Port Townsend church hosts bicyclists on 4,000-mile journey

Published 12:01 am Thursday, August 13, 2015

PORT TOWNSEND — First Presbyterian Church, 1111 Franklin St., earlier this month hosted 29 college-age bicycle riders who biked from Baltimore to Seattle, a trip of more than 4,000 miles over 70 days.

The hosts and helpers supplied supper in the church Fellowship Hall and provided beds, showers, laundry facilities, transportation, breakfasts for the 4K for Cancer riders and did cleanup when they were all gone.

Among those helping in different areas were John and Isabel Goepferd, Nellie Dunnet, Paul and Rosine Kohler, Mary Brunner, Ruth and Dave Whitney, Jeanne and Vic Dirksen, Ron and Lynn Chase, Cate Ferges, Jim Pate and Jeff and Stephanie Boyles.

All the riders completed their challenge by riding into Pike’s Place Market in Seattle on Saturday.

This was the 14th year the group has cycled across parts of the country and the fifth year for the ride from Baltimore to Seattle.

During their rides, cyclists encourage donations to the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, perform community service at hospitals and cancer centers, visit with cancer patients and cancer survivors, and hand-deliver scholarships to young adults who have faced a cancer diagnosis.

The group rode into the heart of central Pennsylvania over the Appalachian Mountains.

They saw the Great Lakes and then traveled north through Michigan and around the lake to Chicago.

The group went west through Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota until reaching the Badlands and Mount Rushmore.

After the Badlands, riders headed north through Montana to Glacier National Park before tackling the North Cascades into Washington state and then to Port Townsend and the Pacific Ocean.

For more information about the group, their mission and details about the trip, visit www.4kforcancer.org/2015-baltimore-to-seattle.