank you for your support! - Jay

In San Diego - Words of Thanks & Itinerary for the First Week

2010-03-18T09:15:00.003-04:00

I've been in California for several days but just arrived in San Diego yesterday, as did Todd (he was scheduled to get in *late*). We now have two days to finish preparations and to rest up.

We shipped our bikes to the Trek Superstore in La Mesa thanks to GYGIG '07 rider Robert Sigal's help, and Robert has even lent a bike rack for the car - helpful for sure! We'll be picking up the bikes this afternoon. Todd's wife Tammy is here to support and see us off, and later today we're also being joined by Jim Smith, GYGIG's volunteer Board president, and Carol Earls, who is coming from the Bay Area to help us out.

I am sure there are others who will be joining us for the sendoff - - I just have not met 'em yet (including you, Kyle, bring a crowd if ya can), but I look forward to that for sure.

So many people to thank. In addition to my family (did you know my mother still writes all thank you letters for GYGIG's donations every single year?), my friends (this post will be too long if I list everyone who has offered encouragement), and Lara, there are a number of folks to thank as we ramp up to our departure 2 days from now.

SHIRE (www.shire.com) is making this trip possible in many ways. Not only do they make the drugs that contribute to keeping me healthy, they are providing substantial funding that will help ensure that no public donations are utilized for any part of our journey costs. Hollister Incorporated (www.hollister.com) has also made a large financial donation to underwrite our costs. I have been pleased to work with both of these companies over the past several years at GYGIG and am incredibly grateful for their support of this project.

To the Cementworks team - Julie, Tommy, and David (and who knows how many others whom I have not met) - thank you. Susan, thank you for donating your team's substantial talents!

Scott Elson - you are an incredibly patient website designer. Use me as a reference any time!

Elvira Moran - I will proudly wear the logo you created.

Steve Rehder, Matt Kaminecki, Andrew Hudon, Bikers Edge, and the Bike Bag Shop - thank you for your work and advice on all things bicycle-related.

Helen, JT & Catherine - you guys are doing an amazing amount of work for this, and it's hugely appreciated. Not like you don't have enough on your plates already . . . . ; )

Lois: what can I say? You will get it done, I know it. Thank you for your profound efforts for this cause. And Daniel, you and Matt will be hearing more from us; meanwhile keep the podcasts coming!

Robin, Abby, Andrea - your expertise at the outset was key.

There are more who have made this journey possible, and no doubt Todd has a list. ALSO, there will be more posts about other individuals and organizations as we go along!

Speaking of going somewhere . . . the map on our website shows San Diego and then Phoenix. What exactly lies in between? Our planned itinerary looks like this:

3/20 - San Diego - Alpine, CA
3/21 - Alpine, CA - Ocotillo, CA
3/22 - Ocotillo, CA - Brawley, CA
3/23 - Brawley, CA - Palo Verde
3/24 - Palo Verde - Blythe, CA
3/25 - Blythe, CA - Salome, AZ
3/26 - Salome, AZ - Wickenburg, AZ

From Wickenburg, we will enter the greater Phoenix area. Weather, health, and who knows what could change our planned dates - this is definitely an unscripted adventure. If you live in one of these areas and would like to ride with us ('cept for Day 1, when we are getting our feet underneath us and wrapping our heads around the thing that is Day 1), please do! Just remember that we are traveling fully loaded and at our own pace.

We will be activating the spot tracker link on the Where page soon. Remember that you will exit our site in order to go to that site to view our actual location.

More to follow (as always), and meanwhile it's off for a full day of prep work. Thank you for following, and thank you for believing in us.

Jay

10 Years Later!

2010-03-02T18:28:00.005-05:00

10 years ago NOW, as in right this minute, I was under anesthesia.

At about 5:30 p.m. on March 2, 2000, I walked into the OR at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, hopped on the table, and 10 minutes and a couple of lawyer jokes later, I was OUT. I remember coming to and feeling the worst, and I mean absolute WORST pain of my life. It was well after 10 p.m. and the surgery had gone longer than planned. The surgeon had removed 8" of badly damaged small intestine, 8" of useless and nearly blocked-off colon, and a mess of other inflamed and infected tissue that had nestled around my damaged guts.

This was 3 months after my diagnosis with Crohn's disease.

My recovery was a bit slower than expected, and a week later (including three fantastic days with an NG tube), I went home to finally get some sleep.

Some other day I will tell more of the story of how I came to learn that I have Crohn's disease, but not today.

Today is a day of celebration.

You see, I'm one of the very lucky ones. By taking Pentasa, getting sufficient sleep most of the time, and strictly avoiding certain foods (learned though experience, as with most IBD patients - - what we can eat is very individualized and learned through (painful) trial and error) I've been able to stay in relatively good health for the last 10 years.

During those 10 years, I have met MANY who are not as fortunate as I in this regard.

I'm celebrating by getting on the spin bike for a while to continue my training for this ride. I am riding for those who can't, at least not right now. If you're reading this and your IBD is getting the upper hand on ya, keep the faith. Just keep the faith. There are many of us pulling for you. We've experienced those ups and downs. Don't let it get to you! I know it sucks; I've been there. And I'm aware that things could change, and I could be back there again. I hope not, and I will keep working to avoid ending up back there, but it's a real and constant fear.

Meanwhile, I'm going to focus on the positive, and focus on the fact that I have a really huge hill to climb on March 20th. No matter how much my legs are gonna burn on that hill, I know that it will hurt way less than my Crohn's did 10 years ago, and way less than what someone in some hospital is living through with Crohn's or UC right now.

- Jay

A short pre-weekend post

2010-02-26T18:07:00.009-05:00

Indeed! Short!

THANK YOU ALL for following, and for encouraging your friends to follow us as well. We're posting updates on Facebook on a regular basis, and are working on all of the details that need to be finalized between now and, ummm, three weeks from now. Right.

I will be out in California a week early for unrelated meetings, and will be in San Diego for a few days before we leave. I'll then reunite with my bike (for the record, we are each riding a Surly Long Haul Trucker) and do final gear checks.

If you are in the San Diego area and would like to see us off, please do! We're starting from Ocean Beach Park in San Diego on Saturday March 20th sometime before 7:30 a.m. Please join us & feel free to RSVP on our Facebook page.

I'm hopeful that the snow in Westchester County, NY will melt soon and allow me to get in some more mileage on the LHT; meanwhile the indoor workouts continue, as does the planning, planing, and more planning. Oh yeah - - and the fundraising!

Onward into the weekend.

- Jay

Some words of thanks (which will be a continuing theme)

2010-02-22T13:59:00.007-05:00

Jay here, with a personal post of thanks (the first of many). There are probably a couple dozen (at least) people who have worked very hard to get The Cycling Semicolons started on this journey. We've had a tremendous outpouring of support before we've even pedaled an inch. I'm very grateful.

I keep trying to draft this post, and it keeps getting longer and longer as I try to explain the background and thank everyone who needs thanking (including Lara, my incredibly supportive fiance). I am going to give up on the background and the long list of thanks for now, since I doubt many of you want to read a tome in blog post #2.

The background of this journey will come out over the upcoming posts, I am sure. For now, let me reiterate that our ride is about ending the silence about colorectal cancer, Crohn's, colitis, ostomies, and other gut diseases. It's about empowering everyone with gut diseases of any kind. It's about ending the stigma, and about saying "enough, already."

And as you might imagine, it's about several things that are intensely personal. For me, one of those things is that I want to honor the hope, the guts, and the determination of Todd Colitti, 10-year colorectal cancer survivor.

Back in August, I learned that a family member had been diagnosed with CRC, out of the blue. He's under 50. Within the next month, I learned that ANOTHER family member was diagnosed with CRC. Out of the blue. He is just barely older than 50. Both men now have temporary ostomies and have been undergoing treatment for the cancer. I have watched as they and their families have come to grips with their disease, with their battles, and with what it means to be diagnosed with and fight colorectal cancer.

Now, I've been in the business of talking about guts (tip of the hat to the Weatherhogg boys) for more than 6 years. I’ve had a working relationship with the folks at The Colon Club for more than 4 of those years. I know all about the silence, the difficulty in talking about all things gut- and CRC-related. I know dozens of people with ostomies. I know people who work at major ostomy supply manufacturers who work very hard to ensure that life for folks with ostomies is as active, hope-filled, and positive as possible.

And even though at the time of these men's diagnoses it was *literally* my day job to talk about guts, still these family members struggled to talk to me about it, or even to those whom I know at The Colon Club who have been through difficult journeys with CRC.

I know a lot of people who battle disease on a regular basis. And I understand that no matter what disease one has, whether it's cancer, Crohn's, colitis, or for that matter, any serious illness, the way in which one deals with that illness is an intensely personal experience. Everyone has his or her own path; everyone finds his or her own way. Those of us who care about those folks can only offer to help, and hope that, if and when we are called upon, we can be there in a way that is needed.

Now - I didn't know Todd 10 years ago when he was actively fighting his battle. I didn't even know him 10 months ago. There are many of you out there reading this blog who have known him far, far longer than I have, and no doubt you know more about what I am writing than I do.

So let me be bold and speak out of turn, and tell you something that you already know: Todd is an inspiration. I pray that my two relatives, who are currently living through challenges that I can only imagine, can benefit from some of Todd's infectious spirit for life and his irresistible commitment to hope.

Thank you, Todd. Thank you for undertaking this with me. Thank you for sharing your story and your vision for life in this way. I think I told you that this is gonna be *huge.* What's you've already accomplished with your life already is.

- Jay

And so it begins!

2010-02-20T15:27:00.003-05:00

Welcome to The Cycling Semicolons’ blog! From March 20 – mid May, we will be pedaling across the southern tier of the United States for Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer, and ostomy awareness. This is day 1 of the blogging, though it’s not day 1 of the journey. The journey started months ago.

We are The Cycling Semicolons – Todd Colitti and Jay Pacitti. Why Cycling Semicolons, you ask? As we began our planning discussions, we tried to brainstorm some names, either for our ride or for ourselves. Todd really liked the idea that we are both “Semicolons” - - he has had part of his colon removed, and Jay has had part of his colon as well as part of his small intestine resected. Jay, being all about the alliteration, thought that “Cycling” in front of semicolons was aptly descriptive, and so the name was born.

We are thus two Semicolons riding for everyone and anyone who is intestinally-challenged - - whether or not you have had surgery, whether you have Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer, or an ostomy- - we are riding for YOU. Even if you have another intestinal disease that is not in the category of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Crohn’s & colitis) or CRC, but your intestinal disease is one that society deems “unmentionable” or not all that serious, yes: we are riding for you too.

We are riding to shed light on conditions that people don’t want to talk about. We are riding to end the silence surrounding these “bathroom diseases.” We are riding to help people understand that just because they have not heard of these diseases does not mean that they are not incredibly debilitating and sometimes life-threatening.

We are riding to let everyone with intestinal diseases know that you do NOT need to live in silence.

And, even though neither of us has an ostomy at this point in his life, we are riding to make sure that the world knows that the words “ostomy,” “ileostomy,” and “colostomy” are not slurs, are not derogatory jokes, are not somehow ugly and bad, but rather are words that describe life-saving surgical procedures that allow people to live full, healthy, and active lives.

In addition to our awareness-raising efforts, we are also riding to spotlight HOPE. We will each talk more about this in our individual blogs, as our stories are very different. Todd, as a 10-year colorectal cancer survivor, knows all about hope - - and how it kept him alive. Jay, as someone who has been living with Crohn’s for 10 years and who has been active in the IBD community for most of those years, understands what it is like to have a disease that people do not take seriously and knows how crushing to one’s health and spirit it can be when serious chronic conditions are downplayed.

Both Jay and Todd want to spread awareness of the importance of community and empowerment in battling cancer and in living with serious chronic illnesses, and in particular, they want to spotlight Get Your Guts in Gear, Inc. and The Colon Club. You can read more about these organizations at our website and theirs (see www.wegotguts.com for more information and for links to both organizations.)

In addition to awareness, we have set our sights on raising funds for these organizations. A lot of funds. $50,000 worth of funds. Thanks to SHIRE and HOLLISTER, INCORPORATED, we have corporate sponsor funding in addition to personal funds that will cover ALL of our excursion costs. All of the funds that are raised from public donations (minus transaction processing fees that the banks charge and which we cannot avoid) will support Get Your Guts in Gear’s and The Colon Club’s programs. Not a single penny of public donations will feed or house us.

We hope that you will join in our ride by following our progress. As we pedal cross-country - - carrying all of our gear - - we hope to share some great stories with you, we hope to give you some laughs, we really hope that we will safely cover the 3,092 (or so) miles across the southern United States.

Mostly, we hope to inspire you to GET INVOLVED in what The Colon Club and Get Your Guts in Gear have to offer, to learn about the power of community, and to learn that hope is a powerful element on the road to living a healthy life - - with or without life-threatening and debilitating disease.

Come along for the ride – we are looking forward to having you with us as we blog and tweet the details!

And so it begins . . . .