We held a donation/send-off party on Saturday, 4/28/01 at the Timothy Wooden Community Center in Grafton, WI. The walls were decorated with maps highlighting our trip route and with posters & banners advertising our sponsors. The artwork design for our jerseys was also posted. We had John's bike there with the bike trailer and panniers attached and fully loaded.
45 adults and 14 children came to show their support for our effort. Everyone was curious about how we are going to pull this off. Some of the most frequently asked questions were:
Question:
How long do you expect this ride to take?
Answer:
We hope to be in Tallahassee, Florida before Christmas.
Question:
How many miles will you ride each day?
Answer:
We plan on riding an average of 50-70 miles per day. However,it depends on
the conditions. On those days when we have a nice
tailwind and the sun is shining, it's not unusual to cover more miles than
average. Of course, the next day could be cold and rainy and we may not ride at
all!
Question:
Will you ride every day?
Answer:
No. We plan on spending about one day a week off of
the
bikes.
Question:
How many times do you cross the Rocky Mountains?
Answer:
Twice
Question:
How much does your bike weigh when it's fully
packed?
Answer:
Our guess is somewhere around 100 pounds. We've
never actually
weighed all of our gear.
A total of $1,520 was raised at the event. We would like to thank everyone who took time out on a beautiful spring day to come to the party and help us get a good start on our $10,000 fundraising goal.
Here are some pictures from the event.