Welcome to Bike for Haiti By Erik and Abdiel

The idea of this trip began ten years ago on a family road trip. As the sights of the United States passed by me I dreamed of riding my bike across the country. I brought the matter up during our road trip. I remember saying something like “Next time lets do this by bike...” Of course at the time everyone thought I was crazy. Then five years ago on another road trip I discussed my dream with Abdiel, a friend of mine. He thought that a bike trip would be crazy, but also a great experience. Overtime the idea slowly started to develop and take hold.

While this bike trip will be a great learning experience for Abdiel and I we eventually decided to ride for a cause. We not only wanted this adventure to mean something to us, but to serve a purpose for others. This is why we have decided to ride for Partners in Health (PIH), and Haiti. As many of you know it has been about a year since the earthquake devastated Haiti displacing people out of their homes. Even more then a year later people are still living in tented communities. PIH is not only dedicated to continue to help those harmed by the quake, but has existed in Haiti for many years. As a co-founder of PIH, Dr. Paul Farmer has been revolutionizing how medicine is brought to those in need throughout Haiti. The mission statement for PIH states “When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well... Whatever it takes. Just as we would do a member of our own family - or we ourselves were – ill.” This means that PIH is very adamant about helping those who fall ill upon their doorstep. (To learn more about what PIH is doing for Haiti visit PIH Stand for Haiti website)

Any donations are greatly appreciated. We hope the links to our blog will help better inform you about PIH and Haiti. A great book to read is “Mountains beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder. You can make a one time donation to our cause and give our ride purpose by going to our PIH Fundraiser Page or if you would like to donate an X amount of money per mile we ride that can be done by going to Pledge per Mile. Remember even the smallest contributions help.

* Your donation can: give a years worth of tuberculosis medication for one person that costs about $10-$20 dollars in poor countries such as Haiti. Antiretrovirals for HIV range from $70-$80 per year, per person. *All donations will go to PIH*

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

A Brand New Start (Day 19)

We have now started our third week of biking! Yesterday was pretty terrible, but with a new week comes a new beginning. The day started out great! Being able to wake up with a roof over our heads was a definite plus! The owner of the shop also gave us some coffee and some Mexican pastries for breakfast. The day also started out warm. Within ten minutes of riding we were shedding our layers. We were able to ride along the Ohio river for about ten miles before we crossed the river into Indiana. We eventually climbed out of the valley and up into some farmlands above the river.

We stayed in the farmlands until we descended down towards the Ohio river to Jeffersonville. From there we were able to look over to Louisville in Kentucky. From there we had another good climb back out of the valley. We went about 500 feet in less then a half mile. It wasn't too steep cause the road had a lot of switchbacks. As nightfall came we started to look for a camp spot. We found a Lutheran camp to stay at named Camp Cedarbrook. The people there were extremely nice! They gave us some food, allowed us to sleep under the roof from the porch of a building. They even opened up the showers for us! Abdiel and I were both shocked and amazed at the hospitality we received! It felt like a home away from home.
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. Loralee ThomasApril 21, 2011 at 7:46 AM

    Hey Erik. You're making great progress. It's been fun reading your blog. Stay away from the bad weather and tornadoes. Hopefully the weather has improved for you guys. It is amazing what you are doing. We will keep you in our prayers.

    Loralee & Dave Thomas

    ReplyDelete
  2. Erik DavittApril 23, 2011 at 5:46 PM

    The weather should improve soon. We are in Missouri right now and it has been bad so far. Lots of rain. Flood warnings in the area we are in. The tornado that occurred happened two hours north of us.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)