May 9th, 2009, We're finally here.

We made the 6000 mile journey in one piece. We ended up making 4 change overs to get here. My daughter Krystal who is vacationing here from South Dakota met us at the sir port. She and a friend of her's spent the rest of the day with us, helping us get settled in with some needed preparation such as checking into the hotel, setting up a cell phone line for me, getting lunch and stuff like that. In all the excitement, I forgot to take pictures. I'll remember to take more shots.

Our bikes and equipment were already here at the travel lodge waiting for us in very, very good condition. I was very pleased with t he shape they showed up in.Tomorrow I will begin putting the bikes together, and maybe take it for a short test ride to see how everything feels.

I was surprised by how busy the roads are around here. And the fact that there are no shoulders. I later found out though, that the bike paths are actually separate from the roads, and look like side walks. Pretty neat.

More to come tomorrow, gotta finish unpacking. Aloha Ted.

Update for May 6, 2009.

Aloha on this beautiful Wednesday morning. How good it is to be alive. The bikes are on their way. Liz from FedEx came and got them yesterday morning, and they should be halfway there by the end of the day. I'm almost as scared as I am excited. It's all too real.

Yesterday Lisa and I gave a presentation up at the Molokai Middle School. Thhe "Uplink" program headed by Lynn Bonk and her assistand Rily(I hope I spelt that right) Domingo kindly asked us a few weeks ago if we wouldn't mind sharing our idea with the class. At first I was apprehensive, because I wouldn't know what to tell them. Then I had a phone message from a nice lady named Anna who told me that she had done that crossing a few years earlier going the other way. I called her up, we talked, and to my delight, she had pictures, and was more than willing to join us for this presentation. Now this was exciting, I had my camera with me, but was so thrilled I forgot to take pictures. I wanted this more than the kids. Needless to say, the presentation went well, and believe it or not, the kids were actually paying attention. I guess it's true. A picture is worth a thousand words.

I also wanted to let all of you know that the sushi fund raiser went really well. Maricel at "Take's Variety Store" went way beyond the call. I understand from Carol that she was up at 3:30AM the morning of the sale preparing. Garrick, you are one lucky man. I would trade my best bike for one like that.

Until next time, Aloha, Ted.

Update for week 1 of May.

Today is Monday, I was so busy yesterday that I forgot all about up my weekly update. Being that it's so close to leaving, there are other things that come up that you just don't think about. It's hard to explain, and I'm not sure if anyone is even interested. Not bad things, just more things. Anyway, the past week only saw about 75 miles of bike miles. I try real hard to make time, but it's hard. One thing that most of you reading this might not realize, is that an advanced cyclist like myself takes longer to prepare for a ride. The pre-ride bike check, suiting up (Bibs, sun block, gloves, helmet, clipless cycling shoes, water, energy supplements & road tools, etc.). This ritual alone can take up to a half hour. Then there's the post ride ritual ( cleaning of the bike, re lube, adjust whatever to make sure the thing is ready for next time, hand washing cycling cloths, shower, etc), can take and additional 30 to 40 minutes. Sometimes the ritual is as long as the rides. So if the ride is less than an hour (about 20 miles), I usually just don't go. It just doesn't make sense.

Today is our "Pedal For Hope" Sushi sale at "Take's Variety Store" Lisa and I will be there handing out the sushi and thanking people for supporting us to help the local community with the fundraiser. Many, many thanks again to Maricel for all her hard work. This is truly an amazing person. My nephew is one lucky man.

Some of my class mates gave me a send off up in Ranch Camp. Since it was a spur of the moment thing, only a few were able to make it. The impotent, I mean important ones were there. We had "Choke grinds!" Thanks guys, I'll be thinking about all of you on my journey.

Tomorrow the bikes and trailers go out. There was a change in plans. We decided to upgrade to 3-day air instead of ground. This upgrade was strongly recommended by someone who knows, and has seen the condition bike boxes are in by the time they reach their destination. Thanks for that bit of information dude. Don't worry, I won't say who you are. By the way, how's Liz?

Well, this will be the last update while still on Molokai unless something comes up that needs to be relayed. Thank you all for being a part of this dream of ours. Lisa and I feel very blessed with friends and family like you.

Aloha kakou till next time, Ted.