Day 34 July 14 Garden City, KS – Dodge City, KS
We woke up and had the continental breakfast at the Comfort Inn. We hit the road around 7:00 to make our lunch in Dodge City at noon. We encountered a lot of side wind that created some frustration, but nothing we couldn’t handle. The wind slowed us down a bit, so we pushed our lunch back to 1:00. I was in the last group so when we arrived we didn’t have time for a shower and had to go straight to lunch at the Dodge City Community College cafeteria. After lunch
we went to a friendship visit at a local organization called Arrowhead. Arrowhead had tons of clients, which allowed us to interact with many of them. We played lots of carnival type games with them. It was a really fun friendship visit. That night we had dinner with one of my teammates grandmas. She lives in Dodge City and had us out to her place for dinner. All of her neighbors came out and we had a good old-fashioned barbeque. That night I went back to lodging at the community college and watched the homerun derby on my computer. It was really fun to see Josh Hamilton do what he did but I was really disappointed when he didn’t win.
Day 35 July 15 Dodge City, KS – Pratt, KS
Another day…another crew chief breakfast. After breakfast we hit the road for an 80-mile ride to Pratt, KS. It was another day of flat terrain, cornfields, and interesting smells. I have developed an appreciation for all the farming and ranching that Kansas does. They definitely seem like they pull their weight as a member of this great country. We arrived in Pratt around lunchtime and
had an arrival at the local Arrowhead, the same organization we visited in Dodge. We had a great lunch and some good down time with some of the folks there. We then headed a few blocks to lodging to stay in the City Municipal Building on their gym floor. After a much needed nap, we headed to dinner at the Ninescah Valley Archers. They cooked us lots of steaks and backwoods type food. It was glorious! After dinner they got out there bows and arrows and let us shoot at some targets. It was a really random sponsor but the guys had a blast shooting bows and arrows. It took me back to Kanakuk where I got to dress up like an Indian and shoot arrows on tribal night. It was a great ending to the day.
Day 36 July 16 Pratt, KS – Wichita, KS
Today was a great day. It was a long day on the bike but a memorable day off the bike. It was a long 94-mile day but a day off was waiting at the other end of the long ride. We arrived at the Northrock Suites around 2:00p.m. and settled into our rooms. Our sponsor bought a lot of rooms, so we each had our own bed. We went to our dinner and friendship visit at CP Ranch around 5:00. We walked into a room and sat down with the kids who were enjoying their week at camp. I sat next to a young lady named Kiera. Everyone called her Key-Key. Key-Key was 17 and had Cerebral Palsy. Like most CP patients, she was confined to a wheelcha
ir. We sat and had good conversation along with a good meal. She was so sweet and so thankful for what we were doing. After dinner, many of the kid’s got to go swimming with a lot of the guys. It was really fun seeing Key-Key get in the pool (with assistance of course) and see her face light up. Maybe it was the fact that she was surrounded by lots of cute boys or the fact that she got to do her favorite thing at camp…or maybe both. Key-Key made a huge impact on me and I will never forget her face. That night I got to connect with my friend Liz Adams who lives in Wichita and went to Focus on the Family with me. We went out to a local place and we got to catch up as she hung out with most of the guys.
Day 37 July 17 Wichita, KS – Day Off
We’ve spent the past eight days on the bike and have finally been able to enjoy our first day off since Denver. Our day off here in Wichita has been much needed and much appreciated. Even though we completed our longest stretch of the trip, the team is still in good spirits and everyone is doing well.
We
woke up this morning around 8:00a.m. and loaded the vans around 8:40 to go to a sponsored breakfast. Getting to sleep in my own bed at a hotel until 8:00a.m. was a glorious start to the day. It sure beats waking up at 5:30a.m. in a high school gym on a thin thermarest. We headed to the Argetsinger’s residence for the best breakfast of the trip. The Argetsinger’s are parents of a Pi Alpha from KU. They whipped up an elaborate display of eggs benedict, pancakes, sausage links, cinnamon roles, fresh fruit and orange juice. It was a beautiful thing!
After departing from the Argetsinger’s, we headed straight to our friendship visit at Rainbows United, Inc. Rainbows had summer camp going on and they put on a choir performance right when we got there. It was really fun! We hung out with the kid’s in their classrooms for a while until lunch was ready. We headed to the gym and enjoyed some pizza with the kid’s. It wasn’t until desert that things got a little crazy. We had strawberry shortcake with whip cream. The whip cream was the kind that comes in the cans and before you knew it, people’s names were getting chanted and pressured into gulping down the whip cream. It got pretty crazy but it was a good memory maker. We finished the visit by giving Rainbows a grant and saying our goodbyes. It was then off to the bike store to load up on necessary equipment before it was back to the hotel for a few hours of rest.
For dinner we went to the facilities of Wichita Independent Living Resource Center. They work with people with disabilities and help them to live as independently as possible. We had a low-key hamburger dinner with some of the staff there. When we got back to the hotel, we gathered for a team meeting and then it was off to bed to get some rest for the next day. Overall, it was a great day off and definitely filled with some good memories.
Day 38 July 18 Wichita, KS – Emporia, KS
We started the day with a sponsored breakfast provided by one of our crewmembers family who are from Wichita. After some sausage and egg casserole, we hit the road for a 105-mile ride to Emporia. It was definitely a long day of riding but it went really well. Today was the first day we’ve had to ride through actual rain. It was actually kind of fun. I felt like a little kid playing in the sprinklers. For lunch we stopped in the booming metropolis of Cottonwood Falls, KS and had a sponsored lunch at nice restaurant in town. We finished out the last 30 miles and arrived at a recreation building around 3:30. We hurried to the local High School to grab some showers and came back to lodging to be welcomed by the local Kiwanis who were serving us dinner. It was a great turnout by the Kiwanis and they brought lots of food for the potluck event. They were also some of the nicest people we’ve met so far. The mid west is full of good people. At most of our sponsored events one of us will give an advoca
cy program to explain everything we’re doing. I was able to be the representative for the night. After the filling dinner, we headed to the local movie theater for a team event at the opening day showing of Batman. It was a really good movie and good bonding time with the guys. Overall, it was a great day!
We woke up and had the continental breakfast at the Comfort Inn. We hit the road around 7:00 to make our lunch in Dodge City at noon. We encountered a lot of side wind that created some frustration, but nothing we couldn’t handle. The wind slowed us down a bit, so we pushed our lunch back to 1:00. I was in the last group so when we arrived we didn’t have time for a shower and had to go straight to lunch at the Dodge City Community College cafeteria. After lunch
we went to a friendship visit at a local organization called Arrowhead. Arrowhead had tons of clients, which allowed us to interact with many of them. We played lots of carnival type games with them. It was a really fun friendship visit. That night we had dinner with one of my teammates grandmas. She lives in Dodge City and had us out to her place for dinner. All of her neighbors came out and we had a good old-fashioned barbeque. That night I went back to lodging at the community college and watched the homerun derby on my computer. It was really fun to see Josh Hamilton do what he did but I was really disappointed when he didn’t win.Day 35 July 15 Dodge City, KS – Pratt, KS
Another day…another crew chief breakfast. After breakfast we hit the road for an 80-mile ride to Pratt, KS. It was another day of flat terrain, cornfields, and interesting smells. I have developed an appreciation for all the farming and ranching that Kansas does. They definitely seem like they pull their weight as a member of this great country. We arrived in Pratt around lunchtime and
had an arrival at the local Arrowhead, the same organization we visited in Dodge. We had a great lunch and some good down time with some of the folks there. We then headed a few blocks to lodging to stay in the City Municipal Building on their gym floor. After a much needed nap, we headed to dinner at the Ninescah Valley Archers. They cooked us lots of steaks and backwoods type food. It was glorious! After dinner they got out there bows and arrows and let us shoot at some targets. It was a really random sponsor but the guys had a blast shooting bows and arrows. It took me back to Kanakuk where I got to dress up like an Indian and shoot arrows on tribal night. It was a great ending to the day.Day 36 July 16 Pratt, KS – Wichita, KS
Today was a great day. It was a long day on the bike but a memorable day off the bike. It was a long 94-mile day but a day off was waiting at the other end of the long ride. We arrived at the Northrock Suites around 2:00p.m. and settled into our rooms. Our sponsor bought a lot of rooms, so we each had our own bed. We went to our dinner and friendship visit at CP Ranch around 5:00. We walked into a room and sat down with the kids who were enjoying their week at camp. I sat next to a young lady named Kiera. Everyone called her Key-Key. Key-Key was 17 and had Cerebral Palsy. Like most CP patients, she was confined to a wheelcha
ir. We sat and had good conversation along with a good meal. She was so sweet and so thankful for what we were doing. After dinner, many of the kid’s got to go swimming with a lot of the guys. It was really fun seeing Key-Key get in the pool (with assistance of course) and see her face light up. Maybe it was the fact that she was surrounded by lots of cute boys or the fact that she got to do her favorite thing at camp…or maybe both. Key-Key made a huge impact on me and I will never forget her face. That night I got to connect with my friend Liz Adams who lives in Wichita and went to Focus on the Family with me. We went out to a local place and we got to catch up as she hung out with most of the guys.Day 37 July 17 Wichita, KS – Day Off
We’ve spent the past eight days on the bike and have finally been able to enjoy our first day off since Denver. Our day off here in Wichita has been much needed and much appreciated. Even though we completed our longest stretch of the trip, the team is still in good spirits and everyone is doing well.
We
woke up this morning around 8:00a.m. and loaded the vans around 8:40 to go to a sponsored breakfast. Getting to sleep in my own bed at a hotel until 8:00a.m. was a glorious start to the day. It sure beats waking up at 5:30a.m. in a high school gym on a thin thermarest. We headed to the Argetsinger’s residence for the best breakfast of the trip. The Argetsinger’s are parents of a Pi Alpha from KU. They whipped up an elaborate display of eggs benedict, pancakes, sausage links, cinnamon roles, fresh fruit and orange juice. It was a beautiful thing!After departing from the Argetsinger’s, we headed straight to our friendship visit at Rainbows United, Inc. Rainbows had summer camp going on and they put on a choir performance right when we got there. It was really fun! We hung out with the kid’s in their classrooms for a while until lunch was ready. We headed to the gym and enjoyed some pizza with the kid’s. It wasn’t until desert that things got a little crazy. We had strawberry shortcake with whip cream. The whip cream was the kind that comes in the cans and before you knew it, people’s names were getting chanted and pressured into gulping down the whip cream. It got pretty crazy but it was a good memory maker. We finished the visit by giving Rainbows a grant and saying our goodbyes. It was then off to the bike store to load up on necessary equipment before it was back to the hotel for a few hours of rest.
For dinner we went to the facilities of Wichita Independent Living Resource Center. They work with people with disabilities and help them to live as independently as possible. We had a low-key hamburger dinner with some of the staff there. When we got back to the hotel, we gathered for a team meeting and then it was off to bed to get some rest for the next day. Overall, it was a great day off and definitely filled with some good memories.
Day 38 July 18 Wichita, KS – Emporia, KS
We started the day with a sponsored breakfast provided by one of our crewmembers family who are from Wichita. After some sausage and egg casserole, we hit the road for a 105-mile ride to Emporia. It was definitely a long day of riding but it went really well. Today was the first day we’ve had to ride through actual rain. It was actually kind of fun. I felt like a little kid playing in the sprinklers. For lunch we stopped in the booming metropolis of Cottonwood Falls, KS and had a sponsored lunch at nice restaurant in town. We finished out the last 30 miles and arrived at a recreation building around 3:30. We hurried to the local High School to grab some showers and came back to lodging to be welcomed by the local Kiwanis who were serving us dinner. It was a great turnout by the Kiwanis and they brought lots of food for the potluck event. They were also some of the nicest people we’ve met so far. The mid west is full of good people. At most of our sponsored events one of us will give an advoca
cy program to explain everything we’re doing. I was able to be the representative for the night. After the filling dinner, we headed to the local movie theater for a team event at the opening day showing of Batman. It was a really good movie and good bonding time with the guys. Overall, it was a great day!
1 comment:
Kansas is the greatest state in the union. I'm glad your trip helped you appreciate it!
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