California here we come…

By the third day the prospect of spending 17 more hours in a tightly packed car was daunting.  However, the scenic views through Colorado, Salt Lake City, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains made up for it!  While driving through Nevada, we stopped to fill up with gas.  Upon entering the full service station, it became apparent that it was way overpriced: $3.59.  We decided it would be better to wait for the next station, so Colin began pulling away when a man tapped on the window while saying, “Your tire is about to explode!”  By the time we had the van in park and were almost all out of the car he practically had the tire off.  Right from the start we knew we had met a devious character.  It quickly became apparent that his underlying goal was to sell us overpriced tires along with high priced gasoline.  When Alex asked him to put the tire back on he repeatedly said “You are fools if you get back on the road, FOOLS!”  Needless to say, the tire is fine and so are we.  Joe pulled us through the last leg of the trip, through California traffic, where we arrived safely in Berkeley!      

On Monday, we took a much needed day of rest. We awoke slowly to beautiful California sunshine and our smiling hosts, Cassie and Jess.  They quickly let us in on a delicious secret.  Their neighbors have a plum tree whose branches stretch over the landing of their staircase.  Any golden plums that fall there are up for grabs!  We went out and picked through the varying degrees of decaying plums to find ones that were edible.  With the first juicy bite we went back to find some more.  After lunch, our humble host accompanied us across the bridge to San Francisco where we spent the day in the Golden Gate Park.  At the park we walked through the rose garden, listened to music, and walked to the beach.  When the day came to an end it was time to start preparing for the biking portion of the trip which included gathering equipment, planning routes, and a good nights sleep. 

Check back to see how the guys are doing!

Until next time,

Alex, Brittany, Joe and Colin

Utah

Joe, Cassie, Alex, Colin, Brittany, and Bandit

Ready, Set, GO!

With the car packed, we began to say our goodbyes at 6 am in the morning. Before we were able to even leave the drive way, the trip was delayed. Joe couldn’t find his wallet. In the end we weren’t delayed very long but it was a funny way to start the trip. We then departed at 6:30am and began to settle in for the long drive ahead of us. After roughly 16 hours of driving we arrived at Alex’s aunt and uncle’s house in St. Louis, Missouri at around 10:00pm.

Our gracious hosts made us a filling breakfast, before we left at 6:30am. Today’s drive was relatively flat and straight until reaching the gorgeous, snow covered mountains of Colorado. This made for a long 17 hour day of driving. We are yet again grateful to have another home to stay at with a different aunt and uncle of Alex’s in Austin, Colorado.

The long days of driving haven’t been as grueling as they sound as we have four drivers to shoulder the load. Switching drivers every four hours or so gives us the opportunity to stretch our legs and get gas before pressing onward. The final day of driving should be our shortest, but still will be close to 16 hours. We plan to spend Memorial Day in San Francisco seeing the city before we officially start the biking leg of the trip on Tuesday morning. Stay posted for more beautiful pictures of the west and stories of our progress!

Stay tuned,
Joe, Colin, Brittany & Alex

About to Depart

Colorado while driving

Emma’s triumph

Since we have started spreading the word about our trip we have heard various stories of families and friends fighting leukemia and other cancers. Not all the stories we have encountered have been sad ones. One story specifically is of an 11 year girl named Emma who was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of 5. She has now been in remission for 4 years. We love hearing stories like this because it gives us hope that the battle against Leukemia can be won. In honor of Emma we are going to be taking with us a stuffed animal dog named Sadie (which is her dogs name) in which you will see pictures of us with the dog along the way. At the end of the trip we will be giving Emma the dog. Below is a picture of Sadie and us.

Stay Optimistic,

Joe, Alex, Brittany, & Colin

Sadie, Colin and Bandit

Inspiration Family

Within the past week, we were getting closer to reaching our goal of $10,000. A very special family was the donors who helped us exceed our goal. The Zagorda’s have been our underlying support throughout are whole journey from brain storming to actually succeeding. Mr. Zagorda said he was waiting to contribute to our fundraising efforts until they could be the ones to help us surpass our goal. We couldn’t be more grateful that they were the ones to do this.

Despite our endless amounts of packing, we made it a point to visit the Zagorda’s the night before we left. It is always a fun time when everyone gathers at their house to catch up. At one point Mr. Zagorda emphasized that two years ago he thought the bike journey was a great idea but had it in the back of his head that it wouldn’t work out. He couldn’t be more amazed that everything came together and we are able to undergo this trip. This acknowledgment of our efforts was followed by a light hearted joke that he needs to get into shape to join us for the end of the bike trip; Burnt Hills to Boston. This visit gave us of the jolt of energy needed to carry us forward.

Enjoy all the day has to offer,

Brittany, Colin, Alex, & Joe

Visiting the Zagordas

Remembrance of another friend

Another individual that I am going to be thinking about along our journey is Shawn Walsh. The story of Shawn Walsh and his leukemia started one night at a basketball game, the sport he loved more than anything. During the game he wasn’t feeling well and even the coach knew there was something wrong because he didn’t play very well. The next day things got worse and worse and they had to admit him to the hospital. They found out he had Leukemia. No longer then two weeks later Shawn Walsh lost his battle with Leukemia. He passed away on March 15, 2005.

This past Sunday the 23rd, I was honored to have breakfast with Steve Walsh. He has been dealing with the loss of his middle child, Shawn Walsh for five years now. I knew Shawn Walsh from basketball and we were in various classes throughout middle school and high school. He just like Eric was an amazing individual that was bound to change the world one person at a time. Shawn was probably the nicest and caring kid I knew in high school. He was friends with everyone and he always had a smile that would leave you smiling after seeing or talking to him. Like I told Steve at breakfast, kids are only like this because of amazing parenting. Shawn inspired me to not be judgmental, to care so much for others and always have a smile no matter what happens and so many other ways.

Going to breakfast I was a little nervous because I hadn’t talked to Steve since around the time Shawn passed away. I recently sent him a letter telling him what our plan was for this summer and that I am going to be doing it in Shawn’s memory as well. As soon as I got there and sat down we started talking and we didn’t stop for two hours. Throughout the talk I truly learned how tough it has been since they have lost one of their kids. Looking into his eyes I could tell that sitting there talking about Shawn five years later was hard. After losing a kid you will never have a “normal” life again. Steve and his family have had a hard time to adjust. Sitting there listening to him tell me how hard it has been hits me hard and I try and I hold back tears for his sake.

After leaving breakfast I was even more excited about our trip because of how honored Steve and his wife were that I am doing this trip for Shawn as well. This trip has more than one meaning to me and I am excited to be honoring those who I know and those that I don’t know that suffered the disease.

Embrace every moment of life,

Colin

Four Days

In only a couple of days we will depart on our journey across country and we couldn’t be more excited. All of us have been really busy finishing up finals and our various undergraduate programs. On the 16th Alex and Joe graduated from SUNY Geneseo and SUNY Binghamton. Brittany and I walked across the stage this past weekend at SUNY Cortland. We are all home now trying to get everything ready before we leave on the 28th.

I also wanted to let everyone know that last week there was an article in the Burnt Hills Penny Saver on the front page about our trip. We were very lucky to have a connection with a reporter there who actually used to live across from the Zagordas and knew their story and how wonderful the Zagordas are. We have already gotten responses from various people who have read it, which is amazing. Also we recently made a friend, Alyssa Jung, who interviewed us for the Spotlight newspaper. The article should be in the newspaper this Thursday.

Keep checking in with us as we will be posting more now that the trip will be underway in a couple days. I wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has donated. It means the world to us and everyone who is battling Leukemia and Lymphoma. We are only around $300 away from our goal of $10,000 and haven’t even started the trip yet. We couldn’t be more thrilled with what we have already accomplished so THANK YOU! We love each of you and will be thinking about all of you on our trip.

Stay Amazing,
Colin

New Companion

It’s getting closer and closer to us finally departing on our great adventure. There are a couple of updates we would like to make you aware of at this time. We are getting more donations everyday and couldn’t be happier! We are still far from our goal of $10,000 but we do have a little over $5,000 at this time. Besides the donations we have also been getting numerous letters and e-mails of encouragement that help us to become even more motivated about what we are trying to accomplish. So THANK YOU to everyone for their encouragement and donations.

I don’t know about everyone else but I am so excited about the absolute beautiful weather we have finally been having. However, last weeks weather while biking was horrible. It was snowing the first part of the week here in Cortland and then we had 20-25 mph winds. On one of my rides I felt like I was going absolutely no where and that if I got off my bike I could probably run faster. I was pretty happy that my odometer wasn’t working because I think seeing that I was going 8-10 mphs would have been quite discouraging. But other then that, biking has been going well for all of us!

And the other topic I would like to talk about is the fact that we are adding a new companion to the trip. Brittany and I thought that a DOG would be a great addition to the trip across country. Yes a dog. He is a mutt that we got at the Saratoga County Animal Shelter two weeks ago. The vet said his best guess is that he is a German Shepherd mixed with some kind of Hound. He is between 1 and 2 years old. After five days of him not having a name (Dave Jones thought his name should be he who can not named), Brittany and I finally decided on Bandit. Below you can see a picture of Bandit. He is the sweetest dog and we are so lucky to have him.

That’s really all that is new for now. So keep sending in those donations to continue to help us reach our goal. Also, keep sending us letters and e-mails. We love hearing stories from everyone! Enjoy the beautiful weather. Go do something outside that you normaly wouldn’t. Just keep living.

Enjoy life,
Colin

Brittany and Bandit

Colin and Bandit at Buttermilk Falls (Ithaca)

A Setback, but still Optimistic

I was on a roll! A few straight days of biking, with a couple of rides earlier last week including a 30 miler and a beautiful 20 mile ride and now I have to wait more than a week before I can get back on the roads. Near the end of my 30 mile ride on Saturday I stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things and came back out to find my back tire was flat. I very carefully rode about a mile back into Geneseo before I decided it was too risky…I can’t afford to bend one of my rims…and walked the remaining half mile home.

So that was fine, a flat tire is no big deal, I have spare tubes so I replaced the one with a hole and all was good. Yesterday I came home from campus and wanted to go out for about 20 miles, got about a half mile and had another flat. I had noticed on Saturday that my tires are in pretty rough shape (including a small tear in the sidewall) after more than 1500 miles including more than 200 with 40-50 pounds of gear. So I ordered a new set of tires on Sunday, but they won’t be here until next Monday (hopefully). So for now I’m off the roads, but hopefully the weather will be warmer and sunnier by next week (I’m missing out on some great weather this week though, 72 degrees on Friday!).

Also, great news on the donations front: We are nearing the minimum donation amount needed to fulfill my commitment to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society ($4900), but are still a ways away from our total goal for the trip ($10,000). All the donations I’ve received haven’t yet been posted to the website, but the amount is around $4,100!! I’m so proud of everyone that has contributed and I can’t thank you enough! If you haven’t yet contributed, please consider doing so; it would help out the fight against blood cancers and would mean the world to us. Sorry for the length of this post, but I had a lot of news to share! Until next time,

Stay Happy,

-Alex

Two Months Away!

The weather has finally been nice here in upstate New York which means it is time to get on the bike and ready for this summer.  Each of us has been out a couple of times on our bikes.  I already had one adventure on my first ride.  I was only 5 miles away when I got a flat tire.  The thing that made it worse is that I didn’t have a patch kit.  I ended up going to a sweet old ladies house to ask if I could leave my bike there so that I could run back and get my car.  After fixing my bike tire I got out again the next day and had an actual bike ride.  It was only 16 miles but it’s a start. 

The other day on my bike ride I thought about our amazing trip ahead of us this summer and more memories of Eric.  One memory that I thought of is a story Eric told me that I think he made up, but I am not completely sure.  He was biking out in Charlton New York where he said he was going down a huge hill at about 40 miles/hr when the speed limit was only 30 miles/hr.  He said he got pulled over by a cop for speeding.  When the cop came up to him he pretended to roll down a window.  I am pretty sure this never happened but when I biked by a cop today it made me think of him and it just made me smile.  He had a great imagination with everything which made spending time with him so much fun.  So please if anyone has any great memories of Eric, which I know are endless, send us an email so we can post them.  He was a great individual that will be never be forgotten; his memory will live on.

Hopefully we will be posting more often to letting you know what is going on because we really only have 2 months before we head off on our journey.

We have been receiving many donations which you can see or contribute to on http://pages.teamintraining.org/uny/ambbr10/eztribute.  This is so encouraging and we couldn’t be more thankful!   If anyone has any ideas of how we can raise more money feel free to send us an email at eztribute@gmail.com.

With love,
Colin

Team in Training!

Hi All!

It’s definitely been a while since we’ve posted, sorry for the silence. But we have exciting news! Alex has signed up officially for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training Program. This means access to great fundraising tools, especially a donation website. Check it out at http://pages.teamintraining.org/uny/ambbr10/eztribute. Alex will be participating in America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride, a 100-mile ride around Lake Tahoe, as planned on June 6th with support from Colin, Brittany and our new trip-mate Joe Pericone.

Please consider helping out the LLS cause in memory of Eric and making a donation, however small (even $1!). Thanks and keep checking back!