No Jobs, No Home, No Worries. A Shared Journey by Bike and Support SUV Across the U.S.

Miles: 120 Total miles: 1,727

By bike:

I started my day alone and in the dark leaving the hotel at 4:00 a.m. I was sluggish. I felt like it was more of a chore biking even though much of it was on comfortable bike paths. In the morning I lost count after seeing 20 frogs. I also saw two cats.

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At my second break I paused to see the sunrise. It was gorgeous and it was nice to look at something else besides my Cateye odometer and my cellphone telling me how many more miles until Bowlus.

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I tried to keep myself entertained when there was first daybreak, often talking to myself and hyping up the trip more than it was.

I made it through most of the Central Lakes and Lake Wobegon Trail until I hit 60 miles. I met a cyclist from South Dakota who slept in his car the night before to do 4 days in Minnessota and talked with him. It was only after that I realized I was far off course and my only way to correct this was to go through the Twin Cities. It was 70 miles more but I resolved to try my best. It ended up shaving off 100 miles total from the trip.

Unfortunately, the weather was not necessarily on my side. With the rain and bad conditions my spirit was low. I approached a 5 lane intersection that Google had told me to make a left on and yelled “ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?” That’s when a through cyclist, Ben, came by.

Ben was a total beast. I felt honored he kept his cadence low enough to accommodate me while I tried to keep going the last 60 miles.

Few pictures were taken here because I was just trying to keep up. Ben, who just got his PhD, would talk about all sorts of engineering research as we were going uphill with 10 mph headwinds while I was acknowledging my interest and dying at the same time.

We took a break in Monticello and I got a salad. It was the only 30 minutes during the last half of the day that I felt like I was not writing my will in my head.

Since we had no lodging, I decided to ride with Ben to the KOA and met up with my sweet Road Angel. (Lauren writing here: It was amazing to meet another couple doing exactly as we were! Jody, Ben’s girlfriend, is driving the SUV as she supports Ben along the trip. She and I had a lot in common. I’m kicking myself for not getting a picture of the two of us support warriors!)

To avoid intercity biking at 4 a.m., we drove to Cottage Grove 30 miles down the road and made the next day a rest day.

However, I was so hungry from only eating a salad I ate TWO Nachos Bell Grandes from Taco Bell. It was the first opportunity since the start of the trip. I had first dinner on the way to the hotel, boba tea with Lauren in the middle, then a takeout second Nachos Bell Grande that night. I also had 3 orders of cinnamon twists.

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The next day we went to Mall of America which is definitely a place I would go to again. However, what was even better was seeing Liz Lowe and her mother at La Quinta Inn nearby. It was so great to catch up with good friends.

Day 28 by car:

It looks like both Matthew and I went in the wrong direction at some point! While Matthew missed his turn to go up north towards Bowlus, I turned my car around and drove 30 miles back west instead of east. My altered direction was intentional, however.

If you recall from the earlier post, I had heard about someone else biking across the country that really caught my attention. Matthew and I both learned of a man named Jon while we were visiting Carl in Glendive. Carl handed us a news paper that showed Jon’s picture. The caption read, “Man with Muscular Dystrophy biking cross country for the cause.”

If you’re unfamiliar, muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and muscle wasting. There are multiple types of muscular dystrophy, and it can occur at any age but is usually diagnosed during childhood. Jon, who is now 61, was diagnosed with MD six years ago.

I knew I had to meet this man! I thought it was crazy enough that my healthy 32-year old husband was doing this, but to know that someone with a progressive degenerative muscular disease was biking across the U.S. just rocked my world.

I found his blog and sent a message. Eventually I got in contact with Jon’s cousin, Kristi. Kristi is wonderfully sweet and immediately let me know that if Matthew and I ever wanted to adventure around Olympia, WA, we’d have a place to stay! Jon refers to Kristi as his manager since she’s organizing the blog and local newspaper interviews.

Kristi was doing with Jon what I’ve been doing with Matthew: tracking him on Google maps. She told me where he was in relation to where I was, and off I went. Jon was aware of my presence and excited to meet me!

I was able to text Jon and he told me he was in Enderlin at “the cafe in the business district.” One thing I’ve grown to love about these tiny towns is you don’t need to know the name of a restaurant or cafe, because often it is THE restaurant or cafe in that area.

Plus, it was easy finding a cafe with a loaded bicycle parked out front.

I walked into the cafe and Jon invited me to join him for lunch. He already had his fish and chips in front of him- I ordered a burger and fries.

Jon explained to me how he used to be a journalist in Milwaukee, where he’ from. The first symptoms he noticed involved difficulty with his fingers and his grip. He thought maybe it was just arthritis from years of writing and typing. It got to the point where he visited his doctor, who then referred him to a neurologist. This is when he received the diagnosis of muscular dystrophy. More specifically, he has myotonic dystrophy- the most common type of muscular dystrophy diagnosed in adulthood.

The symptoms Jon experiences include weakness in his hands, ankles, and difficulty with swallowing. He admits that it was extremely hard to deal with at first, and he felt like he was beginning to physically let himself go.

I’ll confess, as a medical Speech-Language Pathologist, I had to work on not putting on my SLP hat whenever Jon may have coughed or cleared his throat during lunch. It was a nice reminder for me that under the right circumstances people can survive in this world with impaired swallow function and no diet modifications or a series of swallow strategies. Not only was Jon doing fine, but he was biking across the freaking country by himself! Whatever recommendation I may have had in a clinical setting would serve no purpose here.

Jon has done long distance bike touring before. Apparently while he was bike touring around Michigan he had met a girl who was cycling across the country. After talking with her, he knew that this was exactly what he wanted to do.

With this new diagnosis, of course the question became whether or not a 3,000+ mile journey would be doable. He eventually decided to discuss this goal with his physician, who told him he will never be as strong as he is right now. So, no better time than the present! This rings true with Matthew’s favorite life quote: “If not now, when?”

I asked Jon about the challenges of riding a bike. He explained that his hands and ankles still allow him to do everything required by bike. Walking and running are difficult, but there’s little-to-no concern over falling from his bicycle. He notes that he’s only moderately affected, and feels lucky he was diagnosed so late because it didn’t impact his work.

Kristi told me that someone from Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) told her that biking 40 miles for someone with MD is like riding 200 miles for someone else.

Jon admits that he’s much slower than he thought he would be, and it was difficult at first. Now he’s averaging about 50 miles a day and it’s beginning to feel easier.

There are two main goals for Jon: ride from Seattle to New York and raise money for MDA. His family just sent him a neon green high visibility shirt that reads “Riding for MDA” on the back. I offered him the spare American flag for added road safety, but he kindly declined the offer as the flag can create more drag. A valid point that I hadn’t thought of.

As we finished our meals and went to the front register to pay, our waitress asked what Jon’s shirt meant. He explained everything, which led to the waitress opening up about her 31 year old daughter who has multiple sclerosis and still manages to impress everyone around her with her strength. We all connected for a brief moment, and Jon and I accepted two cookies she let us enjoy on the house.

I almost feel star struck to have met someone like Jon. I plan on sharing his story with future patients of mine as a form of inspiration. To Jon and Kristi- thank you both for your openness and sharing your story with me. Jon and I both agree that the best part of a journey like this is the people we meet along the way. I wish Matthew could have joined and the two of them could have pored over the misery around biking through North Dakota, but Matthew was busy accidentally going to Minneapolis.

To track Jon’s journey, you can follow his Instagram account @crossing_the_md_divide or facebook account with the same title, Crossing the MD divide.

Day 29 by car:

Matthew’s mistaken route ended up being a better mistake than we could have ever imagined! The ACA route would have taken us around Minneapolis, attempting to avoid large cities. We drove out to the eastern side of Minneapolis and took a day off in the city. As Matthew already explained, we saw the Mall of America for the first time. It was weird, in a way. We were so used to being out in the middle of nowhere and maybe passing through a town with a population of 600 or so. Now we were in this metropolitan hub of American capitalism where the combined population of each town we saw through eastern Montana could fit in this mall!

The day ended with an incredibly timed reunion with our good friend Liz. Liz and I worked together at MCV back in Virginia. She pretty much taught me my basic foundation and then some around medical Speech-Language Pathology. As luck would have it, she and her mom were visiting Minneapolis that night for a family event! Best day ever.

We now have to reconfigure our route, but we’re hoping to reach Milwaukee in maybe three days. We look forward to catching the ferry into Michigan. We had no idea this is how we’d return to the state we left just over a year ago!