OUT OF THE SADDLE!
Monday, August 10th, 2009 -- 1:44 PM
His 10-day bicycle tour took him to every corner of the state of Wisconsin. By the time he pedaled into The Highground Veterans Memorial Park in Neillsville Sunday, Tom Kingsbury had pedaled about 1,530 miles."I feel great. Let's go do it again," Kingsbury said. It was hard to tell if he was joking.
The 56-year-old Loyal man set out on his mission on Friday, July 31st. He pedaled to stops in Ashland, Platteville, Waterford, Oshkosh, Marinette, Rhinelander and everywhere in between, all to raise awareness for The Highground, and a proposed tribute to the veterans of Persian Gulf wars.
"All these stops we made were so inspirational," he said, "one thing I learned is it's hard to look a Gold Star family in the face and see the grief in their eyes. The little bit of discomfort is nothing they don't deal with on a day-by-day basis."
At every stop, special flags were presented to local dignitaries. The flags were flown over U.S. bases in Iraq.
Kingsbury was lucky to have pretty good weather, but Saturday, his final full-day of riding, was hot and humid.
"The oven turned up and the wind was blowing in our face. It took a long time to get down that last 100 miles," he explained. "My crew took care of me so well. I can't say enough about my sister Carol, her husband Randy and Therese Hoeser. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be standing here right now."
Kingsbury?s triumphant ride into The Highground was timed perfectly to coincide with a Wisconsin Air National Guard helicopter fly-over and the arrival of the hundreds of bicyclists participating in the 25th annual bike tour.
That group was led by the park?s founder, Tom Miller. He said the state's largest memorial park had far exceeded his expectations.
"It's far better. They've gone into something far more brilliant and beautiful than I ever expected," he said.
Kingsbury had hoped to raise $30,000 during his 10-day tour. Donations were still coming in, but it appeared he would reach that goal. You can learn more at [url=http://www.thehighground.org]www.thehighground.org[/url].
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