On the road to the Saris Gala

On the road to Madison Wisconsin for the Saris Gala. This is a fund raiser that Saris puts together for the Bike Fed of Wisconsin. They have been doing this for ten years. Jim and I decided to come up for the festivities. Below is Chris and  Sara Fortune who own Saris are ready roll on the pub crawl bus.

We stared the crawl with Old Fashions.

Phil Ligget! Those who know bike racing know it best through the eyes and voice of Phil. He has been the commentator for the Tour de France for 41 tours also 14 Olympics.

He is here for the Gala with a warm up on the pub crawl. Surprisingly he is awake. He just flew in from England.

Our first stop was the bar called the Fresco at the Oveture. It is a multi purpose facility. This view is from the balcony of the Overture... Beautiful evening

Pedaling hard to move on to the Tipsy Cow Pub! By the way this is a whole lotta work.

Inside we had an interesting Drink called the Moscow Mule, made with Ginger Beer & Vodka.

We made it back to the hotel dropped everyone off and made our way to Chris and Sara's home.

Their home is across from downtown Madison on lake Monona. An incredible view and a lovely end to a fun evening

August 31 Day 61 Sanford ME to Portland ME 38 Miles 985 climbing

Today we ride into Portland Maine. There is a different feel around the trailer today. Everyone knows this is it. All of us have made the journey. This entry is to say "Thanks for the memories, everyone."

 Nancy, thank you for coming up with this trip. With your persistence and planning you gave yourself a marvelous 60th birthday present. We all really enjoyed being a part of it.

Sharon, with your ability to plan and organize you helped Nancy pull this off. Thank you

Chris and Mary, what hard work you did to make sure the routes happened each day. I hand it to you there were a lot of adventures these past 60 days.

Nevin became our kinder soul, however he stood up and voiced his opinion when needed. He could ride anyone's pace.Thank you for being Nevin.

Harold was able to meet his goal and pass it. 250 beers plus 6. I loved the way he would explore the small towns we visited and always came back with history lessons none of us would have never found.

Suzanne was so funny and happy and boy could she ride. She did develop an obsession for Lays Potato chips. We made a vow to change our habits back to normal after this trip.

Roger was the man. All you needed was a tow rope and you could ride like the wind. We all enjoyed his smile, bright blue eyes and his gift of story telling.

Larry, in case you didn't know he was a Marine and will always be one. A heck of a cyclist. Always up front. Had to get there so he could unload the luggage.

Recumbent Pete, taking care of the back of the group, making sure we all made it in. Always had kind words to say.

Paul and Jean Mykitin joined us for the last two weeks of the trip. We really wished they could have been there for the whole enchilada. They would have had a blast and we all would have enjoyed their 

Spirit. So glad you made it for the last two weeks Paul and Jean.

Patrick wasn't here for the whole journey, just the last few weeks. We learned quickly he would have been valuable to have around for the entire trip. His navigational skills were incredible. 

Ah Pat. A cyclist from the old school. I enjoyed the fact he was convinced we were all bike racers because we wore Lycra. I am enviable of all the thousands of miles that he has ridden in his 70 years. Pat the only race we are in, is the race of life. We are all doing our best to enjoy it.

Brother Mike, thank you for the prayer this morning. We have had a blessed trip. The weather was awesome and everyone finished the ride. Oh and you were never lost, you only misplaced yourself a few times.Your rest stops were great!

Me and my Mr. Jimmy. I remember when we talked about riding across the States. Then two years ago you said let's ride across with Chris and some of his friends. We did it!

Diggity and Doogie. A 12 year old and 22 month old pup. 52 hotels and 10 camper stays and counting. You little guys have been pretty darn good. Love you guys

Today we all rode together.we waited at turns and no one was dropped. Many parts of the ride were on the Eastern trail bike path.

The path was hard packed and tree covered. Also with it being Saturday and the Labor 

Day weekend the trail had many people out enjoying a ride, running or just a stroll with family and pets.

We finally got to the city and made our way down to the East Beach. No barns today, but I did spot this pretty cool old boat.

They have this small gauge train that runs up and down the coast line. Just like so many of the big freight trains we passed out west the conductor blew the whistle for us.

This is it we all lined up to dip our front wheels in the Atlantic.  

Victory pose. 

Jim and I and our great bikes doing a happy dance.

Below is my Garmin 3364 miles, total climbing for the trip 102,133 feet

This trip would not have been complete without the help of some great friends. Keith and Martha who did the sag support for the first two weeks. Since they were the first, getting the routine down was a tough job. They made it look easy. We all knew that what they were putting together was a lot harder than riding our bikes. The photo below Martha became cone head for the day.

Damon and Cindy were the next ones to come. They were dynamic. They could whip up a lunch stop like nobody's business. They introduced us all to Lays potato chips, Oreo cookies and Chips ahoy cookies. Darn you two!

Then along comes Sam. You couldn't pull anything over on Sam. He could do it all by himself. Finally he let us help. Of course with some direction from him.

We were fortunate that Chris's daughter Tessa was able to take on a week when we found out Jim's brother Mike would not be able to make it. Then Sondra , Roger's wife was here as well. They made a great team and the food presentations improved immensely.

Finally would like to thank all of you who have followed this blog. It's been a blast. We still have our journey home with friends and family to visit along with way. Hopefully maybe get a few rides in as well. If you are curious check in and see what we are up to.

Dang that was fun! Rhonda and Jim 

Sept 6 Day 67 Yellow Creek Lake to Forrest City AR

On the road home we crossed the Missouri River. This is the second time we will have crossed the Missouri River the first time was on July 26 when we rode from Lemmon SD to Mobridge SD.

Just out side of Forrest City AR. We find ourselves in the last campground of our summer  odyssey.

The pups and I are on our last evening walk and catch this sunset. This has been a Blast. 

When we visit with people and friends they would always ask what was your favorite place. 

I finally realized the answer... "On My Bike!" What a way to experience America and there is still more.

Sept 3,4,5 Day 64,65,66 Winklemans PT to Yellow Creek Lake IN

On the way to Indiana we had to have a Lay's Potato Chip fix. Doggie especially thought it was a great idea

Diana and Mike have a nice little home on YellowCreek Lake. After all the traveling it was nice just to chill out for a couple of days.  We had dinner with their son Jeff, His wife Denise and daughter Amaya.

I am so sorry that I did not get photos with them.

Of all the barns and sheds out there this is my favorite.

Last night we had dinner with Jim's sister Sharie, here husband Pat, her son Tim and his girlfriend Susan. Again the camera was not out and I missed out on taking photos of some great family.

This is a photo of their home from the lake view. They really enjoy their time here and family come often.

Mike and Diane. We say our goodbyes and thank Di for letting us have Mike for a few weeks.

It was so much fun. Now we are on the road home.Ya Hoo!

September 2 Day 63 Winklemans PT,NH to Hershey Pa

A shot of the highway while we were driving to Hershey PA. We were glad to be there. It stopped raining when we got to Dale and Paula Von Stein's house. It was late and we went and got a bite to eat it was so nice we had dinner out on a patio. Diggity and Doogie were all wound, there are a lot of rabbits in their neighborhood. We talked to Brian in western part of New York near Buffalo. Judy was ill and we needed to get back to Indiana. So we would make plans to see them another time. We planned our strategy for tomorrow, let Mike talk with Dale all night and Jim and I went to bed. 

Dale and Paula VonStein in front of their lovely home. We are off to Hershey World.

Hershey World is a cool place. Mr. Hershey was an amazing man. He built his business and created a wonderful environment to live and work in. Created a school system for underprivileged children and many more things. What he accomplished after 6 business failures is inspiring

We drove on to Gettysburg.we went to the museum. They have a painting that is in the round. It is called Cyclorama. Paul phillippoteaux was commissioned in to paint this depiction of the battle of Gettysburg. It is 27 feet tall and 359 feet round and weighs four tons. It took him a year and a half to complete it.below are buttons off uniforms from Texas.

The next 3 photos are of some of the scenes from th cyclorama .

W could not easiest posing with Lincoln on this bench outside the museum.

We drove through the battlegrounds. There are monuments all along the roads. Most honor the different battalions,soldiers and generals who fought there. The roads covered the confederate and the union aside of the battle ground.

The fences were laid out like they were at the time of the battle.

I set the camera on the site of one of the cannons to see what the target would be.

Many tree covered lanes along the route.

A statue on the confederate side of General Robert E.Lee on his horse Traveler.,

A statue of General Warren. He positioned his troops here. He was able to watch a position his men for battle. It is written that he ws calculating to keep his losses and injuries down, 

A shot from his point of view.

We drove till 9:00 and pulled off just outside of Pittsburg. On to Mentone Indiana tomorrow.