Disclosure

[Rick Murray]

Some of the folks who read this will know that I work for Edelman; others may not.

For the record, I serve as president of Edelman Digital, and run the firm's digital business worldwide.

I blog all too infrequently here.

I'm rather partial to Twitter, when it's up.

Edelman is underwriting some of the costs of this ride, because I've managed to convince the president of our global Consumer Brands pratice, Mitch Markson, that this ride is exactly what he had in mind when he created this site in support of his Good Purpose initiative. Frankly, I consider myself blessed to work for a company that not only talks about the benefits of perpetual learning and giving back, but also puts its money where its mouth is. So Mitch, a huge thank you from John, Kathleen and I.

I also want everyone to know that Edelman is also proud to represent the State of Illinois' tourism account. Indeed, we have done so for almost a decade now. That said, and this is incredibly important for anyone who might try to poke a "lack of tranparency" hole in this, the idea for this ride was mine; the effort put into its planning was shared by John, Kathleen and me, and we are not being paid by, nor billing any time to the state for this intiative. Basically, and this may sound goofy, we wanted to do a long ride, and because John and I are AARP-eligible, wanted something without too many menacing hills. That folks, sums up riding in Illinois pretty well.

Finally, if anyone we run into on our journey treats us to anything more than a cup of coffee, you will see us disclose that in the posts and videos we'll be sharing with you from here on out.

Other than that, we hope you enjoy the ride.

Ciao for now,

Rick