Welcome and thank you for taking the time to read my Journey of Hope-2011 blog/journal. I'll be writing entries on here throughout the summer to keep you all posted on my progress as I travel across country, as well as posting pictures and videos along the way.
For those of you are unfamiliar with what I am doing, this summer I will be joining approximately 100 other members of Pi Kappa Phi from all around the country as we ride our bikes from San Francisco/Seattle to Washington D.C. to raise money and awareness for people with disabilities through our fraternity's philanthropy, Push America. We'll be cycling on average 75 miles a day (I'll be going through the South), and along the way making stops at various philanthropic organizations that aim to promote the same ideals regarding persons with disabilities that Push American does. These stops--"Friendship Visits", as they're called--can be anything from a game of basketball to a backyard barbeque to a puppet show, all aimed at promoting the abilities of people with disabilities that are often overlooked by society.
We began orientation a few days ago, meeting at the Alpine Inn in San Francisco by the Cow Palace, where we've been staying for the past few days. The first day, the cyclists here--those going on the North and South routes--checked in, took care of some administrative stuff, and got settled into our hotel rooms. It was a little weird since my house is only about 20 minutes from our hotel, so it doesn't really feel like I've gone anywhere yet, especially hearing about how some of the guys here came all the way from the East Coast for the trip. After getting settled in, we took all went to McLaren Park for some introductory meetings, group talks, and a dinner of Little Caesar's Pizza.
The next day was the first of our many 6 AM wake-up calls, where we had to be out the door and ready to go by 6:30. After a quick breakfast, we all went to the Teglia Center in Daly City for some lectures on safety, policies, procedures, and protocol for the trip--basically all of the boring stuff that you don't want to listen to, but have to if you want to survive on the trip. After our meetings, we headed over to the Janet Pomeroy Center, a San Francisco organization that provides a wide variety of activities for people with disabilities in the community. It was great to meet all of the participants at JPC, who were extremely happy to be there and hang out. After a game of basketball and a dance party, we all had dinner with JPC participants, provided by a few fellow Gamma Chapter alumni. When we got back to lodging, a few other JOH participants and I practiced for a puppet show which we will be performing later this month.
Today, our third day, we had another 6 AM wake up call and early breakfast before hitting the road to take team picture at the Golden Gate Bridge. Although I've ridden across the bridge lots of times and seen it more than I can count, I had never seen it at sea level from the Marin side, which looked great. After team pictures, we went to the Cow Palace parking lot to get on our bikes for 'skills assessment', where the crew members and staff held a series of exercises to test basic but necessary cycling skills that we'll be utilizing on the road. These tests included practice pacelines, fixing a flat tire, riding in a straight line (apparently harder than it sounds), and weaving our bikes through an obstacle course (which I failed twice--back to training wheels?). When we were done with that, we went back to our hotel for some free time, where I took care of some bike maintenance stuff and relaxed for a bit. Later on we all piled into the vans for a fantastic dinner of In-N-Out at Fisherman's Wharf, which many of the JOH participants were experiencing for the first time. Needless to say, they were amazed at the awesomeness that is the Double-Double and Animal Style fries. After walking around the Pier for a bit with a few of the guys, we all went back to lodging for some free time until curfew/lights out. Spirits are now high, as we just found out we get to sleep in an extra half hour!
Overall, I've really enjoyed the past few days and getting to know all the guys that I'm going to be spending the next 2 months with. All of the nervous feelings that come with leaving home for 2 months to ride a bike across the country are yet to come, so I'm grateful that I haven't had a lot to worry about for the past few days. I'm slowly getting used to waking up early, having to ration my food portions (something I never quite learned in college), and being on a very strict schedule for most of the day, since it's all worth the experience that I'm about to take part in.
Thanks for reading, and Go Bears,
-Ethan
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