Sunday, July 16, 2006

AFC on the TV?

Date: 7/16/06

This morning we were interviewed by 49ABC News in Kansas... Here it is:



or here:

http://media.49abcnews.com/video/2006/07/15/bikes.mov

If this didn't help us to raise awareness for diabetes and inspire others I don't know what will :)

-Pattt

Saturday, July 15, 2006

AFC on the Surly Blog!

This is huge!! Surly, the company that donated tons of bike gear and 2 frames, put us on their blog!! Check it out here: http://www.surlybikes.com/surlyblog.html

This is sooooo exciting!!!

-Pattt

Kansas City, Missouri (aka paradise!)

Date: 7/15/06
Mileage: 103

Funds Raised:


$
10,585.62 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!!!

$
8,260.00 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 to wake up at 4:30 am this morning because we were scheduled to be in Kansas City at 1:30 so that we could go to Summit Bikes and meet with some awesome people! It was really good to wake up so early because it was very cool and we beat the extreme heat of the day.

We made excellent time getting to Kansas City. Once we arrived we went to Susan's house. From there we went to the beginning of a bike ride that was organized by Summit Bikes. There were about 10 or so bikers and we biked for about 7 miles to the bike shop! At the shop we had tons of food (including homeade cookies!).

Summit bikes
gave us whole sale prices on some new gloves and biking shorts. They gave us some free biking socks and they tuned our bikes up! We really appreciated their help.

(Free tune-up!! yay yay!)

(I love Summit Bikes!)

We also met with Max. Max is a young guy who was just recently diagnosed with Type I diabetes. His mom Venessa works for ADA and she organized a few newspapers and a TV stations to come to the bike shop to talk to us. We will be having dinner with them at Chucky Cheese tomorrow night!!!

(Max and his mom Vanessa)

After the bike shop we went back to Susan's house. Susan bought us some groceries and has been soooo welcoming it is like being at home in here house. When we meet people like Susan I feel much less homesick :) Hopefully one day I will have a chance to be so nice to complete strangers!

-Pattt

Osage City, Missouri

Date: 7/14/06
Mileage: 80

Funds Raised:


$
10,585.62 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!!!

$
8,260.00 for ADA
+$25.00 thanks to
Matt Bellis
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 a relatively easy day. It was only 80 miles. We biked from Larned, Kansas to Osage, Kansas where we had a free stay in The Rosemary Inn Bed And Breakfast thanks to the efforts of Donald Kramer!! He contacted the town and the town paid for our stay there!

Thanks again Don!

(The Rosemary B&B)

We fell asleep extremely early because we didn't get much sleep the night before and we knew that we had to wake up at 4:30am the next morning to get to Kansas City, Missouri by 1:30 pm to meet with some people!

-Pattt

Friday, July 14, 2006

7th State Completed for Karaoke:):)!

Knowing we had a nice day rest in Hutchinson, Kansas we decided we would knock out our 7th state of karaoke. Turned out to be a really nice place and we got a 20 dollar donation from some nice people we met.

(Karaoke friends)

Song selections of the night:

Adam, Andyk - Lose Yourself - Enimen
Phillyk, Stump - Shake your tailfeather - Nelly + PDiddy
Stump - Into the Great Wide Open - Tom Petty


Adam

Eureka, Kansas (hot hot hot)

Date: 7/13/06
Mileage: 130

Funds Raised:

$10,585.62 for Kupenda
+$15.00 thanks to Jon Shank (bought a T-Shirt)
+$15.00 thanks to Kirk Butler (bought a T-Shirt)
+$15.00 thanks to Kim Welch (bought a T-Shirt)
+$25.00 thanks to Kim Welch
$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!!!

$8,235.00 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 definately one of our hardest rides yet! The last time we did 130 miles it was 70 degrees outside. This time the high for the day was 100, it was extremely humid, and the wind was not in our favor. It made for a long day of biking!

We met a stray dog that we named BoBo. There was some discussion of taking him with us. But in the end there just was no room for him in AFCMobile :( So we gave hime some peanut butter, banana, and water and we said our good byes.

(BoBo and I were just tired :)

(Sugar loves dogs!)

(Chicken checking out the fixie)

We had figured that we would only have 115miles for the day when we left Hutchison and started out for Eureka, but we got a little lost and accidentially added some miles. When we finally got to Eureka we slept in the local state park. Since it was a beautiful night without a cloud in the sky we figured it was a great idea! We didn't pitch our tent. We just slept on our sleeping bags ontop of the picnic tables. There was an awning over our heads so we felt safe just in case a storm came through.

Oh man did a storm come through!! At 2:00 am there was lightning, thunder, tornado like winds, and rain everywhere. The winds blew the water under the awning so that most of us were soaking wet. I thought I was in a war zone. So... After a super hard day of biking we got very little sleep and we have 85+ miles tomorrow. Oh well :) This trip isn't supposed to be easy!

-Pattt

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Yellowstone Geyser Video!

Funds Raised:

$
10,515.62 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!!!

$
8,235.00 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!


Here is a cool video that really shows Yellowstone State park in action. This place was unlike anything I have ever seen before! This video was taken a couple of weeks ago when we were in Yellowstone.



-Pattt

AFC on the Radio!

Date: 7/11/06

Funds Raised:

$
10,515.62 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!!!

$
8,235.00 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!


This morning Adam was interviewed by a radio station!

Click here to download the clip of it.

-Pattt

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Larned, Kansas!

Date: 7/10/06 and 7/11/06
Mileage: 74 on 7/10 - 75 on 7/11

Funds Raised:

$
10,515.62 for Kupenda
+$25.00 thanks to Martin Gould

+$25.00 thanks to Sommer Upman
+$50.00 thanks to Susan Assel
+$20.00 thanks to Carly Stump
+$20.00 thanks to DeeDee
$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!!!$8,235.00 for ADA
+$100.00 thanks to Don Kramer!
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 have met some amazing people lately!

On our way from Ness City to Larned, Kansas we met three really awesome bikers who were also going West to East. They had like a million stories to tell us about all of their adventures with Bison, Bears, and crazy people! There was a couple from the UK and they go on bike tours all around the world! They told us millions of cool stories. They were biking with a friend that they met along the way. Rick who is also going across the US.





We camped on the picnic benches in Larned's park. It was a nice night to be outside and sleeping. The roof over the benches provides a great cover from any rain. This is the second time we have slept on benches and we love it!

We also met two girls biking across the country in the opposite direction as us to raise money to help the environment! What a great cause!! Here is their website: http://greencycling.com/



(GreenCycling girls Rose and Maya with their friend Justin)

When we got to Hutchison, Kansas today we met with Donald Kramer and his wife! Donald has helped us soooo much. He has found like a million places for us to stay! He met us at the local bike shop and showed us to the Church where we will be staying tonight. He also took us out to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant! Thanks sooooo much Donald!! We really appreciate you!

(Mr. and Mrs. Kramer..
They have helped us sooo much it was great to finally meet them!)


(We also met an ostrige!)
-Pattt

Monday, July 10, 2006

Sugar at Sugar City!

So....

For those of you who don't know. Adam's nickname is "Sugar". That has been his nickname for as long as I have known him. When we saw the sign for a town called Sugar City we had to celebrate. The rest is history...



Hope you enjoyed...

Yes we are taking donations for the work done to make that video :-)

hahaha!

-Pattt

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Ness City, Kansas!

Date: 7/09/06
Mileage: 82

Funds Raised:

$9,383.87 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!!!

$
8,135.00 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!


So, last night was very exciting! As we were thinking about setting up our tent in the park in Leoti, Kansas we saw a huge storm on the horizon heading our way!! As the winds picked up we knew it would be a bad idea to even try to get the tent up and going. There was a hospital across the street and earlier we hung out in the lobby to charge our cellphones and use the computer for a bit. We decided that it might be a good idea to go and ask the ladies in the hospital if we could spend the night there. Somehow the told us yes! But if someone wanted to use the waiting room that we would have to leave.

When I was just about asleep I heard someone crying and I saw ambulance lights flash by! The nurse rushed in and told us we had to go. We felt bad that we were in the way of some emergency so we packed up and got out ASAP. We got out of there and looked around in the park for a place to sleep. We found the perfect place! There were 4 picnic tables stationed under an awning in the middle of the park. We got out our sleeping bags and went to bed right then and there. All night a huge storm raged but we were completely dry and safe under the awning! In the morning everyone agreed it was one of our best nights of sleep yet on this trip. It was so much better than sleeping in the tent that leaks and getting all wet :)

When we woke up we packed up our things and headed out. The wind was not nearly as strong as yesterday. It was very strange though. Yesterday the wind was always in our face. Today the wind was constantly switching directions but since it was not very strong it didn't matter much.

We stopped half way to Ness City at around 1:00 to watch the World Cup Championship game!!!! It was between Italy and France!! Naturally we were all rooting for France because that is where PhillyK and AndyK were born! Unfortunately France lost in shootouts :(

When we arrived in Ness City it was the same as the night before. Major storm on the horizon and no place to go. It was even worse becasue we talked to some people that told us that when the rain comes the park will flood so it might be really bad to sleep there. We rode our bikes around and we found a Church. We went in and met a girl named Michelle. We asked her if we could stay the night in the Church and she took us down the street to talk to the preacher.

We knocked on the preacher's door and his wife answered. She told us that we should sleep in their basement!!! We were sooo happy!! It is amazing that these two people who have never met us are giving us a place to stay! We are soo grateful. I can hear the turrential down pour of water outside. It is nice to be in here where it is dry.

-Pattt

Leoti, Kansas

Date: 7/08/06
Mileage: 99

Funds Raised:

$9,383.87 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!!!
$
8,135.00 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 a very very long day. So much so that it inspired me to write this AMAZING poem.

The Rockie Mountains,
were easy as pie.
But the Winds of Kansas,
make grown men cry!

With air this strong,
our pace line is a joke.
We hammered all day,
not a word was spoke.

It was like being in a race,
Wind stay out of my face!!!

Adam also told me a poem that he thought of while he was biking...

WIND STINKS!!!


(When the sign reads "Vending Machines at Post Office"...
You can bet there won't be any food to buy at this town)

Before we started biking in the morning we had some problems with Adam's diabetes. Yesterday it got extremely hot in the plains of Colorado and we think that the insulin in Adam's pump went bad. So all last night and this morning Adam could not get his sugar levels to go down. Eventually he took out the insulin from his pump and replaced it with fresh insulin that we store in the cooler. Luckily that fixed the problem and his sugar levels went down. He thinks that one of the reasons that it got so extremely hot was because the clip to his pump is broken so he has to keep the pump on the inside of his shorts on his hip. This keeps the pump out of the air and closer to his body making it even hotter. He is working on getting a new clip ASAP.


(Adam with broken insulin pump)

Tonight we are camping in a park in Leoti, Kansas! It is a free and there is a hospital across the street that has bathrooms. Lets just hope there won't be another thunderstorm tonight.

-Pattt

Friday, July 07, 2006

Haswell, Colorado... Flat As A Pancake!

Date: 7/07/06
Mileage: 94

Funds Raised:

$9,383.87 for Kupenda
+$50.00 thanks to
Geoffrey Matrangola
+$50.00 thanks to Sandra L Hudock
$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!!!
$
8,135.00 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!


Again for those of you who might not know as a side project team AFC MUST do Karaoke in every state we visit. Since tonight is our last night in Colorado we had to get our Karaoke on last night before we left Pueblo (big city.. means there must be karaoke somewhere). We talked to some very nice people at the University and they directed us to a place only 2 miles away called ShowTimes. It was some great Karaoke!! They had a hugeeeee selections of songs. So for those keeping track:

States visited: 6
States karaoked: 6!!! :)

After getting in late last night from karaoke we woke up at our usual 6:30am since we knew we had a 90 mile day ahead of us! By far today was the hottest and in some ways the hardest day of our trip. It was completely flat the entire day. We could see the horizon on all sides of us! That is pretty cool, comming from Maryland we never get to see anything like that. The sun beat down on us all day and the wind was always against us but we still managed to have a good time. We went through a town named "Sugar City" and Adam's nickname is "Suga" hahaha oh boy that was fun.


(This Picture will be replaced by a video ...
you dont want to miss this...
trust me!!!)

We also met some cool people who were traveling the opposite direction as us. They were from the Netherlands which means really cool accents!


(Cool friends from the Netherlands!)

Our destination was Haswell, Colorado. It is an extremely small town but it has FREE camping! The thunderstorms are crazy here and you can see them comming from miles and miles away. As I type this blog I am watching and praying that the HUGE thunderstorm on the horizon is not comming our way. We may be in for a longgggg night.

-Pattt

Rest Day at CSU - Pueblo

Date: 7/06/06
Mileage: 0

Funds Raised:

$9,283.87 for Kupenda (+$300.00 thanks to CSU-Pueblo Upward Bound!!!!!!)$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!!!
$
8,135.00 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 got some ridiculously awesome sleep in the CSU-Pueblo dorm rooms the night before. Might have been my best/longest sleep of the entire trip. We all really needed it. Breakfast at the dining hall was amazing as were all of our other meals! I love this place!!

After breakfast I went back to snake more sleep while everyone else did more productive things. Adam sent out mass emails to people about AFC. He was especially focused on sending out emails telling everyone about our newest idea! AFC has decided that after RAGBRAI we will bike from east Iowa all the way to Chicago. We haven't planned out our route yet but we figure it will be around 300 miles of straight biking! (we will have a more accurate mileage after we plan the exact route)

We decided to do this because:
1. God is on our side so we can do anything :)
2. We Love Life and we need a challenge!
3. It will raise awareness for our causes and mabye we can get a couple donations out of it!

For lunch we met with Gary who we knew through Cindy (president of Kupenda and best friend). Gary is the guy that setup our stay at CSU-Pueblo. If it wasn't for his hard work and kindness we would have probably slept in the middle of a soccer field and had gotten soaked by sprinklers in the middle of the night! Gary is a truly great guy. He was very inspiring to talk to and it is because of people like him that our trip is so worth all the work.


(PhillyK, Pattt, Awesome-Gary, Jesse, and Adam)

At 5:45 we were scheduled to give a presentation about AFC! It was one of the most incredible experiences of this trip so far! We were honored to give our talk to Colorado State University's Upward Bound Program. Our audience was all high school kids and they had all watched our Kupenda video earlier that day. They were incredible! It was great to talk to them. They were all so smart and they had a million questions about diabetes and the kids in Africa. The most amazing part of the talk was that these kids all get a stipend for their summer camp. Other that money they really don't have much. They were so fired up about helping others that they all donated a portion of their stipend to Kupenda! The total donation was $300.00. That money means more to us and our cause than most other donations because it actually was a sacrifice for them, since they don't have much to give to begin with!

Wow! Everyone of those kids truly inspired us. I have never met a cooler group of people in my life!


(Colorado State University Upward Bound)

CSU - Pueblo treated AFC right :) Thanks soooooo much!

-Pattt

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Colorado State University - Pueblo

Date: 7/05/06
Mileage: 50

Funds Raised:

$8,983.87 for Kupenda (+$30.00 thanks to DeeDee)$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!!!
$
8,135.00 for ADA (+$50.00 thanks to Judy Weilmuenster)

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!


AHHHH yes!! Finally a nice short day. Especially after such a crazy July 4th it is super nice to take it easy.

After we woke up in the middle of a grass field where sprinklers were shooting everywhere we went to a super good breakfast at a local diner! I am obsessed with blueberry pancakes.

Knowing that we only had 50 miles we biked hard and fast to get to Pueblo. The wind was against us the entire time and it was nothing but rolling hills. Good Times!


(hahaha ohhh yea!)

When we arrived in Pueblo we had to look for Colorado State University - Pueblo because Cindy's friend Gary was super nice enough to work very hard to get us a place to stay there. When we finally found the place it was like heaven on earth compared to the last few nights. We are staying in 3 dorm rooms, we get full meals at the dining hall (yay for breakfast waffles), we are giving a speech about what we are doing, and we have met so many cool people!


(I am telling you... This place is incredible!)

Giving speeches is definitely the best thing about what we are doing. It is a chance to really reach out to people and tell them about diabetes, get them fired up about doing good works, and inspire others in any/every way possible to do something to help others!

Also, our friend Lauren found this verse for us. It very much describes how we approach life and how AFC first started.

Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."

Many things that we do, especially when it comes to all of this AFC stuff, we do without thinking of the consequences. We do them because we are fired up about doing something good often with little or no planning. When you do something good and you do it for God amazing things happen that you never even expected! I promise... I dare you to go and try it and see for yourself :)

-Pattt

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Independence Day!

jDate: 7/04/06
Mileage: 75

Funds Raised:

$8,953.87 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!!!


$8,085.00 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 left South Park, CO and headed to Canon City which was only 75miles away. Coming off our last big mountain pass and by looking at our map we figured that it would be all downhill. We would drop about 4,000ft so we were positive it would be an easy day. Turns out we were wrong! Somehow even though there were more down hills than up hills, the up hills were very steep and the wind was blasting against us the whole day.



(Pushing up one of our steepest hills to date)

When we arrived in Canon City our first order of business was to find out where the party was! Even though we were tired you have to see some fireworks on the 4th. A big thunderstorm came through at around 5:00pm so we ducked into one of the only places that was open in the entire town, Rumors Bar. There we found an all you can eat/drink buffet for only $5.00. We also heard from the bartender that a bar located about 2 miles down the road has Tuesday night Karaoke!! It doesn't get any better! After all we still haven't done our karaoke in Colorado yet.

As we walked down the street to find the karaoke bar, AndyK decided to go back and get the video camera to record our yokey exploits! He took off his shirt and ran back. We found the karaoke bar and while we waited for the yokey to start we watched fireworks go off from a nearby mountain... That was awesome!

As time passed we got very worried that AndyK either got lost or could not find the bar where we were. So, Adam and I ran back to find him. By the time we found him we were all so tired that we didn't want to go all the way back to the yokey bar. We also had not found a place to sleep for the night. We decided to pitch the tent on the grounds of a high school. At around 2:00am, an awful thing happened. The sprinkler system went off in the field where we were sleeping!!! We didn't have the top of our tent on since it was such a nice night outside! We all woke up not knowing what was going on. AndyK was quick to jump out of the tent and battle the sprinklers! From in the tent all we heard was him yelling and screaming as he tried to cover the onslaught of water, all the while getting himself soaked. He soon changed tactics and tried to put the top on the tent. I got up and together we secured the top. Inside the tent we were decently dry and everything was fine except for the sound of the sprinklers hitting our tent all night long.

After a restless night's sleep we woke up to the sound of trucks and lawn equipment. I got out and looked around. There people everywhere getting the lawn equipment out of the school's storage shead. They didn't seem to mind that we were there but we decided we had better get up and get moving out of there before someone yelled at us. Not to mention that the sprinklers were turning on again and we wanted to get the tent out before they sprayed us.

Our 4th of july was quite an adventure. The worst part of the whole story is that only Jesse and PhillyK did karaoke that night. Our rules are that at least 3 of the 5 of us must do karaoke for a state to count. We only have 2 nights left in Colorado!!

-Pattt

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Fairplay (aka South Park), Colorado

Date: 7/03/06
Mileage: 97

Funds Raised:

$8,953.87 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!!!


$8,085.00 for ADA (+$100.00 thanks to FamilyK!!!)
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 got an early start this morning because we knew we had a BIG day ahead of us! We were ready to climb a total of 4,000ft up to the top of our highest mountain pass of the entire trip! Mount Hoosier is 11,542ft and we had to climb all the way to the top! It was incredible. There was snow all around. The climb was definately the hardest climb we have had yet. It was incredibly steep.


(After climbing Hoosier Pass we had time to play a quick game of
basketball before heading down!)

After the summit it got even worse because we were comming down off the mountain and it was freezing cold. We had on all of our cold weather gear but it just didn't seem to be enough. After 23 miles of blistering cold weather we ended up in South Park, Colorado. Yes! it is the same South Park that the cartoon is based off of.

We got a ridiculously good dinner at a local cafe. Now we are relaxing in a Motel. We couldnt bear to camp outside in the freezing weather so we spent the extra money.



-Pattt

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Hot Sulfur Springs, Colorado

Date: 7/02/06
Mileage: 65

Funds Raised:

$8,953.87 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!!!


$7,985.00 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 took it easy this morning since we were all a bit tired from the previous two days. We didn't start biking until about 12:30 pm, we usually leave around 8:30 am. We only had one big mountain pass and just 65 miles of biking. We met some very nice bikers today. Steve and Lori were touring and heading in the same direction as we were. We met them before the mountain pass and at the top.


(AFC with Steve and Lori at the top of the mountain)


(Diabetics Gone Wild!!)

We had planned to camp outside but when we got to Hot Sulfur Springs we could not find a campground that was not completely full. I guess with the holiday everyone is out and about so we had to get a hotel room. Luckily the hotel is awesome!! The owner is extremely nice and he gave us 2 rooms for the price of one at only $55.00!! I told him we could all squeeze into one room but he would have none of that.

It was so nice to do a shorter day I was getting a bit tired and tomorrow we have 90 miles of mostly all climbing and when we are done we will have gone up the highest mountain pass of our entire trip :)

-Pattt

The Day That Would Not Give Up.

Date: 6/01/06
Mileage: 115


Funds Raised:


$8,953.87 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!!!

$7,985.00 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!

It was sad this morning because Adam's parents, Alex, and Lauren left to go back home. We will really miss them. It is back to just team AFC now. When we woke up we took our time getting ready. My friend from work, Andrew Marcus, and is brother Aaron. We went to the post office because we had a package waiting for us sent from Kristin Carter, whom we stayed with in Eugene. It was amazing!! She gave us a box of tons of organic bars, fun stickers for our cool AFCMobile, and an awesome harmonica! We didn't leave Rawlins until 12:00. We figured that would be okay because we only had 60miles today (or so we thought ...)


(Coooool Lizard Thingy)

We biked 40 miles to Saratoga were we stopped at a bar to watch the Brazil vs. France quarter final soccer match! What an awesome game!! France won 1-0!! PhillyK and AndyK were especially happy because they are from France.


(Fellow tourers Tim on the left and Alvin on our right)

Next we biked to our "destination town" Riverton. We found a campsite called Lazy Achers. Jesse went to talk to the manager while Adam and I went to the grocery store. The manager at Lazy Achers was very mean to us. Apparently earlier PhillyK and AndyK drove through his campgrounds to scope out the place and he was furious because he has a 'No Trespassing' sign up. The sign was so small that they didn't even see it when they drove in. This was our first experience with someone who was really mean. Needless to say we could not stay at that campgrounds so we were forced to bike another 25 miles to the next campsite.


(Artsy Pic of AndyK)



(Artsy PhillyK)

When we arrived at the next campsite it was 7:30. The campgrounds were 2 miles off the road on a dirt path. After some discussion we decided to bike to the next town which was about 25miles further and across the Wyoming/Colorado border. Now we are here In Walden, Colorado and we biked a total of 115 miles which makes 240 miles in the past 2 days :) I LOVE BIKING!!

-Pattt

Saturday, July 01, 2006

125 Miles isn't Too Bad

Date: 6/30/06
Mileage: 125

Funds Raised:

$8,953.87 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!!!


$7,985.00 for ADA (+$25.00 thanks to Andrea Gowetski)
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 decided to skip over Jacksonville since there were not good RV sites at that location and we squeezed two days into one so that we had 125miles from Lander, Wyoming to Rawlins, Wyoming. All of it was through a desert. I ended up drinking 2 full camel backs plus numerous gatorades and I was still dehydrated at the end of the day. Even though we were in the desert it was strange to see that there were more dead animals on the road than anywhere else we have been, we saw at least 4 dead snakes along the way!. The land looks so barren but when you look closely it is actually teeming with life.

Today was the last day that Adam's parents, brother Alex, and our friend Lauren would be with us. They are leaving early tomorrow morning. We are REALLY going to miss having all of them to hang out with. Alex is a monster on the bike! It was great to have a 4th biker to draft off of.


(Lauren and Alex's last day hanging out with AFC)



(Alex and rainbows!)

When we got to Rawlins we headed to the Daily Times for an interview. We will be in the local newspaper tomorrow. We have been in at least 7 newspapers since this trip started in towns that we have passed through. This has mostly been through the efforts of MiniMed which is the company that makes Adam's insulin pump. We have a PR person that is working to get us in the media. It has been great for spreading awareness of diabetes and for inspiring others :)

Adam Health Side Note:
For those of you who may have been wondering... Adam's sugar levels have been doing extremely well. For example while we biked 125 miles yesterday he only had 1 time when his sugar was low and it was only like 65 or so. He drank a soda and we were back on the road. It is a blessing that he has been doing so well. We also wake Adam up every night at around 1:30am to check his sugar, just to be on the safe side. I can't remember the last time we woke him up and it was low. He is doing EXTREMELY well!! Not to mention that his fitness is through the roof. I can't imagine anyone being able to bike faster than he does up a mountain pass!!

Jesse Health Side Note:
Jesse had his thyroid removed just before we started the trip. There was a concern that it may have been cancerous. He just recently got his blood work done and had the results faxed to his doctor at home. Everything looks fine. They may increase his thyroid medication dosage just a little bit. Ever since he started taking his pills at 3am instead of 6am he has been waking up much faster. He was feeling groggy in the mornings before.

Pattt Health Side Note:
If I can just keep up with these guys everyday then I will be happy. Everyday they get more and more fit and it is harder and harder for me to keep up... seriously those guys are animals! :)

-Pattt