I rejoined the Hennepin Canal Trail from Tiskilwa as I headed towards Morris, Illinois.
Coming to the end of the Hennepin Canal Trail
Cycling along the Illinois River.
Around La Salle I joined the Illinois and Michigan Canal.
Around 15 miles to go Rasmivan met Wade cycling in the opposite way who was riding from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon following the Great American Trail similar to the route the Peace Ride went on.
Arriving in Chicago I arrived at the Peace Garden food trailer in the park.
Celebrating the end of the Peace Ride with good friends and supporters in Chicago.
We were treated to a a delicious meal from the Peace Garden food truck.It was a great way to celebrate peace and the 50 day Peace Ride almost 3/4 of the way across America.
Relaxing and telling everyone about some of the more exciting experiences during the Peace Ride.
Visiting some of the amazing sights in Chicago.
This is the incredible sculpture known as The Bean.
One of the typical streets in Downtown Chicago.
Some of the famous architecture of the downtown Chicago skyline.
Towering and modern day skyscrapers.
On 15 July the Peace Ride visited El Jardin de las Rosas, a vibrant community garden in Chicago. Nine community, corporate, and political groups, consisting of 100 people, beautified, planted, and cleaned the garden and neighborhood block, which had a Sri Chinmoy Peace Tree from October / November 2021. The groups included: My Block, My Hood, My City American Medical Association Chicago Cares Molson Coors Monticello Block Club Alderman Villegas Team 36th Ward Alderman Jesse Fuentes Team 26th Ward State Rep. Lilian Jimenez Team Kirk Ortiz Team (running for State Rep)
Some of the community gardens growing flowers and vergetables.
We had a wonderful Peace Ceremony here at the Gardens.
The Peace Torch was passed to each individual, giving them the opportunity to offer their hopes, dreams, prayers and smiles for a more peaceful world.
A special treat was celebrating the birthday of the garden Founder, Patty Carrillos! She said, “I liked that I was able to bring these organizations together with you too so that they could get to know each other, because I love what you do and I wanted to share it. At such a special moment as my birthday, we were able to make a huge difference in the community presence…and help are very important.”
A highlight of the day was the Peace Ride 2025 program, represented by Rasmivan. The program included:
- Sharing the Peace Ride journey and his story (Rasmivan)
- Celebrating the Gingko Peace Tree planted a few years ago with poems and readings singing the Peace song
- Acknowledging peace within us and bringing it forth to share with others
- Passing the Peace Torch and making a wish for peace
The Sri Chinmoy Peace Statue in Seattle is where our Peace Ride officially started on 24 May, 2025
Sri Chinmoy's Peace Statue in the Chicago Meditation Centre where the Peace Ride ended on 15 July, 2025
"Only the peace-dreamers, Peace-lovers And peace-servers Can transform the world." Sri Chinmoy
Final thoughts from Rasmivan:
After 50 days since leaving Seattle cycling over 2,500 miles the Peace Ride sadly finished in Chicago on 15 July. As in the previous report it was mentioned that unfortunately Salil came off his bike in Dexter, Iowa and fractured his collarbone. I continued on my own for the next 8 days. It was hoped that someone else could accompany me from Chicago to New York to continue the Peace Ride. Unfortunately no one was available and due to safety concerns of continuing the next 4 weeks to New York on my own it was decided to end the Peace Ride of America. Although I was disappointed I knew this was the correct decision.
The past 7 weeks cycling through America has been such an amazing experience, one that I will always remember with so much fondness and joy. The journey has been truly exhilarating. The landscape of the vastness and at times wilderness of remote rural America has been breathtaking. What has been more memorable are the people we have met on the road and those that kindly hosted us. The kindness and generosity of people has truly been heart warming. The whole journey has been one long meditation that I feel has changed me.
Although we didn’t complete our journey across the country by finishing in New York it a way it feels it doesn’t matter. It would have been wonderful if we had achieved this, but things happen that are beyond our control. We are all transformed by the experiences we have and the people we meet. These experiences help us to evolve inwardly and outwardly and to move forward in life.
It reminds me what Sri Chinmoy wrote on ‘The significance of cycling’:
“While we are cycling, we are reminding ourselves of evolution, of how the world is evolving in cycles. When we think of our planet, we think of a wheel turning; our life also is evolving like a wheel. So cycling reminds us of the process of evolution and of how everything goes in cycles.
Once upon a time, in the hoary past, we lived in an era of truth. Now we are living in an era of falsehood. There was a time when truth reigned supreme, but now we see that at every moment and in every place falsehood is reigning supreme. Our goal is to bring back again the golden age in which truth will be our inner guide and truth will reign supreme. So cycling reminds us of evolution, inner and outer.
In the process of evolution, our life-process, our life-energy — everything—is spinning so fast. The faster we can go, the sooner we will be able to have outer success and inner progress. And with our outer success and inner progress, we will be able to arrive at our goal infinitely faster than otherwise.”
From:Sri Chinmoy, My cycling experiences, Agni Press, 2007 Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/mce
As this cycling journey has come to an end I will endeavour to pursue further cycling adventures. So who knows what’s in store for the rest of this year and 2026 as I move onto the next cycle in my life.
