tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4681214408791670682024-02-19T03:33:46.731-08:00Rolling Real DeepRolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-53430846208915442632008-10-10T18:02:00.001-07:002008-11-06T12:01:32.012-08:00Holy Smokes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoIwSj7xlL74Y_JMWBppzGFHYE4H3Fhvp_33Ws5-lj1kw53MNzfyTXVZ6mP_bJ1dooFMYtzYRH2iqHZTnw-GCKhbVNN65xFnEh8gy-S0Wac6etLOp2BeWPMRhmgEQqT4SUEStARSWWuWE/s1600-h/P9100348.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoIwSj7xlL74Y_JMWBppzGFHYE4H3Fhvp_33Ws5-lj1kw53MNzfyTXVZ6mP_bJ1dooFMYtzYRH2iqHZTnw-GCKhbVNN65xFnEh8gy-S0Wac6etLOp2BeWPMRhmgEQqT4SUEStARSWWuWE/s400/P9100348.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265637077053065842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg5yGLxKCExnHmW2Jc-YZGy0scWNMPOmyvNVU1ZRPoXir7IqBi2rILOQMRCQCgX_mIMbu5ccgp6DSusbagB-yE1R1xN_Ic67hyphenhyphenH8BqjvfQWbeAj__zXjOmsf57zuadXtLItu14vuqMcrc/s1600-h/P9080334.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; 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display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmQE4Y6K37f_oKbVyj2-dpwXuuwGFpjFoDsGYnvNlTjlJdy5xBLvvpzt9Q_pG49oD_imH3jUrE86bsg5DYeMv71CMYqZK-XNROZlNd5ltD4LrsQ6KnJgZ_vWPDUW-79O8V9FOEpwcjg0I/s400/P9080336.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255699355008254018" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLBBibG0geK957xKlZ6ysbFDCdQ63zoFZhfLAaKsM232Tj7in58IY4h20L2mdkT_ldjacIMakwHiQt2kub8nBJ2oo6rUtPpTj0ogRDvBgjWoU61Sf7kmcEqDBuxcIHQWiUuC3kcRnSWc/s1600-h/P9090337.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLBBibG0geK957xKlZ6ysbFDCdQ63zoFZhfLAaKsM232Tj7in58IY4h20L2mdkT_ldjacIMakwHiQt2kub8nBJ2oo6rUtPpTj0ogRDvBgjWoU61Sf7kmcEqDBuxcIHQWiUuC3kcRnSWc/s400/P9090337.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255699357441639858" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBd-vKEZHVQdkCgG2BFARw6sM2-yZebfAGygxTseQifG6ZtKR5DsqBPqnrf5taoTf-TVjCl545ZMwpI1ho6JFtARYcMDtDcH0Spw__Jo4nc9OORhNJyFhLpsQLv5IXSHErFLZiX98rgE/s1600-h/P9090342.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBd-vKEZHVQdkCgG2BFARw6sM2-yZebfAGygxTseQifG6ZtKR5DsqBPqnrf5taoTf-TVjCl545ZMwpI1ho6JFtARYcMDtDcH0Spw__Jo4nc9OORhNJyFhLpsQLv5IXSHErFLZiX98rgE/s400/P9090342.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255699359662869650" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-GSqQFAypTCrDKBBqJtH9iVt42TstFkWxEY0XBZTTLjca9EGVvlGSugguKqwOKrLTgdML1sSEYwKUmJmaLqMsDoL1Wczs_BuR9m7VUfnu3LDWU6sAM8joJHPQjtfn2YWFSbhwAw9eR0/s1600-h/P9030311.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-GSqQFAypTCrDKBBqJtH9iVt42TstFkWxEY0XBZTTLjca9EGVvlGSugguKqwOKrLTgdML1sSEYwKUmJmaLqMsDoL1Wczs_BuR9m7VUfnu3LDWU6sAM8joJHPQjtfn2YWFSbhwAw9eR0/s400/P9030311.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255698449497054594" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOsxdOqk_piaEbJf3NdyTLlcF4M9HG2xoQiy6iScZjSJi1NAJpmkb8Lsd68HqBwptTqCrSTeZr1m9i9jbVOmtTFEu3wCo54XRHykTOXChwyhMbYgIO8kfDjmkVjqowm7s9A7ihKdtqO38/s1600-h/P9040313.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOsxdOqk_piaEbJf3NdyTLlcF4M9HG2xoQiy6iScZjSJi1NAJpmkb8Lsd68HqBwptTqCrSTeZr1m9i9jbVOmtTFEu3wCo54XRHykTOXChwyhMbYgIO8kfDjmkVjqowm7s9A7ihKdtqO38/s400/P9040313.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255698451471926850" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiMpl0ZPVz2S9E_PokYXRT_8U-9YaAj5a7aSOcyhpKSLzbcxM1dgXg4EdVczB-lDe4rGsF177feib4ZEGmqn_4ok_BzcxMhc5Q8f40dwMRoMCme1ey3XICoGRtR6OJFojjEhZhoaMbkzk/s1600-h/P9050316.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiMpl0ZPVz2S9E_PokYXRT_8U-9YaAj5a7aSOcyhpKSLzbcxM1dgXg4EdVczB-lDe4rGsF177feib4ZEGmqn_4ok_BzcxMhc5Q8f40dwMRoMCme1ey3XICoGRtR6OJFojjEhZhoaMbkzk/s400/P9050316.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255698456013149698" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErmJaNtha3n-Ii6MUHuQwkDfW30UDPbruU-oakFUl6cXQ5mSeEjXs64jCwVJQss8fA4LI2Xw9F9to-8E5obBuKK3x9j-0tlbhCCPy_F61pNWxZ6w5xQytlgzZRS6R9deLWGqx-j3eAaU/s1600-h/P9060322.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErmJaNtha3n-Ii6MUHuQwkDfW30UDPbruU-oakFUl6cXQ5mSeEjXs64jCwVJQss8fA4LI2Xw9F9to-8E5obBuKK3x9j-0tlbhCCPy_F61pNWxZ6w5xQytlgzZRS6R9deLWGqx-j3eAaU/s400/P9060322.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255698462253898674" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2B1Itq2yUOvc-NmLbQGrHVbi-rXHYrZ30aFtmedu7VxGPB_GEj71VnQgRFo2luu4pnWOHdSq7CvriSly4YYxN-AZt9WElqP2qVuwwWfmtEvTSueFFW73Z1Kinpz2o9WzX-4oDlqdPJ58/s1600-h/P9070324.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2B1Itq2yUOvc-NmLbQGrHVbi-rXHYrZ30aFtmedu7VxGPB_GEj71VnQgRFo2luu4pnWOHdSq7CvriSly4YYxN-AZt9WElqP2qVuwwWfmtEvTSueFFW73Z1Kinpz2o9WzX-4oDlqdPJ58/s400/P9070324.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255698460610683026" border="0" /></a><br />Well snakes alive, I'm in France now, the ride is over, and I'm rolling less deep. I'm in Lille, teaching english to kiddies who didn't speak much english, but after only 2 days in my presence, they are now all phlooent. its silly, and fun. i tell them about famous a's players, and they look at me with complete shock and incomprehension. All in all, pretty similar to the way most people look at me when I talk about the A's. It's great here though, it really is. I eat lots of cheese. To my shame and shock and yours as well, I haven't had an eclair yet. My God you say; mine as well. People here also haven't heard about the mayan apocalypse prophecy of 2012, so that's fun to explain. not to the wee though, that's pretty hard to hear. I'm not eating much mustard either. Gaufres though, or, waphles, I eat lots of. Especially vanilla ones. here are some pictures of the trip. Bye for now. If you come to Lille, or want a dose of tru, email me at freshnar@gmail.com. big later, nate.Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-77469600736010260142008-09-21T11:18:00.000-07:002008-09-21T13:04:56.344-07:00A shortened version of the end. As well as some reflections.It was really my intention to have a last update a few days before our arrival to the Atlantic Ocean, as I assumed that it would be some time afterwards before I had the chance to be on a computer again. I failed in this way, and have found myself on the 21st of September with nary an update other than that we have in fact made it. I find myself on an incredibly slow, however dependable, computer at a farmhouse in Orwell, Vermont, with little time to spare for this technological gadget called a computer and all of it's internets. Therefore, so as not to leave all of our loyal readers waiting any longer, I will now offer a drastically shortened, however exciting, recap of our trip from Chicago to the mighty Atlantic.<br /><br />After spending an extra day in Chicago, hosted to a feast and good times by my lovely Aunt Linda and generous Uncle Tom Schumacher, we were on our way again. Indiana proved to be unbelievably flat, as well as having some of the most generous people we've encountered to date. Our breakfast was bought for us by a nice man in Valparaiso, and our quick stop at a winery turned into a comedy show after the wine-filler lady offered us as much as we wanted, and was later forced to ask us to leave in fear of us crashing. The rest of Indiana was fairly uneventful, as no stories of note are coming to mind.<br /><br />Ohio was much of the same, as the flattest riding of the country continued, much to our surprise. Oberlin, Ohio turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the trip, and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely in this tiny little University town. Upon our entrance on a glorious Labor Day we were greeted by a nice young woman who had just ridden her bicycle all the way to San Francisco with a number of other youths in the area. We made plans to meet up later and share stories. Splendid. We had made plans to stay with Nate's old high school friend, Hannah, and were greeted in front of her apartment by one of her four roommates, Andrew. Andrew was extremely generous and accomodating, leading us to the best burrito spot in town before giving us an extensive tour of the Oberlin campus and surrounding neighborhoods. To my surprise and delight, Oberlin, home of about 3,000 students, has a co-op system that includes over 600 members. I immediately made myself at home in one of the giant houses and began chopping apples to help with the preparations of that night's dinner. As it was the night before the first day of school, there was to be a 600 person picnic at one of the houses, to which we were invited. We attended and met dozens upon dozens of amiable, good-looking college students, so it's safe to say we were enjoying ourselves a good deal. From there we went to another barbecue to which we were invited, where we met the other roommates, although Hannah had not yet arrived. I was offered a haircut and gladly accepted, and Jade did a wonderful job, as you will see if either of my compatriots ever put up the pictures of us at the Atlantic, which I would very much like to see. Not so subtle hints aside, we then went to the only bar in town, where we were wonderfully joined by the whole gang, and had a wonderful time before going home to crash where we were able.<br /><br />The following day proved no less exciting. I was unable, due to health reasons, to join everyone for breakfast, although I was told that Black River is exceptional. After a bit of lounging, we took off to a river where we swam and sunbathed and laughed and laughed. We then ate milkshakes, we then made burritos at the apartment. The funny thing about a small college town like Oberlin, is that it doesn't have the local economy to support things such as a dance club, so the university takes it upon itself to provide one for the students who so want to dance on any given night. So we decided to take advantage of this wonderous opportunity and shake our groove things to the most awful dj this side of the Mississippi. It really was horrible music, worse than a bad wedding reception (see Space Jam, the song, seriously, and Baby Got Back), but we busted sick moves nonetheless, and our respect for the roommate Andrew grew exponentially because of his ill-flavored style.<br /><br />Although incredibly bittersweet, we left Oberlin on the last of our pushes, just days away from the Atlantic. As my time is winding down, I must become ever so much more brief. And do excuse the writing style, I've been reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens and can't seem to help myself from writing this way. It's obnoxious, I know. ANYways, Latrobe, Pennsylvania used to be home to Rolling Rock Brewery, we found out that it USED to be upon our arrival at a giant building that looks like a brewery. Instead of seeing our first brewery in weeks, we went to a bar, where Kelvin's ID was not accepted. After demanding the owner and pleading his case, Kelvin was victorious, rewarded with a beer, which he had to pay for. However, the owner ended up giving him a hat and t-shirt for each of us, for which we were extra large grateful. From there, big Ed made it his duty to be extra nice to us, and bought us drink after drink, until those who had offered to host us had gone home without notification, and we had to accept the first offer given us, which was by the owner of the bar, saying we could sleep on his gravel parking lot behind the bar. Kelvin fell asleep immediately, while Nate and I put together a flatbead of board underneath us, as well as one over us like a little lean-to. It was quite cozy, if not a little bit shady. But we slept through the night, and when Kelvin awoke in the night to use the wonderful restroom on the opposite fence, he thought we had left for another campsite. After realizing his error, decided to block our protective lightsource from his eyes by doing the same. Glorious, Latrobe, thanks a million.<br /><br />Gettysburg was the next stop of note. Although big thanks to Pastor Rich Ralph of Bedford for letting us stay in his mini-mall children's area beside his chapel. Our old friend Haley Dillon was kind enough to contact her father for us, who lived a short ways out of Gettysburg. He was unfortunately out of town at the time, but still offered us his home. It was really amazing, and his neighbors exceedingly friendly. Their were young ones everywhere, and we had a really fun game of soccer with all of them. I've left out our experience with the hills of Pennsylvania, as well as the thousand or so motorcycles we passed that day, I guess that's a question to ask us upon our next meeting.<br /><br />Our last three days brought us closer to death than any other point on this trip. But never fear, for we're obviously still alive, and not on bikes anymore, so it's all okay. First was on the third to last day, when I was cruising through an intersection as traffic was starting to get much busier around 3:30 or so. An oncoming car turned left into the busy intersection, not having seen me. I had enough time to slam on my brakes, but it was so close that the momentum sent my back tire (with all of its' weight) flying into the air. I landed on my feet and stumbled into the middle of the intersection as my back hit the ground and my chain came off. I was in a state of shock, laughing hysterically. Nate claimed he'd never seen anyone come so close to being hit by a car without being hit by a car. I found the situation hilarious, although I could feel my heart beating about 150 times a minute. The second situation came with the help of a hurricane down south. The system had moved up to Pennsylvania, and it was in fact kind enough to wait until we were on the road to start drowning us. We were riding through towns with puddles at least 5 inches deep, it was the closest to swimming and simultaneously biking that I've ever come, as the downpour was nonstop. The general response from cars was quite positive, thankfully, considering traffic has been quite heavy on this side of the Apalachians. The third situation will have to be another told over beers, as I don't think I can do it justice here, and it's been suggested to me that I omit it from the blog. Just ask about the "bright eyes" story, it's a good one.<br /><br />We made it over the mountains and through the rain, and had one day to go. As I've said, traffic on this side of the mountains had been awful, but to our great luck, the last day was fantastically beautiful. Great weather, and lush green scenery. We could smell the ocean miles before we could see it. It's hard to describe our state of mind on our last day of riding. I'm feeling quite emotional as I type this, to be quite honest. It was really overwhelming to think that our adventure was coming to an end, and that I wouldn't be spending every day with my two best friends, riding our bicycles and laughing till it hurt, eating anything and everything, and getting far too drunk for a long bike ride the following day, but doing it anyways. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We finally did come upon a beach, and pushed our heavy bikes up the sandy path until we could see it. We took off our shoes as we stared in silence. I collapsed on the sand and we stared for what I believe was about two minutes, although it could have been any amount of time, I really couldn't tell you. Suddenly, Kelvin broke into a sprint towards the water, I followed without a word, with Nate thoughtfully walking behind. The two of us jumped into the crashing waves, Nate walking with arms outsretched into the warm salt water. We couldn't stop laughing, and screaming, and jumping all around. We must have been quite a scene to witness, in there, gripped in a three way hug as a wave toppled us all and caused us another laughing fit intermixed with screams of joy. After a good time of this, we went back for our bikes, picked them up, carried them to the shore, and dipped our tires in the water. Our journey was complete. After leaving the Pacific Ocean on June 20, just north of Florence, Oregon, and traveling 4386.40 miles over the Cascades, the Rockies, the Great Plains, the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers, the Aleganies, the Apalachians, through cities, high deserts, a month of corn fields, and over the mighty Delaware. We've made it to the Atlantic Ocean. September 10, 2008.<br /><br />That night brought champaigne and camping on the beach. That morning brought a majestic sunrise. That afternoon brought the true end of the trip. We brought our bikes to the UPS store, took them apart, and sent them to our respective homes. Turns out they weighed in at around 90 pounds apiece. Whoa. What followed was a bus ride, a truly surreal bus ride, to New York City. But the rest is another story in itself, and this blog was about biking (although I will say that seeing a game at Yankee Stadium was something). Kelvin is currently in Tucson, and will be arriving in Eugene one of these days. Nate is in Berkeley, and if all goes well with the visa, should be in France before the month's end. I find myself on a small organic farm in Orwell, Vermont, with plans to return to Portland, Oregon, in the near future.<br /><br />I know I speak for the other guys when I offer our deepest thanks to <span style="font-style: italic;">everyone</span> for their support and gracious gifts along the way. We could not have made it without all of the good graces of our family, friends old and new, as well as complete strangers all across the way. Certain images can't escape my mind, flying down mountainsides, seeing the summits of the next mountains on the horizon, laughing at Nate being Nate, lending Kelvin toothpaste, camping in some of the most beautiful spots west of the front range, and some of the funniest east of it, breweries and wineries, bowling alleys and bars. I can't bear to put it all into words, and am sure I would fail if I tried, but I hope soon to put it into images. Please do not remove this site from your bookmarks, as I hope to post a video of our trip in the near future. It's all really too much to bear, I don't know how I'm ever going to remember this summer without feeling like my heart is about to burst out of my chest with I don't even know what. Okay. That's really all.<br /><br />Thank you for reading.Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-36632652923040406402008-09-12T07:23:00.000-07:002008-09-12T07:26:02.231-07:00We Made It!Hey All!!!<div>We're in New York City! We hit Ship Bottom, New jersey on the 10th and it was indescribable. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on the big news. It's been an amazing journey and I'll tell you all about our trip since Chicago in the very near future. For now, however, we've got to go eat some breakfast and see more of the big city. We love and miss you all. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-37829056655248722352008-09-02T11:35:00.000-07:002008-09-02T11:42:33.664-07:00Just a bit of sky...and Nate from your pal K. ponderosa<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_VcKUtdiwk5vyhedoIplf5hTRg05yQKl8np8uS-HVo6IgTVzQgStqK2pbm1yNcxyK2fYPhNjTHAYpVTr3NFIxUPmdCFkpDzW2viWXfvKEKbQczk5CBl9iAxwggBXVrTgnjCwWoLe-Ayo/s1600-h/CIMG1935.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_VcKUtdiwk5vyhedoIplf5hTRg05yQKl8np8uS-HVo6IgTVzQgStqK2pbm1yNcxyK2fYPhNjTHAYpVTr3NFIxUPmdCFkpDzW2viWXfvKEKbQczk5CBl9iAxwggBXVrTgnjCwWoLe-Ayo/s400/CIMG1935.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241495898371762434" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH7e_2_Hebqwymt-OrWxKRtioSqEHheVBf9AViL0W9wFcLqYUAMXcT_UVU5FQ8zNlxQEgFDPsgrsPd3VvmWT5uMOW21X6YlNvT5T5VIU9KY1FwkmWvQqWSNd-68mljkxhcV1552Yw_DFc/s1600-h/CIMG1951.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH7e_2_Hebqwymt-OrWxKRtioSqEHheVBf9AViL0W9wFcLqYUAMXcT_UVU5FQ8zNlxQEgFDPsgrsPd3VvmWT5uMOW21X6YlNvT5T5VIU9KY1FwkmWvQqWSNd-68mljkxhcV1552Yw_DFc/s400/CIMG1951.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241495907311526338" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kG9u6HpuAR7tUwQ8dORcDby50Qj8x02hK41cMMnWUUrIeCiabdP8avA5qT94wI24J1kVK3WJWUiMRq5e9ebPtvhqvpaUzZ3QibYZoNharChyphenhyphen9RU_XjYq9JlDEK4sU4rXGL7QF2OcNes/s1600-h/CIMG1957.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kG9u6HpuAR7tUwQ8dORcDby50Qj8x02hK41cMMnWUUrIeCiabdP8avA5qT94wI24J1kVK3WJWUiMRq5e9ebPtvhqvpaUzZ3QibYZoNharChyphenhyphen9RU_XjYq9JlDEK4sU4rXGL7QF2OcNes/s400/CIMG1957.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241495908199455586" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKzPdEGUdpv7HkoV24nHWDIY_MtfBdWuBIig4TGQDAaVPnNBX2t0EBZ581mYgUmpaGNZU5VwijW27ORcT4GhAxXx8qee3UO6mcgPmyXq2iGXidVA5fB3I2_5yPuvgII1WaR0Rb5MD3oI/s1600-h/CIMG1949.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKzPdEGUdpv7HkoV24nHWDIY_MtfBdWuBIig4TGQDAaVPnNBX2t0EBZ581mYgUmpaGNZU5VwijW27ORcT4GhAxXx8qee3UO6mcgPmyXq2iGXidVA5fB3I2_5yPuvgII1WaR0Rb5MD3oI/s400/CIMG1949.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241495912929754706" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8g6LwNpPmR4P7angpe89JNGP2bir3dHTVDkqRD9NWBVNUIR6Vy8vnLRCfEt4Sd68-94RtRo4AwgCcHPrA5p1UZ8Oxu8on5Yc9GYP_CS7kVn9RqOJ26OCXaXwiH78Kk9BdFBx15ViceQc/s1600-h/CIMG1969.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8g6LwNpPmR4P7angpe89JNGP2bir3dHTVDkqRD9NWBVNUIR6Vy8vnLRCfEt4Sd68-94RtRo4AwgCcHPrA5p1UZ8Oxu8on5Yc9GYP_CS7kVn9RqOJ26OCXaXwiH78Kk9BdFBx15ViceQc/s400/CIMG1969.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241495924436211938" border="0" /></a>Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-30184249260565227572008-08-27T20:42:00.000-07:002008-09-02T11:01:08.672-07:00To all the true snarkz out there<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBc8FFK0jy3yXsMN-nPaTKDf_Desb2j4QeBaFWX5OtAFICcRCwPZ6H6WjRQTHTfHy81xPiYeJiKIirpUnddAfttXXSAaICnoKzoqNZtJYArXc3Fy05prusA_PVrhyCikjLsWpJO5ziE2k/s1600-h/P8210252.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBc8FFK0jy3yXsMN-nPaTKDf_Desb2j4QeBaFWX5OtAFICcRCwPZ6H6WjRQTHTfHy81xPiYeJiKIirpUnddAfttXXSAaICnoKzoqNZtJYArXc3Fy05prusA_PVrhyCikjLsWpJO5ziE2k/s400/P8210252.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241484652936711746" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxx0GxQh9E_TnDgLsuNSkW6X6YASWYz0SfWmWeOaMH4tbd2hERlodbyJPygljSTa-yvwcMnE_1keGMI7DKNsVeoC1Azqw1v3MQTBAEJ60NOFd9gbKHqAjHk6o8GCKnGQ9yQK6IIUIO-A/s1600-h/P8230263.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxx0GxQh9E_TnDgLsuNSkW6X6YASWYz0SfWmWeOaMH4tbd2hERlodbyJPygljSTa-yvwcMnE_1keGMI7DKNsVeoC1Azqw1v3MQTBAEJ60NOFd9gbKHqAjHk6o8GCKnGQ9yQK6IIUIO-A/s400/P8230263.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241484661456601618" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghRp_zzRSTAGcsDYyQQiwrCt6mYTlNR00uiwB99BnK7adMO04TeEs7KtfnP_9CC15MNYewxITlbZ9aVyc3C5upbXeb2a-LXwt-vBF4BpR6eEs5TPo3qUnhHs-hfxsWBXVZnTsrcDphe6w/s1600-h/P8230268.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghRp_zzRSTAGcsDYyQQiwrCt6mYTlNR00uiwB99BnK7adMO04TeEs7KtfnP_9CC15MNYewxITlbZ9aVyc3C5upbXeb2a-LXwt-vBF4BpR6eEs5TPo3qUnhHs-hfxsWBXVZnTsrcDphe6w/s400/P8230268.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241484667319652338" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkIEDj4O0X7pHnoLNWS19ZMp074ifviga1bnK7GrLTDNM5yUaHwB_b0F8YBGO4AUZYno3hGW8K2g5wnjeJ5uL7DmdOhJn_0VRcJhBa00aberwrB9epswJbXvlC8P_nmbUMsgk515DcJc/s1600-h/P8230271.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkIEDj4O0X7pHnoLNWS19ZMp074ifviga1bnK7GrLTDNM5yUaHwB_b0F8YBGO4AUZYno3hGW8K2g5wnjeJ5uL7DmdOhJn_0VRcJhBa00aberwrB9epswJbXvlC8P_nmbUMsgk515DcJc/s400/P8230271.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241484669444504898" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-0BSJxEJt5I0zJwO65olGqQkNFcgEUIX6ap4AtIjRtSneCWKCkhYNsXjnqFTD33WxCvPAMcANBBJKRE3GBysZBW8lHrRHW-6BeBZsPai3AKBCGWgjgZmiKB3Kpb-AE05wyGb60_CG9Y/s1600-h/P8230273.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-0BSJxEJt5I0zJwO65olGqQkNFcgEUIX6ap4AtIjRtSneCWKCkhYNsXjnqFTD33WxCvPAMcANBBJKRE3GBysZBW8lHrRHW-6BeBZsPai3AKBCGWgjgZmiKB3Kpb-AE05wyGb60_CG9Y/s400/P8230273.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241484674899102098" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXBc7omkM2ejcy-YiAM3JPLUXRFT8x7jgWJsUxnen9B28MgbsvgIRljd-xMA-TfSIqO0XIAcT0bf8ayYst7qNdqFr4-AiRFHJTQScBWczsSDcY8xiaDLii1axwpTtoW9xO8Ge1B5OVNZc/s1600-h/P8120218.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXBc7omkM2ejcy-YiAM3JPLUXRFT8x7jgWJsUxnen9B28MgbsvgIRljd-xMA-TfSIqO0XIAcT0bf8ayYst7qNdqFr4-AiRFHJTQScBWczsSDcY8xiaDLii1axwpTtoW9xO8Ge1B5OVNZc/s400/P8120218.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241482399769922434" border="0" /></a>shadows in Kansas, to Atchison<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaDfl4WPgSyH7wGvNYTLr2xSR4DW4-9usGf6Syj5jpUYlNrKee2imwDhcKHxX1orQX2crwAYVAr0EnBHaeljAN4zdVd_opKPUesqCgKz7yDzKFZ2ZmaY8IlaJNEz7ijWtMIW7xUvlzStI/s1600-h/P8130232.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaDfl4WPgSyH7wGvNYTLr2xSR4DW4-9usGf6Syj5jpUYlNrKee2imwDhcKHxX1orQX2crwAYVAr0EnBHaeljAN4zdVd_opKPUesqCgKz7yDzKFZ2ZmaY8IlaJNEz7ijWtMIW7xUvlzStI/s400/P8130232.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241482404870183122" border="0" /></a>not a lie<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEThpVQv0JzDE0vtv0rm8Uawi5ba270j7uvTMR6ogumQOEo6vsH0P16J9HpK3Tmo8SpPMT7uQhw0TxkWGGlr0dw86fqshkVvWvfGgDXi312we1OssoH5vAr0kHNBFuxGfqLjgQ1sIgXpw/s1600-h/P8170234.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEThpVQv0JzDE0vtv0rm8Uawi5ba270j7uvTMR6ogumQOEo6vsH0P16J9HpK3Tmo8SpPMT7uQhw0TxkWGGlr0dw86fqshkVvWvfGgDXi312we1OssoH5vAr0kHNBFuxGfqLjgQ1sIgXpw/s400/P8170234.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241482413204733394" border="0" /></a>birthplaces of Nate and Pete, respectively, on the same sign! OH BOY!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXfOVqMG63S9G7jnKwAejt3yO6I6fV7lOVvwCE8Y-ZcC2R3SjRIytv0Y-S1OWuecBeVb6oJxz_3CTDKwjjn41ebxbXc1VQvnCRh8jJaGyWYMWWiZ7bbC2b3KBU5qz0j0X4xjTph51sQNU/s1600-h/P8190248.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXfOVqMG63S9G7jnKwAejt3yO6I6fV7lOVvwCE8Y-ZcC2R3SjRIytv0Y-S1OWuecBeVb6oJxz_3CTDKwjjn41ebxbXc1VQvnCRh8jJaGyWYMWWiZ7bbC2b3KBU5qz0j0X4xjTph51sQNU/s400/P8190248.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241482419544147010" border="0" /></a>Sunset in Iowa<br />Hey there sneezes!<br /><br />Gezundheit! Nate here, from Plainfield, Illinois, staying with Pete's aunt linda and uncle tom. we've just enjoyed a delicious meal, abounding in ribs and potatoes and peppers, onions, broccoli, and even an ice cream cake, homemade. it was mighty tasty. chicago is tyte. i dont know how much zir peter fillled everyone in on it, but it's a really cool city. yesterday we walked around a lot. riding in here though we were told to get a [expletive] car [expletive]. watch out for butterfield road, it's nasty. and i'm not really that down i mean with the cubs, nor the white sux because they skipped town the day we got there, hence, no wiggly field, no comiskey. lame. we did have deep dish, which was zonktacular. oh man it was good. ill have to hit zacharys up hard when i get back to berkeley (zacharys is a pizza place in berekely that is phantastic). another chicago highlight is learning that chicago is the french spelling for the local word for 'wild leek', which refers not to the leeks that you and i love so much, but for the stench of the local skunkz, who smell like wild leeks. thats what french explorers thought would best describe this locale when they came in 200bc(e). also, the weird blob of metal in millenium park is really, really, REALLY cool. hypnotizing. today, while kelvin and pete slept and wrote and ate and showered and blogg'd, i went to the art institute of chicago, where i familiarized myself with several works by many grand masterz of the crapht. despite all the legendary paintings there by a long list of names, my favorite was this urn in the basement, by some mayan fellow, and it was basically an urn with a bunch of soldiers running after each other with spears and knives and shields, but their bodies were shaped like lima beans, and there were just arms and legs sprouting off of the beans. so, imagine beans chasing each other with ferocious weapons, for ever, as a circle is a perpetual shape. yow! this was from 100bc. that date is real, by the whey.<br /><br />more gnus, we head out tomorrow, our next break is oberlin ohio where we shall find repose with the legendary hannah lesser, a fellow berkeley high school alum. i am looking forward greatly to oberlin, as i have heard many great things. she camped with us for a night in dallas center, and we'll see her again, which is good. from then, it's a powermob to the joisy kost guy. which i am also excited for.<br /><br />then, just some personal info for all those interested and able, ill be flying back to berkeley sep 15 where ill be trying to get a visa and leaving for france the 30th of september. ill be in lille, in the north, for a year, so for all you pretentious euroheads, come to lille, stay with me, have a beer, maybe. here are some of my favorite photos from the last few days' riding. forgive my lack of ability as a photographer, but i like these. i like shadows and roads, as you may be able to tell. i also feel that color and contrast are important in constructing a composition, as well as shape and image. durant does this well, as does maxwell, but after a certain point it becomes difficult to distinguish the one from the other...Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-44829961514102463062008-08-27T08:59:00.000-07:002008-09-02T12:18:18.333-07:00The 'Pete Kass Family Tour of the Midwest' Continues<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ6uY7Yp-iH2S4VzwLgWn1gNlbQ_fBLNs_qM95OOWhHL36Y1sFDGH-7DThAMyF8ovBze4EYFWK4cUqqQuVurShTySfeuC3wpWgrrac7GW40Vy9FBkw3OSVFRkKcc94YGJuv_hU8x5-M0A/s1600-h/P8170243.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ6uY7Yp-iH2S4VzwLgWn1gNlbQ_fBLNs_qM95OOWhHL36Y1sFDGH-7DThAMyF8ovBze4EYFWK4cUqqQuVurShTySfeuC3wpWgrrac7GW40Vy9FBkw3OSVFRkKcc94YGJuv_hU8x5-M0A/s400/P8170243.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241504618631813378" border="0" /></a><br />Hello world! My sincerest apologies for the long interval between blog posts, I cannot deny that it warms my heart every time I'm scolded for having taken so long to update our story, as I'm extremely excited that people are reading this as we travel along. Our trip has been going splendidly, and the guys have gotten to meet a huge number of people in my family, many of which live conveniently along the way we are taking. We are currently in Chicago, having decided to take one more rest day before hitting the road again for Oberlin, Ohio. This is bound to be a long post, and might be divvied up into two entities before all is said and done. Just a warning.<br /><br />We ended the last post in Kansas City, where we have just taken a rest day to eat barbecue, cruise around downtown, eat at my Uncle Tom's house, and hit the town with my buddy Ethan, at whose house we crashed for the night.<br /><br />Day 51 Monday August 11: Still hanging out in KC, 0 miles<br />Ethan works at a great restaurant in the Plaza in downtown KC named Eden Alley, so upon our awakening we had a fantastic meal there served to us by his friends. Fantastic people, great food. A fun little hole in the wall for anyone visiting Kansas City, especially for those of the vegetarian persuasion. It's been awhile for us to have had any fine veggie dining, and it tasted great. After that we bid Ethan a fond farewell, and spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and blogging away. Kelvin was lucky enough to spend this time running around town with my mother, and it has been related to me that they had a splendid time joking around and doing some no-nonsense purchasing of necessary goods. After some homemade lasagna that evening, the boys and I continued our quest to see the best bowling alleys this country has to offer, so we drove down to College Lanes to meet up with my old best buds Pat and Al, who you may remember from our last set of adventures. As our last two nights have been eventful and exciting in the regular sort of way, I wanted to show the guys a bit more organic old home experience of mine, so we drove around in my mom's mini-van and ended up at my friend Bart's house in Olathe, the suburb in which I spent my adolescence. Unfortunately, Bart was not home. No matter, we hung out in his driveway, talking about little to nothing until he showed up. This was quite humorous for everyone involved, and we spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing on his back porch. It's been a blast for me to see my old friends meet my new friends and vice versa, especially because with the old friends it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same.<br /><br />Day 52 Tuesday August 12: KC to Atchison, KS 39.84 miles<br />There was still some unfinished business to take care of in Kansas City, so we decided that a late start was appropriate for our last day with my folks. We started with a cruise downtown to see the Nelson Art Museum, which had been closed on our previous attempts to see it. Between the three of us we've seen a good number of famous museums in places like New York and many parts of Europe, and although we are by no means experts in the field, we agree that the Nelson stands up to the best that we've visited. It's a beautiful place, with jaw-dropping art and an appropriately serene atmosphere. Plus, it's free every day. So there's another recommendation for the future Kansas City traveler, if there are any of you out there.<br />From there we went to the famous Arthur Bryant's barbecue, where we stuffed ourselves fully before the day's ride. It was fantastic, and while we had slightly differing opinions on the better of the two barbecues we'd eaten in Kansas City, we all agreed that they were both head and shoulders above the rest of the barbecue we've ever eaten. So there's recommendation number 3 for y'all.<br />After a drive out of the massive sprawl that is the greater Kansas City area, we bid my mother a farewell. Thanks again to my parents for showing us such a great time, we loved Kansas City and the visit exceeded all of our high expectations. We set off on the road and I immediately started experiencing cramping in my left leg. After some struggling the left leg started feeling better and the right leg started cramping up. It was a rough afternoon and ended up being one of our shorter and slower days of the trip. But we made it out of KC and were back on the road, so things should be better tomorrow. We met a wonderful woman in Atchison, KS, home of Amelia Earheart as a million signs will tell you, who directed us to the Missouri river and after hearing of our adventure became quite serious and said, 'I have to feed you.' We all laughed and politely declined, as we had to set up our situation before it became too dark, but she ended up bringing us watermelon to eat and telling us all about her family at the park, which we all appreciated very much. Shortly after she left we were visited by the police, who told us we had to go, as we were camped out in the back of a park which closed at 10pm. We explained that we wanted no trouble and would be out very early in the morning, and after some contemplating the officers conceded that it probably wasn't a big deal and wished us well on our journey. Nice guys, really.<br /><br />Day 53 Wednesday August 13: Atchison to Verdon, Nebraska 78.2 miles<br />To any of you who may think that the Midwest has nothing to offer in terms of scenery, I implore you tremendously to ride your bicycle through Nebraska. It is breathtaking. There are rolling hills for days on end, which creates a surreal view of the distance in which you can see a never-ending wave of brilliantly green corn and soybean fields. The green color is magnified by the sky, which is just a bluer blue, there's no other way to describe it. The sky is huge, and the clouds seems almost cartoonish in their perfectly fluffy white texture. Houses are few and far between, and are generally accompanied by a red barn and silo that you might expect from a caricature of Nebraska. From these houses come extremely excited dogs, barking and sprinting to say hello to you. They've been great for practicing our sprints, and have not caught us yet (side note for the reader's peace of mind, my dad has given us some pepper spray, so in the case of an exceptionally large and fast dog, we have a means to protect ourselves aside from just our legs, which at this point are substantial weapons in themselves). Today's ride was spent more or less in awe of this scenery, and we ended up camping alone at a campsite by a lake in the middle of a sparsely populated highway.<br /><br />Day 54 Thursday August 14: Verdon to Lincoln, NE 89.4 miles<br />The morning of today's ride gave us more of the beautiful lightning storms we've come to love here in the Midwest. Luckily for us today's stayed off on the horizon and didn't bother us with any rain. The people we meet along the way have been responding with more and more disbelief of our journey, and we are told that we are "crazy" or "insane" or "real bad" with some frequency. We have a great ride that day and arrive in Lincoln, where I've spent a good majority of the Christmas Eve's in my lifetime at my Aunt Carol and Uncle Marty's house. My cousin Joe and Grandma Mary are also living at this house, and my cousin Liz, her husband Scott, and two kids Abbey and Sophia live in Lincoln also. So it's a regular family affair, just two days after leaving Kansas City. Shortly after our arrival and some showers, we all head down to Scott's restaurant, Suite 1, which he opened very recently with some friends. It's an awesome bar and restaurant in downtown Lincoln that serves Chicago style deep dish pizza. It's awesome, and we demolish three larges without a second thought. The rest of the night is low key, and we watch the Olympics and "Field of Dreams" with Kevin Costner in preparation for our ride through Iowa.<br /><br />Day 55 Friday August 15: Rest day in Lincoln 0 miles<br />Some HORSE and a little piano for the morning, then a trip to downtown Lincoln to check out some bookstores and the college campus. We end up at Lazlo's for some local brew and have some fine beers there, though nothing spectacular. From there we meet up with Joe at Suite 1 to have a beer. We've made plans to go to a Lincoln Saltdogs game, the local independent league baseball team in town. It's a great atmosphere with some mediocre ball, but we have a great time and get on the jumbo tron. 2 for 2 on the jumbo trons! It's getting close to 9 o'clock, when Scott's bar has a Friday night special of penny pints for an hour and a half, which we decide might be more entertaining than the last three innings of the Saltdogs game (they were way ahead anyways). Just before we take off, my big mug appears in a close-up on the jumbo tron for a good 20 seconds. We all have a good laugh about that, and I act a fool in front of a good 1,500 people or so. 3 for 2 on the jumbo trons! My Uncle Marty and his brother Larry meet us at the bar for some drinks and bean bag toss, and we all enjoy the penny pints and some more pizza. From there the night gets a little bit fuzzy, but I can say we all had a wonderful time in downtown Lincoln with Joe. After the bars closed down, we came out on the street to find a hoard of police aggressively arresting a black woman. We don't know exactly what happened, the word is she stole something, but there was a crowd and we wanted to see what was happening. We scooted in to watch with a few hundred other young adults (as I said, the bars had just closed). A young black guy standing next to us was shortly taken from the crowd, for no reason that we could clearly see, and thrown to the ground and cuffed. We were subsequently told to leave the scene and received strong shoves from officers quite large. The situation was growing rather tense, and we were not in the happiest of moods at this point, but Cool Head Joe eventually found us in the crowd and convinced us to take our leave. So we escaped without arrest, although it is our opinion that the only ones encouraging violence that night were the police.<br /><br />Day 56 Saturday August 16: Lincoln to Fremont 68.24 miles<br />I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but my parents are avid cyclists. They have a tandem bicycle that they ride all around. My mother enjoys it, my father is obsessed. Seriously, he's more into cycling than anyone else I know. So he was quite disappointed when he and my mom were unable to ride into or out of Kansas City with us, the former because of weather issues and the latter due to job obligations. Seeing as Lincoln isn't too far of a drive from our home in Kansas City, and that my mother had gone to Sioux City, Iowa for the weekend to help clean out my grandmother's house and would be nearby with a car, my dad decided to join us for a day's ride out of Lincoln. We were all quite excited about this, as it has not only been many weeks since we've had anyone to ride along with, but it was yet another opportunity to spend some time with my pops. To those who think he may have had a hard time keeping up or going as far as we generally go in a day, I would like to reiterate that he is obsessed with biking, and could have easily left us behind if he had so chosen. He has an awesome bike and calves the size of most people's thighs. So it's safe to say that he kept up just fine. It was a beautiful day on the bikes and it was a most enjoyable ride. My mom decided to stay in Sioux City for an extra night, and so he even joined us for the camp out that night. We stayed in a surprisingly crowded camping area off the lake near Fremont, but the moon was full and the dogs on the grill delicious, so it ended up being a great time.<br /><br />Day 57 Sunday August 17: Fremont to Sioux City, IA 80.29 miles<br />My dad certainly picked two great days to ride with us, as on both the wind was favorable and the weather was perfect. Nebraska offered a great shoulder for the entire ride, and some nice folks along the way. My dad and I traded bikes for about an hour, and I don't know who enjoyed it more. I was giddy with being able to accelerate at will and cruise up hills with about 55 pounds less weight on me, while my dad was able to experience the weight and awkward steering that comes with it on the bikes. He didn't lose a beat, and flew up the hills with the ease of young men who have ridden nearly 3000 miles at this point. We arrived at the border of Nebraska and Iowa in the late afternoon. Both of my parents, my brother, and I were all born here in Sioux City. My dad's parents live here, and I spent a summer two years ago living with my maternal grandmother here. So it's safe to say this was one of the more important stops for me on this trip. We didn't even bother showering because of the hunger and went straight to El Fredo's pizza a few blocks away from my grandma Mary's house. We ordered 3 jumbos and for the first time all trip came home with leftovers, an entire pizza in fact. All three of my living grandparents joined us, as well as my Aunt Carol, who had brought my grandma Mary to Sioux City for the weekend to clean up with my mom. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing on the front porch swing and telling old stories about killing bats and other family tales. It was about as good as it gets for me, and I was very happy to have been able to show Nate and Kelvin this part of my life. It's so rare and so exciting when one can connect what are generally so separate yet important influences on what forms us into the person we have become, and I found this evening to be such an occasion. My parents then bade us farewell and we spent the rest of the evening watching the Olympics.<br /><br />Day 58 Monday August 18: Rest day in Sioux City, IA 0 miles<br />My grandma and Aunt Carol, along with the Abbey and Sophia left early Monday morning, so we had my grandma's old house to ourselves for the day. We cruised downtown to fix some problems on Kelvin's bike that arose on the previous day's ride, then we found ourselves strolling into the theatre to see the new Batman movie, only there was neither anyone there to sell us a ticket nor to take a ticket upon our entering. We looked around for a bit, but eventually decided that this one was a gift from the theatre and got to see a matinee for free. What a city. After the film we stopped by Palmer's old tyme candy shoppe and gorged ourselves on delicious chocolate, then went almost immediately to my other grandparents' house for dinner. They told stories and we chatted about our trip and the entire evening was quite enjoyable indeed.<br /><br />Day 59 Tuesday August 19: Sioux City to Denison, IA 83.16 miles<br />My stamina for typing is waning, so I might be somewhat more brief, I hope you'll excuse me. Iowa doesn't have shoulders. The beautiful continuation of Nebraska was somewhat hindered by this fact, but it was a great ride nonetheless. We were stopped by Craig, a nice old trucker who told us of a better biking route and a great place to stop for whiskey tomorrow. Our kind of guide. The hills were intense and the pig farms depressing, but overall the trip really was beautiful. We rolled into Denison as the sun was setting, and a nice woman led us from her car to a campground, which actually turned out to be a fairgrounds, which smelled awful and had no place to camp. We thanked her dutifully and rode away immediately after she was out of sight. We spent that night in a park in the middle of town, where we slept inside of a massive wooden fortress built for small children to play and climb on. It was probably the coolest sleeping spot we've had yet.<br /><br />Day 60 (Can you believe that?!) Wednesday August 20: Denison to Dallas Center, IA 97.17 miles<br />Our first 90 some mile day. Templeton, IA is a small town with a great whiskey distillery if you're ever in the area. One of the owners gave us a tour, a giant Iowan with a deep voice, a very appropriate whiskey distiller actually. It was fantastic, a great little stop in the midday. From there we cruised along, going for some miles along a bike path in the middle of nowhere. Way cool. That night we stopped in Dallas Center for a rest, and found a great little park with a gazebo for us to lay our heads. This town didn't have a grocery store, so we got some things at Casey's General store for dinner, and were shortly acquainted with a group of carnival employees who were in town for the coming weekend's fall festival. I say shortly acquainted in the term that they were not much for conversation, nor eye contact, nor for much of anything aside from seeming quite out of it and extremely bored or pissed off. In short, we think there may have been more than a few of them who frequently enjoyed an extremely addictive illegal substance or two. This was more than a little unsettling, so we camped out on the other side of the park, sleeping right next to our bikes. We were also waiting for Nate's friend Hannah, who had chosen a wonderful night to stop on her road trip to Ohio to meet us for a campout and some breakfast the following day. I slept like a baby, but Nate and Kelvin both awoke to some yelling and fist-fighting among a crowd of carnies and friends some 30 yards away. To our extreme relief, we were never offered involvement in any of the night's activities, and so we kept to ourselves quite happily. Hannah showed up shortly after the knuckle hitting at around 2:30, and seemed quite comfortable as she slept without a pad on the gazebo concrete floor.<br /><br />Day 61 Thursday August 21: Dallas Center to Grinnell, IA 91.06 miles<br />So we woke up safe and sound, which is always nice, to a dreary and threatening sky, which is a little less than nice. Hannah was excited for breakfast, as were we, and we planned to meet up in Grimes for breakfast. The ride was rainy and traffic was heavy and there was no shoulder, and when we met up with Hannah we discovered that Grimes was without a single breakfast place. So we stopped for our standard coffee and pastry or whatever at Casey's General Store. Delicious. It was fun to see Nate catch up with an old friend, and we are all excited to see her again when we roll through Oberlin on the 1st of September. From Grimes we continued on in the drizzle, eventually finding ourselves somewhat lost and confused. Another nice trucker gave us a bike map and awesome directions, and we soon found ourselves on another bike path, this time for some 20 miles. Iowa is funny, not a shoulder in the entire state, but awesome bike paths out in the middle of nowhere. The afternoon dragged on as I found myself continually getting a flat tire on the back tire. We could not discover the culprit for all of our searching, and ended up struggling through the final 25 or so miles by repumping and repatching the tires. We finally found ourselves in Grinnell, home of Grinnell College, hoping to meet some back to schoolers in town. Unfortunately, school didn't begin for another 10 days and we found ourselves in a very tiny town. That night found us in a very dark gazebo in a park in the city, where we were sure we'd be fine until morning. But after laying our heads for about 2 hours we were awoken by a flashlight and a stern voice asking us, 'what's goin' on guys? Park closes at 11.' Great, a Peace Officer here to do his public service. We explained our plight and found no sympathy. Park closes at 11. Where should we sleep? 'There's a hotel down the street, although I don't think you'll be able to find anyone there this late.' Well that's great, but we can't really afford hotels anyways. They chuckle. 'Other than that there's really nowhere you can sleep around here.' What should we do? 'I guess ride out to wherever there might be some campsite or a hotel.' We can't just sleep here? We had a similar situation before in Atchison and it worked out fine. We'll be out with the sunrise and we won't bother anyone. They ask about Atchison and chuckle and make a comment about what a small town it must be. 'Sorry, park closes at 11 and we have to worry about vandals and such. Maybe next time you should plan it out better.' They chuckle again. By this time we've decided to stop trying reason with them, I don't tell them about my flat tire and we pack up our stuff as they shine their carlights on us. We walk our bikes out of the park and they thank us and tell us to have a good night. Honestly, from all of my experiences in the midwest, one out of three semi-positive experiences with the police isn't bad, so I guess I'm less than surprised. Anyways, we walk to Grinnell college campus and split up, Kelvin finds a nook behind a church where a night watchman pretends not to see him on his rounds throughout the night, and Nate and I cozy up at the base of a stairwell in the back of one of the buildings under a sort of overhang. It ends up not being too bad, all things considered.<br /><br />Day 62 Friday August 22: Grinnell to Iowa City<br />Grinnell turns out to be a great town in the sunlight. A cool coffeeshop. Kelvin gets 10% off a book from some nice folks at a bookstore, and I get helped out at a bike shop by one of the nicest guys we've met on the trip so far. Craig is an artist with the bike, and uses tiny surgeon tools to pick out miniscule pieces of glass and a quarter inch piece of wire that was wedged between my tire layers. He sets me up, doesn't charge for labor, and then buys us lunch at the deli next door. Huge thanks to Craig for all of his help, he really sent us off with great feelings about Grinnell. The ride to Iowa City wasn't bad, and we rolled into town to stay in our first Co-op of the trip. I was ecstatic, and found myself right at home in the communal living situation. There's was quite different from what I've lived in, but it just felt the same. We played piano and petted the dogs, but there wasn't really anyone hanging out, so we hit the town on our own, which was a huge disappointment to me. Aside from a really cool punk/metal bar in downtown, Iowa City was fairly disappointing. I think it would have been improved if we'd had a local guide, but we found the nightlife to be a bit outside of our style. Regardless, it was a good time, and we ended up hanging out on the porch of the co-ops until late into the night, chatting with good folks who gave us homemade cookies and listened to our stories.<br /><br />Day 63 Saturday August 23: Iowa City to Clinton, IA<br />A great ride but a fairly uneventful day. Paw Paw, Iowa probably offered the most in terms of entertainment, simply because it was the home of the Guinness record holder for largest collection of unique pens. We didn't get to meet him or anything, but we liked the sign that informed us of this fact. We reached Clinton shortly after dark, so we could even really see the Mississippi, but we had a nice little campout beside a great bike trail. Nate dropped the pasta just after finishing it. But a little sand and grit never hurt anybody. Delicious dinner.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-c13m7-OS_fvSyrubi6T1e5hosbtBVDC0sAN4FExE0hid7dAKiyZGdJCHxKxnF2ZcZbU3T6cnRWnDh2faux0Rec-NpDyP4A0K2EUCHotVbTJyaXp2O4vW6cQFbxydH9cQczIYeFR0JA/s1600-h/P8240287.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-c13m7-OS_fvSyrubi6T1e5hosbtBVDC0sAN4FExE0hid7dAKiyZGdJCHxKxnF2ZcZbU3T6cnRWnDh2faux0Rec-NpDyP4A0K2EUCHotVbTJyaXp2O4vW6cQFbxydH9cQczIYeFR0JA/s400/P8240287.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241504617257305202" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Day 64 Sunday August 24: Clinton to Aurora, IL 129.95 miles<br />Whew! What a day. By far are longest in terms of miles and hours on the bike. Almost 130 miles and almost 10 miles to be inexact. We finally got to my cousin Hank's house and ate pizza with him and his fiancee Julie, as well as my Uncle Rod and Aunt Madonna, who were there for the weekend and were leaving the following morning. I was glad to get to see them before they left, and felt that the day's long ride was worth it.<br /><br />Day 65 Monday August 25: The Big City, The Windy City, Chicago at last! 0 miles<br />I'll skip right to it. We've been talking about Kansas City barbecue, Chicago deep dish, Philly cheesesteaks, and New England clam chowder for the whole trip. The barbecue didn't disappoint, and we b-lined it straight for Giordano's upon our arrival to Union Station off the train in downtown Chicago. It was like nothing I've ever eaten. Suite 1 was great, but this pizza was just on another level really. Whoa, I could go on, but I think it would be quite boring, and I think this post has been quite long enough already. But there's always more adventure to be related, so I must go on. After pizza we strolled around the town, looking for either a brewery, another pizza place, or a hot dog stand. We were full, but we figured we were only in Chicago once on this trip, and wanted to make it worth it. We received directions to a brewery, but found ourselves growing restless on our search, and when we passed the blues legend Buddy Guy's bar on a corner, decided that we had to go in for at least a beer. What we found was a great blues bar with good music, great staff, and epic stuff all over the walls. They were having a jam that night, but we figured we'd be on our way. After a few beers we left for that brewery, but found nothing but another shitty bar, so we headed back for Buddy Guy's. This was a great call, as the music was fantastic. Sadly, Buddy Guy's brother had recently passed away, and the wake had taken place that day. As a result, a crowd of old time blues folks were there and the jam was amped up to epic proportions. Kelvin actually got to shake Buddy's hand, as he arrived later, and I discovered that he flushes the toilet with his foot in his own bar, although I didn't actually talk to him (it's not like I was staring at him when I was in the bathroom or anything, you can easily see when someone takes a step back and does a slow karate kick to the flusher). We had such a good time that we nearly missed the last train back to Aurora, and had to sprint to get there just in time. We promptly fell asleep on the train and missed our stop, and had to spend a good deal of cash on a taxi home. Ahh the big city.<br /><br />Day 66 Tuesday August 26: Day 2 in the big city 0 miles<br />More transportation issues for too much cash, but we'll not talk about that. We had a great walk in Chicago, Kelvin played chess on the street with some cool dudes, we got a little vertigo looking at all of the skyscrapers, we ate a delicious hot dog, and realized that Chicago is huge when you're trying to walk to Wicker Park from downtown. We hoped to meet up with my other uncle Tom for dinner that night, but not only got a late start on the train, but found the train to have 'speed restrictions,' making us over an hour late. We barbecued anyways, in the dark, and had a great chat with him and my Aunt Linda. The guys got to meet my little cousins, Tara and the twins Sean and Tyler who were all starting school the next day, 5th and 4th grades, respectively. Linda convinced us to stay an extra day, so now we're getting ready to go over to their place for swimming and a great meal. I love my family.<br /><br />So that's where that is. It's continuing to be a blast. It's terrifying how fast it's coming to an end. To clarify, we had planned on ending in Massachussetts to visit our friend Tim Griffith, but due to some communication issues it turns out that he will not be there when we arrive. Thus, our final dates will be spent in New York and possibly Boston, so if you'll be around in early mid-September, let us know. I plan to post the next blog sooner next time, so hopefully the stories will be more thorough and less to take in all at once. I hope you're all doing well, we'll be talkin soon I'm sure.Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-28963778490180822632008-08-09T14:27:00.002-07:002008-08-11T17:43:10.719-07:00Welcome to the capital Mid capital West. Y'all.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrjeKOK97cOClH32dbl5K_ZBaFyL6QoEmOOVQ5Xk7pqvLou6TmeIlTMdFbhNrron9b9pql9u8tTxg1dm7BbQQ7vWegGx988V8mm1OTOflHTUnW2WHxmAajJjk9m0TD6SdBKyXrbsbRjE/s1600-h/P8050175.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233424859258360322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrjeKOK97cOClH32dbl5K_ZBaFyL6QoEmOOVQ5Xk7pqvLou6TmeIlTMdFbhNrron9b9pql9u8tTxg1dm7BbQQ7vWegGx988V8mm1OTOflHTUnW2WHxmAajJjk9m0TD6SdBKyXrbsbRjE/s400/P8050175.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-88846285565728202092008-08-09T14:27:00.001-07:002008-08-11T17:37:30.997-07:00Sorry about destroying your highways, Kansas. But a mobber's gotta mob.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgidVEwaSCvwP4daYQ6sRrYToLA36DKTtOGh68_xD8-gf5Fn7ZaQShPFslBsNJBboItYY_51gzyvmsjwBn6_jC061z37Q8YxdpAh4BhsWdWzoRL4NhZIZQoPWML5MF2gKlezDjZo3X-yCw/s1600-h/IMG_7954.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233420148275809298" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgidVEwaSCvwP4daYQ6sRrYToLA36DKTtOGh68_xD8-gf5Fn7ZaQShPFslBsNJBboItYY_51gzyvmsjwBn6_jC061z37Q8YxdpAh4BhsWdWzoRL4NhZIZQoPWML5MF2gKlezDjZo3X-yCw/s320/IMG_7954.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>After notes from the two other trunk-legged ones, it is again me, mr. peter, typing from beautiful Kansas City we are sitting full and dry in a nice, air-conditioned house that my parents now call home. Kansas is humid. I mean REAL humid. We descended out of Colorado into Kansas to find the plains filled with levitating standing water and some of the craziest lightning storms any of us have ever seen. I figured it out, and as of the day that we left Colorado Springs, we have less time left on the road than days that have passed since we left our homes in Oregon. So we're past the halfway point on our journey, I'm sayin, and it's unbelievable how fast everything is going. Huge thanks to those who sent us their love in paper form, it was really great to read your letters when we arrived at my parents' house. I hope everyone has enjoyed the words of what up from the guys, I personally found them to be hysterical. </div><br /><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGSHZvotmveoB0J7ZhiUrY205DBTkQ0NwGyQD74StuvN-xFFbQSDfOgjpVr823Tcf-oPB8fQhiVVbGaOHzUNOxpi0mUnE-HyF46irDQVlbOVA5GDXtF6HoDJ5wxBW8iRmaCKoNuiQdFY/s1600-h/P8100199.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233414137912637778" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGSHZvotmveoB0J7ZhiUrY205DBTkQ0NwGyQD74StuvN-xFFbQSDfOgjpVr823Tcf-oPB8fQhiVVbGaOHzUNOxpi0mUnE-HyF46irDQVlbOVA5GDXtF6HoDJ5wxBW8iRmaCKoNuiQdFY/s320/P8100199.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><br />Day 41 (Continued)<br />When we left off last in the blog, the three of us were hanging out in Colorado Springs, CO with the Groundwaters. Anne had hurt her hand the night before in a hit and run curbing incident, and was getting ready to drive us with her braced extremity to Breckenridge, where we would be nearer to Keystone for the following day's Bluegrass Brew fest. So, in a car we traveled in about 2 1/2 hours what would have taken us at least two days to ride our bikes to Breckenridge. It was a head trip, going that fast and far in that short of time. It's weird the way our perception of reasonable distances and expectations of time and space have changed during this trip. It's very calming, actually, to be so limited yet so empowered at the same time in regards to where we go and what we do. Once in Breckenridge we had a lovely birthday dinner with Anne and her parents and brother. I had one of my wishes for the trip fulfilled when both Anne and John were thoroughly embarrassed by one of their mother's childhood stories about sex education and the viewing of their family's tryout video for "The Amazing Race." Cute family, great story tellers. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><br />Day 42 Saturday August 2: Acting a fool in Keystone<br />I can't say I remember entirely too much about Saturday. It's not that it was boring or uneventful, it's that we went to a brew fest full of amazing micro brews armed with "all you can drink" glasses in our hands. It was a really fun time, and you can see above that we busted mad moves on the dance concrete, but if you're looking for specific stories for that, the few that we remember may have to wait until we're together with a few more brews. The ride home was fun, though. I hope a few of you enjoyed Kelvin and Nate's phone conversations or messages. Let them know what they said, they're curious. I was busy taking a nap out the front window of the van. Sorry we didn't get to talk. </div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4OsRCd9Hsf86ns-TFUOJ4Y-LZayhsIweSkSC2F4ycY2eWeCJVJUaegOv3_3beCvfmaD40EY3nl89f-gk3RmwkWZNjgfVGOPEnRCDdLAk4u7J3h0qcmGbhttVRzNBcHXLlenft831pBc/s1600-h/MVI_7975.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233420139512938834" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4OsRCd9Hsf86ns-TFUOJ4Y-LZayhsIweSkSC2F4ycY2eWeCJVJUaegOv3_3beCvfmaD40EY3nl89f-gk3RmwkWZNjgfVGOPEnRCDdLAk4u7J3h0qcmGbhttVRzNBcHXLlenft831pBc/s320/MVI_7975.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFi9FIkqlcxmu2aDi7jUv4v2jtYfuNYEsMUKBkyXgb8autliYH6raJiD6LSxOWVjkDtmgSKR7TQAbUZmOSxFmUeJTottqYdSdMTWdKTBG9Y3JhJe6skCR81-S-gIScV61DE-voIWt_DvY/s1600-h/P8070179.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233414093832838802" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFi9FIkqlcxmu2aDi7jUv4v2jtYfuNYEsMUKBkyXgb8autliYH6raJiD6LSxOWVjkDtmgSKR7TQAbUZmOSxFmUeJTottqYdSdMTWdKTBG9Y3JhJe6skCR81-S-gIScV61DE-voIWt_DvY/s320/P8070179.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><br />Day 43 Sunday August 3: The Springs to Rush, CO 38.89 miles<br />After a REALLY slow moving morning, we piled back into the van to head back to Colorado Springs and get back on the bikes. Whew. I don't know how this is going to go, considering the Pepto Bismal (I know what I wrote, I don't need spell check, ok?) was not sitting that well. Jeez, after two rest days you would think we'd be rarin and ready. But oh how the bluegrass takes it out of you. Yeah, that's it, the bluegrass. Anyways, we fiddled about for awhile but finally got back out on the bikes in the late afternoon. The late start and a fierce crosswind didn't allow us much distance, but a hearty meal behind a farmer's barn (we asked permission, of course) and a good night's sleep ahead of us had us talking about going for a landmark day the next day. 200 miles, a near unthinkable feat, was our goal. What better time to try than after a few rest days, coming out of Colorado onto the plains with a slight descent the entire way. If weather and wind could only cooperate, we had a lot of confidence in our success. We all went to bed feeling great, excited for the next day's extremely difficult ride. </div><br /><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxCZgLm6g2ti7d1sI7UYds87lUTWaUU1iBYy0MBbZlboZjXpGHXsvjZiA4vvB7wDZm97CcvKFJi8FHqFFAloBHiQqGVZJqf6o6B7ITENZnq0ZpIgmaR0y7Q_OvBTGRYkTi6ye6FwvZIoA/s1600-h/P8100192.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233414115862184002" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxCZgLm6g2ti7d1sI7UYds87lUTWaUU1iBYy0MBbZlboZjXpGHXsvjZiA4vvB7wDZm97CcvKFJi8FHqFFAloBHiQqGVZJqf6o6B7ITENZnq0ZpIgmaR0y7Q_OvBTGRYkTi6ye6FwvZIoA/s320/P8100192.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><br />Day 44 Monday August 4: Rush to Weskan Unincorporated, KS 112.26 miles<br />As you can see above, we didn't quite make 200 miles. We tried, though, and for awhile it looked like there was a chance. But the summer sun in Kansas can be a mean, mean mugger. We were out on the bikes by 6:30am, easily our earliest start of the trip, and averaged 20mph for the first 80 miles. But as the morning progressed, the sun just kept on heating up, and the humidity in Kansas makes for a suffocating experience. at 12:30 our water was fit to make tea and we were hitting a big wall. We acknowledged our vincibility and decided to simply cruise to a new personal record before calling it a day. We crossed the Kansas/Colorado border at around 5 or so and were immediately welcomed into Kansas by a treacherous headwind. I mean bad. So we decided to stay just over the Kansas border and continue on tomorrow. This has probably turned out to be the best decision of the trip. No more than 45 minutes later were we witnesses to a supershow of lightning on the horizon. The show quickly became interactive as we were nearly knocked over by winds well of at least 50mph. We scrambled to gather our gear as it flew off into the recently arrived downpour. Luckily, we were under a substantial shelter in a roadside park, and could organize ourselves into the dry pockets and create a wind block behind of the corner walls on the shelter. An unrealistically nice local candy bar salesman informed us that his local church was unlocked and we could sleep there, but we opted for the shelter on the other side of the park, as the wind was almost nonexistent over there due to it's location in reference to the granary across the street. We spent a nice night listening to the rain fall and the trains blow past underneath a picnic table in the park. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAa8VT8ME36PUnIzam1y7rzcKpBBQVwl_yUCiY8j1VDtcfIcpczgw4RFu92q5N5YEE3P1D_9YYvrUZII7tDqyFfZQDaeUo-BUZXlcX-M-xt5RTIEeFM0SfPqMuqDh5hfbvbnjDdoT6SQ/s1600-h/P8090186.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233414103913111330" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAa8VT8ME36PUnIzam1y7rzcKpBBQVwl_yUCiY8j1VDtcfIcpczgw4RFu92q5N5YEE3P1D_9YYvrUZII7tDqyFfZQDaeUo-BUZXlcX-M-xt5RTIEeFM0SfPqMuqDh5hfbvbnjDdoT6SQ/s320/P8090186.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Day 45 Tuesday August 5: Weksan to Oakley 67.49 miles<br />Mountains are hard. I'll be the first to admit that. you pedal and pedal and hardly get anywhere and it seems never ending and just keeps going up. But with a mountain, there is a peak, and you eventually get to the top. The feeling of accomplishment is indescribably fulfilling, and the downhill ride that follows is exhilarating. Kansas doesn't have mountains. It's quite flat, although there are a cool bit of rolling hills, but it doesn't have it's reputation for nothing. What Kansas does have, though, is wind. Strong wind. And when it's not going in the same direction as you, in fact going the opposite direction as you, it is just as hard if not harder than a mountain. The problem with a headwind, though, is there is no peak, and no downhill to follow. It's invisible and relentless and incredibly frustrating. We had planned to fly across Kansas, doing close to 100 miles a day. But this was just not going to happen on this day, as the wind would not allow it. We made it just under 70 miles to a quaint little town near I-70 and felt as exhausted as we've felt all trip. Forget this, let's try again tomorrow. We played golf with a soccer ball in the local park and watched a rapid fire lighting storm off on the horizon before going to sleep. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjoJW25iqdaSPWxZDwKfNYJN388I6yd3h4TZ60TalxxQkI7C9rX5Aba8EMRuCDzWtW-v04xNlVY2U42wj_VSjQkL3EI6Wv94BkVZHQGdU1uBDS-EtGmC4q8F5Fo4WmNv_H0HJ8D97hgg/s1600-h/P8040168.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233420126379575650" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjoJW25iqdaSPWxZDwKfNYJN388I6yd3h4TZ60TalxxQkI7C9rX5Aba8EMRuCDzWtW-v04xNlVY2U42wj_VSjQkL3EI6Wv94BkVZHQGdU1uBDS-EtGmC4q8F5Fo4WmNv_H0HJ8D97hgg/s320/P8040168.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br />Day 46 Wednesday August 6: Oakley to Webster Lake 102.85 miles<br />No head wind today, and now we have the goal of getting to Kansas City by Saturday, so as to see a Royals night game and hit the big city night life. So we mobbed. A wonderful day of cruising, and a nice swim and a shower at the end of it all. As the night set in, we were given front row seats to one of the most constant lightning storms I've ever seen. Good thing our tent is lightning-proof. Nothing to worry about while camping by the lake. Then it rained. A lot. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><br />Day 47 Thursday August 7: Webster Lake to Beloit 82.67 miles<br />It rained all night. Then it stopped just long enough for us to wake up and get out of the tent. Then it rained all over us. Everything was wet. We put on our rain gear, which we had yet to really bust out, and set out. Turns out that stuff isn't so effective. That's cool. Spirits were high and our muscles weren't sore at all, or something the opposite of that. We made it to the first town about 10 miles away and stumbled into a cafe looking like three drowned rats. We stayed for about 8 cups of coffee each and watched the rain continue to fall. We finally decided to pull on our boot straps or whatever and head back out into the shower when, miraculously, the rain let up. We rode for a couple miles, and it stopped completely. In an hour, the sun was shining. Our luck is hilariously good, in my opinion. We cruised the rest of the day. We hit up the county fair in Beloit, but had apparently gotten there a little late, as the scene had really cooled off from the excitement we'd heard in the distance while eating dinner. Oh well, we'll come across another county fair or two before this is all over, if we're lucky. Everything is still damp, stuff has a hard time drying in this humidity, but we sleep out under the stars in hopes of cooling off a bit. Good luck. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghIFOjstGQD2eeOFzxkjD-TdBu6IwxPB4lYF5i-art0-UoPK1PjiQ9ZufLfJVlazLy5-q0OHKMy6_6D7K_-ZWPs_l7Nxj6TYxpZnJknbVJ1W7A2YBtm-v_e0r6h2DIZ0O7cKu_YiexJfU/s1600-h/P8050171.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233420135252087170" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghIFOjstGQD2eeOFzxkjD-TdBu6IwxPB4lYF5i-art0-UoPK1PjiQ9ZufLfJVlazLy5-q0OHKMy6_6D7K_-ZWPs_l7Nxj6TYxpZnJknbVJ1W7A2YBtm-v_e0r6h2DIZ0O7cKu_YiexJfU/s320/P8050171.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br />Day 48 Friday August 8: Beloit to Historical Marker (just outside of Belvue) 118.43 miles<br />When we first started this trip, I found it odd that we slept outside without the slightest discomfort. I could never do that as a child, as you would wake up wet if you didn't have substantial sheltering. As the trip went on I forgot about this, but was not surprised when I awoke on Friday to find all of our stuff, including the bags we were sleeping in, as soaked as if it had been raining in the night. There was a thick fog and the dew was everywhere. I admit we were starting to get a little frustrated with the constant wetness, but I'm overjoyed that we are much quicker to laugh at our misfortune than cry. It's really hilarious, when you think about it. So we cruised and cruised through the rolling hills of north central Kansas. Hoping to reach Lawrence tomorrow before noon to meet with my parents for lunch, we had a lot of ground to cover. We arrived in Manhattan shortly before sundown, and decided that we could make it the next day if we got a little outside of town and then awoke with the dawn the next morning. I broke a spoke on the back tire on the way out, but it did not prove to be debilitating and we continued on. The sun set and we busted out our lights to be safer for our short night ride. The fireflies joined us, and some trains decided to ride alongside us as well. With the sky pink on the horizon to our backs, I found it one of the most mystical rides we've had to date. I was in the front on this ride. Kelvin, in the rear because he has by far the brightest tail light, was shitting bricks. And rightly so, the shoulder wasn't huge and it was quite dark and scary when giant cars would pass by closer than was comfortable. But no one wants to hear about this, we were clearly very safe and will never do anything even resembling something dangerous ever again, for sure. The more reasonable of the two of us, he recommended we stop and camp in contrast to my suggestion that we continue on into the night. It made sense, especially considering we were to be waking up to ride again in less than 7 hours. Nate set his alarm for 5am and fixed my spoke while I made some dinner. We slept on a gravel parking lot at a historical marker between the highway and the railroad tracks. A train horn 20 yards away is a terrifying way to be awoken in the middle of the night. Really gets the blood flowing. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hL1yamPmygUu_uNcU4iwyp-6M8DFWRCdz_IpdfNcOZz_aktPaeacBi0sCmjd2xkOTQ5K6wBVkhPGgAZd5WCxhPgOEvJu4KYCVAZcxA-yf7PkacelCfkNhNsCtKVz7j26KgNj-3MNxmY/s1600-h/P8050173.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233414074168464018" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hL1yamPmygUu_uNcU4iwyp-6M8DFWRCdz_IpdfNcOZz_aktPaeacBi0sCmjd2xkOTQ5K6wBVkhPGgAZd5WCxhPgOEvJu4KYCVAZcxA-yf7PkacelCfkNhNsCtKVz7j26KgNj-3MNxmY/s320/P8050173.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br />Day 49 Saturday August 9: Historical Marker to Lawrence (Ride to KC) 61.81 miles<br />There have been mornings where getting up at 9:30 to go riding has been an epic challenge, so I have no idea how the three of us were up and going with such ease at 5 in the morning, after our longest ride yet and about 6 hours of sleep, but it happened. We rode a few miles into a small town for some coffee, and continued on when some rain started spitting on us. It wasn't bad, and I told my father that a ride would not be necessary, it's hardly raining. He said the radar showed we were being dumped upon, I said it was hardly a sprinkle. Two minutes after getting off the phone, the downpour began. This continued for the next 50 miles. Fun. It wasn't all that bad really, it's a heck of a lot easier to ride in the rain when you know your day will end with a hot shower in a warm bed, and I was really excited to be back in KC to see my friends and family. With 18 miles left to Lawrence things didn't seem so bad. 10 miles later, the sign said 12 miles to Lawrence. Highway crews can be so cruel sometimes. But what can you do except keep pedaling away, and eventually we found ourselves at Free Street Brewing Co. in beautiful Lawrence Kansas. It's kind of swanky, and when we received more than a few sideways glances when we stumbled in sopping in our spandex. But we dried off and prettied up and were soon sitting happily with some delicious brew, our first beers since that immemorable day in Keystone. Soon my parents arrived, not on bikes, as they aren't insane and didn't want to ride 80 miles in a storm. They actually had come equipped with a bike rack fit for three, and I eagerly accepted. Kelvin has endurance and drive that just don't quit and was ready to put the wet spandex back on and go back out into the fight. He was convinced, however, and within 30 seconds of getting into the back seat of the car was dead to the world, passed out into the black depths. The weather ended up turning into a beautiful night, and the three of us cruised in the parental vehicle to beautiful Kaufman stadium in time for our first Major League game of the trip. My old high school buddies Pat and Al met us there, and while screaming along to "Low Places" by Garth Brooks, we were all presented to the crowd on one of the largest jumbo-trons in America. Good times. The Royals lost, but it was really the people around us who got to witness some true fanatics that were the real winners. After stopping by the house for a quick bite, we set up to hit the town. I'd never until this night had the pleasure of being dropped off with my friends at the bars on a Saturday night by my mother. It was cool. Back with Pat and Al and some of their friends, we hit up Westport with a fury. Buzzard Beach is really an organic Kansas City experience, although the best foozballers come out on weeknights, fyi. From there we busted moves at some other bar the locals brought us to. Oh did we bust moves. The bars stay open until 3 in Missouri, an extra hour of fun for us Oregonians. From there we went for a bite at the IHOP, but Kelvin was tired and took a nap in the car. It was a hilarious night, and such a great experience for me to see my two really close friends from Kansas and two really close friends from Oregon come together for such a fun night. Our day ended 24 hours after it began, stumbling up to bed with a belly full of pancakes. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><br />Day 50 Sunday August 10: Living Large in KC 0 miles<br />I'm apparently on a schedule that gets me up early. I awoke at 9:30 and felt surprisingly good. The other guys are better at breaking routine, and wisely slept until 1:30. I was extremely tired by the time 1:30 came. But that's neither here nor there, really, although this blog post is extremely long, and I know that only the hard core loved ones are still interested enough in this business to still be reading at this point. Thanks y'all, I get really excited whenever I hear that people are reading this thing. Anyways, when in KC, you have to eat barbecue. Now I know that many of you may have heard of Gates, or a guy named Arthur Bryant, and they're good. But the locals all have their own spot, and my family's is Hayward’s. We stuffed our faces with delicious barbecue and all felt a lot better because of it. From there we ventured to the famous Kansas City Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I am clearly biased, but I've also been to a couple of famous museums, and I'd put the Nelson up there with the best I've ever been to. It was closed, but we still spent 45 minutes wandering around the grounds, looking at haunting sculptures and admiring the scenery. Not to mention hanging around the largest Shuttlecocks in the world. No joke. It's closed on Monday, but we plan to go again on Tuesday before we head out on our ride, as I seriously assert that the Nelson is a must-see if you are ever in the greater Kansas City area. It's free, too, so there you go. From there we cruised over to my aunt and uncle's house for some grilled burgers and some Olympic gymnastics. It's great going from eating pasta with sardines all week to gorging on barbecue and homemade meals. After that it was back to Westport, where we met up with my good friend Ethan Osman for a few beers. The foosball was epic and the dance party was really drunk and shirtless, but sadly it was not performed by us, although we all were quite amused. After heading out from the Beach we jaunted around the Nelson lawn again, listening to Ethan relate some crazy tales before crashing at his place for the night. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXeeA77l8AatO2cfDeKW8tJ6x_z9Zav-8X2vutOlcx9XP9L98ubNrsYh7DMA9q936nGF0LvgSe-uHJrQhwZ_5WxExDPdo1nB5Nn6PW3K4iQb0Ydz8Ri9WepUzpTGl3tDeJUF0vJvYXj4U/s1600-h/IMG_7950.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233420141800850498" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXeeA77l8AatO2cfDeKW8tJ6x_z9Zav-8X2vutOlcx9XP9L98ubNrsYh7DMA9q936nGF0LvgSe-uHJrQhwZ_5WxExDPdo1nB5Nn6PW3K4iQb0Ydz8Ri9WepUzpTGl3tDeJUF0vJvYXj4U/s320/IMG_7950.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br />And now it is today, which I will relate to you another day. I forgot to mention that I spoke with an Emma Spehar on the phone during this span of time, and she informed me that she may be in Boston around the same time as we are. Possibly the 13th of September. Now I'm just putting this out there, but if anyone would like to celebrate the end of our adventure with us, Boston on the 13th is going to be the place to be. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. From here we head up to Lincoln, Nebraska, then on to Sioux City, Iowa to complete the Peter Kass family tour. From there it's on to Chicago, Illinois, Oberlin, Ohio, and then a sprint to the Atlantic with stops for Philly Cheese steaks. I hope everything is good with you. And I hope that thing that was getting you down has cleared up. You know what I mean.<br />Stay big. </div></div>Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-66445496056658569422008-08-09T14:27:00.000-07:002008-08-12T07:38:31.489-07:00Ponderosa iterludesoooo...What can be said about traveling acroos the country by bycicle with two of the greatest people ive ever known, each day the land changes as we make our way towards the east and life becomes simple. Staying full seems to be the biggest challenge when touring for long periods of time. For the last 5 days weve been administering lessons to kansas regarding the essence of mobology as weve left three horizantal burning lines across its mighty width along highway 24. Every night across this state there have been lightning storms like ive never seen in my live even in southern arizona and the weather changes extremely quickly. Two nights weve gone to sleep under the stars and awakened to the shocking (hehe) sounds of lightning. The trip as a whole thus far has bee more fantastic that i had ever imagined, one would think that fatty storms would keep three lowely rats from destroying 83 miles of highway, naaaaw. Im in the middle as the rain is pelting us like a hoarde of midgets under the weight of ukraine, i look back and see pete singing with the smile of a madman; he's lovin it. I ride up to nathan who looks really scary in his all black raingear and ask him how hes doing; he replies by unsheathing his imaginary broadsword, announcing that he is no longer nate but the black rider; i am slain. Gotta give a big shoutout to all the couchsurfers and friends that have put us up along the way, your all rastas (except that one wack dude in boulder, not you gordie, you is tight), as well as the homies holdin it down huge in Eugene we think of you all often and wish you could be crusin with us. Timmy Timmy Timmy you are wack for bailing on us but at least we have a month to get over it; me and the boys hope you have a grand freakin time on SNAKE Ave. Also big ups to the parental units of all for rockin it at -9 months to preempt the birth of three mercenaries. Last of all huge thanks to wheat, peanuts, and peru for all commin together to form the peanutbutter banana sandwich which was the only thing that carried us up togwoetee pass keeping us from crying like three canadian babies. sorry for the delay. your pal, kelvinRolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-45374167360459270092008-08-03T13:12:00.001-07:002008-08-03T13:31:08.958-07:00whatup snoggwerdswhatup snoggfaces, nate here. the other two fools are undermobbing and ive got time in colorado springs. we just got back from breckinridge, colorado, where there was a beer and bluegrass festival. it was pretty sik. we stayed at the groundwaters' kabin with an ot tub and stars. pete'll fill you in on that, i imagine. n.e. weyz, this trip for me has been a trip so far. har har. i mean, it's been hecka fun. for me, the most beautiful rides that stick out right now were going from saratoga wyo to laramie whyo. over the snowy range pass was absolutely ridiculous, views from 10Gs up of the more or less end of the rocky mountains. we passed by this fat rock pile called medicine bow range, or peak, or something like that, and it was hewn by the mammoth strength and power of frozen water. it was so cool, epic, and inspiring. then at the end of the ride is when we got caught by lightning, which was real terrifying, so pete and i mobbed harder than ever for the last flattish, raining 20 miles. in all my years of competitive cycling, i don't think i've ever ridden harder. adrenaline can do wonders for the muscles. the lightning was crazy though. the next day at the university of wyoming's very own library i looked up lightning on the internetz, and it said that thunder is created by the shock wayve caused by the 16K degree fahrenheit lightning heating up the air that surrounds it. dang. shocking. also, when lightning hits a tree, it causes an epic sundering of a section of the tree, but it's not from the lightning itself, it's from the bolt heating up the sap inside so intensely that the pressure from the steam blows of the section of tree instantly. holy smokes. imagine that bolt hitting us! sorry parents, but whoa! now imagine us resonsibly racing through the storm as fast as possible to laramie then eating cheeseburgers in the safety of lovejoyz. dang.<br /><br />in other gnus, you can hear it firsthand from me, n. andre roter that the giardia is gone, and has been for a week or so (since laramie). thanks lander clinic for the exam and the antibiotic capsules! being sick was bad, but the best feeling was being hungry again. to celebrate my newfound hunger, when we got into Rawlins, hwyoming, we stopped at an ice cream parlor and i ordered a two-scoop sundae with cookie dough, chocolate chip, and cookies and cream ice cream and hot fudge sauce. But wait! you scream in confusion. you may be asking yourself how can a two scoop sundae have three scoops? well, ill tell you what happened. i was looking at the flavors, ordered the cookies and cream then the chocolate chip. but something was missing. duh, the cookie dough! so i saw that and ordered it too, and a brownie on the bottom. topped off with hot, hot, hot fudge, but no cherry, because that's whack. sike! there was just no cherry. i ate it, then we had cappucinos, because as they say, when in wyoming, do as the wyomingeanites do. then we had thai food, because, as they say, when in wyoming, eat thai food. so eyah, giardia, seeya later you weak weak creature, stay outta my bloodstream, and stick to the rivers that you're used to. well, now im undermobbing, and i gotta go, but until next time, stay big.Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-53372876424337840712008-08-01T11:56:00.000-07:002008-12-12T19:56:30.553-08:00Lost and Found. The Fun in Traveling<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSnVeVV9-ae3OhVET3FN5SgvA-cPDENYxkEHV7eo50myMyHNQZbBQ0CtKAZNYvSv51RNXzc7h7J1GZKej3K5m-Iv5yttcLhgrc1eMeye1nmC4XpXmxvEjpE3Tzzqu_lfJfWRD8wDEiSbo/s1600-h/IMG_2546.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSnVeVV9-ae3OhVET3FN5SgvA-cPDENYxkEHV7eo50myMyHNQZbBQ0CtKAZNYvSv51RNXzc7h7J1GZKej3K5m-Iv5yttcLhgrc1eMeye1nmC4XpXmxvEjpE3Tzzqu_lfJfWRD8wDEiSbo/s200/IMG_2546.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229651948332361122" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi46TQ3SNrrqZVGNZvIFgjJ33SeQ1oEtOBunWRvbeuZA00U3SQSYYWYDD18b6aDic72a0udyl5tq1XBGGGDl8gYY2GbnPYK3QPN_QtVcyWnGObQMknTm0-lDM-_jqCi9F1d6MkcJ9iAwwc/s1600-h/P7250132.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi46TQ3SNrrqZVGNZvIFgjJ33SeQ1oEtOBunWRvbeuZA00U3SQSYYWYDD18b6aDic72a0udyl5tq1XBGGGDl8gYY2GbnPYK3QPN_QtVcyWnGObQMknTm0-lDM-_jqCi9F1d6MkcJ9iAwwc/s200/P7250132.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229651952823329314" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvb1DKVVxbzjrEWCQhYQUpyeeGPDox2bmK09hTa-UVAYUqC4MZ8YNZzFTS_rPA9VL_2ohFixVTZqTovZzVzJ2Q34rUzT5VJLwHJDLmZHp9JjgGY7W_rDTrLYuF_W5J2cCd67oIrloK_0/s1600-h/P7300142.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvb1DKVVxbzjrEWCQhYQUpyeeGPDox2bmK09hTa-UVAYUqC4MZ8YNZzFTS_rPA9VL_2ohFixVTZqTovZzVzJ2Q34rUzT5VJLwHJDLmZHp9JjgGY7W_rDTrLYuF_W5J2cCd67oIrloK_0/s200/P7300142.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229651702763600978" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOkPF6X-aSjyciIRKV6io0XVyjDsM2lJDKS939KhRuRDAHy4AQ3TnNbwXjxe1ULO9jlKmk23k1zP7iQ9Qa2s2xBg8rADPifrS3p6OeFjZdqfwlYgNYb-DvkiV1P-zke8hsfLG9StwYIKE/s1600-h/P7250141.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOkPF6X-aSjyciIRKV6io0XVyjDsM2lJDKS939KhRuRDAHy4AQ3TnNbwXjxe1ULO9jlKmk23k1zP7iQ9Qa2s2xBg8rADPifrS3p6OeFjZdqfwlYgNYb-DvkiV1P-zke8hsfLG9StwYIKE/s200/P7250141.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229651717997764498" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvogTWkdKdvpu1NKs47CBgOAROVO10TkD25Z9c8yD06OyaTuxkAzh3CPH-F7bRsWjJA3MiIxSTm5gO_Y_sTa1KS4j_X0NOnq5eHPpwWdlsi3MmFbdklWS_5WMxabOB60W6kWB6irdrtZ8/s1600-h/P7250134.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvogTWkdKdvpu1NKs47CBgOAROVO10TkD25Z9c8yD06OyaTuxkAzh3CPH-F7bRsWjJA3MiIxSTm5gO_Y_sTa1KS4j_X0NOnq5eHPpwWdlsi3MmFbdklWS_5WMxabOB60W6kWB6irdrtZ8/s200/P7250134.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229651722932110434" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5SwuSfrcFeukYxBsDxjVrvRKrqnW8CmXv2D-h4SylH2elQgE0xQEMKuU_znrYvg-T1sU11nKL8LKjywpNegoV7QC49zEwXdLwMvmjSqUGW9oRdUNplUzyEody7tajE0j-9S4cV5vZXng/s1600-h/P7250135.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5SwuSfrcFeukYxBsDxjVrvRKrqnW8CmXv2D-h4SylH2elQgE0xQEMKuU_znrYvg-T1sU11nKL8LKjywpNegoV7QC49zEwXdLwMvmjSqUGW9oRdUNplUzyEody7tajE0j-9S4cV5vZXng/s200/P7250135.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229651726816516914" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUGayvTSaxy8GR7JjT90EZqFDU9gzQUZzHLhkVe19JjsH52BfWbMy3CCxRWjqu0B6yGnicZsw0NvUFJVOeg0dQhSOqi1p-zjzKBuXgWvBLM0Y_W9i1g9v_B5j_guApg3TusEGc1j7OrXE/s1600-h/P7250137.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUGayvTSaxy8GR7JjT90EZqFDU9gzQUZzHLhkVe19JjsH52BfWbMy3CCxRWjqu0B6yGnicZsw0NvUFJVOeg0dQhSOqi1p-zjzKBuXgWvBLM0Y_W9i1g9v_B5j_guApg3TusEGc1j7OrXE/s200/P7250137.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229651733902420898" border="0" /></a><br />Hello World. How are you?<br />It's August now, and it's hard to believe how fast the trip is flying by. We've finished our last day of riding south, and from Colorado Springs we're heading eastward towards Kansas City, where the Kass parents reside. We should be arriving around the 7th or 8th, and if anyone has any desire to send us anything in the snail mail, this would be an opportune time to do so. Before I forget the address is:<br /><br />(Insert one of our names here)<br />C/O Dave and Terri Kass<br />4202 W 53rd Terr<br />Roeland Park, KS 66205<br /><br />If you have any questions about anything, you can give them a call at 913-432-5333, they're super nice folks.<br /><br />So it's been a week since Laramie, we've been taking it really easy as far as biking has gone. It's been bizarre being so close to so many populated cities in one area. We definitely miss the solitude of the mountains and forests, but it's been fun meeting so many people and seeing the sights of Colorado. A quick day-to-day, then hopefully we can convince Kelvin or Nate to do a post.<br /><br />Day 35 Thursday July 24: Kicking it in Laramie 0 miles<br />A really low key day. I mean REALLY. I hang out at the library and the guys bum around town, play some soccer in the park, and hang out back at Pete's. Kelvin's good friend Lindsay, with whom he went to high school and many of us know and love from the U of O, showed up to Pete's house to hang with her beau and the three of us. It was a splendid time, and we had a barbecue and good times. Thanks again to Peter for letting us crash at his place. After the food, the gang went out to a few bars for Peter's friend's birthday. I crashed early and didn't go out, so I apologize that I cannot relate any shenanigans or little quips from the night.<br /><br />Day 36 Friday July 25: Laramie to Fort Collins, Colorado 70.59 miles<br />Hello Colorado! Fort Collins is super cool, I'm ashamed to say that I surprised to say this, as I'd never heard anything about it before. But we had a fantastic time there. We arrived in town around 4 in the afternoon and, after concocting a plan with our couchsurfer to meet up later, went directly to the New Belgium Brewery. A really chill place with an electric atmosphere and hilarious staff, we each sampled four of their brews, entirely free. They dug our bicycles and were super friendly about letting us know the ins and outs of the goings on. After working there for 5 years, the owners set up every employee with an all expenses paid tour of the breweries in Belgium. Woa. You cannot purchase any beer at the brewery, aside from growlers to go, so we took the party favors (bottle opener, sticker, tattoo) and headed out for the other local brewery about which we have heard many good things. O'Dell's is a decidedly smaller operation, but stands up well as far as atmosphere and quality. The espresso stout is delicious and gives you a great kick in the pants. Also, the waitress was super nice and gave us the sampler tray for free, our first freebie for being cross-country bikers. Way cool. After a burrito downtown we met up with Katy, a student at Colorado State who was to put us up for the night. We climbed a huge tree and watched lightning go nuts over the Rockies as the sun set on the horizon, and then proceeded to hit the streets of Fort Collins. We found ourselves at the birthday party of a 6'3 Haitian named Andre Paul, who was down to throw out phat rhymes all night along with our very own Nathan Andre Roter as Kelvin laid down the beat. It's been too long since I've heard Nate flow, it's really an experience to behold. Kelvin rocked out so hard, he still has a sore on his lip from beat-boxing all night.<br /><br />Day 37 Saturday July 26: Rest day in Fort Collins 0 miles<br />Another day heavy on the relaxing, but there's a method to our chilled out madness. Back in Lander I spoke to my good friend Anne Groundwater, who informed me that she was turning 21 on August 1st in Colorado Springs, and had none of her friends around to share in the fun. Wait a minute, we're in Colorado, and it's late July! WE could come to Colorado Springs and share in the fun! So instead of going at our normal pace and spending a week in the Springs, we decided to mosey through the state, stopping in Fort Collins, Boulder, and Denver for a day each to check out what's going on. But I digress. After bumming around the town and taking the tour at O'Dell's, we headed up north a ways with a car full of inner tubes. En route to float the Poudre (pronounced poo-der, seriously) river. It was fairly late in the day when we arrived, and the rest of the floaters were heading home. But we were not deterred, and Katy, Nate, Kelvin, Christina, and I hitched a ride upstream. We had met Christina the night before, she went to school in the same area as I had in Kansas, and it turned out we had a number of mutual acquantances. Weird. Anyways, she's an avid floater of rivers and so met up with us on Saturday to come along. After the float, which is incredibly fun and I highly recommend it to anyone with the means, we found ourselves back in the parking lot, with a locked car and an empty pocket in which Katy had previously kept the key. Hmmm. This could turn into a long story, but I'm not going to let it. The short of it is, we slept in the car in the parking lot and hitched a ride into town in the morning. It was okay, we had playing cards and good spirits.<br /><br />Day 38 Sunday July 27: Fort Collins to Boulder 58.4 miles<br />I'm just going to be straight about this right now. I don't like Boulder. Hands down my least favorite place we've been to on this trip. That being said, I'm not going to spend a lot of text on our time there. Mountain Sun Brewery was quite possibly the best brewery we've been to, it's old school ale was unbelievable and the waiters were super generous, but even that couldn't save the entire perception I have of Boulder. I don't want to talk about it.<br /><br />Day 39 Monday July 28: Hanging out in Boulder 0 miles<br />Our friend Claire, aka Gordy, from the U of O put us up on Monday at her friend's house. They were all really nice and we barbecued and had a fun time floating the river there. Thanks a bunch to all of our wonderfull hosts in Boulder. Kelvin can't find his wallet. Credit card, bank card, ID, social security card - gone. He checks every possible place. Twice.<br /><br />Day 40 Tuesday July 29: Boulder to Denver 51.31 miles<br />Kelvin still can't find it. We decide to head to Denver and deal with it there. The hills in Colorado are steep! We've apparently been spoiled with our 7% grade 10 mile climbs, because the shorter, steeper climbs to Denver were really rough. After arriving in Denver we call up Max Roesch, the older brother of Nate's good friend Jaco. No answer. No worries, we have a backup plan for a place to stay in Denver. Our good friend Teri Lyshorn's brother Jesse. We call him up. Wrong number. We call Teri, she's in Connecticut. With her brother, Jesse. Huh. This all goes down at a small cafe on the outskirts of Denver, where a very nice young woman named Alexa comes over to chat with us. She has braces and is getting ready to go into 8th grade. She asks us about our trip and then excuses herself, only to return minutes later to sit down and chat again. She doesn't know much about Denver, nor where any bowling alleys are, she doesn't know about the bar scene, and likes every type of music but nothing really stands out and she doesn't know where to go to see any good shows. Very informative girl, but keeps looking over to her friends' table and giggling. Weird. Well, at this point we decide our best chance is to go to the library and check out some other options for a place to stay. After asking directions to the nearest branch from a guy on the street, he proceeds to give us $40. It was kind of awkward, but he was really excited about our trip and insisted. Denver has some nice folks. At the library I send out an SOS on couchsurfing.com to the Denver group, which has about 500 people on it. Within minutes a guy named Steve calls us up and invites us to stay. We ride over and he turns out to be a super nice guy, with an absurdly nice apartment. We get pizza and beer with part of the $40, and go bowling on Steve's Nintendo Wii, as there aren't really any bowling alleys nearby. Kelvin reaches in his bag for his toothbrush or something and finds his wallet. The world is a weird place I swear.<br /><br />Day 41 Wednesday July 30: Hanging out in Denver 0 miles<br />Strolling, ice cream, vegetarian wings with Steve, swimming in the apartment pool, and hanging out on the apartment roof. Kelvin and Nate went to the art museum, while I failed to write letters and instead chatted with Steve and enjoyed the happy hour at a local vegetarian restaurant. That about sums up the day. It was a good day.<br /><br />Day 42 Thursday July 31: Denver to Colorado Springs 69.07 miles<br />Denver is cool, but having to ride 30 miles before escaping the sprawl isn't quite as much fun as it might sound. Regardless, the ride turned out to be a beautiful one, and we're all excited for the great plains. We ride into town and meet up with Anne Groundwater, who takes us back to her parent's home, where they feed us amazing tacos and beer and are about the best hosts anyone could ever ask for. We play "Sorry" and watch the Talking Head's concert "Stop Making Sense." A really fun evening. But wait? What time is it? It's almost midnight, and Anne's little brother John is nice enough to drive us downtown so that we may celebrate in style. We play some pool and do some celebrating in the less than two hour window that we have for our night on the town in "The Springs," as the hip kids call it. We rock out a huge dance party in the car on the way home as John drives home cool as a cucumber. Anne gets heated at this really large guy on the street and starts talking smack to him in a big way. He swings at her and she ducks out of the way, then gives him an open handed judo chop to his chops. He's laid out, but Anne's knee is scraped up from when she fell on the follow through. It was either that or Anne tripped off of a large curb while trying to text a frenchman, it could have been either scenario, really.<br /><br />Day 43 Friday August 1: Livin' large in Colorado Springs 0 miles<br />Kelvin and I wake up and have a nice chat with Anne's father, "You gentleman, and I use the word loosely, took my daughter out last night for her birthday, and now this morning she's gone to the hospital with a broken hand." Here is the part where jaws drop and faces of disbelief contort into apologetic ramblings. Her dad is actually really good-natured about it, and it turns out that she didn't in fact break her hand, but will be wearing a brace for about a week. All is relatively well and I hope Anne's parents don't hate us. They've been and are continuing to be super nice. Now I've gotta go, because there's sandwich fixings in the kitchen. They're taking us up to Keystone for a bluegrass and brewfest. Some guys get all the breaks, huh?<br /><br /><br />This is that for now. We're clean and well-fed and happy, and incredibly sorry about Anne's hand. I hope you all are well. I'm going to try and convince one of the other guys to typ now.Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-29913311873867132772008-07-24T10:18:00.000-07:002008-07-24T14:26:06.207-07:00Brits and Boiling Springs. A Long Catch-up.Hello world. It's time for another blog from the postmeister general, here in beautiful Laramie, Wyoming. We've finished the antibiotics and conquered the last pass (at least according to our maps) until the Appalachians, ready to take on the midwest, after a quick tour of Colorado. We're all feeling great, Nate's back to being a jokester and Kelvin again waits patiently at the tops of big climbs, I'm glad things are back to normal, if we can make that stretch to call our daily lives normal. I seem to have fallen quite behind on our daily journal, so today's post might be a long one in order to catch everything up. That's okay with me, I'm beat after yesterday's ride and it's nice and cool here in the library at the University of Wyoming.<br /><br />Day 18 Monday July 7: Missoula to Hamilton, 50.83 miles<br />Because the other breweries had been closed, we decided to hang out for the afternoon, check out some of the places we'd missed, and leave later in the day (If you'll recall, we have just spent a rest day in Missoula, and are getting ready to continue on our way through Montana). I hike up to the giant 'M' on the hill, and meet up back at the house to find that Kelvin and Nate had already gone to the Big Sky Brewery. Oh well, they said it was mainly a gift shop, and Kelvin got a Moose Drool belt buckle that doubles as a bottle opener. Score. From there we go to the Kettle House brewery, where we sample their scotch ale that is absolutely fantastic. They don't bottle their beer because glass isn't allowed on the river, they only do 16 ounce cans so as to accomodate those who want to float the river with a good brew, awesome. The 4 o'clock departure time is coming quick and the temptation to stay for another night is strong, but we are determined to continue on our way, although we push back our departure time to 6. This turns out to be really interesting, as we haven't started anywhere near this late to this point. A good majority of the ride is during twilight, and there is animal action everywhere along this lightly traveled Montana highway. At one point we are joined by three deer, bounding parallel at a similar pace about 40 yards east. They come with us for a good two minutes, and then leap a barbed wire fence and run away, while we continue on. We end up at a high school field in Hamilton Montana as the night is really taking over. Too tired to make any dinner, and inexplicably not that hungry, we go straight to bed.<br /><br />Day 19 Tuesday July 8: Hamilton to Lost Trail Pass, 51.03 miles<br />To this point on our journey, we have in fact had a few beers to drink. There has been a morning or two in which we probably would have felt better had we opted for water the previous night, but nothing that has really hindered our ability to ride the next day. As we are all for pushing the limits, as well as we are suckers for a good microbrewery, today's ride proved to be a good lesson to be remembered for the rest of the trip. We had all our stuff packed and ready to go by well before 11am, but we discovered that the Bitter Root Brewery of Hamilton did not open until this time. Who knows if we'll ever be in Hamilton again? We decided this opportunity could not be passed up, and filled our morning with a good hearty meal at a cafe and a stop at a bike shop, where Kelvin purchased a super hip US Postal Service riding cap. Such style, such finesse. at 11 we posted ourselves at the bar of the brewery, and proceeded to enjoy an exceptional IPA and some free popcorn. Anyways, after 4 delicious brews we step out into the hot early afternoon sun ready to ride. Ouch, maybe this isn't such a great idea. Okay, so now we know that drinking in the early afternoon and then trying to bike 50 miles doesn't make for an easy ride. Luckily by the time we hit the 7-mile climb at the end of the day, we're feeling a bit better and much more hydrated from the water we've been chugging. At the top of the pass is an out of season ski resort that makes for a perfect camp site for the three of us. We sit on the sedintary ski lift and watch the sun set over the forest. Camping at pass summits offers unbelievable views and nice cold temperatures at night. We talk a lot about zombies in order to scare the crap out of Nate before going to bed.<br /><br />Day 20 Wednesday July 9: Lost Trail to Badger Pass: 77.52 miles<br />What a difference a good dinner and a good night's sleep make! We wake up at the ski resort ready to put yesterday behind us and rock out through Big Hole, Montana. We spend the majority of the day riding through an amazing valley completely surrounded by towering mountains. We talk about Chief Joesph and the Nez Pierce Indians as we pass the historic battlefield. We stop in Wisdom for a big lunch and listen to old cowboys tell stories to one another. We ride for miles in the hot sun and talk about Nate riding for Berkeley High and winning state his senior year. It's a beautiful day. at about 40 miles my left knee starts bugging me. I take out my leg warmers and put them on, the pressure helps the knee, although it's definitely tender. We finally come up to one of the two passes we have today, and Kelvin and Nate fly up ahead while I plod along, slow and sure. I finally reach the summit to find that my two amigos are nowhere in sight. I assume they've already descended and take off down the hill. The descent lasts for a good ten minutes, and pedaling is pointless as the downhill cruise is fast. When I finally resume pedaling my knee is screaming in pain. I find it hard to pedal and haven't yet caught up to the other guys. We've gone a good deal and I want to find them and ask that we set up camp for the night. I pedal with one foot for a stretch along the flat roads until I come up to the base of the second of the days passes. I pull over to the side of the road and stretch out my leg as best I can. I rest for a good couple of minutes and decide to give it a go. The rest stop was great, and I feel fine going up the hill. Phew! After climbing almost to the top of the pass, I realize I've lost my glasses, but I don't want to go back for them because of the knee. At this point I see Kelvin in my rearview mirror. What? Apparently they'd both gone up aways at the first pass summit to see some viewpoint, and I'd passed them without realizing it. It's really hot, and we're almost to the top of the hill. I tell them about my glasses and Kelvin goes back for them. What a guy, seriously. After riding over 60 miles he goes down a hill a couple of miles in the 4 o'clock sun to look for my glasses. upon his return we finish the climb and find another amazing spot to camp at the summit. We sing to the bears while we hike, hoping that we never see a bear. We talk a lot about bears, and how they can knock over trees and you can't outrun them. Very uplifting conversation before bed.<br /><br />Day 21 Thursday July 10: Badger Pass to Sheridan, MT, 60.53 miles<br />In the morning Nate realizes that he has a cracked back wheel that needs to be replaced asap. We head into a small town named Dillon, where there's only one bike shop run by one guy some of the time. Everyone knows Joe, he's just hard to get a hold of some time. We finally do, and he helps out Nate, even though he ends up being late for work because of it. Thanks a ton, Joe! I pick up some IBUProfine, my knee is feeling fine, and has felt fine ever since that ride. After everything is set with Nate's bike we take off with a HUGE tailwind. We're hardly pedaling and cruising at 25mph. Wind can be your best friend, but once we passed through Twin Bridges, the road turned us around. Wind can be such a pain in the butt! The ride from Twin Bridges to Sheridan wasn't too far in miles, but it took forever with the wind and the incline, killing our buzz from the heavy tail-winded cruise. We have no set plans on where we're going to stay for the night, so we decide to stop in Sheridan and hang out in a cafe until it gets a little cooler. It's around 3:30 and the sun is blazing. After talking to the workers in the cafe we decide to stick around Sheridan for the night, there's a nice field nearby where they say we can camp and won't be bothered. The cafe closes at 6 and we decide to go across the street to the bar to play some cards until the sun starts going down. We walk in the bar and each order a beer, before we have a chance to sit down at the table we are called to the end of the bar by an old cowboy, "Hey, come over here!" 'Yeah?' we respond. He and a few of his buddies at the end of the dark bar are checking us out, "You guys like to eat pussy?" he asks us aggressively. 'What?' we ask. He repeats the question, "I said, d'y'all like to eat pussy?" We all pause and simultaneously take a drink of beer, not knowing exactly how to respond and more than a little uncomfortable with the situation in which we find ourselves. His buddies start razzin us a little, clearly amused by our discomfort. We reply affirmatively to his inquiry, not having a clue where this is going. He turns to the bar and picks off some bites of meat from a large platter on the bar, "Here, try some of this, this is some BIG pussy. A mountain lion my friend shot the other day, had me cook it up for 'im." We all laugh and graciously accept the offer. It's not bad, tastes like chicken. We loosen up and joke around with them for a little while, they're really funny old guys that love giving each other a hard time. After that interaction we play a little pool. A young guy by the name of Mike is playing some hits on the jukebox, and we all get to talking. He and Kelvin play some pool and Nate and I play cards until we can see outside that dusk is coming on. We bid Mike farewell and start getting our stuff together outside, doddling around for a couple of minutes. Not three minutes later Mike comes outside with two young women who'd just stopped in the bar. Their names are Erica and Kelsey and they live just a few blocks away. Mike was heading over to their house to hang out and they invite us along. It seems like a swell idea, so we accept the invitation and stroll the two blocks down the gravel road. Erica's cousin, Dave, is there with his girlfriend. He's in the army and he and I have a nice talk about that. Everyone is really nice and we all have a good old time. Mike has his arrowhead collection there and shows us all sorts of awesome fossils he's found in the area over the years. They invite us to stay the night and we camp out on the living room floor instead of the high school baseball field. Sheridan was entertaining, to say the least.<br /><br />Day 22 Friday July 11: Sheridan to somewhere in Madison Valley, 69.15 miles<br />Outside of Sheridan is Nevada City, a tiny town that exists for the sole purpose of recreating an old west atmosphere. Apparently "Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman, among other films, was shot there. Tourist shops and museums are the only things that line the one street in the town. We stop in the cafe and get sick of the shtick quick. Good ice cream though. We have a good ride and stop in an old-fashioned soda fountain in Ennis, good root beer. We end up camping off the side of the road by the river. A solid day, if somewhat uneventful.<br /><br />Day 23 Saturday July 12: Madison Valley to Yellowston National Park, 54.73 miles<br />Last night was FREEZING! Literally. We awoke to find everything covered in frost, my nose was frozen and our clothes that we'd washed in the river were stiff. We got to work quick on starting a fire and setting everything out in the sun, and were good to go within an hour and a half. We stop off for water at a little resort along the river. There's a carboat parked out front. That picture from the last post of the red car with the license plate that says "floatr," it works on both land and water. Whoa, the future! Before we reach Yellowstone we roll through a small town called West Yellowstone. A town built entirely on tourism for people who are bored with all that nature business and want to see an IMAX movie or eat at a pricey restaurant. We find a brewery and go in, excited. We leave within minutes when we discover that they don't brew any beer, and that them calling themselves a brewery is simply a lie. We feel cheated and eat at Subway to spite them, where we talk to a group of kids from Slovakia working there for the summer. We roll into Yellowstone National Park, where carloads of 6 people pay $25 to enter, and people on foot or on bicycle have to pay $12 each. So we pay $11 more than if we had been in a car. We feel cheated. We see bald eagles and bison and moose and it's a trip. The bison fakes a charge at a motorcycle and the giant line of cars that had been taking pictures immediately drive off. We come to a metropolis of a campsite and set up shop near a group of campers with satellite dishes and screaming kids. I miss deserted mountain passes. We are going to take a rest day tomorrow, so we drink some whiskey, play hearts and make sarcastic jokes about Yellowstone.<br /><br />Day 24 Sunday July 13: Rest day in Yellowstone<br />A short bike trip to a waterfall, reading and throwing rocks and swimming in the creek, a nice little chat with some fellow cyclists from Germany, and some more hearts (the card game, ya know?). That's about our day at Yellowstone. Very relaxed. Very enjoyable. We feel much less sarcastic about this place, although of course we still joke.<br /><br />Day 25 Monday July 14: Yellowstone to Grand Teton National Park 68.32 miles<br />Riding after a rest day is a great feeling. The legs are fresh and strong, it's all exciting and new again. The majority of the first part of the day goes through the park, so we see all sorts of cool stuff. Steam coming out of all sorts of places on the ground, mud pits bubbling up reaking of odorous gases, and more RV's than you can shake a stick at. We come to Old Faithful and are about a mile out when it blows. We want to see it up close, so we stop for lunch at the general store. There are a group of guys from Columbia working here, so I finally get a chance to have a conversation in Spanish and I'm super happy the rest of the day. We see old faithful and are super sarcastic. It's not that we don't appreciate what's happening, it's just frustrating how unnatural the entire environment feels that is set up to allow people to view this natural wonder. We respect that millions of people come through every year, so measures have to be made. That being the case, we'll stick to our scenic byways and mountain passes for our sightseeing from now on, I think. The ride is hard, with a ton of climbs, but we're all feeling good and are going strong. I finally keep up with the guys up a huge climb and arrive at the top, exhausted and ecstatic. That picture of me with the hair up by the Continental Divide sign, that's me in pure euphoria. We passed over the Divide about 4 times on the ride, it was a trip. We roll into Lizard Creek campgrounds in Grand Teton National Park after our ride. It's right by a lake, so we jump into the freezing water and swim out a little way, the view is out of this world. The Tetons are majestic, and the adrenaline from the cold water only adds to the experience. We meet a few photographers from New York, they're doing freelance work on their way to a friend's wedding in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They don't take our picture.<br /><br />Day 26 Tuesday July 15: Unexpected rest day at Lizard Creek campsite, 0 miles<br />I've already written about these next three days, so I'm just going to put the headlines and the stats for continuity. Please read "Giardia? Hoo boy I hope not" for the full account of these days.<br /><br />Day 27 Wednesday July 16: Grand Teton National Park to Dubois, Wyoming, 77.72 miles<br /><br />Day 28 Thursday July 17: Dubois to Lander, 36.99 miles (Hitch-hiking miles not included)<br /><br />Day 29 Friday July 18: Rest day in Lander, 0 miles<br />Lander is a nice little town, a fine place to spend a day or two resting. After I spend the morning updating the blog, the guys show up at the library, already feeling much better from the pills. We take it easy all day, stopping by the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) international headquarters to check it out, as Kelvin is an alumn from one of their programs in Alaska. Nice place, nice people. We head back to the Cowfish Brewery for some food, and as we're finishing up we see a big plume of black smoke coming from just over yonder. We get up and wander down the alley to find that a three-store building has caught fire. The owner and his family are panicked and emergency vehicles arrive quickly. We stay as part of the big group for awhile, watching the building go up in flames, before we head back to the motel to relax. We watch a rerun of a Argentina vs USA soccer match and hang around the motel room. The owner let's me play the piano by the front desk and we go to sleep pretty early.<br /><br />Day 30 Saturday July 19: Rest day in Lander, 0 miles<br />Nate's still not feeling so hot, and Kelvin is feeling better but not 100%, so hopefully the second rest day will turn things around for us tomorrow. We check out of our room, as we plan to camp in the park that night, and hit the town. We check out some local shops and bum around Main street. We walk down to the bowling alley only to find that it doesn't open until 8pm! There goes our 'it's really hot outside so we'll hang out in an air-conditioned building all afternoon' idea. We end up going to the park instead, there's a guy from Germany with a slackline, so Kelvin immediately has a new friend. Nate and I watch a high school baseball game, Lander gets smashed 9-3 by an unknown opponent. It's our first baseball game of the trip, hopefully that will change soon. We set up camp and chat with some other bikers. This is a really cool public park that allows overnight camping, so there are plenty of people around. The wind isn't noticeable to us, but it must have been something fierce a little higher up, as we are all woken up in the middle of the night to a large tree snapping in half and crashing to the ground. It was about 30 yards away from us. If it had fallen the opposite direction it would have crushed a tent. Scary.<br /><br />Day 31 Sunday July 20: Lander to Jeffrey, 59.66 miles<br />Nate's still not feeling great, but we're all ready to get out of Lander. He decides to hitch a ride to Jeffrey, and Kelvin and I will do the ride by ourselves for the day. It's weird without Nate, and neither of us feel normal the entire day. It's a beautiful ride, and Kelvin is feeling good. We come across a man and woman coming the other direction. The guy was on the TV show "Biggest Loser," which is a game show/reality show in which whoever can lose the most weight wins. He was 300 pounds when he started, and said if he hit his goal weight he'd ride across the country, so there he was. A little while after that we caught up to 3 British girls and a guy from New York who were traveling together in the same direction as us. We had a nice little chat with Nat, Rosie, Alla, and Prudence, before going on our way. Nate has spent the afternoon hanging out with and getting lunch bought for him by the nice couple from New Zealand with whom we've been crossing paths for about two weeks. He passes us in a truck about 7 miles outside of town, which is a relief, as it's always a bit unsettling when we're separated, as cell phones aren't reliable out here and distance means a lot more on a bike than in a car. When we arrive in Jeffrey, Nate has already set us up with a place to stay. Let me take a moment to describe Jeffrey, Wyoming for everyone. There is nothing within a 60 mile radius of this place. It had its' heyday back when it was home to about 5,000 people with a booming uranium mine. After the three mile island incident the mine closed down and the city completely fell apart. It's a ghost town, with abandoned buildings everywhere. All that is left is a baptist church, a bar that also doubles as a cafe, and a pottery store. The baptist church puts up cyclists in exchange for listening to the minister preach at them for an hour, the pipes are leaky and there are rats. The bar seemed to be town hall, as about 5 elderly guys were hanging out, quietly watching television. Then there is the pottery store, which is where we find Nate upon our arrival. Byron, a 38 year-old bachelor with an Einstein-esque mop of hair and a sleepy demeanor, lives and works in the building. He lived in Lander, running his store there before he was offered the old car repair building in Jeffrey for $5,000. The outside is an overgrown parking lot, with two small islands where gas pumps used to be located. The top of the building over the doors has "Monk King Bird Pottery" written across it in bright red, and on the concrete in front of the door is painted "Here lives the hairy potter." Inside is a mass of clutter, with a small room displaying his work from floor to ceiling. There's a black leather recliner in the middle of the room next to an end table with a full ashtray. The old garage is his kitchen/bedroom/living room space. It's filled with 5x as much clutter, although none of it is for sale. He sleeps on a mattress in a tent because the mosquitos are so bad, and uses the bar's restroom across the street because he has plumbing issues. Byron is a really nice guy, and he's tickled pink to have human beings for interaction. We chat and play chess in the uncomfortably hot garage, forced inside by the relentless mosquitos. Around 8 the Brits and Nat drop in to say hello, as they've finished their ride in Jeffrey as well. They're staying at the Baptist church, which is how I know about the rats and pipes. Byron is ecstatic, he's never had this many people over and scrambles around to get seating for everyone. They leave at sundown after some pleasant chit chat about our respective trips. Byron is kind enough to let us use his clay and equipment, and Kelvin gets to throw a bowl while we all watch, mesmerized by the spinning clay. Nate wants to learn, and Kelvin and Byron walk him through the steps. He makes a cool vase, but it eventually flops apart and he's done, completely satisfied with having gone through the process. Byron then performs some magic tricks on the wheel, and does some things that I didn't think were physically possible with clay. It was nothing short of amazing. Byron's a self-described insomniac, so we bid him good night and he goes about reading while we set up our little bedrooms.<br /><br />Day 32 Monday July 21: Jeffrey to Rawlins, 68.72 miles<br />Byron is quite a character, and we all thank him immensely for letting us stay at his place. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Nate's feeling good and he's back on the bike, the amigos are three once more. We cross the Continental Divide for the last two times, crossing the great basin in between. We roll into Rawlins after the day's ride and promptly devour giant dishes of ice cream at the local parlor. After a delicious Thai food dinner we need to find a place to stay, there are some mean clouds rolling in and it doesn't seem like we have much time before getting rained on. The bowling alley is closed on Monday in Rawlins anyhow, so it's not like we had anything better to do than set up camp. We come acrossed an empty lot between two houses, and ask one of the neighbors if they think it'd be alright if we laid our heads there for the night. They thought it belonged to the city, and said it was fine with them as long as we weren't to loud. Seeing as how we're generally asleep before the night has completely fallen, we figured we could oblige. I go off in search of a bathroom and run into Rosie the Brit coming out of the library. They're staying in a motel down the way, but they've run into a cool bit of drama. Nat, the 17 year-old New Yorker, has declared that he's decided to go it alone. He's leaving them behind because they're too slow, and they are pissed at him about it. Again I'm thankful that I'm riding with two close friends instead of acquaintances. I'm also thankful that Kelvin and Nate are so patient while waiting at the tops of mountains. Back at the camp we attempt to locate the number of Kelvin's good friend Lindsay, as we're going to roll into her neck of the woods in two days, and we have not heard back from her on the internet. Our attempts fail, and we go to bed uncertain as to what will happen in Laramie.<br /><br />Day 33 Tuesday July 22: Rawlins to Saratoga<br />We fiddle around the next morning, spending time while awaiting the library to open to check in more about Lindsay. Kelvin buys a soccer ball, which is immediately acknowledged as a brilliant idea. We play around and it looks so funny strapped on the back of Kelvin's fully packed bike. After the library we take off, the route includes a 20-mile stretch on Interstate 80. Incredibly annoying but unavoidable. It honestly wasn't as bad as I was anticipating, although I hope not to do it again. We pass by the city of Sinclair, as in the big green dinosaur oil company Sinclair. It's not so much a city as one gigantic oil refinery. Ahh, the sites of Wyoming. After we get off of the interstate we run into the British girls. We stop for a snack and make fun of Nat with them for awhile. We ride with them for the next little bit, and after only a little over 40 miles of total trip distance show up to Saratoga. We grab some food at the gas station and are getting ready to go. I take out my video camera and am filming a little when this guy with mohawk dreadlocks comes up and starts talking to me about my video. I tell him I'm documenting our trip and he says I should put it up on his website that he's starting. I'm not overly enthusiastic but appreciate his approach, he says he can give me a promo video of the site but he only has it on him at the hot springs. Hot springs? Yeah, apparently there are free hot springs (I specify free because all of the hot springs we've encountered on this trip have been guarded behind fancy pants resorts) a mere two blocks away from the gas station. We all decide to delay our ride for a stop at the hot springs. Behind the public pool is an enclosed pool with a sandy bottom, bubbling all over so that the underwater bubbles give the appearance that rain drops are falling on the pool. Everyone loves a good hot tub, maybe 105 degrees at the hottest, but this is no hot tub. It's at least 115, it hurts. There are one or two locals in there, and I get in for a second, but it feels like you're scalding your skin, so I get out quickly. We chill down at the river right beside the pool where I pipe from the pool runs into the river, so you get the bizarre sensation of hot and cold water constantly flowing past. Kelvin and Nate decide to brave the heat and go back up to the pool, quickly returning and laying on their backs in the shallow, and freezing, water of the river. They swear it feels great and convince the rest of us to try it. Although incredibly bizarre, the intense hot and the refreshing cool of the waters feels amazing, and we spend the next two hours going back and forth. All of the locals are interested in the bikes, as has been the case for the entire trip, and we chat it up with a bunch of them. One tells us of a campsite a mile out of town, and we scrap the rest of the day's planned ride, opting instead for hot springs and camping. We stop at the grocery store for some food, and at this point there is lightning off in the distance, making setting up camp a bit more pressing. We decide against back tracking the mile to the campsite and set up in the city park. The Brits have stuck around as well and we all eat together, making fun of each other's accents and playing with the new soccer ball. The lightning is phenomenal but we don't get rained on except for a few drops in the middle of the night.<br /><br />Day 34 Wednesday July 23: Saratoga to Laramie, 80 miles<br />We're awoken in the morning to the sprinklers dousing our tent. We scramble to move our bikes out of harm's way but leave the tent until the sprinklers stop. We all set out together, but part ways with the Brits about 15 miles in, where we turn to head east for Laramie. We're doing our last and highest pass on the western part of our journey, and it is a duzey. A 9 mile steep climb to a false summit, followed by some amazing scenery of mountains, lakes and high plains, all at over 10,000 feet. Snowy pass seems inhabitable for all but maybe 3 months out of the year. It is amazingly beautiful. We get to the bottom of the descent at around 3pm, with only about 25 miles to Laramie, it should be a breeze. However, the sky was black ahead of us and the wind was nasty. The entire area was rolling hills and plains, and you could see for miles. In every direction you could see rain falling and lightning striking, but for the time being the lightning was far enough away to not fear being struck. But, clouds move, and with 10 miles to go the rain started to pour and the lightning got so close that there was no time at all between the lightning and thunder. It was terrifying and really exciting. With each boom of thunder we would speed up, trying in vain to outrun the clouds. We finally arrived in Laramie, sopping wet and exhausted from the ride. While looking around town for a place to eat, we struck up a conversation with a guy in a bike shop. A woman overheard us asking about our friends, and she knew Lindsay's boyfriend Pete, with whom she used to work. She made a few calls and found us his number, and before you knew it our worries about where to stay were calmed and we had plans to meet up with Kelvin's old high school buddy Pete within a couple of hours. We spent the in between time at a local bar and grill, watched the sun set on a bridge over the railroad tracks, and then stopped off at the local bowling lanes for a game. From there we met up with Pete and his friend Dave at Pete's house, although we weren't up for too long before crashing for the night.<br /><br />This is where I find myself now. I'm tired, and tired of typing. I hope you've enjoyed catching up as much as I have. I hope to not let things fall behind so far anymore, so stay tuned, as I should have access at frequent intervals over the next week. Also, I'm going to make Kelvin and Nate write something on this, just to shake things up. We're heading to Fort Collins tomorrow, where we hear are some great breweries in addition to the New Belgium brewery. This being the case, we may take another rest day. Then it's on to Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs to visit my good friend Anne Groundwater. After that we're heading east, on to the midwest and the next chapter of our trip. We hope you are all well. Keep the rubber side down.Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-23748954411220066392008-07-19T09:39:00.000-07:002008-12-12T19:56:33.064-08:00Okay, so it's giardia, but it's okay. I promise.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQa-BFU8m93ljFlbpd5NldvM_hTbvr3fnAq5_bh2YvWiSG0g7WDwzibCAAN9mMGg26acKuy8RozUYOx8WenHmu4tAZReugeXVKIvMYssFwMG0rcANu-nuxmeVNSM1BvNzgiAaLlahp90/s1600-h/CIMG1825.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQa-BFU8m93ljFlbpd5NldvM_hTbvr3fnAq5_bh2YvWiSG0g7WDwzibCAAN9mMGg26acKuy8RozUYOx8WenHmu4tAZReugeXVKIvMYssFwMG0rcANu-nuxmeVNSM1BvNzgiAaLlahp90/s200/CIMG1825.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224770897958248050" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBiqZAZUHpdxHkQOd3O8JNJ62TvhwcvNCMd2IzLN8z3KSewyyc4KAs2q5Oa-c4uH12gFF3B8kRBy4O3fAHJT7T0SH4wmqMwmJ4Ez-ZaUbkbzMwqSa8FrTuwAUAFyfMawsair8mFf6FrcA/s1600-h/CIMG1817.JPG"><img style="display:block; 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margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA38EM9TYfQDpmjHj3F3S6W229jPVG9HiTfwhcpH1G4YAk5tsBs910v-4pH_6asHA-pTNgJoN40Y8dbQnuqXoJ-2yyl8nHLQZbkga4J5hJ9fKG20m2a98mm_CLG0dW9-Qrb7IAM64BnGM/s200/CIMG1807.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224770929643653954" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6OV-GA-Mg3d-y3WlXrolvyRQJt5KVKt-hFaVirLBSbaqoOowstPjcs4jjYPnLyTnapYDa20EuaoR8NuqDkdOkfTN2DDK8BpiTeOAW-oZKb8my9RsMKbD_8BfXp2NJW8XectUwvVr3oc/s1600-h/CIMG1847.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6OV-GA-Mg3d-y3WlXrolvyRQJt5KVKt-hFaVirLBSbaqoOowstPjcs4jjYPnLyTnapYDa20EuaoR8NuqDkdOkfTN2DDK8BpiTeOAW-oZKb8my9RsMKbD_8BfXp2NJW8XectUwvVr3oc/s200/CIMG1847.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224770939389420130" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3kGBLgHhJzNXRVH-Dyh1F7d_Ka3cQnw_QHBerC7He7q41khX7LXSdT_NG10pRrEPYNCgf8Qoi6zT16R2BUYidMA5iZZ_T_K-wh_KWvxlBobyIkE-wpG-TyLzkNE29kfRxozLZ1ucLUw/s1600-h/CIMG1858.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3kGBLgHhJzNXRVH-Dyh1F7d_Ka3cQnw_QHBerC7He7q41khX7LXSdT_NG10pRrEPYNCgf8Qoi6zT16R2BUYidMA5iZZ_T_K-wh_KWvxlBobyIkE-wpG-TyLzkNE29kfRxozLZ1ucLUw/s200/CIMG1858.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224768679510535954" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGuXWaEPbV4BzziQNVujLOkPdOvScppHBcdY3tFSqdiblfTIYrN7iyNneOm6X7dig7x1nlr7xuQ02tvjdVpHoFgePURVeAi86gdPg9of_TdYWU-MUPvr3ft6BLFVqPF1OAtoroO7U1SBU/s1600-h/CIMG1855.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGuXWaEPbV4BzziQNVujLOkPdOvScppHBcdY3tFSqdiblfTIYrN7iyNneOm6X7dig7x1nlr7xuQ02tvjdVpHoFgePURVeAi86gdPg9of_TdYWU-MUPvr3ft6BLFVqPF1OAtoroO7U1SBU/s200/CIMG1855.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224768687719843090" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIp9Ej4ZYTljWII1YhF9Zf7c1nffv5t6zIXJPNbI0Wtk3XKm2lcSQNMbSlOCueQgoXAfFJFVlY6GWj9ATcWIpCkBMQNgVUjot94g-rv5DjQd_CrFniVW7Kou-Yz042fsH78SuvbLp5NoY/s1600-h/CIMG1841.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIp9Ej4ZYTljWII1YhF9Zf7c1nffv5t6zIXJPNbI0Wtk3XKm2lcSQNMbSlOCueQgoXAfFJFVlY6GWj9ATcWIpCkBMQNgVUjot94g-rv5DjQd_CrFniVW7Kou-Yz042fsH78SuvbLp5NoY/s200/CIMG1841.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224768690705534194" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUO1EtTffkOK0TMw7XopXFqzsYg-eHO_jvNJXBDZECkUc6lSVTydLlCtgXXRxnRjiTOkg_bg65VLR7j02U0k8BF8jQAl1TS7sCHp9_YK7s5pxt1ScwKmx6Dj2tZz_EePaiwnjK8Ly9c8/s1600-h/CIMG1831.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUO1EtTffkOK0TMw7XopXFqzsYg-eHO_jvNJXBDZECkUc6lSVTydLlCtgXXRxnRjiTOkg_bg65VLR7j02U0k8BF8jQAl1TS7sCHp9_YK7s5pxt1ScwKmx6Dj2tZz_EePaiwnjK8Ly9c8/s200/CIMG1831.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224768698793690834" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyHcsErDk9v6GBvUmknvq8ObB7VOYNxdodWL-tonb7P0aW2qulZIdctNtywJBAsq3bou1kEeU8GMpbr7629YEnjjvM2KraRRDdjJKsC5e_TolBZ4fyEeXQ5j-61750SGg_W9LmP761xPc/s1600-h/CIMG1901.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyHcsErDk9v6GBvUmknvq8ObB7VOYNxdodWL-tonb7P0aW2qulZIdctNtywJBAsq3bou1kEeU8GMpbr7629YEnjjvM2KraRRDdjJKsC5e_TolBZ4fyEeXQ5j-61750SGg_W9LmP761xPc/s200/CIMG1901.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224767383615100354" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFrDo06nioALdiwEDmE6yJfJxXghsx7pUhRLyMqVPjrIYyRly6MP4evUUjAL3b-GPXiTzNINIKDEDEJ3DtxErOdgz0GBtm2vB225m2oRl2iN1_QHxnhHnnxqWngE_ZrkFJyt9x8jQxqHU/s1600-h/CIMG1894.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFrDo06nioALdiwEDmE6yJfJxXghsx7pUhRLyMqVPjrIYyRly6MP4evUUjAL3b-GPXiTzNINIKDEDEJ3DtxErOdgz0GBtm2vB225m2oRl2iN1_QHxnhHnnxqWngE_ZrkFJyt9x8jQxqHU/s200/CIMG1894.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224767384422198802" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPxEPQytAcGDrVIZlVI9D4XX2IVJ5zl5jXQZiBO_RsJAV_aHAlyJdDZWvkugiT0cgxh-GyX8zq4_MUM63xv2kDs7AZksuK7oERhUD2-vZpz8oM4kFHC2_jBLqJqXfKQOJscZUjfFK6P0/s1600-h/CIMG1885.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPxEPQytAcGDrVIZlVI9D4XX2IVJ5zl5jXQZiBO_RsJAV_aHAlyJdDZWvkugiT0cgxh-GyX8zq4_MUM63xv2kDs7AZksuK7oERhUD2-vZpz8oM4kFHC2_jBLqJqXfKQOJscZUjfFK6P0/s200/CIMG1885.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224767389529998114" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2ozAGsoTWnDc6bMzFyHJxQR5Ahq8d2U7Jik3BUmbPULqJ3Wrfxz0PbCCwc7lhIQ0qwGkYWN7BK4EVpnK_O-PjzkX9UcWN9yLFnmZXWnyEAG3AIykhz0J9ke-G2DZm7s95fOOtThYC9s/s1600-h/CIMG1865.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2ozAGsoTWnDc6bMzFyHJxQR5Ahq8d2U7Jik3BUmbPULqJ3Wrfxz0PbCCwc7lhIQ0qwGkYWN7BK4EVpnK_O-PjzkX9UcWN9yLFnmZXWnyEAG3AIykhz0J9ke-G2DZm7s95fOOtThYC9s/s200/CIMG1865.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224767404392823426" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41NBJlord2Q6KxagMZGM05RUfj1CsGiaHv2sC32YEEtw8Z2LAropU7OGtmWKBGuEXYZKObxlwyanRNEOC4zPZNnvO1SNyFfNcCt8YcTlDS-42YNNzQIMgWe5iUkNM23bE1-O9N2RwaTU/s1600-h/CIMG1857.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41NBJlord2Q6KxagMZGM05RUfj1CsGiaHv2sC32YEEtw8Z2LAropU7OGtmWKBGuEXYZKObxlwyanRNEOC4zPZNnvO1SNyFfNcCt8YcTlDS-42YNNzQIMgWe5iUkNM23bE1-O9N2RwaTU/s200/CIMG1857.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224767408891658610" /></a><br /><br /><br />So I got Kelvin's camera, which explains the absurd amount of pictures. <br /><br />Here's the update. They're being treated for giardia, but it's not as bad as we'd feared. They're going to be on antibiotics for the next five days, and they're already feeling a lot better because of the pills they've been given. The energy level is still really low, and we're going to hang out in Lander until they feel fit to ride. They've been watching what they eat a lot more closely, and the pills they're taking are the same ones given to recovering alcoholics, so apparently if they drink anything alcoholic over the next 8 days they'll be spending a lot of time with the toilet. I've apparently lucked out big time, and am not feeling the symptoms, even though I possibly also have giardia. Weird. And awesome for me. <br /><br />Let's get back to the daily recounts, shall we? I've got a lot of ground to catch up and I think it's best if we just leave this worrying behind us. <br /><br />Day 17 Sunday July 6: Rest day in Missoula, MT 0 miles<br />A much needed day of rest after yesterday's (I'm back in journal mode, so yesterday means July 5) 115 mile journey and subsequent night on the town. We laze around in the morning, checking out the Montana University campus a few blocks away from Laurel, Anna, and Oriana's pad. Then Nate and Kelvin set off for some breweries (apparently Missoula has something like 4 of them) while I stay in the library to work on this. The other breweries are closed, but we eventually meet up at Bayern Brewing Company, which only has pretty crappy light beer and an awesome giant chess board with giant chess pieces. After some time there we head out to the local lanes, Westside Lanes is a snazzy new and overly sterile bowling alley with great white russians. After a few games we drive out to 'the spot,' up on the hill overlooking all of Missoula. A beautiful day with little to no energy expenditure. Beautiful.<br /><br />Day 18 Monday July 7: Missoula to Hamilton, 50.83 miles<br />Because the other breweries had been closed, we decided to hang out for the afternoon, check out some of the places we'd missed, and leave later in the day... <br /><br />AARgh! Sorry, y'all. This is the problem with public computers. I'm over my time and there are people waiting. I'll try and find something better here in Lander, but if I don't and the guys are feeling good by tomorrow, the next update should be in Laramie in about 4 days. Hope everyone is doing well, we're all still having a great time, despite all of the outside influences.Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-40984880933248253162008-07-18T10:37:00.000-07:002008-12-12T19:56:33.803-08:00Giardia? Hoo boy I hope not.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6ilOQses6vqq-g1rbKkO7YkHb25IiQfpHerp1eALLlmU-9LJobQToIDKTU612l3elbPz-6EccMkdXStM-IGhi2ndL6wXn6q1LwHtNIMH3bhKI2dCZ90RAH0QHdP1wLxQD6S1GoQwmRI/s1600-h/P7070084.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6ilOQses6vqq-g1rbKkO7YkHb25IiQfpHerp1eALLlmU-9LJobQToIDKTU612l3elbPz-6EccMkdXStM-IGhi2ndL6wXn6q1LwHtNIMH3bhKI2dCZ90RAH0QHdP1wLxQD6S1GoQwmRI/s200/P7070084.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224430949215643746" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd4DJu33OYwt15iT3L-MOQSWifeVK9hFhB3NwBkrfJMjZtFITpGWDZ9b957WqfDH3dN3kmmMEkeSyr_d9_isS0ocB1jc6ZdfmFmqMfrihwDaQTTqdIRCeKXSYLii08ljE65tjS87FE_MA/s1600-h/P7140100.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd4DJu33OYwt15iT3L-MOQSWifeVK9hFhB3NwBkrfJMjZtFITpGWDZ9b957WqfDH3dN3kmmMEkeSyr_d9_isS0ocB1jc6ZdfmFmqMfrihwDaQTTqdIRCeKXSYLii08ljE65tjS87FE_MA/s200/P7140100.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224430950861070626" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gPl3cjsRDpbBbp20l7TBSsORckkbQFz9t51S9cSLQKCtwgN8xFXsutZTocc8pWYLfeoHKQv54qQ4xDRku2iczwdscSq4XowjV5HThtREbl3olffrsa9ndtOwX3fNveHU8b0aXOhiPOM/s1600-h/P7160112.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gPl3cjsRDpbBbp20l7TBSsORckkbQFz9t51S9cSLQKCtwgN8xFXsutZTocc8pWYLfeoHKQv54qQ4xDRku2iczwdscSq4XowjV5HThtREbl3olffrsa9ndtOwX3fNveHU8b0aXOhiPOM/s200/P7160112.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224430962653573954" /></a><br /><br /><br />(Sorry for not more pictures, Kelvin's camera requires plugging in, which I haven't been able to do these last two times. But that means many more pictures to come soon!)<br /><br />Check out the map of our trip, it's under "Lynx" on the top left of this page. Big thanks to Pat for showing us the way.<br /><br />Hello noble readers. I hope you all have not been too distressed by our recent vacation from communication, as it was not our intention to go so long without word of our whereabouts and wellbeing. We have been in the wild, where neither cell phone reception nor internet service has reared its' (insert your own opinionated adjective here) head. But now I (Peter) find myself in the temporary location of the Fremont County Library in beautiful Lander, Wyoming, and I will do my best to update you all as thoroughly as I can before I am kicked off due to the supply and demand of public computer time. <br /><br />So I will start with the general and most important, then move on to the more specific day-to-day, journal style entry that you've come to expect, and hopefully enjoy. We have hit our first rough spot, and things are a bit unnerving at the moment. Kelvin and Nate are not feeling well, and haven't been for about 4 days now. It's been a bit of the runs and the voms, to be brief. Their stomachs aren't being nice, is the long and short of it, and they have very little energy. They are currently at the local health clinic in search of some answers and hope. We spent last night in a motel, and plan to do the same tonight. So at least we have warm showers, a nice room, and comfy beds. We will be sure to play things safe, and I will make sure to update the blog as soon as is possible so as not to worry everyone at home. <br /><br />It all started on the 15th at Lizard Creek Campgrounds in Teton National Park, Wyoming. We'd spent the previous evening with a few drinks by the lake with our new friend Loretta from New York. I awoke to find Kelvin and Nate not feeling up to par, Kelvin had even lost his dinner during the night. I felt fine, and joked about them being hung over from the previous night, although it seemed curious, as neither one had been exceptionally intoxicated. They both complained of sore stomachs, and advised me that today's ride would be a rough one for them, especially since we planned to ride over our highest pass yet at over 9,600 feet. I showed myself to the local water closet and, upon my return, found Kelvin laid out on his back, basking in the warm morning sun, and Nate curled up in his sleeping bag, back where he'd slept the night before. Nate threw out the idea of delaying our departure for a couple of hours, and it was agreed by all that this was a fine idea. I went to the lake for a swim and some reading, After some time I was approached by Kelvin, who informed me that Nate had been continually vomiting, and was not feeling well at all. We decided that we should stay another night at the site, and that we would go into the nearest town for some pepto-bismol, chicken soup, and orange juice. I came back up to our site and filled up some water for Nate. Before he even took a drink, I saw what had prompted Kelvin to come down to the lake. I won't be graphic, but Nate's body was trying to get rid of something, but there was nothing left in the belly. It looked painful. Kelvin wasn't looking so energized either, but after seeing the state of Nate I wouldn't have thought it a good idea to leave him alone anyways. So I left the two of them to nap and went to town (an unbelievable ride, I highly recommend checking out the Grand Tetons if you're ever in Wyoming, it's breathtaking) for the essentials, along with some hot dogs and s'more fixins (I'm an optimist, I figured they'd be fine by that evening). I came back a little over an hour later and neither one had moved much. We agreed the symptoms sounded like food poisoning (minus the runs at this point), as it was confined strictly to the stomach. But this doesn't make sense, as we've all eaten and drank the same things, and I feel right as rain. Nate had a cob salad at lunch the previous day, but that didn't explain why Kelvin wasn't feeling well. We had a bit of rain in the afternoon, and luckily Kelvin had enough energy to help out with the tarp (I really need to learn his knot-tying skills, it's really impressive). They spent the rest of the day sleeping, Kelvin under the tarp and Nate in the tent. They woke for some chicken soup around 6:00, but went immediately back to bed. My dreams of a weenie roast and s'more party dashed, I read, wrote post-cards and ate an absurd amount of marshmallows (they're addictive). <br /><br />The next day, Wednesday July 16th, Kelvin was feeling a lot better, and Nate, while still a bit queasy, was ready to hit the road. Neither one was their usual 'sprint up ridiculously high climbs' selves, but bother made it up Togwotee pass in good time. Nate took a lot of breaks, but he still made the 77 mile ride. The guy is amazing, and so positive even when he's not feeling well. Kelvin won't let on that he's not feeling well unless you ask him straight up, and even then he chases me all the way up the hill like he's out for an afternoon cruise. Anyways, we roll into Dubois around dinnertime and we're real hungry. Our hunger wins out over our sense and we go to a recommended pizza joint for dinner. Kelvin's feeling good and Nate says he's improved a lot since yesterday. We eat pizza and drink a few beers with a Dutchman named Steven who's also doing the transam. We don't have a lot of options for camping near town, so we ride out about 7 miles to a ranch, where a super legit ranch-hand points us in the direction of the most discreet place to lay our heads. But if the boss-man catches us, we didn't talk to nobody. <br /><br />Here's where the story goes sour. Thursday I awake to find Nate feeling much worse than the day before. His stomach hurts and he's cursing our decision to go for pizza. I feel like an idiot for pushing the idea, I'm so used to us being more or less invincible, especially when it comes to what we eat affecting us. The vomiting hasn't occurred in some time, but now the runs have found their stride, and he has no energy to speak of. Kelvin and I suggest going back the 7 miles to Dubois, but it looks like there's a small town on the map about 15-20 miles out. Nate says he can make it there, we'll stop for some tea and toast, and we'll see where to go from there. Kelvin isn't feeling great either, but doesn't speak much of it. The ride is rough, we conveniently get our first headwind of the trip, but luckily we lose elevation the entire ride (although that's not to say there isn't a climb or two). Nate is spent, having to stop every 20 minutes or so for a break, and the town never seems to appear. We go about 27 miles before we come across another cyclist coming the other direction. He isn't inspiring with his news about towns up ahead. Basically there's nothing for 50 miles aside from a general store/post office/gas station all in one about 4 miles up. So we set down the bikes and start trying to wave down big vehicles. A nice guy with a horse trailer from Iowa (80 miles east of Des Moines) loads us up for about 20 miles until we hit the juncture for Lander, our intended destination. After that, it's two couples from Florida, each with a little mobile home attached to their trucks, who pick us up for the rest of the ride. Nate sits in the kitchen of one of the homes, Kelvin in the back of one of the trucks, and I squeeze in next to the nice old lady and her husband in the other truck. They're super nice folks, on the way to Illinois back from Alaska. They didn't like Alaska, too expensive and cold and rainy. Horrible roads, apparently. We're in Lander, Wyoming in no time, and we thank the couples profusely. They're extremely kind about it and offer us beverages, they give us diet 7-up and a budweiser for later. Nate's feeling better than he was, although there's no chance we're going to ride any more today. We scoop around for a motel and finally find the right one. We all shower and it feels great. Our first shower since Missoula. We passed a local brewery on our way to the motel, and decide that would be a fabulous place to get some food. Cowfish Brewpub is real good, I have to say, with great food as well. Nate gets soda water with lemon, and Kelvin keeps it to two (if you tasted how good these beers are, you'd understand what I mean by 'keeps it to two'). We decide that tonight we would take it easy tonight, and have a rest day tomorrow before setting out again. We stop by a bookstore before heading back to the motel around 7:30. We spend the rest of the evening watching Jaws and making fun of Jaws 2 while it's on. Everything is a great old time until, right before bed, Kelvin runs to the bathroom and loses his dinner. This is not good. <br /><br />This morning does not bring better news. Kelvin feels worse than yesterday. Nate is still not feeling better. It still makes no sense. I drank the river water, I've eaten basically all of the same food. The only difference in our collective diet is they had an IPA the night before this all started, I had a Fat Tire (anyone know of IPA related illnesses?). Anyways, this is where we find ourselves now. We've reserved another night at our motel. Kelvin and Nate are at the clinic, getting check out, and I'm trying my best to tell everyone the full situation without being too graphic or embarrassing. Like I said, I'll update this as soon as I can when I know more information, but until then I'll make sure they drink plenty of juice and tea, eat mild foods like soup and crackers, and get plenty of sleep. <br /><br />Now, as I've not been kicked off yet, I'll add some photos and the day to day reviews of that which happened before all of this sickness bizniss began.Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-70241152176300817322008-07-18T10:15:00.000-07:002008-07-24T14:46:11.833-07:00STATS (to be continually updated, so keep checking!)<p>I know it's kind of crappy, but it's the best I can do right now.<br /><br />#__Date___<span style="color:#ffff66;">Where</span>_________________<span style="color:#ff0000;">Time</span>____<span style="color:#33ff33;">Miles</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">MPH</span>___<span style="color:#33ffff;">Top_Spd</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">Cum </span><br /><br />1__6/20_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Florence_to_Eugene</span>_________<span style="color:#ff0000;">5h_34m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">77.71</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">13.93</span>__<span style="color:#33ffff;">34.91</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">77.71</span><br />2__6/22_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Eugene_to_McKenzie_Bridge</span>__<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_8m</span>____<span style="color:#33ff33;">56.57</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">13.69</span>__<span style="color:#33ffff;">28.14</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">134.28</span><br />3__6/23_<span style="color:#ffff66;">McKenzie_to_Hoodoo_Pass</span>____<span style="color:#ff0000;">3h_32m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">34.55</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">9.75</span>__<span style="color:#33ffff;">34.26</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">168.83</span><br />4__6/24_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Hoodoo_to_Bend</span>__________<span style="color:#ff0000;">2h_45m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">43.74</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">15.84</span>____<span style="color:#33ffff;">34.26</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">212.57</span><br />5__6/25_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Bend_to_Ochoco_Nat._Forest</span>__<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_11m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">60.40</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">14.43</span>__<span style="color:#33ffff;">35.25</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">272.97<br /></span>6__6/26_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Ochoco_to_Tri_Creek_Ranch</span>__<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_14m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">55.86</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">13.17</span>__<span style="color:#33ffff;">40.00</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">328.83</span><br />7__6/27_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Tri_Creek_to_Dixie_Pass</span>____<span style="color:#ff0000;">5h_39m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">65.08</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">11.5</span>___<span style="color:#33ffff;">24.77</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">393.91</span><br />8__6/28_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Dixie_to_Baker_City</span>________<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_49m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">63.15</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">13.1</span>__<span style="color:#33ffff;">41.24</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">457.06</span><br />9__6/29_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Baker_to_Hells_Canyon</span>______<span style="color:#ff0000;">5h_20m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">67.34</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">12.46</span>_<span style="color:#33ffff;">38.91</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">524.4 </span><br />10_6/30_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Hells_to_Joseph</span>___________<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_54m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">45.31*_</span><span style="color:#ff99ff;">9.24</span>___<span style="color:#33ffff;">41.67</span>__<span style="color:#ffffff;">569.71</span><br />11_7/2_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Joseph_to_Rattlesnake_Ridge</span>__<span style="color:#ff0000;">3h_57m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">60.57</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">15.3</span>___<span style="color:#33ffff;">36.29</span>__<span style="color:#ffffff;">630.28</span><br />12_7/3_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Rattlesnake_to_Orofino</span>______<span style="color:#ff0000;">6h_6m</span>____<span style="color:#33ff33;">81.53</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">13.3</span>_____<span style="color:#33ffff;">34.5</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">711.81</span><br />13_7/4_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Orofino_to_Lowell</span>_________<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_35m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">66.55</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">14.47</span>____<span style="color:#33ffff;">29.98</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">778.36<br /></span>14_7/5_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Lowell_to_Missoula</span>________<span style="color:#ff0000;">7h_52m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">115.75</span>_<span style="color:#ff99ff;">14.47</span>____<span style="color:#33ffff;">40.83</span>__<span style="color:#ffffff;">894.11</span><br />15_7/7_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Missoula_to_Hamilton</span>_______<span style="color:#ff0000;">3h_31m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">50.83</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">14.43</span>____<span style="color:#33ffff;">28.14</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">944.94</span><br />16_7/8_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Hamilton_to_Lost_Trail_Pass</span>_<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_24m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">51.03</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">11.56</span>_____<span style="color:#33ffff;">24.99</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">995.97<br /></span>17_7/9_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Lost_Trail_to_Badger_Pass</span>__<span style="color:#ff0000;">5h_33m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">77.52</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">13.93</span>____<span style="color:#33ffff;">51.39</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">1073.49</span><br />18_7/10_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Badger_to_Sheridan</span>______<span style="color:#ff0000;">3h_57m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">60.53</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">15.3</span>_____<span style="color:#33ffff;">38.91</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">1134.02</span><br />19_7/11_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Sheridan_to_Madison_Valley</span>_<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_52m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">69.15</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">14.18</span>____<span style="color:#33ffff;">42.43</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">1203.17</span><br />20_7/12_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Valley_to_Yellowstone</span>_____<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_12m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">54.73</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">13.02</span>____<span style="color:#33ffff;">34.58</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">1257.90</span><br />21_7/14_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Yellowstone_to_Lizard_Creek</span>_<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_51m</span>___<span style="color:#33ff33;">68.32</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">14.08</span>__<span style="color:#33ffff;">41.24</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">1326.22</span><br />22_7/16_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Lizard_to_Dubois</span>_________<span style="color:#ff0000;">6h_5m</span>____<span style="color:#33ff33;">77.72</span>__<span style="color:#ff99ff;">12.77</span>____<span style="color:#33ffff;">41.28</span>_<span style="color:#ffffff;">1403.94</span><br />23_7/17_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Dubois_to_Lander_______</span><span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_18m</span><span style="color:#000000;">_</span><span style="color:#33ff33;">36.99</span><span style="color:#000000;">__</span><span style="color:#ff99ff;">8.57</span><span style="color:#000000;">__</span><span style="color:#33ffff;">26.95</span><span style="color:#000000;">_</span><span style="color:#ffffff;">1440.93</span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;">24_7/20_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Lander_to_Jeffrey</span>_______<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_12m</span>_____<span style="color:#33ff33;">59.66</span>___<span style="color:#ff99ff;">14.20</span>__<span style="color:#33ffff;">36.50</span>__</span><span style="color:#ffffff;">1500.59</span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><span style="color:#000000;">25_7/21_<span style="color:#ffff66;">Jeffrey_to_Rawlins</span>_____<span style="color:#ff0000;">4h_32m</span>______<span style="color:#33ff33;">68.72</span>___<span style="color:#ff99ff;">15.12</span>__<span style="color:#33ffff;">32.16</span>__</span></span><span style="color:#ffffff;">1569.31<br /></span>*Kelvin rode 57.13 miles on that day</p>Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-78139401562958459912008-07-07T10:28:00.001-07:002008-12-12T19:56:34.087-08:00Hello Mountain Time Zone<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdqbBW1vARlUCZfUVpBanR9_KBpBQhsxSjHi_u84fkJ3CrfTruUiHyXOQ_W1taQ_FiPbIDB4R7yleNWAipx-7Mu5ZNgJ6ZGCbap-rzEKQqGQhMlmdilvXPkSksR3R7ET57qlh9NUScTw/s1600-h/P7050079.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdqbBW1vARlUCZfUVpBanR9_KBpBQhsxSjHi_u84fkJ3CrfTruUiHyXOQ_W1taQ_FiPbIDB4R7yleNWAipx-7Mu5ZNgJ6ZGCbap-rzEKQqGQhMlmdilvXPkSksR3R7ET57qlh9NUScTw/s320/P7050079.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220325529228698834" /></a>Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-32328449289002884742008-07-06T11:38:00.000-07:002008-12-12T19:56:34.750-08:00A New Chapter to Our Thesis on "Mob-ology"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmnrkh5yrjF-1VExYg4Yb-KHDfCrlrt56JCo2RD7mlC2Yky0-7FqY2b20635dciIMzhxdKrx5fVo68en2z12i_gk4Lm1WekeT-d3KgfYneQQkEnb1ZWD-GH-KeiK6d4MklpGpSXlHPP8/s1600-h/P7060080.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpmnrkh5yrjF-1VExYg4Yb-KHDfCrlrt56JCo2RD7mlC2Yky0-7FqY2b20635dciIMzhxdKrx5fVo68en2z12i_gk4Lm1WekeT-d3KgfYneQQkEnb1ZWD-GH-KeiK6d4MklpGpSXlHPP8/s200/P7060080.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220325102546920802" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxpBfPeUkgAX8-RdCRoUapmC7E_lMt45u3MP31dhWwT9Pk0XqwWxVXeiNDpZt6OKLZsWckoK3VwRT9_9ZwTjH6K6uZ1iXaqSs2QbR3Yq1VpYLmkVZXfCiXi6ls0AkH9FN_fZ50LLWvkrU/s1600-h/P7020065.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxpBfPeUkgAX8-RdCRoUapmC7E_lMt45u3MP31dhWwT9Pk0XqwWxVXeiNDpZt6OKLZsWckoK3VwRT9_9ZwTjH6K6uZ1iXaqSs2QbR3Yq1VpYLmkVZXfCiXi6ls0AkH9FN_fZ50LLWvkrU/s200/P7020065.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220325122894674562" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3DmE1nM-iKWuhVqgRm5KHnxIAr61IWU7uEoyWJJeKfDqpsBMGFC_jZ1hQyjtRhRFgiGDsMmJD1JpwQyltVlXjH5t3xt9LwUhXknlhy_mon7gmGDHNpuMTQFZdU4Nuc0alx7m8MjSg8o/s1600-h/P7020063.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3DmE1nM-iKWuhVqgRm5KHnxIAr61IWU7uEoyWJJeKfDqpsBMGFC_jZ1hQyjtRhRFgiGDsMmJD1JpwQyltVlXjH5t3xt9LwUhXknlhy_mon7gmGDHNpuMTQFZdU4Nuc0alx7m8MjSg8o/s200/P7020063.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220325133483678194" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSYKlftf3BHgLEccbhVtXXHa-MM0ZSUCYMg3wR40kTcT0mq9wt8j5QGf25JIa_Nq3d8_4-dIE1hQack4AYX-4l8fEXgzTKeap-DeI88Gzgz1jEaWBzEtlToyJ6jwn8jlH-r5uIi-itDoQ/s1600-h/P6230031.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSYKlftf3BHgLEccbhVtXXHa-MM0ZSUCYMg3wR40kTcT0mq9wt8j5QGf25JIa_Nq3d8_4-dIE1hQack4AYX-4l8fEXgzTKeap-DeI88Gzgz1jEaWBzEtlToyJ6jwn8jlH-r5uIi-itDoQ/s200/P6230031.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220325135129651314" /></a><br />Hi Y'all,<br />Many thanks for all of the comments, e-mails, and voicemails. It's great to roll into a town with all the gadgets of today's world and have messages from loved ones waiting for you. We've just spent a couple of days in Idaho. They don't use cell phones or computers there. But everyone has a four-wheeler in the back of their pickup truck. Now we're in Missoula, Montana, it's way cool. Alright, enough mish mash, I like the daily review style.<br /><br />Day 12 Tuesday July 1: Kickin' it proper in Joseph 0 miles<br />Joseph is hot in the morning. And our bodies are starting to adjust to this 'get up with the sun' nonsense, thus our plans to sleep in are thwarted and we have to have a full day of activity. Wait, cool. After spending a few hours creating this rad weblog, we get down to business and head for the bowling alley. Joseph may not be big, but it's got some cool stuff I'll tell you what. The bowling alley is tiny, only 8 lanes, and two of them are broken. We're two for two on above-ground ball returners, which I can't get over, it's so cool! Anyways, they don't seem to oil their lanes, so the brave adventurers were humbled with a few sub-hundred games, which then inspired us to stop bowling and get down to drinking. We took off to visit the beloved Terminal Gravity Brewery in nearby Enterprise, Oregon, but it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. It's raining, which makes it even cooler that we're taking a rest day and can kick back. As Joseph isn't the biggest of towns, we returned to the bowling alley, which happens to be connected to one of the town's three bars. Ping pong, pool, and beer in the afternoon with Shannon, Johnny, and Wade. The weather clears up and we've had enough bar for an afternoon, so we decide that the best (and safest) thing we can do is go to the lake and play on the rope swing. It's easy, just park on the side of the two-lane road, hop the rail as cars fly by, grab on, jump off of the exposed root of a giant tree, and let go after you've cleared the rocks. Really fun, and it's turned out to be a beautiful day. After that we head up to a waterfall nearby and run into the nice people from Idaho who had saved our lives the day before. From there we head back to the house, play with the doggies, grill 'till we're stuffed full of sausages, and foosball into the night. A much-needed day of rest, and an amazing time in Joseph. Thanks again to Shannon, Wade, and his family for putting us up and showing us a great time. <br /><br />Day 13 Wednesday July 2: Joseph to the middle of nowhere inside of Joseph Canyon, WA 60.57 miles<br />Ahh, back on the bikes. It feels a lot better than two days before, the legs aren't so sore and the butt has more or less recovered for now. The dogs run with us for the first 4 miles or so, amazing endurance let me tell ya. After we finally lose them we're on our way, but not before a stop at the aforementioned Terminal Gravity Brewery, which is conveniently located directly on our route out of town. Shannon and Johnny join us for a beer and a small meal and pictures and goodbyes, and now we're on our way for reals. Joseph Canyon is really awesome. Canyons in general are cool, I think. But it was a real treat because we were unaware that it even existed until we came upon it. A short ride from there and we find ourselves careening down a really windy, really steep canyonside. We fly down this monster for seriously 15 minutes, it's way fun. On the way down we cross our first state border, hellooooo Washington! We've been told by people on three separate occasions to stop at the place at the bottom of the descent, so we have to stop. Boggan's Oasis boasts the world's best milkshakes, and I wouldn't say they are wrong. The next leg of our ride is a 10 mile climb with over 100 turns back out of the canyon. It's called "Rattlesnake Ridge." We remember Hell's Canyon well, and we've just devoured giant milkshakes and burgers. I think we'll camp here tonight. <br /><br />Day 14 Thursday July 3 Rattlesnake Ridge to Pink House Campgrounds, Idaho 81.53 miles<br />The rest day in Joseph really helped us out. A lot. This became clear when we mobbed up the torturous Rattlesnake Ridge without even a smidgeon of the trouble of Hell's Canyon. I think my thighs have already doubled in size. Maybe it's just my confidence. Anyways, the ride up was fine and we were feeling great, we crossed our second state border in the afternoon, crossing the Snake River into Lewiston, Idaho. Lewiston is awful. I mean, the people were nice there and there were free peanuts and giant ice teas at the restaurant, but it's like 30 degrees hotter in Lewiston than anywhere else in the Northwest (are we still in the Northwest?). It's hot, the bank says 104, but banks are kinda sketchy anyways, you know? We start to hate life on the ride out, we're snappy with each other and tired and the wind isn't cooperating and the cars are flying by. Basically, the heat is really testing our spirits, so we jump into the Snake and it is COLD. Suddenly, everything is okay. We ride for another hour or so and spot up at our first campsite. Campsites are lame, but picnic tables are way more comfortable than most rocks. <br /><br />Day 15 Friday July 4: Orofino to Lowell, ID 66.55 miles<br />In my life (this is still Pete typing, by the way), the fourth of July has generally been a very memorable day of the year. Whether rolling with a huge crew of co-opers to the Babbs' farm in Dexter, lighting off firworks in a cul-de-sac in Lincoln, or partying on a 45-story apartment rooftop in Portland and then going to work at 6am the next morning after playing poker all night at Clint's, it's generally a day that stands out in the crowd. On this trip, however, I don't imagine that will be the case. In fact, it's two days later and I'm having a hard time thinking of anything to write about. We rode through some small towns during the day, but by the time we had gone a fair distance we were into the Clearwater National Forest, away from any festivities and small town fun. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time playing chess and hanging out by the Clearwater River, and this really intensly wired, muscle-y dude from Fresno rolled up and paid our camping fee so that he could park in our spot and sleep in his truck. He talked a lot, and really fast. Ultimately, though, I was asleep before the sun had gone completely down, so no fireworks this year. <br /><br />Day 16 Saturday July 5: Lowell to Missoula, Montana 115.75 miles<br />Big day today, the plan is to do our first century. According to Adventure Cycling, it's a 70 mile ascent up to Lolo pass. This does not sound like the best day to do a 100-mile bike ride, but after a few pugs on the Independence Day bottle of whiskey we decided to do it, so we're going to do it. The ascent wasn't bad at all, really, it follows the river the whole time, so it's a really gradual climb. And we're all feeling really good, so we're moving at a pretty fast pace. The actual climbing doesn't start until about 4 miles before the summit of the pass, and after Hell's Canyon, all of these climbs are seeming a whole lot easier. Hey Montana, what's up Mountain Time Zone. This is our 4th state in 4 days, rad. Alright, only 45 or so miles to Missoula, no sweat. Right. Actually, it was a cool gradual downhill the entire way, so we flew like the wind on the wings of some really fast bird or something, and we had a place to stay in Missoula, so there was added reason to keep going. We pulled over when we reached 100 miles to have a celebratory Hersey bar and pee. The small joys are really making the trip something special. We rolled into Missoula and found our host with relative ease at her place of employment, the Boca Rey (Mouth King) burrito restaurant. Here we meet up with our friend Laurel from Eugene and her two roommates (who are also co-workers), Oriana and Anna. They are supercool and feed us giant burritos. They close up and we head to their place, which is downtown, close to campus and all the hip stuff to do in Missoula. We get our first real night on the town, drinking and dancing with foosball and pool at a cool bar downtown. Nice folks in Missoula. <br /><br />That's that for now. Kelvin and Nate have at this point left the University of Montana library in search of a local brewery. We here they have some good ones here, we'll check 'em out and be sure to let you know. It's a tough job, but I think we can handle it. Tomorrow we're hitting the road again, off to Butte, Bozeman, then south to Wyoming and Colorado. Thanks again for all of your messages. You're often in our thoughts.Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-59327081703432035022008-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:002008-12-12T19:56:35.213-08:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1epyPiWkYp4fjQxaJKOAnw9cff42l_DP95jT2zi1Aqa8pjf6gkITUiS9XIq8or7GucytdEkYmx4upM9Iinhi9cz9ITrWMj46v19vW3nIn2_5qHsT1k6ILLxcrSGuqyYtPyoNHomhEug/s1600-h/bike+trip+003.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1epyPiWkYp4fjQxaJKOAnw9cff42l_DP95jT2zi1Aqa8pjf6gkITUiS9XIq8or7GucytdEkYmx4upM9Iinhi9cz9ITrWMj46v19vW3nIn2_5qHsT1k6ILLxcrSGuqyYtPyoNHomhEug/s320/bike+trip+003.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218127598615281442" /></a>Rolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-468121440879167068.post-26493511669056728942008-07-01T10:02:00.000-07:002008-12-12T19:56:36.886-08:00A Day of Much-Needed Rest in Joseph, Oregon<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRVfXQBequwHxCGk_4_elOy11OO6-CSly7sOe4SEUFQM7HtQFB9gH0KUzVjtdufhYEHzfo0ijBCn_ur28Iqy4-kKh0WSRPGvuVe7JZ5Y31TPyQOxZoYmPTdBpPOI0SvhJYxei7nu5OP68/s1600-h/bike+trip+023.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRVfXQBequwHxCGk_4_elOy11OO6-CSly7sOe4SEUFQM7HtQFB9gH0KUzVjtdufhYEHzfo0ijBCn_ur28Iqy4-kKh0WSRPGvuVe7JZ5Y31TPyQOxZoYmPTdBpPOI0SvhJYxei7nu5OP68/s200/bike+trip+023.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218134308533590930" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYg6oYUdkQ2uBapna2QbdPKAGbcQiAaj7Fu3-n8oqaDThzsVRfq2E324TiJ88iOZmyEuhuOWNcBmMfRlHMpg6cljTa9NoTO41EkCfZ4aiPo2lTIsS2j1r4i4GAAI862jHwCDes7DtlbuE/s1600-h/bike+trip+024.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYg6oYUdkQ2uBapna2QbdPKAGbcQiAaj7Fu3-n8oqaDThzsVRfq2E324TiJ88iOZmyEuhuOWNcBmMfRlHMpg6cljTa9NoTO41EkCfZ4aiPo2lTIsS2j1r4i4GAAI862jHwCDes7DtlbuE/s200/bike+trip+024.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218134316798490178" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMw0Du4MlKZOaVtzVcQlW7f2sCAp-nWjqYkfgSalia6B7xYg7DKGYNoLwcELh9KKxLYw-ldczK8kbiCy59x6pLmnr8aUZwmEISbkOrQi80-6BCEa07DnI16lCwTWfflPHvOMVOz2mbWPk/s1600-h/bike+trip+025.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMw0Du4MlKZOaVtzVcQlW7f2sCAp-nWjqYkfgSalia6B7xYg7DKGYNoLwcELh9KKxLYw-ldczK8kbiCy59x6pLmnr8aUZwmEISbkOrQi80-6BCEa07DnI16lCwTWfflPHvOMVOz2mbWPk/s200/bike+trip+025.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218134324721967362" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNmUiNqAa82Z8Pe_HfUJuCs_xaXe21wm8Ta3fFMYftQdEbBipNOZVw0II4yf1jfh_r2Zi12rSEHmLBWgWUrFCCEb5wlGptMowt4C6bWWcLgVko8uuupLz2QTXZd1YIwKTZlcQrjBX8SXA/s1600-h/bike+trip+028.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNmUiNqAa82Z8Pe_HfUJuCs_xaXe21wm8Ta3fFMYftQdEbBipNOZVw0II4yf1jfh_r2Zi12rSEHmLBWgWUrFCCEb5wlGptMowt4C6bWWcLgVko8uuupLz2QTXZd1YIwKTZlcQrjBX8SXA/s200/bike+trip+028.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218134332791757010" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHIS1VHYUSE7u_HyPSlaLkf98essHZcPYlvWgI8BfFBSs06FJ9toSRwoA0-7RanSZXUl12-EZUo8nMeMZhIvej8Jg7TZI54o8J3790rQyseL2_bv3Hmg5T8x0bGZxQ_U9v0yzAgcTZNbs/s1600-h/bike+trip+029.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHIS1VHYUSE7u_HyPSlaLkf98essHZcPYlvWgI8BfFBSs06FJ9toSRwoA0-7RanSZXUl12-EZUo8nMeMZhIvej8Jg7TZI54o8J3790rQyseL2_bv3Hmg5T8x0bGZxQ_U9v0yzAgcTZNbs/s200/bike+trip+029.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218134343213867154" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnrXpGapvpUSm5V3nVH2NhNrQf_2vgeflcdVG6ZSNEYAwxJVeLrpTdqcIbBQnD92tM6DyHPMwrQ1P6sL4TdcvvIDqHKFEqpV_QZ3h4U-z9Xqn2rDU8dFckxM9e0R4fAgMfBADvEBuM_2I/s1600-h/bike+trip+006.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnrXpGapvpUSm5V3nVH2NhNrQf_2vgeflcdVG6ZSNEYAwxJVeLrpTdqcIbBQnD92tM6DyHPMwrQ1P6sL4TdcvvIDqHKFEqpV_QZ3h4U-z9Xqn2rDU8dFckxM9e0R4fAgMfBADvEBuM_2I/s200/bike+trip+006.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218129089137473602" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMci-tAH69AXeIv6l_NKfllsov0t9ZXAoCkuOvo6cyd2jmsdfCFlYeZOGLz8IyO87A-jHr_xCZGR_BL4h4BOaJV-YYoAYGvnGl2resn229wTXx29tj26Cw7PimNHNUsh_3o3UTYWJrmEk/s1600-h/bike+trip+010.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMci-tAH69AXeIv6l_NKfllsov0t9ZXAoCkuOvo6cyd2jmsdfCFlYeZOGLz8IyO87A-jHr_xCZGR_BL4h4BOaJV-YYoAYGvnGl2resn229wTXx29tj26Cw7PimNHNUsh_3o3UTYWJrmEk/s200/bike+trip+010.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218129093041871154" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-xM3CsQXkEN_KL0cPKOIPO0WVXyr3IvjjPfRT5wi-KVOqhlP-qA5uBrUrUsb3zzP8MOrM92SvJKcpdMAiuMC_-mJ_pHr9gFgKC7jZF27I16kB3IfccedE8g1y3rI_e3IMfSghW7kA6bY/s1600-h/bike+trip+005.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-xM3CsQXkEN_KL0cPKOIPO0WVXyr3IvjjPfRT5wi-KVOqhlP-qA5uBrUrUsb3zzP8MOrM92SvJKcpdMAiuMC_-mJ_pHr9gFgKC7jZF27I16kB3IfccedE8g1y3rI_e3IMfSghW7kA6bY/s200/bike+trip+005.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218129100856193650" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjr5fV9QBVYSLOAfLMv6vL0a9JNtLXI6NE_JtzoidNt63gacb4qHlRJhS56hc0U2uzuMBTBgj26HrlVWhnhvKHIlBH0OLy66IUQKOV1qridPsVYhJVVlN4tMFbukTeYW3n3yF6zRm7drs/s1600-h/bike+trip+018.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjr5fV9QBVYSLOAfLMv6vL0a9JNtLXI6NE_JtzoidNt63gacb4qHlRJhS56hc0U2uzuMBTBgj26HrlVWhnhvKHIlBH0OLy66IUQKOV1qridPsVYhJVVlN4tMFbukTeYW3n3yF6zRm7drs/s200/bike+trip+018.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218129112151132706" /></a><br />Hi Everyone!<br />The trip has been amazing so far, we're all safe and sore and having a great time. We've been riding for 9 days straight and finally get a day of rest here in Joseph with our friends Shannon, Wade, and Wade's family. The last couple of days have been really intense, with the heat begining its' suffocating blaze and the 10 and 14 mile climbs continually arriving.<br /><br />A quick daily recap:<br />Day 1 Friday June 20, 2008: Carl G Washburn Memorial Beach to Eugene, OR 77.7miles<br />Joined by our good friends Gabe Bluestein and Michael Hammer, we tested out our gear and legs on a ride that took us from a tire-dip into the Pacific Ocean, over the coastal ridge and into Veneta for some Chicago Joe's cheesy beef that almost comotosed us from finishing the last 12 miles.<br /><br />Day 2 Saturday June 21: Kickin' it in the Euge 0 miles<br />A day to scramble to tie up loose ends. We moved beds, went shopping, and spent a long time fixing up our bikes. We think we're ready to go. The night ends at the house of Ian, Isobel, Hailee, Hammer, Nikki, and James with a chill bonfire and some farewells.<br /><br />Day 3 Sunday June 22: Eugene to McKenzie Bridge (almost) 56.57 miles<br />The true adventure finally begins! We all gear up in the morning and set out, joined by our close friends Ian, Isobel, Kevin, and Gabe for the first 20 or so miles, we set out of our comfort zone and into 3 months of unknown. After a sad farewell we take off on our own. We meet our first fellow cyclists, Brian and Jeanne are doing the transamerica route (the route generally taken by cyclists going cross-country, organized by a company based in Mizzoula, Montana) on a tandem. Nice folks, remind me (Pete) a little bit of my parents. We stop at the Vida cafe and the pie is so hot it breaks the plate. So far, everything's looking good. Especially us. In spandex.<br /><br />Day 4 Monday June 23: McKenzie Bridge to Hoodoo Pass Summit 34.55 miles<br />Holy moly. The Cascades are high! We spent nearly the entire day climbing, the scenery was phenomenal, and we were able to camp on top of a mountain. It's hard to put the experience into words, it's brutal and amazing and satisfying in a multitude of ways. The biker tan lines are coming in nicely.<br /><br />Day 5 Tuesday June 24: Hoodoo to Bend 43.74 miles<br />A cruise downhill is always really nice. The ride to Bend was nice and easy, and upon arrival we went immediately to the Deschutes Brewery and Public House. After some delicious brews we've never before tasted, as they do not come in bottles, we decided to stagger on. We spent our first night as couchsurfers, which was very exciting. For those of you not familiar, couchsurfing.com is a really great site that connects travelers all over the world who are looking for a place to stay on their journey. When you are home, if you are willing and able, you let people sleep on your couch and maybe show them around town a little. When you are traveling, you crash on other people's couches or floors and enjoy their hospitality. We lucked out big time with our stay in Bend, as Lauren, a youngdog-loving waitress, and her friends and dogs were all super nice. After drinking some beers and playing with Uffta, Grace, Dixie, and Foxy, we were invited to a birthday dinner of a friend of Lauren. We got to eat some great food (which is quickly becoming one of life's biggest highlights) and met some fun people, played some foosball, and met an albino ferret who wasn't even half as cool as Chesturrr, but was fun to meet anyways. I miss Chesturrr. Anyways, we thanked them profusely for their kindness and food and went on our way, stopping at the bar Lauren works at before heading home for the night.<br /><br />Day 6 Wednesday, June 25: Bend to Ochoco National Forest 60.4 miles<br />Foxy peed on Lauren's floor (and a little on Nate's sleeping bag), a humorous way to wake up. We got a late start out of Bend because of eating, shopping, bike-fixing, and calls home, but finally made it out around 1. The ride out of Bend was pretty sketchy, as merging with highway traffic isn't the most fun, if not exhilarating. But don't worry, we all made it out safe and unscathed, and the day went along very well. After a massive descent into Prineville we were abruptly stopped due to the unleashing of a herd of bulls through the streets for the annual rodeo. It was hilariously cartoonish watching the bulls take a left down a road they weren't supposed to, watch the pink-shirted cowboys chase them, then see the whole crowd come barreling across the street, missing the turn back onto main street and instead running straight through to the right of main street. Think Sylvester and Tweetie chase scene in a hallway. After that excitement we rode up into the Ochoco Forest and hauled our bikes up a hill to a sweet secluded campsite. So far all of the campsites have been beautiful.<br /><br />Day 7 Thursday June 26: Ochocos to Tri-Creek Ranch 55.86<br />The morning found us in the midst of some road construction. Gravel roads and alternating one-way traffic was the trip for the first hour and a half or so. Our water sanitizing pump isn't really working so we use the iodine tablets instead for water purification. So far our setup has been really great. Our bikes are loaded to about 70 pounds total, but it's been okay as long as we're not lifting them up huge hills to camp. Our camping setup has been great, with hot dinners every night on our little stove, and plenty of water from our dramadary bags. The weather has been beautiful as well, and we've slept most nights out under the stars. It's been a long time since I've seen a clear night sky away from the city lights. I'd forgotten how much I missed that.<br /><br />Day 8 Friday June 27: Tri-Creek to Dixie Pass Summit 65.08 miles<br />A long day of riding. A lot of good times, although no big stories really. John Day has got way too many things named after him as far as we're concerned. After riding all day we reached a huge summit and decided to camp up their. Another beautiful spot and sleeping under the stars.<br /><br />Day 9 Saturday June 28: Dixie Pass to Baker City 63.15 miles<br />We awoke to find Kelvin's biking gloves eaten by packrats in the night. They still do the job, but his hand tan is going to be all messed up now. During a late morning breakfast down the pass we met a young cyclist named Cody Edwards, an Illinois farmboy, blond, burly recent Stanford grad school grad doing the transam route. A really nice fellow, he joined us for the day's ride. We swam in a creek and mobbed into Baker City ready for some brew. We were directed by the locals to Barley Brown's Brewpub where we tried out many of their site-brewed beers, including the hot blonde, a delicious jalepeno-infused ale. We ate their death burgers (best burgers of the trip so far, no question) and had a good ol' time. From there we decided that a trip to a local bowling alley was long overdue, asked the waitress for directions, and things went off from their. Elkhorn Lanes was a wonderful place, with above ground ball returns! Some may find the exclamation point humorous, but this was something I was very excited to discover and was amazed that it happened at our first bowling alley. We cosmic bowled for awhile and, after sufficiently soaking up the scene, decided to call it a night. As it was dark and we had adequately quenched our thirst, we decided that the local high school's practice field was a great place to lay our heads for the night.<br /><br />Day 10 Sunday June 29: Baker City to Hells Canyon 67.34 miles<br />We awoke in a field next to a high school next to a neighborhood, an amusing sight to be sure. We said hello to some local dog walkers as we gathered up our gear and headed to a gas station for some coffee and snacks to appease the belly from last night's imbibery. Cody was still with us and rode with us until a small town along the route. We encountered an extremely gnarly climb after said small town, which was our first case of truly intense biking. First of all, it was 2 in the afternoon and the sun was blistering, there was no shade and it was a 7% grade for 3 miles (That means steep for a long time). We all individually thought that we had problems with our cranks, but later discovered that we were merely slipping on the melting tar on the street. It was that hot. We made it though, it feels so good. From there we cruised into Hells Canyon, leaving the transam route and into less familiar territory. We plan to ride into Joseph tomorrow, hopefully the terrain isn't too steep.<br /><br />Day 11 Monday June 30: Hells Canyon to Joseph 45.31 miles (Pete and Nate), 57.13 miles (Kelvin) <br />Obviously this college education hasn't taught us everything. Something to note, riding OUT of a canyon probably isn't going to be lacking in steepness. This being our 9th day in a row of riding, we are tired and sore to start the day. We are welcomed to the canyon by a 14-mile climb. Whoo, what the hell was that?!? We decided against an additional 3 mile climb to see the actual Hells Canyon overlook, I've never been within 300 miles, but 3 miles uphill was way too far at that point. After a really crazy downhill ride we stopped to get some water from a river. This is where we realize that our tablets are not in fact iodine tablets, but iodine taste nuetralizing tablets!! Luckily, giardia doesn't make itself known to you for about 2 weeks after you've drank contaminated water! So we'll see in a couple of days if we're going to be alright or if we'll have some extended stay somewhere, heaving and thrusting in a glory of cold sweat. It's really the anticipation of the unknown that keeps life interesting, no? So, we try out our pump again, but it's working really slowly, and we need to get a move on if we're going to finish in Joseph. So we fill our water bottles, but don't have much extra, and start again on our way. We round the first corner to encounter a sign notifying us of a ten-mile climb ahead. What the hell! Kelvin rides up ahead as Nate and I stop again for another bottle of water-pumping. Nate goes on ahead and I think I'm going to die. The sun is beating down and water is low, I have no energy and the climb seems endless. Luckily for me, a forest service truck has broken down ahead, and they have a coller of ice-cold water they gladly share with me. Fully watered, I find another wind and the sun kindly sinks behind some clouds. The fear of death behind me, I cruise up the rest of the way. I encounter Nate at the bottom of the descent, he's just filled up some more water with the pump but has not caught up to Kelvin yet. There are some mean looking clouds to the north (where we're headed) and we're getting a little anxious, but it turns out that I've just come down the hill with a broken spoke that needs attention. Somehow the nipple got caught up inside the tire, so Nate McGuivers that biznass with a needlenose pliers, a ripped dollar bill, and a bent spoke. After a half-hour of working on my tire, we're ready to go, but we've still got around 15 miles and one more nasty uphill climb, and those daunting clouds have started booming some crazy lightning and thunder, and it's getting chilly. We rush up a hill as fast as we can, and on the descent it gets even sketchier. A deer almost runs out in front of Nate, but turns around as I pull my brakes that make a crazy loud screech, then Nate's bike pump falls off of his bike, then the wetness comes. It hasn't started really raining, but the descent is steep and the street is wet, the lightning is still a ways off in the distance, but it's getting closer, and it's getting colder, and it's getting darker, and we still don't know where Kelvin is. We stop on the way down to put on our rain gear when our luck changes; a white pickup comes from behind, we wave it down and a nice couple from Idaho agree to put us in the back and take us into Joseph. We cruise in the back of the truck, and it's almost like a scene from the movie Twister, the wind is going nuts, the lightning is blowing up on either side of us, and the rain keeps teasing and threatening, it was really exciting! We turn into Joseph onto Main street where Kelvin has been waiting for something like 2 hours, worried sick. Safe and sound, we call up our friend Shannon Leever and organize the evening. Wade comes and swoops us, leading us to a nearby house where we can stash our bikes, then we pile in with Wade and his friend Christian to the other side of the lake where Shannon was working at Wade's parents' restaurant, the Glacier Grill. Afterwards we went back to the homestead and drank beers with Wade, Shannon, Christian, Wade's little sister, Wade's old roommate who's now living with them here Johnny, and Wade's mom. Whew, what a day.<br /><br />Okay, so I'm caught up for now. I hope to keep this up for the whole trip, but computer time will be limited. We miss you all, your e-mails are very much appreciated. Hope you are all well. Keep the rubber side down!<br /><br />~The boysRolling Real Deephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03527507023528995872noreply@blogger.com6