Travels with Charlie
Reverend Charlie Ortman began his 2-wheeled odyssey across the
country on April 13, 2009, touching his back wheel in the Pacific
Ocean, launching from Oceanside, California.
On May 30, 2009, he arrived at the Atlantic Ocean, having logged
3,021 miles and countless encounters.
This cross country trip was part of Charlie's sabbatical journey
during which he gained spiritual and physical strength as well as
raise money from congregations and non profits to benefit Toni's
Soup Kitchen, located in Montclair.
For more information on sponsoring Charlie's ride to benefit
Toni's Kitchen,
please click here.
We now have some amazing pictures of Charlie's return at Eagle
Rock Reservation and Toni's
Kitchen. Be sure to check them out!
To see Charlie's blog and learn all about his adventure,
please click here.
To follow their progress as charted by Charlie's biking partner,
Bill Slezak, please click
here for Bill's blog.
Below are some updates from Charlie on the road:
May 7, 2009 (from co-biker Bill Slezak) - You probably noticed
that we successfully uploaded videos to both youtube.com and the
blog. Our only limitation now is time and internet access (which
we don't have tonight). Charlie is doing much better. He is still
not 100 percent but still managed to do about 45 miles on May 6th.
We are staying at a beautiful Corps of Engineers campsite on Pomme
de terra Lake near Hermitage, Missouri. It's a beautiful night.
We had a nice dinner, played some cards and now all the "kiddies"
are in bed while I catch up on phone calls and emails :).
May 6, 2009 (from co-biker Bill Slezak) - Yesterday, we
entered Missouri and stayed
in Nevada (pronounced ne-VAY-da), Missouri. Somehow we keep
avoiding the heavy rains that surround us. We got some sprinkles
but nothing more than that. As I mentioned in my Sunday report,
Charlie Ortman had a spill on Sunday while crossing some railroad
tracks and got pretty bruised up. He did not ride at all on Monday,
but yesterday, he was back in the saddle for about 5 miles to cross
the border into Missouri. He will probably be doing limited biking
for the next few days as he heals. We continue to make good progress
with 97 miles on Monday and 84 miles yesterday, bringing our cumulative
total to 1,670 miles. Yesterday was bike cleaning day for me after
we arrived in Nevada, so I have not updated the blog since Saturday.
Thanks again to everyone for the words of support and encouragement.
May 5, 2009 - Charlie called into UUCM to give an update
on his condition after his nasty fall (see previous post). He said
that he got some road rash and a broken helmet but his shoulder
seemed to have gotten the worst of it. His shoulder was feeling
about 30% better today and he was hoping to ride a few miles out
of Kansas and into Missouri. He says that his bike helmet saved
his life. He's now got a brand new red helmet to finish off the
rest of his trip and is hoping to ride about 10 miles on May 6th.
May 4, 2009 (from co-biker Bill Slezak) - We arrived in
Kansas on April 29, after "flying" through the 75 miles
in Oklahoma on Routes 64 and 56, in around 3 hours, thanks to a
fabulous tail wind. Unfortunately, we haven't experienced a tail
wind since. Instead we have had strong easterly winds, almost every
day, as well as fog, rain, and very chilly weather. We made it to
just outside Wichita today, but barely! Charlie took a nasty spill
when his bike wheel stuck while crossing a railroad track. He get
checked out at a local hospital, and he seems to be ok, but he will
in considerably pain for the next couple of days. The Motorhome
lost the tread on one of the tires, which required a service call
to change the tire, and a subsequent search for an open tire store.
Nevertheless, we continue to make good progress in our effort to
bike across the country. Through today, day 21 of the bike trip,
we have biked just about 1,500 miles through California. Arizona,
New Mexico, Colorado (at 4 corners) and Utah (at 4 corners), Oklahoma,
and Kansas. We hope to get into Missouri by Tuesday (Hurrah!).
May 1, 2009 - Their glorious 120 mile day on Wednesday,
covering three states (NM, OK and KS) has been followed by two grueling
days with 40+mph headwinds. They rode 50 miles the first of those
days and 60 miles the second. They learned to take turns leading
so that two of the riders could ride a bit easier using the draft
of the leader. Charlie likened it to geese in a formation. They
are staying in the bustling town of Bucklin, KS tonite. I guess
it's no wonder Dorothy found her way to OZ, hopefully the bikers
won't end up there, too!
April 29, 2009 - From Springer they plowed through horrendous
weather: cold, rainy, and foggy to land in Clayton yesterday and
then flew today with a helpful wind and great weather about 120
miles into Hugoton, Kansas. Amazing. They are feeling great and
doing excellently! Hope you are good, too.
April 27, 2009 - The pedalers left Taos, climbed up and
down and up and down to Eagle's Nest and then down, down down -
with the wind howling in their faces to Springer, NM. They sound
rather good for old men!
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