Archives for April 2018

Wow! What a day! We started the day with a presentation at Westminster Church in Minneapolis, and then helped with a river clean up organized by @benweavermusic along the Mississippi River. Then we biked back to @Midwest Mountaineering to give a presentation, sign more books, and gather tons more signatures on the petition canoe. We just made it back to Amy’s parents house in Saint Paul for a little R and R so we can recharge for tomorrow and we are certainly ready for a cold one.
We have over 300 pledges for nearly $22,000 on @midwest_mountaineering Kickstarter. Will 5 days go we need to raise another $13,000, so please continue to back Pedal to DC and share it with your friends.

Join us Monday April 30th for a live streaming Q and A through Kickstarter Live! We look forward to answering your questions and updating you about Pedal to DC!

You can SUBSCRIBE at the link in our bio to get an alert when we’re live, and you can also SUBMIT QUESTIONS in advance! #pedaltoDC #savetheboundarywaters #ayearinthewilderness

Join us Monday April 30th for a live streaming Q and A through Kickstarter Live! We look forward to answering your questions and updating you about Pedal to DC!

You can SUBSCRIBE at the link in our bio to get an alert when we’re live, and you can also SUBMIT QUESTIONS in advance!

Happy Friday! We have just ONE WEEK to go on our #PedaltoDC @Kickstarter. Join us in speaking loudly for the Boundary Waters by backing our tour with a gift of any amount. Will you help us reach 300 backers by the end of the day today?! Back and/or share our tour here: http://kck.st/2qaab8b
(Link in bio)

As we pedaled down the last few miles of the Munger Trail today and then worked our way south on old HWY 61 I kept thinking about a question that a 6th grader asked us after our presentation last night at the Audubon Center of the North Woods. “Why are you doing this again?” We had told her about our first adventure advocacy project, Paddle to DC, and how we spent 100 days paddling a canoe covered in signatures to Washington D.C. to help protect the Boundary Waters from copper mines being proposed on the edge of our nation’s most popular Wilderness. Now, here we are traveling to DC all over again.

It’s a logical question and there are certainly other things we would rather be doing, like getting ready to go on our first canoe trip in the Boundary Waters as the ice begins to melt. With cars whipping past and the steady cadence of my pedals whirling I came to the conclusion that there are really several reasons that we are “doing this again”. The most important reason is that the Boundary Waters needs our help now more than ever. Paddle to DC, and then our Year in the Wilderness, helped the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters and their partner organizations make a lot of progress towards permanently protecting the Boundary Waters watershed from copper mining, but there is still a lot of work to do. Right now the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM are in the middle of a 2 year scientific review and at the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019 they will decide if copper mining will be allowed in along the edge of the Wilderness, or if the Boundary Waters will remain protected from what the EPA considers our nation’s most polluting industry. A copper mine has never been built anywhere in the world without polluting the water, so a lot is at stake and actions taken during the next year will have ramifications that will last for generations. We can’t stand on the sidelines, we all have to jump in and act. We are putting our skills as adventurers and storytellers to work by Pedaling to DC and inspiring folks across the country to stand up for their public lands and their wilderness by speaking loudly for the BWCA.

Follow the link in our bio to get involved.

We are making a quick stop at the Post Office in Hinkley to sign and mail a book that someone requested via email. We had two books left from our presentation in Sandstone last night, so this was the perfect opportunity to pop one in the mail! #pedaltoDC #savethebwca

We stopped at @ykeracres farm this afternoon to see their farm and road away with full stomachs and a pannier full of bacon, sausage, meat sticks, and pork chops! It was certainly a highlight of our ride so far. It was wonderful to see their happy farm. #rideloaded #pedaltoDC #savetheBWCA

We struggled up some steep hills on our way out of Duluth this morning, but the views made it worth the climb.
The tour may have just started, but the Kickstarter ends in just 10 days! Please take a moment to sign on as an official backer right now! You’ll have our eternal gratitude. . . and you can pick up limited edition rewards too: a matching bike jersey, postcards featuring some of our photos from the BWCAW, special recognition in the paperback version of our book, and more! Follow the link in our bio to learn more and support #pedaltoDC

We made it to Duluth! Come join us at @zeitgeistduluth and bike with us to @bentpaddlebeer . We are leaving The Zeitgeist Cafe at 4:15 and will be at Bent Paddle’s new tap room from 5-7 today. Plus, @umdmpirg has organized an event tomorrow night from 6-8 pm in Montague Hall room 80. Follow the link in our bio to learn more! #pedaltoDC #savetheboundarywaters

Pedaling through old growth White Pines along Highway 2 on the second day of #pedaltoDC, our 2 month book tour by bicycle to @savethebwca . The #BoundaryWaters is threatened by a series of copper mines being proposed on the edge of the Wilderness so we are towing a canoe covered in signatures behind our @surlybikes to protect our #publiclands . Follow the link in our bio to learn more and get involved.

Hey! We made it to @spokengear and @cedar_coffee_co in Two Harbors! Come on over to sign the canoe and hear a campaign update. We’ll also have books for sale and some awesome @granitegear items in a silent auction. 6-8 pm