1 week in retrospect

So, as you probably have noticed we haven't been able to update over the past few days.  It's been a whirlwind of a first week, and we've seen and experienced so much already.  For me personally I would have to say that I have probably struggled the most out of the three of us.  It's been very humbling and for someone who considers themselves not physically weak to watch both of his brothers beast every hill climb.  The irony of it is that in the first stretch of the redwoods we started going through, I kid you not, Humboldt county.  Haha who'd have thought.  

That aside it's been incredible to see the beauty of nature which even when you have seen a thousand redwood giants it still doesn't get old.  Or even when you have seen a hundred fifty foot cliffs cascading down into picture perfect waves hitting little rock islets it still doesn't get old.  The beauty of the Lord's creation is incredible! 

This morning Dave asked me what was my reason for being on the trip.  I have to be honest in saying that probably my biggest reason is actually to pull back from the world and to take a sabbatical of sorts.   Although it is difficult physically and often emotionally, it already has begun to bring about rejuvination to my heart.    I am so thankful and blessed to be able to be a part of this, and I can't wait to see where we go from here!

460ish miles done

3740 miles to go

60 until San Francisco and then we head east

-Paul

No wifi, but updates will come soon!

Y'all. We have tried updating, we promise. We have lots to share but for now I only have time for pictures. 

What a day

First, hello everybody! Thanks again for all the interest and support you've given us!

Here are some stats

•85 miles done today

•started at 8~8:30

•ended at 8~8:30

•we are in as good of health as we can be after biking all day

•we are having a great time seeing all the creation God has displayed for us to see.

Alright, today we woke up at 6:30, had breakfast and were on the road by 8:15. We biked from grants pass toward crescent city. On the way however, one of my screws fell out of my pannier. This caused my pannier and all it's weight to be in the tire, stopping any motion I had. (Which wasn't much at the moment, we were biking up our first big hill of the day, and maybe our longest, I'm not sure. But we were about halfway up Hayes hill) we ended up taking a screw out of my headset (the part that holds my handlebar in place) and putting it in place if the lost screw until we bought another about 20 miles down the road. We cruised pretty uneventfully for a while after that though. We were doing fine until about mile 35. We were getting pretty hungry for lunch, it was about 11~11:30. As we kept going, we hit around mile 40, and all three of us were out of water. and it was 97 at that point, so its safe to say we were feeling it! But we wanted to keep biking till 1,then take a long break. Luckily about a mile after we were out of water, someone let us use their water spicket to fill up. After filling up, we were still really tired, but decided to get to the next rest stop. Over the next 5 miles, we left oregon and entered Cali! That was the first state sign of 13 we will see, so pretty exciting! After a 2 hour break of napping, eating, drinking, and talking with people. We got going down a 10 mile section that we were going 35 mph and hardly trying, it was great. And really, from the Cali border to crescent city, it was a majority down hill. About 10 miles from the coast we started seeing some of the HUGE redwoods, and I mean gigantic!! It was absolutely mind blowing how big they were, and they weren't even one of the biggest ones you see in magazines. We took our time in the redwoods, but eventually got to crescent city. Where we are at now. Paul is asleep, Dave's on his phone, and I am very shortly going to join Paul. We all have sore bodies that aren't used to pushing so hard, but it is good.

Speaking for myself and I'm sure the others, please continue to pray for healthy bodies and safety. We are vey thankful that God has kept us safe to this point and relatively uninjured, but continued pray is very very much appreciated. Thanks again for all the support, and I hope you enjoyed reading about our day.

-Tommy G

PS, here we are at the California border, and here is a picture of a redwood, not even the biggest we saw today

Generosity

So day one of actual biking is officially drawing to an end.  We got our bikes at about eleven, assembled them and were on the road by about 3 today.  Our goal was to go about fifteen miles to the first available campsite and decide from there what we were going to do.  Roughly ten miles into the ride both Thomas and myself were having a far more difficult time pedaling than we should have.  Little did we know until we looked at our rear wheels that our brakes were actually rubbing  against the wheel.  The scenery around us was absolutely amazing.  Mountains all around with plateaus covered in green trees.  A river off to our right as cars sped by...  Already we have been able to see such a beautiful piece of America.  About an hour and a half ago we reached Grants pass and began to look for a place to stay for the night.  We came across a campsite named Shroeders park and decided to stay there for the night.  Generosity is something you never really expect especially when you've done hard physical labor and are only looking for a place the rest and eat.  Well needless to say thats all that was on our minds as we pulled into the campsite.  In so doing we ran into Sally and  Diane sisters who both work for the Oregon state park and were our contacts to reserve a site.  As we talked they totally blew us away and not only paid for our campsite they also gave us each $20!!  Mind blown!  We honestly can't say thank you enough.  In addition as we continue this journey I want to thank you guys for all of your help and support that you give.  Each prayer, conversation, and word of encouragement means So much to us. So as I get ready to eat dinner I want to thank you dear blog reader for your generosity.

Peace,

Paul

Plans and Logistics

Well...first lesson of our trip, which I think will be a foreshadow for the remainder of the trip(and now that I think as I type, rest of our lives). This is getting deep! But the lesson we are learning is that not everything will go according to how we plan. Today flying out to Medford, Oregon is a perfect example.

So we get settled in Charlotte  to fly out. Wake up real early to fly out by 730ish and get there with our boxes fully packed full of bicycles. The lady at the united airline desk instantly tells us that our boxes are too big. Great. Frustrating because we asked someone at GSP airport if we could ship such a box and she assured us that we would be good. No time to be frustrated though, we had to figure this out. Long story short we eventually just had to make the decision to go for the flight and our dad would figure out a way to ship it out to us. Somehow. It's kinda hard to start a bike trip with no bike haha.

Flew to San Francisco.landed. Immediately called Dad to get the scoop on our bikes. He went to like 4 different FedEx's to get someone who could ship our bikes. He's the man.

Originally had a 4 hour layover in San Fran, but that was extended to a 5 and 1/2 hour layover. Not a big deal, but when we landed in Portland to connect flights to Medford is where it got interesting. As soon as we landed we literally sprinted all the way across the airport to realize we missed our flight by minutes to Medford. 

The lady at the desk was real nice and helped us out as best she could. Currently the bros and I are lounging in Portland airport waiting our flight to Seattle, WA which will connect to Medford. It will be about a 23 hour ordeal when all said and done.

Although these circumstances keep coming at us, we are softly reminded who is still in control and to be thankful for the things we have. We have the bikes shipped, we have met some really cool people on the planes, the flight had beautiful scenery, and this will be just one of many memory to share as brothers. It's all about perspective, and thankful we can depend on a God who is in control. 

More stories to come, many adventures to share with you all. Would love continued prayers. 

Much love, 

David

Just a few more days!

Y'all... It's been a whirlwind for me and my family. My graduation, a friends wedding(congrats Boyer and Kelly deBoyer!), tom's graduation, everybody finishing up school, an interview with propel hr, Paul finishing up work, and all of the logistics that come with shipping our bikes via plane. 

But we have just a few days till we start!!!(June 6th)

Our last minute stuff includes a final bike maintenance workshop at the store we bought our bike from(Ride On), a final tune up, packaging up our bike in boxes that will ship with us, and a final check for all the items we need. 

Also, in other exciting news we have decided to ride across the country for a cause. Its called The Foundation For Fighting Blindness. Our Dad has a degenerative eye disease and this foundation helps research cures for these types of diseases. The way I understand it is the disease is called Ushers Syndome II, which degenerates both hearing and sight. The sight part of this disease is called RP(retinitis Pigmentosa) which slowly deteriorates peripheral vision and continues until near blindness. 

So we created a website to raise support and we posted the link at the top of our blog page. Our goal is to raise $10,000 and create any sort of awareness we can.All three of us are excited for the opportunity!

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement for our trip, we really appreciate it and need it! Also, shout out to my mom and sister. They have sat through many conversations of planning and looked for any way they can support us. These girls are awesome, and deserve a lot of credit for helping us make this whole thing happen. 

More later. Love all you people. Y'all are great.

Much love, 

David

Hi all you readers!! I have three favors to ask you.

1) We would like to find out who/how many people are following us. As far as I know, all you need to do to follow us is put your email in the address box to the right, but we aren't sure if it works. If you are getting this blog update through an email that you have signed up with, please post below saying that it is working.

2) We are in crunch time!! We are flying out in 3 WEEKS!!!! but as of right now, we don't have any preplanned houses to stay at. This is fine, we are planning on spending most nights camping. However, we would really appreciate having a home to spend a night in, taking a real shower, eating a home cooked meal, and sleeping on a real bed. If you could look at the map that Dave posted on one of the earlier blogs, please see if you have family, friends, friends of friends, or any connection you have along this route. If so, please email me their contact information and we would love to get in contact with them. (tgarrigan280@andersonuniversity.edu)

3) PRAY!! Thank you for all of your generosity and support, we have received much aid financially, as well as moral support from people and I cannot begin to thank you enough. You have blessed us tremendously, and I know God doesn't over look it. He will bless yall for all you do for us, more than you have blessed us.. As we wrap up loose ends though, I want to continue to encourage you to not stop praying for us! We still need to get out there in one piece, with all of our equipment, and stay physically fit, mentally active, spiritually dependent, emotionally strong, and financially provided for. Thank you in advance for all your prayers!!

I cannot explain how excited I am getting for this trip. As school winds down, this trip is picking up. I am looking forward to seeing this country in an amazing way, and seeing all the different areas of creation that are held along the way.

We will keep you posted on our progress. Thanks again for posting to let us know if the email alert system is working or not, letting me know about any potential homes to stay in, and for all your continued prayers!!!

                                                                                   Sincere love from an excited boy,
                                                                                                     Tommy G

(On a side note, I finally started training!! I could not begin until yesterday (Monday the 13th) due to the fact that I was in the middle of Track. But now I'm done, and I'm hitting the riding hard. I have two and a half weeks to train until we have to ship our bikes out..... SO...... LOOK OUT ROCKIES, HERE I COME!!!!)