A Florida woman has completed a 7,000-mile motorcycle ride through 48 US states in six days and used the journey to raise $17,560 for Quantum House, CW34 reported on Monday. The organisation had supported her more than two decades ago when her newborn daughter spent nearly three months in hospital.The Palm Beach County woman, known as Jess Rips on social media, began the ride on May 12. She covered an average of more than 1,100 miles a day while travelling from Vermont to Washington. Her longest stretch on the road lasted 23 hours.Jess, who has been riding motorcycles since she was 18, also became the fastest documented woman to complete the 48-state ride. But the journey was not only about setting a record, but she wanted to use the attention surrounding the ride to raise money and awareness for Quantum House, a pediatric hospitality house that had helped her family during a difficult period.The connection goes back 22 years, when Jess’s daughter was born weighing just two pounds and one ounce. The baby spent nearly three months at St Mary’s Medical Center, and there were days when doctors were unsure whether she would survive. During that period, Quantum House gave Jess somewhere to stay close to her daughter.
The journey: Six days and 48 states
Jess said she set herself a target of completing the motorcycle journey in six days. “I started on May 12th of this year, 2026, and the goal was six days,” she said as quoted by CW34.Completing that schedule meant spending long hours on the motorcycle every day. She averaged more than 1,100 miles daily, while her longest single-day ride kept her on the road for 23 hours. “It was exhausting,” Jess said. “Between the weather changes, the traffic, it was a lot mentally and physically,” she said. Despite the difficult conditions, she completed the 7,000-mile journey within her six-day target.Jess had expected the unusual challenge to attract attention, particularly online, and decided before starting that she wanted to turn that interest towards Quantum House. “When I thought about doing this ride, and I knew it was something that was so crazy that people were going to get pumped about, especially online, I thought that this would just be a great opportunity to raise awareness for this,” she said.
When Quantum House helped Jess
Twenty-two years earlier, Jess’ daughter had been born weighing two pounds and one ounce and remained at St Mary’s Medical Center for nearly three months. “There were many days where they called me, and they didn’t know if she was going to make it,” Jess recalled.Quantum House provided Jess with a place to stay while her daughter was receiving treatment. That meant she could remain close to the hospital without facing the additional financial pressure of arranging accommodation.For Jess, however, the support went beyond having somewhere to sleep. She was also surrounded by other parents facing similar situations.“It was such an amazing experience because not only was I able to stay here and it relieved that financial burden on my family, but I was also provided other families and mothers that were going through the same thing and it gave me the opportunity to have somebody to talk to,” she said.The organisation continues to help families by taking care of practical needs while their children are receiving medical care.“For the families that come here, it reduces such a burden when it comes to cost,” Quantum House President and CEO Greg Quattlebaum said. “It’s a place where they can stay and they don’t have to worry about where they sleep, where they wash their clothes, what am I going to eat, where do I socialize, how do I take care of all those social determinants of health, Quantum House does that,” he adds.
The ‘full circle moment’
The motorcycle journey eventually raised $17,560 for Quantum House. When Jess returned to present the cheque, she brought both of her daughters with her. That included the daughter whose birth had first brought her to Quantum House more than two decades earlier. “So she got to see where I stayed at when I was caring for her and that was really a full circle moment,” Jess said..Her 7,000-mile journey, including the difficulties and setbacks she faced while trying to finish the ride, was also documented on her YouTube channel, Rips Unfiltered.
