After a nap in First Congregational Church of Wiscasset's fellowship hall Friday evening and a Wiscasset Newspaper interview, Deland, Florida’s Stormi Turnbull headed downtown to Red's Eats. Moments earlier, fellow Floridian and Bike the U.S. for MS (multiple sclerosis) cyclist Al Francis of Sebastian  began the walk to Sarah's Cafe.

They had just arrived after a day’s biking from Sebego Lake. Friday was day 34 of the 36-day, St. Augustine, Florida to Bar Harbor, Atlantic Coast leg of the tour to raise funds and awareness about the disease and, on many stops, help people with MS with yard work or other work on their homes, like building a ramp, route co-leader Kelly Wolf of Appleton, Wisconsin said.

This was the route’s second year on the decade-plus old trans-American tour. It takes years to build the community relationships that connnect the group to townspeople who could use the help, route co-leader Duncan Moore of San Francisco, California said. 

Pastor Josh Fitterling said the church donated the use of the fellowship hall to support the group's mission. "We are always looking for ways to use the space we have to support good work in our community and in the world. As this group raises money and awareness for MS, they are certainly doing much good! We are glad to partner with them in this way and offer hospitality as they make their way through Wiscasset."

The group was thankful. A lot of the hosts at overnight stops on the interstate trip are churches, Wolf said.

Wolf, 36, has an aunt who has had MS for 20 years. “She was around my age when it started. And I’ve watched her slowly lose the ability to walk, and I’ve seen her struggles and how it affects her and her family.” That’s why Wolf got involved with the group.

Francis has lost family members to MS and he has friends with it. This was his fourth ride for the cause. He has passed the time riding by playing “Walter Mitty,” making up stories. “It makes the time go. And I equate everything to rides I’ve done in the past, like 12 miles is the trip down to my local watering hole and back. And that kind of keeps me going along.” 

Friday’s ride was windy and cold, he said.

Madison, Wisconsin’s Neil McCallum concurred. Crossing the bridge from Bath into Woolwich, he hit crosswinds. “It was a little frightening,” the retired architect said. ““It was something you needed to be very concerned about.”

“Very challenging,” son Sean McCallum, a Washington, D.C. nurse, said. Making the trip together has brought them closer, Sean said. His father praised the group’s repeat riders as key to the ride’s success. “The alums here are really amazing, and are very supportive of the cause,” he added.

Turnbull was making the trip with father-in-law Joe Turnbull, also of Deland, Florida. He said his wife was probably missing Stormi more,  because Stormi is such a good cook.

Wolf said cyclists wear helmets and raise a dollar a mile for the route or, if riding a segment of it, $2 a mile. The total raised so far was $31,000, Wolf said. Route leaders get training in first aid and CPR. Vans carry supplies, a check-in whiteboard and cyclists’ snacks, from tuna packets to Gatorade. Everybody gets a cubby, Wolf showed the Wiscasset Newspaper. Biketheusforms.org states the money raised goes to MS  clinics, the MS Society and a partnership with the Society to modify homes of people with the disease that attacks the central nervous system.

In Fellowship Hall, route leader in-training Emily Gregory of Winchester, Virginia set out her sleeping mat and showed shirts with the ride’s logo. She said the cause is absolutely incredible. Her other reason to take part was to ride across the country, pushing herself physically and mentally. Five weeks in, what had she learned? “Life is simple, don’t overdo things. And do things for others.”

Sunday morning, Wolf texted from day 36, the ride to the last stop, Bar Harbor. "I’m so proud of all the cyclists and what they’ve achieved. The last day is always bittersweet. You feel happy to have made it to the goal, but realize that means you need to say goodbye to the amazing people you’ve had the pleasure of spending the past month with. Luckily many are already talking about which ride they plan to do next."

Wiscasset will be a stop again next year, Wolf said.