Under the light of a full moon, 23 year old Scott Finamore and 19 year old Sam Malaska arrived at Cycle Sales in Boardman around 5 o'clock Saturday morning. Surrounded by friends and family, they say they got the idea to make their journey across America a fundraising event about 5 months ago. "We were going to do it anyway, so we thought, why not do it for Akron Children's Hospital of Mahoning Valley," said Malaska.
Their cycling trip is expected to take 51 days, totaling more than 3,000 miles before arriving at their destination in San Francisco, but their plan on getting there isn't exactly crystal clear at this moment. "We have options. West is the idea," said Finamore.
Before officially heading west, the two will first bike to the main campus of Akron Children's Hospital in Akron. From there, the rest of the journey is up in the air. "Great Salt Lake, Lake Tahoe, that's the cool part. We camp every night so we'll have the opportunity to map things out. Map our route out. Map anything we want to do, really," the two men said. The guys will continue to accept donations until July 1 with details on their web site "Cali For Kids." They hope to raise at least $10,000 for Mahoning Valley's Akron Children's Hospital.
"I'm just ready to go, sick of waiting, sick of planning. I'm ready to ride," said Malaska. "It's been a long time. We've been waiting for this for a long time," said Finamore. The two plan to arrive in San Francisco on June 28 and will then fly back to the Valley.
