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*

Friday, May 6, 2011

Flat (Day 32)

Today we slept in late at the house Chelsey and Joel were house watching. We were able to connect with them through Pedro a camp director Abdiel and I have worked for during the summer. It was really nice to relax at the house last night and sleep in. It is amazing how nice it is to sit and do nothing when you have been biking day in and day out. Since we were slow to get out of bed we were also slow to leave to bike for the day. Today we connected back with the bike maps in Nickerson, about 70 miles away.

We rode 96 all the way up heading in that direction. The ride was good even though 96 is kinda like a highway. The traffic wasn't bad since it was a Saturday and there was a good shoulder to ride on. The landscape is now a lot different then eastern Kansas. The rolling hills have now left us and it has become totally flat. It also seems to be a lot dryer in this area since we are seeing more irrigation systems in the farm fields.

Arriving at Nickerson the people were very nice there. The town is a small farming town. When we asked for a place to sleep they referred us to the town park. There I cooked some mac and cheese, set up camp, and relaxed for a little. As I tucked into my sleeping bag I could hear cows mooing off in the distance along with the howl of coyotes. It seems now we are getting into a real rural part of the United States. In fact as I was looking at the map for tomorrow there is a section 58 miles in length with no services.
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