Fort Worth to Dallas
Our ride from Fort Worth to Dallas is one of the shortest on the itinerary (under 50 miles) but was still a long one. After a sponsored breakfast at lodging, we rode about 25 miles to Arlington City Hall for an arrival and another breakfast. We stayed there for over an hour before departing for our final destination of Dallas (actually just outside of dallas). At Dallas, we arrived at the Bachman Center where met residents, put on a KOB and had a sponsored meal. After dinner, we had a team meeting in which Andy, one of the crew members, informed us that he would be going home because of an alcohol violation after he had received an earlier warning. Zach, one of his best friends and another crew member, decided to head home as well as an act of loyalty. This event left all team members stunned and at a loss for words. Their departure was so quick and without prior notice. After they left, we heard that Adam had been sent home from the North route, another alcohol violation. These hit the team like a ton of bricks and made it hard to enjoy the night at all. As we fell asleep that night at the Bachman Center, we were noticeably two less.
Dallas (Day off)
For our day off at Dallas, we woke up at 8am and had a sponsored breakfast at lodging. We began the day by traveling to a local church for an outdoor water “fair” for children with disabilities. Most of these children were under 5 and all had a fantastic time playing in the small pools and on the water slides. This was a lot of fun and a great way to jump start the day. After eating lunch there, we left for Hurricane Harbor, the water park of Six Flags. While there, we spent time with friends riding rides, played volleyball, enjoyed a break from riding, and stayed cool for once. After a fun day, we left for dinner at Pumpernickel’s Brew House which was fantastic. Then we went to play whirlyball which is a combination of lacrosse and bumper cars: yes it is amazing. The night didn’t end until 10 pm but it was worth the tiredness the next day. Dallas was a great break!
Dallas to Terrell
Dallas to Terrell may well have been the easiest day of riding so far. We rode 55 miles before 11am and arrived at the Super 8 motel before our rooms were ready. After some waiting time, we took showers and headed to the traditional lunch at the Terrell Truck Stop with the Lions. While there, we listened to a presentation from a speaker from the 4-H club who talked for about 15 minutes, mentioning 4-H no less than 80 times, and I still don’t know what 4-H stands for or relatively anything about their club. But, he did assure us that their club was far superior to any other club and without them he wouldn’t be speaking to us today (well, obviously, you are their speaker). We then left for the local park and performed a KOB for a camp that served elementary-school age children. After this fantastic visit, we departed for the state hospital where we had a friendship visit and dinner. One interesting thing about the hospital was that we weren’t allowed to take pictures and had to sign a confidentiality agreement because some of the kids came from child protective services. Despite this restriction, we still had a great time there and met a lot of great kids, both with and without disabilities.
Terrell to Longview
Today was a rough day, perhaps the worst so far for me. It was a 100 mile, rolling hill day on an awful tiring road surface. We had lunch at 70 miles, which was rejuvenating, for about 10 more miles: do the math. Over the last 20-25 miles, I felt as if I was getting the first symptoms of heat sickness, despite the fact I was drinking bottle after bottle of water. Now, I think I just wasn’t keeping up with my body’s need for water before and it built up on me over the ride. We arrived around 2 in the afternoon at the Fairfield Inn in Longview and got our rooms for the night. After the usual showering and washing of clothes, a few of us left for Chick-Fil-a where I met a worker who was absolutely ecstatic to learn about what we were doing. I gave her the pitch and she even wrote down our website and my name to look up that night. On my way out, I saw her telling a coworker about what we were doing and who it benefited: that’s spreading awareness in action. We had a great barbecue dinner later that night with the Ambucs Club where POWER (People on Wheels Exercising Responsibility) president, Judy, gave what may be the best speech of the journey. She truly was inspiring and we were glad to meet her. Also there was our ride along for the next day, Mike, who rode a hand cycle and had biceps bigger than both of my legs put together. We headed back after dinner for a relaxed night at the hotel and prepared to finally leave Texas.
Longview to Shreveport, LA
The ride from Longview to Shreveport was an all around fiasco. We began the day by leaving the fantastic breakfast at the Fairfield Inn (luckily I had a bacon-egg-cheese there) for a restaurant that we were being sponsored at for breakfast. The sponsor was a Pi Alpha from 2007 and the location he chose was the Cotton Patch Café, where he worked. Too bad the café was 4 miles in the wrong direction from the hotel, adding 8 needless miles to our route. Also, it’s too bad that he forgot to check if the restaurant was open. So we arrived for breakfast to a closed restaurant 4 miles out of the way and his only solution was donuts and Sunny D. He was quite smug about it, but the team was nothing short of pissed. Especially when we learned that he had driven to the Wal-Mart directly across from the hotel to buy these goods and then not called Ezra, our Project Manager, or waited in the parking lot at the hotel for breakfast instead. We would have been much better off had Tim Allen, the sponsor, not ever signed up for this sponsorship. The day improved from there, we double pace lined slowly out of the city with Mike, the hand cyclist, in tow. When we finally broke into pace lines, I chose to hang back with Mike and a few other riders: Jon Ciani, Spenser Smith, and Chris Curphey. We rode at an excruciatingly slow pace but it was so worth it to see Mike push himself to the limit on the hilly ride. At times, we had to hop off the bike and give him that little bit of encouragement in the form of a push to make it up the steepest ones. We were racked at mile 25 of the ride because we had a poorly planned arrival at 12 that we couldn’t possibly make it to otherwise. We arrived shortly after noon at the Children’s Hospital in Shreveport which quickly became one of my favorite friendship visits so far. There I met Juan David and Javier, played basketball with them and even used some of my Spanish to interact with the parents (many of whom were foreign – the care was completely free of cost). That night we had dinner at a BBQ restaurant with a Pi Alpha from the Beta Omicron chapter and went to bed early; preparing for the next day’s long ride.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
7/23 - Update in Terrell, TX
Muleshoe to Lubbock
Texas is going to be exhausting. In addition to the deteriorating road conditions, the winds have begun to pick up in intensity. There is nothing more frustrating than a head wind that forces hard pedaling going downhill. The hours begin to lengthen and legs instantly become pained. On this 70 mile ride, one of the crew members, Zach, rode along with us on Matt Gant’s bike. He did a fantastic job as this was his first significant ride and even for the general team, not an easy one. After arrival, we had a friendship visit with the Adaptive Sports in Lubbock. Following a fantastic beef brisket, we headed to their softball field to challenge the team. In the first inning of the game, one of the friends cranked a 3 run home run to deep right center. We played until sunset and then left for lodging at Lubbock Christian University where we finally had internet access once again. Tomorrow begins the “Texas Triple Crown” on which we bike 300 miles in 3 days. With winds like today, these next three days should be pretty intense.
Lubbock to Snyder
This day came out of nowhere. I believe that it may have been the perfect storm of factors: a poor road, strong winds, and mistakes in hydration and eating. At about mile 80 (the rack point), I felt like I was going to pass out, despite downing a whole water bottle soon before. The humidity and temperature combination made it absolutely awful to ride. Somehow, we made it to arrival and after drinking a few Gatorades and eating some food, I felt a little better. We went to lodging at the church and got ready for dinner with the chamber of commerce. We met the mayor of Snyder who was very accommodating for us and even insisted that we stay in contact after the trip with her.
Snyder to Abilene
Snyder to Abilene was a day that I decided to let my knee rest. This was a very difficult decision as I really wanted to ride but the previous day had been very taxing on it and I decided to avert future problems. We had our first double arrival (2 locations where we would bike to and meet friends). Both were fantastic and rewarding. At the second, we had a dance party with the friends and then performed a KOB for the children at a local camp nearby. Upon their arrival, I was mobbed in a sea of them, all with questions, but it was great. After a long day, we left for dinner at the local steakhouse, a nice break from the typical spaghetti meals we get from sponsors. The steak also provided much needed sustenance for the coming 110 mile ride, the finale of the Triple Crown. We then returned to Abilene Christian University to sleep in dorms again for the night.
Abilene to Stevenville
The ride from Abilene to Stevenville began with a ride along from the local bike club (although since I was riding with the back group, we didn’t see much of them). At mile 60 of the 110 mile day, we had a great on the road lunch with some Pi Alphas (have ridden JOH before) and some Pi Kapps from the UT-Arlington chapter. At this point my knee was feeling a little sore, but Advil quickly remedied that problem. The last 20 miles were made easier with a tail wind (nothing better than climbing hills at 25 mph!) and we cruised into town around 3:00. We had some time to rest at lodging and then had a friendship dinner there. Following dinner, we went as a team to see the new batman “The Dark Knight” which was simply one of the best movies I have ever seen. As said by other members of the team, it was the first two and a half hours where we felt that we weren’t on the Journey of Hope. It was a true mental and physical release from pain. After the movie, we were all excited for the upcoming days which would be much easier than the last few in which we had ridden a large amount of mileage.
Stevenville to Fort Worth
Today was a relatively easy ride, too bad my spoke decided to break at mile 30 (roughly the half-way point of the day). We had an arrival at Chipotle where we got whatever we wanted from the menu and met with Pi Alphas and our sponsors. The food was fantastic and at the end our team was presented with a Chipotle Racing Jersey (they have a team in the Tour de France this year!). Lodging was at the Fort Worth YMCA, located in the heart of the city. Unfortunately, we had to wait for everyone to clear the gym before we could move in our bedding and bags. In other news, we heard the unfortunate news that the Project Manager of the north route had been sent home due to an incident involving alcohol at lodging. This event occurred at his alma mater, Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. Having ridden in his van for the first 10 days of the trip, I find his departure especially powerful. He was genuine to the Push America cause and planned to work for nationals in the next year. But now, all of that is probably gone. The Iowa kids on the south route took this news the hardest and I don’t blame them. Anyone who knew Dave respected him and only wished the best in the future upon him. He will definitely be in our memories as we complete the ride and I truly hope that he can find a job that meets with his passion of service. We end this day on a low note, but the team will recover and be stronger than ever.
Texas is going to be exhausting. In addition to the deteriorating road conditions, the winds have begun to pick up in intensity. There is nothing more frustrating than a head wind that forces hard pedaling going downhill. The hours begin to lengthen and legs instantly become pained. On this 70 mile ride, one of the crew members, Zach, rode along with us on Matt Gant’s bike. He did a fantastic job as this was his first significant ride and even for the general team, not an easy one. After arrival, we had a friendship visit with the Adaptive Sports in Lubbock. Following a fantastic beef brisket, we headed to their softball field to challenge the team. In the first inning of the game, one of the friends cranked a 3 run home run to deep right center. We played until sunset and then left for lodging at Lubbock Christian University where we finally had internet access once again. Tomorrow begins the “Texas Triple Crown” on which we bike 300 miles in 3 days. With winds like today, these next three days should be pretty intense.
Lubbock to Snyder
This day came out of nowhere. I believe that it may have been the perfect storm of factors: a poor road, strong winds, and mistakes in hydration and eating. At about mile 80 (the rack point), I felt like I was going to pass out, despite downing a whole water bottle soon before. The humidity and temperature combination made it absolutely awful to ride. Somehow, we made it to arrival and after drinking a few Gatorades and eating some food, I felt a little better. We went to lodging at the church and got ready for dinner with the chamber of commerce. We met the mayor of Snyder who was very accommodating for us and even insisted that we stay in contact after the trip with her.
Snyder to Abilene
Snyder to Abilene was a day that I decided to let my knee rest. This was a very difficult decision as I really wanted to ride but the previous day had been very taxing on it and I decided to avert future problems. We had our first double arrival (2 locations where we would bike to and meet friends). Both were fantastic and rewarding. At the second, we had a dance party with the friends and then performed a KOB for the children at a local camp nearby. Upon their arrival, I was mobbed in a sea of them, all with questions, but it was great. After a long day, we left for dinner at the local steakhouse, a nice break from the typical spaghetti meals we get from sponsors. The steak also provided much needed sustenance for the coming 110 mile ride, the finale of the Triple Crown. We then returned to Abilene Christian University to sleep in dorms again for the night.
Abilene to Stevenville
The ride from Abilene to Stevenville began with a ride along from the local bike club (although since I was riding with the back group, we didn’t see much of them). At mile 60 of the 110 mile day, we had a great on the road lunch with some Pi Alphas (have ridden JOH before) and some Pi Kapps from the UT-Arlington chapter. At this point my knee was feeling a little sore, but Advil quickly remedied that problem. The last 20 miles were made easier with a tail wind (nothing better than climbing hills at 25 mph!) and we cruised into town around 3:00. We had some time to rest at lodging and then had a friendship dinner there. Following dinner, we went as a team to see the new batman “The Dark Knight” which was simply one of the best movies I have ever seen. As said by other members of the team, it was the first two and a half hours where we felt that we weren’t on the Journey of Hope. It was a true mental and physical release from pain. After the movie, we were all excited for the upcoming days which would be much easier than the last few in which we had ridden a large amount of mileage.
Stevenville to Fort Worth
Today was a relatively easy ride, too bad my spoke decided to break at mile 30 (roughly the half-way point of the day). We had an arrival at Chipotle where we got whatever we wanted from the menu and met with Pi Alphas and our sponsors. The food was fantastic and at the end our team was presented with a Chipotle Racing Jersey (they have a team in the Tour de France this year!). Lodging was at the Fort Worth YMCA, located in the heart of the city. Unfortunately, we had to wait for everyone to clear the gym before we could move in our bedding and bags. In other news, we heard the unfortunate news that the Project Manager of the north route had been sent home due to an incident involving alcohol at lodging. This event occurred at his alma mater, Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. Having ridden in his van for the first 10 days of the trip, I find his departure especially powerful. He was genuine to the Push America cause and planned to work for nationals in the next year. But now, all of that is probably gone. The Iowa kids on the south route took this news the hardest and I don’t blame them. Anyone who knew Dave respected him and only wished the best in the future upon him. He will definitely be in our memories as we complete the ride and I truly hope that he can find a job that meets with his passion of service. We end this day on a low note, but the team will recover and be stronger than ever.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Update 7/18 - Abilene, Texas
Socorro to Carrizozo, NM
Although Socorro was fun, we were excited to move further towards Texas, which has become the unofficial half-way point of the trip. The beginning of the ride was hilly and tiring, but manageable. However, around mile 55, one of the crew members (nicknamed ‘farva’) told us that we were going to get “racked” at one of the next two crew stops because we were behind on time. Upon arriving at the second crew stop, we realized that he made this up and we would continue about 25 more miles on the hilly terrain. With a sore knee hanging in the balance, this miscommunication was awful for morale. Especially considering we had been flying to that crew stop, even pedaling going down a steep incline to arrive on time. It wasn’t just the distance and hills that were a problem on this day, it was the constant incorrect information that made riding hard. We finally made it to the stage up for arrival after an exhausting ride. Our lead for the pace line was a firetruck, who began by driving around 22 miles per hour causing us to come close to passing out after the long ride. We arrived at the New Horizons facility for lunch. New Horizons provides long-term care for people with disabilities: many of the members had been there over 20 years and were older than 60. We then traveled to the local Episcopal church for dinner, which was amazing, probably the best so far. The highlight of dinner was introductions where a married couple introduced themselves as ‘skunk daddy’ and ‘skunk momma’ because they rescue “abandoned” skunks. Well, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. We asked them to bring some of their skunks to show us (they have 16 living in their house) and they obliged. I plan to upload some pictures quite soon. They even sleep with a few of their skunks at night. There are some parts of this trip that are hard to remember a few days later and there are those that I will never forget my whole life: this was the later.
Carrizozo to Roswell, NM
The trip from Carrizozo to Roswell was one of those days that could vary greatly in difficulty based upon the wind. Luckily, it was in our favor. The mileage went by remarkably quickly and we even ended up waiting about an hour at ‘stage-up’ before we assembled the double pace line for arrival. We would have waited longer, but a large storm loomed on the horizon. We arrived at the local Arc and met a few members and enjoyed some fresh fruit and drinks. Then the storm began. We were trapped under a little structure in the middle of their park waiting for the rain to cease. It did not. It came time to leave and we ran through the rain and already formed small rivers to the vans. Most of the team had taken their bikes off of the cars to avoid getting them wet. So, they had to stand in the torrential downpour to re-rack them. Fortunately I had left my bike, the Iron-Horse, on and spared myself from most of the rain. After getting in the car, we were informed that instead of staying in the high-school we would be lodging at the local Ramada for two days. This was fantastic news: we would have internet, our own bathrooms, TV, and more room. After showering, we departed for dinner with the local Arc. This was a fantastic Mexican meal that was followed by a two hour game of volleyball on the front lawn. After leaving around dusk, we had the rest of the night to explore Roswell. The under 21 crowd walked down to the local Sonic where we hung out for a while before calling it a night.
Roswell (Day off)
We began our day off in Roswell with a continental breakfast at the hotel. Since they are used to probably a total of 30 guests maximum at any one time, 30 hungry fraternity members absolutely destroyed the buffet. After leaving, there was no more cereal, no bread or bagels, no drinks, and no waffle mix. We then departed for a local farm and stables that caters to recuperative horse riding therapy for those in wheelchairs. There, we watched a few of the individuals we had seen the day before demonstrate their riding skills. Their abilities were especially impressive because both of the individuals we watched have no feeling below their waist, making it incredibly difficult to balance (they even rode with no hands!). For lunch, we returned to the same house we had had dinner at and again played some volleyball. Next, we went to the UFO museum, which unfortunately was a disappointment. The highlight was the tour guide who was a believer himself and quite the character. After the museum, we completed some errands and left for dinner with the Arc. We ate in a park and even played Frisbee with some of the friends there who were quite good. After hanging out for a while, we went back to the hotel to rest up for the day ahead.
Roswell to Portales
As I look back a few days on the ride from Roswell to Portales, I definitely think it was one of the best. Although it was a 95 mile ride, I felt no discomfort after the ride; a first for rides over 80 miles! Maybe I am finally getting in my top shape. The roads were nice, the scenery was variable, and the wildlife was interesting. Yes, I did say wildlife. Along the way, we saw numerous tarantulas (it’s their migration season, go figure!) and galloping semi-wild horses. The horses were fantastic to see: A group of about 15 came out of a field galloping to match our pace line’s speed and rode with us (on the other side of the fence) for a good 3 miles. This was an awesome experience (I even managed to get a video while riding of it). We arrived in Portales at the courthouse, where we met some friends and some local children who had come out to watch the KOB puppet show. Upon conclusion, we rode to lodging at Eastern New Mexico University where we all had our own dorm rooms for the night. We had a sponsored dinner at Pizza Hut and got the rest of the night to do whatever: most slept. Everyone is excited to cross into Texas because when we finally leave the mass of a state, there will only be 20 days left of the trip!
Portales to Muleshoe
Portales to Muleshoe was a short ride, but certainly not an easy one. We only rode 50 miles, but were faced with a headwind for the entire ride. About half way to our destination, we made the annual stop at Joe’s Boot Shop, one of the largest Cowboy Hat, Boot, and belt dealers. I ended up buying a belt and belt buckle because of the high costs of the hats. However, I will most likely end up buying one before we leave Texas. Upon leaving the Boot Shop, we picked up a ride along who has been riding with JOH teams for the past ten years to Muleshoe. After an exhausting ride, we arrived for lunch with the Jenny Slippers of Muleshoe (the female equivalent of the Chamber of Commerce). Next, we had some free time which as usual most of the team members used to nap. I took advantage of ping pong table and played for about 2 hours that afternoon. Dinner was again with the Jenny Slippers. On the first day of the trip we had heard we would be having an all you can eat steak dinner in Muleshoe, and boy did it live up to its billing. After three or so 8 ounce steaks, plenty of baked potatoes, and beans I was as full as I have been on this trip. We finished the day watching Dodgeball and laughing at Creed music videos.
Although Socorro was fun, we were excited to move further towards Texas, which has become the unofficial half-way point of the trip. The beginning of the ride was hilly and tiring, but manageable. However, around mile 55, one of the crew members (nicknamed ‘farva’) told us that we were going to get “racked” at one of the next two crew stops because we were behind on time. Upon arriving at the second crew stop, we realized that he made this up and we would continue about 25 more miles on the hilly terrain. With a sore knee hanging in the balance, this miscommunication was awful for morale. Especially considering we had been flying to that crew stop, even pedaling going down a steep incline to arrive on time. It wasn’t just the distance and hills that were a problem on this day, it was the constant incorrect information that made riding hard. We finally made it to the stage up for arrival after an exhausting ride. Our lead for the pace line was a firetruck, who began by driving around 22 miles per hour causing us to come close to passing out after the long ride. We arrived at the New Horizons facility for lunch. New Horizons provides long-term care for people with disabilities: many of the members had been there over 20 years and were older than 60. We then traveled to the local Episcopal church for dinner, which was amazing, probably the best so far. The highlight of dinner was introductions where a married couple introduced themselves as ‘skunk daddy’ and ‘skunk momma’ because they rescue “abandoned” skunks. Well, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. We asked them to bring some of their skunks to show us (they have 16 living in their house) and they obliged. I plan to upload some pictures quite soon. They even sleep with a few of their skunks at night. There are some parts of this trip that are hard to remember a few days later and there are those that I will never forget my whole life: this was the later.
Carrizozo to Roswell, NM
The trip from Carrizozo to Roswell was one of those days that could vary greatly in difficulty based upon the wind. Luckily, it was in our favor. The mileage went by remarkably quickly and we even ended up waiting about an hour at ‘stage-up’ before we assembled the double pace line for arrival. We would have waited longer, but a large storm loomed on the horizon. We arrived at the local Arc and met a few members and enjoyed some fresh fruit and drinks. Then the storm began. We were trapped under a little structure in the middle of their park waiting for the rain to cease. It did not. It came time to leave and we ran through the rain and already formed small rivers to the vans. Most of the team had taken their bikes off of the cars to avoid getting them wet. So, they had to stand in the torrential downpour to re-rack them. Fortunately I had left my bike, the Iron-Horse, on and spared myself from most of the rain. After getting in the car, we were informed that instead of staying in the high-school we would be lodging at the local Ramada for two days. This was fantastic news: we would have internet, our own bathrooms, TV, and more room. After showering, we departed for dinner with the local Arc. This was a fantastic Mexican meal that was followed by a two hour game of volleyball on the front lawn. After leaving around dusk, we had the rest of the night to explore Roswell. The under 21 crowd walked down to the local Sonic where we hung out for a while before calling it a night.
Roswell (Day off)
We began our day off in Roswell with a continental breakfast at the hotel. Since they are used to probably a total of 30 guests maximum at any one time, 30 hungry fraternity members absolutely destroyed the buffet. After leaving, there was no more cereal, no bread or bagels, no drinks, and no waffle mix. We then departed for a local farm and stables that caters to recuperative horse riding therapy for those in wheelchairs. There, we watched a few of the individuals we had seen the day before demonstrate their riding skills. Their abilities were especially impressive because both of the individuals we watched have no feeling below their waist, making it incredibly difficult to balance (they even rode with no hands!). For lunch, we returned to the same house we had had dinner at and again played some volleyball. Next, we went to the UFO museum, which unfortunately was a disappointment. The highlight was the tour guide who was a believer himself and quite the character. After the museum, we completed some errands and left for dinner with the Arc. We ate in a park and even played Frisbee with some of the friends there who were quite good. After hanging out for a while, we went back to the hotel to rest up for the day ahead.
Roswell to Portales
As I look back a few days on the ride from Roswell to Portales, I definitely think it was one of the best. Although it was a 95 mile ride, I felt no discomfort after the ride; a first for rides over 80 miles! Maybe I am finally getting in my top shape. The roads were nice, the scenery was variable, and the wildlife was interesting. Yes, I did say wildlife. Along the way, we saw numerous tarantulas (it’s their migration season, go figure!) and galloping semi-wild horses. The horses were fantastic to see: A group of about 15 came out of a field galloping to match our pace line’s speed and rode with us (on the other side of the fence) for a good 3 miles. This was an awesome experience (I even managed to get a video while riding of it). We arrived in Portales at the courthouse, where we met some friends and some local children who had come out to watch the KOB puppet show. Upon conclusion, we rode to lodging at Eastern New Mexico University where we all had our own dorm rooms for the night. We had a sponsored dinner at Pizza Hut and got the rest of the night to do whatever: most slept. Everyone is excited to cross into Texas because when we finally leave the mass of a state, there will only be 20 days left of the trip!
Portales to Muleshoe
Portales to Muleshoe was a short ride, but certainly not an easy one. We only rode 50 miles, but were faced with a headwind for the entire ride. About half way to our destination, we made the annual stop at Joe’s Boot Shop, one of the largest Cowboy Hat, Boot, and belt dealers. I ended up buying a belt and belt buckle because of the high costs of the hats. However, I will most likely end up buying one before we leave Texas. Upon leaving the Boot Shop, we picked up a ride along who has been riding with JOH teams for the past ten years to Muleshoe. After an exhausting ride, we arrived for lunch with the Jenny Slippers of Muleshoe (the female equivalent of the Chamber of Commerce). Next, we had some free time which as usual most of the team members used to nap. I took advantage of ping pong table and played for about 2 hours that afternoon. Dinner was again with the Jenny Slippers. On the first day of the trip we had heard we would be having an all you can eat steak dinner in Muleshoe, and boy did it live up to its billing. After three or so 8 ounce steaks, plenty of baked potatoes, and beans I was as full as I have been on this trip. We finished the day watching Dodgeball and laughing at Creed music videos.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
KOB Information
I have been talking a lot about our Kids on the Block (KOB) puppet shows and I thought that I would make a special post to clarify the purpose and execution of these.
These puppet shows are conducted exclusively by team members who were trained at orientation. They perform 3 skits which cover the disabilties of Cerebral Palsy, Blindness, and Down Syndrome. There are two teams of 7 performers on each team.
The crowd for these performances is generally composed of elementary and middle-school age children without disabilities. The skits have a question and answer session at the end that offer the children watching an opportunity to ask the characters questions that they may be too nervous or timid to ask a person with a real disability.
KOB performances are always fun for the team because there is often a section that allows for improvisation making each performance unique. They also provide a way to achieve one of the chief tenets of Push America: Spreading Awareness.
These puppet shows are conducted exclusively by team members who were trained at orientation. They perform 3 skits which cover the disabilties of Cerebral Palsy, Blindness, and Down Syndrome. There are two teams of 7 performers on each team.
The crowd for these performances is generally composed of elementary and middle-school age children without disabilities. The skits have a question and answer session at the end that offer the children watching an opportunity to ask the characters questions that they may be too nervous or timid to ask a person with a real disability.
KOB performances are always fun for the team because there is often a section that allows for improvisation making each performance unique. They also provide a way to achieve one of the chief tenets of Push America: Spreading Awareness.
Another Update --- Roswell, NM
Tempe (Day Off)
Tempe is our final day off before a 7 day stretch of straight riding, our longest such stretch so far. We woke up late as usual on our days off. We rode over that morning to TCU, a large center for people with disabilities and had a fantastic Ice Cream social-type event. In my opinion, TCU is the model for such a center as it is almost completely self sustaining. They have two businesses, one that sorts rags for distribution to restaurant kitchens and another that is one of the 3 largest shredding companies in all of Arizona. Both of these businesses are run almost exclusively by those with disabilities. These businesses offer great protection to TCU in the event that their government funding is reduced. After the friendship visit, we were free for the afternoon and night. After a trip to borders for internet and some books to read in the down-time, we headed to Tempe Lake for the fireworks. Despite the poor and laughable background song choices, the fireworks were fantastic and I plan to post some of my pictures very soon. We left the fireworks around 10:30 pm and were eager to get whatever sleep we could before the beginning of our week long break-less stretch of biking.
Tempe to Globe
Tempe to Globe offered a very hilly 75 miles, which by now, we are completely used to. What we are not used to is coming up to a sign of a truck going downhill with a 6% grade followed by about 10 miles of the steepest uphill of the route. I had even taken a ‘thumbs-up’ picture at that very sign thinking the worst lied behind us. Well, after navigating the bit of hills we came to the town of Globe. As has been the trend so far, lodging is almost always located on the top of a hill. This particular day involved climbing about 500 feet in elevation over ¼ to ½ of a mile. What a way to finish the day. On top of this finish, instead of staying in the high school down the road which resembled a roman-era palace, we stayed in the weight room of the middle school which was expectedly cramped. That night, we had a laid back dinner with the local Lions which was great. We also team meeting in which a man in plain sight across the football field was attempting to climb a jagged rock face instead of walking around to take the road. You see something new every day…
Globe to Lakeside, AZ
The journey from Globe to Lakeside was an epic one. It began with some moderately sized hills, nothing the team hadn’t seen before. The wind and road surface were a bit of a problem for the beginning (yes the road surface does affect riding in a huge way!). After about the 40 miles of this familiar ride, we began an about 10 mile switch backing decent into the middle of Salt River canyon. To our dismay, we had to ride out of the canyon on the other side. The descent of about 2500 feet in altitude took about 20 minutes, while the ascent took close to 3 hours. These 3 hours were traveled at a pace of about 5 miles per hour with frequent stops at overlooks for pictures. After a grueling day, we arrived at Lakeside Episcopal Church, our lodging for the night. Shortly after our arrival, people began to show up for our sponsored dinner. We also performed a KOB for the generally older crowd there (60+) for a reason that we are still lost on. Despite the generationally different audience, the KOB went extraordinarily well, being one of the funniest we have had so far. We got a chance then to talk with the individuals who cooked our dinner. The highlight of this interaction was an individual named ‘Purple’. Purple was a man in his 60’s with a beard that took him “at least 20 years” to grow. Imagine. After talking with him for a while, he began to enlighten us with his 5 Pillar hypothesis. Of course he never called it anything so formal, but I wanted to name these crazy ideas for clarification. The hypothesis was based upon 5 geographical safe-zones that during the end of the world would rise up 5 miles into the sky and form the base for the 1500 mile kingdom of god that was to be created. Of course, one of these 5 zones was located conveniently in the area of Lakeside, AZ. I really believe that there will never be a day on this trip where I don’t see something new…
Lakeside to Zuni, NM
Lakeside to Zuni was another one of those 100 mile days, but this one went by very fast due to favorable winds and rolling hills that were reasonably easy to conquer. Still, no 100 mile day is easy, you are covering a large amount of a distance (think of how long it takes to drive 100 miles in a car). The ride was interesting, but nothing is notable enough to make special mention of other than the crossing of the New Mexico border. Soon, we arrived in Zuni which is a small town on an Indian reservation which had 2 gas stations, a middle school and not much else. We unloaded our stuff and waited for dinner to arrive. We were being sponsored by an individual who we did not know and did not meet. Dinner was 9 pizzas, all fully loaded with veggie toppings…..logical. Being 30 fraternity guys with super-elevated metabolisms, our Project Manager quickly ordered 5 more pizzas. Upon arrival, he learned that the cheese pizzas were $15 each. It seems there is no other restaurant in the area so I guess that price has been working for them. No friendship visit or interaction with sponsors in Zuni, just a solid night’s sleep.
Zuni, NM to Grants
I decided to rest my knee for the ride from Zuni to Grants, NM due to a tightening feeling in the muscle directly over my kneecap. The ride seemed like a relatively average day, despite the crossing of the continental divide (all water flows west to the left and east to the right). We stayed at the Grants community center that night. We had dinner with the Kiwanis Club of Grants which provided another fantastic recuperative meal for us. The community center was great to stay at, but we are looking forward to staying at the Albuquerque Marriot tomorrow.
Grants to Albuquerque, NM
The bike ride from Grants to Albuquerque was just about as good as it gets: short, relatively flat, and interesting. We woke up at a rather late 6am (as you can tell by now, we usually wake up before sunrise) and departed around 7. We traveled the very lightly trafficked, but scenic Route 66 for most of the ride. As we approached the mid-way point for the ride, we had a great downhill that took us into a beautiful canyon. It was here that my pace line took advantage of the opportunity to take pictures lying in the middle of the road by the ‘Route 66’ markers (again, almost no cars). At about mile 40, we had to rack up the bikes to travel about 20 miles on the freeway due to the lack of alternate routes into the city. We unracked the bikes about 15 miles from our destination, the Albuquerque Marriot. The team was wholly ecstatic to be saying at a hotel once again (our last was in Napa). Free Internet, comfortable beds, a jacuzzi, and a city to explore: What more could we hope for? The 15 miles through the city went by at a blistering pace as we were anxious for some free time. After arriving, we had a crew chief lunch (2 slices of lunch meat, 1 slice of cheese, and some tortilla chips) and then were free for about 2 hours. Most people used this time to go online, but some checked out the local mall while others just napped. At about 4 we departed for a local park for our friendship visit. Upon arrival, we had the opportunity to rock climb, which both the friends and team members loved. The highlight of this part of the visit was seeing team members help Ivan and Christie, two friends, participate in the rock climbing despite their disabilities that many would assume prevented them from participating in this activity. Ivan was a talkative boy who was confined to a wheelchair after a surgery. He absolutely loved talking about weapons and definitely kept us entertained. Christie is currently attending the University of Alabama on a partial scholarship to play on their wheelchair basketball team. We then had a fantastic BBQ dinner and some time to interact more closely with those we had come to visit. The second part of the visit took us to a local fishing pond, where we stayed until sunset feeding ducks and fishing with a smaller segment of the friends. This was definitely the perfect JOH day: a fun bike ride with great scenery, fantastic lodging for the night, and a top-notch friendship visit.
Albuquerque to Socorro, NM
Leaving Albuquerque for Socorro was rough as we knew there was no hotel for us, most likely no internet, and far far fewer signs of civilization. We biked a remarkably fast 55 miles (tailwind and flat roads) but then were racked due to the lack of a secondary highway and the threat of thunderstorms looming in our path. We racked up to a friendship visit that we were looking forward to for at least a week. At our last team meeting, our project manager Ezra noted that in Socorro, the organizer had commented that in the previous year of JOH she did not see much involvement and that she really wanted to see more enthusiasm from us. So we pregamed the visit with energy drinks and definitely got psyched up for the visit. This was one of our best visits so far; we had a great dinner, held a KOB puppet show, had a bike decorating contest, and met a lot of fantastic friends. For my bike decorating, Gabriel and I rocked the USA theme and I’ll try to upload some pictures soon. I was even able to ride my bike the next day until the morning rain peeled off the streamer that we had wrapped the bike in. This was a fantastic day, despite the second straight day of prematurely ending the bike ride.
Tempe is our final day off before a 7 day stretch of straight riding, our longest such stretch so far. We woke up late as usual on our days off. We rode over that morning to TCU, a large center for people with disabilities and had a fantastic Ice Cream social-type event. In my opinion, TCU is the model for such a center as it is almost completely self sustaining. They have two businesses, one that sorts rags for distribution to restaurant kitchens and another that is one of the 3 largest shredding companies in all of Arizona. Both of these businesses are run almost exclusively by those with disabilities. These businesses offer great protection to TCU in the event that their government funding is reduced. After the friendship visit, we were free for the afternoon and night. After a trip to borders for internet and some books to read in the down-time, we headed to Tempe Lake for the fireworks. Despite the poor and laughable background song choices, the fireworks were fantastic and I plan to post some of my pictures very soon. We left the fireworks around 10:30 pm and were eager to get whatever sleep we could before the beginning of our week long break-less stretch of biking.
Tempe to Globe
Tempe to Globe offered a very hilly 75 miles, which by now, we are completely used to. What we are not used to is coming up to a sign of a truck going downhill with a 6% grade followed by about 10 miles of the steepest uphill of the route. I had even taken a ‘thumbs-up’ picture at that very sign thinking the worst lied behind us. Well, after navigating the bit of hills we came to the town of Globe. As has been the trend so far, lodging is almost always located on the top of a hill. This particular day involved climbing about 500 feet in elevation over ¼ to ½ of a mile. What a way to finish the day. On top of this finish, instead of staying in the high school down the road which resembled a roman-era palace, we stayed in the weight room of the middle school which was expectedly cramped. That night, we had a laid back dinner with the local Lions which was great. We also team meeting in which a man in plain sight across the football field was attempting to climb a jagged rock face instead of walking around to take the road. You see something new every day…
Globe to Lakeside, AZ
The journey from Globe to Lakeside was an epic one. It began with some moderately sized hills, nothing the team hadn’t seen before. The wind and road surface were a bit of a problem for the beginning (yes the road surface does affect riding in a huge way!). After about the 40 miles of this familiar ride, we began an about 10 mile switch backing decent into the middle of Salt River canyon. To our dismay, we had to ride out of the canyon on the other side. The descent of about 2500 feet in altitude took about 20 minutes, while the ascent took close to 3 hours. These 3 hours were traveled at a pace of about 5 miles per hour with frequent stops at overlooks for pictures. After a grueling day, we arrived at Lakeside Episcopal Church, our lodging for the night. Shortly after our arrival, people began to show up for our sponsored dinner. We also performed a KOB for the generally older crowd there (60+) for a reason that we are still lost on. Despite the generationally different audience, the KOB went extraordinarily well, being one of the funniest we have had so far. We got a chance then to talk with the individuals who cooked our dinner. The highlight of this interaction was an individual named ‘Purple’. Purple was a man in his 60’s with a beard that took him “at least 20 years” to grow. Imagine. After talking with him for a while, he began to enlighten us with his 5 Pillar hypothesis. Of course he never called it anything so formal, but I wanted to name these crazy ideas for clarification. The hypothesis was based upon 5 geographical safe-zones that during the end of the world would rise up 5 miles into the sky and form the base for the 1500 mile kingdom of god that was to be created. Of course, one of these 5 zones was located conveniently in the area of Lakeside, AZ. I really believe that there will never be a day on this trip where I don’t see something new…
Lakeside to Zuni, NM
Lakeside to Zuni was another one of those 100 mile days, but this one went by very fast due to favorable winds and rolling hills that were reasonably easy to conquer. Still, no 100 mile day is easy, you are covering a large amount of a distance (think of how long it takes to drive 100 miles in a car). The ride was interesting, but nothing is notable enough to make special mention of other than the crossing of the New Mexico border. Soon, we arrived in Zuni which is a small town on an Indian reservation which had 2 gas stations, a middle school and not much else. We unloaded our stuff and waited for dinner to arrive. We were being sponsored by an individual who we did not know and did not meet. Dinner was 9 pizzas, all fully loaded with veggie toppings…..logical. Being 30 fraternity guys with super-elevated metabolisms, our Project Manager quickly ordered 5 more pizzas. Upon arrival, he learned that the cheese pizzas were $15 each. It seems there is no other restaurant in the area so I guess that price has been working for them. No friendship visit or interaction with sponsors in Zuni, just a solid night’s sleep.
Zuni, NM to Grants
I decided to rest my knee for the ride from Zuni to Grants, NM due to a tightening feeling in the muscle directly over my kneecap. The ride seemed like a relatively average day, despite the crossing of the continental divide (all water flows west to the left and east to the right). We stayed at the Grants community center that night. We had dinner with the Kiwanis Club of Grants which provided another fantastic recuperative meal for us. The community center was great to stay at, but we are looking forward to staying at the Albuquerque Marriot tomorrow.
Grants to Albuquerque, NM
The bike ride from Grants to Albuquerque was just about as good as it gets: short, relatively flat, and interesting. We woke up at a rather late 6am (as you can tell by now, we usually wake up before sunrise) and departed around 7. We traveled the very lightly trafficked, but scenic Route 66 for most of the ride. As we approached the mid-way point for the ride, we had a great downhill that took us into a beautiful canyon. It was here that my pace line took advantage of the opportunity to take pictures lying in the middle of the road by the ‘Route 66’ markers (again, almost no cars). At about mile 40, we had to rack up the bikes to travel about 20 miles on the freeway due to the lack of alternate routes into the city. We unracked the bikes about 15 miles from our destination, the Albuquerque Marriot. The team was wholly ecstatic to be saying at a hotel once again (our last was in Napa). Free Internet, comfortable beds, a jacuzzi, and a city to explore: What more could we hope for? The 15 miles through the city went by at a blistering pace as we were anxious for some free time. After arriving, we had a crew chief lunch (2 slices of lunch meat, 1 slice of cheese, and some tortilla chips) and then were free for about 2 hours. Most people used this time to go online, but some checked out the local mall while others just napped. At about 4 we departed for a local park for our friendship visit. Upon arrival, we had the opportunity to rock climb, which both the friends and team members loved. The highlight of this part of the visit was seeing team members help Ivan and Christie, two friends, participate in the rock climbing despite their disabilities that many would assume prevented them from participating in this activity. Ivan was a talkative boy who was confined to a wheelchair after a surgery. He absolutely loved talking about weapons and definitely kept us entertained. Christie is currently attending the University of Alabama on a partial scholarship to play on their wheelchair basketball team. We then had a fantastic BBQ dinner and some time to interact more closely with those we had come to visit. The second part of the visit took us to a local fishing pond, where we stayed until sunset feeding ducks and fishing with a smaller segment of the friends. This was definitely the perfect JOH day: a fun bike ride with great scenery, fantastic lodging for the night, and a top-notch friendship visit.
Albuquerque to Socorro, NM
Leaving Albuquerque for Socorro was rough as we knew there was no hotel for us, most likely no internet, and far far fewer signs of civilization. We biked a remarkably fast 55 miles (tailwind and flat roads) but then were racked due to the lack of a secondary highway and the threat of thunderstorms looming in our path. We racked up to a friendship visit that we were looking forward to for at least a week. At our last team meeting, our project manager Ezra noted that in Socorro, the organizer had commented that in the previous year of JOH she did not see much involvement and that she really wanted to see more enthusiasm from us. So we pregamed the visit with energy drinks and definitely got psyched up for the visit. This was one of our best visits so far; we had a great dinner, held a KOB puppet show, had a bike decorating contest, and met a lot of fantastic friends. For my bike decorating, Gabriel and I rocked the USA theme and I’ll try to upload some pictures soon. I was even able to ride my bike the next day until the morning rain peeled off the streamer that we had wrapped the bike in. This was a fantastic day, despite the second straight day of prematurely ending the bike ride.
Monday, July 7, 2008
2 Weeks Later - Soon to be up to Date
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