June 18th, day 17 from Butte, MT to Bozeman, MT.

the day started off well when we learned that we would not have to ride along I-90 to the entire day. instead we took highways 82 and 84... i think which shortened our day by about 20 miles. even though our climb was steeper,

we didn't have to breathe in all the exhaust smoke from the freeway. today was the first day we crossed the continental divide, sadly there were no signs because it was a back road.

the was a very beautiful ride, after the divide we dropped down into a very green farming valley where we rode up and down several times over rolling hills. we eventually hooked up with I-90, there were very large shoulders which made it nice to ride on, only occasionally there were guard rails that cut off the entire shoulder and we were forced to ride in the freeway lanes. the only happened a few times and before long were were in bozeman. our lodging was nice, we stayed in the high school wrestling room which is always nice because we have the mats to add padding. once we were showered Todd, Karl and i walked to Arby's where they had free wireless and a 5 for 5 deal on sandwiches. We made sure to make it back in time to change and prepare for our friendship visit. we went to a place called eagle mount, they have a 10 acre ranch where they provide hippo therapy for children and adults with disabilities. hippo therapy is horseback riding with a few tricks, it mimics human walking and improves balance as well as some other things. eagle mount also runs a ski program where they take people with disabilities up skiing with special equipment. after dinner we gave them a grant to go towards their adventure cycling program which enables paraplegic people to ride on hand powered bicycles. after the friendship visit we went back to the high school to get to sleep so we could get up in the morning and do it again.

well the days and numbers got all messed up...

its Sunday June 17th, fathers day.
Happy Fathers Day!
wake up was at 5:30 on the day we left Missoula for Phillipsburg. the ride to Phillipsburg was incredible,

its so cool that we get to see the country at such a slow pace,

we get to see everything. it was 80 miles to P-burg where we stayed at Granite high school. I pumped out 100 push ups before showering because i am trying to catch up with the push america challenge where we do a push up and sit up for every mile we ride. right now i am about 200 behind.

once clean and fresh Jake, Karl and i walked over to the old fashioned soda shop for a milkshakes. at about 6 we left for dinner, which turned out to be the Granite County rib cook off. the Rotary club of Phillipsburg sponsored out tickets for the all you can eat feast. every type of pork you can imagine cooked in homemade BBQ sauces, it was hands down the best meal we have eaten this trip. after dinner we we back to the high school and played a few games of bump on the basketball court with the guys before heading to bed. we were allowed to sleep in an hour, so wake up was at 6:30. the ride to Butte was 80 miles with a 3 mile climb at an 8% grade to summit a pass that had no name...

but it passed right by Georgetown Lake.

shortly after i took this picture it started to snow. so we tried to make it down the hill quickly to avoid anything dangerous. we spent most of the day on Montana state route 1, getting on to I-90 for the last 15 miles. tonight we are staying at the YMCA here in butte which is great because we were allowed to use the hot tub. we got to head to our friendship visit at around 5, if was freezing cold but still tons of fun, i spent most of the time with Denise,

just hanging out and talking, i learned about her life growing up in Butte.
after the friendship visit we returned to the YMCA and just relaxed. hit the hot tub for a little bit, then got ready for bed early because tomorrow we have 105 miles to ride and 3 passes to summit.

Yes, we're still on Highway 12

Day 11: Woke up in Kamiah, ID and rode to Powell Junction, ID. It was 95 miles surrounded by trees as we followed the Clearwater River through the Idaho forests. It was a VERY long day with my personal max speed reaching only 29 mph. So, yes, the ride was long... but we made it! We made it to the Lochsa Lodge in Powell which was kinda like a log cabin camp/resort. It was well taken care of and there was an excellent restaurant right there where we had dinner. I had the country fried steak and Andrew had the roast beef. Both dishes were amazing! Later, I caught some down time with Chadd from UW watching some movies on his laptop. After that we got some huckleberry ice cream at the restaurant. The waiter gave us four scoops for the price of three! Some guys stayed up by the campfire but I was too tired. I got into bed early.
Day 12: Even though I got a good amount of sleep (IN A BED), I was still tired and my muscles felt tight. I'm not a big fan of that area of Idaho. There are scary old men and no cell/internet service. After a slow 8 mile ride to the stretching point, I felt better. I guess just preparing myself for the 4-5 mile climb. My group of three averaged 7-8 mph up Lolo Pass. We had all been told it was going to be a tough climb but at the summit, I had never been so happy for all of the stinking hills there are in Washington that I had been training on. It was tough, don't get me wrong, but after a few gulps out of the water bottle, I was fine and ready to go. After a photo op. at the summit sign reading the elevation

and the "Welcome to Montana" sign, we froze flying down the back side of the mountain. After that steep descent, it was mostly down hill til about 8 miles out of Missoula, MT. My group was cruising between 19 and 25mph for most of the ride. With the change to Mountain Time, we had less than an hour to get ready for a lunch with Adventure Cycling, the organization who creates cycling routes throughout the U.S. We got a good meal and some cool history on the organization. Plus, this cool sticker that says "I ride, therefore I Trans-Am." I took a shower and nap after lunch and prepared for an interesting and rewarding friendship visit/dinner at Opportunities Resources, an assisted living home for some people with pretty severe disabilities. Communication was hard at times and limited, but they were very excited to see us, that's for sure. We had some great tacos and chocolate cream pie for dessert, which I love! Missoula's definitely cooler than the isolated places we stayed in in Idaho. After dinner, I played a two on two game of basketball in the gym here at Hellsgate High School. Later, we enjoyed some nightlife at the Iron Horse. We've got a dayoff today, much needed before our six days of cycling which are awaiting. So, today, it's blog updating, laundry, a team meeting, and basically relaxation. Giving my butt and legs some time to rest. I having trouble keep track of places and days and it seems like it's already been so long, it blows my mind to think that there's still two months left. When we get a better connection, we throw some more pictures on here. Thanks for stopping by!

days 7,8,9 and 10

day 7: from Richland to walla walla the road was mostly flat, we had a great look at most of the areas drainage ditches. the ride was only 50 miles that day so i offered to sweep, which means staying in the back of the group to make sure we don't lose anyone. along the way the other sweeper and i took a wrong turn and went 2.5 miles in the wrong direction. after we got back on track i ended up having trouble with my chain which put us behind the rest of the team by about 30 minutes. once we arrived in walla walla we settled in at the "dome" at walla walla community center. as soon as we were showered i got a ride to the local bike shop so they could work out the damage i did to my wheel during the previous day with chain trouble. then, we left to attend a friendship visit where dinner was served. when we returned, some of the guys went out to see a movie but i stayed in to ice my knee and get to bed early.
day 8: a day off, on our first day off we were allowed to sleep in until 10 am, a nice break from 5:30 am. we were on our way to lunch by 11 am to a local delicatessen. after lunch we broke up into groups, the laundry group and the store group and once everyone was back we held a team meeting just to get everyone on the same page again. for dinner we went to Jim Peterson's house, who is the VP of administration at walla walla community college, he helped us obtain the "dome" as a place to stay. his house was a lot of fun, he had a pool that we could swim in and chickens that some of the guys tried to get eggs from, and the food was great. after dinner we just hung out in the field at the college playing football and Frisbee. i helped some with the decals on the vans.
day 9: the first century day. the ride from walla walla to Lewiston was 100 miles. the ride was mostly down hill so that made the 100 easier to swallow. on the first hill, 6% grade for 3 miles i hit my top speed of the summer thus far at 47 mph, but wasn't able to top that on any of the rest of the hills throughout the day. we rode over Alpowa pass and then down through Clarkston and up the hill to Lewis-Clark state college where we shacked for the night in their new activity center. we had a couple of hours to hang out and shower before another great friendship visit, this time with opportunities unlimited of Lewiston. their organization provides training and instruction on being self supported and independent. they provided an excellent dinner with more than enough food, then after dinner gave some of our guys a run for their money in a game of basketball. as soon as we got back to lodging everyone got into their "go out" clothes to celebrate one of our team members birthdays.
day 10: the narrow road to Kamiah. we woke up at 5 this day instead of 5:30 in order to get a jump on some traffic in Lewiston. highway 12 on the way to Kamiah is extremely narrow, and its primary traffic consists of logging trucks and vacation RVs which made this ride an interesting one. Todd and i were first in today about 15 miles ahead of the pack, we held an oddly quick pace today. even as treacherous as it was, today's ride was still one of the most beautiful ones we have had so far. when we finished the short 65 miles we went straight to a friendship visit with the opportunities unlimited of Kamiah then traveled the short distance to the local community center where we all took freezing cold showers. we will all be going to bed early tonight because we have another 100 mile day tomorrow on our way to Powell, ID

days 5 and 6: the Pass and the ride to yakima

these first two days of riding have been difficult but extremely gorgeous. we left Seattle with live news coverage from Olympic Sculpture Park and headed down Alaskan Way then we took a bike trail over Mercer Is. to Issaquah.

from there we received an awesome Issaquah Fire Dept. escort on to I-90. we climbed on I-90, taking every exit to be sure we weren't hit by cars exiting the highway. we exited just before the big climb for lunch and took a newly paved forest service road up to the top of the pass, though safer it was a much steeper.

from the top of the pass it was mostly down hill from there i personally hit 46 mph, very fast and fun. i was in the first group to head in to Easton, Jake didn't quite make it.

the route planners didn't quite anticipate how long it would take for the whole team to make to Easton and because we had a planned sponsored dinner with the Cle Elum Eagles Club they had to pull the majority of the riders to make it there on time. after the dinner a quick chain lube and off to bed after a tiring first day.

on the second day (Thursday) we started off with an amazing breakfast provided by our lodging Double K Christian Retreat. out of Easton we had an intense tail wind, we barely had to pedal to average 30 mph for the first half of the trip. once past Cle Elum we were on to Ellensburg and from there we took Canyon Rd. to Selah, this route had some brutally long uphill battles incorporated in with it. i tried to keep up with the first group most of the day, and after one of my riding partners had a flat, Jake passed me, and i wasn't able to catch the him or the first group the rest of the day.

for lunch we ate turkey and ham sandwiches and grapes. once in Yakima we arrived at lodging, Eisenhower High School, and prepared to stay in their yoga room. it was just a little awkward to be walking around a high school 24 smelly guys in spandex just as school got out, but we all made it through. for dinner we ate at a UW alum's house and had Mexican food prepared by his mother who was in fact Mexican, it might have been the best Mexican food i have ever had, tacos and tamales. after dinner i was picked up by my aunt Joann and she let me use her warm shower (the school doesn't have them for some reason, i was the only one on the team to get a warm one!) while i was at my aunt and uncles house their were incredibly nice enough to offer to have the whole team over for breakfast, the whole team is looking forward to a warm breakfast instead of bagels and bananas.

Day 4: the practice ride and kick off dinner

Well, today was the big training ride! Here are some pictures of our wet, yet successful trip from Washington University's campus and around Mercer Island. I thought that I wouldn't be in riding shape but I did just fine and I feel like I'm even more prepared than some other guys. Andrew stayed toward the front of the group.
Some UofW alums brought us some pretty good pizza for lunch.




We did some interviews today too! In the morning before the ride, I went on camera for King 5 and answered some questions about the Journey of Hope. Hopefully I don't look like a fool. Andrew chickened out. But, later at our Kick-Off Dinner, the four of us from Washington did radio interviews that should come up on 710 Kiro tomorrow (Wednesday). I feel kinda funny talking with reporters and stuff, especially being on camera. I'm getting better at it though. We've also got more interviews for us lined up along the way. The P.R. has been really great so far and we think it will keep up at least while we're in Washington. We went to dinner at Buca di Beppos, an Italian place. The food was served family style, everyone at tables passed it around. It was really good, especially this meat ball I had. We had a decent showing of friends and family there. It will probably be bigger next year because this was the first time. Oh yeah! Us two plus Rodney (the Public Relations crew member) got our hair cut at Don's Daughter Donna's Barber Shop. It was nice to see her and she was only the fourth person Rodney (from Louisiana) had let cut his hair. Here are some more pictures from our trip to the barber shop and our Kick-Off Dinner.


Below is andrew and wes, wes is in charge of community relations along the trip. (thank you cards and things)

here are Jake, Nick and Chad in order from right to left. nick is from our Miami U. Ohio chapter and Chad is from our University of Colorado chapter.

The First Couple Days in Seattle

These first couple of days have been moving kind of slow. we showed up at the best western executive inn in downtown seattle to get checked in. we received our jerseys and t-shirts for the trip, then we went off the the university of washington chapter of our fraternity to use their board room so we could go over some of the rules of the road and operating procedures. when we were done the alpha delta chapter house cooked us hamburgers for dinner.
wake up the next morning was at 5:30 am, we had to get up so early because we had to conduct a practice pack to make sure we had enough room for everything that we were bringing. after the practice pack we moved to the park under the space needle for "skills day" where we attempted to demonstrate that we had the ability to make the journey across the country.
among the skills demonstrated were flat tire change and the water bottle pick up.
Jake had some trouble with the water bottle pick up but I was able to move past the water bottle on to picking keys up off the ground.
after the skills training we moved on to lunch where we met some Pi Alphas (people who have done the ride before) for lunch where they provided excellent salmon and clam chowder. this was a huge treat for most of the team because they are mostly from the mid west and don't get to eat fresh seafood very often.

after lunch we took care of some more administrative things the went to our first friendship visit at gas works park. the dinner was pizza, and it was provided by our chapter from WSU. it was nice to see some of the guys that stepped up and came out to see us and the rest of the JOH team. after dinner about half the team was finished able to do what they wanted, and the other half went to practice the "kids on the block" puppet show that we use to educate younger kids with out disabilities about the abilities of of people with disabilities.

below are todd wright and josh donde two of our team members and clark one of our friends that came to visit.

here is jake with a couple more of our friends.