Adventures For the Cure | Blog/News

Date: 8/31/06
Mileage: 31

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$15,834.00 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Mike Z
Donation thanks to Mr and Mrs Kebea
Donation thanks to Maura
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,622.00 for ADA
Donation thanks to Mr. and Mrs Carola
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

Today we made an amazing visit to the Pediatric Department at Sinai Hospital. Thanks to the efforts of Kristin Mylot, who works there, we were able to visit with all of the children who are there for surgeries, sicknesses, and diabetes.

(Hanging out with the kids)

(Kristen is on the left!!)

It was probably the best stop yet on our trip! Hanging out with those kids who were there and telling them about our adventures and trying to lighten up their stay in the hospital was absolutely amazing! I could have stayed there all day long.


Apparently they have been following our trip the entire summer. Kristen setup a bulletin board tracking our progress with pictures and funny comments of us on the road.

(Frank.. the toughest person I know)

-Pattt

posted at 10:32 PM   5 comments

Date: 8/31/06
Mileage: 31

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$15,634.00 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Bob and Sadj (From our triathlon club!!)
Donation thanks to Kathleen Kweeder
Donation thanks to Rachel Chang
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,622.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

We had a very short bike ride from DC to Towson MD! It was soooo fun because our friends Maura, Laurie, Chip, and Ben all joined us! We were extremely happy to have some other people to bike with. They biked with us from DC to Ellicot City where Maura lives. She made us all a huge lunch and we got to hang out at her house for a while. We know Maura, Laurie, and Chip from our triathlon club and Ben heard about us on the Surly Blog.

(Maura, Sadj, Chip, Ben, and Laurie... with AFC)

After an amazing lunch we said good bye to everyone and we headed to Towson. In Towson we met with Melissa Emery (also from our triathlon club). She let us stay at her extra house (that she is trying to sell). It is a super nice house and the frige is stocked full of left overs from the last triathlon race!! Sooo many treats :)

Melissa took us all out to a Thai resturant for dinner! I love Thai food!!!

(AFC and Melissa!!)

We then headed to Downtown Baltimore to do karaoke. We had originally planned on doing Karaoke at the Hard Rock Cafe but they canceled their yokey because it was an outside venue and there was a 'chance' of rain. We scrambled to find another yokey bar. We were lucky to find one in Federal Hill at a place called Nevin's. We quickly called everyone we knew was comming and told them to meet us there instead. Luckily it worked out well and everyone made it to the new location! It was a great night of yokey!

(Stump, Sadj, and Pat.. singing their hearts out!)

It is official!! Every state that AFC visited we were able to get our yokey on!

(AFC Yokeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy)

Stats
States visited: 14
States yokeyed: 14

-Pattt

posted at 10:00 AM   2 comments

posted at 7:11 PM   6 comments

posted at 5:00 PM   0 comments

Date: 8/26/06 and 8/27/06
Mileage: 60 (on 26th)

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$15,534.00 for Kupenda
Donations from party in Hughesville ($464.00)
Donation thanks to Bullet!!
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,622.00 for ADA
Donations from party in Hughesville ($116.00)
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

Oh yea!! We are really getting down to the wire now! Soooo awesome that we are staying with all of our friends here in Hughesville.

Mrs. Stump and Aunt Dadoon have been cooking us some huge meals and feeding tons of people. They might be the best cooks on earth. Their apple pie is like nothing I have ever had before.

Thanks to DeeDee and Carly organizing an entire night of fun at the Hotel Charles we were able to raise $580.00 for Kupenda and ADA. I love Hughesville!

(Talking about what AFC is all about on stage at the bar)

RaRa (Jesse's borther)
Mrs. Stump
Carly (Jesse's sister)
Jesse
'P' (Jesse's dad)

(DeeDee and Carly)

Tomorrow we are biking from Hughesville to DC where we will be staying with our friend Jase (Jase actually ran across the country a couple years ago! check out his website here). I guess we will be doing Karaoke in DC either tomorrow or the next day. Only 2 yokies left before we can say we karaoked in every state we biked through (we are counting DC as a state).

-Pattt

posted at 7:42 PM   3 comments

Date: 8/25/06
Mileage: 65

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$14,870.00 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Shelley's friends at bowling!
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,506.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

Last night we went bowling in Norfolk with Shelley and some of her friends! A couple of them even donated :) It was so fun even if all of AFC is awful at bowling!

(AFC Bowling!)

Today we had a really short/easy ride from Norfolk to Tappahannock. We just found the fastest most direct route from the two towns as possible on the map and we went for it! We can't wait until tomorrow when we are reunited with tons and tons of our friends and family in Hughesville, MD. Jesse's parents live in Hughesville and on Saturday night his cousin (DeeDee) and sister (Carly) organized a big fundraising party at a local bar. On Sunday we are having a cookout at his parents house! Ohhhh man its going to be fun!

Here is our schedule for our final week of biking:
Saturday (8/26) bike to Hughesville, MD (party at hotel charles)
Sunday (8/27) rest in Hughesville, MD (cookout at Jesse's parents house)
Monday (8/28) bike to Washington D.C. (staying with our friend Jase.. DC yokey)
Tuesday (8/29) rest in Washington D.C. (find something fun to do)
Wednesday (8/30) bike to Towson, MD (staying with Melissa... find karaoke for MD)
Thursday (8/31) rest in Towson, MD (give a talk at a hospital... other stuff)
Friday (9/1) bike to Cambridge, MD (stay with JasonDrinkMoreWater)
Saturday (9/2) bike to Ocean City, MD (stay at Shenanigan's hotel)
Sunday (9/3) rest in Ocean City, MD (do the finishing ride and finishing party)

We only have 5 days of biking left!! If you would like to meet up with us at any point to bike or hang out,

email me at pblair12@gmail.com, or
call me at 443-223-5740

-Pattt

posted at 7:41 AM   1 comments

Date: 8/23/06
Mileage: 5

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$14,820.00 for Kupenda
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,506.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

Today we had a super extremely short bike ride from Newport News to Shelley's house in Norfolk. It is so awesome to be hanging out with Shelley and Carly! We haven't seen them in soo long :)

We got our karaoke done tonight so that leaves only DC and Maryland left for karaoking! It has been a long hard battle. Some nights we definately did not feel like going to do karaoke, especially on the nights when we had a long bike ride all day, but we have always gotten it done!

(AFC Yokey)

-Pattt

posted at 11:02 AM   2 comments

Date: 8/22/06
Mileage: 75

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$14,820.00 for Kupenda
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,506.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

We had a hugeeee breakfast at Judith's house in Chester before we left for Newport News. Judith also packed us some food for the road.

(Good Bye Judith!)

We had a great ride to Newport News. It was almost totally flat and not hot at all. When we got there we played some volleyball at a park.

We stayed with Carly (Jesse's sister)'s friend Lauren's house. At night we all went country line dancing!! soooooo fun!

(Hanging out with Carly and her friends at country line dancing)

-Pattt

posted at 11:00 AM   1 comments

Date: 8/21/06
Mileage: 95

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$14,820.00 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Dennis Logan
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,506.00 for ADA
Donation thanks to Jonathan Gdowik
Donation thanks to Jennifer Burtchette
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

Today was great! We biked from Charlottesville to Chester (which is a suburb of Richmond). There was no wind and it was not hot out. We kept a hott pace for the first 73 miles and then we stopped for lunch. We ate lunch with some of Adam's co-workers from Richmond. It was super awesome. They got us wraps, cookies, and fruit and brought it all to a little park that was right on our route as we went through Richmond so we didn't have to do any extra miles to find them. It was great!

After lunch we continued on to Chester, VA. We arrived at the house of Judith who is someone who found us on CraigsList.org. Our friend Lauren Saft put postings on craigs list that we were looking for places to stay all across the country!

Judith made a hugeeeee steak dinner and some amazing deserts! She even had a pool that we were able to cool of in! So awesome!

(Hanging out by the pool!)

Tomorrow we are heading out to Newport News, VA where we will be staying with Carly Stump's friends and hopefully doing our Virginia Karaoke (in case you didn't know... we have to do karaoke in every state we visit).

-Pattt

posted at 6:52 AM   0 comments

Date: 8/20/06
Mileage: 85 (57 yesterday on our way to Lexington, VA)

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$15,790.00 for Kupenda
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,436.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

Yesterday we had an extremely easy ride from Roanoke, VA to Lexington, VA. It was only 57 miles and there were not huge mountains. Weezal biked with us the whole day! That was sooo fun.

When we got to Lexington Heather and Cindy bought us a super nice hotel room. We were all ready to go to the cheapest hotel/motel in town but our friends would have none of that :)

(Stump writing his book!)

(Adam and Cindy looking at pictures from Cindy's latest trip to Africa with Kupenda)

We had a super great time hanging out with our friends and checking out the downtown area of Lexington. This morning the hotel provided a crutial buffet breakfast. This was really good for us because today we had the hardest/steepest mountain of our entire trip. Tons of other bikers that we have met on the Trans American trail have told us that Mt. Vasuvias is by far the hardest mountain on the trail.

(Cindy and Heather at ice cream brownie dessert!)

They were all right! It was a little over 4 miles long. And I don't know the exact grade of the mountain since there were no street signs to tell us what it was. Some parts were at least 15% if not higher. When we got to the top we were all completely drenched in sweat!

(Climbing the hardest mountian on the TransAmerican Trail...
Notice PhillyK and AndyK in the back on AFCMobile filming the documentary)

(At the top of the mountain PhillyK almost fell off! ...
Luckily AndyK was there to take this picture and then save his life)

On the way down the other side of the mountain we met the famous 'Cookie Lady'. Every cross country biker has met or knows about the Cookie Lady. We talked with her for about an hour and she told us some amazing stories of other bikers she has met over the 30 years she has been living there. She has a second house on the route that is completely devoted to bikers. It is like a Bike Touring museum!!! I have never seen anything like it. There were thousands of pictures, post cards, letters, newspaper clippings, and other things all related to the bikers she has met.

(Hanging out with The Cookie Lady)

(Saying good bye to The Cookie Lady...
Lauren: 'Heather do I have cookie stuck in my teeth?'
Heather: 'Oh no.. How about mine?')

After eating some cookies we made our way to Charlottesville. After dinner we said our good byes to Weezal, Lauren, Heather, and Cindy :(. I can't wait to see them again next weekend in Southern Maryland or in Ocean City, MD at our finishing ride (in two weeks)!

-Pattt

posted at 7:54 PM   2 comments

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posted at 10:11 AM   0 comments

posted at 9:19 PM   1 comments

Date: 8/16/06
Mileage: 80 (yesterday was 90)

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$13,690.00 for Kupenda
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,411.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

We finally passed out of Kentucky and we are now in Virginia! The last bits of Kentucky were pretty crazy. There were stray dogs EVERYWHERE!! I don't know if people just don't use leashes or if the dogs were homeless but it was kinda scary. They were big dogs too. Luckily no one had any problems just a few scares with the dogs chasing us.

(Out bike gloves are falling apart and so is our bar tape...
So we just use masking tape instead!)

Virignia is beautiful! Huge mountains all around us and everything is so green. We have tons of shade with all the big trees which keeps us much cooler. The best thing is that we are only 1 state away from home!!! It has been a really long trip and we all miss our friends and family very much.

We just got an updated total of all our donations that we sent to Cindy Bauer (President of Kupenda). We are now at $13,690!! That only leaves $6,310.00 more to go to hit our goal of $20,000.00 that will build the boarding facility for the kids in Africa!

(While we were in Hazard, KY we gave a talk about diabetes to a group of senior citizens...
They were sooo nice)

Tonight we are staying at a Hostel in Damascus. So many hikers and bikers have been through this place. It is really cool!

-Pattt

posted at 8:06 PM   2 comments

posted at 9:25 PM   3 comments

So....

Often people ask us... "How do your prepare every morning before you start biking?" Knowing that we usually do somewhere around 90 or 110 miles a day... "Do you eat a huge breakfast? Do you have any morning routines?"

I usually try to eat a few extra carbs. I love pancakes (especially blueberry) or cereal and fruit!

(Wheaties are gooooood)

Jesse also eats a big breakfast and he usually does some stretching.

(Stump stretching out)

Adam...

Well Adam has his own unique way of preparing for a hard day of biking. I cannot really put it into words so we made this video.



The sugar in the watermelon helps to raise his sugar levels when they are low. Now you see why we must fight this battle against diabetes! As you can see... Low sugar levels is an awful awful thing :) hahaha!

Yes we are still taking donations for all of our hard work!

Help stop diabetes and help the kids in Africa!

-Pattt

posted at 8:57 PM   8 comments

Date: 8/12/06
Mileage: 110

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$12,857.62 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Adam's Grandmom!
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,411.00 for ADA
Donation thanks to Adam's Grandmom!
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

We said our good byes to Andrea and Ed. It was awesome staying at Ed's house in Louisville, KY. I even got to run with him on our day off. Ed is super fit!

(We will miss you Ed!)

Today was great! It was only a high of 82 degrees and it was not humid!! We really enjoyed our bike ride today.

Tonight we are going to do our yokey for Kentucky! We are staying with Amy and Shane in Berea. They made us an amazing dinner and we had banana pudding for desert!! Banana pudding is probably my favorite desert ever!!!

-Pattt

posted at 8:24 PM   2 comments

Today in Louisville, KY we were interviewed by Pete and Kelly at WDJX 99.7FM.

Listen to it here

(In the station)

(AFC with Pete and Kelly)

-Pattt

posted at 11:00 AM   3 comments

Date: 8/10/06
Mileage: 120

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$12,807.62 for Kupenda
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,286.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

We woke up early at 5:30 am because we had to be in Louisville, KY at a Marriott Hotel to give a talk at a diabetes awareness discussion group. We were asked to join the MiniMed representatives and talk about Adam's MiniMed insulin pump and our trip.

The journey to Louisville was a long one. We were not sure how far it would be when we started because we were off our TransAmerican Trail maps and we had to figure out the route ourselves. Not only that but Adam's insulin pump broke in the morning so that caused us some delay. Luckily we were able to find a pharmacy to buy a few syringes so he was able to inject his insulin. He called MiniMed and they shipped him a new pump in 24hrs (so we will have it on the morning of 8/11). MiniMed is amazing! That pump has been through some tough times during this trip. It is a testament to its good design that it lasted as long as it did.

It was very hot for most of the day. When we finally got to Louisville a huge storm came through. The winds were so strong we almost fell off our bikes!

We were almost late for out talk and we didn't have time to shower but we made it! Adam talked about how he can manage his sugar levels using the pump and lots of people had questions for him! Tracy, from MiniMed bought us a hugeee dinner at the Marriott's restaurant. It was more food than we could eat so we took home lots of leftovers, perfect after a long day of biking.

(Eating a feast!)

Eddie, our host in Louisville, came and picked us up at the Marriott to take us to his place that was 10 miles away. His house is beautiful! Although we have a rest day tomorrow we have to wake up early to go to a local radio station for an interview.

-Pattt

posted at 10:44 AM   0 comments

Date: 8/9/06
Mileage: 85

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$12,807.62 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Bruce (a great guy we met at Subway)
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,286.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

Today was pretty easy. It was only 85 miles. We really did not want to leave Matt's awesome vacation house in Cave In Rock so we got a really late start. We did not get on the road until 1:00pm.

(Look at that sky... A storm was coming through)

We stayed for free at a volunteer fire station in Utica. There were 4 other cross country bikers there. We all exchanged stories about our adventures so far and we went to bed early since we had a long day coming up.

-Pattt

posted at 10:57 PM   1 comments

posted at 11:37 AM   4 comments

Date: 8/8/06
Mileage: 95

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$12,787.62 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Mark and Sue (our host family in Carbondale)
Donation thanks to Sean (our good friend from Carbondale)
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,286.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

What an amazing stay in Carbondale!! I really cannot get over how many super nice people we have met on this trip. It is sad that I might never see most of them again. Mabye one day we will have like a big reunion hahah!

(Saying good bye to Sue and Sean)

(Biking out of Carbondale with Sean)

Mark and Sue went all out to make us feel at home in their house (and the made some amazing dinners!). Sean, who is the head of a local bike club, visited us at their house. He even biked with us for the first 25 or so miles on the way out of Carbondale.

There was also a local TV station that came by the house in the morning to interview us. Here is a copy of the broadcast:
The write up
The video (the other biker in the video is Sean!)

Today was definately the most humid day of our trip yet. We were completely drenched in sweat at the end! It was ridiculous. Luckily it has only been a high of 90 degrees lately.

(Apparently there were some 'Slow Dangerous Hills' on our way out of Carbondale)

Tonight we are staying at someone's vacation house. Sean is friends with an awesome guy named Matt. Matt is letting us stay at his parent's vacation house tonight! No one is even here. They let us crash here for free and everthing! Can you imagine letting 5 guys who you met for 5 minutes stay at your house while you were not there? That is the kind of hospitality we have been experiencing lately!

We also did karaoke tonight. We called every bar within 25 miles of Cave In Rock and no one had karaoke. So we drove 10 miles to Elizabethtown, IL and found a bar that had a microphone (connected to a singing Buck) and a juke box machine. We asked them if we could jerry-rig some yokey together and we told them of our plight that we had to do it tonight or we would break our streak of doing karaoke in every state we visited. They were more than happy to let us make fools of ourselves :)

States visited: 11
States karaoked: 11
States left: 3 (ohhhhh yea!)

-Pattt

posted at 11:08 AM   5 comments

Date: 8/7/06
Mileage: 95 (yesterday) 0 (today)

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$12,587.62 for Kupenda
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,286.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

Yesterday morning we woke up from our nice picnic tables in St. Joe State Park in Farmington, Missouri. We had a very peaceful night sleep there! The weather was perfect. We knew the day was going to be less than 100 miles and it was only a high of 90 so we took our time getting ready in the morning. It was a beautiful bike ride all the way. Much of it was in the Ozarks (really big hills).

We arrived at the house of Mark and Sue in Carbondale. They had a really good dinner ready for us! It was awesome.

This morning we woke up really early! Mark is a hot air balloon pilot and he said if we could get out of the house at 6:00 am we could go for a ride! It was awesome. There was only room for 3 people in the balloon. AndyK, Adam, and Mark went up and took some amazing pictures and videos while they were up there.

(Getting ready)

(Lifting off!)


(Bye Bye!)

When we got home we were interviewed by a local newspaper and worked on organizing some other fundraising events for when we get closer to home.

I can't wait for the nice day tomorrow! It is supposed to be a high of only 90 degrees!

-Pattt

posted at 5:15 PM   0 comments

Date: 8/5/06
Mileage: 95

Funds Raised:(Donate Here)

$12,587.62 for Kupenda
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,286.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

At Morgan and Leslie's house we had a super amazing breakfast of blueberry waffles!!! Nothing better than a huge breakfast before a long day of biking! We went to back to Route 66 Bicycles to say our final good byes to Dan (the owner) and Morgan (our host). We had a great time in Rolla thats for sure.

(Dan and Morgan at Route 66 Bicycles)

Today's bike ride was great. It was only 95 miles and only 90 degrees, what a nice day.

When we got to farmington the first order of buisness was to find somewhere to get our karaoke on! We found a place called Wild River that had one of the best yokeys that we have been to yet. The place was packed and the yokey DJ was on his A-Game. He made sure that everyone got on stage! He switched 5 karaoke songs followed by 3 or so dance songs. He even played the electric slide. The great thing about the electric slide is that it gets everyone dancing!

(PhillyK at yokey!)

States visited: 10
States yokeyed: 10

Oh yea!

After yokey we searched high and low for a place to sleep. We were lucky to find a park that had camping and picnic tables. The camping sites cost money so we just slept on the picnic tables (for FREE!).

-Pattt

posted at 11:13 PM   2 comments

Date: 8/3/06
Mileage: 110

Funds Raised:(Donate Here)

$12,587.62 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Morgan (our host in Rolla)
Donation thanks to Richard Blake
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,286.00 for ADA
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

(Pictures comming soon...)

After a great breakfast and saying good by to Jaime and Lynn in St. Louis we headed to Rolla, Missouri. Jaime and Lynn were amazing! Everyone we stay with becomes like our family for 1 or 2 days and then we have to say good bye. It is awesome to meet people as super as Jaime and Lynn.

(Saying good bye to Lynn and Jaime from St. Louis)

Today was great! The heat finally broke. It was only a hight of 90! Biking was so much easier :)

We met with Morgan (our host in Rolla) at Route 66 Bicycles. They were excited to see us. After getting showered up they had a cookout and at least 15 other people came to visit us at the shop. Food is good and meeting people is even better.

Right now I am writing this blog from a concert that is being put on by Morgan's daughter. She organized a concert as a fundraiser for Cancer! How cool is that?! There are three really good bands at this awesome cafe place.

For those of you who don't know, I am obsessed with arm wrestling! I love to arm wrestle anyone especially if they are bigger than me. At the concert we started up a small arm wrestling competition. Nothing is better than a friendly arm wrestling match. On this trip I am still undefeated on my left arm ;)

(One of the opponents)

Tomorrow is going to be another day with a hig of only 90!!! Sooooo happy about the cooler weather!

-Pattt

posted at 10:54 PM   2 comments

posted at 11:13 PM   1 comments

Date: 8/1/06 (getting closer and closer to home!!!)
Mileage: 102

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$12,104.62 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Jaime Lee Cocca
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,186.00 for ADA
Donation thanks to Jamie Lee Cocca, and Barb and Joe Lacey
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

Today was supposed to be 130 or more miles. At the BBQ the night before we talked to some people and they told us that it should only be around 85 miles to St. Louis. So we looked at our maps and we saw that we could take a 'short cut' to save some mileage! At this point in out trip we just want to get there the fastest way possible :)

We still woke up early at 4:30am to try to avoid as much of the heat as possible.

(The bikers woke up early while the support team slept for a couple more hours..
Look at those toesies!)

(Jesse is here fixing his first flat of the trip!!
4,500 or so miles and only 1 flat tire!
He is incredible!)

Our 'short cut' was quite short, we made it there in 95 miles, but we ended up going on some major highways to do it. Although they had sholders the last 20 or so miles were quite stressful.

We were super happy to make it to our destination at Jamie and Lynn's house in St. Louis. They even made us steaks for dinner!!!! It was one of the best dinners we have had yet.

Tonight we are going to get our karaoke for this state. We have been in Missouri a lot but we have never done yokey here yet! Tonight we have to get it done. We can't go this far and give up now.

-Pattt

posted at 9:20 PM   3 comments

Date: 8/1/06 (getting closer and closer to home!!!)
Mileage: 102

Funds Raised:
(Donate Here)

$12,004.62 for Kupenda
Donation thanks to Hannah Benjamin (a good friend of ours from UMBC)
$20,000 is the goal for Kupenda. That is the amount needed to build a boarding facility so that 30+ children, who have disabilities, will get to go to school!!! It is a chance to really make a difference in a lot of people's lives!!!

$9,036.00 for ADA
Donations thanks to Jack Triperinas and Robert Reid
Battling diabetes is something that is close to our hearts since Adam has Type I Diabetes. AFC's mission at it's core is to raise awareness, show other diabetics that anything is possible, and to do anything to combat diabetes!

(Pictures commons soon...)

Oh man today was hot! It got up to 106 degrees! But we got it done and now I am in an air conditioned library :)

We left the awesome Church we were staying at in Nauvoo at 6:30am to try to avoid the heat of the afternoon. It didn't work out too well for us because the wind was against us which slowed us down so we didn't get to Louisiana, Missouri until 3:30pm.

(After our ride I was so tired that AndyK had to perform CPR to bring me back...
He weeped the entire time...
This proves yet again that we would all be dead if not for AndyK)

We didn't have a place to stay here as of yesterday morning but we contact Reverend Randall from one of the local Churches and asked him if we could sleep in the Church basement. He was super nice and instead he bought us an awesome motel room! He is also having a barbecue, with some friends and and editor of a local newspaper, that he invited us to! It doesn't get any better.

(Hanging out with Randal - white shirt -
And some friends at the BBQ)

Amazing things just keep happening. Everyday we get more and more email from people who are excited about what we are doing :) Adam probably sends out at least 20 emails a day in response to all the people who are trying to contact him! Everyone from diabetics with questions, people we have stayed with, people we are going to stay with, media, and sponsors send emails.

-Pattt

posted at 7:00 PM   1 comments