Cruisin for a Cause

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

THE BOYS HAVE DONE IT....SAN FRAN TO NEW YORK!!!!!! WE CLOCKED OUT 4,119 MILES AND ALMOST 4 MONTHS OF WILD ADVENTURES, INSIRATIONAL/LOVING/INCREDIBLE PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY, AND MEMORIES TO LAST A LIFETIME.
WE WILL BE COLLECTING DONATIONS FOR THE CAMBODIAN SCHOOL WE DID THIS FOR, SHCC (www.shcccambodia.org) .IF YOU WOULD... LIKE TO DONATE EITHER SEND A PERSONAL CHECK TO CHRIS MORAN @ 10 BREWSTER HILL ROAD, BREWSTER NY 10509 OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE A TAX WRITE WE ARE GETTING DONATIONS RAN THROUGH WWW.IAMCAMBODIA.ORG (PLEASE BE SURE TO SPCIFY THAT YOU WANT TO DONATE THE MONEY TOWARDS 'CRUISING FOR A CAUSE' IN EITHER THE 'SUBJECT' OR CHECK 'MEMO')
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ALL YOUR CONTINUOUS SUPPORT, BE PROUD OF THIS AMAZING COUNTRY WE LIVE IN AND "UNDERSTAND OUR NATION BY EMBRACING OUR NEIGHBORS".

LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!

PEACE,LOVE,UNDERSTANDING, AND A MILLION THANK YOU'S
CHRIS, STETSON, AND MIKEY

July 8- July 13

2010-08-19T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll...so since the last time we have spoken we have slept outside of more Wal Marts and this time we ran into two awesome girls named Tiffany and Jennifer Bender. They were outside ofthe Mart raising money for a 3 day breast cancer walk. They hooked us up with ribbons, free pizza coupons and great convo. If you ...would like to support them please go on The3Day.org andsupport the team: Bender's Boobie Savers.....come on people we all love boobies, lets help them flourish as they once did.

Riding out of DC we met up with DENIEGO who was still living in Towson....we were pretty tired that night so we just hung out in his apartment and had some laughs. From Towson we rode up to Philly and along the way we saw a few kids playing soccer in the backyard. Being it was the end of the day we stopped off to ask... the family if we could camp out in thier backyard and play some soccer in the meantime. The Herrera's were more than welcoming and those guys gave us a run for our money....we were TIREEEED!! Good playing guys. When we got to Philly we were blessed with an open apartment that was all ours for the weekend and it was soooo much fun...thanks a bunch McD! Now we are in Marltown staying with Tiff and we will ride to PRINCETON tomorrow. I will be sending out messages to everyone about our last day of riding throughout Manhattan and our finish line at Governors Island!

The end is near!! We have had a blast coming up the east coast and seeing all our friends has been amazing. Rightn ow we are staying with Chris's friend Tiff from college. This weekend, Tiff took us all over philly showing us the sights and on sunday we hopped in her car and headed for the ATLANTIC! We met up with t...he wonderful Frazer family in Ocean City and enjoyed the day with them. For the fourth of July we were in DC with the infamous Daniela who came down from NY to enjoy the show with us. Her brother David lives in DC and he took care of us like nobody else. He took us out for meals the whole time we were there and provided us with free drinks at JR'S the whole time.....the man is a legend.

June 23, 2010

2010-08-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Cycled on Interstate 40 for another 30 miles and then took some back roads to Greensboro, NC where Stetson's Uncle Steve, Aunt Karen and cousin Kim live. Riding into the gorgeous, old colonial- brick style- development we let them know the 'maddogs' were in town with loud howls and barks. We got to the house and met th...e awesome family and Stets got a big suprise at the door....HIS DAD!
Stets was sooooo happy to see everyone and we were really excited to meet everyone. The rest of the day was spend telling stories, eating an INSANE FEAST that the macaroni man himself- Uncle Steve- made up. There was loads of past, meatballs, sausage, brashole (sp), and the infamous moose cack.....amazing meal.
At night time we had some savage games of 99 played, the beers were flowing, the cheaters were cheating and the laughs were endless....

Thank you so much for a great time in Greensboro Hundgen's!!!!!!

Hangin with the Finest Folk!!

2010-06-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

We are over the mountains in Asheville, NC!! Rode out of Knoxville feelin goooood. It is a mecca for nice people who love life. Our last morning was spent with Edye and friends eating breakfast where the table chatter was more than interesting. My favorite quote from the morning was "everything is good in moderation.......except for moderation". This eclectic group of interesting folks gathers every saturday morning for breakfast downtown and I felt especially honored to be able to share it with them....thanks guys. After that we rode over to TVB bike shop to meet up with Eric and his crew and they took excellent care of us. We ended up hangin with them all day and didnt start riding till nearly 3pm. Hollie and Dalton were cycling addicts like ourselves so we loved chillen with them. Daltons Mom stopped by and bought us all sandwhiches, schwinggg they were soo good; thanks Daltons Mom!

That night we passed a music festival called Dexfest but they wanted 45 bucks for the night. Whattt, nooo way jose....we went down the road and camped outside the Elswick Motel for free. The next morning we rode for the mountains!! In the sweltering 90 degree heat, with only 12 gears and no toe straps, Mike the Madm...an Moran kicked some appalachian ass!! He kept up with us the whole way and I was sooo impressed and proud of him; those mountains were steeep!

After a 50 mile day through the steep slopes we rode into Longnecks bar for a cold brew. This turned into a day off and a milestone on the trip. First, we met Susan, a local welding teacher who drove us around town and showed us her welding shop and all of the great art they were producing there....veryy cool stuff. ... Afterwards we came back to the bar where we were planning on camping out for the night. Well, the owners Hank and Terry decided that we needed to see more of the mountains and they were gonna be the ones to show us. So off we went back to their property which is bordered by three different national forests (I am not giving away names because the places we saw were so REMOTE and breathtaking and I just dont feel like sharing). That night, we sat out on the porch sharing stories and laughing till the sun came up....soo much fun. Hank and Terry have had a lifetime of adventure and travel and we really learned a lot from what they had to tell us.

The next day we woke up at 2 and started up the mountain on the ARGO! An amphibious 8 wheeled vehicle that can go just about anywhere I could imagine. Hank was a wildman on that thing!! Later in the day, we hopped in the car to go check out (secret spot name)....possibly the most pristine and beautiful wilderness I ...have ever seen....and my camera was dead, efffff. Ill be back. Terry made yet another amazing meal for us that night and we all hit the sack relativley early. Now we are in Asheville enjoying the beer capitol of the US! We met Karen (awesome human being) in a hotel parking lot and she was all like "you guys can crash on my hotel room floor!" and we was all like "wooohooo". So we all went out last night and met some more awesome humans and had an awesome Asheville night....simply ahhhsome!

Today, we lounged around the pool and decided to stay one more night here thanks to Katie Moran. We have been saving her "meal or sleep" voucher since calinfornia and we figured Asheville was the perfect spot to cash in. Thanks Katie!! Tomorrow we ride and in a few days we will be in Greensboro to see my Uncle Steve..., Aunt Karen and little cousin Kim......CANT WAIT!!

Meeting up with old friends ....

2010-06-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Just got booted off interstate 40 by one of Tennessee's finest. What to do what to doo?!

Annd thank you officer for kicking us off the highway. We just had a sweeet downhill. At the bottom we stopped for directions at a gas station where I won 50 dollars on a scratch-off. Beeeyaaahahaha

It is hott! Great riding though. Today we rode into Knoxville, tn...greatt city. We immediately bumped into this nice guy named Eric who happened to own a bike shop close by. He offered to buy us a round and share some tour stories where we met up with Chef John again! We met John about 6 weeks ago in nowhere, NM wh...ere he was motor cycling to Ut. We loaded our gear into his truck and came back to his house and had some serious laughs with his wife Jennifer. Thanks guys, you are fabulous (and your couch is nice too) goodnight!!

BONNAROOOOOOO!

2010-06-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

YEAAAA we got the hook-up- we're working at BONNAROOOOOOO!

On the roooad again! We rode into Bonnaroo without tickets and no money to buy them at 250 bucks a pop. After talking to dozens of vendors, workers and patrons we finally got to Sharif, the man who could make it happen. He signed us up for volunteer work and we officially became the three luckiest people at one of the ...largest music festivals in the country. Kudos to Chris, he really made it happen. Where there is a will, there is a way!!

The bands we saw! Fig Turner, Lotus, Wale, Bassnector, Tenacious D, John Fogerty,John Butler Trio, Weezer, JAY-Z, Dr Dog, Blues Traveler, Regina SPECKTOR, Stevie Wonder, Crystal Method, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, LCD Soundsytem, Dave Mathews Band, The Entrance Band, Dropkick Murphys, Umphrey's Mcgee, Les Cla...ypool, The Flaming Lips, The Deadweather, The Black Keys, Goose Pimp Orchestra, Kid Cuddi. And they were all excellent...I can't wait for next year!

Americore! and MUUUUSIIIIIC

2010-06-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

And IN WALKS IN THE MORAN CLANN!! Chris' parents and younger brother flew in last week; it was so nice seeing them. They helped out the team for a day of HARD volunteering and they impressed everyone with their determination. And one of them stuck behind to finish the trip with us!!! Mikey the Mule Moran has decided ...to join us on the last 1000 miles of our trip!

The week spent with Americore helping out flood victims was tough! Hats off to these guys for all their hard work. A normal day started around 6:30 with around the house chores and loading up the trucks with tools. Everyone ate breakfast and packed lunch just to run out the door to get to work. We spent most of our ...time gutting out rotted houses and clearing debris. The day lasted till around 6pm usually where everyone met back at the house for a team meeting that usually lasted between 30 minutes and an hour. By the time we showered and ate dinner it was time to get to sleep and start it all over the next day!

Amazingly our week was filled with fun! Chris and got to spend two great days off with the team. The first day we went to a park and enjoyed frisbee, BAGGO!, and floating down the river. On the second day off most of the team went into Nashville to enjoy the music and see the sights. Myself, Slim Sadie and Renee st...uck behind at Harmony Landing Retreat for a day of relaxtion. We layed in the grass and enjoyed the sun. Then we went for a hike to the river and kayaked upstream about two miles, just to fall asleep and float back down - one of the most relaxing and peaceful days of my life.

MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC! Tennesee is filled with it! The most amazing jam session I have ever seen was at "The Red Tree Coffee House" in Kingston Springs, TN. The team travelled over there for a fundraiser party and it turned into an all out dance party! We danced to Victor Wooden on the bass, Eric Strutter on the guitar..., Patrick (from the band WAR) on the harmonica, a sax, a box drum and three amazing voices. As if that wasnt enough we made our way to a late night "picking party" where we listened to Chris Spiegel and friends pick away at their bangos and mandolins.....unreal.

Mikeys first day riding with us yesterday and we did 55 miles. He got two flats. It reminded me of our first days riding and how frustrating it was. Im glad hes on the trip with us, its new and fresh and it adds a whole new dynamic to it. Last night we stayed with a great couple named Eileen and Chris in Murfreesbo...ro, TN. Eileen made us an excellent dinner last night and a pancake breakfast this morning so we ar emore than ready to ride on to BONNAROO!! Although we signed up to volunteer there and they accepted us, we recieved a message yesterday saying that we missed the cut-off. WHATT!! We are riding down anyway and we wont take no for an answer. The line-up this year is incredible!

Wild Times!

2010-06-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

Jim then brought us back to his, ridiculously amazing, home in the woods where he showed us his Shitake mushroom farm, his ENORMOUS horses, and tranquill forest- via a all terain cart. Thanks soo much Jim, what an unforgetable experience!
We left Jims' and rode only 20 miles to a town called Mountain View, where we were... picked up at the end of a long dirt driveway by a woman, named Martha, from the Lions Club. We threw the bikes in the back of the pickup and she drove 2 miles deep into the Missouri wilderness. We came to a raging river and without hestitation Martha rips' through the river, only to come out on the otherside where there was a perfect looking log cabin house with butterflies everywhere and wildflowers 360 degrees....is this real?

PARADISE!! Marthas place was something out of a novel. 400 acres of prestine nature and fresh water springs. We stayed for two nights and spent the days hiking and looking for arrowheads. Our nights were filled with good food, arts and crafts, books, and lots of laughs. Leaving Martha's Magical Forest I knew I woul...d be back.........I have a feeling she knows it too. From there we rode east and did a roadside camp in Mark Twain Natinoal Forest - theres nothing like camping when nobody knows your there; its a little scary to. From there we rode on to Poplar Bluff to camp outside of a Country Market food store.....setting up camp in a parking usually turns heads and we had the chance to meet two awesome Missourians named Britt and Janelle - see you in NY guys!

KENTUCKY!! The scenery changed almost immediately as we rode into KT and we enjoyed two days of really beautiful riding. Our last night in Kentucky we were looking to catch some live music....with a small selection around the area we ended up riding an extra 10 miles into the night to get to a bar called Rips. WHATT...A JOINT! We met the owner Joey, who served in the Navy for 24 years, and he was more than interested in our journey. He took us around back to a house that he said was alllll ours for the night. It amazed me how welcoming Joey was and we had a wild wild night singing and dancing with the locals. Towards the end of the night Joey had the lay down the law and throw out two drunkards - one of the guys called the cops on him and the cops ended up arresting him instead...hilarious. We woke up late the next day and got out of there even later....but we had a long way to ride to see our main man and allstar AMERICORE team leader BUCKYY!!

The last time I saw Buck was in the Bangkok Airport, drinking beers and laughing over our adventures; that was nearly 7 months ago. We rode into Tennessee and finally made it to Americores headquarters in Pegram, TN. Seeing Bucky was amazing. He has been heading up an Americore volunteer team in Cheatam County, TN f...or the past month and they were doing great. Chris and I were excited to get to work helping out the flood victims but we didnt know what to expect or how we would react. The next day we caught a glimpse of the devastation and it was really heartbreaking. But when the team of volunteers went to work, everyones spirits lifted. We worked with the team on various projects throughout the week and each one was fulfilling in its own way. These young kids are from all over the country and what they are doing is trully special. Its tough to describe the homes we were in so when I get back I will let the pictures do the talking. An example of the damage is a house we worked on that was knocked off its foundation and floated about 50 yards into a riverbed - this was an 80 ft double wide house, twisted like a churro laying in a stream. The power of the flood seems so unreal.

Hello Missouri

2010-06-24T07:47:00.001-07:00

And Helllooo Missouri! We rode into Joplin yesterday where we spent the night at Zan's campground. We set up next to the river and Chris started fishing while I gathered wood and cooked some grub. Just as we were about to eat the rain started dumping down on us. Instant saturation. We scurried into the Alpine mans...ion and enjoyed our feast. After we ate we had quite possibly the most epic jam session on the trip accompanied by the sounds or raindrops on our tent and the local owls who wanted in on the music festival. Just as we lay our wet heads to bed it was time to get wet again. A friendly neighbor came by our site late at night to remind us that the river was a risin mighty fast. So we moved the tent to higher ground and saved the mansion from complete devastation and eternal wetness. Close call.

So we rode out of Joplin, Missouri and cruised into a small town called Willow Springs. We went into a YMCA to ask if we could throw up a tent and the girl pointed to a guy in a graveyard across the street and said, "Ask him, he pret...ty much owns everything in town..", score! We went to the graveyard and began helping this man lift and restores some of the headstones. He then said that we could sleep in a service station he owned across the street. We went into the old service station and the guys turned on the light and all around us were political campaigning posters....WENDELL BAILEY for Governor '92 / WENDELL BAILEY for Congress. Turns out we were sleeping in an ex United States Congress man's campaigning lair...SCORE!

He was the BOSS of Willow Springs, everywhere we went people knew him and he always made loud announcements about who we were....it was hilarious. He took us to his house where his wife baked us cookies, to his son, John,car dealership, and to his Lions Club meeting; where we met some great people!
At the meeting Stets... and myself put ourselves to work preparing dessert and man'ing the grill (square burgers?)- we were also the only one's man'ing cold beers haha. So at the meeting we told everyone about our trip and everyone was really supportive and excited for our journey, so excited they donated 230$ towards the school! While we were at the meeting we met a great woman named Martha and a really great guy named Jim. We spoke with Jim about the area and he explained to us that he had an Ultra Lite flying machine at the local small airport. We began speaking to him about it with gleam and excitement in our eyes and he picked up on it and said , "Would you want to go flying tomorrow morning?" our response "Does a bear poop in the woods?" That night we went to a local bar and spoke politics with an old hippie who was the real deal...huge protester in NYC during the 70's, had a husband who was followed by the CIA...REAL DEAL! She told us young freedom fighters to always fight for what is right and just and to GO FOR IT! Thanks Marcie
The next morning we got out of our dust covered sleeping bags and rode to the airport where we saw it glistening in the sun....no, not Jims huge white beard....the ULTRA LITE! The ultra lite is a huge hangglider with a 2 seat cart on the bottom, a propeller on the back and really cool helmets to boot....this thing was nasty.
Rock, Paper, Scissors.....shoot....victory! I was the first to go up with "Wildman Jim" from Missouri. I saddled up in the back seat, threw on my glorified baseball helmet and hit the runnway....10....15....20...25....GRRRRRRRR ZOOOOOOOOOOOM we had liftoff....500 ft, 1000ft, 1500ft and we were soaring over breathtaking... scenery. As far as the eyes could see were the greenest fields imaginable, green-red-and orange canopys, streams and rivers which looked like they were filled with diamonds and railroad tracks that stictched up the entire heavely ball which was below us....and then without hesitation Jim started corkscrewing us down, very fast, towards this beauty....ahhhhhh! We touched down and I was exstatic...WOOOOOWEEEEE what a ride! Eat your heart out Howard Hues!

Goodbye Kansas...

2010-06-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

Just as kansas was warming up to us it was time to leave. Our last two nights were well spent starting with the Hershey family. Mike and Melissa Hershey let us camp in their backyard and gave us plenty of firewood to keep us warm. Later in the night they came out to our fire where we shared some beers, a little wine... and a whole lotta laughs! Riding the next day was wet and we were relieved to come across "Frenchies" roadside restaurant. The owner, Steve and his staff were more than welcoming. They cooked us up some chicken noodle soup with mashed potatoes and green beans, brownies to wash it down, as well as some chili for the next day. ALL on the house. Crystal the waitress even let us shower up at her house. Thanks Kansonites!! .

Mad Max Mechanic's

2010-05-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we woke up and had our breakfast (Raisin Bran- in water...what have we been doin buying milk all these years?...stick with milk people) We rode out of Wichita on the first nice day we have had in Kansas and got 60 miles to a dirt road off of 400 east. We saw a small house flying their American flag high in th...e sky and we decided to stop in and ask them if we could throw our tent up on their property. We got about 30 yeards from the house and then we greeted by 4 Boxers...barking their heads off at these two crazy bikers from space....the owner, Carl, came out and called off his hounds and greeted up kindly. He told us thaat we could set up our tent and stay for the night. Then his friend/housemate, Dan, came riding in on a big tractor and asked us if we would like to have dinner with them....YES DEFINELTY! (woulda been more "Water Bran" otherwise).
We went in for dinner and 'boy' what a spread! They grilled up a bunch of buffalo burgers, 'one of a kind' buffalo sausage, french fries, homemade bread, pickles, and some cool-aid to wash it all down...Before dinner we all held hands and gave thanks to God for our new friends, food on the table, and safe travels; the...n we all dug in and spoke about a variety of things.

After dinner the Navy and Marine Vets, Carl and Dan showed us their projects in the garage...these guys are "Mad Mechanic's"....they could fix/ build almost anything, including a bad to the bone Volkswagen Trike (Think a motorcycle front with huge ape hanger handle bars with the back chassie of a mini corvette.....real mad max style)
We said goodnight to our new 'Road Angels' and slept great in our mansion tent....called Dan the Man Revis on his Birthday, where he was partying hard with his family on the 'Lord of the Dance' bus....sounded like a wild time.

Woke up at 8am to the dogs sniffing at our tent and then we saw Carl who told us that biscuits and gravy were on the stove for breakfast. We went in and they served us some killer biscuits with gravy....a real homecooked breakfast. The guys then gave us "The Expositors Study Bible" to take with us on our journey, we said goodbye to our friends and off we go...Thanks so much you guys!

Church dwellers

2010-05-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

We rode into Wichita and stopped into a image shop to get some photo's put on CD's. While we were in there the radio had a public service announcement saying that there was a tornado heading through the area. We did the most reasonable thing.... jumped on our bikes and headed to a street with all the churches on it.
We went into a bunch of church's (including the church of scientology....Tom Cruise was behind the front desk....he just kept screaming at us "show me the money"...."Tom, we don't have any money!". Anyways, we finally went into a United Methodist Church and a nice woman named Becky said we could sleep in the basement of the Church, where the Youth Center was....SWEEET!
We went and grabbed some dinner at a local pizza place (whats up Sabrina!) and the owner of the photo shop was there as well and he picked up our check...thanks Rick! Outside the weather was horrible....lightning, thunder, 70 mph winds and rain drops the size of grapes.....we didn't feel any of that cuz we were in the Methodist Youth Center; playing pool, drums (finallllly!!!!!, dam felt sooo good) and watching Monty Pythons Holy Grail ....Kansas is looking up

Wal*Mart crashin

2010-05-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

So we got into Pratt,KS and saw the all mighty grail...a Wal Mart superstore. We went into the magical superstore and let me tell you - "OH MY GOD, THE DEALS!!!"... it was seriously like the South Park episode (2 boxes of raisin bran, a family size box of s'more pop tarts, of course frozen burrito's and a frozen pizza) ...We asked if we could set up our tent behind the massive fortress and they said it was fine. After setting up we had our "Manager's Special" - almost expired- chicken in our tent and then we tried to pull a redneck's night out, so we went into the 'media center' of the store and set up two chairs in front of a t.v that was playing Avatar...they bagged us in the first 15 min with some ice cream on the way...
Headed back to the tent and passed out only to be woken up by our arch nemesis, the super powered sprinkler system....Stetson tried to slay the liquid beast with a plastic bag, only to have the bag rip and the water continue to soak our tent....it was a wet night

2010-05-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

2010-05-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Rode out of Vegas and didn't look back....ahhhh amaazing time. We rode 70 miles out of Vegas and slept in a desert valley on the side of route 15. We made ourselves a dinner of chili dogs and made sure our shoes were in the tent with us - scorpion/rattle snake territory...

Rode into Mesquite,NV and snacked on a rotissery chicken outside of a supermarket (savage) and then we champed it through the most gorgeous/dangerous roads we have been on so far...Virgin Creek Canyon in Arizona . The road was directly through a gorge of towering red rock mountains and bridges that went over sulfer yel...low streams...your sences were all over the place, not only because of the beauty, but also because the road had virtually no shoulder and it felt like it was International Trucker Day on that road....super sketchy but beauitful.We got into St. George,UT and asked around for a place to sleep and we scored a camping spot in one of the last places- a Mormon Church's backyard....cooked up more chili (this time with bacon...like 2 pieces- those cheap-skates) and hot dogs and passed out...only to be woken up @ 4am with our tent being smashed on all sides by the all too familiar sound of a high powered , Mormon, sprinkler system....thanks bishop Snow

While in St George looking for a camping spot we met the most wonderful woman named Lucy from Hurricane, UT. Not only did she feed us and put a roof over our heads, she provided us with a vast array of information and supplies! Last summer Lucy rode cross-country so it was wonderful to hear everything she had to say.... Her spirit lifted us up and we left the next morning happy as can be. Thanks Lucy! We were headed to Zion National Park and it took forever because we kept stopping for pictures. The ride up was spectacular and the park is even better! Last night we met a really cool group of girls from Colorado who couldn't find a campsite. In exchange for firewood we agreed to let them set up on our campsite where we had a whole lotta laughs. Today well be hiking as much as possible because tomorrow we gotta get riding!

APRIL 17th: Hiking in Zion National Park was outrageous! We ended our day at "Angels Landing" to get a glimpse of the entire canyon. Hike of a lifetime. While we were gone our neighbors witnessed a squirrel snooping around our camp. After investigating the matter we found a hole in our tent, and half a bagel missing! The suspect h...as yet to be found. Today we rode out of Zion (crying) to the little town of Kanab.

April 22nd: Get your mustache trimmers out cuz we are in New Mexico! Today we woke up to the loud sound of an air compressor. "What the hell is that!" Turns out we slept outside a gas station last night. Yesterday we somehow managed to ride 45 miles in a crazy sandstorm. Jay (see story below) hooked it up bigtime! He gave us a... place to crash, two awesome meals, REAL beer, and two boxes of power bars! Most importantly we now have another great friend we've meet on this trip; thanks Jay! So now we are in Shiprock NM hanging in a supermarket. Tonight we camp on the pavement again and tomorrow we leave the Navajo Reservation.

April 22nd: Following the trail of bones we came across some unusual prints. All the sudden a mountain lion jumped at us from the rocks ahhhh! Just kidding but we did see some big cat tracks and we followed them to see if we could get a glimpse of the elusive creature but no luck. We had a nice fire that night and enjoyed some s...weet tunes, the nighttime sky, and some barbecue chicken sandwiches. One of the best camp spots so far.

April 30th: So we stopped into the small town of Chama and decided to get a 'High Altitude beer' and as soon as we walked into the old saloon we were greeted by a friendly guy by the name of Cain. Cain was a wold traveler himself and we ending up making friends with him over some beers. He then offered us a spot on his property t...o camp... we ended up setting up shop in his barn to get out of the raging winds....later that night we went back to the bar and hung out with the local crowd...funny times, crazy convo' s and good music...perfect!

Left the barnyard and rode to the base of the Rockies pass we weretaking. We happened to run into a woman named Kelley (below) who let uscamp on her ranch for the night before we hit the "agro craig"--Thanks Kelley. Was achilly night, but we got up....slammed our recent favorite meal -de-frosted burrito's and washed t...hem down with peanut butter coveredpower bars, then we hit the mountain with gusto. We climbed for an hour and 20 min and conquered the beastlymountain....the NY boys showed no mercy . With battle cries and lots ofhooting we road the back end of the mountain reaching 49.6 mph and crossing out 1,500 mile mark...WOOOOWEEEEE , what a ride!

From there we took the old Santa Fe Cattle trail all the down 64 easttowards Taos. We had a 50 mph tail wind so we took out the top canvasof our tent and tried to have it pull us to Taos...in style...didn'twork out so hot...we started whipping, I got thrown from my bike andhad my chain crank rip into my leg...no style ...in that! On the way intoTaos we were riding and noticing these futuristic/mad max stylecommunities and we went into the EARTHSHIP Visitor center to check itout. WOW, how cool; houses made from all recyled materials(tires,cans,glass bottles), is solar/wind powered electricity, and usesgray water and black water for bathing and yearround greenhousesthroughout the adobe finished house....NO UTILITIES! So seeing that andgetting a cool tour was well worth it.

We got into Taos which is abirthplace of the hippie revolution in the 60's and not much haschanged from then...so many art galleries, book stores, great livemusic (Ten Pound Strap....awesome stuff, check em out....got my crazylegs flyin), friendly people and the all the buildings in town are inthe Pueblo Adobe style, ...so it's a great feel/atmosphere. We were putup in a Best Western by an awesome guy from Kansas named Ralph...peoplehave been soooo helpful and friendly on this trip...thank you soo muchRalph and Fam!

We made friends immediately with the bartender and her husband, Monicaand Matthew at the BW...good spirited people and def took care of us.Then the next night Mr./Mrs. Hundgen put us up in the hotel again forStetson's 22 B-day and also got us dinner and drinks (thanks a tonguys!...70 mph winds and forest fire on 64 eas...t wouldn't have been fun)So we went out on the town for Stet's b-day and got our dance on at alocal club....Then came back and jammed and hung out with two cool guyswho are backpacking around named MuD and Josie...these guys are reallydown to earth chums ,hardcore backpackers and have the machete's andarmy rationed foods to prove it...God speed boys, show no mercy! Timeto celebrate Stetsons birthday AGAIN tonight with a friend fromColorado, Andy.....twist my arm!

Fancy foot Chris nearly just stepped on a rattlesnake. A couple jazzy-fly moves and he was safe. Close call!

We had a great birthday weekend with our new friends Josie and Mud....great guys who love life and adventure. We also loved that Stet's friend Andy came and had a camping/ adventure weekend with us....weekend of close calls with rattlesnakes, good meals cooked over a fire, massive burrito's, some disc golf and an awesome waterfall hike in Cimarron State Park

We said our farewells to Andy and set up camp in 'Bear Country' Cimarron State Park and then we set up camp and went fishing for some dinner. We were able to catch 2 rainbow trout and also met an awesome couple named Nick and Debbie Perez who greated us kindly with a beer each, some bait that would work and also gave us two of their fish for dinner! We brought the fish back to camp, cleaned them and roasted them over the open fire with of course our beast friend Baked Bean and tortilla's.....mmmm fresh fish Taco's (still need some schooling Tommy, but it's getting there, watch out!) We ate like kings and then decided we needed to move camp because sometimes "kings" are a little messy and thats not smart in bear country...the end of the night was spent around a fire talking about philosophy and thoughts of life.

We left Cimarron and contacted our new friends Nick and Debbie. They told us to ride to their place for some supplies (MRE's and backpacker meals....soooo awesome) and some lunch. When we got there they hooked us up big time with military ration's, organic power bars, and a lunch of BUFFALO STEAK, mashed per-taters, corn and fresh cookies for dessert....soooo good.
Nick and Debbie saw us off with two shots of special Tequilla and limquats...eases the muscles.
We left their amazing home and went to the famous St.James Hotel which was freqently visited by famous outlaws and cowboys such as Jesse James, Davey Crockett, Clay Allison, Buffalo Bill,etc.....walking into old saloon you could still see bullet holes in the ceiling from when the wildmen use to get rowdy in the bar....feels good to be in cowboy country......YEEEEEE HAAAA!

Slept outside of a ice cream shop in Springer, NM and then we rode 130 miles in 6 hours 18 min to Boise City, Oklahoma! MILE 1726! We went into the 'Rockin 'A' Cafe' to greab a well deserved meal and we met the owner Mark and his wife Cindy. They greated us with some great South West hospitality and offered us their backyard for a place to crash for the night and a hot shower....woooow the softest grass in the world, grea nights sleep. We woke up and then we went back to the cafe for some breakfast and an interview for a local newspaper. Mark and Cindy picked up out breakfast and now we are heading off to Hugoton,KS.....time to chase some Tornado's...hopefully they don't chase us!

2010-04-14T23:48:00.000-07:00

Rode into Mesquite,NV, snacked on a rotissery chicken outside of a supermarket (savages....hide the women and children) and then we champ'ed it through the most gorgeous/dangerous road we have been on so far...Virgin Creek Canyon in Arizona . The road was directly through a gorge of towering red rock mountains and bridges that went over sulfer yellow streams - our sences were all over the place, not only because of the beauty, but also because the road had virtually no shoulder and it felt like it was International Trucker Day....super sketchy, but beauitful.
We got into St. George,UT and asked around for a place to sleep and we scored a camping spot in one of the last places- a Mormon Church's backyard....cooked up more chili (this time with bacon...like 2 pieces- those cheap-skates) and hot dogs and passed out...only to be woken up @ 4am with our tent being smashed on all sides by the all too familiar sound of a high powered sprinkler system....thanks Bishop Snow for the blessing.

2010-04-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

So I found out Freddy Revis and Jarett Lena were in Vegas! I got in touch with Freddy with the help of big bro, Artie-man, and he told me they were staying at Jarett's brother in laws- company's place, Red Rock Country Club (get all that...)
We double timed it over to the multi- million dollar country club and rode around the complex for 20 min before finding the house (thinking several times they were going to release the hounds on these two slum dogs on bikes). We finally found it and were greeted warmly by everyone in the house and the party began.
Going from MTV Camp's to MTV Cribs was mindblowing. Here we were in a multi- million dollar pad that had a swimming pool -with a swim up bar, a 8 person hot tub, fireplace outside, about 10 rooms, and 9 people who were ready to get wild "Vegas style"...
Hit the strip in a party bus and went to New York,NY Casino first (...eyyy I'm Walkin hir!!!)
We proceeded to milk the free drink as much as possible with video poker, then it was time take off the training bra and hit the black jack/craps table....lost 100$ DAMMMIT....training bra back on!
We all had a killer time and I settled my woes about losing 100$ (hey that like 5 days on the road here people) by soakin in the hot tub, looking at the lit up strip from a distance and thinking how Vegas is dangerously awesome.....Viva Las Vegas!

2010-04-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

Got into Vegas with the IPOD speaker blarrin BAD TO THE BONE and us
feelin ...great...stopped into a casino grabbed some dinner, called our
rest stop pal, Boats, and he said we could crash in his hotel room...ahhhh
yessssss. Got to the Sterling Casino and this place is
siiiiiiick....very rustic, huge fish tanks everywhere, and Boats has a
custom sink that produces cold beers....VIVVVVVA LAS VEGAS!
So after haning with Boats we called the girl Vicky who we met in Primm,NV and went to her place for a BBQ....and man what a BBQ! We had a feast of ribs, chicken, banana leaf wrapped fish, corn, and mac salad---just a little better then our normal diet of refried beans and bread.
At the BBQ we met some really awesome/fun people (WHAT UPPPPP VICKY, ADAM,PAULINE,HOLLY,BRICE,JEAN CLAUDE, AND PASCUALE.....and of course CHUNK!) Some of the guys there were even part of the circus and had a unicycle with them and let us try our hand at it (video to come soon....just remember beer and unicycles don't mix well children). Needless to say we had a bangup time that night.

Meeting some great people......

2010-04-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

After crashing with some amazing people like Debbie in Baker , Boats in Vegas, and the whole crew- Vicky, Adam, Jean Claude, Pauline, Brice and Pasqual near the strip...we are having the times of our lives.

All of the people we have met along the way so far have been amazing to us and our cause. After leaving Barstow we called a woman who we met in a thrift store and she told us that we could go to her house when we got to Baker...we got to Baker and rode to her place. Debbie came to the door with a big smile on her face, responding "MY N.Y BUDDIES!" she invited us in and let us shower, gave us some food and let us crash for the night....very cool woman and she also hooked us up with some good luck horseshoes for the bikes....hey were gunna need the luck for Vegas!

We then climbed 4,700 feet in elevation from Baker to Primm,NV. Along the way we got fed by 50 French people....they wouldn't take no for an answer and loaded us up with double stack chicken sandwiches, pizza, banana's....MERCI! We also spoke witha bunch of curious/interested people about the cause and met two guys named Boats and JT who told us to give em a call when we get into Vegas.

Finally broke into Nevada and stayed at Whiskey Pete's curtousy of Johnathan Hopp who is a driver who frequents the casino and had points to put us up in a room....thank ya Johnny Boy! We also hung out with him and a guys named Zeth (who hitchhiked 48 states when he was younger....kudos) We ate dollar hot dogs, played computer poker at the bar and got free drinks...4 am early morning breakfast came around and we got the big truckers $3 Mega sale Breakfast and we were served by an awesome bird named Vicky....we all had some laughs, felt the good vibes and she invited us to come to a BBQ when we get to Vegas...all riiiiiight!

TBC......

Miles: 745
Longest Ride: 70 miles (in 3:45:00)

2010-03-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

So the Stets-man- Stetson Hundgen met up with me in San Francisco on the 21st of March and we are now in Bakersfield CA. We started out from San Fran riding on mostly Route 1 down the coast. We have seen miles upon miles of stretched out shorline and have been camping at some great state parks...making food over the campfire, sleeping in a tent, riding strong and having the time of our lives! We've went into a bunch of really cool towns like Big Sur, Santa Cruz, Cayoucous, McKittrey and each one has its own charm and character. Big Sur was an amazing National Forest that we camped at in the middle of some redwoods, had great hiking, and met some laid back , fellow bike campers. Santa Cruz was a beach community that is famous for it's incredible surf, cool boardwalk , and awesome beach/view. Cayoucous was an old gold miners town that still had the same feel when we got there- one long strip of stores with houses on one side and the beach on the other. Immediatly we liked this place! Our campsite was about 7 miles south of that, but we say, ahhh what the hell, lets see what this towns all about. We went into a bar called the Saloon, (how fitting) and the outside of the place was just as it would be 100 years ago, it was cool. We went in, had some beers and they told us a great band was comming through the area that night, Cadillac Angels, and to stick around and check it out. We though about it for about 2 seconds and then went looking for somwhere to sleep, couldn't at the firehouse, a little sketchy in a parking lot, knocked on people's door, no dice....we found a hotel and got a nice shower on us and then hit the town, got some killer fish taco's and then went to the 'Saloon' and had ourselves a great night of live music and making friends. From Cayoucous we travled 2 days to McKittrey, along the way sleeping on someones property (really nice people who hooked us up with some water...where the meal lady? haha j/k ) and then from there we started heading East -FINALLLY. We headed on eastward and it turned from Hilly/mountaius areas, to flat rolling planes with yellow,blue,orange, pink flowers blossoming everywhere....its incredible. Then the terrain went 6 miles down (so much fun) and we hit the 190 person oil town of McKittreck. We got there and asked how much for a room in the Motel/Pennybar establishment and they said the Motel has been closed for 50 years hahaha, but we did ask about a cheesburger and got a dam good one. We started speking to the waitress,Liz, and asked her if there was anywhere to sleep in the area, she said the closest place was 17 miles further....daaaam nooo way after a 51 mile day in the sun. She then told us that the owner was on the back patio and he sometimes lets peeople crash there. We asked the owner, Mike, and he was all for it. He was a 69 year old man who took great pride in his place and loved the comradery of locals and rolling stones. We made friend with him and he said we could set our tent up in the patio area. We saw around a small fire, drinking beers, meeting a bunch of the locals (Fig, Dennis, and Artie- who was the man and let us use his place across the street to shower....and his dogs name was Buddy! )We ended up leaving the campfire, went into Mike's pride and glory- his Penny Bar. For 6 years Mike put 1 million pennies all over the walls, floor, bar, bathroom, pool table, fishtank. t.v...I saw a live cat with pennies on it! It was really cool, they bought us 3 beers and then at the end of the night the wifes owner Annie gave Stetson and myself 20$ each to put on # 33 in Vegas....LET IT RIIIIDE! We left our penny family and headed 40 miles flat to Bakersfield where we are now at a Days Inn, enjoying the soft bed, hitting up the hot tub---o sweet GOD, amazing, and then taking a day off tomorrow (5 consecutive days and then break....much needed) Other then that we are getting full use out of Continental Breakfast's....lunch....dinner, trying to be as smart as possible with riding safely, our bodies and how we use our time and energy effiently and are really having a great time. We have spoken to a lot of people about CRUISIN FOR A CAUSE, have a bunch of donation promises and we will have a donation page up on our new website, thanks Joe and Steve, within the next 2 weeks, so I will definetly let you all know when it's all set up and if you can donate the school would greatly appreciate it, the kids would benefit tremedously, and of couse we would be forever greatful. We also do updates on our facebook group. Please join and invite your friends- http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=375868683409.

Heading towards Vegas, which should take @ 4 days to get too...ahhh the hot Mohave, should be interesting haha....and feel free to post on the blog about anything....just to say hi, tell us about some great stroies you have had with traveling, let us kow where the wind is blowing you these days....Talk to ya soon!

A week to go babaaaaay.....

2010-03-16T23:09:00.000-07:00

SHIZZAAAAAAM! Whats up everyone? Alright, so the site is up finally and we will be leaving for the trip on the 21st of March from San Francisco.

We have been training hard lately and are ready to get out on the road and test our minds, bodies, and camping gear. We will be sleeping in National/State Parks, cheap motels/hotels/double wides, and on anyones couch/floor/bathtubs who will allow us to crash.....we're well trained in that category.

We can't wait to get the trip started so we can spread the word about the charity we're having for SHCC in Cambodia. The teachers and students are really excited for us to begin. We know that with your help and support the school will be able to afford teachers wages, supply the school with more, up to date, learning materials and purchase farmland/livestock- which will allow SHCC to become self sustainable for the future.

Currently I am working with an organization, IAMCAMBODIA, about ways to get money donated through the site to the school.......it's getting there. When it's all set I will let you all know. Till then, enjoy the stories, adventures, and pictures we will have for you on Cruisin4aCause.....let the madness begin!

Getting Geared up

2010-03-09T22:40:00.000-08:00

So I am in Northern California now, Eureka, staying with a friend that I met in Cambodia- Bryan. I have been working with his landscaping company for the past month, earning enough money to buy a bike and have some extra coins left over for food on the road....It is extremely gorgeous in these parts and I have been doing some camping at the State Parks, up scenic Route 1, and I have also been doing some jogging to get my self in shape for the massive undertaking which lies ahead of me, but DAM IT'S GUNNA BE AWESOME....Our Date of departure will be on March 12th from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fran....keep on checking out the site for funny and exciting stories, Im sure there will be plenty. Alright, talk to you soon.
Chris