Days 74 and 75: Cloverdale CA to Petaluma CA to San Francisco CA - I4Prom and last goodbyes

Hi everyone and welcome to days 74 and 75 journal entry for one final time! The last two days of our trip were very bittersweet and emotional for all of us, so I think talking about how these days went in detail is unnecessary. I am sure each and every one of us will remember the things that matter most from these two days even without the help of this journal.

One of such moments was our I4K Prom - a celebration of the team finishing the ride by dressing up in silly costumes and dancing like maniacs. We also sat together as a team, enjoyed each other’s company, and reminisced about the trip just one last time.

Prom kings and queens

Day 75 was even more chaotic and bittersweet. We biked our last 40 miles of the trip, got our last McDonald’s breakfast, finished our last climbs, and spent the last day ever as the whole entire team with just us and no one else.

Final van art

Last morning circle

Last McDonald’s breakfast stop :(

Signing jerseys at the last stop before crossing the bridge

And bodies

Snails escargot

Fearless ride leaders alert

Last moments as a team

And thus, our journey ended with us crossing the Golden Gate Bridge (all in one piece!!!) finishing our trip with a picnic thrown by family and friends of the team members at Crissy Fields.

There are no words powerful enough to describe how grateful, happy, and privileged I feel to have shared such a special journey for such a great cause with such amazing people. This summer was the happiest and most special for not just me, but the majority of my teammates. We will never forget our adventure, our camaraderie, and all of the countless special moments we have shared as a team - heartfelt and sincere, tough and challenging, silly and ridiculous.

I would like to thank every single person who made this ride possible for us. Firstly, thank you to the 2021-2022 Illini 4000 executive board who planned and executed all of the very complicated and hard work that goes into sending a team of cyclists across the country. We would never be able to finish (or even start!) our ride without these amazing people. Special thanks to our ride leaders Marie and Julissa for passing on their I4K wisdom and knowledge to us and making sure we don’t get in trouble and leave our stayovers spotless always. Secondly, thank you to all of our stayovers, donors, and everybody who helped us along our journey in any way. It was astonishing and incredibly heartwarming to see the kindness that people showed a random group of sweaty college students on their bizarre journey. Thirdly, thank you to all of the team’s parents, families, friends, pets, and anybody else who helped and encouraged our team members to go through training and the ride. None of us would have made it here without your priceless moral, emotional, monetary, etc support. And lastly, thank you to each other for being amazing team mates, great friends, and the best support at the toughest moments.

For the final little treat of the last journal for 2022 Illini 4000 bike across America team, I would like to share each of the team members’ favorite moment of our trip. Enjoy!

Rose: “Playing wood chips at a playground in the beginning of the trip.”

Cal: “I4K prom.”

Matt H: “Penn’s cave. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. I learned a lot about the cave and the surrounding area and received a spiritual lesson.”

Peter: “Tracking down the guy at the Clown Museum in Baraboo.”

Jessica: “Biking down the Bighorns. It was the first beautiful descent and it just went on and on and I was just blown away by the beauty.”

Julissa: “Biking down to the Tetons with Jung and Valerie.”

Maddie: “The long descent from the Bighorn mountains.”

Jung: “Grand Tetons when we turned that corner and saw the Tetons for the first time. Or just any kind of mountains when you wee them and just go “Wow”.

Angela: “Right now, because we have all completed the ride, we are all so proud of ourselves, we have all grown so close made so many memories. And we are about to do one of our favorite activities - eating.”

Matt W: “Talking to each other on the bikes. And Penn’s cave.”

Max: “The rest day in Champaign when we had the bonfire at Julissa’s and then we all went to the movies, we were hanging out at Zona’s house and we had a Birthday party for Matt W.”

Veronica: “I loved all of them, but playing wood chips on that one playground. It was the first time I felt like the team actually got together and had fun and acted silly and goofy. It was when I started getting more comfortable with the group, it was really fun. Another moment that really warmed my heart was when I was riding with Cal and Vikram and I really wanted to have a crazy story from the ride like other groups have done before. I found it really sweet because they really tried to find the craziest and best story and it warmed my heart, they really went out of their way. We spent over 2 hours at this creepy ghost town and it was such a fun and funny experience. It was very heartwarming, I really felt like a part of the team.”

Zona: “When I rolled up to the coffee house in Baraboo and Cal and Matt come up to me and go “You will not believe this…” and they start this story which I thought wasn’t true, but I found out it was true. And then proceeded to find out how to get into the Clown Museum and that moment of realizing it was all real was one of my favorite ones of the trip.”

Mercedes: “One of the moments that sticks out to me most is the further along we got in our trip, the more shocked and appalled the random bystanders would be when we would say where we started from. It was hilarious every single time. It made me feel this huge sense of accomplishment.”

Clara: “My favorite part of the trip was the end of the ride when we were all standing in that circle and it was really special, I felt like I really recognized what an awesome it was that we just did. And I felt really connected to you guys and really accomplished, it was a really good feeling. I will miss you guys, it was a great trip overall.”

Lucas: “The Clown Museum. The whole insane adventure of riding around this small town, having no idea what the next turn would be, the people we met, the stories we had, and in the end the clowning that was done. It was something you could only experience on the Illini 4000 2022 bike America team.”

Bryan: “I like the Bighorn day when we climbed for 40 miles. We kind of raced it and were really tired at the end.”

Rick: “There are no favorite moments, only many good moments. My favorite memories of this entire trip are the meaningful conversations while riding on our bikes, the smallest things that we laugh at - we just laugh at anything, it just happens for some reason. Also the hottest climbs we have done - these are the ones that push you to your limit and give you the sense of satisfaction that cannot be described when you finish them.”

Vikram: “When I went on a nice ride to mount Rainier solo on the rest day. Got some nice time away from you guys. “

Sam: “Right now is pretty awesome. It is really great to be done and it feels so successful to actually have made it all the way across the country. Also all the times that we have been able to just hang out together as a team, everyone is just laughing so hard and goofing around. It was the reason this trip was so much fun for me. If there is no more biking involved I would hang out with you guys for the whole year.”

Marie: “When we all went cliff jumping even though it was so cold and painful, but it was just a nice moment together.”

Valerie: “My favorite moments were all the times we just got to spend time together with the whole team and chat, hang out, laugh. So, basically all the dinners we had, all the camping evenings of talking and bonding, watching movies together, the rest stops. The rest stops specifically made it so much easier for me to go through tough days after hanging out with the team for just a little bit and getting to laugh and bond over our shared suffering with everyone, it really reminded me of why I signed up to do I4K in the first place and gave me mental and emotional strength to continue the journey in the hardest moments.

Also - river ;)”

And on this note, I must say my final goodbye to being the Illini 4000 2022 Bike across America team journaler. It has been a real privilege documenting our entire trip day by day for our families and friends to read, as well as my team mates to remember the time we spent together and all of our awesome adventures. I am so proud to be a part of this team and so happy I was lucky enough to meet everyone on it, and to feel like I truly fit in and can be fully completely myself in such a huge group of people for the first time in my life. It has been the best 3 months of my life and I will always cherish every single memory from them. Thank you to all the previous Illini 4000 riders for paving the way and good luck to all the future Illini 4000 riders.

Tailwinds,

Valerie

Goodbye from your friendly neighborhood journaler and her faithful assistant/one time journaler

Days 72 and 73: Redwoods CA to Fort Bragg CA to Cloverdale CA

Hi everyone and welcome to days 72 and 73! These were our last few days of the trip, so while a lot of us are very tired from biking and ready to go home soon, we are also trying to really take these last few days in and enjoy our time together as a team. Day 72 was one of our hardest days of the trip with 91 miles of biking and over 7000 feet of elevation. The riders faced multiple long, steep and windy climbs throughout the day, and the first half of the day before getting the coast again was also quite hot. Thankfully for me, I was the van driver for the day again, but I can say with full confidence that all of the riders did amazing on this very hard day and accomplished something not a lot of people are capable of.

The first part of the day we went through more redwood forests which provided some nice shade and scenery. We did not get to see any wildlife but we did stumble onto a Bigfoot… statue.

Our second rest stop of the day happened to be at the Confusion Hill which is the home of the apparently “world-famous” Gravity House. We were allowed to go though the Gravity House for free by the owner but were not particularly impressed, most likely because the expectations were sky high after people found out that the cartoon series “Gravity Falls” was inspired by this place. We still had plenty of fun there though and were glad we got to visit this place.

Nevertheless, Confusion Hill gave the riders an opportunity to rest before continuing their long day of biking. The last third of the ride went along the coast which was much more pleasant for the riders as it was much cooler and they got to enjoy some very nice views of the ocean.

Not as far as we know O_O

The day ended up being very long, so after we got to our stayover in Fort Bragg and ate our generously donated by them dinner, all we had energy for was going to sleep. Thanks to the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Bragg for the dinner!

Day 73 started out a little rough for our riders as they were still not quite recovered from the previous day. Despite that, we all got ready to bike our 77 miles to Cloverdale. We did not have any climbing the first half of the riding and had a very pretty ride along the coast again the first 20 miles. Right before heading back inland we biked through a patch of the coast that was very foggy out of nowhere. It was a very atmospheric ride and one of my own personal favorite riding moments of the whole trip.

The most prefect van packing of the trip

After getting back inland, the temperatures started climbing way up again so by the time we got to our biggest climbs it was almost 100 degrees. It was a tough ride but we got to see lots of Californian vineyards along the way, so overall it was not all that bad.

Our stayover in Cloverdale was the Cloverdale Veterans Building which was very nice to us and provided us with both showers and dinner. Afterwards, we rested and got physically and emotionally ready for our upcoming last full day of the trip.

Snack time

-Valerie

Day 71: Arcata CA to Redwoods (Avenue of the Giants) CA

Hi everyone and welcome to day 71 - the Redwoods day! Today we had only 58 miles of riding to do but a pretty exciting route since the last 20 miles of the day we we riding through the famous Avenue of the Giants. Because we did not have a ton of riding to do and not a lot of climbing either, some of us took the chance to make lots of stops along route for things that included but were not limited to: grocery store, rock and minerals store and museum, waffle shop, etc. The stops were necessary to make the first half of the riding a little more fun since our route was mostly going on a freeway with not much of a view.

Once we got to the Avenue of the Giants however, there was much more to see and take pictures with. We saw tons of magnificent huge redwood trees and had a very nice picturesque ride through the forest to our campsite.

We got to our campsite in the heart of the Avenue of the Giants late because of out many stops, but thankfully we had the rare luxury of showers right at the campsite. Afterwards we had our very last camping dinner of beans and hot dogs and our very last night of sleeping in tents :(

-Valerie

Day 70: Crescent City CA to Arcata CA

Hi everyone and welcome to day 70! Todays we had 77 miles of biking to do through lots of foggy redwoods but thankfully the Pacific coast is always nice and chilly in this area, so our riders did not have to struggle through 100 degree temperatures anymore. The first part of the day went through a beautiful redwood forest that was made even more beautiful and mysterious by the dense fog that seems to be a very regular occurence in this area.

We had to face some pretty serious climbs throughout the day as well as dodging construction on the highway. Nevertheless, it was a very nice and picturesque day of biking though the Pacific Northwest. We got to see some of the famous thousand-year-old redwood giants some fo which are big enough for a whole car to ride through their trunk as well as enjoy the rough and rugged beauty of the coast.

The day ended up being long, so after getting to our stayover in Arcata we only had energy to eat our dinner, go for a short van drive for ice cream, and go to sleep very shortly after.

-Valerie

Day 68: Grants Pass OR to Crescent City CA

Hi everyone! Welcome to day 68. We started out our day expecting to bike 84 miles through some scenic California national forests but fate and mother nature decided to throw a curveball our way. So, our day instead started out with a decision to shuttle in the van for the first unknown number of miles due to forest fires in the area of Grants Pass. While shuttling gives us an opportunity to rest from biking a little bit, it also involves a whole lot of waiting around while the van is shuttling other groups of people and bikes, so day 68 for us ended up exactly that kind of day - a whole lot of waiting around in various Oregon and California parking lots.

A beautiful morning in Grants Pass with ash raining down from the sky

Maddie making friends everywhere she goes

Just living that shuttling life

After driving about 20 miles away, the fire situation seemed to get only worse instead of better. It seemed almost apocalyptic with ash raining down on us and the skies colored a yellowish hue because of the smoke in the air. We ended up shuttling way more than any of us expected and biked only the last 18 miles of the day. Sadly, that meant that we also couldn’t bike across the California state border but we still made sure to stop in the van to take some pictures with the state sign.

Apocalyptic vibes

LAST STATE!!!!

Despite only biking the last 18 miles, we still got to see some pretty California views. We biked through scenic forested areas and started seeing some of our first Redwoods.

Once we got closer and closer to the Pacific coast, the temperature started getting noticeably colder. The weather changed quite drastically and after being in the over 100 degree weather just the day before we ended our day on the cloudy, misty, and cold ocean coast.

The team took the chance to bike all the way to the ocean to officially be able to say we biked coast to coast as well as take some cool beach pictures.

Next day, day 69, was our final rest day of the ride in Crescent City. We spent the day exploring the redwoods and the beach and resting before our last 6 day stretch of riding.

-Valerie

Day 67: Roseburg OR to Grants Pass OR

Hi everyone! Welcome to day 67. Our days in Oregon are coming to an end, and even though it is definitely a pretty state, we are all very happy about leaving it. It has been incredibly hot here, with temperatures getting up to over 100 degrees. Day 67, in particular, decided to be the hottest day of the ride (110 degrees!), so even despite rolling out of our stayover on time we were not able to beat the heat as it was already about 80 degrees by 8 AM.

The first 40 miles of the day went by relatively painlessly since the heat was not as bad yet and we did not have any climbs. After our second rest stop at mile 40 however, we had some pretty big climbs to do right at the time the heat was at its worst, so after starting to bike that stretch, our ride leaders decided that we all should shuttle the rest of the way to the stayover. The decision was almost unanimously met with relief by the rest of the riders since it did in fact feel too hot to even function in any way outside.

We also got to meet a very cute puppy at our second rest stop before shuttling. He made all of us regain just a little bit of sanity on this insanely hot day of biking.

We did all we could all day to cool off including but limited to…

Getting milkashakes

Hugging a bag of ice

Undressing O_O

After we shuttled the last 20 miles to our stayover, we all took much needed showers that we luckily had available right at the stayover. We then went out to get dinner at In-N-Out Burger since most of us heard of it but never tried it (it was OK), and spent the rest of the evening in the coolness of our stayover resting and watching High School Musical 2 for a team movie night.

-Valerie

Days 65 and 66: Salem OR to Eugene OR to Roseburg OR

Hi everyone! Welcome to days 65 and 66. Day 66 started out with a watermelon eating competition for us, pictures of which we do not have unfortunately. What we do have pictures of though, is us getting our almost daily McDonald’s breakfast.

Just look at these semi-happy faces :)

We had 76 miles to bike on day 65 but the route was not particularly interesting or picturesque and mostly ran through farmlands. Fortunately, we did not have a lot of climbing to do but the recent heat wave was still getting to all the riders making the ride not as pleasant as it could have been.

Rest stop for milkshakes and burgers

Once we got to Eugene, we got to bike through the University of Oregon campus and secretly (or not so secretly) compare it to our own UIUC campus. It was a nice, very green and pretty campus, but still not as good as ours of course.

Our biking on day 65 ended at our stayover at the Eugene Family YMCA that provided us with dinner as well as shower, pool, and hot tub access at their facilities.

Day 66 started out in a very different way then our usual days do. Our van needed a tire change, so we got to sleep in until 8 AM and after a nice breakfast also provided by the YMCA waited for the van to be fixed. During the free time, we went to explore the university campus a little more.

Future university chancellor

We ended up rolling out significantly later than we usually do at about 11, so the day ended up being very long and exhausting. In the first 20 miles of riding we hit a big milestone however - 4000 miles biked! We decorated the van for the occasion and took some team pictures. Only 600 more miles to go now.

The day was very hot again, so the riders did not stop to explore often and mostly everyone was just trying to finish the day as soon as possible to get out of the heat and to the showers.

Sophomores group

Sophomores group but cooler

When we finally got to our stayover at the Roseburg YMCA we got a food donation provided by Sam’s family again. Thank you to Sam’s family, we appreciated the delicious dinner immensely after such a tough day of biking!

-Valerie

Day 64: Portland OR to Salem OR

Hi everyone! Welcome to day 64. Today we had a short mileage day of only 52 miles and only two relatively small climbs. Today was a very hot day again so the short mileage was definitely appreciated. We started out in the Portland area and got to bike for a few miles on a nice paved bike trail. But not before getting breakfast at a bagel stand of course.

Our only two climbs of the day were both within the first 20 miles so after we were done with that we knew the hard part was over. The van crew in the meantime were doing a donut collection run and taking plenty of pictures.

Our rest stop just happened to be at a playground, so we of course took a minute to let our inner children out for just a little bit.

The rest of the ride was somewhat unremarkable and just went through smaller towns and lots of farm fields. It was yet another unbearably hot day so we were trying our best to finish the ride as fast as possible. Except for a short(ish) taco truck lunch stop obviously.

In other news, Matthew found his 100000’s license plate…

And Rick was just being his amazing self again :)

After getting to our Salem stayover in the Kroc Center we took long immensely satisfying showers, did laundry, and in the evening had our very own I4Christmas in July! We were previously paired up randomly with someone else from the team to do a secret Santa gift exchange and today was the day we finally got to open our gifts. Some of the best presents included a working Go Pro camera found on the side of the road by Zona (I was the lucky receiver of this gift), a three-dollar frying pan from a thrift store, multiple items of clothings, a very heavy teddy bear, and much much more. It was AT LEAST as festive and special as the real Christmas.

-Valerie

Days 62 and 63: Mt. Rainier WA to Castle Rock WA to Portland OR

Hi everyone! Valerie is back with you, ready to supply you all with some actual good content after the mediocrity of the guest journaler. All jokes aside, thanks to Cal for writing the previous journal, I enjoyed my short break ;)

Back to our regularly scheduled content. We woke up on day 62 only somewhat rested as we went to hike, cliff jump, and just overall were pretty active during our rest day the day before. The 90 mile bike ride of day 62 was not going to wait for us though, so we promptly packed up, had breakfast, and were ready to roll… Until we weren’t. It turned out we had a flat tire on our van so while our fearless ride leaders along with a couple of other team members were figuring it out, the rest of us sat by the fire and tried to stay warm for about an hour and a half.

Morning circle but not really

Morning nap time

We finally got to see the REAL Angela once she got a chance to play with fire

As a result of all the morning chaos, we rolled out of our campsite late at 9 AM. We all knew we had a long and hot day ahead of us and that we needed to hurry, and yet some groups made the curious decision to stop at a coffee shop for about an hour. Just kidding, it was only one group, but they most definitely payed for their ill decisions later in the day when they had to bike until sundown and then get picked up by the van to get shuttled the rest of the way.

The coffee house in question

The group in question

The rest of us made our way out of the national park/national forest area of Mount Rainier while enjoying the views of the mountains. We had some nice downhills in the beginning part of the day which switched into a bit more climbing later. We finally for to see the kind of Washington that most if us imagined it to look like - forests, picturesque rivers, and greenery everywhere.

Perhaps it is time to switch to bigger bikes to get to San Francisco quicker?!

Rest stop melancholy

Last hill of the day

Despite rolling out late almost everyone made it to the stayover before sundown. We had pizza for dinner donated by our stayover Castle Rock Christian Church, some of us went to the river to take a river shower, all the while the last group was losing their sanity still biking through the depth of Washington state.

The should be an oil painting

The last exciting part of the day was that a 2021 I4K alum Bang joined us in the evening to bike into Portland with us the next day!

Day 63 started out with me deciding to spend the day in the van, so I do not have a ton to say about the day’s route. It was a 70 mile day with lots and lots of rolling hills that painfully reminded us all of the good ol’ Pennsylvania days. The day was very hot again and the riders did not encounter anything particularly exciting while riding except for a phone booth and the Oregon state sign.

Our Portland stayover as well as an absolutely amazing dinner were provided by Illini alumni including Jill Townley who hosted us for the night in her backyard and let us use her showers. Huge thanks to everybody who fed and hosted us!

-Valerie

Day 60: Yakima WA to Mt. Rainier WA

Takeover alert! Valerie is feeling lazy tonight, so she has recruited a special celebrity guest to do today’s journal.

Today was a 67 mile day we started in Yakima, one of the largest cities the team has seen in quite some time. Teams took advantage by stopping for a hearty breakfast in the first several miles.

Peter’s group stopping for a yummy hashbrown snack. Unfortunately, Mercedes phone comically distorted the groups attempt at an otherwise artsy photo.

The ride began in our last desert stretch of the trip through central Washington. Although trudging through high winds, morale was also high as we hopped back onto our old frenemie Highway 12.

Highway 12 soon turned into the White Pass Scenic Byway!

As the day continued, groups began to attempt to amuse themselves among the rock forms of the Wanatchee National Forest. For one group, this meant a change in fashion.

Believe it or not, the left is Valerie and the right is Cal.

As we got into the middle stretch of the day, we began climbing out of the desert valley and into the mountain passes. We watched as the scenery changed into beautiful sprawling pine forests and cliffsides. Many groups took the opportunity to stop and enjoy our first taste of Pacific Northwest scenery.

King Rick stands over his mighty kingdom

A group finds a scenic lookout halfway up an 8-mile climb

After reaching White Pass and enjoying a brief final rest stop, the team enjoyed a fast downhill as we approached our campground. Rounding one of the final bends, we got our first view of the majestic Mt. Rainier in the distance that made all of the climbing worth it.

Some views pictures simply cannot do justice!

Once we reached the La Wis Wis campsite right outside the National park, the team pitched their tents for the second-to-last time and enjoyed brats donated by I4k alumni. After a few hours enjoying the fireside, the team got to bed relatively early for the eve of a rest day to prepare for a day of hiking at Mt. Rainer in the morning. More of that day to be posted next!

This concludes a very special celebrity journal takeover. Now time to get Valerie off her phone and onto this laptop to do her chore duties.

-Cal

Days 58 and 59: Walla Walla WA to Kennewick WA to Yakima WA

Hi everyone! Welcome to days 58 and 59 of our trip. Day 58 started out with us immediately stopping for food and/or donuts in Walla Walla before even getting any miles in. On the bright side - the donuts were very good. We had a short day with only 50 miles of riding, but unfortunately the scenery was still very much the same - yellow treeless rolling hills for miles.

Washington is proving to be a goldmine for license plate collectors like our Matthew who had yet another very fruitful day with lots of plates found.

We got to our stayover at the First Christian Church of Kennewick early at about 1-2 PM so we had lots of time afterwards to a laundry and post office run. The nice people from our stayover prepared a delicious dinner for us which we all appreciated immensely after the past few very tough biking days. Thank you to the First Christian Church!

We also had a few more promposals happen at the stayover!

Takis, sponsor us please

Day 59 turned out to be rough for a lot of our riders. We decided to do an early wakeup and rollout since the day was going to be long and very hot again, so everybody was sleepy and tired to begin with. Not even half way through the day we already had 6 people in the van with myself joining them after 55 miles of riding. It seemed to be a very taxing day for everybody and the 90 miles just seemed to last so much longer than usual. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a nicer biking day for us, especially given that we will be going to Mount Rainier! We will be camping again tomorrow and the day after for our rest day, so we will not have service to post any updates online :( We are hoping to have lots of fun though and we will check back in soon after!

-Valerie

Days 56 and 57: Kamiah ID to Lewiston ID to Walla Walla WA

Hi everyone! Welcome to days 56 and 57. Our day 56 started out in the beautiful Kamiah ID with a show and tell using things we found on the road while riding the previous day. It turned out to be mostly a show rather than tell but entertaining nonetheless.

How Max biked with these is a mystery for the ages

Knighted with a pool noodle

Natural history museums across the country are jealous right now

The excitement of the morning was not over however, as Bryan decided to officially kick off the promposals for the approaching I4K prom. His promposal to Rose set quite an impossible standard for the rest of us unfortunately, so we are all now expecting the rest of them to be disappointing by comparison.

The boys is action

The days somewhat went downhill after the morning unfortunately. For some unknown reason none of us seemed to enjoy the ride in this day very much even despite the quite nice views of the hills and the river.

Peter’s face says it all

The biggest I4K talent as a team - finding trains to take pictures with

That was not the only reason for the day being not our best however. At one of our rest stops Zona lost her phone and could not recover it even after a rescue mission that involved driving all the way back from the stayover later in that day :( We also ended up needing to shuttle in the van the last 15 miles or so of the ride due to a forest fire nearby. Thankfully, it was not very severe of dangerous for either us or the locals.

The rest of the day we biked to showers which just happened to be on top of a huge hill of course, and then spent the rest of the time recovering from biking to said showers up a huge hill.

Day 57 I was van driving once again, thankfully for me. It was an incredibly hot day and the team had to face multiple big hills, including a 10 mile climb in the beginning of the day. Before that though, we crossed the state border into Washington and as per usual took a hundred pictures with the state sign.

The day was very long at almost 100 miles of riding, and most of it went through the exact same scenery offering zero to none mental stimulation for the riders.

This scenery but for 100 miles

The immense heat of the day made the riding tough for the riders but they found ways to entertain themselves and keep their spirits at least somewhat high nonetheless.

The good news from day 57 was that Matthew was able to find a record 11 license plates in one day!

The day was so long and tiring, that the only two things the riders had energy left for at the stayover was showering and getting dinner. Thankfully for us, our stayover was the Walla Walla YMCA so we got to take nice hot showers on site, which does not happen all that often.

Just a cute picture of Zona to end today’s journal :)

-Valerie

Days 54 and 55: Missoula MT to Wilderness Gateway Campground ID to Kamiah ID

Hi everyone! Welcome to days 54 and 55. We had yet another camping day with no service when biking into Idaho, so no updates were able to be posted :( We are back now however, and ready to roll metaphorically and literally.

Day 54 started out in Missoula with a failed McDonald’s stop since the lobby was closed so most of us were not able to get our well deserved mcMuffins and mcGriddles. It took us a few minutes to recover from the crushing disappointment but we proceeded further nevertheless.

After getting out of the city, we biked into the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest very shortly after. We could immediately tell how beautiful this place was. The entirety of the day biked through a canyon by the river and enjoyed some really pretty views of the river with the steep mountains in the background.

We faced only one fairly small climb on day 54 (only 3 miles!) which after the many climbing days we have had in the recent past did not even faze us. Right at the top of the climb we crossed the state border into Idaho and had our first rest stop of the day. We visited the national forest visitor center where we got some free coffee and free stickers, and Cal had an encounter with a wild animal when a ground squirrel ate some of his sandwich from his frame bag.

Our hero Jessica sitting it out in the van after the incident at the rafting trip

The rest of the day we were only biking down a small decline which made for a nice ride that did not even feel like 90 miles to most of us. Along the way, we got to enjoy the gifts of nature from the forest like collecting wildflowers and taking a dip in the mountain river.

We got to our campsite earlier than we would in most other circumstances due to the time zone change. That gave us some time to take a nature shower (with no soap of course because we love nature) in the river and unwind at our campsite.

Day 55 started out wet from the condensation in the tents but far less cold then our other camping days before. After a camping breakfast of cereal and bananas we started our 56 miles day. The first half of the day we had a very similar scenery to the day before. More river, mountains, forest, and gradual downhill.

After the exited the national forest, the scenery changed somewhat. We were still biking on the same highway by the river, but the mountains got far less high and steep and became significantly less forest-covered.

One of the benefits of returning to civilization is the opportunity to explore the tiny towns we come across during our journey. And being able to buy food obviously.

Despite being one of the shorter days, day 55 turned out to be extremely exhausting to almost all of the riders. The temperature was high and the sun was unbearably hot, so by the time we rolled into out stayover in Kamiah we were all fully ready to collapse in an air conditioned room and not move for a while. Some of us did move a little bit however and went to the river again for a nature shower. It was not quite as nice as the day before but we appreciated the refreshment nevertheless.

The rest of the day we napped, raided the local grocery store for food, and rested in preparation for the day ahead.

-Valerie

Days 50 and 51 and 52: Bozeman MT to Butte MT to Philipsburg MT to Missoula MT

Hi everyone! Welcome to days 50, 51, and 52 of our trip.

Day 50 was a long and very tiring day for our riders. It started out fairly cool in the morning as it tends to here in the mountains, but warmed up a lot during the day to the point of it getting very hot.

Taking pictures for a sponsored post for one of our donors BarUeat

We met some more horses during the ride and spent a good 20 minutes hanging out with them.

We had to do some interstate riding which is generally way less bad than it seems. Wide shoulder and beautiful Montana views made it not only bearable but even pleasant in its own special way.

During the last 20 miles we had to face a very long ten mile climb. It was not particularly steep but due to its length it really took a toll on our riders, especially combined with the heat.

Since it was a long and tiring day, we did not do much after we were done with riding. We took showers at our stayover at the Abundant Life Fellowship Church and enjoyed our dinner that consisted of donated pizza (thanks to Max).

Day 51 was a short mileage day at only about 55 miles. It was a very nice ride with pretty views and very little uphill riding. We hung out with some more horses on the way (of course) but then at only 20 miles away from our destination we all had stop riding to wait out a thunderstorm passing nearby. It was quite an impressive view to see the lighting above the mountains and none of us were particularly mad at the additional rest time.

One of the groups got to wait out the storm at a ghost town and heard a lot of local Montana ghost stories.

Channeling the Montana spirit

After the ride, about a half of the team decided to go out for dinner to a famous burger place near Butte. They had more than 100 burgers on the menu so we of course felt the urge to visit. It turned out to be a longer drive and a longer wait for our food than expected but was a fun outing nonetheless.

Day 52 unexpectedly turned from a long 80 miles ride into a 20 miles ride for us. We found out that the roads we were supposed to ride on had lots of construction and would be unsafe for us to ride on, so we ended up shuttling 60 miles towards Missoula. Shuttling takes a long time, so we spent the entire first half of the day either packed in the van with all our bikes or waiting around.

A lot of waiting around at gas stations was involved

The last 20 miles that we actually got to ride went smoothly but made us appreciate the fact we did not have to ride 80 miles given how unbearably hot it was.

We got to our Missoula stayover at the Atonement Lutheran Church fairly early at about 2 PM which gave us plenty of time to get lunch and ice cream as well as do the much needed laundry. Our stayover kindly provided dinner for us both on day 52 and 53 which was our rest day, so huge thanks to them!

Matt breaking records of bag carried at the same time (11!)

Exploring Missoula

Day 53 was our Missoula rest day. We spent the day going for a team rafting trip, getting a tour of the Adventure Cycling association, and resting before continuing our long journey tomorrow :)

-Valerie

Days 48 and 49: Yellowstone to Ennis MT to Bozeman MT

Hi everyone! Welcome to days 48 and 49. We started out the day camping, so it was a cold and somewhat miserable morning for us. To make ourselves feel a little better we had a nature art exhibition. Some of the art pieces were a little more abstract than others but as we all know art can take many different forms.

Soon after we started biking we exited Yellowstone and crossed the border into Montana.

The first half of the day we biked through a very scenic area of the Gallatin National Forest. We were biking by a lake surrounded by mountains on both sides. Combined with the fact it was a slight downhill almost the entire way, it was a very pleasant ride.

In the middle of the day we stopped by the visitor center of the Earthquake Lake. The lake was created after a powerful earthquake caused a landslide in the area forming a dam on the river. It was a unique and interesting place to visit and the visitor center won our hearts by selling t-shirts for less than 10 dollars.

The rest of the day we were biking on a country highway surrounded by some beautiful mountain views. It was quite a long and tiring day so we were very grateful at the end of it to have hot showers and dinner provided by the very nice staff of the Madison Valley Presbyterian church of Ennis.

For day 49, our ride dedication was for Anna and Edgar. Anna and Edgar are both cancer survivors and members of the ACS chapter at UIUC and we were lucky enough to do portraits with them at this year’s Relay for Life. Most of our portraits are with older people, so getting to do portraits with students was very unique and memorable. We admire their strength and willingness to share their stories with us!

The ride on day 49 was pretty short at only 53 miles. We also did not have a lot of climbing so we finished the biking for the day early at about 1 PM. The highlights along the route included…

Mountain views…

Making new friends…

Snacks…

Veronica finally finding a small license plate she’s been dreaming of finding…

And whatever is happening right here.

After getting to our stayover and getting lunch, we decided to visit the Montana Grizzly Encounter which home for rescued grizzlies. We got to see a 3 year old grizzly bear named Max, make some jokes about our own Max from the team, and take a picture with a bear statue.

In the evening, we all headed for dinner to a Mexican Food truck which was payed for by the I4K alum Nick who joined us for several days of our ride in Wyoming and Montana. The place was probably not quite ready to serve 23 people at the same time, so dinner took a long time but was still delicious. Thank you Nick for dinner!

-Valerie

Days 45 and 47 - DuBois WY to Grand Tetons to Yellowstone

Hi everyone! Welcome to days 45 and 47. These 2 days were probably the most exciting we have had on the ride so far. We got to visit two (two!) national parks in these two days and saw lots of beautiful views.

Our Grand Tetons day started out with a bit of climbing which was not particularly hard however, especially given the beautiful views we got to enjoy on the way. We were first biking through the Teton National Forest, and even though it was only a small taste of what we would see before actually seeing the Tetons themselves, it was still an incredibly beautiful ride with tons of nice views.

We had a very long downhill leading up to the Tetons National Park entrance during which we got to see the Tetons in all their glory from afar. The first view of the mountains left us absolutely speechless and amazed, and we all agreed that they do not look real because of how breathtaking they were. The mountains were real however, as we got to learn as we got closer and closer to them.

The Grand Tetons are located in a flat valley, so the second half of the ride was not particularly strenuous, just slightly monotonous as it tends to get on flat roads.

In the last few miles of the ride as we were getting closer to our campsite, we stopped by a lake where we had an incredible view of the Tetons. Some of us tried to take a swim in the lake just to find out very soon after that was not allowed. Oops.

We got to our campsite fairly somewhat early at about 6 PM and after setting up our tents headed over to take showers. We had the traditional I4K camping dinner - hot dogs and beans - and then sat by the fire and chatted for the rest of the evening. The next day (day 46) was our Grand Tetons rest day, so we spent it exploring the park a little and, of course, resting from biking.

Day 47 was another exciting day as we were biking into and through Yellowstone. We got to the park in the first 10 miles and after taking some pictures with the park sign and getting a portrait with a person we met there, we headed into the park.

Yellowstone views did not impress us quite as much as the Tetons views did but we still saw some very picturesque spots along our route.

By the middle of the day we got to the main Yellowstone attraction we had on our route - the Old Faithful geyser. We got to watch it erupt along with an overwhelming crowd of people around us. After biking through mainly small rural towns and areas being surrounded by so many people was somewhat weird for us.

During the second half of the route we stopped by the famous Yellowstone hot springs including the Grand Prismatic Spring. Most of us agreed that the crystal clear hot springs water looked very tempting to either swim in or drink, but unfortunately it is generally frowned upon in national parks.

It was a long day, so we only got to our campsite at about 7 PM. After setting up the tents, we were treated with a dinner donation from an awesome I4K alum - Kathy Powell. Ellen Butler and the 2014 I4K team also donated lots of snacks for our team. Biggest thanks to them all!

-Valerie

Days 43 and 44: Thermopolis WY to Riverton WY to Dubois WY

Hi everyone! Welcome to days 43 and 44. After our camping day it has been hard to catch up on the journals, so combined two-day journal awaits.

On day 43 we had an absolutely beautiful first 20 miles of the ride. We were riding down a canyon with a river on our right the whole time. We saw some beautiful views of the canyon and enjoyed the slight downhill it offered.

Meanwhile, van driver Rick and his passenger for the first 20 miles Peter did some adventuring and exploring of their own.

The rest of the riding for the day we were going through a more typical Wyoming scenery consisting of desert-y rolling hills, but did not have to chance to get tired of it too much since we only had to ride for 56 miles.

Because it was such a short riding day, we got to our stayover early at about 1 PM. That left us plenty of time to unwind, do laundry, and get food (multiple times).

In the evening we decided to have a team movie night. The votes for which movie to watch split very quickly however, so we split up into two separate rooms to watch two separate movies. So much for team bonding, I guess. The superior movie watchers watched “It Chapter Two” while the less cool people watched “Dazed and Confused".

On day 44 we had quite a bit more biking to do, a whole 76 miles. The weather blessed us and for most of the day it was cloudy and warm but not hot. The first half of the ride was not particularly scenic, but some of the riders did get to explore an abandoned building.

About half-way through the day we also stopped at a gas station where we met the sweetest, friendliest dog I have ever met in my life. We did not know her name, but we most certainly did pet her extensively despite it.

The last 20 miles of the ride we got to appreciate some amazing views of the mountains. We even got a sneak peak of the Grand Tetons in the distance. We are biking there tomorrow and having a rest day there afterwards. Lots of our riders have said that the Grand Tetons were their number one thing they were excited to see on the trip, so finally getting to see them even from afar was pretty special for us.

We got done with the ride at about 3 PM, so we had plenty of time again to explore the town (which in this case apparently means mounting various jackalope statues).

As mentioned, tomorrow we will be biking into the Grand Tetons and staying there for our rest day. It will undoubtedly be very fun and exciting, but unfortunately it also means we will likely not have service or internet again. Which means, no journals will be posted for the next two days, or three if the no-service area also happens to continue into Yellowstone. I hope nobody gets too bored or sad in the meantime, but if you do, I am sorry :( More journals await in the very near future :)

-Valerie

Day 42: Meadowlark Lake WY to Thermopolis WY - downhill day

Hi everyone and welcome to day 42! It was another exciting fun day for us, but first we have a very special ride dedication.

Today we rode for Sam’s grandma Kath. Here is a little bit about her from her family’s words:

She lived life to the fullest and took joy in every day. She would have loved that Sam is on this adventure and would have told everyone what her granddaughter was doing! She died from uterine sarcoma that was not detected with testing before it had spread to her lungs — it is a rare cancer so more research on cures and earlier signs of detection would be a blessing.

Riding for Sam’s nana Kath on day 42!

The day started off cold for us, but we tried to pack our tents away quickly and then warmed ourselves up with a group hug session.

After the hugs, we were ready for a scenic ride ahead of us. The biggest advantage of climbing 40 miles up a mountain is… going downhill the next day of course. We had almost 20 miles of downhill riding first thing in the morning and got to enjoy some absolutely breathtaking views on the way. There is very little in life that can compare to rolling down a side of a mountain on your bike for an hour straight, and very few words that can describe the feeling. But, I would describe it as a once in a lifetime experience that is certainly worth biking all the way across the country for. Even the coldness of the morning could not spoil the experience for us.

After we exited the Bighorn National Forest, the landscape changed quickly and quite drastically. We went from mountains covered in dense forest and dozens of mountain streams to yellow, dry, treeless hills. We also got to go on some very scenic downhills and enjoy this very different kind of natural beauty.

By the end of our riding for the day, the weather heated up quite a bit so we couldn’t wait to get to our stayover and escape the 95 degree heat.

Midday van naps

Once we got to Thermopolis, we went to experience their famous hot springs and take showers all in one go. The general review of the hot springs was: too hot and too smelly.

Afterwards we decided to explore the town a little bit, but quickly realized that there is not much to do or see in a small town on the Fourth of July of all days, so pretty much nothing was open except for a fireworks stand.

Back at the stayover we decided to indulge in one of the most American traditions - eating way too much pie. Also known as a pie eating competition. It was over quickly but the photos that came out of it were very much worth it.

The reigning champion of the 2022 I4K pie eating competition!!!

The reigning loser of the 2022 I4K pie eating competition

In the evening we indulged in some fireworks in the middle of a Wyoming field. We were only slightly concerned about causing permanent damage to ourselves and/or the field, but everything turned out just fine.

Right before bedtime we also got to see the town’s fireworks to end this great day on a high note.

-Valerie

Day 41: Buffalo WY to Meadowlark Lake WY - climbing day

Hi everyone! Welcome to (late) day 41. We spent the day entirely in a National forest, so no phone service or internet could be found for miles around. It was a good social media cleanse, but not so good for posting journal entries :(

Before talking about our epic ride for day 42 however, I would like to share a little bit about the person we dedicated this ride to on this day. Our day 42 ride was dedicated to Tom - a dad of one of the I4K riders from years 2010/2012. Tom is a long time supporter of our organization and he finished his 38-day radiation treatment for prostate cancer very recently. He was very excited to see some of our riders when they were passing through Chicago suburbs in June and to cheer them along on their journey to San Francisco. Here’s a quote from Tom concerning his cancer experience: “Do yourself and your loved ones a favor and get an annual physical!”

Thank you Tom for the support!

Tom and his daughter!

Day 41 was one of our hardest riding days so far. We had only 40 miles of riding to do, however about 30 of them were all uphill O_O It was certainly a challenge even for some of our stronger riders, but an incredibly rewarding one nonetheless.

The first 8 miles were the steepest climb but since we all were still full of energy, they went by almost painlessly.

Couldn’t star riding without being silly for a second of course

Getting our first proper views of the Bighorns

Our first rest stop was right next to the entrance sign to the national park. It had a stunning view right behind it (one of many we got to see on this day).

The second stretch of climbing brought more struggle with it, but also more amazing views. We took plentiful stops to take pictures as well as to catch our breath.

The third stretch of climbing brought us to a very entertaining sign that the girls in particular had lots of fun taking pictures with.

…followed by some more climbing which was becoming slower and slower with every passing mile as we were becoming more and more fatigued.

Finally, we made it to the very top of our climbing! I had never been as tired as I was on top of that hill, and yet I also never had felt more accomplished and proud of myself as well as all of my teammates for completing such a hard day of riding. It felt like the biggest privilege to see these beautiful views from our bikes.

We also got to play with some snow at the top of the mountain!

Action shot

Trying to see Alma Mater from up there

After our final rest stop of the day, we had a 7 mile stretch of riding left. Thankfully, they were almost all downhill which gave a much needed break for our quads and knees. Our stayover for the night was nature herself, so we had tents to set up and fire to start. We had hot dogs and beans for dinner, made our clothes smell like campfire, and saw multiple moose around our campsite. So, overall, it was a pretty fun camping evening.

Pre-dinner dinner

Tent life

-Valerie

Day 40: Gillette WY to Buffalo WY

Hi everyone! Welcome to day 40 of the ride. Today was filled with beautiful views of the Bighorn Mountains and more grassy hills. The riders were on the interstate for the entire day which was worrisome at first, but ended up much better than most people expected.

Just regular morning shenanigans

We love a big shoulder♡

First views of the Bighorn Mountains

Proof of the interstate riding

Cal and Matt H decided to bike across the country on a different kind of bike

The biking for the day ended early, so we had plenty of time afterwards to relax, take naps, go for ice cream, and prepare mentally and physically for tomorrow’s day of climbing.

-Valerie