It is hard to believe that Ride to Reach the Day came to a successful conclusion almost a week ago. What an overwhelming sight it was to see all 16 riders (plus three friends who joined in for the last leg) riding single file into Norfolk, VA. The riders were trailed by all four team vans and the medical RV. Heads were turned watching all the orange Team Will jerseys go by.
At the hospital, the riders had the chance to meet a young girl who came out to see what all the commotion was about. It was then on to the local park for much appreciated sandwiches and cool drinks. A few of the riders then made the journey down to the Atlantic Ocean to make the ten day trip complete from coast to coast.
When all was said and done, approximately $50,000 was raised for CureSearch. There are many people that need to be thanked for making the entire trip an outstanding success. Those who contributed money, opened their homes for events and meetings and those who gave of their time were integral in helping to fight childhood cancer.
The Trip Home:
Because we had not seen enough of the country on the trip out, Steve L, Matt C and Chris M decided to drive back. We loaded up a van with 9 bikes and all kinds of gear and headed west. We did not make a lot of stops along the way, but did get to see some incredible things. There was a storm along the East Coast the day we left, so we were rained on for much of the first day.
By making this trip, we added two more states to the journey. On the way back we drove through West Virginia and Indiana. Although we did not stop in either state, they were quite beautiful form what we could see along the highway. We ran into traffic in four spots - St. Louis, MO - Denver, CO - Salt Lake City, UT and Reno, NV. Not bad for a 3,000 mile trip.
The only other delay we ran into was when we ran out of gas four miles short of the Utah/Nevada border. It would have been worse if we did not have 7 bikes on the roof. Steve jumped into action, grabbed Ken Kiefer's bike off the rack and rode down to the gas station. Half an hour later we were back on the road like nothing had ever happened.
Stats on the drive back:
- States covered - 11
- Miles driven - 3,100
- Time driving - 50 hours 30 minutes
- Best food - it's a toss up between Arthur Bryant's BBQ in Kansas City, KS and the Sky Terrace Sushi Bar at the Atlantis casino in Reno, NV.
- Best Fireworks - Anywhere along I-70 in the state of Missouri
- Most beautiful part of the drive - another toss up between southwestern Colorado and West Virginia.
Media Coverage
Team Will received some media coverage the day we left Sacramento. Here is the KCRA story from June 16.
