Jere in his new (old) Corvette.

Turning age 60 is not that exciting but when you consider the alternative it ain’t bad. Some of us like to call this the beginning of a midlife crisis (for those of us who think we may live to be 120!!). Jere Cowden, John Stolze and Merle McGee felt they weren’t going to let this milestone go by without kicking. Therefore they started to plan an excusion across the United States in convertibles toward Chicago and onto Route 66 toward LA. Being mindful of their past and the infamous TV show Route 66 with Tod and Buzz.

FLASHBACK -Remember Tod Stiles’ (Martin Milner) father dies and leaves him a shiny new Corvette but little money; he and his buddy Buzz Murdock (George Maharis), who grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, take off in the car to discover America, in search of adventure and enlightenment.

With that said Jere, Merle, John and friends will begin their great adventure beginning August 29th and ending September 16th when they expect to end their trip in Seattle via Route 1 up the coast. Sounds like fun doesn’t it!! Jere has just bought an ‘87 corvette for this adventure and Merle will rent a Mustang convertible. To all you High School Class of 1965 graduates – pretty crazy stuff but it’s us.

To give this trip more purpose than our own whims, we decided to also make this a fund raiser for a non-profit organization called KidsVoice. KidsVoice was founded in 1908 as the Legal Aid Society of Pittsburgh, and provides full-service advocacy for abused, abandoned, voiceless and vulnerable children. Go here to find out more http://www.kidsvoice.org/about.aspx

If you want to support this cause we would welcome your contributions. All checks are to be made payable to KidsVoice. No monies will go toward the expenses of the trip (though we are looking for restaurants or motel chains to give us discounts).

We will be making daily updates to this Blog as to where we are on our trip. All large donors will be listed on our Blog and we would be willing to wear logos and take pictures for any contributor. This is a dream trip for us and it will be fun getting our Kicks on Route 66 and raising funds for KidsVoice. That’s why we called this site "Kicks for the Kids".

May God Bless You and Our Trip,

The Boys