Day 67: Washington DC

Hard to believe we made it all the way to DC. When we all woke up from our cluster of floor mats, tears already began falling, setting the tempo for the day. The church sponsored a hearty breakfast, and before we knew it we were tearing up at our last morning circle up. Addison followed circle up with one of his epic pump-up speeches, lightening the mood a bit. Words cannot describe the emotions; anxious, eager, scared, sad, surprised, and excited were common feelings. I rode the short 35 miles to stage up with my friends Wes Drilias (UW), Scotty Hamilton (CU), and Cory Carson (MSU). We were the first South paceline to meet the other two routes and Build America at our stage-up at The George Washington University. I was extremely nervous, and very excited. The police escort arrived around 10:45, and the Build America men led the massive caravan two miles to the Capitol. Behind BAM were our crew vans, and the crew was going loco hanging out of the vans, waving flags, and singing. Behind the crew was a massive double paceline of about 80 cyclists from the three JoH routes. We passed the mall and all the monuments on our way to the Capitol, making the moment very real to me. The capitol had hundreds of family and friends waiting for us, cheering as we rode in and forming a tunnel as we walked our bikes onto the lawn. As we walked our bikes up the lawn surrounded by the crowd, my friend Ethan Wicklund looked back at me, removed his glasses, and said "I think I have chain grease in my eyes," as tears streamed down his face. At that moment I lost it. We didn't even try to hold back our tears as we embraced our teammates on the lawn. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

When we arrived at the hotel, I boxed by bike up and grabbed some lunch at Union Station with my family. I then passed out in my room before getting ready for the Awards Ceremony and Reception. The reception really highlighted how impacting the Journey is. Even though our Journey is over, the impact our team left on people lives on, and the impact left on us will be life lasting. After the reception, the team celebrated throughout the hotel, it was a grand time.

The next morning, we exchanged many teary eyed "see you later's" at the team brunch. These have been the hardest goodbyes I've ever experienced, and these are some of the best friends I've ever had. God truly has blessed us all with such a life changing experience.

This summer, I rode across America on my bike with 35 of the greatest men I've ever met, touching the lives of people with disabilities along the way. This is the Journey of Hope. I've tried to describe it to you the best I can with this blog, but the truth is, I failed. All of us on the Journey agree that it's just something you can't put into words, and won't fully understand unless you've been.

God Bless

Day 66: Manassas, VA

Welcome to DC's porch! I had a great last long ride today through beautiful Virginia with two of my best friends, Ethan and Matthew, along with the two corporate pilots for KRG Capital Partners (Bruce Rogers' company). Both pilots have experience in Category-1 cycling, so we moved very quickly. They even treated us to some Starbucks at about mile 55. We arrived at an aquatic center and met up with Trans for a bit, and cleaned up there as well before heading to the church we are staying at tonight. After settling in, we headed to an all team dinner where I reunited with some fellow chapter brothers on other routes, including my big, Nick. Afterwards, we all laid our jerseys out and signed each other's. It was very surreal. Our beds are practically pushed together here at the church; going our separate ways will be tough. I can hardly believe the ride is almost over! Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and support!

Day 65: Charlottesville, VA

75 miles through beautiful Virginia back country today. It was hilly, once again, but very enjoyable with the company we had today. Today, I rode with Bruce Rogers, the man who rode the first Journey of Hope, BY HIMSELF, in 1987. He's the man that started it all. He's a very fun guy to be around, and I enjoyed the ride with him.

Upon arriving at the Arc of Charlottesville, our lodging, we had a sponsored Chipotle lunch. Afterward, I headed to the bike shop to make sure everything was in tune and was going to make it the 125 miles to DC. I even had some spare time to check out UVA with some guys. It's an incredibly impressive school. Afterwards, we tried to go see Monticello but they wanted to charge us $22 to see his house and grave so we opted not too. I think it's a shame a place as historic as that is privately owned (and I mean that in as little communist way as I can). Dinner was with the wonderful people of the Arc of Charlottesville, and was a grand time.

I'm having a very had time believing the ride is less than 48 hours from completion. The journey has been incredible, and I'm going to have a very tough time leaving my team. Here's a photo of the bike shop owner's Saint Bernard! And I just killed a black widow right next to my sleeping spot on the floor. Awesome.

Day 64: Lynchburg, VA

The hilly ride to Lynchburg went smoothly today, and the best part was the temp never reached 90 degrees. While stopping for water about halfway through the ride, a three-legged golden retriever ran out from behind a house and hopped over too us. And if you know about retrievers, you can tell when they are happy by their smiling faces and wagging tales. And this retriever was a happy retriever. He provided us with a bit of inspiration for the rest of the day. When we arrived at the high school we are staying at, we ate a sponsored lunch and had a few hours of downtime before we headed for a dinner/FV with the Arc of Lynchburg. It was filled with great food, great friends, dancing, and lots of fun.

I can't believe tomorrow is already Thursday...this week has flown by, sadly. However, I'm excited to see my family in DC.

Day 63: Danville, VA

The team crossed into its last state today! The ride was primarily rolling hills, and from I hear, is Appalachians all the way to DC. However, we are all in superb shape at this point. We rolled into Danville late this morning, and were greeted by a police escort who brought us to the Comfort Inn, who kindly donated rooms for us tonight. We immediately had a friendship visit/lunch at a local Therapeutic Recreation Center. It was awesome! We all made some new friends and enjoyed a wild dance party.

Everyone here in Danville has been more than happy to have us here; we all feel extraordinarily welcome.
To top off the night, we had a sponsored steak dinner followed by tickets to watch the local minor league team tonight, the Danville Braves. It's been a long and exciting day, but we are ready to continue our final push to DC with our ride to Lynchburg tomorrow!

Day 62: Chapel Hill, NC

Great day off/last day in North Carolina! Today was our first day off with a free morning since Tempe. It felt great to finally sleep in! We left lodging around 11 to head to the UNC Pi Kapp house where some
Duke brothers cooked us burgers and hot dogs. After lunch, we had a friendship visit with the Arc of Orange County. It was a large, very fun visit! There was ping pong, fooseball, board games, and my personal favorite, karaoke. It was a blast. Following the visit, I caught a nap at the hotel before heading off to dinner at the Pi Kapp house once again, where the some brothers from NC State brought over a Carolina-style barbecue. It was yummy; and the team enjoyed meeting guys from the other schools.

After dinner, I went with a group of guys to go see "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." The movie itself was absurd, but at this point in the trip I'm just trying to spend as much time with the team as I can before we part our ways this weekend. Tomorrow, we head into our last state, Virginia. It's very weird to think about.

Day 61: Chapel Hill: NC

The team had a great first day in Chapel Hill today! The 65 mile ride was another beautiful ride of rolling hills through North Carolina. Today was different, however, we had a lot of family, friends, and chapter brothers of our North Carolina guys set out along the route cheering us on. Riding with such support is so energizing. We had a lunch arrival/small FV at the Pi Kappa Phi Chapter house at Chapel Hill. The house cook made a great lunch and the chapter/families made us all feel so welcome. They even made a massive welcome banner and had a band play for us. And they gave us some awesome t-shirts they made, too. UNC is awesome!

The hospitality here is incredible, too. We are being put up in the Sheraton just off of campus, where we had some down time before heading back to the Pi Kapp house for another delicious meal. The chef made us pork tenderloin, baked beans, slaw, and some magical southern side called sweet potato casserole. It was so nice to have a home-cooked meal.

After dinner, Mike (Roanoke), Matthew (GWU), and myself grabbed some gelato on the main campus street and ventured the massive university. After a couple of hours, we called a cab to take us back to the hotel. We were exhausted, but it's a very impressive campus. Here's a few pics of the banner/band, a sunset I thought was beautiful, and a clocktower on campus.

Day 60: High Point, NC

Rode 80 miles through beautiful eastern Appalachia today. Chad Coltrane, the CEO of Push America, joined us on our ride. I highly recommend chatting with the guy; he's truly an awesome person. Upon arriving into High Point, we had a fun, short friendship visit with the Arc of High Point to get ourselves acquainted for our dinner with them. After the short social, we headed to lodging to clean up, and for me, the bike shop to fix a back tire that was a bit wobbly. The FV/dinner was at the High Point Museum, and included a very fun scavenger hunt.

I am very excited for Chapel Hill tomorrow, and we arrive in DC exactly one week from today!

Day 59: Charlotte, NC

Solid day off here in Charlotte! The day started with a sponsored meal at Bojangles, a chicken and biscuit Mecca, followed by a morning on Lake Wylie, where I took a nap on the dock and swam around enjoying the warm water and overcast weather. As our time at the lake ended, a torrential downpour began to consume Charlotte. Unfortunately, this prevented us from being able to get to our friendship visit early this afternoon. There was hardly any visibility. Once the downpour slowed, we took a tour of the headquarters of Pi Kappa Phi and Push America. It was very interesting to see the offices of the people who run our fraternity and it's great philanthropy. They had a museum that included fraternity memorabilia from our history. They even had a room that had a school mug for every active Pi Kapp chapter in it. Inside the mugs, notes were left from past visitors of that mug's chapter who had visited headquarters. I read all of the notes in the TCU mug, and left a piece of my own. After our tour, we had a sponsored BBQ dinner at an alumnus' house, where there were many workers for Push America and the National Fraternity.

High Point, NC tomorrow! Here's a couple pics of the mugs and our fraternity's Articles of Incorporation from 1905.

Day 58: Charlotte, NC

The team cruised the 90 miles to Charlotte, the home of Pi Kappa Phi and Push America. We were greeted with a delicious chimichanga lunch on the road and a police escort to our arrival at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte. The arrival was a blast: lots of people, news cameras, and a lot of Push America staff, including CEO Chad Coltrane. He's a cool guy.

After the arrival, the Hall of Fame gave us free passes to tour around. It was a blast, they had all sorts of memorabilia, including plenty of stock cars. They also had a very fun driving simulator and a pit stop simulator, where you and two friends jacked the car, replaced a tire, and filled the car with gas. My team set the record at 9.67 seconds!

After the NASCAR fun, we headed to the Hilton in downtown Charlotte. We are being treated like royalty here. Dinner was at a local Pi Alpha's house. I had a great time playing with their golden retriever. After dinner, we had a friendship visit/dance party with the Circle of Friends here in Charlotte. It was awesome! There was a band and tons of energy surrounded the room. Afterwards, I was exhausted. Looking forward to the day off tomorrow! Here's a few photos of the border, NASCAR, and my buddy David from the FV.

Day 57: Spartanburg, SC

Hilly 85 miles today through the beautiful green terrain here in South Carolina. Upon entering Spartanburg, we had a lovely friendship visit at the Charles Lea Center. We all exchanged laughs and good conversation for a couple of hours until we had to head to Wofford College, where we set up for lodging. Later this afternoon, we had another FV with the Carolina Miracle League. We had a ball! Playing baseball with those kids never gets old. Afterwards, we had a Carolina style barbecue with the players and families. We have an early wakeup tomorrow and a very big day ahead! We stroll into Charlotte, the headquarters of Push America, and cross into North Carolina as well.

Day 56: Clemson, SC

Wonderful day today as we rode into South Carolina! We enjoyed a delicious continental breakfast at the Holiday Inn before hitting the road, and enjoyed our last miles in Georgia. At the state line was a massive lake, so naturally the team jumped in together to cool off in the 100 degree heat. We are also officially heading north now.

Lodging is at Camp Hope, a part of Clemson University. The camp serves as a summer camp haven for people with cognitive disabilities of all ages. When we arrived, we played in the lake on the water trampoline; I felt just like a camper. Also, Push America has done a great deal for this camp. Pi Kappa Phi brothers have built accessible ramps, amphitheaters, docks, and even a bell tower here at the camp while doing Push Projects. All in all, in the past 20 years, Camp Hope has benefitting from this construction plus $100,000 in grants! It's a beautiful thing to see our fundraising money at use!

Here's a couple pics a water slide Pi Kapps built here, a quote I found on camp that I love, and even some random sidewalk chalking (I promise I didn't write it).

Day 55: Athens, GA

The team had its last full day in Georgia today; and a great day it was. The 90 miles to Athens was bisected by a friendship visit at Camp Twin Lakes. I can honestly say that FV was the most fun I've had all summer. The camp itself is like any other summer; it has a pool, lake, archery, nature walk, tennis courts, arts, etc. It's also a place where kids with disabilities can come and be themselves and have a blast for a week: somewhere they don't have to explain why they may be a little bit different. Counselors toured us around the camp, and then we had lunch in the dining hall where we got to play with some of the campers and goof around and do camp things such as sing and dance and be goofy. I would love being a counselor there. No one wanted to leave when it came time to head to Athens. Forty miles later, we arrived at the Holiday Inn (we've been very fortunate to have such sensors) and cleaned up for dinner at the UGA Pi Kapp house with a special guest, Darius. If you are unfamiliar with Darius, I suggest you view the movie "Darius Goes West," or check out my post from Portales, NM. He's an absolute stud.

After dinner, some of the of-age guys went out, but a few friends and myself went to a local legendary hot dog joint called The Varsity. It wasn't too shabby. South Carolina tomorrow! Here's a couple pics of the camp.