Day 29 & 30 -- Grand Island, NE

Andrea, Tammy, and Sue of Grand Island are the definition of supporters of the Journey of Hope. They fundraise all year long so that we can have an amazing two days in this small but friendly city.

We rolled in to a John Deere store after a short 50 mile ride where my friend Nathan McCrary and I pulled (in front to break the wind) our small team of 4 at paces of 23 to 25 mph on flats. It was a tough pace but we both wanted to push ourselves hard on this short day. We finished as one of the fastest groups although the entire team was quickly at the store since we were all eager to get off the bikes. While we waited, one of the team members put down a few coins on some train tracks to see what would happen. To our great surprise, the train did not derail! See the pictures below for the results. After a half hour waiting, a police escort arrived to clear the path for our arrival into town.

Most of the day’s events had been kept a secret from us, so when we rolled into the nicest hotel in town, the Holiday Inn, everyone in our team almost screamed of joy. The mayor was at the arrival to congratulate us and proclaim the day, July 12th, as “Push America Day” in the city of Grand Island (which is actually not an Island, mind you). Then, after unpacking our bags from the vans, the ladies of Grand Island popped open the trunk of one of their cars where they had Sonic Slushees prepared for us! It was such a serendipitous moment as many of us had just been talking about getting slushees later on in the day.

After dropping our bags and bikes in the beautiful rooms of the hotel, we headed out for a lunch at Tammy’s house. We spent the afternoon there talking over some great steaks, playing Wii, playing pool, and just simply relaxing. That night we had a dance in the local Elks Lodge. Since we have become pretty comfortable as a team making a fool of ourselves on the dance floor, it was crazy fun! We were dancing and screaming at the top of our lungs, we had circle dances where we included people in wheelchairs, we played air guitar, did the Macarena, the cotton-eyed-Joe dance--it was great time! I meet some great people there, especially Nia and Jessica. These two girls were fantastic and some of the friendliest and welcoming people I have ever met. We all crashed into bed early on the first night in Grand Island. Many of us went to the hot tub and pool at the hotel.

The next day was a busy one. We went to the local park where we visited a playground Push America built a few years ago. It is a ‘barriers free’ playground specially designed for people with disabilities. There was even a swing built for people in wheelchairs! We preformed Kids on the Block again, where I played the role of Renaldo. After a game of pickup baseball and some sprint races, we left for a visit to the local hospital where Milly, Sue’s adoptive daughter, was in for some surgery. We brought balloons and a nice card and came to support Sue in these hard times.

That night, Tammy brought us to her Kindergarten classroom where she had prepared a PowerPoint presentation of the past JOH teams. We all left that room with tears in our eyes and the realization of how monumental this trip really is. Not only did I come to appreciate first hand the impact we have on the lives of people, but also the impact this trip is going to have on the rest of my life.

PS. We get a lot of media attention along the way. Cyclists rotate doing interviews in cities we visit. We actually saw ourselves on the local news channel as we were sitting in the hotel the first night in Grand Island! My friend just pointed me to this website:

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/article_ba186448-d3f0-5ce5-a20f-a7130ffd25a7.html

Day 28 -- Minden, NE

Rinse. Repeat. We left early in the morning and could see lightning ahead in the west, where we were going. Luckily, the storm moved away rather quickly and we kept pedaling for the day. For the third time in a row, we are doing 90+ miles. Naturally, there were strong headwinds all day. We passed some fields of golden wheat that reminded me of the movie Gladiator, especially since the sky was grey and some rays of sunlight shone through the veil of fog. Most of the scenery for the day was cornfields. My friend Travis and I went running around in some nearby fields during lunch only to get lost and end up 200 yards up the road. Later in the day, someone in our pace line fell as we were going down a hill and ended up racking for the day because their front wheel got bent pretty badly. Luckily for Eric, he fell into the grassy shoulder and only scrapped his right leg up after what seemed like a pretty bad fall. We are staying in a gym for the millionth time. For the first time though, the school actually was wireless Internet. The town of Minden is small, but a few teammates and I went out for a beer after dinner. We meet a trucker in the bar who just happens to be a cattle truck driver. He told us all about the business, but most importantly, about an activity he says is called “painting the roads.” If you’re not quite sure what I am talking about, read the post on Day 26.

Day 27 -- McCook, NE

Dark and dreary day but no rain. Our arrival into Nebraska was met with a wave of humid air and fog. The 95-mile ride wasn’t very eventful, however, we did pass into the central time zone and, for a brief moment, into the state of Kansas. 10 miles into Nebraska, we took a one-mile detour up a hill that took us to the border. Since I have done it in every state so far, I made it a point to pee in the state of Kansas. I realized this right as I was relieving myself on the border, in Nebraska, so I just took a couple of steps over to mark the difference. Other than that, we played a game on the bike where we name movies down the pace-line starting in a certain letter of the alphabet until someone can’t get one and loses (gets a point). It took us 30 miles to get to the letter I, and I was already down 4 points before we decided it wasn’t fun anymore. Finally, 10 miles out of the town of McCook (our lodging), Evan, one of the crewmembers, hit a bird with his car. It stuck in his front grill and we decided to keep it as a van mascot and name is “Murphy.” I have attached a picture.

That night, we went as a team to see the new movie “Transformers.” We were all really excited after the movie, and thoroughly enjoyed the change in routine. For the entire walk back from the movies, we debated whether Megan Fox or Isabel Lucas (the decepticon) was hotter. My vote personally lies with Megan Fox.

PS. I have attached a video of the large freight trains of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line (BNSF) that pass constantly in this area. For the past few days, we have seen these huge trains all over the place. Apparently, they continue all the way to Chicago. They carry anything from cars to cargo containers to coal.

Day 26 -- Wray, CO

Things got worse. Flat lands with nothing to see. Strong headwinds slowing us down tremendously. 8 hours on the bike seat. Sweeping because nobody else wanted to. Frustrations and tension in the pace-line. Cattle trucks barreling down the highway and literally spraying us with fecal matter and urine out of the vents as they swerved to avoid us. Cow farms (and smells) all the way across the singular highway that took us 90 miles into Wray, CO. I miss the mountains.

On a positive note, I was nominated as the cyclist of the week (more so for attitude than ability, I say). We just had our team meeting in lodging (a community center in Wray where we are staying in a cramped gym) which really lightened up the mood. A couple stories and good laughs later, I have put this tough day behind me and I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip. I am so proud of my team.

Tomorrow we’re off to Nebraska and the Central Time Zone. We might even make a detour to Kansas as we pass within 10 miles of it. 1500+ miles on the odometer.

Day 25 -- Fort Morgan, CO

It’s funny how some of the days we expect to be the worst turn out to be the best and vice versa. Breckenridge was supposed to be the hardest day cycling and although it was difficult, it remains one of the best days in the trip so far. Our entry into the American flatlands was supposed to be an easy flat ride of 100 miles out of Denver and became a nightmare. To start off the day, the crew marked a wrong turn and ended up losing half the team in the streets of Denver. After losing an hour, we were back on the road only to stop again after a nail went through my friend Adam Southard’s back tire. Although the day was mostly flat and we averaged 18-20 mph, we ended up stopping another 3 times because of flats. It seems that everyone had flats today. At the end, we counted 20 tubes lost on a single day (we usually end up with 1 flat a day, if that). Some pace-lines had to stop as many as 7 times because of flats. To make it worse, two accidents today caused injuries to cyclists. One ended up falling going 20 mph and has severe road rash on his leg and shoulder (luckily, he didn’t break anything!). Another cyclist was involved in a collision due to a short stop in city traffic and hit his private parts on the top tube pretty hard to the point where he racked himself for the day because of swelling. There was farmland surrounding us for most of the day, so the sights weren’t incredible. Not to mention the effect all of these events had on the mood of the team (tensions were high at some points today), we also traveled through cow country, and if you aren’t aware, the stench is horrible. Cows have needs like anyone, and when you have thousands of cows in a small area, it can get pretty bad. Even in our lodging in the town of Fort Morgan, we can smell the odor when we exit the building. It seems to hover over the entirety of the town (and we traveled from end to end to run some errands). In any case, the residents are extremely friendly and gave us free laundry and bike tune ups as well as invited us to watch some movies and relax at the local Elk Lodge. To feel better about the day and cool down, a few friends and I went to DQ and got some blizzards. Those can make anyone happy. We talked for a while and vented about our frustrations so far on the trip. I’m hoping the rest of this week is better, because for the next four days, we are doing 90+ miles a day without much programming in essentially the same terrain.

Day 23 & 24 -- Denver, CO

Our last 50 miles out of the Rocky Mountains took us into Denver, Colorado. Since the day was mostly downhill, the team quickly finished pushing paces of 25 to 30 miles per hour. On our way down, we crossed Buffalo Bill’s grave perched on Lookout Mountain, the Coors brewery, and my pace-line almost hit a deer as it ran by the group and crossed the road right in front of the head cyclist. Before the last switchbacks downhill, we arrived at a bridge overlooking the city. Behind us, we could see the white peaks of the Rocky Mountains, ahead of us, the American flatlands extended to the horizon. We’re all excited for the change of scenery and the new challenges it will bring.

We were welcomed into Denver at the Bronco’s Invesco stadium at Mile High. As we rolled in to the parking lot, we meet the JOH Trans-America team for the first time. We’ll be spending the next day and a half with them. It was bizarre to meet a whole new group of people who have been doing the same thing as us for the summer. We quickly mingled and shared stories from our trips so far before we went on a tour of the stadium. The Bronco staff kindly allowed all of us onto the field where “Welcome Journey of Hope” greeted us on the Jumbotron! It was an incredible experience and for many of us, a first. The brothers of Eta Gamma chapter at Boulder then provided an awesome burrito lunch catered by Chipolte. After eating in the parking lot, a dozen police motorcycles and cars escorted us with lights and sirens out to the capitol building through the busy streets and highways of Denver. We all stared in awe as the police officers stopped traffic and marked exits for us for a 5-mile stretch into the city. It was such a magnanimous and incredible feeling to be treated with that importance and for passersby to look on as we proudly pedaled forward. The governor and mayor were both present at the arrival to welcome us into Denver! After a few speeches and an ice cream greet-and-meet sponsored by KRG, the teams went to the hotel to prepare for the afternoon events.

At 4:30pm, we rolled out to City Park for the annual Pedal for Pennies event, which benefits the Special Olympics of Denver. The Special Olympics athletes find sponsors to pay a certain amount of money for each 1-mile lap they complete around the lake. The Journey of Hope teams came to support the riders and bike alongside them. Although the event was delayed because of a thunderstorm, we all had a blast! I rode with Adella, who was so excited to be riding that she kept on jumping up and down while screaming of joy. We completed a full 6 laps before the end of the event. Some athletes were able to do as many as 12 laps in the one-hour period. We celebrated with a dinner and dance sponsored by KRG. If you’ve never seen 70 fraternity brothers singing “I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys on one knee to the girls we rode with today, it was a sight to see!

On our day off in Denver, we went to Craig Hospital to play a game of murderball, also known as wheelchair rugby, with the Denver Harlequins. We got destroyed (watch the video!). The game involves rolling the ball into the end zone with any combination of 2 wheels (back, front, sides, etc.) and passing or dribbling every 10 seconds. I never thought a game on wheelchairs could be so aggressive and rough. Crashing into other players is a necessity, and people flipping over a commonality. It was a really fun time, I even scored a goal!