Frederick couple embarks on 8400-mile bike expedition across U.S. and back

​

Frederick, MD couple embarks on 8400-mile bike expedition across U.S. and back Frederick News Post

Almost exactly 33 years ago, Neil and Margie Donnelly embarked on a 4,000-mile bike ride from Frederick to Florence, Oregon.

Now, they’re doing it again. And this time, when they get to the West Coast, they’re turning around and coming back.

When they got to Oregon on their first cross-country ride, they decided they’d repeat the journey after retiring, but in reverse, biking from west to east.


True to their word, they started planning the trek last July, when they knew Neil would soon be retiring from his position as emergency family shelter director for The Religious Coalition for Emergency Human Needs.

But Neil had a question for his wife.

“‘How are we gonna get the bikes out to the West Coast?’” Neil remembers asking her. “She looks at me and she says, ‘Why don’t we ride them?’”

They left Friday morning to retrace the path they took in 1989. By Friday evening, they had covered about 28 miles.

In roughly three months, they plan to arrive at Washington’s Olympic National Park. The next day, they’ll start their journey home.

“We’re a little crazy,” said Margie, who retired as a physical therapist about three years ago.

They’re biking for a cause this time around. Margie, 60, and Neil, 64, hope to raise $100,000 for The Religious Coalition’s new endowment fund for its recently opened emergency family shelter on Hayward Road. As of Thursday afternoon, they had raised $11,350.

Money from this fund will be used to ...

Continue reading...