Calling All Crazies

Have you been thinking about doing a cross country ride? Would you like be an advocate for Beautiful Gate? Let me know if you would like to be the next rider for I Ride You Give They Live!

Believe me, riding for a cause makes the journey that much more enjoyable and meaningful.

bradwilkin at gmail dot com.

Not for Us...

I thought I would write a short note before heading back to Denver.

First, I hope that as a reader of this blog and possible donor to Beautiful Gate Orphanage and Community Builder, you realize you are supporting a worthy cause. I will make shameless plugs all day for Beautiful Gate because I have seen first hand how they are able to positively impact the lives of children affected and infected by HIV and AIDs as well as build local community leaders. Although Jacques and I had an experience of a lifetime, I hope we portray our love and passion for the Beautiful Gate children, the Beautiful Gate community, and South Africa in general. We were honored to be advocates during these last five and half weeks, and will continue to be lifelong supporters.

If you have yet to donate, please consider doing so at irideyougivetheylive.org

Second, through this trip I have gone deeper in debt-I am now indebted to the manifold people who housed, helped, fed, encouraged, and prayed for us. Jacques and I are very aware that we did not do this trip alone. If you have lost faith in humanity, do a cross country bicyle trip. Friends and strangers alike were more generous than I can even start to comprehend. Words can not begin to explain how thankful I am for all those gifts of charity, small or large, that helped us accomplish our goal of raising awareness and support for Beautiful Gate. For now, I can only say with sincerity "THANK YOU!"



Finally, this may sound foolish and a little idealistic, but Live Life before you Die. Go out and do something crazy. Better yet, go out and do something crazy for someone else. We all have gifts and talents, and we ought not waste them always for our own selfish ambitions. I hope Jacques and my actions spoke louder than our words. If our actions were translated into words, I hope the translation would go something like this: "Two clowns decide to travel cross country on bicycle to raise awareness and support for some amazing South African children and surrounding community. If two clowns can make a small impact on this world, SO CAN YOU!"

Signing off, Brad.

Hit Somebody!

Summary of Today: Crazy day! Radio interview. Head wind. Rain. Jacques got hit by a car. Jacques triumphs over car. Free dinner at crab shack. Done!

We had enough adventure today to fill another Indiana Jones film.

After some breakfast with Sherry and Jeff, we headed over to the local talk radio program for a quick interview. The studio was buzzing because it was election day as well. Had we planned things better, we would have ran for office concurrently with this trip, and therefore maybe have drawn more publicity. Nicole interviewed us, and we hope we were good advocates for Beautiful Gate.

We hit the road knowing it was our last day. Although we were only 80 miles from the beach, the ride seemed to last an eternity for many reasons. A headwind was present throughout the day, the shoulder was a little on the narrow side, and it was raining. This may have otherwise put is in a poor mood, but the excitement of finishing kept us going.

Soon after we entered Jacksonville and passed the St. Johns River, something unbelievable happened. It happened in slow motion. Slow motion with me. Jacques was riding in front of me as usual. Even though it was still raining, we felt safe because we could now make use of the bike lanes that are found commonly throughout Jacksonville. Just as Jacques was crossing an intersection, I saw a small volkswagon cut in front of him. I thought, "this could get interesting." Then I saw Jacques' rear tire skid out a little, and then boom.

Jacques, meet car. Car, meet Jacques. "Nice to meet you Jacques," say car. "You're about to end my trip across the country on a bicycle 15 miles short of my final destination, you stupid car!" says Jacques.

Anyways, Jacques got the driver's info, checked over his small bruises and scrapes, and we "hit" the road again.

(an aside: While at a Boerne, Texas middle school football game, a very calm-looking parent started shouting "Hit somebody!" to his boy's team. Jacques and I have frequently shouted that at each other as we attempted to embrace Texas culture and the memories of a couple weeks ago. However, apparently this driver was on that same middle school team and decided to transfer that order from field to road. All to the dismay of poor Jacques.)

Moving on, we rode deeper into the rain, our first good downpour of the trip. The wind didn't let up, but we still had the excitement of finishing to push us through.

At around 4pm, we made it to Jacksonville Beach! George, Bobbie, their three grandchildren, and friend Bethany were all there to welcome and congratulate us. George and Bobbie are our surrogate parents in Jacksonville whom we found on warmshowers.com. Also, their son is crazier/cooler than us and is also currently doing a cross country ride for AIDs awareness (check his blog out: sea2mia.com).


Joe's Crab Shack comped Jacques' and my meal. We headed back to George and Bobbie's for a warm shower and cozy place to sleep.

The end.

Second to Last Day...yes way!

Monday, November 1: Tallahassee to Lake City- about 105 miles

We got an early start knowing that it would be at least a 100 mile ride.

Here’s the summary of a conversation I had with a very kind, sweet, and voluptuous Burger King employee this morning at 6am as I ordered breakfast:

Big Beautiful Burger Queen: “Welcome to Burger King.”
Jacques: “Hey, howzit mate? We’d like some breakfast. We have a long day of riding ahead.”
BBBQ: “Oh really? Where are you riding?”
Jacques”Jacksonville. We’re doing a fundraising bicycle ride for a South African Orphanage. I can’t wait to see my wife.”
BBBQ:”Oh really? You both married?”
Jacques points at me. “He’s not.”
BBBQ looks me up and down like a large hash brown drenched in ketchup. “I want somebody to take me to Africa.”
Me. “Anything you want baby doll.”

(based on a true story)

About 20 miles into the ride, I realized my stomach wasn’t cooperating with me. I had set a goal to stop in Monticello and take a break. Finally, after hearing my stomach growl for 10 miles, I pulled into Monticello. I’m proud to say that I had my first fall of the trip. I didn’t clip out of my pedals quite soon enough, and splat on the ground I went. I was a little embarrassed because four older men saw everything.

On another note, I think I saw a glimpse of what hell could be like. It goes something like this: You have to go to the bathroom very badly. Seriously badly. Badly badly. You have to hold it for some reason, say because you’re traveling on a two wheeled vehicle. And when you get to a stopping point, where you could solve the problem, you get stuck talking to four very kind old men. You don’t have the heart to interrupt them from repeating themselves because let’s face it, they’re pretty darn cool. But you have this lingering thought, is this going to be the day that I poop my pants in front of four grown men?

(based on a true story)


If this is your first time to this blog, I assure you my other posts stray away topics such as the one above.

Going back, I should say that in Monticello we also made this sweet old man who showed us photos of his triathlete daughter. He also bought us us some coffee. He’s lived in Monticello for over 80 years. That’s commitment.

Alas, we made it to Lake City. Our hosts Jeff and Sherry cooked us some amazing chili! Tomorrow, we’re going to Jeff’s work at a radio station to promote irideyougivethey.org. We’re trying to give voters a break from the day’s festivities.

Tomorrow: our final destination, Jacksonville Beach!

thanks for your support!!!

Tallahasee: kinda sassy

Sunday Oct. 31: Defuniak Springs to Tallahassee

We had a short ride today: just 44 miles. It was a pleasant ride from Dafuniak Springs. We started the day looking at the lake that is spring fed and is also a perfect circle. Some think the lake was formed after a meteor hit it back in woolly mammoth days.

Anyways, after about 3.5 hours, we made it to Tallahassee. We called Michael, our host, and met him at his house. Michael is my Denver friend’s brother. He invited us to go to The Rez, an outdoor play place for Florida State University students. He’s the president of an engineering club that is raising money to build a bridge in Peru, and today they were having a fundraiser volleyball tournament.

Jacques and I had a good time relaxing and watching some volleyball, and we even enjoyed a little kayak journey in the lake. When I saw a huge caged alligator while still in the kayak, I being from Kansas, decided to head for more solid ground. Jacques went deeper into the swamp, and I had come to grips that this would be the last time I saw Jacques as a whole person. Fortunately, Jacques didn’t meet any alligators, and he will be able to ride tomorrow.



We did a drive by of the Ludacris concert, but didn’t shoot anybody. To end the night, we had some good Chinese food and then hit the hay.

Tomorrow: Lake City, FL

Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee

Saturday OCT 30: Dafuniak Springs, FL to Chatahooche, FL

The title above includes some lyrics of an Alan Jackson song. Mr. Jackson continues by singing, "it gets hotter than a hoochie coochie." What does that mean? Perhaps I don't want to know.


Today was not a horribly exciting day. We rode 84 miles. Highlights include eating the biggest hamburger I've ever seen. It was called the "Big Momma." Jacques and I both partook in this endeavor and succeeded just after being honked at by another restaurant patron. The guy had a hard time believing we were legally riding in the road and the sidewalk is for pedestrians. Bikes are considered vehicles.

I think the required clothing in the panhandle of Florida is some form of camouflage.

I met a bicycling group this morning. They were super friendly and donated to Beautiful Gate. Thanks guys!

Also, by the time we made it to Chatahoochiemama, we met a retired Navy Seal group also doing a cross country ride. We heard about them while in Texas, but haven't met until tonight. They are pretty remarkable; one guy is 74 years old and looks like he could beat me up with his pinky.

Tomorrow: Tallahassee.

We have THREE more days of riding. Crazy.

Ground Hog’s day

Random thought: I get better mileage than a Prius. I also use a different type of gas for propulsion.


Friday, OCT 29: Pensacola, FL to Dafuniak Springs, FL


I forgot to mention that Donna, our Pensacola host, is a huge Gonzaga fan. Smart woman.

We left Pensacola and were going to take a picture of the bay, but I realized my camera battery was dead. This will become important later.

Although we had a pretty good headwind, we made some good time. As I was coming around the six mile mark outside a town called Milton, I realized my rear wheel felt funnier than normal. I decided to jump off the bike to inflate the tire a little and straighten the wheel a bit with my tools. After I turned the bike over, I saw that my wheel had cracked. It almost looked like a tee pee. No bueno.

I looked on my phone to see if Milton had a bicycle shop. Luckily, it did. I called the shop to see if they had a wheel that would fit my bike, and just as they told me that they did indeed have a wheel that would work, a man in a truck pulled off the road and offered a ride to the shop. Immaculate timing.

I headed into Truly Spoken bicycle shop and the guys there really did a great job. They set me up with a new touring rear wheel and tire. Thanks guys!

I ate a quick lunch and was on my way. I was almost back to the spot where I stopped earlier and remembered I was a fool. I forgot that I had plugged in my camera battery and charger into the wall at the bike shop. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I was only six miles out, so I decided to head back to reclaim my belongings. I did so and then saw the same stretch of Milton roads for the third time.

Jacques had gone ahead of me to get to our host family’s house in Defuniak Springs, FL. I made my way slowly but surely, talked to some nice folks, and finally arrived in Defuniak after thirty minutes of night riding.

The Gillis family provided an amazing place for us to stay, tasty spaghetti and meatballs, and a refreshed memory of what being in high school band was like. Thanks Gillis Family!

Tomorrow: Chattahoochee. I’m going to be singing that Alan Jackson song all day tomorrow. I just need to find the lyrics.
Good night.