DAY 30

Crossed through 79 more miles of Pennsylvania today with no complications.  Ray followed routes 66 and 6 over many rolling hills amidst much milder traffic than in the previous days.  The areas of PA that we traveling through today looked a lot like Western Connecticut.  The weather for riding was almost too cool with temperatures remaining in the low 70’s for most of the day.

We made two interesting stops today enroute to Couder’s Port.  Our first stop was to check out an old train that we happened upon.  It broke up the ride for Ray and made for some fun pictures.  Our second stop was more meaningful for Ray as we stopped to visit a friend of his named Ed Fox.  Mr. Fox is a friend that Ray met on a previous bike ride several years back.   Ray was enormously excited to be in town today as he was able to share in Mr. Fox’s 88^th birthday!

Dinner was take-out from Fox’s Den Pizza.  Ray ate Pizza and Buffalo wings while making his nightly phone calls.  Cooter and Aaron also made their phone calls & everyone sat through a flip through the channels before turning it in for the next days ride.  Back tomorrow with more from somewhere even closer to home!

DAY 31

It’s another cool day on the Pennsylvania portion of our journey.  We started out at about 9:30 this morning from Couder’s Port, PA.  The roads were free of the normal car activity we have met with of late, but not free of the up's & down's of the hilly land.  In fact, Ray’s first bit of road today was an uphill climb that landed him on the Denton Hill Summit, which is situated at 2,424 feet in the Allegany Mountains. 

Ray said that the hills seemed more bearable after a nice visit with Mr. Fox yesterday.  I failed to mention it in yesterday’s journal, but when Mr. Fox first saw Ray again after their first & last meeting 10 years ago, he looked at Ray and then looked at the bike and with tobacco filled lips said “I see you’re still at it”.  Ray wasn’t even sure if Mr. Fox would remember him.  It’s one of the great memories that we’ve collected of extraordinary people met during our journey back east.

We were separated from Ray for several minutes due to road construction, but were back at playing leap bike in little time.

Nancy Aramini (Ray’s mom) told us of a smaller Pennsylvania paper along our route that wanted to do an interview with Ray when we passed through their town.  We spent some time talking with a reporter from the Daily Review about Bike for Bread and what it's all about.   The reporter said that we were the 2^nd group that has come through his town raising awareness for a particular effort, at least since he had been with the paper.  The other fellow was riding in a wooden milk carton though with the phrase “Got Art?” marked on its side.   

With our now colossal feelings of creative inadequacy – we decided we best get back to biking, and that’s what we did.  The trip to Towanda, PA, where we ended up for the night, put us at 103 miles for the day.  We went to a truck stop where we met several of the interesting local folk and then we headed to Wendy’s for potatoes & salad to go.

The total mileage covered as of this evening is 2,750 with 353 miles or 4 days of riding remaining!

Our excitement grows as we near the final mile of our effort to take Bike for Bread across America.  We absolutely recognize the inability to accomplish what we already have without the support of so many back home.  Thanks again for joining us daily and we’ll hope to have you back tomorrow!

DAY 32

Good Day all! - from the mountainous regions of Pennsylvania, but not for long!  We left Towanda, PA at around 8:45 on course for New York!  The areas that we crossed today reminded us of Colorado, except that it’s far greener here.  We were enveloped by the same wide-open skies and surrounded by herds of foraging cattle and acres of budding corn.  Of course the mountains aren’t nearly as breath-robbing as those in Colorado, but after 31 days of riding their effect is felt just the same! 

As we made our way into New York the land became much more residential although the lush forests were still in view.  Ray rode for a total of 87 miles today putting his total trip mileage at 2,837 miles with only 266 miles remaining!  Nebraska seems so long ago as we ride through these last couple of Eastern states, which hold much more familiarity to us & remind us of home. 

All in all, the day was a rather uneventful one.  On into the evening we arrived in Oneonta, New York looking forward to a restful day off tomorrow.  We passed by the Susquehanna River and considered a swim, but decided to go eat instead.  It was a meat and potatoes night at the Neptune Diner.  Ray refused to eat his brussel sprouts and was sent to bed early - not before having his Cheesecake though, so life’s not too hard for the lad.

Well, we’ll see what kind of fun we can have tomorrow on our day off.  If nothing else we’ll be back to tell you about our highly anticipated Wal-Mart run and the traditional ‘dumping of the Loo’ that gathers much disinterest from near and very, very far.  So, until then…!

DAY 33

It was rest day in Oneonta, New York. Ray got on his biking duds however, and went out for an early morning ride to bring in the day.  Then later, after feeling as though he’d not relaxed quite enough on ‘rest day’, Ray took out for an afternoon ride.  Overall, he gathered 51 miles towards his total trip mileage.   He also acquired one more broken spoke for our rearview mirror spoke collection.  That makes seven.   Only 3 more spokes and 2 proofs-of-purchase from Bazooka bubble gum and we’ll be able to get that nifty decoder ring that we’ve had our sights on!

While Ray was out having fun biking - Cooter and Aaron were back in Oneonta hard at work.  They went to Wal-Mart to restock on Gatorade, water and Diet Coke.  We’ve decided that the next ride that Ray does, we’ll follow him in a tanker truck instead of an RV.  Aaron and Cooter also stopped by the Howe Caverns, since they were there, and well, why should Ray be the only one having fun today? 

After Ray returned, we headed over to the local bike shop to have the now ineffective wheel repaired and then searched the town for a place to grab some grub.   We saw a neon sign for a restaurant named Brooks BBQ that showed a fellow running after a chicken with a hatchet in his hand that would lower on the chickens’ neck when he caught it.  Captivated by the jazzy sign, we decided to eat at Brooks!

The rest of the evening consisted of phone calls, watching the movie Cabin Boy and more relaxing to ready Ray for the long day of riding ahead of him.   We’re looking forward to entering Massachusetts tomorrow and amazed at how near we are getting to home with only one more state between us and Connecticut and 214 miles to go!  Look forward to having you back with us tomorrow!

DAY 34

Hello Massachusetts!  That’s where we arrived today! It poured down rain all day today! Ray was covered in grease, dirt and water.  The roads were awful.  Traffic was bad.  It was cold, and Ray wanted his Mommy. (Okay, I added that last bit, but you get the idea that it was a pretty cruddy day) After 11 hours, Ray was glad to be off the roads.

As we neared the Hudson River in New York, traffic worsened, but the river was quite a sight to see.  Another sight that we were pleased to see was our first mileage sign for Connecticut, which was a Welcome sign both literally and figuratively.

Ray biked for 97 miles today and that puts him at just under 3,000 total miles for the trip with around 100 miles remaining. 

It was a quite night in Great Barrington tonight for us.  Dinner for Ray was Fish and Chips and then we all continued to hang out and watched Austin Powers in the RV.  (You’d think we’d want to get away from the RV and each other!) 

It was exciting to get to Great Barrington, Massachusetts for the evening and realize that this is where we said we’d be months and months ago today.  The approaching end to the biking aspect of this effort has brought about much reflection, from the inception stages of this undertaking to the work that will carry on in the coming months and years - long after our trip is completed.  

We are 10 miles away from the Connecticut state line so we hope that you’ll be back to share with us in our favorite state crossing yet!  From us - in Mass, see you tomorrow!

DAY 35

Here we are again, writing to you from the town of Great Barrington, Mass.  Today was the last scheduled rest day we’d be taking before making our way into Connecticut on Saturday and then on into Willimantic on Sunday. 

Finally he rests. Ray only did 10 miles of riding today just to stay loose and then spent the afternoon piddling and just hanging out.  There’s not much to do in Great Barrington.  There are no Caverns to spelunk, no RV stations to dump, and not even a Wal-Mart to restock on the junk.    All that the town had to offer was a K-Mart, which left Cooter and Aaron cold. 

With only 91 miles to go over the next two days, Ray decided to go nuts and had Indian and Chinese food today – I’m not even sure if he had a Powerbar or banana today.  In fact, I’m not sure if he’ll ever eat another Powerbar or banana again after Sunday.

We wish there was more to tell, but it was a bit of a calm day with much of our energy being spent looking forward to the final days ahead of us. 

Tomorrow, Ray is planning on riding around 50 miles, which will place him well into Connecticut and within 40 miles from the final mile.  I will be updating Saturday’s journal throughout the day, so check back every so often, and then we’ll look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Sunday when we make our way home!

DAY 36

We left Great Barrington at 9:00 this morning with 10 miles to cover before we would reach the Connecticut state line.  

When we arrived at the border, an officer joined us to begin escorting Ray towards Willimantic.  Ray was also  joined by friends and several members of his family - some of his cousins as well as his father.

Three of Ray's friends (Joe Pardee and 2 of Ray's cousin's) are biking with him for the 45 miles of Connecticut that he will cover today.  

At this writing, the group was in Avon, CT which is only 47 miles from Willimantic.  Ray is planning to go for another 10 more miles today and then plans to spend the evening near New Hartford hanging out with the friends and family that have come to encourage him.   

Later: 

Officers Sgt. William Podgorski, TFC James Chiappetta and TFC David Laboy escorted Ray and the other riders into Farmington at 4:30 EST.  Ray totaled 55 miles for the day and leaves 35 to cover tomorrow.

Two separate welcome party's met Ray and the crew during the ride, one in Avon, which included his grandparents from that area, and another in Norfolk - both of which greatly encouraged our rider.  

Joe Pardee and Gary (Ray's cousin) will remain for the evening with Ray and the Crew and Kelly Silvestri looks to join them later tonight as well, so it proves to be a crazy time on this final day of being on the road for the group.

Not much more info at the close of the evening.  Ray enjoyed seeing everyone and was grateful for support he received both from friends and family and from the various media groups in the community.  We're all excited to celebrate a successful and safe return to Willimantic and look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow either during the ride or at the finish line!  Until tomorrow!!

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