January cold weather

It is only 11 degrees out and we are trying to find some way of staying fit. So the inside bike trainer is the best option. We never go far and the scenery only changes if we change chanels on the television. Reflecting back to the warm days of Nicaragua. Jacky is in Hawaii right now at the top of a volcano. We saw one a year ago but this one has a lava field.

Deer season 2006

We had a good day of hunting. Casey shot a large buck 11 points. We hunted Rockweilers, Bruenings, Sersland and state ground,

The Ionia boys helped us hunt today. Clark, Greg, Larry, Casey, Jarod,Wesley, Ward, Dave.

fast times at Moab high

We are at the Public library in Grand Junction. O'Gara stole a password from an unaware library card holder to access this computer terminal. We rode the Porcupine Rim trail in Moab on Saturday, it was a great ride. On the return ride to the car we made the mistake of following Ben and we all flatted on goat heads.

We ran into 160 unicyclist on the porcupine rim trail. That was really cool.

Yesterday we rode the Fruita trails and decided to ride from downtown Fruita to our hotel in Grand Junction. It took us about 7 hours to ride 12 miles...we made several stops. Some of the stops required drinking beer.

Adios

grand junction mountian bike trip 3/25/2006

Left Des Moines at 4 am. arrived in Denver to deliver a picnic table to Bjorn, Adrianne, and Richie. Ben, Brian, Jeff and myself are having fun.
We stayed in the Sandman for $50. Now to Moab for the day.

Ward is sitting at the computer, wasting our time in the hotel lobby, let's go-O'Gara.

Wish me luck!
Brian

Morale is high, Brian has bad gas and Ward is a noticer.
Update to follow.
Ben

St Patrick's Day Run

Jacky, Scott Lewis, Chad Gent, Jamie, Marc, and myself ran to the Satre Store. 14 miles. Beautiful day and only a few hills.

Mid March Bike ride.

We went on a Mid March bike ride. The Calmar, Spillville, Ridgeway and Decorah Loop.

Keith Wherry, Ron Hyberger, Jacky and I had a nice day in the warm sun.

STAGE 29 AND 33

MY TEAM MEMBERS ARE RANDY, CAROLINA, JENNIFER,CHRIS, AND HARRY, DORAN IS NOT IN THIS PICTURE. CHECK OUT THE JERSEY'S.


THESE TWO STAGES HAVE BEEN AT NIGHT AND NOT A LOT TO SEE. THE RALLIES ARE SMALL AND OUR START TIMES HAVE BEEN AT 1:00 AM AND MIDNIGHT. IT IS HARD TO STAY AWAKE AT 15 MILES PER HOUR. SWITHING BATTERIES IS THE MOST FUN I HAD FOR BOTH STAGES.

THE EFFECTS OF TROPICAL STORM TAMMY GAVE A VERY WET RIDE LAST NIGHT, 86 MILES IN THE RAIN. THE BIKES WERE FILTHY.


MANY OF OUR TEAM OF RIDERS ARE TAKEN TO RALLIES AND THEY SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT MAKING THE PROMISE. THE TOUR OF HOPE WEBSITE HAS GREAT SHOTS OF THE TEAM MEMBERS.

TRAING AND MEETING THE NEW TEAM.

TOUR OF HOPE HAS ITS LIGHTER MOMENTS. HERE A OUR DECISION MAKERS LETTING OF STEAM. DAN, GINA, AND CHAD.
















MEMBER OF TEAM A. THERE ARE FOUR TEAMS. MARKUM, WIS, STEVE, CA., ADAM,WIS., BARRI, PA., JAMIE, WIS.












ENTIRE TEAM, SERGIE, RUSSIAN MASSGE, JAMIE, WISCONSIN DRIVER, WARD, IOWA MECHANIC, ADREA, WISCONSIN DIRVER, BARRI, PA NAVIGATOR, ADAM, WISCONSIN DRIVER, MATT, WISCONSIN DRIVER, TONY TEXAN TEAM LEADER. MARKUM WISCONSIN DRIVER.








TRAINING ON HOW TO KEEP THE RIDERS PROTECTED IN THE ENVELOPE AT ALL TIMES. JOHN AND ZACH ARE DOING THE TRAINING.

STAGE 17

THIS IS ADAM. HE AND I SHARED A ROOM DURING THE RIDE. SOMETIMES HE A LITTLE CRAZY. THAT IS WHAT SLEEP DEPRIVATION WILL DO.









OUR TRANSITION AREAS SOMETIMES ARE MARKED ONLY BY A SIGN AND AN CLEAR ARREA ALONG THE ROAD.












OUR STAGING AREA AWAITING THE TRANSITION. LAST MINUTES DETAILS FROM OUR TEAM LEADER TONY.











TEAM READY TO START THE RIDE.













THIS IS OUR BUS THAT HAULS US EACH HOTEL. 12 PEOPLE CAN SLEEP IN IT AND THAT MAKES FOR A LITTLE MORE REST TIME. RIDERS AND BUS DRIVERS GET PRIORITY. BARRI IN BLUE IS GUARDING THE BUS.

86.4 MILES OF ROLLING WEST TEXAS. WE STARTED IN MENARD AND ENDED IN LLANO. JUST TWO DIFFERENT ROADS. START TIME WAS 7:00 PM AND WE FINISHED THE STAGE AT 11:30 PM. THEN TO A HOTEL IN HOUSTON. 4 HOUR OF SLEEP AND NOW TO A NEW STAGE.