Making the News

Last Saturday, we got to do a ride with Jacque Berger. Her brother is a childhood cancer survivor, and she went to school with us at Vanderbilt. This summer she has been working with an online college network called Palestra.net - they do videos about issues that relate to college students, and she put together this piece for us ... 

To see the video on their website, click here.

Captain Rally's Helmet Cam

Rally in Music City, Rally for Chicken, Rally Forever

Staying last night in one of the finest apartments in the Music City, A, C and P were up early this morning, making the final push for the final events of Rally 2008. Vanderbilt Children's Hospital welcomed us and all of our goodie bags at about 9:15am this morning. We went up to the oncology floor and started meeting the kids.
We had a pleasant surprise when several members of the media showed up, including Nashville's local NBC station. NBC decided to extend their stay based on their interest in our story and we had some good coverage in the news tonight on Nashville's local NBC TV station on the 6:00 news. We saw several new faces as well as some familiar ones from years past, and we were once again amazed at the hospital's facilities and operations (some of us vividly remember the big hole in the ground that existed before the hospital was built). A couple of us even got to see Colin, one of our Rally kids for this year, who is still on the heels of his recent stem cell transplant, which has been apparently pretty successful so far. All in all it was a great final hospital visit for RAA 2008.

We left the hospital just in time to get to McDougal's (one of Nashville's finest restaurants to get all things chicken) and to get set up for the guests for our fundraiser there.
Colin's family was there in his honor, as was Joseph and his family, our other Rally kid for 2008. Matthew, our Rally kid from last year's Nashville fundraiser, was also there with his 3 brothers and his parents. We had several guests show up to help out and donate their time and money to the successful event - thanks to all of you.


By 2:00 almost all of our guests had gone and we realized that RAA 2008 had come to an end. We packed up and went back to Austin and Paul's apartment (which is newly furnished) to collect ourselves and relax a little bit. We ended the day at Nashville's finest mexican restaurant, La Hacienda, for some wonderful food and some reflective stories from the event.

Thanks to all who helped make this trip possible again this year - there are, happily, too many people involved in the success of RAA to thank individually here in this blog. We would, however, like to thank all of our hosts this year for allowing us to keep our costs down, which helps to ensure that your donation goes to fund as much research as possible. Another special thanks to Dean, Nicole and Lindley at the Rally Foundation for starting and maintaining what has turned out to be such a great force in so many peoples' lives - the families and individuals that we have seen during this trip affirm, over and over, that this is true.

And one more thanks to my teammates, Austin and Claire; thanks to Austin for using his creativity and perseverance to start and implement Rally Across America, and thanks to Claire for doing all sorts of groundwork for the trip this year and in years past. There is no telling how many hours these two have devoted to this cause (in addition to their full-time jobs) on a completely volunteer basis. Both have been nominated for and won Presidential Volunteer Service Awards for their work with Rally, and both have helped inspire people all over the nation with their hard work and their passion for accomplishing something great specifically to help others in need - just think what things would be like if EVERY recent college graduate did things like this. They are true role models and it was an honor for me to get to participate in such a great event with these friends of mine.

"Thanks, y'all!"

~Paul

Close to Home

The day started with the addition of 2 team members who have been personally touched by childhood cancer. Terry rode in memory of his son Coulter, and Jacquie rode in honor of her brother Christopher.


After a scenic ride with Terry and Jacquie, we parted ways and continued heading towards Nashville. In anticipation of getting close to Nashville, Austin created the first ever Rally Across America helmet camera to record the ride down the steep descent of Mont Eagle. A strong thunderstorm with hail held us up for a while, but soon the sun was back out and we were back on the road to Nashville.


Once in Nashville, we met up with some local cyclists to ride the last leg of Rally Across America 2008. After unloading the Rally car at Austin and Paul's apartment, they were excited to take me to one of their favorite local restaurants. We later discovered that the gas prices in Nashville are not unlike the gas prices in the rest of the country that we have visited during our trip. One Nashville gas station advertised the price of gas like this:


Tomorrow morning we have our final hospital visit to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, followed by our final fundraiser event at McDougal's Chicken. We are looking forward to meeting our Nashville Rally Kids, Joseph and Colin, as well as seeing some of our Nashville Rally Kids from 2006 and 2007.

Rally On!
Claire

Fighting as a Team

After last night's ride, we talked to the Frazier Cycling team about ways they could raise money in honor of their teammate, Russell. This week they are collecting change individually, and next week they are going to decide on a team fundraising goal ... check it out:

ATL: the "City of Rally"

After a load of excitement yesterday, we caught a few extra winks of sleep this morning at Claire's parents' house. We went to lunch with Dean, Lindley, and Claire's mom (Nancy) at Slope's Barbecue in Sandy Springs (thank you, Dean). After some discussion about the upcoming evening's events Dean revealed to the group that Austin had won a United States Volunteer Service Award for all his work with Rally (Dean had nominated him). This was probably the highlight of our luncheon, though the peach and blackberry cobblers were some of the best on record...

We drove back to Claire's (people in Atlanta drive a lot), changed in to our cycling uniforms, packed the car and headed to Duluth, where the Frazier Cycling Club was meeting us at Cycleworks. Austin and Paul warmed up, met some new friends and got ready to ride. Claire acted as the team photographer and did what she does best - everything else. There were probably over 100 people there for the event and about 80 bicyclists took off on a 17 or so mile route around town. The members of the Frazier Cycling Team are not just casual cyclists - many of these fine young athletes compete regularly at a high level and all of them know what they are doing when it comes to bicycling. It was fun to be able to ride with so many people (instead of just Paul and Austin by themselves) and it was great to have so many of Russell's teammates, friends, family and supporters riding in his honor.

After the ride Austin, Paul, Dean, and Claire spoke to the cycling team about fundraising opportunities with Rally in honor of Russell while the kids ate pizza. The RAA team talked to the Frazier Cyclists about the importance of using their athletic abilities to get involved with others and how they could work toward fundraising goals in addition to athletic ones. Russell's dad said a few words as well and expressed his gratitude and excitement for having such an event in Russell's honor.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a great article covering the event:

http://www.ajc.com/gwinnett/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/06/25/rally_against_cancer.html

After all the excitement and many gracious peoples' kind words and cordial conversations A, P and C grabbed a quick bite to eat with Dean and her husband Reid. The RAA team headed back to Claire's to clean up and finish up as usual. Tomorrow we leave Atlanta. It will be a very full day of bicycling and we'll be meeting up with some old friends along the way...

~A, P and C

Rally with Tyler

We rode from Augusta to Lexington this morning.  Once we hit Lexington, we loaded up the car so that we could get to Atlanta in time for Tyler's event.  Many of you are familiar with Tyler's story.  For those of you who haven't heard about him, he is one unique guy. 

Tyler was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma when he was 12 years old.  Now 19, he has been going through treatments for 7 years.  He relapsed this spring, and is using oxygen to keep his energy up.  Tyler's candidness and fearless battle with cancer has led him amazing places.

John McCain and George Bush both follow Tyler.  Each men has taken the time to phone him. Tyler isn't even a swing voter - wow.

The event turned out at least 150 people for Tyler, and we got to hang out with the man of honor at his house afterwards.  When we left, Tyler entrusted us with his own bicycle helmet and a pair of bike shorts.  Gifts we will use for many rides to come.  It was a great night.

~ Austin

Hospital Friends

We visited the children's hospital in Augusta today.  The Augusta Chronicle and one of the local TV stations came to document the visit.  Paul did an interview with the camera man, and then we visited some kids.

Dr. Bell and a patient

We also got to meet Dr. Bell, one of the oncologists.  She has been doing work at Medical College of Georgia for the past 7 years, and one of her current projects involves genetics of survivors.  She is working to understand why some kids have higher success rates than others during and after treatment.  

Rally was able to give her a grant last year, and it was exciting to hear about what she has been able to do with her research.  She told us about the importance of funding and was very thankful for our fundraising efforts.  Meeting Dr. Bell was encouraging to our whole team.  She reinforced what we have known all along - every dollar donated to research truly helps make a difference.

Tomorrow we'll ride to Atlanta and hold an event with Tyler Copley.  Tyler is 19 and has been fighting cancer for 7 years. 

~ Austin

Parker Power

Yesterday I wore a pretty exciting shirt.  It was made in memory Parker, one of my biggest heroes.  I met Parker in 2006 when we bicycled through Philadelphia.  He was starting treatments for neuroblastoma.  Parker lost his battle last fall after two brave years of treatment.

It's been fun to keep in touch with Parker's family.  He loved riding bicycles, and it's exciting to be able to do this for kids like him.  I never would have imagined that riding my bicycle could make a difference in someone else's life.  

I have a bracelet that Parker's family gave me  - never ride without it.  If we keep riding, maybe we can help some kids like Parker. 

Here's a video from yesterday:

~ Austin

Augusta or Busta

We left the capital of South Carolina this morning and headed southwest for the border of SC and Georgia. Austin attempted to blind unsuspecting motorists with his shirt...

...perhaps it was a security measure, perhaps it was because we weren't able to thoroughly wash the jerseys last night - the world may never know. Either way, there were plenty of miles to be ridden and sights to see...



This was also the first day that our riding was significantly impeded by rain, so we arrived in Augusta (after SEVERAL miles of bicycling) without having been struck by lightning a single time.

We arrived at the House of Claire ahead of schedule and cleaned up for dinner. Claire and her wonderful nurse-roommates treated us to a Mexican fiesta-dinner and talked about many things that Austin and Paul couldn't understand (and many things that they could understand). An unusually relaxing evening followed as we prepared for the hospital visit tomorrow in Augusta and the super-fundraisers that will be drawing all the best and brightest in Alanta in 2 days. Nonetheless, we were still tired at the end of the day...


~ Austin, Paul and Claire

Bicycle ER

This is a video from our hospital visit today. Read "something special" below :).



~ Austin

Something Special

The morning started with a tour of the brand new Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, which just opened in December. This impressive facility seemed to get better and better with each floor we visited, but we finally reached our destination: the kids fighting cancer on the 11th floor! Adam was really excited about our visit, especially since his brother and Austin share the same name. After checking out the bike and singing the whale song, he gave our visit a thumb's up.


Once we made our way back downstairs, Tony D met us in the hospital parking lot to lead Austin and Paul on a ride through downtown Charlotte. Tony D was sure to be a big hit with his nephews later today after we outfitted him with Rally tattoos!


A downpour this afternoon hampered our plans to ride from our host in Charlotte to our host in Rock Hill, which is just south of Charlotte in South Carolina. So we took advantage of this new found time to finish off last night's feast prepared by our Charlotte hosts, the Shropshires. When we arrived in Rock Hill, we were excited to discover that gas in SC is much cheaper than NC, VA, and DC!

We then made our way to our next host family, the Shaws. Ethan, who is 6 years old, will finish his 40 month chemotherapy treatment for ALL on February 20th. His family has planned something special on the 20th of each month for his last 12 months of treatment, so we were excited when we realized that we would be in their town on the 20th of June and could be their "something special"!


Tomorrow morning we'll check the newspaper for something special about our visit to Rock Hill before riding to our next destination: Columbia, SC.

Rally On!
Claire, Austin, and Paul

to the Queen City - South

We left the Samuelson's today with a few extra food items for the trip. We logged a solid 60 miles for the day. The morning ride was especially pleasant, with relatively cool weather, the wind to our backs and few hills negotiate. The afternoon was a little more hilly and warm as we passed through places like Pittsboro, Siler City and Asheboro (all in North Carolina still). We took the time to stop for a few adventures including a playground obstacle course competition between Paul and Austin (undocumented) and some shopping at a hard-to-classify "store" that was right on the highway. Ricky, one of the proprietors, showed us around, and let us take pictures with him the knight, which was a main attraction for us.

We got in to Charlotte around 6pm and found the Shropshires' home just 20 minutes south of downtown Charlotte, the "Queen City - South" (informed readers will know that Cincinnati, Ohio is also referred to as the Queen City). A fantastic meal was had thanks to this wonderful family, which included some of best tasting Chocolate cake ever created; chocolate cake that is also believed to increase performance in road bicyclists. Afterward, we drove in to downtown Charlotte and hung out with Tony D and his wife Jamie (old friends and Rally supporters), who treated us to some performance enhancing beverages at a nice local spot.


Back to the homestay, tying up loose ends and firming up plans...

~P, C and A

in the Research Triangle...

After a quick and lovely breakfast provided by the Samuelsons, we were on our way to UNC-Chapel Hill to visit the North Carolina Children's Hospital. It is too bad that they didn't win the NCAA national championship in men's basketball this year. The children were a little bit scattered around the clinic; some receiving treatments, some just finishing, some waiting to do so. A group of kids were painting with watercolors, guided by a generous volunteer (who will play another generous role in today's story), one was painting a basketball, one a fish and one created a very impressionistic and somewhat experimental-looking "colorscape." The whale hats were particularly well-received, and we had a surprising request to replace a defective Aflac duck (it wasn't screaming "Aflac" anymore) for one of our gift-bag recipients.

The Outback Steakhouse fundraiser luncheon drew in a particularly generous donation from the children's art instructor volunteer whom we met at the hospital. A good time was had by all and the staff and food were, once again, great. Angela, a friend from the Blair School (P and A's alma mater) stopped by to buy some Rally t-shirts and to chat. She is an actual researcher from the Research Triangle (Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh)...

With the help of our hosts we decided to give our "Sag Wagon" (this is what Austin's car turns in to when Claire drives it very slowly, full of support items, behind bicyclists) an oil change. Our miscellaneous afternoon activities included catching up on sleep, getting organized and thinking about important things. Dinner from the Samuelsons was wonderful (again) and we visited with some of their extended family over wonderful, home-made chess pie (2 flavors - we all ate both again).

Tomorrow we will ride again. We are ready...


~Paul, Austin, Claire

Crossing the border

Last night we stayed at a place called "Motel Food".  It was very nice. Comfortable beds.  We had three types of omlets and some light and fluffy biscuits for breakfast, and then we slid on our bikes and wheeled down the road ...

(Claire and Paul at "Motel Food")

We had to stop and make a few phone calls at lunch time.  I had some important business deals to take care of while on the road, and Paul had to catch up on the latest gossip with his girlfriends ...

     (gossip)                                      (business)

We finished clocking about 100 miles and then settled in with the Samuelson family just south of Chapel Hill.  They are related to Alexa Rohrbach, one of our heroes of years past.  Alexa is fighting neuroblastoma in Atlanta.  Ken and Mickey fed us a great southern cooked meal, and then Mickey introduced us to homemade chess pie.  One was chocolate, the other was ... vinegar.  Both were outstanding.  We took the opportunity to pose for a picture with the chef:

 

We'll be at North Carolina Children's Hospital tomorrow, and then we'll have an Outback fundraiser at lunch.   more later.  bedtime now.

~ Austin

RichMonday

The day began when Claire awoke the boys (Austin and Paul), reminding them of their impending engagements for the day. Packing, breakfast eating and planning ensued until the team left for the hospital at the Medical College of Virginia (at Virginia Commonwealth University), joined by Al Strickler. We hauled all the goody bags out of the car, parked, and went in to see the kids. They were a particularly lively group today, based on some of our past visits at other hospitals, and many of them didn't seem to show any visible signs of illness, despite the battles their bodies may have been fighting within. Most of them seemed to enjoy the company, the gift bags or the combination of the two. Al knew the facility well and ran in to a lot of familiar faces since Harrison had received his treatments at this same hospital. Raising money for something great is exciting, but often not very personal. Hospital visits like today's help remind us why it's great and make the whole effort a little more personal.

After the hospital visit we went back to the Strickler's where we feasted, finished packing and finalized our highly malleable travel plans. Austin demonstrated some unique preparatory stretches while getting ready for the day's ride, which resulted in a small accident involving a "kitchen vessel" that could not be revived, but perhaps the stretches were necessary. Last night's late night was likely the cause of at least one short, unplanned nap... (see picture)

(yes, he is asleep...)

...but Paul and Austin made it through the heat and logged over 30 miles each for the team. Since none of our last-minute efforts to find a host for tonight came through we did a bit of motel shopping around south central Virginia and came across Sheldon's Motel and Restaurant (in Keysville, near Farmville) where we had a wonderful home cookin' kind of meal and found a room for the night with wireless internet access (this was the real selling point). Showers, administrative Rally activities and sleep... stay tuned...

~ A, P and C

Tour de Harrison!

Wow ... I can't put this into words. Over $15,000 raised by Harrison and the Strickler Team in Richmond. We got on a few of the TV stations and we are going to hit the news stands tomorrow ... click on the slide show: Richmond Times Dispatch

Harrison and his dad, Big Al are real father's day superstars. Here is a less professional version of what happened ...




Tomorrow big Al is going with us to the hospital to see some more kids.

~ Austin

Cinnamon Rolls, Beans for breakfast

Woke up to the smell of cinnamon rolls. Thought I had died and gone to heaven. mmm. Karin went all out and gave us a hearty breatfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and beans. She grew up in Holland, and from what I can gather, they serve beans in the place of grits (I grew up in Georgia). I've never had beans before a long ride ... but I figured there was a first time for everything.

Randy and his neighbor Carsten biked with me to the edge of their subdivision. Owen tagged along in a buggy ...

Owen took the role very seriously ...
After leaving the Lea's, I got on Route 1 and headed through historic Fredericksburg toward Richmond. The mileage wasn't as bad as the heat. And the heat wasn't as bad as the drivers. An old lady in a Lincoln came close to my handlebars (I don't think she could see very well).
Most of the others weren't as bad ... the beans ended up being good - I had more energy today than yesterday - must have been the beans.

Saw three deer. Two were bounding, and the other (sadly) had been involved in a traffic accident.

We finished up about 64 miles at 5:40. We pulled up to our host family (the Strickler's), and they had put up a huge welcome sign ...


Olivia (3rd to the right) did the painting. Harrison (yellow jersey) is our Richmond hero. We are doing a ride with him tomorrow called the "Tour de Harrison Victory Lap" to celebrate his victory over leukemia. Harrison and his family wanted to do a special ride to raise money and help other kids facing the same challenges that Harrison faced with his cancer.

They have already raised over $13,000 for research.

~ Austin

Day 1, Route 1

We visited the kids at Children's National today.  We met a family who knew the Lea's in Fredericksburg (our host family tonight).  Their kids had been treated together at Sloan Kettering in New York for neuroblastoma.

After the hospital visit, we had lunch with Tricia Benson who works with Curesearch. Part of Tricia's job is to lobby congress for better legislation to fund childhood cancer research.  Currently, she is working on the "Conquer Childhood Cancer Act," a bill that could fund up to $30 million dollars of research in a five year period.  The bill passed the house unanimously yesterday, but the Senate has to approve it before it will be taken to the President for signature.  The bill will still be an uphill battle, so if you happen to run into your Senator, tell them to support the kids. 

Had a Philly Cheese Steak at Colonel Brook's Tavern for lunch, and then got on the bike to ride to Fredericksberg.  I ended up heading north initially for several miles until I ended up back in the District during rush hour.  Evidently the lanes switch direction to account for peak traffic.  I ended up going the wrong way down a one way street.  What a surprise. Avoiding the other one way streets cost me about 10 miles ... ended up doing 64 down to get to Fredericksberg. 

We are now staying with Randy and Karin Lea.  Their son Owen is our hero here, and we're excited to spend time with him and his sister in the morning.  The neighborhood kids are planning to escort us out as we leave.  Everyone is meeting outside at 11:00 with bicycles ... I'm hoping for a big turn out.

~ Austin

Kung Fu Carsten: Cancer Kicking in DC

Made it to DC yesterday.  We visited Georgetown Children's hospital and gave out around 20 goody bags to kids of all ages.  It occurred to us that some of our goodies were better suited for children under 12, but that didn't stop us from giving race cars, temporary tattoos, and pink hats to 18 year olds.  

We spent the night with the Connolly family.   Carsten (10) is a leukemia fighter (as well as an aspiring black belt).  He showed us some of his attacks.  Its humbling to be taken to the ground by a 10 year old.  Adrienne and Jim prepared a great spread of fine foods and wine last night.

Austin, Carsten, Claire, and Tom

Tom drove down from Philadelphia to help us with our DC events.  He has been busy working since our first ride in 2006.  We hadn't been together since the big ride, and we had a fun reunion recapping all of our misadventures and comparing scars.  Tom has a great one on his left elbow from the first big fall - a badge of courage. 

Today with Tom's help we'll visit Children's National and then hit the road for Fredericksberg - 53 miles according to the maps.  Tom will head back to Philly, and I'll have to ride solo.  Paul is jumping on in Richmond, and Claire will be driving the support car.

~ Austin

Weeman

Today we announce that we are participating in the adventures of "weeman."  He is one of our Nashville heroes, and we will be seeing him at the finish line.  

Weeman (more commonly known as Colin) will be at the finish line on June 27.  Here is a bio that his parents sent us: 

Colin was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he hitched a ride around most of Europe with Mom and Dad before his first birthday. After returning to Chattanooga, TN, a workup for failure to thrive revealed severe gastroesophageal reflux which was treated with some success medically. However, during one of the upper GI scope procedures, an abdominal mass was noted incidentally which was eventually diagnosed as stage 2a Neuroblastoma, N-myc amplified. This is an aggressive tumor which is usually stage 4 at diagnosis. Now, after major abdominal surgery, over 7 smaller surgeries, 6 rounds of chemotherapy, and innumerable admissions and scans, Colin is poised to brave the rigors of a stem cell transplant, 12 radiation treatments, and 6 months of Accutane.

Since his diagnosis, Colin touched hundreds of lives around the world through his courage and resilience. Colin enjoys showing off original dance moves for his nurses and parents, throwing balls, watching Thomas the Train (A.K.A. Car-Car), and attacking daddy’s chin. He is also learning to share with his new 3 week old little brother, Ryan. With no current evidence of disease, Colin is ready to rally as a warrior against cancer. Rally on, Weeman!

~ Austin

Letter Party

Had some friends help stuff envelopes over the weekend.  We mailed over 265 people who have donated to Rally Across America in the last two years ... 

This picture of eager volunteers flaunting sponsorship letters was taken on Sunday.  What a good looking crew! oo la la.

Today Claire and I are picking up the support car in Atlanta, and then taking care of some last minute details before hitting the road for DC.  

~ Austin

$15,000 Spaghetti

This time next week, we'll be in Washington riding.  We've been putting together letters to mail to people that have donated in the past, and we're finalizing all of our fundraisers and hospital visits this week.

The new jersey's came in last week, and we'll have a new batch of T-shirts soon.  

Our fundraising online just hit $15,000!  The Strickler's are pulling in huge support for the Tour de Harrison Victory Lap in Richmond on the 15th. 

Paul and I have eaten spaghetti two nights in a row.  I need to check in with Al and Harrison Strickler and make sure their diet has been similar.

~ Austin