of Illinois
Picnic Ride
1,361 Mile Solo Bicycle Ride
BICYCLE RIDE UPDATES.
recipient and is undergoing some medical treatment each week at Children's Hospital in Chicago. She came into our FASTSIGNS store in
Geneva along with her Dad, sister and brother. She gave me a big hug and said she would say a prayer for me to keep me safe on the trip.
We had our picture taken together. I will e-mail and write to her on the trip. She has a website that tells her story. The link is below. God bless
you Nicole.
http://www.oncology-parents.org/
UPDATE 4/1/05: I am going to camp outside tonight using the same equipment I am going to be bringing with. It is supposed to get into the low
30's tonight. Rather find out about problems now than on the trip.
Mike from Mobile-link Wireless in Aurora came into the shop today and delivered the camera telephones. He gave us all the goodies to go with
them and a great demonstration of how we can use these great Nextel phones to keep friends and family up to date on the trip. These
telephones are the perfect solution to our needs. A picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks Mike.
Mike Krauth
Mobile-Link Wireless
mkrauth@mobile-linkwireless.com
(630)364-8683
UPDATE 4/2/05: Last night I slept outside using the equipment I will be taking with on the trip. Thank you Wyndham Deerpoint Homes for the
great tent and weather alert radio. Please take a moment and visit their great website.
http://www.wyndhamdeerpoint.com/
The camp stove worked perfect, thanks Jan Dant. I was able to cook myself up a really tasty meal thanks to fine folks at Pack-Lite Foods. The
food tasted great and all I had to do was to add water and heat. They have a great selection of dishes and were kind enough to supply most of
the food I am going to need on this trip.
http://www.packlitefoods.com/
Results: I was cold. The sleeping bag I was going to bring is not big enough. The nylon pillow I was going to use slid out from under my head
on the tent floor. I am very glad I tested this out before the trip.
UPDATE 4/3/05: Finalized packing list and storage locations for supplies on bike and trailer. Rode 6 miles around neighborhood. Rode 26.6
miles on exercycle. Jonathan and I rode together and talked about the trip. He has a new mountain bike. I inserted new tire liners into the
trailer tires today and installed a kick stand on my bike.
UPDATE 4/4/05: Finalized route through Illinois. 10 days left before I go. The plan is to leave at exactly 8 am from the Bethany Lutheran
Church in Crystal Lake. Rain or shine. Have to keep crossing things off my to do list. I am going to ride 25 miles tonight
UPDATE 4/5/05: 9 Days left to go. Stomach is tumbling. Rode 28 miles last night. My legs feel strong. Today I will finish my route plan for
Arkansas. I need to stay south in Arkansas to avoid the hill country.
Amy from Beef O' Bradys is going to hold a fund raising send off dinner party for the Make-A-Wish Picnic Ride. It is going to be on April 11. I
hope a lot of people show up. Amy is such a sweet person. She called around and found a company who is going to donate clothing for me
and another
company who is going to provide instant ice packs. The ice packs are going to really help me keep the swelling down in my knees. Beef O'
Bradys is such a great place to eat. Smoke free family sports pub. Big screen TV's everywhere you look and lots of video games to keep the
kids busy. Beef O' Bradys is located at the corner of Route 64 and Peck just behind the drug store.
Beef O' Bradys
3341 W. Main St.
St. Charles, IL 60175
Phone: 630-377-2333
Fax: 630-584-9034
Geneva Police Officer Bob Steinman certainly receives our thanks for the very valuable training advice and the great books he provided on
training for events like this. When I make it to Houston, in about a month, it will be in large part because of the great information Officer
Steinman provided.
UPDATE 04/06/05 Did not do a darn thing last night. Went home and watched Oh God and Young Einstein with the family. A great evening
together. Tonight I need to ride and finish mounting the solar panel to the trailer top. The deep cycle battery is working fine for charging the
telephones. Build a charger for AA batteries or just buy them when I need to? The LED lights are very easy on batteries. Hmmmm.
UPDATE 4/10/05 Everything is finalized on the packing list. Rita and I completely packed the trailer, rack, paniers and backpack. Everything
fits. Picked up my brain bucket thanks to the fine folks at the Aurora Gun Club. I also picked up a new tire pump and a little mirror for the bike.
Took the bike for a spin fully loaded. Not bad. Uphill against the wind was a challenge but just dropped down a few gears. The weather is
looking good for lift off on Thursday. Supposed to get up to 60 with a low of 34. Sleeping out in the cold again.
UPDATE 04/11/05 Brought the bike and trailer into FASTSIGNS today. We have fund raising event at Beef-O-Bradys in St. Charles tonight
from 5pm until 8pm. I hope a huge number of people show up. Doug and Amy there are such great people. John mounted the solar panel to
the trailer this morning and double checked all the nuts and bolts. Rita and I are very fortunate to have a person like John around. Also, by
having him double check the trailer it means that it will be his fault if anything goes wrong with it. We are ready to launch. All systems are go.
Failure is not an option.
We dropped off a test roll of film today to make sure the camera works. Filled the MP3 player with lots of great tunes. Randy Travis, John
Fahey, Marc Cohn, Dr. John, Stones, Zep, Allison Krause, Terry Clark, Bob Marley, Bob Marley, Bob Marley, Young Einstein Soundtrack, Ry
Cooder, Talking Heads, The Tubes, UB40, The Doors, Van Halen, Bowie, The Pretenders, Peter Tosh, Mystic Revealers, Bunny Wailer, Devo,
Johny Cash, Bob and Ray, Leon Russel and Randy Newman.
Just got my last haircut before the trip. The girl who cut my hair says she made it Sassy...
UPDATE 04/12/05 Wow! What a great fund raising event at Beef O' Bradys. Amy arranged a great event with great food from Charlie Fox
Pizza, Euclid Beverage supplied the fluids, Old 2nd Bank arranged for a huge tent with tables and chairs and there was even a great band
named the Lazy Maybes. The band had the place rockin. BBK Sports donated a huge box of this new super hi-tech clothing for me to use. It's
the new JET Wear material that wicks away perspiration to keep you dry while your working out and it has this Anti-Microbial properties to kill off
the odor causing bacteria and such. Not only will I keep cooler and dryer while biking, but I will smell better. Perhaps now people along the
route will feel more like coming up and speaking with me. BBK Sports also provided a big box of instant cold packs for my knees. Those are
going to feel great after a long day of riding. BBK is going to be open to the public very shortly and they are going to have a special grand
opening celebration party on April 23. Give Jim a call over there for more details. Thanks BBK Sports for all you have done. Please stop in
and visit them soon.
