Muscatine, IA (RAGBRAI Day 7)

Date: 7/29/06
Mileage: 52

Funds Raised:

$11,934.62 for Kupenda
Donations thanks to Rob Fox, Rob's mom Pam, Amy, Andy, Craig
$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!!!

$8,936.00 for ADA
Donations thanks to David Haaga, Tania Desrosiers, and Paula Bisacre
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 extremely hot! We got a late start so we were biking from 11:00 until around 2:00. It was only 50 miles but after we were done it felt like it was 75 or more just because our bodies have to work so much harder in the heat.

Today was the last and final day of RAGBRAI! We figured that we would be able to setup at the expo one last time but since it was the last day everyone was going home so there were not many people around to talk to or anything. We did manage to sell a few T-Shirts but it was not like the other days.

It was also our last day biking with Jason Cusick, Weezal, and Team Lynn. We will miss having all the fun company on the road!

(Bye Bye Team Lynn!)

I also got to hang out with my good friend Robert Fox, who I knew from when I was young. He tried to help us to find a karaoke bar last night so we could get our yokey on in Iowa but we were unsucessful in our search :( Mabye tonight we will be able to find some karaoke somewhere around here.

(Andy, Amy, Rob, and Rob's mom Pam)

RAGBRAI was great!! We raised almost $1,500 for Kupenda and ADA and we talked to tons and tons of people about things like helping others, using the insulin pump instead of taking needles (for diabetics only :), what it is like in Africa for the children we are raising money for, what it is like for Adam and biking long days, and how cool Surly's fixies are (we loveee these bikes). It was awesome to walk around at night after we finished at the expo and see a few people wearing AFC t-shirts!! sooo cool!

Side Not On AFC's Plans:
Right before we left for our trip our good friend Brett wanted us to visit her in Chicago. We looked at the map and we figured that we could do it! Especially if we could setup some fundraising event when we got there. We were not able to get anything together as far as talking or fundraising so we have decided to skip on Chicago for this year's trip. It would have been lots of long days of biking in a row to get there and then get back on our route home and we figure we don't want to push ourselves to our limits for no good reason.

Instead we are planning smaller detours to Knocksville, TN and Virginia Beach (to visit our good friend Shelley!). We will be updating our route on our map page tomorrow. I am sure that this decision will make our parents happy :) They were a little worried about our long and hard journey to Chicago especially with how hot it has been lately!