Happy Father’s Day Good evening. I hope your Father’s Day was a good one. Speaking on behalf of the 20 riders yesterday, it was a very memorable experience. Hard to believe the Dads Honor Ride 2016 journey has come to and end. We traveled 40 miles yesterday for a total of 1,393 miles since leaving Boston three weeks ago. Yesterday started out with a police escort by the Hammond Police Department. They got the group of 20 riders, including four of the Hirsch kids (Dave, Amanda, Emily and Addie) through the city streets and onto the lake shore bike path

Hammond, IN Good morning and Happy Father’s Day from Hammond, IN. Hard to believe today is the last day of Dads Honor Ride 2016. We expect 20+ riders today. DHR traveled 80 miles yesterday for a total of 1,353 miles since leaving Boston. Yesterday started out with a police escort by the St. Joseph County Police. It was a bright sunny day and a forecast for temperatures in the mid 80’s. We met and honored some extraordinary dads again yesterday, with Great Dad Coins, including a large number of first responders. We had a great picnic lunch in Chesterton. We

Greetings from Chesterton Good afternoon and greetings from Chesterton, IN. 19 1/2 days down and hard to believe only 1 1/2 to go 🙂 DHR traveled 79 miles yesterday for a total of 1,273 miles since leaving Boston. Yesterday started out with a police escort by the Coldwater police. It was a bright sunny day and a forecast for temperatures in the mind 80’s. Great Dads! We met and honored some extraordinary dads again yesterday, with Great Dad Coins, including firefighters in Sturgis and White Plains and police officers in three different communities. Gary (Big Brother) Grube was nice enough

1,194 miles from Boston Good morning and greetings from Coldwater, MI. 18 days down and hard to believe only 3 to go 🙂 DHR traveled 114 miles yesterday for a total of 1,194 miles since leaving Boston. Yesterday started out with a police escort by the Dearborn police, the same group that provided an escort into Detroit the day before. The skies were overcast all day and we had a lite rain the last few hours of the day. We met and honored some extraordinary dads again yesterday, with Great Dad Coins, including firefighters in Ann Arbor. Eight hours of biking

Greetings from Detroit Good morning and greetings from Detroit. 17 days down and only 4 to go 🙂 DHR traveled 56 miles yesterday for a total of 1,080 miles since leaving Boston. Yesterday started out a little damp. It was drizzling the first hour of the ride. Since you have to keep your eyes on the road when the pavement is wet and there are potholes disguised as puddles, I didn’t even see the “Welcome To Michigan” signage. Fortunately, the weather improved as the day went on. We met and honored some extraordinary dads again yesterday, with Great Dad Coins,

Greetings from Toledo 16 days down and only 5 to go 🙂 DHR traveled 81 miles yesterday for a total of 1,024 miles since leaving Boston. Yesterday was another great day for riding. We had overcast skies most of the day with temperatures in the low 70s. Much of the day was spent on the well maintained North Costal Inland Trail. We had lunch at the Wilson Nature Center in Lindsey, OH. While off the trail, we had a higher than average number of “road closed” situations due to construction, but nothing that prevented us from altering our planned route.

Sandusky, Ohio Greetings from Sandusky, home of Cedar Point Amusement Park. DHR traveled 58 miles yesterday for a total of 943 miles since leaving Boston. Yesterday was another picture perfect day. We had sunny skies with temperatures in the high 60s. The route was flat and hugged the south shore of Lake Erie. This was the start of week number three and with seven riders: Mikolaj “Nic” Tropicha-Dolny who started in Boston and five one week riders; Darek Cupial (Poland), Kevin Masukevich (Chicago), Jeff Meckert (Chicago), Dernard Newell (Chicago), and Kasia Wac (Poland). Honoring extraordinary dads We met and honored some

Greetings from Cleveland DHR traveled 73 miles yesterday for a total of 885 miles since leaving Boston. Yesterday was another picture perfect day. We had sunny skies with temperatures in the high 60s. It could just be me, but the 10-12 mph winds felt like a headwind no matter which direction we turned. We started the day with three riders including full ride partner Mikolaj “Nic” Tropicha-Dolny and one day rider Steve Weyland, who drove in from Kentucky. Markos Sinclair also rode the second half of the day after spending most of the last two weeks piloting the RV. We

Greeting from Austintown, OH DHR traveled 84 miles yesterday for a total of 812 miles since leaving Boston. The forecast was for some rain and highs of 90 degrees, which was pretty much spot on. We started the day with three riders including full ride partner Mikolaj “Nic” Tropicha-Dolny and Ryan Daniel, who flew in from Vermont. Ryan will take over as rider director for week #3, once Lincoln peels away. Today was the longest day by miles traveled, but not the hardest since the elevation was much more reasonable. To begin, we rode through the downtown streets of Pittsburgh

Greeting from Pittsburgh, where there seems to be Penguin fever.   DHR traveled 62 miles yesterday for a total of 728 miles since leaving Boston. The forecast was for cool temperatures in the AM and then warming up to mid 70’s during the afternoon. It must be one of those once in seven year situations with large swarms of cicadas. Most alarming was getting one stuck in the strap of my helmet.  That loud pitched sound two inches from my ear sound like a freightening angry alien. We traveled mostly along the flat (< 1% grade) and scenic Great Allegheny

Greeting from Uniontown, PA Question: If you work in Uniontown, does that make you a union worker? 🙂 DHR traveled 56 miles yesterday for a total of 666 miles since leaving Boston. The day started on a chilly note, with temperatures in the mid 40s. It was a very hilly day with five climbs of 2,800+. The uphills are a grind and the downhills are a thrill with the top speed recorded at 47mph. Extraordinary Fathers We met and honored some extraordinary fathers today, including some veterans Karl Heilborn (Army), Ricky (Green Beret) and Kevin Kitts (Marines) and Jessica Landry,

Greeting from Frostburg, MD This message was created the morning of June 9th and is actually the 10th daily update. DHR traveled 50 miles yesterday for a total of 610 miles since leaving Boston. The day started with a hearty breakfast at the Potomac River Grill, followed by a pretty severe downpour. Since it was a lighter day mileage-wise we decided to postpone the start to avoid starting out on a damp note. Today’s challenges were the elevation and high (head) winds. There were two 1.6 mile segments (as measured by the MapMyRide app) where we averaged 5 mph (uphill

Good morning and greetings from Hancock, MD This is actually the 9th daily update. Unbeknown to me, Earthlink decided to supress four of my last five email blasts, without letting me know. It’s the same feeling you have when you’re talking with someone by phone and come to learn minutes later you got disconnected and you were talking with yourself. Argh!!! We traveled 48 miles yesterday for a total of 560 miles since leaving Boston last Monday. Beautiful West Virginia The day started out bright and sunny as we left Charles Town, West Virginia and rode through the breathtakingly beautiful

9 states in 8 days Good morning and greetings from Charles Town, WV our 9th state in eight days. We traveled 79 miles yesterday for a total of 512 miles. It was a hot sunny day so I decided to don my riding sleeves to minimize the sun exposure.  We’re down to tow riders this week, just me and Nic, my new friend from Warsaw, Poland.  After visiting Camden Yard, home of the Orioles, and presenting a couple of Great Dad Coins, it was off to the hills of central Maryland  Oh the hills!!  Did I mention the hills? There

Greetings from Baltimore MD Good morning and greetings from Baltimore, MD our 8th state in seven days. We traveled 79 miles yesterday for a total of 433 miles the first week. The day started with overcast skies and a severe weather forecast. We spent most of the day riding up and down the country roads through western Delaware and eastern Maryland. One random encounter was with Brian Riva, a cyclist and father of two boys. We were also pleased to have Kevin Heerdt, an avid cyclist and board member with the Center For Urban Families join us mid ride. Our

Wilmington De Good morning and greetings from Wilmington, DE our 7th state in six days.  We’ve traveled a total of 354 miles. The day started with overcast skies, doing some photos for our sponsors and an escort with Sergeant Mike Histand of the Lower Makefield Police Dept. The first dad to be honored was Lenny, a Philly dads, who was pushing his two year-old son Liam in a stroller. From there we stopped at the 2nd & York Fire Company and honored fathers Elvis, Kenny, ??, and Matt with Great Dad Coins. Within 15 minutes they pealed away in twos

Good morning and greetings from Yardley, PA. We’ve traveled a total of 297 miles. The day started with a heavy drizzle and sputtered most of the morning.  We started the day in Atlantic Highlands at the ferry terminal where boats come over from the Wall Street/Pier 11 terminal. The first dads to be honored were two members of the Atlantic Highlands Police Department Captain David Rossbach and Sergeant Harry Murtha (40), who became a dad of twins just one week ago. They also provided an escort through the borough of Atlantic Highlands neighborhoods and put us on the scenic bike

Good morning and greetings from New York City We’ve traveled a total of 231 miles. It was another bright sunny day yesterday with temperatures in the mid 70’s again. We started the day in Commack, Long Island. The first dad to be honored was cowboy Steve from Atlanta, Texas (this is not a typo).  Many thanks to the Suffolk County Police Department for sending six cruisers to provide an escort through and around some of the dicer neighborhoods west of Commack.  A special shout out to officers Rich Long and  his partner Shawn, two young dads, for purchasing copies of

Good morning and greetings from Commack (Long Island), NY We’ve traveled a total of 184 miles. Yesterday was a bright sunny day with temperatures in the mid 70’s again. We took the ferry from New London, CT to Orient Point, LI. We met Kenny who is a 68 year old Ironman triathlete, Tough Mudder, Spartan Racer, hiked the entire Appalachian Trail (over six months) among other over-the-top accomplishments. Oh and he’s a Vietnam veteran who made a $100 donation after being presented with a Great Dad Coin. Thank you Kenny!!! 72 miles We pedaled through the North Fork wine country

Good morning and greetings from Groton, CT.   We’ve traveled a total of 111.8 miles.   Yesterday was a bright sunny day with temperatures in the mid 70’s. After interviewing Providence police officers Joe and Tom, we presented them with Great Dad Coins and they gave us an escort for about ten miles. From there we were on our own….  We stopped for lunch in the shade of Lutheran Trinity Church in Ashaway, RI where we met Pastor Jim Weiser. He did a passionate interview about the importance of fathers, his own experience with adopting two Asian daughters 20 years