We're home!

Hey Everyone,

Just want to say thanks to all of those who came out on the 2nd to ride and to welcome us home. We did have a successful trip and as at stated at the park the donations are still coming in. as of last week were were up to $4200 and still have donations that we know are coming in. Tonight August 8th the Erie Clowns will be doing a fundraiser for us at local Country Fair locations. They will be asking for donations and who knows maybe some balloon animals. So if your looking for something to do stop at a country fair near you drop your pocket change and bring the kids to see the clowns. Thanks again for all your support and keep checking back here for more updates as to our fundraising efforts and upcoming events!

July 30, 2008

Today when we started it was as hot as when i was dumping water over my head yesterday. we did another 50 miles to medina, OH. From here we will stay in a state park on the lake west of Geneva. we will then ride to the White turkey and stay there resting up for the ride into town saturday. I can't wait to get home and tell you all about the trip and enjoy a nice rid einto town with all of you!

July 29, 2008

Today the weather was on our side again. Although we got a late start it was still overcast and not too hot. As the day went on it did get extremely warm and humid. After 30 miles I was dumping one water bottle over my head and drinking the other. We ended our day with 50 miles accomplished and were staying at a campground in Clyde, OH. The campground was nice but the showers were not anymore sophisticated than the lake. The water was freezing and the stalls were, well, dirty.

OK ESN:0-7374258

We've made it to our destination and are safe in one piece! For other updatescheck out cyclingforacure.blogspot.com
ESN:0-7374258
Latitude:41.2238
Longitude:-83.025
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:07/30/2008 00:26:58 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=41.2238,-83.025&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

ENTRANCE INTO ERIE!!!

Saturday August 2nd will be our entrance ride into Erie. The ride will begin at 9 am at the white turkey in Conneaut, OH. This will make for a 25-30 mile ride into Perry Sqaure. For those of you who don't know the White Turkey is a little drive through on route 20 just a few miles into conneaut on the right hand side. If anyone wishes to join the ride for a shorter distance we will be traveling in route 5. Our destination being Perry Square in downtown Erie for those who want to welcome us in but are not able to ride in. We should be arriving in town between 12 & 1pm. I can't wait for saturday and I hope to see everyone there!!

July 28,2008

today was a great day for riding It was overcast and not to hot. We had a 52 mile bike ride from New Bremen, OH to Kenton, OH. We didn't have any problems today accept one patch of road construction. Karen did add another fall to her list but she blames it on the truck that she was stopping for. We are almost home and will be there this saturday. We have about 250 miles to go and can't wait to get home.

July 26, 2008

Hey everyone,

Today was a stressful day. A hot hilly ride with very little berm to ride. We rode from Lexington, KY to Hillsboro, OH. After reaching Hillsboro and finding that all camping and motels were full we had one other option and that was to drive to Karen's sister which was west of where we were. Backtracking west? Yes, We did go west but are still the same distance from Erie as we would have been. The hour drive was well worth the publicity and donations. Within an hour of being there everyone at the house had made a contribution and were prepared to share our story with others. I want everyone to know that we will be arriving in Erie on Saturday August 2nd, 2008. We are inviting anyone and everyone to join the ride into Erie. It should be quite a fun ride and an experience coming into town. People from all over are planning to see us into town and we would love for you to join us. details as to where and when the ride will begin should be posted by Tuesday afternoon so that you can make your plans. I hope that everyone will come out in some way whether it be on a bike or just to welcome us into town. Monday i should have more information as to what the plans are for saturday. Thanks so much for all your support, I hope to see you saturday!

OK ESN:0-7374258

We've made it to our destination and are safe in one piece! For other updatescheck out cyclingforacure.blogspot.com
ESN:0-7374258
Latitude:38.1857
Longitude:-84.2884
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:07/26/2008 16:39:42 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=38.1857,-84.2884&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

July 23-24

hey everyone yesterday was a good day! We had my bike repaired in the morning in evansville, IN and then spent some time updating the site and responding to emails. we rode a short ride of 30 miles to a campground in hoosier national forest. it was one of the best campsites yet. it was in the woods and separated from others.

Today wasn't as nice as yesterday. It's was a little warmer but the humidity was a lot lower. We are in Frankfort, KY where we will be meeting with staff from Asbury College. This will be an opportunity to spread the word and reach another wide group of people through the schools website and newspaper. I hope to have some more pictures posted either tonight or tomorrow morning. We will be visiting Daniel Boone's burial site tonight so i should have some pictures of that too! Also if anyone reading this rides, Illinois and Indiana have been nothing but rolling hills all the way through into Kentucky. The thighs are burning but we are doing it. Thanks again for all your support!

July 22, 2008

Today we headed out east across Illinois from St. Louis, MO. We had 110 miles to cover and the temperature was just right! We made great time covering 30 miles in two and a half hours. After a great lunch at wendy's in Centralia we continued on. Karen was hoping to hit her 50 mile day. About 4 miles into our afternoon ride we came to some road construction. The road was torn up to be repaved and it was like riding rumbled strips on the side of the road. After 3 miles of riding this i had looked back to check on Karen when i hit some loose gravel that came out into the road a few feet. I lost control and fell right into the road in front of a large truck that was coming behind me. If he had not been able to swerve this story would be a bad one. I just want to say a big thank you to all of you who are praying for our safety. Laci said I used all of the prayers up when I fell on the road and the truck missed me. So keep praying for our safety through the rest of our trip. The fall, however, did not hurt my body as much as it did my bike. We continued to ride through rolling hills and after about 52 miles i realized my bike was not operating properly. When we reached laci at 56 miles I attempted to repair what i thought was the problem. I was not successful in my attempt so we began a search for the closest bike shop. The only bike shop that seemed to still be in business was kind of way south from the route we were traveling. So we started to drive south and camped in a state park on the Western border of Indiana. Hoping to get the bike repaired in the morning we went to bed to rest up for the next long day ahead.

Here are a few pictures... from being in the mountains in California, forests in nevada and then of course a picture of Las Vegas and the surrounding desert and another from the car when passing through one of the national parks.

July 19-20

Well the journey has become challenging. Yes, the hills were hard and it was hot across the desert but i don't think anything hits harder than the humidity. The past few days have been harder than some mountains, today it was 105 and very humid. I said to laci and Karen that i think I sweat more in the past two days than Randy and i did all the way across the west. Everyday we make progress whether it be through raising awareness or funds for the Foundation but there are those days when i think about how much of a struggle the heat can be. When i have those thoughts i think to myself that no matter how hard the struggle it doesn't compare to the struggle of those I am riding for. I thank you all for your support and as we get closer to home a look forward to seeing you all! We ended our day east of St. Louis, MO today but i can't yet tell you where we will be tomorrow because i have not yet picked up an Illinois state map. Pictures are coming(please comment on them).

July 17-18

Hey everyone,

From what I hear there is a lot going on back there with the Kanzius research. I hope that my pictures were sufficient for now, there are more coming i promise! The past two days have been long, hot, and tiring but we're getting along and covering ground. We will make it to Kansas City today, July 19th. From there we will be heading to St. Louis and then its north toward home. Can't wait to see everyone and tell you all about our trip. I will be posting another blog along with some pictures this evening for you all to comment on. Thanks again for all your support! Also check out www.kaniuscancerresearch.com

Here a few picture from the beginning of the trip. I know everyone has been looking forward to these. Laci has been reminding me too. She finally did it for me. haha. (She will be putting more on with future posts as well) Enjoy!







P.s. Check out the UPDATED links section for our newspaper articles :-)

July 16, 2008

Today we began our ride when it was somewhat cool but humid because of the rain the night before. From the start the ride wasn't all that great. The wind blew all day right at our faces 15-20mph. We rode from eads to tribune with Jerry and Lori. We stopped at Karen's Kitchen for lunch and then went next store to the drug store for a shake. We had chocolate, peanut butter, banana milkshakes that were amazing. After our shakes we parted ways with Jerry and Lori and continued on to Scott City. The AC in the truck is currently not operating. Tomorrow we are going to try and head east on 96 as far as possibly but we have to wait for the truck to be repaired in the morning. We hope to make it to Ness City or Rush Center. Pictures are on their way, I hope you like them!

July 15, 2008

Pueblo to eads...It wasn't a bad ride today but it did get warm kind of early in the day and then we rode all the way into a storm. It was a great day. We were back with Jerry and Lori and had a 60 mile ride. Jerry and I wanted to ride 20 more miles to town but Lori informed us that we were not stronger than mother nature. So, we all piled in the truck and had to watch the storm happen around us. When we got to town we found a small motel and a restaurant. Since there was only one place to eat we didn't have much of a choice. While eating dinner the storm hit town, HARD! All the locals came in for dinner hootin' and hollerin' because it was the first rain they had seen in a long time. Dinner was great after a long day and we headed to bed to go into another long flat day of riding.

OK ESN:0-7374258

We've made it to our destination and are safe in one piece! For other updatescheck out cyclingforacure.blogspot.com
ESN:0-7374258
Latitude:38.2143
Longitude:-103.7582
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:07/15/2008 18:54:59 (GMT)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=38.2143,-103.7582&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

July 14, 2008

Today we got back on the bikes and began heading home, kind of. We back tracked a little bit to catch up with jerry and lori and ride a few more days with them before we start going our separate ways. This small journey was to our benefit since when we arrived at the bike shop in Pueblo we were met by a newspaper reporter and her photographer. This is going to be our third article since the trip began and that is great. We are going to be having dinner with jerry and lori and kind of celebrating the journey so far. in two days we will probably separate from each other and only have contact through the Internet. Jerry and Lori have been great to travel with and have been very supportive of our cause. More pictures will come soon as will a defined itinerary of the rest of the journey home.

Thank you...

I just wanted to say a special thank you to all of you who are following the trip on the site. It would be greatly appreciated that if you are reading about the trip you drop us a comment. We only hear by word of mouth that people are reading and few leave comments. The trip is going well and we are getting ready to continue the journey back home starting tomorrow June 14, 2008 from peublo, CO. Later today I will let you know a little more about the places we will be going through and when we'll be in those places. I hear Ron from Georgia has been following the site along with many others so please leave us comments to let us know you're there.

Karen's Challenge!

A special HI to all my friends who have been reading Zach's website!
Watching Zach and Randy ride up the mountains and riding 80 miles a day, I've determined they are both "well oiled machines". Zach is like "the Hulk" on a bike! Randy is the Engine that won't give up! It is so inspiring to see them biking across hot,hilly,rainy,cold,narrow,and busy roads with trucks,rv's,and cars whizzing past them as they ride on for Cancer Research! At the end of the day, the are hot, sweaty,have aching backs and shoulders, and are HUNGRY! I am SO PROUD of them and what they are doing! I have ridden 90 miles so far...Yay Karen! And they thought I couldnt do it :)

My Challenge is to all of you who have been reading along on the blogsite...My friends at Erie Home Health Care (yes,I got my treatment in Denver), Beulah Beach friends and ASBURY ALUMNI, Erie First Christian Academy, My coffee drinking buddies at Panera Bread, Pennbriar exercise friends, and Yes....Hamot Medical Center !!!
As we have been riding, we often think, we sure hope this is all worth it! Zach and Randy just biked 1200 miles for the John Kanzius Cancer Foundation. Have YOU donated to this worthy cause yet??? Have YOU told any friends or family about this trip and asked THEM to donate???

We have met some amazing people during our trip and have been able to share our story with them and they in turn, have donated $$$ to the research. A receptionist at the Luxor in Vegas, who's father has cancer, a husband and wife at a campsite who lost their 14 year old son to cancer, a lady who worked at a gas station in Nevada, and a young lady who we met in the lobby of a hotel, and a "harley couple" who's motorcyle had broken down and we offered them a ride! All these people offered us support and encouragement to keep going! We thank you soooooooo much!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!!! I am challenging everyone who reads this to send in a donation and help support the foundation and give us encouragement to continue to bike to Erie, Pa. ANY AMOUNT WILL HELP! WE APPRECIATE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU!
THANK YOU...THANK YOU....THANK YOU....

The guys are "chomping at the bit " (my old horse language that I miss...) for me to get moving and get outside. Another beautiful, sunny, day for us to enjoy all that God has created for us ! Love to you all....Karen