Day Two:

Shortly after we left Napa we were faced with an intense mountain range. It involved a few thousand feet of elevation change and made for a very rough first ten miles. On these mountains were some of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen.

I rode with Michael from Texas Christian and Colin from the University of Washington today. They both did a fantastic job encouraging me along the way. We all pushed hard and ended up being the first to finish our 65-mile ride into Sacramento. Once in Sacramento we were greeted by a Pi Alpha mom & dad whose sons rode JOH in 2007 & 2009. We had great sandwiches, chips, and birthday cake; two of our riders’ birthdays were today.

We then staged our first arrival, which was to the California State Capitol Building. We were greeted by a few friends, family, and many others who turn out to cheer on the JOH riders each year.

After a quick bike shop run (where we received 20% off) we headed to our friendship visit. At this visit we toured the center that included a recycling center, art room, music room, and ceramics room among many other things. We had a fantastic dinner served by our hosts. They also put on an awesome concert for us. I don’t think I have danced that hard since senior prom!

Tomorrow is a 50-mile ride into Jackson and then two friendship visits.

Thank you once again for your continued prayers, these next few days will be very challenging both mentally and physically.

Love & Honor,

Beau

Where do I even begin?
I registered for the Journey of Hope on July 12, 2012, and finally kickoff arrived today. Departing across the Golden Gate Bridge was quite the experience and I am so thankful that my parents, sister, chapter sweetheart Megan & alumni and JOH '07 cyclist Scott could all send us off.
We woke up bright and early this morning at 5:15 and were on the road shortly thereafter. While the conditions were windy and rainy in San Fransisco, not too far north the weather got absolutely gorgeous.
The mountains were beautiful, riding up them was challenging yet rewarding when we were able to look down them from the top.
Who knows how many bottles of water I drank today; the short answer is a lot.
Most days we mix up the guys in our pace-line (we ride in group of three on the road) and today I rode with my chapter brothers Saurabh and Jason. We started riding together in August and it was only fitting to begin this journey together.
I did get a flat tire today, but that was easily fixed and we were on our way in no time.
We arrived in Napa at about 3:30, showered up in our hotel rooms, and quickly were on our way to our friendship visit. There were so many awesome people with disabilities there. We danced, we ate (a lot), we chatted, and we played volleyball just to name a few things. The smiles that we were able to put on people's faces really warmed my heart and reaffirmed why I decided to take the plunge this summer and do the Journey of Hope.
A small awards ceremony was held for many of the individuals we visited with tonight to recognize them for their outstanding performance in their softball league this year. Everyone received a trophy and from what I gathered, they all completely deserved them for their hard work and dedication.
The man in charge of the visit actually attended Ohio State. He was wearing a Buckeyes sweatshirt at the visit tonight which instantly caught the eyes of us Ohio guys, go Bucks!
Tomorrow is another early morning where we ride into Sacramento.
Please continue to pray for us and keep checking back on my blog to see what we are up to! I don't know that we will always have the most reliable internet connection, but I will do

Wow! Just one day left until we finally get started on the Journey of Hope!
Today we had our last training ride. We rode about 26 miles around a nice lake. The hills were a little bigger than those in Ohio, ok a lot bigger, but they were very doable.
Today we also had a short maintenance session and had some nice down time to get all of our things ready to leave tomorrow.
Tonight we had the awesome privilege to eat at a restaurant with our families and friends before our 8am sendoff tomorrow. My parents and sister were able to join which made for a great dinner one last time this summer. I really appreciate them taking time out of their busy schedules to come out to San Fransisco to send me off. They also were able to bring me things I had forgotten/neglected to bring from home.
The anticipation for tomorrow is huge! I reached a great milestone today and got over the $6000 mark fundraising. Thank you to each and every one of you who have supported me in my team's goal to "Build leaders of tomorrow by serving people with disabilities today."
Tomorrow starts the summer of a lifetime. Please pray for my entire team's safety.
Love & Honor,
Beau

Today we finally got on the bikes for a bit. This morning we did a skills assessment in the parking lot of a local college.

After the assessment we went to the Golden Gate Bridge and scoped out the area for our first day's ride. We also had plenty of time to take pictures.

After the bridge we went to In 'n Out for lunch and then had plenty of time to explore Fisherman's Wharf.

Following the wharf we went to the Clif Bar headquarters for a tour from a 1999 JOH cyclist who now works in their marketing department. The headquarters were absolutely awesome, I would thoroughly enjoy working there.

Next we went to a local shopping establishment and ate dinner before heading back to our hotel to do some bike maintenance and learn our crisis management plan.

Our night was capped off by several of guys going down to the water for a local dance and food festival. We are some stellar kettle corn and just chilled on a pier enjoying the evening.

I can't wait for tomorrow when we do our last training ride! 33 hours until kickoff!

Love & honor,

Beau

Today we had our very first friendship visit at the Janet Pomeroy Center in San Fransisco. As you can see from the photos, we had an awesome time playing basketball with the people of the center.
The rest of the day was spent going over procedures, practicing certain aspects of the trip, and a quick Target run.
I took the plunge and shaved my legs. If we do not, and we wreck, they have to use steel wool to scrape the hair out of the cut. I know this is probably too much information, but I thought I would share the reasoning behind it.
As always, please keep me and the rest of the team in your thoughts and prayers!
Currently I have raised $5,925 on behalf of people with disabilities! Thank you all for helping me to make a positive impact!
Also, thank you to our chapter sweetheart, Megan Feldhauser, for coming on the friendship visit today. She got to play paparazzi and take pictures the entire time as well as interact with some of the people at the center!
So far so good!
Love & Honor,
Beau

Traveling to Oakland started incredibly early for me this morning. I woke up at 3:00am, said goodbye to my pets, and was out the door by 3:30am. My mom and I drove to Detroit for me to catch my 7:45am flight. You may be asking yourself why we left at 3:30 when it only takes 2 hours to get to Detroit? I asked myself the same question considering check-in took less than 5 minutes. My mom is always super early to everything, and she did drive me to the airport and then put in a full day's work, so I guess me sitting in the gate for a couple hours didn't hurt anything.
After a 4 hour flight to Vegas, I then waited for another couple hours to board my final flight hour and a half flight to Oakland. The bad thing about time changes is that the airport restaurants do not serve lunch on the schedule that my body wants lunch food. I am not a fan of breakfast food and as a result I ate a $7 salted pretzel that was about 24 hours past its prime. The struggles.
My flight to Oakland went smoothly after departing a little late. I actually landed at the same time as the other two Miami guys, Saurabh and Jason, which was very convenient for riding to our hotel.
Once at the hotel we checked in and reassembled our bicycles. Much to my dismay my quickr-release that holds my front wheel on did not make it in the box when the bike store packed it. Looks like I will be buying a new one tomorrow!
The rest of the day was filled with Policies and Procedures review and leadership activities that really helped me to get to know the guys on my route.
The night was capped off by looking for a convenience store to buy odds and ends that we had all forgotten. We ended up in downtown Oakland, and coming from Oxford and Defiance this was a bit of a culture shock. I came out of the store with M&Ms, a water, and toothpaste and we all made it safely back to our hotel before curfew.
24 hours after I woke up to leave on this journey, I am finally going to bed.
Love and Honor,
Beau

After almost 11 months of anticipation since I registered for the Journey of Hope, it is finally here!

In April, 2004 I raised about $50, $40 of which probably came from my parents, to participate in the Defiance Area Society for the Handicap's DASH-a-thon. I rode my bike an incredible distance of 5 miles at the Independence Dam State Park. Nine years later I have cycled hundreds of miles preparing for my almost 4,000 mile journey and have raised $5,875 and counting for people with disabilities. While the distance and the monetary amount have grown, the intent behind both trips is the same, to help and serve people with disabilities.

I was reminded of my first cycling "trip" yesterday when I rode to my Pi Kapp little brother Jackson's house, about 25 miles away. I passed by the park on my way there and could not help but laugh at how far that trip seemed to my 11 year old self. It made me smile that even at a young age I had done something to help those with disabilities. None of this would have ever been possible without my awesome parents who have been supportive of my goals and aspirations my entire life and have sacrificed a lot to help me achieve my dreams. I will never be able to thank them enough but I hope that I make them proud!

I will be flying out of Detroit tomorrow morning, and by 1:30 I will be in Oakland/San Fransisco to embark on the summer of a lifetime. As you can see from the picture above, I am not taking much with me this summer! My bike, a backpack for my laptop, and a duffel bag with an air mattress, sleeping bag, camping pillow and clothing. Unfortunately, as soon as JOH is over I am heading straight from DC to Oxford for RA training. My parents have the arduous task of moving my stuff to school before my arrival. The majority of which has stayed packed since the end of the school year; I have been living off of high school clothing for the past 3 weeks.

Once I am in San Fransisco, we have about 4 days of orientation to get us ready for our ride. My parents and sister are flying out on Friday and will be seeing me off on Sunday. They're staying a few extra days to vacation in SF and see some of the major landmarks of the city.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has made this trip a reality. Check back regularly for posts, I will try to keep it updated with lots of photos, my new camera arrived yesterday! Please also pray for all three Journey of Hope teams as we travel through over 30 states collectively this summer to help those with disabilities.

Love & Honor,
Beau