The Fam
We have seven adult children between the two of us. Adult meaning, they all have jobs, their own health insurance and cell phone plans and no, they do not like to run or cycle like we do. We’ve moved a lot of boxes from place to place the past few years, believe we have the best neighbors in the world as they’ve overlooked the front of our house looking like a used car lot through our kids’ high school and college years. To top it off we have five grandsons and two granddaughters and they all live in town! We look forward to more weddings, grandchildren, and many more travels.
Riding the Great Divide
Doesn’t one life event seem to lead to another? Here’s how it plays out: We are running a marathon and meet someone who ran a marathon in every state. Next we want to give that a try.
While traveling home from a marathon in the Pacific Northwest, we see a couple of cyclists that are travelling self supported on their bikes across the country. Boom! Added to the bucket list.
While cycling across the country, we are stopped by a snow squall in Eureka, MT and encounter several bike packers racing the Tour Divide. Whoa, could we do that? Next thing you know, within a month of returning from our coast-to-coast bike ride, we begin to plan our ride (not race) along the Continental Divide which travels from Banff, AB to Antelope Wells, NM. To check out the route, click here.
Riding Coast to Coast
Riding our bikes across the country was on our bucket list for a long, long time and finally during the summer of 2018 we crossed it off the list. After having experienced several multi-day bike/camping tours before, this one was the granddaddy of them all. To check out the route, click here.
For what purpose, you ask? Well a self-supported cross country bike trip WAS on the bucket list. And the company Tom worked for, The RND Group, was super supportive. And well, we weren’t getting any younger, so there’s that. And then there are these two amazing organizations that we continue to support and could always use a little help from friends like us: Back on My Feet and St. Vincent de Paul. So there you have it.
Our 50 by 60 Challenge
Sometime in 2012 we came up with the idea that it might be kinda fun (and a challenge) to run a marathon in all 50 states before we turned 60. Tom and I finished in September 2017 and even managed to finish before turning 60. Because. Tom finishes everything either on time or early.
Everyone always asks, “Which state was last?” Though we normally wouldn’t consider ourselves “Go Big or Go Home” folks, we did it up when running our last marathon and chose Kauai, Hawaii. What made it so special is that six of our seven children and their spouses/fiances were able to join us. Thanks Stef for making this memorable video. We’ve watched it many, many times.
Contrary to what most think, there are a lot of people that run marathons in every state. We are not an anomaly. Running a marathon in every state also means we have tasted pints in every state. Because. That’s what we like to do. Not take ourselves too seriously. We travel simply. We eat fried food (healthy food too). We drink a pint or two. We run marathons. And then we go back to work on Mondays. Well, sometimes Tuesdays. And well now we don’t go back to work at all since Tom retired in April 2022. #bestdecisionever
Keep Calm and Pedal On 