We began today by going off to Spokes, etc. to go ride with Carsten and some other local people. The guys at Spokes were great - one Spokesman led us out on the Mt. Vernon Bike Trail. We pedaled along at a fairly decent pace, letting Carsten and his dad lead the pack. The trail has a great view of the Potomac, and we went out to a bend right by the airport. After that, we turned around and headed back. After thanking everyone for coming - and getting Carsten to sell them what we didn't raffle off the day before - we grabbed a quick lunch and got directions to Baltimore. We went back up the Mt. Vernon Bike Trail into the city and rode around to meet up with the chase car. Finally, we finished up riding, threw the bikes up on top of the car, and drove up to New Jersey for the 4th. In a few days, we'll be back on the road.
~ Tom
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Friday, June 30, 2006
Washington, DC: Fundraisers and Whale Families
Today we had a fundraiser in honor of Carolyn and Carsten, two kids in DC. The people at Outback were fabulous as usual, and tomorrow we are going to continue the events by having a special ride with Carsten in Alexandria with a local bike shop, Spokes, Etc. We are hoping to round up a bunch of folks for the ride - we're gonna ride 10 miles along the Potomac. After that, Tom and I are going to finish up and ride into Baltimore. We calculated 47 miles, but knowing us, we could have miscalculated :) You'll all just have to check back tomorrow.
We went to Georgetown Hospital this afternoon as well, and we got to see several more kids. They made us sing the "Whale Song" again, and I got to teach a few kids in the waiting room some tricks on the piano. Wish we had more time to visit with some of the people we talked to today, but we passed out lots of our cards so that everyone can email us as we pedal north.
As we were driving back to our host family, we got stuck in rush hour traffic, and we took the opportunity to pass out some whale hats and flyers to the surrounding cars - the response was priceles. Almost everyone was excited to take a hat and say hi. The only exception was a lady who said, "I don't need a whale. I already have a whole family of them." (we weren't really sure what she meant, but it sure did sound funny). ha ha - and that's a rap for today. more tomorrow.
~ Austin
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Doings in DC
Today we started out by visiting the DC federal relations office of Austin's and my alma mater, Vanderbilt. Before today, I wouldn't have been able to tell you why Vandy needs a federal relations office, but it seems like they do a lot. Anyway, we got some pens and some guitar picks from the curb center as well as a list of contacts for the trip. Next we went to the office of U.S. Representative Jo Bonner, who sat down and talked with us for a little while about the need for research. He was an interesting guy and seemed pretty receptive to our talk. Finally, after stopping by one more office on the Hill, we headed to Children's National to visit the kids.
Since we were running late, we met up with some of our volunteers and threw the goody bags together as quickly as possible, then ran up to the lobby to meet the child life specialist. She was great, taking us around to see the kids - most of whom seemed to enjoy seeing us, laughing at the whale dance and whale song. We ended up leaving and came back to Chris's house, where his parents had prepared a great meal for us. Now we'll all try to sleep and get ready for our events tomorrow. It should be a lot of fun.
~ Tom
Since we were running late, we met up with some of our volunteers and threw the goody bags together as quickly as possible, then ran up to the lobby to meet the child life specialist. She was great, taking us around to see the kids - most of whom seemed to enjoy seeing us, laughing at the whale dance and whale song. We ended up leaving and came back to Chris's house, where his parents had prepared a great meal for us. Now we'll all try to sleep and get ready for our events tomorrow. It should be a lot of fun.
~ Tom
The Documentary Trailer!!
Nick just posted the unofficial trailer for the documentary. You can view it here. It looks awesome. I can't wait to see the official one.
Like "Tom Bruise", you'll need Quicktime 7 to view it.
So you have the trailer and Tom Bruise on their media page now. Check them out!
~ Tom
Like "Tom Bruise", you'll need Quicktime 7 to view it.
So you have the trailer and Tom Bruise on their media page now. Check them out!
~ Tom
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
122 miles to DC
Today was possibly the most exhausting day yet. We woke up at 5:30 so that we could beat the traffic out of Richmond. By mid morning we realized that we were a few hours ahead of schedule, and we ended up taveling 57 miles to Fredricksberg (where we had planned on spending the night) by 10:30 in the morning.
We made a big stop in Fredricksberg to see a 4 year old boy named Owen who has neuroblastoma. We got together with his family for lunch, and we got Owen a goodie bag - he loved the Aflac duck :) We'll get his pic up on our website soon . . .
After our visit, we called an emergency meeting and decided to change our schedule. Instead of staying the night in Fredricksberg, we wanted to go all the way to DC even though it would put us at over 120 miles for the day.
We weighed our options, and we decided to go for it even though it would surpase our longest ride by almost 40 miles. We reasoned that arriving in DC a night early would give us more time to plan our DC events and thus raise more money - it was a no brainer.
We got back on the bikes and headed towards the Capitol. At 100 miles we were wiped out, and we had to start eating plain honey to get enough sugar in our bodies to make it the rest of the way. After 7.5 hours of riding, we had covered 122 miles, and we were in DC. We layed out on the gound beside the reflection pool leading up to the Washington Monument and took it all in. Tomorrow we are going to Children's National Medical Center - can't wait to see the kids.
~ Austin
We made a big stop in Fredricksberg to see a 4 year old boy named Owen who has neuroblastoma. We got together with his family for lunch, and we got Owen a goodie bag - he loved the Aflac duck :) We'll get his pic up on our website soon . . .
After our visit, we called an emergency meeting and decided to change our schedule. Instead of staying the night in Fredricksberg, we wanted to go all the way to DC even though it would put us at over 120 miles for the day.
We weighed our options, and we decided to go for it even though it would surpase our longest ride by almost 40 miles. We reasoned that arriving in DC a night early would give us more time to plan our DC events and thus raise more money - it was a no brainer.
We got back on the bikes and headed towards the Capitol. At 100 miles we were wiped out, and we had to start eating plain honey to get enough sugar in our bodies to make it the rest of the way. After 7.5 hours of riding, we had covered 122 miles, and we were in DC. We layed out on the gound beside the reflection pool leading up to the Washington Monument and took it all in. Tomorrow we are going to Children's National Medical Center - can't wait to see the kids.
~ Austin
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