Getting the Word Out

I have spent most of my spare time this week trying to get word of the ride out to everyone I can. I have been sending emails to churches in Topeka and Bolivar and have been contacting a few business that I am familiar with here in town for support. All I can ask is that you continue to spread the word and to pray. Most of all to pray for Baby G's health and recovery but also pray for the success of this ride. If everyone that reads this blog emails a link for it to everyone they think would be interested and asks them to do the same then more and more people can see this and know about Granton and the people that care for him.

Getting Close

The ride is less than 3 weeks away. With the exception of a few minor details, I am ready to go. The only thing left to do is raise the money. Get the word out, the next two weeks I will be focusing on promoting the ride to anyone I can and getting it out there for people to see. If you are reading this, spread the word, tell people about Granton and this ride.

Email address

I have set up an email address for the benefit ride. It took alot of thinking for me to come up with something REALLY original to name it but I think I finally settled on a real winner. The official email address of the Granton Bayless Benefit Ride is rideforgranton@sbcglobal.net. Anyone who needs to contact me directly about anything to do with the ride can do it there.

Sorry

OK, I know I said I was going to start leaving a post everyday, and then I go and skip the first day. I'll leave two today. This one's the first.

The Bike is Here

I picked up the bike yesterday afternoon-It Is Awesome! Thank you so much to Kay at Sunshine Bike Shop and thank you to Jerry and Jeremy at Capp's Bike Shop in Topeka for getting it all put together for me. The ride is almost here and everything is falling into place, now we just have to get the word out. I know I don't post very often, but with the ride getting so close I'm going to start trying to leave a post every day. If you read this blog, tell people about it, tell them to tell their friends about it. We need everyone we can get to see this and get involved. This is all for Baby G and we have to get the word out!

A Real Sponsor!!!

Sunshine Bike Shop in Springfield has committed to providing a bicycle for me to ride during the Benefit!!! I spent part of this morning on the phone with Kay from Sunshine and she has agreed to give me a great bike to use during my five day ride. When it's all over, I'll get off the bike and auction it off at the end of the ride event in Bolivar, with all procedes going into Granton's Benefit Ride account. If you're in the Springfield area, or even if you're not, get into Sunshine and give them all the business you can, and give Kay a big hug from the Granton Bayless Support Crew.

Route (take one)

OK, Here is the first posting of the Route I'll be taking and the first official details of the ride.
I'll leave Topeka (most likely from the Law Enforcement Center) on Monday morning, June 16th with one or both of my brothers with me in a support vehicle. From there I'll take Hwy 75 straight south to Burlington, where I'll spend the first night courtesy of The Christian Church of Burlington. The next morning, I'll continue south to the Bayless Estate in Havana for the second night. From there, I'll head back northeast to Pittsburg where I'll spend night 3 thanks to Countryside Christian Church. On Thrusday I'll take off eastbound and will spend night four either in or around Greenfield or camping at Stockton Lake somewhere (this part has yet to be determined.) The final day will be a short ride to Bolivar where I'll most likely end the ride at Bolivar High School, Home of the Liberators. Daniel and Jenni's good friends Clayton and Amanda McCullah are working on some sort of event for the completeion of the benefit-these are the people who set up the bone marrow drive in Bolivar so from what I hear, I'm in pretty good hands as far as planning goes.

-Just a side note, I went to the drive in Topeka and as of yesterday I'm officially on the National Bone Marrow Registry.
-Also, for those keeping track, don't forget the bone marrow drive my brother organized in my hometown, Bedford, IA is tomorrow (oh, it's after midnight-I guess it's today)

Bone Marrow Drive in Topeka, KS

I just found out about a Bone Marrow Drive here in Topeka at Washburn University. It will be held in the Washburn room of the Memorial Union from 11am to 6pm tomorrow, May 8th. Contact person is Tyler Goetz at 620-200-6128 or his email is tdgoetz@gmail.com. I just got off the phone with Tyler and this drive was set up independent of Granton's cause-however they have since learned about him through the drive in Dearing and have been mentioning his name in setting up and promoting their drive. I plan on being there to donate and would encourage anyone reading this to do the same.

Progress Report

OK, here's a quick update of where I'm at with things. Everything is going smoothly as far as planning goes. The route is set, I'll post it officially when I square away all the particulars of where I'm going to stay each night, the exact roads traveled, etc. I spoke with Debbie at the Bank of Bolivar and as of today, we only had three pledges. So if you haven't pledged yet please consider doing so and try your best to get word about the ride out to everyone you can possibly think of.
It was great to hear about all the successful bone marrow drives-it's awesome that they had so many people that they actually ran out of kits at one of them!