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Gary's Bike Ride, Cumberland, MD (2026)

07/19/2019

We made it home Monday evening around 4 pm. Lots of friends awaiting our arrival. Haven't been able to post any more because I don't have service at home. Thanks to everyone who journeyed with us through facebook. Our goal was not met so we are praying that people will still be willing to support us in building the church. Thank you and may God's blessings be yours.

07/15/2019

I just took 45 minutes to post, wanted to add a picture and lost the whole thing. Where do things disappear to? Here goes again. Gary left around 8:40 this morning. The kids and I got busy around the camp and as we were pulling out Gary called and said he was in Uniontown. Chalk down 35 miles for him. We didn't catch him until 3 p.m. by that time he had 58.5 miles down and was tuckered out. We picked him up and popped over the next mountain to Ohiopyle where he will hit Rails to Trails path to Cumberland. He has about 74 more miles to go and the adventure is Over. The kids and I will drop him off tomorrow morning and since we can't follow him on this last section we are Going Home. When he gets close to Cumberland he will call me and we will go pick him up. I just can't make him pedal 20 more miles. He probably wouldn't care. I was talking to a couple friends today and they asked if Gary had had any problems on his trip. I told them that last week he stopped at a pharmacy and asked if they had anything for a chafed rear end. They gave him a powder called Monkey Butt. We laughed about it , applied it and It helped.. So I told them I powder his hiney each morning and send him off in a cloud of smoke. This morning before we left the campsite R.J. came to the caller door and said "Mom, I got some firewood". I told him it was daytime and we didn't need it we were pulling out. He insisted so I had him to put it in the storage unit. I asked him where he got it and he told me "next door ". I said oh, no you have to take it back. He told me they were gone, so I let him keep it. The next thing I knew we had 5 pieces of wood stacked in our storage compartment. R.J. sat outside the camper and as others pulled out he checked their area and if they left any wood behind he claimed it. Needless to say we had a nice campfire this evening.Good night, God bless.

07/14/2019

Had a fantastic Sabbath. Attended the ultra friendly Washington, Pa. Church. Had a short sermon on "priorities" then communion. Was invited to stay for potluck, so we did. Ran to camper and grabbed some goodies to contribute. After lunch we were invited to the homes of Greg and Debra Handel as well as their son Jason and his wife Lynn. They all live on a farm of 90 acres. Greg and Debra own a car dealership, son Jason is a contractor and Lynn has a working organic garden and sells to the farmers market. We were loaded with produce when we left. Tomatoes, zuchinni, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers. Yum. We really enjoyed our day with all of them. We even got to sit and talk while Jason and Lynn watched our kids. HOW GOOD IS THAT? We are about 300 miles from home. With 100 miles s day for Gary that would 3 more days. But these West Virginia hills are tough on Gary. I would guesstimate 4. Time will tell. Good night.

07/13/2019

Good morning and Happy Sabbath. Gary made 57 miles yesterday on the many hills in West Virginia. We left Ohio, went through Bridgeport and Wheeling West Virginia. We stayed in a KOA in Washington, Pa. Last night. Found a church to attend this morning. I'm dressed and waiting for the rest of the crew to wake up. For the first time in 6 weeks I was the first one to bed last night. It was only 9:15. Woke up refreshed at 7 this morning. Only a couple more days and we should be at home sweet home.

07/12/2019

Wed. JULY 11, 2019. We all left camp at the same time to get pap back to route 40. Back around the Columbus beltway. There has got to be a better way. If so my GPS doesn't know it. When I gassed up the camper around 3:30 We were half way between Wheeling, WV. And Columbus, Ohio. Pretty many hills for Gary today, high temperature, and bad burm to ride on, and lots of construction. He did 64 miles, the sky started clouding over, getting very dark, we need to stop it doesn't look pretty. Oh, a campground. Pull pap off his bicycle and head for camp. As we pull in, the clouds are getting darker and we hear the rumbling, see the lightning...QUICK , let's get hooked up and inside. Just as we finished and were scampering inside the storm was overhead. The Lord sure looks over us. We don't deserve it but He does anyway. That is Amazing Grace, not earned but given. As I was preparing dinner I just couldn't help praising God for the way he worked everything out for us. Gary was not on his bike in the lightning storm. I can remember on this trip traveling 78 miles to the nearest town to sleep at a Wal-Mart. After the rain ,we took the kids out to play: baseball, swings, slides and even fishing in the lake. Other children shared their fishing poles with our kids and each one caught a fish. Bummer Dude, I didnt have my phone for a picture.They literally screamed in excitement for one another. Showers and bed. Pull out early tomorrow. I think we will be home earlier than we thought.YES,YES,YES...Good night, sweet dreams.

07/11/2019

It's only 11:30, I may be in bed before the midnight hour. Gary left camp early this morning. He only had to go three miles to hit route 40. I did have to turn around 3 times to go back to get him because routes 40 and 70 crisscross each other in some towns, which makes it a dangerous situation for a bicyclist trying to cut across three lanes of fast moving traffic to hit an exit or entrance. The kids and I check this out and go back or decide it is safe and keep on going. Kasey said he was getting tired of docking his bike and taking it back off the carrier. Hoping to hear from our granddaughter and catch up with her this evening,but it didn't happen😣. Everyone is tucked in and sleeping away. Now I'm going to tuck myself into bed.

07/10/2019

I can't remember what is on my mind. Not really sure I have one. My days are running together do I'm not really sure about that either. I think today was Tuesday. We didn't get out of camp until 10:30. Drove around Indianapolis then dropped Gary off on route 40 which should bring us through Ohio and the rest of the way to Cumberland. Hoping we will pass close to our granddaughter to be able to see her. Gary did 89 miles today and we actually for the first time stopped early. We are just over the Ohio State line at a nice campground. The kids and pap were able to swim in the pool while I fixed dinner. Black beans and rice; hope there isn't any tooting tonight. Beans times 5 could become pretty explosive. Just finished the laundry. The laundry here at camp closed at 11, my laundry wasn't quite dry so in the middle of my floor stands a drying rack with my laundry on it. No one can get by it. I will have to be the first one up to fold clothes so we can move around. Trying to figure out how I am going to make it to my bed. I have to climb over R.J. walk on the cushions around the table and dive into my bed. Oh, camping is sooo much fun. Good night, God bless all.

07/09/2019

I started Monday's post early today but it disappeared. Can't remember what I wrote or how far I got. Woke up at 7:30 ish this morning and Gary walked into wal-Mart and purchased, tire patches, a tire pump and some slime for his 2 flat tires, ate breakfast and left for route 24. By the time we get there it is 12:30. Check list: helmet,gloves,sunglasses,water, Gatorade, flashing light for rear of bike,PRAYER, and off he goes. Off we go too. We stop ata Dollar General, must have stayed too long because Gary caught us before we left. Later the kids and I stopped at a co-op. Stayed there a long time but kasey didn't catch us. Went a little further and waited for 2 hours. No Gary. Called him 12 times on his phone no answer. Backtrack Mary heads 16 miles down the road before seeing him. Stopped and talked with him. Fussed about his not answering. He had his Bluetooth on but had the volume off. He promised to call me every hour (or two) from now on. I'm good with that. Went back the 26 miles to wait again and he calls. The road is too rough to ride. Back down the road 8 miles and pick him up. He did 69 miles but he said it felt like 169 miles. Headed out to a campground. Caboose RV and campground in Rileysburg, IN. Yep another state down the hatch. Whenever we go off course to camp everyone gets up early yo take pap yo his beginning point. This should be fun tomorrow morning because we hit 2 detours to get here this evening. Of course the campground was closed when we pulled in. Had to leave credit card info in a drop box. Don't really like that. Nice playground and lake for kids. Too late to use it and we will be gone early tomorrow. They would have loved to play here.

07/08/2019

Didn't post yesterday....sorry.... I will try to catch you up. Sunday morning we woke at 7:30 fixed breakfast, broke camp. Only Zoie is awake.Drove 20 miles back to Albia to hit route 34 for pap to start today's journey. Looking for a laundromat again today.
Once we dropped pap off, we headed to Ottumwa, had to backtrack for pap because the road is too rough and congested for him to go through town. Dropped hi. Off and found laundromat, when we were finished we caught Gary at mile marker 324, Pilot truck stop/subway. His back light is not working, off to Wal-Mart for rear light. So far he has done 89 miles. Pumped for his 100 miles for today which will put him in Illinois. Got his stuff at Wal-Mart, headed for Illinois and along the road I see a biker that looks like our biker, uh,oh, it is him and he has a flat tire, poor guy I guess we should help him out. Put bike on rack and he is number that he has to ride into Illinois with us. I said it's only 8 miles, use your other bike so he did. He went 4 miles and had a flat tire on his other bike. So he decided to walk his bike across the Mississippi river bridge and I am to take a picture of him entering Illinois. I can't get very close to the bridge because of construction. So we park and the kids and I trudge through the construction site to get a picture of pap. Good thing it is Sunday and no workers. Now it is 8:00 p.m.. No bike shop.......no camp site, off we go to the closest wal-mart. Pioria. We pull in after 10:00. Kids are asleep, I'm exhausted and I know pap is also. I climb from the drivers seat to the bed. Good night everyone, see you in the morning.

07/05/2019

Only traveled 80 miles today. A really really late start (10:30) and a lot of uphill peddling. Just wanted to let you know that the Sheriff Dept. In Iowa are on their toes too. Was pulled over waiting and a kind officer stopped to check on us. I checked out a R.V park around 4:30, it was in the town of Atlantic, behind a motel, on a hillside, no pull through, water and electricity, no sewer, one porta pot, no playground for the kids. Docking at Wal-Mart again. It too is on a hillside and we were able to see people setting off fireworks from various locations. Kids thought it was really neat. When Gary biked in around 5:30 I had dinner started. Zoie's noodle soup. After dinner we set up our lawn chairs on the parking lot and watched fireworks from several areas around town. Kids loved it. Then we played a game of baseball and everyone turned in. Almost everyone. Still traveling route 71, will change to 34 at Tinville Junction, Iowa to Burlington, a border town in Illinois. While we were watching fireworks a big black cloud overshadowed us. Gary said, if it is raining heavily tomorrow I will have an extra passenger.
I didn't tell him it's also laundry day. Looking forward to Sabbath. I wonder what church God has in store for us. I also wonder if they will have pot luck. The last 2 weeks we have been blessed. Oh, while I was checking out that great RV park this afternoon, we saw a family stranded by the roadside so we gave them a donation of the so called R.V park camping fee.
Good night, sweet dreams.

07/04/2019

Happy 4th of July. Let freedom ring. Gary left this a.m. at 8:00
It's 10:30 now, we need to run in wal-mart for egg noodles. Zoie read a recipe for noodle soup so that is on our menu. She loves reading and looking at cookbooks. Caught up with Gary in Windom, MN. He is up to 50 miles already. Before we saw him we drove by a SDA church with a car in the parking lot; so the kids and I hand delivered one of Gary's letters to the lady. When we saw Gary he was turning into a Subway shop(imagine that) I told you he is Subway obsessed. We have decided to switch our route from route 71 to 86 hoping the bicycle lane will be better. Made it to Iowa at 2:20 p.m. waited till 3:25 for Gary to catch up. Now he has 67 miles under his belt. Bad, bad biking lane right here so convinced him to ride a little with us. Stopped for pizza from 4 to 5. Now he is fed and all fired up to finish his 100 miles so off he goes. The kids and I pass him up.....

Uh,oh, we see a Dollar Tree: gotta stop for papa special coconut drink. Stayed too long pap caught up. Off again, this time I stop at a roadside stand. Fresh sweet corn and tomatoes. Corn $9.00 dozen. I said "your kidding right? This is Iowa corn country. But wait her tomatoes were $3.00 each..
Gives me a new meaning of Highway Robbery. Anyway we enjoyed an ear of corn each but no tomato. A little later Mr. Kasekamp calls me and tells me he has his 100 miles in
I said we are waiting along the road for you. He actually got 105 miles today. Now a campground. We found one 46 miles later, man we should have opted for wal-mart the mosquitoes are terrible here you can't walk outside. I sprayed inside the camper, outside the camper, under the camper,, the grass around the camper, the kids. Me and pap and they are still biting. Anna always gets bitten the worse. I'll probably send you a picture of her bites tomorrow. Good night.

07/03/2019

Everyone slept in this morning. Gary is upset, he wanted to get an early start. I told him not to worry about it because we are all exhausted and our bodies needed the rest. We had to go off route for the campsite so had to get back to route 71 at Sauk Centre, now it is after 1 p.m.. is that Gary's teeth I heat grinding? Grrr, there is No bike lane. Have to take him farther. Left him off, headed to laundromat. Gary passed us up unknowingly but that is ok. We caught up with him. He had gone 28 miles. After we passed him his route extended to 4 lanes with lots of exits. Too many exits, I'm worried so I turn around go west on 71 and pick him up, it is 4 p.m. and he has gone 49 miles. We wanted to stop early because it was hard finding a campsite yesterday. I never realized Minnesota had so much water, fields and fields of sugar beets, soy beans. Corn corn and more corn. Lots of grains also. The average farm has about 1000 acres. Their machinery is ginourmous. It looks like it could eat your vehicle up and spit out the pieces. Their tires ride the center line on one side and off the white line on the other and I swear a car could run under the machine.
After we picked Gary up we hit wal-mart. Googled a state patk6and backtracked 19 miles. The office closed at 4 and you had to register on-line or call a 800 number nut there is no cell service
Would you like to guess where we are spending the night? Back to Wal-Mart. It is really Warm, had the generator on for awhile to run air conditioner. Was worried about it running all night so opened Windows and turned off the generator. Have to ask a seasoned camper about generator. It's only 12:30 So I can get some sleep tonight. Talk to you tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who checked in with us today. I find it hard yo text back because I am busy backtracking. I am going to dubb myself a new name. Doubleback Mary. God's blessings on you. No pictures today.

Gary's Bike Ride