Today was a beautiful ride along Lake Erie from Sandusky to Cleveland.

We started the day off early with a bacon and French toast breakfast at Berardi's which really loaded us up before the ride.

I rode as a sweep with Blake from TCU and Kevin from Iowa. We had a fun time soaking in the scenery while also maintaining a pretty decent pace.

After arriving into Cleveland and getting showered at the ΔΓ house on Case Western's campus, we headed to the Indians/White Sox game. As we were standing in line for our tickets a fellow Tappan Hall resident from my freshman year, Jess, joined us. Also as we were standing there one of my good friends, Lauren, saw the team as she was walking past with her coworkers. The game was really enjoyable, the weather was awesome, and the Tribe won! There were even a few home runs thrown in there! As we left the game we also ran into our chapter brother, Jack and his brothers and dad. What a small world it felt like today in Cleveland.

Following the game we headed to dinner in Willoughby about a half hour away. We were hosted by a family whose son did JOH and now works for Push America. They were awesome to talk to and showed the team what Ohio hospitality is all about. We also had the opportunity to play on the playground which brought out the inner child in all of us.

To wrap up the evening we finished our Leadership Training aspect of the summer where we learned how to take our experiences we have gathered on this trip and use them when we head back to our campuses across the country. A bunch of us younger guys then went to a convenience store and purchased Sprite, bananas and gallons of sugar drink. Josh from Tennessee and I decided to see if we could drink a whole gallon of the sugar drink. It didn't work out so well. The other guys ate 2 whole bananas and then drank 3 Sprite, which resulted in them not feeling so hot afterward. It's amazing the dumb stuff we find ourselves doing for entertainment, but I wouldn't change these memories one bit. As we were doing our challenges 4 police cars showed up to the parking lot we were in and boxed us in with their vehicles. Apparently it looked suspicious on the surveillance footage of us in the parking lot so they came to check it out. Four cars seems a little unnecessary but at least they're doing their job. They laughed when they saw what we were doing and then just left us be.

Tomorrow is a day off in the city of Cleveland. Only a little over a week left, unfortunately!

Thanks for checking in on my summer of a lifetime!

Love & Honor,

Beau

Another day in the great state of Ohio.
I rode with Chris from GA Tech today, and we really pushed it today. The roads were awesome today so we were able to cruise along at 20 mph no problem for most of the day. We ended up finishing first and had some time to explore the marina on Lake Erie. We went out on one of the docks and found 4-5 foot long snakes at the end of it. They were pretty harmless and it was cool to see them slither around. We then staged up for an arrival to our friendship visit once all of our teammates finished their rides.
Our arrival and friendship visit was accompanied by lunch with a group called Ability Works. They take individuals with disabilities of all sorts and off a day-hab program where the individuals receive therapy as well as work on things like shredding and packaging of various materials. For our friendship visit we interacted with the people by dancing with them as well as just sitting down and talking with them for a while. The weather was perfect and the view of the lake could not be beat!
After lunch we headed to lodging and got a little bit of rest before heading to dinner. Our dinner was at Cedar Point with the family of a past JOH cyclist. We had steak and corn on the cob. We are 2 for 2 on having steak in Ohio for dinner so far, no complaints here!
Following dinner we headed into the park. We rode the new Gatekeeper (only a 15 minute wait) as well as the Top Thrill Dragster. It was cool to see the guys from other parts of the country who had never been to Cedar Point enjoy the park so much because it was all new to them. I also got to catch up with one of my Boys State delegates from last year. It was a fun time to just sit and chat and impart some wisdom to him before he leaves for college (well, at least I think it was wisdom).
We departed Cedar Point after about 3 hours in the park and headed back to lodging. We had a team meeting and then got ready for bed. Tomorrow is a 6am wake-up which is actually late for us!
Thanks for checking in!
Love & Honor,
Beau

We made it to Ohio today!

We had an awesome breakfast at the University of Michigan Pi Kapp house this morning that definitely fueled us up for our long day.

I rode as a sweep today with Saurabh, both of us are from the Toledo area. The roads leading into Ohio were absolutely terrible. We had to stop for two falls on railroad tracks in front of us as well as multiple people getting flat tires from all of the pot holes. It was definitely strange to start recognizing street names and passing next to Cabela's on our ride. Eventually we arrived to the state line and shortly thereafter the University of Toledo for stage up. Saurabh and I led the double pace line for the arrival, but the officer leading us did not motion for us to turn right to go through the stage up. We continued to follow her while the rest of the team got the hint and went to the circle we were to be riding around. I eventually figured it out and joined the back of the line. Saurabh kept going a little further but eventually made his way over to the crowd as well. After lining up as a team we were addressed by our Pi Kapp regional governor, the Provost of the University of Toledo, and a representative from Congresswoman Captor's office. After talking to the Crescent News, Bryan Times, and a couple tv stations I was able to greet all o those that had showed up to cheer me on.

My mom is not one to do things halfway and this arrival was no exception. Greeting me with posters and cheers were my parents, sister, both grandmas and my grandpa, my aunt Nan and cousin Carly, my aunt Teri, uncle Steve, cousins Riley and Xavier, my friends Alex, Anna, Mallory, Rosalie, and Tori, and also a family friend and founding father of Miami's Pi Kapp chapter, Joel Kammeyer. It was awesome that everyone came out to cheer on my team and got to hear all about the trip thus far. I ate lunch with all of my supporters and then said my thank you's and goodbyes.

The team headed to our lodging at the Horton International House and showered up before our friendship visit. My parents stayed for our friendship visit at Apple Tree Nursery on UTs campus where the last performance of the Kids on the Block puppets was performed.

Following our visit we all loaded up to go to Outback Steakhouse for a great steak and chicken dinner with loaded bake potatoes. It was fun to eat with my parents and project manager, Nick, where we talked about all thin JOH and life in general. Everyone admires the work Nick does for our team and the leadership and guidance he provides for all of us so it was awesome for my parents to get to know him. After dinner I said my goodbyes to my parents and we loaded the vans and headed back to lodging.

From lodging we divided into 3 groups to go receive massages. What a blessing these were. After over 3,000 miles on the bike receiving a nice massage was exactly what we needed. Many of the students and graduates of Stautzenburger college provided the massages free of charge to the team. This was the most relaxing 45 minutes of the trip. The masseuse kept commenting how many knots were in our muscles and how tense we all were. We all came out of the massage feeling a ton better and ready to tackle the last 11 days of the trip!

After the massages we headed to Saurabh's house for ice cream and desserts. Many of his friends and family were there to greet us. It was a fun time to just hang out and meet new people and pig out on desserts.

We finally headed back to lodging after 16 hours of jam packed programming. Sleep came quite easy for everyone!

Thank you for everyone for your kind words, thoughts, prayers, and well wishes as we entered the great state of Ohio!

Love & Honor,

Beau

Today the rains continued.
I rode today with David from Iowa. It was a relatively easy 65 mile ride from East Lansing to Ann Arbor. Nothing but back county roads and some very small hills. To keep ourselves entertained, and to finish off some leftover pop, we decided to shot gun Faygo not once but twice at Mark's crew stops. It probably is not the smartest thing to do when you are cycling, but we all survived and got some serious laughs out of it as well. I also ate 6 cookies at his crew stop. They were delicious!
Once in Ann Arbor we arrived at the University of Michigan's Pi Kapp house and dropped our bikes off. We also ate pizza and hung out for a little bit. We next headed to our lodging in one of Michigan's premiere dorms. We all have rooms to ourselves tonight which is actually to our dismay. We've gotten so used to sleeping around one another and are worried we won't be able to wake ourselves up tomorrow morning!
Our first friendship visit of the day was with an organization called PEAC which helps all people learn to ride bikes safely. We rode with one of their classes. All of their skills levels ranged greatly from great riders down to a boy who learned how to ride on his own for the very first time today. It was awesome to see the smile on his face when the instructor let go and he pedaled all on his own.
After our visit with PEAC we headed back to lodging and I was able to squeeze in an hour long nap.
For dinner we had another visit at the Eisenhower Center which serves people with brain injuries. We had a great dinner with them, and then had an X-Factor themed show with them. Some of our guys performed Beyonce's "Single Ladies" and then we as a whole team performed Cascada's "Every Time We Touch." We didn't win the show, but we had a blast doing it. After all was over we went around and collected autographs from the other performers. They were all celebrities today!
When we arrived back on campus about half of the team headed to BDubs for some boneless wings! It was great to hang out together for a couple hours in a very relaxed environment.
Tomorrow we head into the Great State of Ohio. Did I really just cycle all the way from California to Ohio? It will be so awesome to see my family and friends at the University of Toledo tomorrow for our arrival!
Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers for the team. Our health seems to have been

Rain, rain, go away...
Today was a day filled with challenges. I started the day riding with Blake from TCU and Michael from Houston. It rained the first 25 miles, and both of them were sick so they racked at 25 miles. I didn't want to rack so I jumped over and rode with Alex from GA Tech. He was feeling sick by mile 40 so he racked as well. My third pace line, and the one I finished with consisted of David from Iowa and Stephen from Tennessee. It eventually stopped raining and we dried out for the most part and had a fun time cruising along. About a mile from lodging the crew forgot to signal a turn to us, so eight miles later after heading west instead of east we stopped, pulled over and waited for them to reroute us back to lodging. An 80 mile day quickly became 96, and it started raining at the end again. Even with the crappy circumstances we still had a fun time and I will remember this day as one where we really had to focus on not shedding our disability (the bike) just like those with disabilities have to finish each and every one of their days.
After a phenomenal lunch provided by the Kelley family we were given letters written by the JOH North team in 2011. It was awesome to read their words of wisdom, and reading my chapter brother, Rick's account of the trip. We were also given our own paper to write letters to a future team.
Following lunch we checked into our rooms and took some pretty stellar naps. Michigan may be a crappy state, but we are sleeping on real beds every night here and that is something I certainly will not complain about.
For dinner we were hosted by the Beta Xi Pi Kapp chapter from Central Michigan. They grilled burgers and hot dogs for us and it was cool to hang out with them for the evening in East Lansing.
After dinner we had a lot of free time so Sanjeev, our crew chief Mark and I decided to clean out our van. Our van is the one that holds all of the team's food, so we tend to be a little messier than the other crew vans. Not only did we throw discarded wrappers away, but we reorganized and vacuumed the van. It already smells better, and there will be less we have to clean at the end of the trip.
Tomorrow takes us to Ann Arbor. Hopefully it is not 60 degrees and rainy like it was today!
Thanks for checking in!
Love & Honor,
Beau

We entered that state up north today...

I rode with Sanjeev from FIU and Alex from GA Tech today. We pushed the pace all day, even though I wasn't feeling the greatest, and inished first. About 6 miles out from lodging we stopped for lunch at a couple's home. Our logistics coordinator had lived with them for a summer for work and they decided to learn more about JOH this year and sponsored and hosted us for lunch. The food was absolutely delicious and they loved to hear all of our stories. Introducing people to the Journey of Hope is not only enjoyable, but also very rewarding. Spreading the word about the abilities of all people is our main goal on the trip and today we did just that.

After arriving at lodging we got the opportunity to nap for a few hours. With much of the team under the weather this was essential to getting us feeling better.

Dinner was provided to a by a couple whose son road JOH a little over ten years ago and they just love hosting the teams in Kalamazoo. The grilled chicken really hit the spot and we had Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ as well so this meal was awesome!

Much of the team went and saw Monsters University together. The movie tickets were only $3 and the movie was great!

Tomorrow we head to East Lansing to stay at Michigan State.

Please pray that our entire team feels well soon. Less than two weeks left until DC, where has the time gone?

Love & Honor,

Beau

We made it to the Eastern Time Zone!

Today I rode with David from Iowa along with John Schumacher, a past JOH rider and a member of the Push America Board. We really pushed the pace and had a lot of fun along the way.

For lunch we stopped at the Indiana Dunes State Park and ate on the beach. This was a nice break in the middle of the ride, especially after cycling through Gary, Indiana as quickly as possible!

We finished our 95 mile ride and quickly showered before dinner. We were hosted by the Knights of Columbus in South Bend. We had a great pasta dinner and were surprised afterward with a trip to a local ice cream shop by one of our cyclist's mom who was in town for business from California. I got a nice root beer float that really hit the spot.

After ice cream we headed over to Notre Dame's campus and walked around the football stadium, saw Touchdown Jesus on their library and walked by the Golden Dome. We also went into their large chapel where we walked in on a wedding rehearsal. It was an awkward, but also funny experience.

Once back at lodging at St Joseph High School we settled in for the night. Much of the team is battling illnesses so rest is paramount to gettin better for our last couple weeks of riding.

Thanks for checking in on us!

Love & Honor,

Beau

Another day off!

We started the morning with a nice 7am wake up. Following breakfast we loaded up the vans and headed to the city.

Our friendship visit at Invision was great! We got there early and helped them setup. One of our tasks was to chalk a biking course. They bought a bicycle for us to help their clients learn to bike. We decided to chalk out our journey so that their clients could experience riding across America as well. We have some pretty good chalk artists on our team so te course turned out great!

Additionally, kitchen help was needed so we pitched in in slicing watermelon. Many of the other guys sliced the watermelon into conventional slices. I decided to go a different route and created a watermelon bowl and sliced the edges to make it look a little fancier. The little things really amuse us while we've been on the road so long.

During the friendship visit we helped people ride the bike, played with a large parachute, and just sat down and chatted.

After the friendship visit we headed downtown again. Jason, Saurabh, Mark and myself headed to lunch with two Miami alumni. It was great to catch up with them on their lunch break.

After lunch we divided up and Mark and I went to Shedd Aquarium. We met up with a few other teammates there and went through many of the exhibits. We even pet a sturgeon!

When we decided to leave the aquarium we headed toward Navy Pier. This turned into a very exhausting 2 mile walk. We decided after 1.75 miles to rent the new Divvy bikes and ride back to our vans before dinner. Even on our day off we cycled! It was very strange to ride a conventional bike again!

For dinner we headed to Gino's East Pizzeria. I ate the pizza there on my 8th grade class trip and it was as good as I remember it to be. Our dinner sponsor rode JOH in 1988 so it was awesome to hear how much has changed, but also stayed the same in the last 25 years.

Following dinner we headed back to our hotel to get ready for tomorrow's 4:30 wake up.

Please continue to pray for good health and safe riding for our team!

Love & Honor,

Beau

Today was great fun!
We started the day off by doing yoga for an hour at the YMCA. It definitely helped us relax, something that we all definitely needed to do!
Next, we performed Kids on the Block for many of the campers that come to the Y during the day. They all got a kick out of the puppet show and had some really great questions.
Then, we headed off to the Windy City. We had an arrival that I rode with Matt from Houston to the Neumann Center which serves underprivileged people with disabilities. We ate lunch with them, played some basketball, and just hung out for a little while.
On the agenda next was heading into downtown. We made stops at Millennium Park and the Bean, Garrett's Ice Cream, the John Hancock building, as well as several shops on the Magnificent Mile. Best of all was eating some great Garrett's Popcorn.
For dinner we were hosted at a local restaurant by two gentlemen who rode Journey of Hope in the past. I am not the biggest fan of pasta, but this stuff was great!
Following dinner we headed to our hotel. We are staying in Itasca, a western suburb, at the Eaglewood Retreat. One of our cyclist's dad gave us the hookup, and the hotel is going to be great for the next couple days!
Once all checked in at the hotel one of my chapter brothers picked Jason and I up and took us to Dave and Busters. We had a fun couple hours playing the arcade games and winning lots of candy that we certainly don't need. Following D&B we went to McDonald's, which tasted great after going without it for so long. Our food has been phenomenal on the trip, but having some McD's really just hit the spot at 11pm!
Thanks for checking in!
Love & Honor,
Beau

Another day, another state.

Today we had a construction-filled ride into Illinois and the village I Brookfield. I rode with Michael from Houston and we pushed the pace and had a fun day of weaving in and out of construction and enjoying the 70 mile trek.

Once we arrived at the local YMCA we ate lunch, showered, and got ready for their 4th Annual Journey of Hope Celebration. One of the highlights of the night was the balloon animal artist. I got a pretty cool octopus hat from her; she had most of the kids and team donning her creations by the end of the night. We danced for a while, ate hamburgers, and played on the playground as well. Definitely a fun time in great weather!

After dinner we had a quick team meeting and then dispersed to run errands. I went to Walmart quickly before heading back to lodging.

Once back at lodging we found out we had been invited to a bonfire at our sponsor's home. She has 4 college aged children so it was fun to interact with them and their friends. We've all gotten so used to the other guys on the team so it is always fun to interact with new people.

After the bonfire we headed back to lodging and made quick work of falling asleep.

Thank you for your continued support of my Journey of Hope.

Love & Honor,

Beau