July 12 Renaud:. 
New-York! New-York! Someone quite famous sang a few years ago that he wanted "to be a part of it". Being there for 3 days now, and singing that great song very often, I'm still not sure if I do agree with the words. This city is a huge jungle, the perpetual noise is hard when you're not used to it: what a change compared to the pristine white of the Arctic and the sacred silence you can have over there. But that's the modern world, and for now there's room for everyone with all those very diverse preferences. I'm pretty happy that a lot of people like this life: it takes some to fill up all these flats and penthouses. But, it proved to me once more that it's not what I want. I might not be designed for the big city .... A great point anyway: so many people don't care about their environment and neighbours around here that the ones who do care are real jewels. I'm very impressed to meet all those volunteers, giving that much energy in the middle of all this mess. Today we helped gardening with people from the community and the Green Guerillas, trying to improve that small island of green they managed to create in an ocean of concrete and metal. Thank you for the fresh air you brought me in my short but tough stay in your world.

July 13 Dylan:
Our morning was spent working with Habitat for Humanity (an organization building low income housing for people) in the Harlem district of New York. My curiosity about the people who live in these projects and on the streets of Manhattan and neighboring boroughs prompted many questions in my mind. Why are they here? What are the circumstances which lead people by choice or fate down this road? Sparked by the memory of my homeless uncle and his struggles, I hold these questions in my mind. The place to bring them is soon presented this evening as we find ourselves working with a coalition organized to provide food to the homeless and hungry, one meal per day on a daily basis to different locations in New York. Driving in a small van full of simple but wholesome food our quest has us stopping along street corners, parks, churches and anywhere else the homeless congregate. The picture, the expectation I had in my mind, is quickly reprimanded as I look, listen and interact with these people. Many are dressed in old clothes (torn and weather-worn), others seem as if they just stepped out of a suburban home, leaving family and security (and perhaps some did). And on the other end of the spectrum are some well-garbed folks who, if they were dressed any fancier, could qualify for an audition on Wall Street. The conversation is as diverse as the garments: mild politeness and quiet thank-yous to faithful enthusiasm. "The sky is my roof and the earth my bed", one man exclaims, with a warm smile on his face. In conversation with a sharp dressed and sharp-witted man who called himself Vinny (who knows if that was his real name?), I learn more about street life. Vinny is well educated, working during the day, sleeping on the street at night. Between his anecdotes on politics, commerce and religion, I find myself laughing along with his jokes (directed towards me or between him and others on the corner). Despite me being an outsider, I am offered coffee and food and I sit back and listen and learn. If by choice, I wonder what brings a person onto the street? And if not by choice, which circumstances are so foreboding there is no other way out? And who am I to judge that these people would want a different life? It seems on the street, as I am finding on this trip, there are no absolutes and that often the only true service I feel I can offer to others is an open ear and an intention of understanding.

July 14 Mercedes:
It was our rest day in New York, that was great because I could visit a cousin of mine and her family who are living in Darien, Connecticut. I really enjoyed the day. I took a train and after one hour I arrived in Darien. It's an amazing place - a small and picturesque town with a beach close by and many open forests in between the houses. My visit finished in time to go shopping for food we needed for tomorrow, to start our cycling trip to Virginia. Everyone is arriving, like Jessica and Heidi. Naoki went to see a Broadway show. They all had a very nice time on their rest day - I figured it out by the big smiles on their faces.

July 15 Heidi:
20 hours. That's how long it took us to get from New York to Washington, DC. We left at 5 am from Jessica's Aunt's house in Queens. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to cycle today due to an injury. On our first day in New York, during the Hudson River clean-up project, a waterlogged piece of wood managed to dislocate my big toenail from my toe. Needless to say, it was painful. Three days later I suspected an infection because my toe started throbbing and aching so I went to the hospital and after seven hours in the Emergency Waiting Room, they took off my toenail, cleaned it and put it back on my toe. The procedure was absolutely fascinating, especially since they had numbed my toe so I couldn't feel a thing :) :) So I was unable to help out the team on our long haul to Washington. After back roads and many wrong turns and some stunning scenery, we finally pulled into my mom's driveway at 1 am. I can't express my happiness at seeing my family, seeing my house and knowing that I'm home.

July 16 Jessica:
Well, after a very exhausting 21 hour day yesterday, the team was very fortunate to have a pseudo, Pole to Pole rest day. We woke up later than usual and had a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit and bagels at Heidi's mom's home in Falls Church, VA. We then had a meeting discussing the next few days in DC and trying to figure out a way of being on time to all of our events. I must say we struggle quite a bit with tardiness. After having the afternoon free, in which some people went running, others went to the beach, and still others just chilled and watched movies. Heidi's dad invited us to a bbq at a nearby park. Unfortunately the rain prevented us from reaching the park, but we went to his home instead and had a wonderful dinner.

July 17 Jay:
It was a long day, and also a different day compared to before. To make it short, we went to the Organization of American States, the Canadian and Argentinean embassies and then the Japanese embassy. Coming back to the OAS, we also had a whole bunch of interviews with TV and Newspapers. I was just following the team but to be honest, I was really confused. We were having all kind of media stuff hoping to touch a lot of people with our message. I really hope the message can go through and we are not just getting more well-known.

July 18 Heidi:
What an inspirational day! At 12:30 today we had the honor of presenting to The Nature Conservancy office in Northern Virginia. We hope to be working with them in North, Central and South America on their Parks in Peril program. It was wonderful to see so many young faces in the audience and to realize that these people are making a real difference in our world. I hope to one-day work for an organization such as this one that makes such positive changes in conserving our natural world. From The Nature Conservancy we went to a new health food store that is opening shortly in College Park, Maryland called My Organic Market (MOM's). My best friend of 15 years, Annie, works there and she organized some goodies for us to take along.

This evening we had a wonderful dinner at Nora's restaurant in downtown DC, courtesy of Chad Dobson. Chad had arranged this dinner so we could meet and interact with many young environmental and humanitarian activists. We met many people who work with women's rights, arms control, student activism and environmental issues. It was awe-inspiring to see how motivated these young people are and how committed they are to their various goals. Personally, with all the enthusiasm and youth in the room, I was very hopeful of the future and all that will be done with the dedicated perseverance so evident this evening.

July 19 Renaud:
Days follow each other but are never the same. We've got a sentence like that in French. Pole to Pole 2000 is not really like the usual travel you take, I often approach it as a job with great encounters and adventures with a lot of obligations and late hours. After saying that, as I continue to write, it feels better already. The day started by a few e-mails that wouldn't go through but then I was enlightened by the presence of Sang-Soo, our first cameraman. He was here during the training and the North Pole and then took a month of holidays. So I say good-bye to Jung-Hun (the other cameraman) with great thanks and hello to Sang-Soo, welcome back! Afterwards, we went to visit Habitat for Humanity, sharing what we try to do to inspire people and hearing what they do as well. We met at one of the houses they are building for people. As far as I know, their goals are providing a better lodging for people and also to bring people together as they help at whichever location. We ended up in front of the Congress, handing out ice cream to congressmen and their staff under a little bit of rain. We also promoted one of our sponsors 76 and K who help us a lot: we offered t-shirts and bags printed with the magic number as I call it. You dial 1-800-cleanup and it tells you where the closest recycling center is. A full day in all. Next we need to prepare for six days of biking across the States from Washington to Denver.

Thunder Bay to Ottawa - pictures & reports.

Vancouver to Thunder Bay - pictures & reports.

100 Mile House to Vancouver - pictures & reports.

Inuvik to 100 Mile House - pictures & reports.

North Pole to Resolute Bay - pictures & reports.

Training Camp - pictures & reports