I’m less than a week away from the Mexican border, which is a really odd feeling, since I have spent most of the ride thinking of San Diego as being way off in the future. Now it’s easily within four or five day’s ride. I couldn’t have made it this far without help from a great many of you, and I’m profoundly grateful. Thanks to all of you, the Pacific Coast Route is within reach.

I set out thinking that I could do the whole trip out of my own pocket, but sometimes things don’t go as planned, or the way we think they should. It was a hard thing to ask for help in getting this far. I spent several days at Jeff and Roma’s struggling between calling it quits and asking for help. I asked, and you delivered. Thank you.

A lot can happen between here and San Diego, and there are people working hard in the background to find the support I need to set out on the next leg, crossing a very large country. At this point, I can probably make it to the vicinity of Phoenix, but if I do, it will be using every last bit of the money I have available. One of the things I have learned on this ride is that is very much a journey of faith. Faith in myself, my friends and family, in the skill of random drivers, in the kindness of total strangers, and ultimately, in God.

There have been days when all of that has been sorely tested, and days when everything flowed smoothly toward the goals I set for this project. I have spent the last several weeks with the best support I have had since the beginning of the ride, thanks again to those of you who have been with me, and I have ridden many hours in the saddle thinking about what all of it means. It all comes back to the question of faith, and I find that I’m comfortable with that.

I set a few rules about how I handle the cause behind this ride. I have given out just over 300 cards, and those cards only went to people who talked to me long enough to hear about what I was doing, why I was doing it, and what the purpose of the JDRF means to me. I realize that I have not written much about the JDRF, and how important their mission is in the search for a cure for diabetes. As a type 2 myself, and as a friend and family member to many fine people who are afflicted with type 1 diabetes, it’s a very personal cause.

Of those 300 conversations, I found over 200 people who had some close connection to someone with diabetes, which is not too surprising when you consider how fast the disease is spreading through our population. I found a very small number of people who had even heard of the JDRF, even among the diabetics I met along the way. My conclusion from this is that the cause has two important components. One is raising money to help find the cure, and the other is raising awareness of the JDRF and its important role in driving the research that leads to a real cure.

Make no mistake; great progress is being made toward that cure, and in the meantime, great strides have been made in the management of the disease. I have met many diabetics who make use of that research on a daily, or even hourly basis. I’m aware that the JDRF has a solid program of cycling events that are far more effective than mine at raising money, but I have discovered that it makes a real difference to have someone out in the world, meeting people who have had no other way to learn about the JDRF, and spreading the word. In many cases, I encountered a surprising amount of gratitude from people, just for telling them that there is an organization out there, pushing hard for a cure. Although I can never match the fundraising power of several thousand cyclists at an event, I have come to understand that I can make significant strides in building awareness of the important work of the JDRF.

To that end, I must ask for your help in two ways.

The first is your help in keeping the ride going. The more miles I can cover, the more people I can make aware of the problem we face, and the work that is being done by the JDRF to solve it. It’s my personal mission to build that awareness, and to let as many people as possible know that there is hope, that there is an enormous amount of work being done to combat the disease, and that there is a great deal that people can do to help themselves and others in the fight against diabetes.

What I would really like to do is to get the ride funded all the way to the finish so that I can take down the Big Dummy Project support links, and return the entire focus of the project back to where it should be, on raising money for the JDRF. People have asked what it would take to fund the entire ride, and the answer is roughly $32 per day, on the bare bones plan. That’s great, but how many days are left to ride all the way to Key West? Good question. I originally thought 120 days would do it, but now I know that the answer can vary depending on all kinds of factors. Weather, terrain, fatigue, and so on. Sixty days will have me in San Diego, which is only about a third of the entire trip. So, you could say that 180 total days is a reasonable projection, but not really. The truth is that I have been gaining speed and endurance the entire time, and I will probably continue to gain on both counts for quite some time. 120 days is probably more accurate than 180, with 140 being my best guess.

However, I made another decision along the way, and that is that sometimes covering ground is less important than what I may encounter along the way. I stayed far longer in Monterey than the mission would indicate, but the time spent there was important enough that I don’t regret it. Some days I talk to 20 people about the cause, some days, two. All that to say that it’s hard to make an accurate estimate of the time, but I will continue to choose the best balance between covering miles and accomplishing the goals of the ride.

The second part is that I am raising money for the JDRF, and I would invite you to check out the JDRF site to learn how donations are being used to find the cure. It’s important.

I understand that asking for two kinds of help makes it hard to decide the best way to serve your own personal priorities and motivations. I should point out that money donated to the JDRF is going to a non-profit organization, and that makes any donations to the JDRF tax deductible. If you decide to support the ride itself, then you are just giving a gift to a man on a mission to help the JDRF find a cure for diabetes. I promise to use any support you provide in the best way I know how to further the cause. I hope and believe that if I can continue, the result will be a long term multiplier effect that will bring a great deal more support to the cause down the road. The farther I go, the more exposure I can bring to the problem that diabetes presents to all of us, and the more I can talk about how the JDRF is working to find the solution. I believe, ultimately, that’s how we can all work together to deliver the cure to the millions suffering from diabetes.

In a few days, I’ll be forced to decide what happens after San Diego. If I can find enough support to feasibly cross the country, then that’s exactly what I will do. I’m feeling stronger and more motivated every day, and there is no question that I can finish the entire ride. If not, then I will have to go home, regroup and find another way to do what I set out to do. So again, it comes down to a question of faith. If the answer is to keep going, then we will all be riding together for the cure.

The link for supporting the JDRF is on the top of the page on the right hand side. The link for supporting the ride is just to the left of that, or just click the donate button on the right hand links. Thanks again to everyone who has helped me get this far. I’m truly grateful.

One last thing… I invite anyone who wants to ride a stretch with me to let me know when I get close to your area. We can work out a meeting. I would love to have the company, and Elke would appreciate it if you would come out and stop me from singing nonsensical songs in her general direction. She hates that. Places to spend the night are also greatly appreciated. Thanks!