Today we crossed our 7th state line, entering Iowa. This is the last state on the journey that I have never been to that we will be going through. I rode with Stephen from Tennessee and Doug from Northern Illinois today. It was a very hilly ride with a good amount of city travel, but overall I really enjoyed it. The rolling hills are a nice change of pace from the flat farm ground that was Nebraska and eastern Colorado.

The 55-mile ride ended quickly at the Creighton University Retreat Center that is in a very rural area down a long stone road. It was nice to be secluded in a backcountry area with no cell service and no distractions. We were treated to a sub-sandwich lunch and then had time to nap.

Mid afternoon we headed to a quarry to swim for the afternoon. The water was great! The quarry had a slide, a couple floating docks as well as a rope swing so we enjoyed hanging out on the water for a few hours.

For dinner a local family whose son rode JOH about 13 years ago hosted us. This is the most full I have been on the trip. They certainly spoiled us, and I must admit that I over indulged on all of the food they had for us.

To wrap up the evening we headed back to lodging and headed to bed. We decided to take the opportunity to sleep outside under the stars, and it is some of the best sleep that I have had on the trip! Hardly any bugs, no dew, and perfect weather with a slight breeze! I wish we could sleep in those conditions every night!

Thank you for checking in on our team’s progress!

Love & Honor,

Beau

Today I rode as a sweep with Blake from TCU.

Today was a shorter, hillier ride into Omaha. Once we arrived we staged up in a parking lot, played some "Duck, Duck, Goose", ate some candy, and waited for our police escort.

We were escorted a few miles to a center for people with disabilities, specifically Spina Bifida, and were greeted with open arms once we arrived. We showered, are lunch, Kids on the Block performed, and best of all we had a carnival.

We played games or a couple hours, earned tickets for prizes, and just had a fun time interacting with the kids and their families.

Following the carnival we headed to lodging and received our packages and mail. I received so much mail this time, it was awesome! I really appreciate all of the love and support everyone has shown to me on this journey; hearing from home and receiving goodies really brightens my day!

For dinner we headed to another friendship visit, this time a luau. We danced the night away and made many, many memories. The highlight of my night was coloring on the table mats with some of the people we were visiting with. It definitely reaffirmed that I have no artistic ability!

Following dinner we headed back to lodging and had our team meeting where we covered some logistics, safety, and did shout outs.

Tomorrow we cross over the Missouri River to Iowa.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Love & Honor,

Beau

Today was a long one! 105 miles from Grand Island to Lincoln. I rode with Travis from GA Tech and Kyle from Purdue. We clocked a pretty good pace and were in second the entire ride until about mile out when Travis hit a rock and popped his tire. He quickly fixed it and we still finished before lunch.

For lunch we ate a Raising Cane's. They're chicken was awesome!

Following lunch we headed to lodging and showered up before our friendship visit.

For dinner we were hosted by a local cycling/charity club. They're primary focus is to raise funds for people with hearing impairments. The food was fantastic and it was a lot of fun to talk cycling and about the Tour with them.

For our friendship visit we headed to a local church to dance the night away. We danced for a couple hours with many people with various disabilities.

It amazes me the energy our team is able to find after such long days to regroup and energize ourselves for friendship visits. The majority of the team came out of the dance sweating, but with huge smiles on all of our faces.

We headed back to the church to change into casual clothes and then were free for a few hours. I rode with our project manager and logistics coordinator to scou tomorrow's ride. Lots of construction and city driving will be facing us as we depart Lincoln for Omaha.

Please continue to keep the team in your thoughts and prayers!

Love & Honor,

Beau

A day off! Today was a jam packed day of programming in Grand Island.
We woke up at a late 7am and had breakfast at Tommy's diner. After having crew chief breakfast of bagels and bananas all of the time it was nice to have sausage, eggs and most importantly unlimited coffee!

After breakfast we headed to a local middle school to present Kids on the Block to a group of individuals with disabilities that attend summer school. They loved watching and talking to the puppets for a couple hours.

We next headed to the park and with the same group and played frisbee and baseball before a picnic lunch.

Following lunch we divided up to tour some of the facilities that employ individuals with disabilities in Grand Island. My group toured MNIS that does a lot of packaging for the catalog company Oriental Trading. We also toured another facility called Mosaic for lower-functioning individuals that allows them to be employed in a low risk and low demand environment. Mosaic had a very nice store that sells candles, floor mats and jewelry made by their employees. I bought a cool John Deere floor mat that will look great on the family farm.

Following our tours we had a couple hours of free time. I used this time to do laundry and cut my hair. I did manage to squeeze in a small nap as well.

For dinner we headed to a local church and ate with the local ARC group. Following dinner we played an intense game of kick ball and had another Kids on the Block performance.

To cap off our night a couple of the Grand Island Ladies took us on a tour of the park. They hosted Journey of Hope teams from 1993-2010 and have been to arrival in DC many times. They absolutely love JOH, and in two days our entire team fell in love with them. They showed us playgrounds our guys have helped build, sidewalks that have been poured, and other areas that have been financed by the grants that we give to them each year. It was emotional fo everyone to say goodbye to them before we headed back to our hotel.

Once back at the hotel I performed some routine bike maintenance and then headed to bed. Tomorrows 105 mile ride calls for a 4:45 wake up to be on the road as the sun rises.

We are half way through the journey and I appreciate everyone's love and support!

Love & Honor,

Beau

Today was an incredibly fun and easy ride. I rode with Sanjeev from Florida International and Austin from Florida State. The 50 miles went very fast and before we knew it we were in Grand Island waiting to stage up for our police escort into town.
The escort was a quick 4 miles to the Holiday Inn where we were greeted by about 100 people who have been coming out to support the JOH guys for over 20 years.
For lunch we were treated to KFC, DQ & Sonic. KFC cole slaw is my favorite food, so I took advantage of the copious amounts before me and ate 5 small tubs at lunch and took another 5 to my room to eat at a later time.
After lunch we hit the pool and hot tub for a couple hours to unwind and give our muscles some relaxation.
I then went to the post office to mail home some unneeded items to make more room in my luggage.
For dinner we ate at the local Elks with many of the people who greeted us at our arrival. The dinner was great and we then spent the next 2.5 hours dancing the night away. The friendship visits keep getting better as the journey goes on and nights like tonight reaffirm the whole reason we are on this journey. So many people look forward to the one or two days a year that we visit them, it it brings a huge smile to my face knowing we made their day better.
Finally, we made a late night Sonic run for milkshakes, Route 44 drinks, and fried munchies. We spent a little over an hour at Sonic just catching up/learning more about each other. I have a feeling I will be visiting many Pi Kapp chapters in the future to see the brothers that I am riding with this summer. We are all forming bonds that will last a lifetime.
Tomorrow is a day off that will involve many friendship visits and more than likely lots of eating, dancing, and time at the playground.
Thank you for checking

Today was another hot and humid day.
I started the day riding with Reggie from Iona and Colin from Washington. The day started pretty standard until about mile 25.
Colin went to fall back in the pace line after pulling for about 15 miles. He called "falling back" so I turned around to check for traffic. Reggie was in the middle and when I was turned around he had started to coast as I was still moving forward. I rolled into his back wheel and then lost control and managed to fall in the only gravel driveway for miles as opposed to the miles and miles of grass should we had seen. The crash scraped up my right hand, hip, and forearm but the real damage was to my bike. My rear derailleur was sucked into the spokes of my wheel rendering my bike inoperable. We phoned up to a crew van and racked my bike. I hung out with them for the remainder of the day.
Luckily, a bike shop about a half hour from our lodging carried the parts that I needed for my bike so we were able to go pick them up before most of the cyclists even finished the ride.
After picking up the parts we headed back to lodging to rest before dinner.
For dinner we were hosted by the local Pizza Hut. This was a pleasant surprise for all of us and a nice change of pace with some incredibly good salad, pizza and bread sticks.
After dinner one of the other cyclists helped me install my new derailleur and chain and my bike is now operable and I am ready to roll into Grand Island tomorrow.
For a team activity tonight we are having an inter-team 5 on 5 tournament. I am unable to participate due to hurting my hand today, but watching them play and running the scoreboard are a good way to spend time as well.
Tomorrow is a short 55 mile ride and then we have the following day off. This will be a nice rest after about 425 miles in 5 days and before our 12 consecutive days of cycling.
Please continue to pray for our team as we battle the heat, humidity, winds and house flies of the Midwest.
Love & Honor,
Beau

Today was a hot one!
We have finally hit the humidity of the Midwest, and that coupled with 100 degree temperatures and a 95 mile day all combine to make for one sweaty ride.
For breakfast we were served by the Boy Scouts of Wray. This was a great meal to get us geared up for the long day.
I rode with Derek of TCU for the first time today. We were into Nebraska after about 9 miles, but made a quick jog over to Kansas before getting back on the bike.
About 25 miles in I got my first flat tire in weeks. Unfortunately there was a staple through my tire that caused the tube to pop.
After changing my tire we continued on another 30 miles before flat tire number 2 occurred. The cause of this flat is unknown. I quickly changed the tire and moved onward to lunch.
We ate lunch by a very dirty lake in the rolling hills, but there was a nice awning that provided temporary shade and relaxation.
We finished the ride into McCook shortly thereafter and settled in at Memorial United Methodist Church.
Very nice women of the church hosted us for dinner. The best part of the dinner were the ice cream sandwiches and girl scout cookies that followed.
For a bit of team relaxation after dinner we were treated to a movie at the theatre. We watched Despicable Me 2 which I highly recommend! We all ate way too much popcorn and candy, but it made for a memorable experience.
Thank you for checking in on our journey!
Love & Honor,
Beau

Our last full day in Colorado! These ten days have flown right before my eyes. Colorado has been a gorgeous state from the deserts to the mountains to the plains it has certainly kept things interesting.
Today I was a sweep with Michael from TCU. Even though we were required to finish last, we still averaged over 18 mph; everyone really booked it today. The road we traveled had very wide shoulders which enabled us to ride two wide and talk the majority of the day. This is a great way for us to get to know each other and really enjoy the bike rides.
After about 40 miles we picked up Michael from Houston when Kevin from Iowa was forced to rack due to a broken seat post.
This is also about the time that we hit a strong headwind. We pushed through and had a blast the rest of the ride even with the strong headwind.
After arriving at lodging we changed into our swim trunks and hit the local water park. It had two awesome slides and a great diving board. We all had a blast cooling down after the long ride.
From the pool we showered and had time to nap. After short nights of sleep the last few nights these few hours of sleep were glorious.
For dinner we were fed by the local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and their families. Boy did they feed us well. As I write this we are still snacking on the fruit and deserts that they left behind for us.
After dinner we presented our "Kids on the Block" puppet show to them about people with disabilities as well as a lesson in bike safety.
Next, the mayhem ensued. They all had tons of energy and were chasing us, tackling us, and we played some knockout basketball as well. It was incredibly fun to horse around for a while a bring huge smiles to their faces.
We capped off the night with a leadership discussion that further helps us to "Build leaders of tomorrow by serving people with disabilities today." We discussed Challenging the Process and how we can each push ourselves to make our surroundings a better place for all.
Please continue to pray for our team as we depart Colorado tomorrow! We will be on Central time which means one step closer to the Eastern time zone that I know and love!
Love & Honor,
Beau

Today we rode from Denver to Fort Morgan, which was a little under 100 miles. I rode with Kevin from Iowa and Mike from Maryland. We pushed hard today through lots of very poorly paved roads and ended up finishing second. The roads had loose gravel, lots of cracks and were overall just generally in terrible condition which makes for a long day on the bike.

Once we arrived in Fort Morgan we showered up and got ready for our meal at the Elks. Unfortunately, with it being the 4th of July we did not have a friendship visit this year in Fort Morgan, but we still had a great dinner.

After dinner they surprised us by taking us to the local fireworks. For a small town these fireworks blew my expectations out of the water. They lasted a very long time and were a great time for the team to chill out together and celebrate our nation’s independence.

After the fireworks we went to Sonic and overwhelmed the employees with our numerous milkshake orders. It was a great way to cap off the evening before going to bed.

Thank you for you love and support and happy Independence Day!

Love & Honor,

Beau

Today was a nice day off in Denver.
For breakfast we went to the KRG Capital office on the top floor of the Xcel Energy Building. What a view! This breakfast was put on by their staff, and it was the best breakfast we've had to date. We also got to tour the office; Bruce Rogers' office was an incredible display of Journey of Hope memorabilia from over the years.
After breakfast we headed to a bike shop where I got a new brake cable so I can now brake again! It's the little things in life.
For lunch I met my Grandma Wistner, Aunt Laurie, Uncle Kevin and cousin Brock. We got burgers and fries at GoodTimes and ate in the park.
Pedals for Pennies was in the same park. The event is put on by the Special Olympics of Colorado and cyclist get pledges for the number of laps that they complete in an hour. Many of the cyclists flew around the lake at the park as they racked up their laps.
We then ate a quick dinner and then had a long dance session. Our team performed "Every time we touch" as all of those in attendance did the Mac-arena, Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle. I can honestly say that this was my favorite part of the trip so far. It was incredibly rewarding to spend several hours with the individuals there and by the end of the night we even had Chad Coltrane, the CEO of Push America up and dancing.
To cap off our night we had a team meeting and then headed to bed for an early wake up.
I loved our time in Denver, but am excited to get back out on the bike and conquer the rest of the country.
Thank you for checking in!
Love & Honor,
Beau