Present:Hope Tour- The Story Continues

Going to Catalyst Conference with the team was a great experience. It was really surreal to ride out on our bikes in front of 13,000+ people. It was the moment we had all been waiting for, we had sweat it out on that trip so that we could stand there, in front of those people and tell the story. [http://vimeo.com/30096216] It was really great to see Aaron Brown on the stage talking about his city. There was so much wrapped up in that moment it was overwhelming.

We wrapped up Catalyst and started the good-byes. It's hard to explain the emotion in leaving such an amazing experience and group of people. It's bittersweet because you're exhausted and miss your family and can't wait to see them and sleep in your own bed. But at the same time, you know you can never go back to this, it'll never be the same. You'll never be the same. They say in Venture- "Find what wrecks you and feed it." Once you've found it, you never want to go back to being un-wrecked. I honestly just feel really honored to be part of this story.
As we were flying out this morning, Aaron and Paul were on The Weather Channel. Check out their segment here. http://vimeo.com/30234401
And on Monday, Aaron and Pastor Aaron Brown will be on CNN. It's amazing to see how the story continues. Our goal was to raise $100,000 for Convoy of Hope and so far we've raised over $60,ooo.
If you'd like to contribute, you can go to www.ventureexpeditions.org/page/joplin-tuscaloosa-tour

Present:Hope Tour Birmingham to the end

We went in to Birmingham one night and went to a really cool coffee shop- Urban Standard. We also went by 16th Street Baptist Church which was a hub for the civil rights movement which was really moving for this girl from the north.
We finished out our last couple days riding on a bike trail from Cedartown, GA into Atlanta. It was beautiful and super fun. We could cruise and not worry about traffic, which allowed us to talk more.
When we got to the end of the trail, we had to bike a few more miles to meet the van. When we got there, they had a great celebration waiting for us. It was a really amazing feeling to look at my team, that are now great friends, and think back to what we went through to get there. 803 miles, over 31,000 ft. of elevation gain, burning quads, sunburned lips, mental battles, traffic, tiredness and fatigue. But to know the relationships we made with people in Joplin and Tuscaloosa and each other and the stories we've gotten to share with literally millions of people now, we would all sign up to do it again right now.