Wow It has been a long time!

I am sorry Road to Lebanon fans and supporters for the lack of posts in about oh 4 or 5 months.  I am now back to blogging and will be posting clips, pictures, and insight on the project on here.  I have to say that this has been a great experience for me as I am coming to truly respect the work of an editor.

I will keep you guys posted on the process and keep on checking back for updates at least every two days! The change in posting might throw some of you off but that is a change you can believe in.

-Kelly James

Hello Friends

So the journey has now ended and it was a wild and wonderful trip. The teams are resting in Omaha after spending two nights in Lebanon and one fine night in an 8 person cabin off Lovewell Lake.

We would like to thank every person who has helped this project along the way from the people who have helped from conception to those who helped each team along the way. We met a lot of amazing people through our travels who have turned from strangers to friends.

A lot of people have been asking who won. All I can tell you at this time is it was a really really close race. Over the upcoming months we will release a few riddles that will clue you in to who the winner was but until then I will let you know that two teams reached Lebanon within 45mins of each other. It was crazy.

Over the next couple of days we are going to be posting things we have learned from the trip, trip recaps, news from lebanon, and other fun things so stay posted!

...and then there were THREE

Hello :-D Leigh here (Kelly's sister) and I wanted to let everyone know that all three teams are in Lebanon!! They all made it in 6 days :-) It came right down to the wire people...but they are refusing to tell who the winner was, so we are going to have to wait...and wait...and wait.

Haha, but they are all having a blast in Lebanon with all of 220 citizens of the town.

Looks like there are amazing people from all over America willing to go above and beyond for complete strangers...what an unbelievable documentary this will be :-)

Hopefully we get another update soon!

xoxo

Leigh

Team Lynn: Playing with Lincoln logs

Team Lynn is in Lincoln Nebraska! Unfortunately we are also all out of
tricks. We are working on making an air assault on Lebanon.

Breaker breaker 1-9

Team Sebastian is in a big rig.

Team Lynn loves ROB

Team Lynn would like to congratulate Rob from team Sebastian for probably having the coolest and wildest story so far, and we have decided that upon reaching lebanon we will throw Rob a party with all of our extra money.
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

Driveway Diatribe: What the .......?

A conversation in Mrs. Stracke's driveway...


"How could those guys leave us?"

"Did that lady say they were in Wyoming?"

"No, my guy is somewhere called LSU."

"Well why didn't they just take us?"

"Jeez, we've got over 350,000 miles of experience between us."

"One of us would have had them in LaPaz by now, let alone Lebanon."

"What do you say we take our own road trip?"

Team Sebastian Update

After a great night of sleep in beds finally, two hot showers, and a wonderful seafood lunch with our new BFFs from LSU (sorry Mackenzie) team Sebastian has arrived in Shreveport, LA. It seems rides are getting harder and harder for us to get. We are developing a new strategy. Our morale is high and we are getting excited about being in Lebanon soon. Until next time, this is Rob and I'm out.

Day 4 End Results ALL TEAMS: Rawlins, WY, Des Moines, IA, Shreveport, LA

View Larger Map

Team Seaside Update

We had an amazing night stay and a great breakfast this morning - waffles piled high with blueberries and coffee - before heading out to meet up with the band, Elephant Revival. After riding on their biodiesel tour bus to Wyoming, we sat down and watched the original neo-acoustic electric and eclectic transcendental folk world string band play. Now we are just settling into the night. If you wanna check out the jams we heard, go to ElephantRevival.com

Team Lynn: Location Update

Team Seaside said that sleep is the cousin of death. We found to be a
very pertinent statement and chose to plan or following 24
accordingly. As of 11 pm last night Team Lynn was in Harrisburg
Pennsylvania. Where exactly we were... the bus stop ready to board 15
hrs of busses overnight. This morning we found ourselves in Dayton,
OH ... which we promptly left. We acquired an excellent means of
transportation and are now currently about to enjoy a delicious meal
in Des Moines, Iowa! We will post again at 11am as it is likely we
won't be sleeping again.
- Sincerely Team Lynn

It is getting hard to get Rob to leave LSU!

Team Lynn

I owe LSU my soul

Good morning family, friends, and everyone else. It is in fact a GOOD Morning. Yesterday, July 30, 2008, is a day which will live in infamy for on that day at approximately 6:20 pm I showered for the first time in three days. Thank you so much Bonnie Sullivan for opening up your heart and door to complete strangers, you have been a breath of fresh air on a trip that continues to surprise me. And the same goes for Rebecca, Meredith and David who showed us a great time last night here at LSU. I'm not sure most people know this but LSU has an actual tiger in a zoo like cage...a little over the top I mean really a live tiger. Regardless I had a blast and a GOOD Night sleep and this morning all of our dirty clothes will be clean. Lots of love for the forementioned people, muchos love here. Also I have to thank MATT who drove us from Tallahassee, FL to New Orleans, LS, muchos muchos love as well for Matt. In fact muchos muchos love for everyone that has helped us on this trip Thank you so much. Going to Shreveport, LS today and hopefully Dallas, TX tonight keep your fingers crossed. One last thing for my mother, Mom- I wore the same pair of underwear for three days... AND I LIKED IT... they were Underarmour and dried amazingly fast. Thank you Underarmour. Don't try that at home kids. Signing out

Jack

Team Lynn...dreams do come true

So we all decided to dream about the west coast and hope we would wake up in a city other than harrisburg, and boy is it a beautiful morning in Dayton...and for our next trick...
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

You ever fall asleep one place and wake up in another state?

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime� Player. Note: During the download process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.

Holla RoadToLebanon Fans

Hello Everyone!

My name is Rebecca, and I just met Team Sebastian in Baton Rouge, La. I was pretty excited when they asked me to write something about them, but I'm not sure I'll be able to contribute something significant to this blog because I think what these people are doing is amazing and far more significant than anything i can put into words. It's so comforting to know that there are people out there who are trusting and willing to believe so much in human kindness that they are willing to travel across America completely dependent on others. I'm only so happy to contribute and say something encouraging for all of these teams. Good luck to all!

On a more personal note, Team sebastian has been particularly grateful, and a pleasure to be around...especially Rob. PEACE and God Bless.

Sbastian is smiling

Team Sebastian is in a very good mood because they have received a lot of help and wants to thank every one for what they have contributed. We have now advanced to the wonderful town of LSU. Geaux Tigers, ya ya geaux tigers but go vols better instead.  

Thank you, 

Bonni

Meredith

Rebecca

David

Day 3 End Results ALL TEAMS: Park City, UT, Harrisburg, PA,, Baton Rouge, LA

View Larger Map

Update from Team Seaside

We didn’t get into Salt Lake City until about 4:30 in the morning. We were woken up in the morning by a sprinkler outside the University of Utah student apartments. Forced to move, we got about an hour of sleep behind a church before they came to mow the lawn. After those few hours of sleep, we started walking downtown. Hanging out in the library, we tried to figure out how to get out of Salt Lake City and which direction we should go. Alan played a game outside the library with some new friends called “Library Roulette” which involved sitting in the fountain until it went off, and the last one in wins. It was a very refreshing game because Salt Lake City is really hot. After the library, we got some free breadsticks from Little Caesar’s Pizza and then hitched a ride to a gas station on the highway. From there we hitched another ride up to Park City, where we drank a couple of beers with some locals. They were very welcoming – they bought us some food and then took us to a free concert on top of the ski slopes. And the plot thickens… At the concert, we ended up onstage and let everyone at the concert (about 1000-1600 people) know about The Road to Lebanon and what we were doing. At the end of the show, people came up to us and gave us food, shelter, and money. Now we are walking down the street to have a beer with some locals and then go stay with our new friends, The Floures,

Pics from Sebastion

Mississippi River:Walking:
Thumbing it:
Where they filmed Deja Vu:
Bus Station: Not a very productive day. We couldn't find anyway out of New Orleans so we took a bus. First time using the money and it only cost 5 cents a person. Now headed to LSU to see what we can get into there. People, start helping others.

Team Lynn: Harrisburg

Team Lynn strikes out again!!!

So the morning started off with a bang. This included eggs, bacon, hash rounds, pancakes, and waffles with the Kuhns. After breakfast they dropped us off at a truckstop where the day began to go south, literally yet also figuratively. I think we talked to every trucker there (approx. 300) and they were all going east. So around 12pm we finally found a man named Steve Romo, he proceeded to drop us off near a bus stop, but told us on the way how he has hitchhiked all over, including to alaska and also down the mississippi. At that point we were in Hamburg and the bus driver told us how to get to Reading where we could catch a bus to Harrisburg and eventually find a better route west. Arriving in Reading the bus driver then gave us our money back and pointed us in the right direction. Bus tickets were outrageously expensive, but due to our stealth skills in bribing the inner city employee of the town we managed to get some free bus tickets... Now we are stuck in Harrisburg for a while until our brains begin working in our favor again. So actually another random act of kindness just happened while typing this, a guy named james just offered us some left over pizza and coookies without even knowing we needed food!!!!!! Pretty pumped about that and trying to dream good dreams tonight that somehow by the time I wake up we will be farther west of Harrisburg. Over and knocked out for the night.
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

Team Lynn: Chocolatey Goodness in Hershey, PA

On the bus

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime� Player. Note: During the download process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.

There's no sleeping in the

There's no sleeping in the reading library

Team Lynn...heading south

Well I'm not sure if any of you have ever tried to get out of one traveling destination point and then do a 90 degree turn, but it is extremely hard. That being said, heading west just isn't working out for us so we are deciding to keep heading south...
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

Team Sebastian made a friend

Dear Friends,

What a great project! Jack, Robert and Michelle stopped by our church in Tallahassee, had a wonderful conversation with these three fine young people, and we took them to a spot near I-10 where they could continue their journey. If all the teams are as kind as the Sebastian team they will be spreading a lot of good will across our country. In a world where there is so much negative publicity with young people, it is refreshing to meet and experience young people like Jack, Robert and Michelle.

Blessings as you continue your project,

Wayne Curry
Sr. Pastor
Trinity United MethodistChurch
Tallahassee, Florida

Team Sebastian on the road

If you have some extra time...

you should check out this free texting service. Send questions to chacha (or 242242). Ask chacha what The Road to Lebanon is. Who does chacha think will win? Huh? Boo-ya.

Mardi Gras

Team Sebastian is having some black jack phone problems, so we are using the computer in the lobby of the Drury Inn in New Orleans. To back track a little, yesterday started off a slow day. We started on the road at 6AM trying to thumb for a ride. After 2 hours, 8 miles walked, and buckets of sweat lost, we made it to a gas station. Didnt take long for us to convince a single woman by herself to cram the three of us with our gear and her luggage into her seabring convertible and head up to tallahassee. once in Tallahassee, we caught a ride with a gentlmen who dropped us off at his sons fraternity house, Sigma Chi. We chilled there for a little while, but since it was only around one, we wanted to keep heading down the road, although a night at the local bar with the FSU boys would have been a great time. Well, to make a long story short, about 6 hours later we never thought we would make it out of Tallahassee so we began thumbing down the interstate only to be stopped by a State Trooper. Once we were down with the State Trooper we were able to talk the District Attorney of Florida into giving us a ride to the next rest area. We have gotten in pretty tight with the Florida police departments. We found a guy willing to drive us all the way to New Orleans, only problem was he was pulling over to take a nap, so we had to let him sleep a bit before we left. We drove all through the night, got dropped off at the airport and curled up in there for some sleep. Didnt get much though, but now, off to Bourbon Street!

Seaside- Day Two Recap

We stayed strong and on the road for day 2's entirety. After a fifth sprinkler-related awakening, we prepared for the road outside, with a gorgeous Washington view surrounding us. Things looked grim when we started hitchhiking at the rest stop where we had slept, but after just the right amount of time, a very kind attorney scooped us up. First, he took us to a public zoo, where we saw deer, buffalo, giraffes, zebras, cameltoes, and alpacas (yes, seriously). Then he took us where we thought would be the best hangout spot to find our next ride, where he promptly told us he had a better spot. He did. After a generous man named Craig Downing bought us a filling breakfast, the free-spirited Mo crushed us and drove us in her convertible Audi to Boise--our goal for the day. Mo hooked us up with Rowanna, a calculus teacher who bought us pizza and beer, both of which were much appreciated and enjoyed. But it was the ride from Holly and Richard, which Rowanna's hospitality ultimately led to, that excited Easy Seasy the most. We met Holly and Richard at a bar Rowanna recommended. We hope Holly and Richard are safe back home in Boise, because they were nice enough to spend all of last night driving us southeast to SLC. We slept, a little, last night (until...wait for it...another sprinkler incident), and are parked now at a city library, where inspiration or generosity will surely strike any second.

Team Lynn: Kuhnsville sendoff breakfast

Delicious breakfast with the wonderful Kuhns family who have helped us
out immensely. Thank you all so much!

Day 2 End Results ALL TEAMS: Salt Lake City, UT, Allentown, PA, New Orleans, LA

View Larger Map

Team Seaside in Salt Lake City

Sleep is a cousin of death. Team Seaside is in Salt Lake City. More to come on these events later in the day.

Team Lynn: The Promised Update

It is really hard to fathom how a single day can have such extreme highs and lows. As each day has worn on, the reality and magnitude of what this project is trying to accomplish is gaining a much clearer perspective. When we explain the motives behind this film to, I am repeatedly astounded by how quickly people comprehend the scope of “people helping people” and our search for the “goodwill of Americans”. It has taken me nearly two days to grasp what mere strangers have in minutes.
To recap the day, we left Fordam University this morning and spent 20 minutes cutting through the jungle that is New York City to Penn Station. After a lot of map reading and question asking we managed to ascertain that the furthest west we could go via train was High Bridge, NJ and proceed to purchase 3 tickets.
After an interesting time being harassed by a very unstable homeless man we boarded the train. Onboard we struck up a conversation with Michelle, a California transplant and the train’s attendant. She promptly found a group of passengers from High Bride that she though might be able to help us on our journey. Less than 30 seconds into pitching our trip we had an extra $200 in hand courtesy of our new, very generous friend, Pamela. Having arrived in High Bridge and happy to finally be out of the big city, we hit the ground running…straight to McDonalds.
After a few miles of walking and following an invitation to leave the Wal-Mart premises, we found our way to a motel. Inside we received some much-needed assistance from the receptionists and a very welcome lift to the nearest bus stop. At the recommendation of the office we boarded a westbound bus to Allentown, PA.
Allentown proved to be a fairly unwelcoming, rather off-putting town and one in which we definitely didn’t want to spend the night. With no busses leaving town we walked towards the highway to hitchhike. Thumbs out and daylight slipping away our chances for a ride looked slim and we really began questioning what we were doing on this crazy trip. Finally a young lady named Lisa picked us up and drove us a few miles down the road to a collection of gas stations. It didn’t look like the best place to hitch a ride so we walked to the nearest hotel. The Best Western was going to run us over $80 a night and we thought could probably find somewhere cheaper, so we set off walking again.
With Little more than a streak of sunlight in the sky or hope in our hearts we stumbled upon an elderly man working in his garage, who later introduced himself as Mr. Kuhns. We were only hoping to camp in his backyard but he and his wife were welcoming beyond belief. We have since had warm showers, a delicious meal, our clothes washed, a history lesson, architecture tour, a place to lay our heads and more importantly new friends with abundant good will. Topping it all of we discovered the name of the town we were in was Kuhnsville, named for our very hosts. What will tomorrow bring?

Lebanon!

Today has been a GREAT day suckers!

Chris Allen in Oregon?

Bored in penn station

Oh my god what I would give for a cheeseburger right now. So far we have eaten lasagna, a bagel and some peanuts (thanks Mel) and right now cheeseburgers are sounding great!!!!!!!
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

Seaside - Some People Pics

Seaside - Ocean Pics

Day 1 End Results ALL TEAMS - Use your cursor to drag the map and see where all the teams ended up on their first night.

View Larger Map

Columbus circle @ 1am

So last night we stayed at fordham university with some college students who were nice enough to let us steal some floor and couch space. One named brendan decided to try and help us make some money to get out of this city, so he became a street musician and only made $5. But the spanish man who gave him the moneu told us they were getting married today and wanted kids in 2 years, but were gonna "try" tonight...then we found a limo full of what appeared to be some rich italian kids who he then serenaded and tried getting in the limo with, waking up this morning we have realized that everyone in nyc is a hustler so we don't stand out. We are trying to make it to rural country.
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

8:00AM - A Toast to the Pacific

At 8:00AM, Team Seaside toasted the Pacific Ocean with a beer and began their journey.

After a few hitchhikes that led us back to Seaside, we met a wonderful ukulele woman who hooked us up with a ride to Portland. After riding through Oregon in a car with a tambourine taped to the bottom, we began to walk 5 miles to a campsite before running into Kip, who drove us to see the waterfalls. Our night has just begun – we will report more in the morning.

Day One - Sebastian

Well, it is now 4:30 and the Sebastian Team is sitting inside a KFC due to thunderstorms, well two of the members anyways, Jack is outside showering. We are just outside of Jacksonville and are hoping to make it to Tallahassee by the end of the day. We would like to thank the First Union Methodist Church, Kevin Roundtree, and KFC for their generous help today.
Little side note, apparently holding a camera over a bridge and taping is frowned upon. Police were called 'cause some drivers thought it was a gun. But after a nice pat down and search by the local police dept, they sent us on our way and wished us the best of luck. Well, got to hit the road.

NYC ...bad idea

In Chinatown, terrible idea, even water costs $3
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

5:45

...approximately 5:45pm (sorry)

Chinatown or BUSt !

To all our readers, team Lynn fans and "ahem" friendly residents of
NYC and surounding area:

Team Lynn is currently on the Feng Wah bus to China Town (near the
village and lower east side I think) we will be arriving at
approximately

"I'm going back to bahston"

The "amazing zen" just hooked us up with enough money to get back to boston, or "bahston" as everyone up here pronounces it. NYC here we come!!!!!
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

Fw: Day one review

Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

-----Original Message-----
From: treyandrews3@gmail.com

Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:57:06
To: <treyandrews3.labanon@blogger.com>
Subject: Day one review


Considering the night before the trip started we just didn't go to sleep, yesterday was extremely tiresome. We got to the ILM airport at 5 am dropped off by some great friends and proceeded to the security check in. Well we held up the line due to packed aerosol cans, an American flag, and knives and mase. Landing in Laguardia we all looked like we died in the airport with the way we fell asleep all over the floor. Finally we reach Boston and began walking instead of waiting on our ride. A few things we discovered...

1. How to ride the bus/subway system
2. Having to decide between tuna and lobster for dinner on someone else is actually a hard decision
3. Sneaking into hotels actually does pay off sometimes
4. Grass is just as good of place to sleep as a recliner

We start today from Lynn, its an old fishing village, and we plan on being in nyc by the night, talk to ya along the way

Trey
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

Day Zero - Team Sebastian

Today was a very long travel day. I spent a good 6 hours in the Orlando airport waiting on my teammates to arrive and when they finally did arrive, I was in the middle of giving a tour of the place because I knew it so well. At least there was no traffic on the ride to the hotel. Really looking forward to beginning the journey to Lebanon in the morning.
Rob

Day Zero

Our bodies' clocks say it's 2:30 a.m. (we're tired), but some delectable, donated seafood at Sam's Seaside Cafe provided the energy we need to give the run down for our pre-race travel day. Kelly, Alan, and Ben made it safely to Portland via sky, walked through a bucket-drum bombarded bazaar, saw a mild conflict at a Greyhound bus station, and met the mad hatter himself. A quick bus ride brought us to our coastal starting point, where we enjoyed a nice sunset on the Pacific, drank contintental coffee and tea, checked into our hotel, and proceeded to meet Sasha, our generous server at Sam's Seaside Cafe. Thanks to Sasha for the good food and interesting conversation. We highly anticipate this race's official day one.

Seaside Reporting

Things we learned today..

1) Today was our lucky day because we got to see a man in heat.

2) You get burned when you jump on a hot harley.

3) Show up for your court date or else you will get stomped.

4) Croquet is best played with sledgehammers and bowling balls.

5) The best way to quiet a kid in pain is to tell him he is dumb.

6) Easy Seasy will be waiting for you in Lebanon.

ps. It's cold in Oregon.

The view from the top is always better!

Made it to Boston and all of us are still alive
Sent via BlackBerry from SunCom Wireless

Mel's thoughts on the trip (at 4 am)

"I have a feeling that one team (Seaside) won't ever make it out of the city they started in. I think they'll only be able to make it as far as they can walk in 10 days" - Mel

Team Seaside Reporting

See you in Lebanon.

10 thoughts for the day

my thoughts for the day from team wynn...

1. last night was fun
2. the ocean felt very warm at 330 am
3. team sebastian will not make it out of florida
4. team seaside will be most likely to get lost with kelly stracke
5. team wynn is most likely to find a trader on wall street and convince them to fly them in their leer jet to germany and then back in 1 day
6. team wynn is also most likely to enter into another country on their trek
7. deciding whether to bring a backpack or just wing it
8. thinking that kelly getting our plane tickets for a 630am flight was a cruel joke
9. i dont think ive ever completely walked across the wb bridge
10. i think its about to rain.

p[e]riod.

One of the losers from team Seaside.

My thoughts with the journey nearing..

1) What clothes should I bring?

2) Chris Allen's beard will slow Team Lynn down.

3) What can I get with a bouncy ball?

4) I have an amazing family and incredible friends. 

$600.00

WOW! Thank you so much! Trey's grandparents with the help right when we needed it! Thank you again and again.

$50.00

Thank you for your support Andrews family!  

$20.00

Thank you Donna! 

And now a haiku

Thank you for helping

You know the Dean Queen must have

A phone call a night.

$100.00

And now a poem by Sandy..

Roses are red

Violets are blue

You got me inspired 

And Bam Bam too...

Thank you Wilberts for your support and for the sweet poem.

$100.00

Thank you Dentons for your support!

$100.00

Thank you Puppies for your support!  I don't know how you guys found the time to raise that kind of money but thank you puppies.

$100.00

Thank you Alexanders! Thank you for everything that you have done for me!

Unbelievable support!

Once again I have received a tremendous amount of support so I may have to group poem again. I will say that is a great thing. Thank you all!

# 1

Three cheers for team Wynn.

The first to settle Lebanon

Just so all 2 of you blog followers out there know, I have been contacting people in Lebanon trying to find out more about this wonderful place that is right at the heart of America.  I just received an email from Dr. Darci Mull whose great great grandparents were the pioneers who settled Lebanon, Kansas. 

 

Check out her article about her trip to Lebanon at The Middlewesterner.

Thank you all!!

So I have been behind on my posting but I just wanted to thank everyone who has supported this project!  With less than two weeks before we begin, I could not be this far along with all your guys support! 

Roses are red

Cherries are too

This little poem

Is to thank all of you

The film will be fun

But the idea transcends

Of people helping people

And friends helping friends

Rock and Roll 

$15.00

Thank you Greg Jones!!

$50.00

Thank you MIchael Mazza!!!

$20.00

Thank you Raegan Queen Herbert!!

$20.00

Thank you Marissa Macri!!

$50.00

Thank you Allison Griffin!! 

$50.00

Thank you Richard Connelly!!

$100.00

Thank you Morels!! I had a great time in Chicago and we will have to do that more often!

$10.00

Thank you Kaitlin Stock!!

$25.00

Thank you John Trischan!!

$40.00

Thank you Tschudi's!!

$100.00

Thank you Kathryn Connolly!!

Crunch Time

"I never sleep cause sleep is the cousin of death."

-Nas

Thank you Nas for the inspiration.

Congratulations Team Lynn

You all are in big trouble now that I figured out how to use this thing. I would just like to thank everyone for supporting this trip and if you can't spare any cash we are always accepting donations in the form of watermelon jello.

-Yours Truly
The Winning Team

$50.00

Thank you Raf!!

I turned beet red

I muttered "awe shucks"

Because you donated

Fifty bucks!

This poem is a little corny but its my favorite so far.  Thank you Raf you are a fine gentlemen and I can't wait to see you soon buddy.

$20.00

Thank you Daniel for your support!

And now...a poem..sort of...

D-Dangerous

A- Able

N- Noble

I- Innovative

E- Excellent at calculator games

L- Loving like a big teddy bear

I thought this was the best way to thank you good sir for you contribution.  Thank you.

$10.00

Thank you Katie Elliot for not only donating but also for spreading the word to Barton College.  

Webster Struthers I am still waiting to hear from you and I want you to know I miss your teachings and Wild Turkey.

$20.00

To thank Kevin Brosseau for his contribution I decided to share with the world the best picture I have of Kevin Brosseau.  

Please enjoy.

What motivated me today

Here is a letter I received today.

Dear Kelly,

I have been moved by your project to do my part to help pass on your plea for help.  I have so far contacted 130 people and printed up several flyers to pass around to my hometown of Southport, NC, McMinnville, OR and Suffolk, VA.  I got my best friend Leigh Stroud in on this project as well and have been posting bullitens on Myspace.com and facebook.com.  I hope that this helps you along.  I am very excited to see how this comes along.  This is a real life Pay-It-Forward type of moment and I am proud to be helping to do my par tin it.

Sin Cerra,

Christy Tu Conley

That is Rock and Roll motivation for me.  Thank you Christy.

Trey Andrews joins the Lynn Crew!

Oh man, the team from Lynn just got stronger.  Now not only do they have someone who biked across America..twice, and a guy who has traveled all around the globe, but now their third is none other than Trey Andrews.  

All I will say about Trey Andrews right now is that Trey builds houses in Africa in his spare time. He is pretty much amazing.  

Trey we are all glad you are able to join us on this journey!

Look for Trey's bio on www.theroadtolebanon.com later today.

$25.00

As the birds outside chirp,

I sit and rejoice

For I got a donation

From the man Ryan Boyce

Thank you good sir for your support.

Melelo Earrings For Sale Now!

My wonderful sister has been making beautiful homemade earrings for quite some time now.  Leigh is starting a company selling earrings called Melelo with two of her good friends. She decided to help out this project by selling her sweet, one of a kind, totally awesome earrings and donating the profit to the film. What a super sister I have.

 

If you are interested in seeing some of her earrings or making a purchase please email Leigh at lls4085@gmail.com  She also makes custom earrings to match your favorite dress!

And now...a letter to Ellen Degeneres

Dear Ellen,

I hope your having a wonderful summer!

Sincerely,
Kelly James Stracke

p.s. I have been practicing my moves.

$60.00

Thank you Ryan Elvin for your support!  

Ryan and I have been on a few road trips together, mostly down to Wilmington when we were both in school at Barton.  Ryan is a heck of a golfer and a heck of a guy.  

Thank you good sir and I hope life is going great down in Myrtle Beach.

$2,500

Now we are moving and shaking! 

Chris Allen's uncle Stefan Keller just donated a whopping $2,500! I can't thank you and everyone enough for showing their support! This has been such a great experience for me so far and I can only imagine the excitement as we get closer to July 28th.  

Thank you again Stefan for helping making this project possible.

$50.00

So I was checking my mail this morning and to my surprise, I received this delightful poem from my aunt.

Roses are red

Stop signs are too

This $50 check 

Is especially for you.

This poem made me realize that I need to step my game up when it comes to rhyming.  Thanks for your support and the wonderful poem Auntie!

$15.00

A haiku for you

Thank you Shannon P

I won't forget this when you

Run for president.

Now that Hillary is out, Shannon is a shoe-in to be the first female president. Unfortunately she has to wait until she's 35. Silly rules.

$10.00

Thank you for your support Terri Leeman!

Roses are red
I have a lot of Hair-o
Thank you dear Terri
For all the dinero

(I'm getting better, getting better..)

$25.00

Roses are red

Green and yellow are ducks

Thank you JoAnn

For the 25 bucks!

(My poetry will get better with time I promise)

And now..a letter to Ellen DeGeneres

Dear Ellen,

From watching your show, I have come to notice that you enjoy dancing.  I too enjoy cutting a rug from time to time.  I just wanted to write you this letter to let you know I would absolutely love to dance with you on your show.  

Here is my email address: kelly.stracke@gmail.com

I hope you're having a wonderful summer and I will talk to you soon.

Sincerely,

Kelly James Stracke

Amazing Story

Recently I placed an ad on Craigslist looking for people who would like to tell their hitchhiking stories.  Here is a one of the stories I got.  This woman sent me five stories; three of which were happy and two which weren't so much.  It was one of her bad experiences which captivated me.  

"Picked up by a guy that seemed nice, I was on my way into town to interview for a waitress job.  He informed me that he shot his wife...I didn't know how to reply at first so I just looked around the truck and noticed the camper shell had bullet holes in it.  I said to the man, "the b@#$% must have really deserved it, huh?" He laughed and I said in a few more seconds "oh hey here we are this is where I am going." I got out of the truck and he didn't drive off.  I walked up to a house and knocked.  A person came and I said to them that I was being followed and just needed to pretend they were my friend so this guy would leave.  The older lady was kind enough to hug me like we were old friends.  He drove off and I thanked the woman  I walked the rest of the way to the restaurant, where I arrived soaked in sweat and actually got the job." 

Even though she had some bad experiences she ended her letter to me by saying that she still has faith in people and that now she is the one picking up hitchhikers!

$75.00

I love my group and if I could have another partner in crime for this journey, I would have chosen my good friend Jon Cathcart.  Unfortunately, Jon is a hardworking man.  Of all people I know, I have hitchhiked with him the most.  Whether it be Myrtle Beach or Wilmington's Beer Festival, it was his persuasive thumb that would get drivers to pull their cars over and pick us up.  I wish you could be joining us on July 28th.  Thank you good sir. 

$10.01

Yes ladies and gents, our first official donation via the website comes from none other than Nicholas Crane.  Thank you good sir.  I can only assume that you chose this amount because you want to make sure we had a penny for good luck.  I hope you donated lincoln side up.

 

Thank you Alexis Rollins!

For being so kind as to offer us your hospitality on the night before our journey begins.  Alexis has opened her doors to the crew departing from Lynn, Mass. and is allowing for them to spend the night in her casa.  Alexis you are wonderful and I hope you will show the Lynn crew your amazing in the club dancing moves.

This Saturday..

...a group of us are going to head down to DCI Biologicals, Inc. to donate plasma.  This will be a great and interesting way to give something back while raising money for the project.  If you wish to join us, we are going to be carpooling from the UNC-W Library at 8am.  Send me an email at contact@theroadtolebanon.com if would like to join us or set up a different time to go.  Over and out. 

And so it begins..

Hello friends.  From this blog we will keep you updated on the progress of the trip, along with daily journals once the crews hit the road on July 28th, 2008.  And so it begins.