Let's get this party started!

So, we are doing what?!!

We: Pete; father, 51 (that is 2-19 year old and a 13 year old in one package), IC '81 Crew Major, and Karina; daughter, 13 (really 13), tough as nails with her mother's good looks, are undertaking to travel across the USA, from CT to CA this summer riding a pair of recumbent trikes! Our trip begins formally on June 14th and will end when we get to San Francisco, on or about the 22nd of August. On paper it is 3,900 miles of who knows what!

Beyond having a huge adventure, we wanted our efforts to be both shared with others and to be productive beyond our personal experiences. And, by now you should all be very familiar with what I fancy as my favorite productivity target - the Ithaca College Crew Capital Endowment!

I will be blogging, or at least attempting to, every day of the trip. We'll post up some video stuff, photos, will tell some good stories and now and then press you guys to get in the game and give.

I have a dream, that one day all 1000+ of you crew alumni (40 years worth!!!) will make a gift together, a fundraising Tsunami! Just imagine the uproar we would cause by pulling that one off. Safely, it is something that would be the envy of any organization, anywhere in the world! Now the folks who raise money for a living tell me that I am nuts, but I say "Hey, what's the point of stating the obvious!" No, really, it is the inspiring words of the great comedian Flip Wilson that drive me forward, who said "You never know what you can get away with until you try!"

Make a pledge of just one penny a mile for each of us (that's 78 bucks), and if you all did only that, the endowment would increase by over $80,000! Two cents a mile, spitting distance to $200,000! Some can give more, some can give less, but you get the idea - everybody give something. Oh, there is such power in teamwork!

The two of us are in training now at the gym, while we wait for the snow to melt and the mud to change back into dirt. What's it going to take to do this? I have no idea, but I am willing to find out!

To get your attention and motivate you in the past, I have challenged, bribed, shaved hair, impoverished myself, dressed as Vannah White, and generally harangued you annually for your contributions to "the Hat". I am raising the bar and will be hot, cold, wet, burned, smelly, dirty, tired and sore for the entire summer; all this just for you and the things we can do for the IC Crew! It really is a beautiful thing when we all pull together!

So, check in often to see where we are and what the epic du jour might be, just to get a quick update on my sunburn, what is numb, sore, or Karina's mental health resultant from having to spend continuous time with me (and I know there are a few of you out there who know what that can do to a person!). If we raise some jaw dropping sum of money by the end of the journey, you'll sure know about it.

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