Joe's final reflections on the trip

I want to thank all the host families, Anna Daly for her support for a couple of days, David Kozy for his couple days of riding and support, Eldon and Marilyn Eigsti for spending their week with us, Molly Kauffman for her week, Jesse Kauffman for his week, Amy Kauffman for her riding the bike, driving and navigating and for supporting her husband, to my wife, Karen, for riding, driving, navigating, doing the blog, and for helping me with everyday tasks and for Tom’s riding, planning, and friendship. His faith in me encouraged me to do all the miles I did, riding every day, and riding more miles than anyone except Tom who did them all. Tom did approximately 1200 miles on the trike and 200 on Eldon’s bike. Eldon did a fine job captaining the trike, also. I want to thank Tom for the great idea for a fundraiser, all of the planning that went into it, and all the revisions he had to do along the way. Most of all, I want to recognize Sunshine Children’s Home and the Mennonite Central Committee, which are two great organizations deserving all our efforts.

The best thing that happened to me was celebrating mine and Karen’s twenty-second anniversary on July 13. It far exceeded mine and Tom’s speed record of 44.5 mph! The worst thing that happened to me was losing my embroidered Toledo Fire Department t-shirt somewhere in Wisconsin. If you find it, please mail it to me. :)

Fourth (and final) Week's Summary:

HOT would be the way to summarize this final week’s ride. As we cycled through and then left Chicago (lots of concrete, steel and asphalt make for an excellent heat sink!) the heat index was in triple digits. But soon we would have the prevailing SW winds at our back for most of the rides this week. Prudent riding kept us from overdoing it. Changing riders more frequently kept us fresher. And the rains were mostly at night this week.

Day Twenty-two – From Chicago to Valparaiso IN = 50.77 miles. We averaged 11.5 mph and spent 4:24:05 on the trike. While internet friends suggested we could cycle from bike trails to city streets designated for biking to bike trails, the route was actually fairly congested on the city streets in industrial areas during the time of day we were passing through. We “portaged” the trike in the van through some of the more congested city streets and then traveled the Erie-Lackawanna trail until we got to less congested county roads in NE Indiana.

Day Twenty-three – Exiting the welcomed air-conditioned hotel in Valpo to Rupert’s Campground in Bremen = 54.65 miles. We averaged 11.9 mph and traveled on the trike for 4:34:41. This ride was pretty good along county roads in the country with a nice tail wind. The heat continued to be with us.

Day Twenty-four – From Rupert’s to Gordon’s Resort in Wolcottville = 67.78 miles. We averaged 11.9 mph again and spent 5:40:46 on the trike. Joe observed that not all of northern Indiana was flat. But most of the hills were rollers. Besides, by this time in the trip we have our climbing legs well seasoned!

Day Twenty-five – From Gordon’s to Sauder Village Campground in Archbold = 59.48 miles. We averaged 13.8 mph (Yippee!) and spent 4:18:27 on the trike. The fast average allowed us to pull into camp with perhaps our earliest arrival time (~3:15pm).

Day Twenty-six – From Sauder Village to Sunshine = 35.40 miles. We averaged 12.9 mph and spent 2:45:20 on the trike. It was a reflective ride for each of us. We had less conversation as we spent time with our own thoughts about the trip and its pending conclusion. It was a wonderfully sunny day and not so hot---a great way to end a memorable trip.

Total miles for the week = 268.08, giving us a grand total for the trip of 1395.43 miles.

We didn’t have any mechanical problems during this last week. We seemed to be “in the groove” and working well with each other as we shared the riding/sagging responsibilities for this final week.

Day 26 - August 4 - Our Final Day on the Tour

We awakened to a beautiful day--sunny, but not too hot. After breakfast, we circled to pray. We are all being nostalgic. It’s a bitter sweet moment. We are eager to get home and see our families, and yet we hate for this time together to come to an end.

Joe started riding, while Karen and I (Amy) did the ice water/caffeine run into Archbold's Burger King. At the 10 mile mark, Amy began riding, followed by Karen. The roads were smooth, lightly traveled, flat--very pleasant. It was hard to give up the seat to the next rider. Joe got back on the trike at Oak Openings and rode the rest of the trip to Sunshine where we were greeted by a nice collection of family and staffers. We gathered to pray a prayer of gratitude for safety and for the generosity of MCC and Sunshine supporters. Douglas Siebenaler gave Tom and Joe shirts with the Sunshine logo, but this time in men’s sizes. Karen and Amy get to keep the original ones given in women's sizes. Then we went separate ways with our families for lunch. Tom and I went home and unpacked our stuff from the van, then drove to Kruzel’s for them to unload their stuff. On our way out of their subdivision, we ran into our old riding partner, David Kozy, on his way home from work.

It’s good to be home. I feel a bit disoriented--so much to do and yet I'm not quite ready to be done with vacation and the daily association with Karen and Joe. It’s been a sweet adventure.

Thursday evening update

We were all ensconced in our evening activities – Amy in her hammock reading, Karen on the computer, Joe resting in the tent and Tom working on maps when a car pulled up to our campsite. It was Glenn Nafziger who knew we were going to be there because of the blog schedule and he just came to check up on us. Soon after he arrived, Kelly Fritz Garrow pulled in to check up on us and we had fun visiting with everyone. The evening was capped off with Glenn taking us out for ice cream. What fun! --Amy

Amy and Karen in a lake near Bremen, IN - see how high that high diving board is??

Sunrise at our campsite near Bremen, IN

Joe as captain with Karen as stoker

Karen in the captain position with Tom on as stoker

Day 25 - August 3

I was going to say that our day started with a team meeting. However, before I tell of our morning gathering, I need to tell of our night. We experienced heavy winds and rain, thunder and lightening. Fortunately, Joe and I had only a little water in the tent. Even though the rain came hard, our tent stayed fairly water-resistant. When we needed to start tearing down camp and getting ready for the day, the rain was still falling. Thus, the team meeting.

We met in the dry van, Amy sitting shotgun, Joe and Tom taking the back bench and me (Karen) in the driver’s seat! We talked about our options for the day. We identified two: 1) we load up the bike, drive to Archbold today, ride into Maumee/Toledo Friday as planned, or 2) we reverse mileage, riding a half day today and a full day on Friday. Due to the weather reports calling for heavy rains, thunderstorms, possible hail, none of us thought that we would be able to ride the 60+ miles today. As stated on an earlier posting, we don’t mind riding in the rain; we just want to be safe about it. Tom identified a third option: staying put for the day, riding on Friday and ending the tour on Saturday. None liked that option. We really wanted to end on Friday as originally planned. We decided that we would start riding and go as far as we could today, loading the bike in the van if needed to make it to Archbold tonight.

That meant tearing down camp in the rain. Let me tell you that is not fun. The ground was so muddy and packing our tent wet and muddy did not sit well. Additionally, the mosquitoes were awful. Truly. They would attack in swarms and they were vicious. We were almost being driven mad. (Okay, maybe that’s just because some hadn’t had our coffee/Diet Coke yet.)

So, we loaded up and Tom and Joe set off for the first leg. The rain backed off! Amy and I were again glad that Joe was the one tackling some initial hills and grateful for his willingness to ride in the rain. I took over the second leg and the ride was virtually dry. Amy got the last leg before lunch and she, too, rode almost dry.

We had lunch in Edon, Ohio at Edon Steakhouse which really ended up being a little bar and grille. We enjoyed some interesting repartee with two servers about biking and then realized they were talking about motorcycles. We kind of knew they didn’t realize we were talking about bicycling so we pulled the tryke up to the restaurant and showed the group our “bike.” Boy were they surprised! They thought we were mad (and we had already had our caffeine fix!).

We continued to use the same format of cycling out the stoker every ten miles.
This has worked great. However, Joe wants to know why we always seem to hit the grinders and get the rain on his leg.

There was rain in the forecast for this evening and so we were hoping for a nice dry hotel room at the Heritage Inn in Archbold. Tom went in to register and he took a long time since registration for both the campground and the inn are at the same desk. We entertained ourselves by all cycling through the “captain” seat in his absence. Our dismay at his decision to camp was overcome by the beautiful campground and the spotless, well-appointed shower rooms. The campers are very friendly and the mosquitoes are gone. Could it be the Mennonite influence in the area?? While our tent was drying out from this morning’s packing, Amy and I went to Sauder’s Village to see Mark Nafziger’s pottery shop. We both came out with our one and only souvenir for this trip. We completed the evening with a delicious meal at the Barn.

Joe says he rides a lot of miles and it is hard but not as hard as climbing in and out of a tent or taking a shower by himself. He is thankful he can bike. This trip has been very good. I am so proud of Joe and his accomplishments. And great kudos to Tom and his amazing biking.

By the numbers:
…best team average for the day: 13.8 mph
…almost final game results: Backgammon: Joe 1-0, Karen 0-1; Crazy Eights: Joe 3-1, Karen 1-3; Euchre: Joe and Tom 2-1, Karen and Molly 1-2, Joe and Karen beat Jim and Lois (formidable opponents); Cribbage: Joe 18-5, Tom and Joe 2-0, Jesse 1-0 (is Joe a great teacher, or what?), Molly and Karen 0-2, Karen 4-18.
…campsites with appropriate hammock trees: three. It’s fun to watch Amy hang the hammock. She works at getting it high enough so her butt doesn’t drag on the ground.
…number of times the van leaked fluid today: none, thankfully.
…what time we will arrive at Sunshine tomorrow (Friday): noonish. Yeehaw!

Day 24 - August 2

It was sooo hot last night. We all tossed and turned. Because we knew it would be a long day (approximately 70 miles) and a hot day (over 100 with the heat index), we wanted to get an early start. We didn’t get much sleep and then we found out the milk had curdled. With the morning a bit low, the day could only get better and it did. Even though it was hot, we had a nice wind at our backs and saw some beautiful Indiana back roads.

On these hot days, we change stoker position every ten miles in order for the stoker to have “fresh legs” and so we changed positions six times today. Amy and Karen were grateful that Joe tackled some grinders for the team after lunch. Karen and Joe were grateful that Amy drove the gravel roads. Poor Tom had to do both.

We got to Goshen at 11:00 and we had lunch with Deb, Ross, Emma, and Molly (Tom and Amy’s children and granddaughter). Afterwards, we got to see Molly’s new house she and Jane will be renting with friends – beautiful. And then Karen had some ice cream at the famous Chief which Molly talked about during her week with the tour.

We are at a campground near Kendallville, IN where we are being swarmed by mosquitoes, young and hungry!

By the numbers:
- number of Amish buggies the tryke passed: two. Many passed us going the opposite direction but we were able to pass two.
- Number of times the van leaked fluid – twice. The second overflow tank is pretty much being held with duct tape. We have extra fluid on hand in case the engine starts overheating.

Day 23 - August 1

We walked out of our hotel into another scorcher of a day. It was hot and hazy. Joe started out in the stoker position, while Karen and Amy went to Burger King to stock up on ice water and a little caffeine fix. We also fueled up the Vanagon before going in search of the trikers. We saw they were doing well as we passed and found ourselves a little lane in the shade to wait. Soon enough, they arrived and our pit crew changed seat positions, pedals, water bottles, and Amy popped into the stoker position. It was a day in corn and bean country winding through the country with mostly flat with some nice shade trees scattered along the road. An alert support crew redirected the trikers from some routes that were gravel and dirt roads onto a bit longer and paved routes. Ten miles later, when it was Karen’s turn to be stoker and the pit crew was in action, we realized we were missing the designated Kruzel water bottle. We realized that Amy left it perched on top of a fence post in her eagerness to get on the trike. What should we do? Since Karen and Tom were just starting on a 10-mile stretch, and Tom looked particularly sad to lose a good water bottle given him by daughter Kelli, Joe and Amy headed back to the previous change spot. It looks a lot different backward and from the van driver position. “Does this look familiar?” was the common question. After many turns and several turn-arounds, we found the bottle still perched where we left it. By the time we retraced our path to where we left them, they were calling from a nice air conditioned restaurant in Walkerton. It was a neat coffee/sandwich shop with a wonderful menu and excellent service. We were the only patrons and they locked the doors behind us.

After lunch, Joe resumed the stoker position and again, Amy and Karen drove ahead, found a nice shaded spot and engaged in some good conversation. After a long time, the SAG received an SOS from Tom needing some Gatorade. He was feeling the heat and water just wouldn’t do it anymore. Amy and Karen drove back, provided support and got the guys going again. Amy was able to take over the stoker position for the last leg of approximately five to six miles. We got to our campground early and took a dip in the surrounding lake. It was fun watching Joe go down a large slide and into the lake. Karen wimped out of jumping off the high board even though she went up twice. She just didn’t have what it takes.


By the numbers:
…stoker seat changes: four times
…Joe and Amy turned around looking for a water bottle: at least four times
…bottles of Gatorade made today: a ton

Joe (seated),Karen, Amy and Tom (seated) for our photo op in downtown Chicago

A photo of a tour of Chicago on Segways

Day 22 - July 31

We awakened (Joe did sleep well after walking yesterday), packed up the van with all our clean clothes, ate a hearty breakfast of baked oatmeal and bade farewell to Suzanne and dog Jazmine. Tom and Joe left, riding a trail towards downtown. Joe says this was the easiest 11 ½ miles he’s ridden this trip. It was flat, shaded, and their trike was coveted by several women along the route. Karen and I met them at Mannheim and we portaged the bike to downtown. We walked to Richard’s office at Christian Century with a great view of the lakefront and Millenium Park. He walked with us back to Buckingham Fountain for the photo op. I was privileged to get to ride the 10 plus mile stretch along the lakefront while Richard rode the van with Karen and Joe to help navigate. I had great views of downtown and the lake, but by now the temps were nearing 100 with HIGH humidity. The sweat was pouring off me and my pulse was racing. I kept pushing fluids, but felt like I was really dogging it. I started getting leg cramps. We stopped in the shade once and refilled our water bottles. The second time we stopped, Tom bought me peanuts and Gatorade. This stopped the cramps and I was able to finish my segment. Given the extreme heat and that the next part of the trail was riding the streets of Chicago, East Chicago, and Calumet, we elected to portage the trike again. We ate lunch at the Gyro King, then found the Erie Lackawanna trail. Joe got on the trike with Tom while I drove with Karen navigating to find the end of the trail. We found a nice spot in the shade to wait. When the men arrived after about 15 miles of biking, they were out of water and Joe was having leg cramps. At that point we realized that we had both ridden with the seat at Karen’s special seat setting. Our cramps were more than just heat. Tom and Karen rode off on the last leg of the trip toward our evening’s campground. Their segment was entirely country roads with evening rush hour traffic and lots of hills. Joe refilled the drained water thermoses with ice water and we set off to find the campground. We were unsuccessful. Tom learned from a local man, that the campground had closed, as had all the campgrounds at that lake. Karen tried to talk her way into getting a campsite at the Porter County Fairgrounds—unsuccessfully. We once again portaged the trike into Valparaiso where we secured a delightful air conditioned room. We were all exhausted from the heat and our efforts of the day. (Anything with air conditioning at this point is delightful!) Is this the time to remind you all that our Vanagon is NOT air conditioned? The desk clerk put our refrigerator items in their refrigerator. We ate dinner at Applebees and fell into bed.

Richard and Suzanne Kauffman

Our apologies to Suzanne about the closed eyes. This was our only photo. We love you!

Third week summary

Rain continued to play a significant role in this week’s riding. We didn’t have the hills of the second week to contend with so much, but wetness was prevalent!
Day Fifteen – From Gladstone we traveled through Escanaba to the EconoLodge in Menominee = 59.89 miles. We averaged 11.0 mph and were on the trike for 5:26:22.
Day Sixteen – From Menominee to Apple Creek Campground in De Pere, WI = 78.74 miles. We averaged 11.0 mph again today and were on the trike for 7:08:44.
Day Seventeen – From Apple Creek to Kettle Moraine State Campground (Mauthe Lake Recreational Area [Mauthe is pronounced “mouth-ee”]) = 70.61 miles. We averaged 10.5 mph and were on the trike for 6:30:35. This gave us two big days in a row of riding. It was good to have Eldon along. He brought his own bike along and we shared captain responsibilities, with one of us riding the tandem in the morning and the other in the afternoon on these days. When not riding the tandem, we rode his bicycle so as to get all the miles in for both of us.
Day Eighteen – From Mauthe Lake Recreational Area to Ottawa Lake Recreational Area = 50.14 miles. We averaged 13.3 mph and spent 3:46:48 on the trike. As you might guess with our average, this was a lighter day (may be our shortest riding day of the trip) and we had a bit more “downs” than “ups” on the road. But we got a really late start because of the mechanical repairs that needed to be made.
Day Nineteen – From Ottawa Lake to Chain o’ Lakes State Park in IL = 57.86 miles. We averaged 13.1 mph and were on the trike 4:24:53. Near the end of the day we crossed over from Wisconsin into Illinois. We spent virtually two weeks cycling in Michigan and less than one week in Wisconsin.
Day Twenty – From Chain o’ Lakes to Glen Ellyn = 59.93 miles. Most of this route was on bicycle paths, but that doesn’t mean it was easy! Joe and I had some STEEP hills on the path that taxed our bodies. We were able to cruise (with David Kozy’s help) to bring our average up to 11.6 mph for the day. We spent 5:09:33 on the trike. It was fun to ride part way with Richard and Suzanne Kauffman.
Day Twenty One – Rest day at Kauffman’s. We attended Lombard Mennonite Church with them and ate well at their home. More trike repairs as Tom replaced the front chain and bought an “insurance” tire since all three new tires have been used on the trike. Hopefully we have sufficient parts to carry us through to the finish.

Total miles for the week = 377.17. Total miles for the three weeks to date = 1127.35.

I adjusted the brakes since they have had significant usage. Now they are as good as new again. We hopefully have the chain management problems solved with two new chains. The alignment problems have gone away, as well as the rear wheel’s squeak (loose spokes). Now if we could just get the weather “fixed”!

Day 21--July 30

What a nice day of rest. There’s something about good food for the body and good conversation for the soul that does wonders for the spirit.

David Kozy headed back to Toledo as we were leaving to worship at Richard and Suzanne Kauffman’s church, Lombard Mennonite. We were warmly welcomed and it was good for Tom and Amy to connect with long-distance friends. Amy ran into some folks from her growing up years in Orrville, OH. We had a delicious dinner together, courtesy of Suzanne. Tom and Richard left to find a replacement phone for Tom and to find chains and another spare tire and tube. I(Amy) left the group for Schaumburg to visit my brother and sister- in law Dan and Jan Gerber. It was the first time for me to be in their new home. Son Mark and daughter Sarah were there, 2 grandkids, and a friend from their first days in Uganda, Judy. I enjoyed the visit a lot. By the time I got home (via Lands End), supper was on the table and the trike fixed and test ridden by Tom and Karen. Joe had taken 3 walks during the afternoon to burn some energy so he’d be able to sleep. An evening of conversation relaxed us into a good nights sleep.

Day 20 - July 29

Saturday’s morning’s riding plan was set: Amy would ride out of camp with Tom and then Joe and David would alternate stoker position on the bike paths going into Chicago. Chicago and the surrounding communities have strung together a web of bike paths that connect a lot of the western suburbs and accommodate another form of transportation in this area.

So, in the warmth of the just-glowing sun, Amy and Tom set off. We ended this leg of the day’s riding with a funeral service for Tom’s cell phone which was laid to rest on a very busy road and could not be saved. Joe hopped on the trike next and he and Tom began riding the bike path in a now broiling heat. 93 was observed at one bank sign and it was still fairly early in the day. Unfortunately, Tom and Joe experienced a difficult ride. One grinder, in fact, forced them to get out and walk the bike up. The attempt to ride this grinder stretched the front chain to the point that we continued to have problems with the chain throughout the day. When David took over, the ride was relatively flat before lunch. Unfortunately, so was our rear tire.

Meanwhile, the van was having a challenging time finding the trail heads to the bike paths in order to provide support and alternate riders. We knew the community we would meet the bikers in and the bikers knew the route they were taking (the bike path itself) but the van needed to get directions to get to that community and then find out where the bike path was accessed. The job was done but we didn’t always meet in the community as originally planned.

The day was very hot. The temperatures reached 102 in the sun and went “down” to the high nineties in the shade. Richard and Suzanne Kauffman met the bike riders on the path and then led us to their home in Glen Ellyn. Richard used to be the pastor at Toledo Mennonite Church. We all showered, and then enjoyed a delicious meal and great conversation. Gratefully, for everyone’s olfactory glands, the laundry was done for the week. This is where we will be staying for our rest day. Sadly, David Kozy will be leaving us in the morning. We wish him godspeed.

A beautiful barn

This will be the last look of country for awhile.