Bittersweet

This made us want to cry!! We're sitting at the airport hotel in Kansas City, when I get a phone call from one of my best friends, Caleb! I had gotten a message from him earlier that day saying that he had a surprise for me! I was excited to hear about the surprise and even more excited to tell him about how we were coming home!

My excitement quickly turned into a hole in my stomach when Caleb told me about the surprise! Caleb and a lot of our friends back home had thrown a fundraising party at my house called "Mike across America!" They raised about $600 for us to continue our journey because they knew we were running short on cash! WOW! I was heartbroken, speechless, sorry, thankful, and just absolutely blown away! It was too late! We had booked plane tickets, the bike was being shipped, and we were sitting in a hotel waiting on our flight! :( If we had only known ONE day sooner Candace and I would still be on the bike heading toward Virginia! From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!!!! :) Even though it didn't work our as planned, we are both extremely grateful to have such amazing friends and family!

And, just wanted to thank EVERYONE who followed our story! Thank you for the support, prayers, care packages, kind words, motivation, and kindness! We definitely couldn't have done any of this trip without y'all!

Until our next adventure,
Mike and Candace

We're HOME!

Well, here it goes...

We made it all the way to Missouri and were faced with a decision! Here were the choices: 1. Continue on and make it to Kentucky (or as far as we could get until Oct. 11) and make it there SUPER DUPER broke (like $0 for both of us), or 2. Take two free buddy passes provided by my wonderful aunt and uncle and come home broke! They also agreed to pay for the shipping of the bike in this deal! So, we chose option #2.

Now the story doesn't end here! In order to get to the airport we had to bike 120 miles off-route to get to the Kansas City, MO airport. We didn't care one bit! We were soo pumped about coming HOME! So, we started our trek to the airport! We make it about 50 miles and then our route turned into an Express Way! Yeah, ppl were flying by us going about 70 mph so we took a break at the nearest gas station! Here, we tried to arrange for some type of shuttle/taxi to come and pick us up because it was just too dangerous to keep riding on that Highway! As I was talking on the phone, a young girl overheard my conversation and offered to give us a ride! It was her, her brother, and her dad! They were heading to Kansas City for a NASCAR event! Lucky us! :) So we made the 120 mile trek no problem! That night Mr. Kirby put us up in a hotel because it's hard to find a campground in the middle of Kansas City!

The next morning we woke up and headed to the bike shop where my sister had arranged for us to take the bike to have it packaged and shipped. It was about 30 miles away on the very north side of the city. This day was tough...if we could only ride our bikes on the Interstate... So we zig-zaged through town until we made it to the bike shop! This was the last time we would get to ride Miss America :(

Two more weeks!

The coolest part about Kansas happens to be in a small town of about 300...Toronto! Here we met a really cool lady named Courtney! She owned a little restaurant where stopped to have dinner that night! We were starving and had pedaled 65 miles that day! Well, she didn't take plastic and I had about 4 bucks. We were so depressed...this was the ONLY place to eat in a town with no ATM's! So, long story short, she let us eat for free and told us to mail her a check when we get home! And the food was absolutely amazing! Chicken parm, salad, pasta, and unlimited bread sticks! It's the best food we've had all trip! What a cool lady!

Now we're hoteling it up in Pittsburg, KS! Tomorrow we'll be in Missouri!

And, we wanted thank my Mom and Dinkel for our care packages!!!! :) Thank you sooo much!

Land of the South Wind...Kansas!

Well, we thought we would like Kansas, but it turns out that it really blows...no pun intended! Seriously, the wind blows from the south at around 20-30 mph! This has made our days somewhat miserable! This state takes forever to get through! We're so close to Missouri we can taste it! Nothing too exciting has happened here...we're both starting to feel home calling more and more each day! We're running out of time and money so Kentucky looks like the end of the line for us! Still, that's two more states to go so keep checking this thing! :)

Oh, and we're in Toronto, KS!

Much love,
Candy & Mike

Care Package

Hello from bumble-F Colorado! We're almost to Kansas! If anyone would like to send a care package, please send it to:

Comfort Inn & Suites
4009 Parkview Drive
Pittsburg, KS 66762

Make sure you put 'hold for guest' and then my name...or something to that affect!

Send any type of camp food, cliff bars, candy bars are great, oatmeal...anything really! We're just greatful that y'all have offered to send stuff! We'll prob be there in a week or so...maybe a little bit longer! :)

Our Moms! :)

First of all, we'd like to give a big thank you to all of our family, friends, and kind strangers who have helped and supported us on our journey! :) We most definitely couldn't have gotten this far without you! But, a special thanks goes out to Susie and Ann!! (our Moms) We love you and miss you and can't wait to see you when we get home! Thank You!!!!! :)

TLC

We made it to Pueblo, CO! When we first entered Colorado it was rainy and cold! Then, more rain and more cold! The first night we stayed in a town called Encampment. This was actually still in Wyoming, but right on the border. We camped out behind the local library. It rained on us for some of the night, but it was a free place to stay! The second night we camped out in the city park in a town called Walden. This was our first official night in Colorado. Another free night! It rained on us all night, but the following morning made up for it. We went to breakfast at a local cafe and had the best cinnamon buns ever! They were as big as our faces and tasted amazing! I ate 2 of them! Definitely picture worthy! Don't worry, we got one! Next town, Kremmling! It rained on us for some of the day, but the bottom didn't fall out until that night! But, we got to camp again for free! We met up with some guys riding the great divide route who had gotten separated from their group! Long story short, the 3 of them paid for 7 and they couldn't find the other 4! He let us camp under his name and we got in for free! We then made it to Silverthorne, which is right next to Breckenridge! As some of you may know, we have friends that live close to here that we visit during the snowboard season! They were happy to house us again...thanks David, Sunny, and Kimber! :) The next day we hung out in Breck for a little and ate lunch! They were having October Fest so this was the place to be! It was sunny and beautiful outside! A perfect day to make it over Hoosier Pass! That night was made it to a town just on the other side of the pass called Fairplay! Here, we ran into a cop who pointed out to us another free place to camp! We actually weren't suppose to camp there, but the officer said it would be ok! Our tent had ice on it the next morning...Yeah, it was cold! The next day we did 75 miles to Canon City. Finally some warmer weather! We're finally out of the mountains! Here we camped out behind a local bike shop! After running into the owner randomly on the street, he told us we could camp there for free! That's a lot of FREE right? We made it through all of Colorado without having to pay for a place to sleep! All of our money continues to go towards food! Haha! Now, I'm blogging from our hotel room thanks to Megan and Brent! :) We seriously can't thank you enough...and so do the people we encounter! Haha...our first showers since Rawlins, WY!

So Miss America is now at Vance's Bicycle World in Pueblo, CO getting some TLC! Her rear wheel is cracked and she's getting some new tires! Anyways, the shop owner, Vance, is the nicest guy ever! Seriosly, what a great family! And he's totally going out of his way to get our bike fixed! He had the parts overnighted and he's coming in on his day off to fix the bike so we can hit the road on Wednesday! Oh, and his daughter gave us a ride to the hotel tonight so we could leave the bike at the shop! Oh, and Vance said he would bring the bike to us at the hotel when he's done! I told you...great people! Thanks Vance! :)

So we have to take a day off in Pueblo so Miss America can get some TLC!!