Ollie Plunket Reaches US on 24,00 Mile Bike Ride

Ollie Plunket Reaches US on 24,00 Mile Bike Ride

05.30.13

18-YEAR-OLD OLIVER PLUNKET RIDES HIS MOTORCYCLE FROM ARGENTINA TO ALASKA TO RAISE DONATIONS AND AWARENESS

FOR FISHER HOUSE UK TO BENEFIT FAMILIES OF WOUNDED TROOPS

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Nogales, AZ is Halfway Point on “Ollie’s Odyssey” – a 24,000 mile, 14-Nation Trip

Taking Seven Months, Raising $150,000

 

Nogales, AZ [May 20, 2013] – Eighteen-year-old Oliver Plunket of the United Kingdom rode his Yamaha XT660Z Tenere motorcycle triumphantly across the US-Mexican border here today, marking the more than halfway point in his 24,000 mile ride from Ushuaia, Argentina to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska over the course of seven months, to raise donations and awareness for the Fisher House UK, which will open this month in Birmingham, UK.

 

The two-story, 18-bedroom Fisher House UK is the first of its kind, built in collaboration between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity and the American Fisher House Foundation, which has constructed 60 houses across the United States and in Germany, at military hospitals and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Like its American counterparts, the Fisher House UK will provide a home away from home for the families of injured troops receiving medical care at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

 

Harnessing the power of social media – including a Justgiving.com page for donations, and providing updates on facebook, twitter and YouTube – Ollie is using the year before he attends the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst to support the men and women of the British Military and their families in their hour of greatest need. “Ollie’s Odyssey” has so far raised more than 1/3 of his goal of 100,000 British pounds sterling, about $153,000 US. His website, where people can donate and follow his journey, is here: http://www.olliesodyssey.org.uk/

 

Ollie will travel through 14 countries on his journey: Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States and Canada. 

 

In the US, Ollie will travel up the West Coast, through California, Oregon and Washington, and then Alaska, stopping at five American Fisher Houses to visit with families and troops receiving medical care along the way.