Video!

The M&M celebration as Nick's bike hit the 1000th mile mark en route to Champaign.

My Monster Bite!

A glimps at the monster bite on my right leg from the Train Track Monsters! (2 days after)

Getting Lost & Train Track Monsters

Day 16 and 17 (June 9th/10th)

Saturday was day one of our ride along from Homewood, IL to Chebanse, IL. We had three riders join us in Homewood for the trip to Chebanse where we stayed at Zion Lutheran Church. The ride started off smooth as it was a beautiful day and we set out at a nice steady pace in large groups. After lunch the groups split up and I ended up riding with Keith and Allen (one of the riders who joined us). Keith was a little ahead of Allen and I so when Keith went straight into and through Kankakee I just followed thinking we were headed in the right direction. After having gone on for about 10 miles without seeing any sign for our next turn or any signs for Chebanse I started to wonder if we were on the right road as our millage was in the mid-60's and I'd been told that the total mileage for the day was only in the mid-60's. Keith was about a quarter of a mile ahead of Allen and I by this point and I decide to pull over and call Jon to clarify the directions. It quickly became apparent that we were never suppose to go through Kankakee and that we were headed in the wrong direction. After talking with Jon I tried to call Keith but just got a recording telling me that he had yet to set up his voicemail. As we pondered what to do with Keith probably a mile ahead at this point my phone rang. Thankfully it was Keith, who called after noticing we were no longer behind him. He cycled back to meet us and we headed back in the direction we had came. By this point Jon had reached the church in Chebanse and called to check our status. Jon's grandfather was able to pinpoint our location and point us in the right direction before setting out to meet us and bring us water.

In between the point where we got the directions and we met them down the road we came across a set of giant railroad tracks that ran diagonally across Rt. 28. These were unlike any tracks that we had crossed previously in the trip as the area between the track and the road was much deeper and wider. As I got closer to them I knew I needed to take it easy but when my front tire hit the first track it wedged itself into the area between the track and the road and down I went. Allen who was off to the other side of the road also encountered the same problem and wiped out as well. Thankfully both of our bikes were ok and we just left the scene with scrapes and bruises.

We met up with Jon and his grandfather down the road and they gave us water and helped us navigate the final six miles to the church where everyone else was waiting for us. We ended up covering 77 miles on the day with our little adventure!

Jon's family and the people of Chebanse were amazing providing us with an amazing meal followed by trademark brownie and ice cream sundaes! Check out my sundae in the photo. Brownie, Ice Cream, Strawberries, Gummy Bears and sprinkles! We say were are on the bike across America diet - I'm not sure how I will adjust when I go back home in August. Jon's family then made us an absolutely amazing breakfast the next morning with Egg Casserole, French Toast Casserole (if whoever made the French Toast Casserole is reading this and wants to send me a recipe that would be amazing! bikexc@gmail.com) and many other delicious breakfast foods! I must say it was the most delicious breakfast I've ever had!

After the great breakfast we left Chebanse headed for Champaign and the University of Illinois. We had a few riders join us in Chebanse before meeting up with about 20 more people for the final 15+ miles from Rantoul, IL to Champaign. Having never been to Champaign or even Illinois before it was pretty neat to ride in with the entire group and have everyone cheering for us. A special thanks to all who were there to support us from the friends and families of the riders to the University of Illinois Alumni Association - all in all it was an amazing day!

Chicago!

Day 15 - Chicago (June 8th)

After 15 days of riding we have reached Chicago! We rode into Chicago from Chesterton, Indiana and entered along the bike path that runs along the shore of Lake Michigan! Our destination was Millennium Park in downtown Chicago and the giant silver bean. It was absolutely amazing to see Chicago for the first time approaching the skyline from along the shore of Lake Michigan. Once we reached Millennium Park we took our bikes to the McDonalds bike shop to store until Nick and his brother loaded them into vans for transport to Homewood, IL where we were spending the night.

Since this was my first time in Chicago Dan and I spent the afternoon walking around downtown getting a feel for the city. The one main thing I noticed about Chicago compared to New York was how clean and modern it seemed. New York was non-stop craziness while Chicago was a bit calmer and very nice overall.

After we got tired walking around we caught the train to Homewood (south of Chicago) where St. Paul's Community Church was hosting us for the night. Once in Homewood we grabbed a quick dinner at the church before heading to a Temple service to share about our journey so far and talk with people there about their experiences with Cancer. Though the congregation was small and part of the service was in Herbrew it was interesting to see another side of religion that I don't normally see and the people who were there were very friendly and generous.

Random Photos!

Standing by the support vechile prior to our departure from Anish's home in NJ

Central Time

My blog is back online!! I've gone back and transferred over some stuff from my other blog that can be seen below. I will try to update other stuff as we go along.

Today we crossed into Central Time meaning that we gained an hour. Our ride from Winamac to Chesterton, Indiana was only about 64 miles so it made for a short day. We did hit some strong winds from the south and going west it made for fun cycling at times - especially when large trucks coming from the opposite direction almost sent us flying off the road. (Mom - we didn't really fly off the road - don't worry!) We stopped for lunch at a small bagel shop in Valparaiso arriving around 11ish after setting our clocks back an hour. From Valparaiso it was just a short 10 mile ride to Chesterton where we are spending the night at the New Life Wesleyan Church.

After arriving a group of us went swimming at Indiana Dunes State Park. It was almost 90 out so even though Lake Michigan was cold the water felt good. We then headed to the local YMCA here in Chesterton to shower and rid ourselves of sand from the beach.

Tomorrow it is off to Chicago! It's still hard for me to believe that we've rode this far in such a short time.

Till next time,
Sandra

Photos!

Ok, blogger blocked me from posting on my Illini4000 blog for a few days and I made updates on my older blog. There are a bunch of photos that I don't have the time to re-upload to this blog so if you want to view them the address for that blog is: http://www.bikexc2007.blogspot.com/

Hello from Indiana

Hello all! We only have a few computers and limited time so it has been harder to update than I had planned. Yesterday we did a 116 mile ride from Grand Rapids, Ohio to Huntington, Indiana. It wasn't an easy ride either as I got to experience riding into the Midwestern wind for the first time. We stopped about half way through the ride in a town small Ohio town called Paulding and ate all you could eat Pizza from "East of Chicago". When you are riding as much as we have been food is always on our minds and you can't go wrong with all you can eat Pizza! We hit rain and wind right after leaving Paulding for a short while and then again after we crossed into Indiana. I never realized how remote some places of western Ohio and eastern Indiana were until yesterday. Many of the rodes which we were riding on were small and some were even dirt! I'm not sure where exactly we crossed into Indiana but it occurred on on of the dirt road in the middle of nowhere. After crossing the state line we met up with the rest of our group in a small town called Monroeville. From there we once again hit bad weather and formed a dynamic double line pace line which we rode for the final 40 miles into Huntington. By the time we reached the Methodist Church that's hosting us in Huntington we were soaked and cold. Brandt and James who were in the support van greeted us with hot chocolate which was an awesome reward for the long trip.

Photos from Week One.

Hello from Ohio

We are currently in Vermillion, Ohio after having passed through Cleveland today (Ben- we rode right by Jacobs Field!), we entered Ohio on Friday morning making it the fourth state of the ride. The best thing about Ohio is that we are officially out of the mountains for awhile - until we reach the Rockies that is! The rides are going well and my muscles feel good despite the many miles. According to my OD we are currently at 629 miles for the trip - not bad for a week! Tomorrow we will head to Grand Rapids, Ohio before we head toward Indiana.

I will post pictures next time as it's late and the computer connection here is to slow to upload them now.

Till next time,
Sandra