A Little Press

So for everyone who didn't get to see our interview on Fox 61, here is the link. http://www.ctnow.com/videobeta/98e32c11-61da-4127-a443-3c5506475afb/News/Bicycle-Charity-8-6 And the article run in the New London Day can be found here. http://www.theday.com/article/20100809/NWS01/308099909 Thank you everyone who has been following us on our journey and supporting us along the way.

Ben

“In God We Trust”

Old Lyme to Watch Hill, RI

It’s my and Sabrina’s outlook on life and the thought process we adhered to for this trip and will for the rest of our lives. Every time Sabrina saw a penny on the ground, she’d stop and pick it up. I could have quoted, ”A penny saved is a penny earned” or said that she was a Penny Pincher, but no, it’s because on the penny it says, “In God We Trust.” If the penny is heads up, Sabrina says it’s good luck for her, and if it’s not heads up she would give it to me and say it would be good luck for me. Because we trust in God to care for us, while we concentrate on helping others. Chikumbuso and the Rotary motto sum it up – “Remember to do for others” and “Service Above Self.” With that said, we must thank all of you who have followed us, supported us and prayed for us during this unbelievable adventure. You are God’s work that made it possible for us to complete this journey safely. Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you!!
The Final Day – With Carly at our side we depart from the Kramm household in a timely fashion, 9:00 as we were now on Bonnie Time. Or as Bonnie noted, Sabrina Time. Confused ? Let me explain. Bonnie had informed people that we would be at various points at certain times, so she needed to keep us going, “Bonnie Time.” She also knows Sabrina well enough to take into consideration that there are so many things infinitely more important to “living every moment of every day,” that might hold us up, “Sabrina Time.” And so, with all these variables to consider, it’s amazing that we actually hit the schedule times right on the track. Great job Bonnie! So for six riders, Bonnie, Callie-Jean, Ben, Carly, Sabrina and me, it’s Rt. 1 all the way into New London and over the Gold Star Bridge, into Mystic and Mystic Cycle Centre to pick up more riders. Many rotary club members were there to greet us with a welcome table of water and goodies as well as a map of the USA of all our stops thanks to Elaine Smith and her grandchildren. Rick from Mystic Cycle Centre and staff came out to greet us. In total, there were 18 riders in the peloton riding from Pawcatuck, through Westerly and out to Watch Hill for the final wheel dip at East Beach. They included Bruce, Linda and Kristen Wilkinson, Colby Graves, Diane Kodama, Maureen Rust, Russ Tuthill, Dan Gray, Alex and Carter Dole, Megan Murray, and Beth Macinko. We made a quick stop in Pawcatuck at Sabrina’s parents house where Bill invited everyone back for a big party after the dip. Thanks so much Bill and Charlotte Berardi for all your support before, during and after the ride. And to Bill, Master Chef, the food was “Simply Scrumptious.” It was so overwhelming to see so many friends and family celebrate a dream that could not have been possible without the inspiration of the Chikumbuso Women and Orphan Project and World Bicycle Relief as well as the support of all of you throughout the trip. We would also like to thank all the media organization who lent their support, The Day and their weekly publications , The Westerly Sun and their weekly publications, Jimmy Lehn and WCTY and FOX 61.
So if you are curious as to how much change was picked up along the road, it was $2.32. And yes, that will be donated to the cause. Please join us because as we all know, every penny helps. Hope to see you all in person at the Ben Taylor Benefit Concert on Aug. 29th at the Jonathan Edwards Winery.

Guess who’s coming for dinner

Even though It feels like we’re home, we still have these two more days but at least they are short. We started the earliest ever, 6:45am, but not to ride. We had our TV debut on Fox 61 in Hartford and had to be at the studio at 8. Linda Wilkinson was already there and while chatting with the camera man, learned that his daughter was in Lusaka, Zambia with a church group. When things like this happen, you realize that “It is such a small world.” It was great to visit with her while we waited for our moment with Logan. Ben and Paul were totally thrown off-guard, not expecting to be interviewed for the live broadcast. After viewing the segment tonight, it made us all laugh, memories….
We drove back to West Haven to ride along Rte 1 to Old Lyme. Paul and I had a pleasant ride through familiar roads into New Haven and then Branford where we met Ben and Callie-Jean at Zanes Bicycles for replacement tubes. Tom from Zanes recognized us and guessed that we were making our way back home, so he was kind enough to offered us the tubes, no charge. The next stop was Westbrook where our friends Lee and Joan were waiting to greet us. This day just kept getting better. The shoreline was beautiful but for the first time we got caught in a brief rainstorm. It didn’t stop us from finding our way across the Old Saybrook bridge to Old Lyme where Bonnie and Mark had the biggest surprise for us. We pulled into the driveway and out came Bonnie, Mark, Ben, Callie-Jean and... have you guessed it already from the picture? Carly!!!! She was going to surprise us on Saturday at the beach but after spending some time with Bonnie on MV, she decided to come today with her bike to join us for the ride. IT IS GREAT TO BE HOME! We are so looking forward to our final ride tomorrow with friends and family.
We received such great press this week. Thanks to Jimmy Lane and WCTY radio for the on-line auction for WBR, Bonnie Kramm for contacting Suzanne Thompson who wrote a great article for The Lyme Times (also in the Waterford Times and Stonington Times), Dina from FOX 61 and Julianne for the article that will appear in Sunday’s New London Day.

Yeah-Connecticut!!! We’re Home!!!

What kind of a day is this going to be? To start off, we opened the camper for the night, when we didn’t need to and it rained. The first thing in the morning when I opened the truck, I had a flat tire on my bike. So before going out, we had to close up the wet camper and fix a flat tire. Off to the Bear Mountain Bridge. Sabrina and I are off on a real adventure today, the route is all back roads through CT and into West Haven. There are no major roads to go directly there. Ben set off to write out the step by step, turn by turn directions. It was quite a ride through the Bear Mountain region with many great views of the Hudson from the east bank. Once out of N.Y. we were into the hills of CT. Who knew? Those old roads made in colonial times didn’t follow the easiest route, they went over hill and dale, from point A to point B. So chock one up for The Nutmeg State, they hold the record of the steepest hill we were tested by on the trip. One killer hill in Redding, took my all in granny gear standing up pedaling. With Sabrina and I dying from the hills, heat and humidity, we roll into Monroe and fill up the water bottles before trying to finish. It’s getting late and we still have a way to go when Sabrina gets a flat tire. Of all things, I don’t have a spare tube in my panniers. Remember, Ben had a flat the day before and I put my last tube in his wheel and didn’t replace it in my panniers. So, I set out to repair Sabrina’s tube as fast as possible and proceed to rip off the stem as I’m pumping it up! Damn! This day is NOT going as planned. We finally make it to CT and now we run into this kind of stuff. Called Ben to retrieve Sabrina and I set off to finish the ride by myself. Not how I wanted to end this trip. I later learn that 2 good Samaritans, Ian and Chelsea, stopped by Sabrina on the side of the road right after I left her and in no time had fixed her wheel and got her ready to roll. It seems that Ian had worked in a bike shop and had a tube and tools right in his car! He also had ridden cross country after college and was more than happy to help a fellow trekker. Sabrina decided to take the support vehicle ride back to Wayne’s and see the family. Once I rolled into Wayne’s, I was spent as much from the mental drain as the physical. I perked right up though, when I saw Callie-Jean and her Mom were there and was greeted by Connie and Wayne. Wayne cooked delicious Dutch oven fried chicken and roasted corn on the cob. Good food and good friends, what better way to end a trying day on the road? It’s good to be home to the familiar surroundings of CT. Two more days and we hit the Atlantic!
Keep Them Wheels a Rollin’
Paul

New York and New Press

Were almost to CT and we’ve got to stay on our toes now. We don’t want to have accident on the home stretch and if anywhere, on the roads back east is where the traffic congestion is the worst. After a restful night at Angela and Rich’s we push off and head back up to Milford. The heat is on and the humidity is so high that there’s a haze in the air. We stay on Rt. 6 through Port Jervis and even though we don’t get a “Welcome to New York” picture, Port Jervis welcomed us. Riding through the city is not so welcoming though. A couple of near misses with autos reminded Ben and I that we’re “Back East” and these are N.Y. drivers. I kept my cool and just grumbled under my breath. “Stay on your toes,” I cautioned Ben after his near miss. A couple long hills along this ride would have provided spectacular view had it not been for the haze in the air. We did get glimpses of the views, unfortunately we were so wiped out from the heat and the climbs that we didn’t really feel much like standing and taking in the sights, we just wanted to reach the bridge. Because we were staying the night with Uncle Lou in Piermont, we wanted to finish the 45 mile ride at the Bear Mountain Bridge instead of riding more north to West Point. As Ben and I rolled in, there was Sabrina, melting in the truck, it was HOT! Down 9W into Blauvelt, N.Y. to drop the trailer off at Ernie & Irene’s, long time friends of the family who have room for us to park the trailer at their home. After a short visit it was off to Uncle Lou’s condo to say hi, clean up and head out to a delicious dinner at one of Lou favorite restaurants the ”Stateline.” Tomorrow it’s back in CT and next stop is at Wayne and Connies in West Haven!!!
NEWS FLASH…… FOX 61 in Hartford will be interviewing us tomorrow morning(Friday) live at 8. We hope you can tune in. Linda Wilkinson will be joining us to help us with the cause! Also The Day will be writing an article for Sunday’s paper, bathing suit warning…there will be a photographer at the beach!
Keep Them Wheels a Rollin’
Paul

No hill will stop me NOW!

Since Francis Slocum State Park was a few miles off our intended route, and it had a wicked long downhill into it, we opted to pack up camp and have Ben drop us off on the route where the trip was meant to continue. No sense in killing ourselves by starting the day’s ride with a 10% grade for 1 1/2 miles, right? We are starting to feel the miles, especially here in Penns-HILL-vania. This was supposed to be a 70+ mile day so of course we got out early, 10:30. We were anxiously looking forward to spending the night at Sabrina’s cousins’, Angela and Rich Pfeiffer, in Bangor. Only, as often happens on this trip, we under estimated the distance between Milford and Bangor. So after Ben met us at the halfway point he was off, down to Bangor, only to drive 40 miles back up Rt.209 to pick us up at the end of the day. He did get to drop off the trailer and see Angela for a while before coming to get us. By the time we rendezvoused with him, we had ridden 6 mile off course on Rt.209 south, downhill. We’ll definitely account for that when starting tomorrow. Well here we are in the Poconos and of all the mechanical problems a biker might encounter, I hit the worst one in hill country. You bikers out there might be able to guess, my cable to my rear derailleur broke after about 5 miles and no cell phone service! For those of you who don’t do bicycles, that means I’m on the smallest sprocket on the rear cartridge and can only shift on the front. So much for a 24 speed bike, now I’m down to 3. But the Teton Pass was the only hill I would succumb to and so I pushed myself through every climb in 8th.
Luckily, I finally make contact with Ben as he was a couple miles from passing us and he stopped to make repairs. We had new cables in the truck and after a quick repair I was back at full strength with 24 gears. Much of the day’s ride was on a Bicycle PA Trail, which is a specific bike route, but not necessarily a bike friendly road. There were many areas that had a designated bike lane which were much appreciated and then there those areas with no shoulder and heavy truck traffic. After finally meeting up with Ben we travelled to Angela and Rich’s to be greeted by family that we hadn’t seen in probably 10 years. It was a delightful reunion and of course we got to catch up on most highlights of the trip, although it meant we were up until 12:30. They treated us to a great steak dinner and a special ice cream cake with my, signature sign off, “Keep Them Wheels a Rollin”. Angela’s boss let her leave work early to be prepared for our arrival and also made a nice donation to Chikumbuso. It was a worthwhile detour. They had to get up early and go to work, but we had a short days ride into N.Y. the next day and could sleep in a little and leave on our delayed time schedule. Looking forward to friends and relatives in NY.

Keep Them Wheels a Rollin'

Paul

Ben’s BIG Belly Ache

Francis Slocum State Park in Wyoming, PA, just a little northwest of Wilkes-Barre is another one of those beautiful parks that we so regret not having the time to stay longer to explore. With very private, clean campsites in a nice wooded area, nice shower facilities, a huge lake for swimming, fishing and boating and a swimming pool that looked so beautiful from a distance that we didn’t want to go up close for the disappointment we would experience from not having time to enjoy it. That has probably been the biggest disappointment from this trip, being on a schedule that only allowed us one night in each stop. I’m seriously thinking about redoing the route with a camper and about 3 months time to really get to enjoy this beautiful country that we just rode across.
Good bye to the home of the Little League World Series and on to our next memory. Sabrina and I started out the day’s ride on the Rails to Trails pathway again, this time in the right direction. While riding along we discussed what simply marvelous idea this is to convert old rail beds into commuter/recreational activity corridors. We saw bike riders, power walkers, conditioning walkers, Moms with baby carriages and people just sitting outdoors enjoying the natural beauty of the environment. It should be a “No Brainer” for businesses, employers, towns, doctors, insurance companies and anyone else with a stake in a healthy community to see the benefits of these projects and to add their support to make it happen. Well, my bucket list keeps getting more things added to it, so I shouldn’t be idol in retirement. I’m writing down these things because, like this trip, if I tell enough people that I’m going to do something it really locks me in and motivates me to follow it through completion. Oh, I was supposed to be writing about the ride. It was a nice day with lots of long hills. The Poconos are definitely challenging hills, but not the Allegany’s. The biggest news for the day was Ben’s BIG stomach ache. It seems that as he was in no-man’s land at the half way point and feeling hungry, he typed “Food” into the GPS. It came up with the name of a hotel out on some defunct road. He passed a Bed & Breakfast with a convenience store and deli, so he stopped for a sandwich. Well, in hindsight, he doesn’t thing they sell too many sandwiches, so his “may” not have had the freshest ingredients. He paid for that sandwich in more ways than with money. Once again right after the bikers hit camp at 7:00 it was off the McDonalds and free WiFi. Sabrina had tons of e-mail with lots of good news about the PR for our ride’s ending NEXT SATURDAY! Hope to see you all there and at Bill & Charlotte Berardi’s house in Pawcatuck afterwards.
Keep Them Wheels a Rollin’
Paul