DAY 23

Ray rode twice today, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. He was long gone by the time the 1st one of us woke up at 7:30, which means he must have started out at 6:30 or 7:00 am.

While he was out biking and Aaron & Cooter were still sleeping, Barbara hopped in the RV and went to a nearby Laundromat to wash the last couple of day’s worth of stanky clothes.  (Funky clothes do not keep well in a hot, 25 ft. RV!) 

By the time Barbara returned, Ray was back - and without any clean t-shirts to wear because they were in the RV, that Barbara was driving!  No matter - Cooter loaned him a pink/peach, size-medium T-shirt (If you don't know Ray and can't tell by the pictures - Ray's an XL - not to mention that gray is as wild as he gets for color).  He had us in hysterics laughing as he carried on absolutely sincere conversions , in his L.A. 'personal trainer' look with hotel staff and guests alike.   

To break up the day, the guys carted Barb off to the airport for her ride back to L.A. where she lives, then Ray went back out for another bike ride while Aaron & Cooter went to their favorite store on the road - Wal-Mart. Ray rode for a total of 56 miles today.  On two separate occasions dogs chased after him, but he outsmarted both of them and made one take a tumble in its' path when it found itself (knee?) deep in mud. (Sorry to all the PETA folks) The weather was partly to mostly cloudy with highs in the mid 80's so it wasn’t such a bad day for riding.

When Ray returned the guys all went to dinner, watched the ‘Shawshank Redemption’ on TV and hit the sack to try to get an early start on tomorrow.

DAY 24

Ray said farewell to Bloomington, Illinois at 8:45 this morning. The traffic was better today, but the roads were still undesirable having rather narrow shoulders to them. One thing that made ride more than bearable today was having the wind at his back, which hasn’t happened since we left Utah!

There were 75 miles of Soybean and Corn crops to gaze upon before reaching the Indiana border. One thing that gave Ray a break from the abundant Illinois scenery was the vanity plates on cars.  Nothing is better than to have some good reading material to amuse or confuse the brain while you’re biking.

Only mishap today was the bug that flew into Ray’s eye while riding. They thought it was rock except that it wasn’t a fossilized mass and it did in fact flutter away, but it hurt just the same.

Ray had a Sandwich for lunch, Pasta after his ride and oodles of Power bars and Bananas in between. He finished up with 112 miles in West Lafayette, Indiana with a total of 2,189 miles completed and 914 miles to go!

Dinner this evening was at the Bob Evans restaurant where sour cream and tartar sauce are apparently the same thing. Dairy Queen was attempted for some yogurt, but of course they only served ice cream, so the guys just called it a night.

We have heard and are encouraged by the number of people that have responded to the Community Ride and hope that even more will turn out for the final leg of the trip! We’ll return tomorrow with more information from the road!

DAY 25

Ray left to Lafayette, Indiana at 9:15 this morning. The wind was, as usual, disagreeable today, so Cooter drove directly in front of Ray to block the wind whenever the road conditions would allow for him to do so.

There was also an unexpected detour possibly due to road construction, we're not sure. The detour took the crew and Ray 15 miles off of Route 26, but they were soon back on track. Besides the detour, the ride today was pretty run of the mill for Ray, having the typical head winds and heat to endure. The Indiana roads haven't been the best, but our biker has had to manage worse. Also, the weather has been overall, very agreeable for the past 24 days! There were towns (Three - that we are aware of) that had major fires occur in them after we left. It was always the very next day after we left too. Suspicion began to arise in the team about who the Pyro was on board. But we do feel blessed because we've oftentimes, narrowly eluded not only the elements but terrible disasters.

It was a shorter day of riding for Ray. He rode for 99 miles to arrive in Portland, Indiana where he and the crew spent the evening. It took awhile to figure out where to stay. When the accommodations, phone calls and e-mails were all taken care of it was time for another late dinner which was found at the Ponderosa. It was an okay meal and I'm sure Ray is happy for any kind of food that doesn't resemble Power bars or Bananas.

Well, we'll be back with you tomorrow again only from Ohio! I do apologize for the sometimes sporadic journal updates and know that it is as frustrating for you as it is for me to be able to have current information. We have been greatly encouraged by the amount of people following along daily with Ray's progress across America.  So, until tomorrow - see you then!

DAY 26

We left this morning from Portland, Indiana at 8:30. As usual the roads were yuk and the head winds were ever prevalent.

We did have a new element thrown into the mix today however in the form of rain accompanied by cold winds. Ray 'Not a Slave to Fashion' Aramini had to don his neon yellow rain slicker to stay dry while riding. But, the rain quickly subsided and at mile 51 the skies were again sunny and the slicker was hastily removed.

During the rain, one of Ray's sprockets flew off and nailed him in the back of the leg, which left a mark. That's the 2nd such sprocket incident. I tell you, just when you thought it was safe to ride a bike 3,100 miles - things like that happen! 

Cooter drafted Ray as much as he could today to protect him from the harsh head winds. Drafting makes the ride nicer for Ray by eliminating much of the direct winds, but it also requires a much greater level of concentration from both Ray and Cooter because the driver and biker must be in complete synch as far as how fast they will go in order to stay close to each other to be effective and yet still maintain safety. He wasn't able to stay in front of him all day though. There was another detour on the road today. The detour rerouted us for 15 miles, but we were able to actually cut our mileage by doing the detour, so that was nice.

It was more of the same spread out countryside to look upon today. Ray wanted me to mention that we passed an Ostrich farm in Indiana and he thought of Brian Cole. We entered the Eastern Time Zone today and it was an exciting realization for us to consider how far we've come and how much closer we are to home we're getting!

We reached Upper Sandusky, Ohio today in the late afternoon after 85 miles of riding for day.

Tomorrow we will head for Canton, Ohio where Ray parents will join him to spend a day with their son. So we'll be back with you then - hope you'll be back too!!

DAY 27

There was a slight detour today, but only for the RV. We came upon a low underpass that would have made the RV into a fine looking convertible. We considered letting the air of all 6 of the tires, passing under the bridge and re-airing them. But then, after much deliberation and mathematical calculations - we just decided to go around the bridge and rejoin Ray a 1/2 mile later. Ray was so fast though that it was miles before we caught him.

Ray was also stung by a yellow jacket today. This is actually his 3rd bee sting in the last week or so. The Yellow jacket flew into his shirt and got him good on the chest and now he looks like Marky Mark. This will, of course put a damper on any body piercing plans that he had upon his return home. The Yellow jacket found its burial ground under a piece of tape stuck to the wall of the RV.

Ray's parents found him along the route to Canton. They will be staying at some friends house while visiting their son. They all pulled off the road and chatted a bit before Ray's parents went on to their friends house for the evening. Ray pulled into Canton, Ohio after riding 90 miles for the day. They ordered take out, Cooter watched Armageddon, Ray went for a swim, and everyone talked on the phone to the friends and loved ones waiting to hear how the day went. By the end of the 27th they had covered 2,463 miles with 640 miles left to ride.

Tomorrow is a rest day, which means that Ray will be riding about 50 miles and calling that rest! There will hopefully be some good time to visit with the Aramini's as well as time to get the necessary things done to ready Ray for a fun, full day of biking again on Saturday. Join us tomorrow!

DAY 28 - Ray discovers the cure for his spoke problems

We heard some great news from back home of the well received Spaghetti dinner for Bike for Bread, so that set a happy tone for Rest day.  Since, today was scheduled as a rest day, Ray allowed himself a little bit later wake up call this morning before going out for a 36 mile ride.  In Ray's absence, Cooter and Aaron took advantage of some extra zzz's too before rising & beginning their info-quest into Canton's more popular unhistorical sites - i.e.. Wal-mart, Food Lion, and the KOA.

The crew was still running over the list of chores when Ray returned from his ride, so he too was able to join in on the 'stop germs before they rob you of all vital organs' block party.  The first order of business was dumping the RV's crapper - a job that Ray says will grow hair on your hairs.  After washing their hands, they found a Laundromat and washed the clothes.  Having pictures to develop and more fun than they could further withstand they wrapped up this fiesta by shopping for water, Gatorade, and the energy producing junk food.

The big fun was actually had later when Ray's parents - Ray & Nancy Aramini, and their friends the Moore's joined Ray, Cooter and Aaron for dinner at the Country Buffet & much laughter.

Besides spending time with the Aramini's and the Moore's, it was a slower day for news.  But, we have yet to cover some more mountainous terrain and the  final miles of our journey, and that promises to keep us on our toes in the days that follow.  Thanks for joining us on our day off!  We look forward to having you  back tomorrow as we take you into Pennsylvania!

DAY 29

We got underway at 9:15 today - a rather late start for us. The 1st part of the day went smooth enough, although traffic did pick up as we made our way out of Ohio.  The Country that we've been steadily crossing is beginning to have an East coast appearance with larger & more frequent townships and fewer crop lands.  The temperature, which held at around 75 degrees all day, provided one less challenge for our biker today.

We passed a pond filled with ducks in Ohio and decided to take a moment to stop and feed them. We had some bread that was going bad and Wheat Thins crumbles that we tossed into the pond.  Ray wanted to chuck all of the Power bars, pasta and banana's to the ducks - but he didn't.

We came within 4 miles of the Pennsylvania border when what do you suppose occurred?  Our obsessive-compulsive spoke imp returned with a ravaging hunger.   Cooter (the Bike Whisperer) changed the rim out, and with Ray's sixth busted spoke wrenched around our rearview mirror, we pressed on towards Pennsylvania.

The terrain began to unfold at the border in the fashion of numerous hills and rough roads that are common to Pennsylvania.  Traffic seemed to intensify as well, so after entering the town of Clarion, PA, (one of the larger towns we would see for awhile) Ray and the crew decided to call it a day.

Dinner tonight for Ray was Shrimp Lo Mien (Yum - more Pasta!) 
and steamed dumplings. We found ourselves in yet another town that didn’t allow us to connect to the internet for email, so we had only phone cards and each other. We spent a lot of time on the phone!

Well, we look forward to tomorrow’s scenic ride through Pennsylvania and hope you'll join us for that. Until then - good day from the road.

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