Towards the End of Our Trip

Sorry it has been so long since we have written it has been a busy last couple of weeks!

After our lovely stay in Sioux City we peddled our way towards Manchester Iowa. It took a couple days to get all the way there. We took highway 20 most the time, until it got too nasty to ride on. We also ended up taking side roads as much as we could, but sometimes we had to ride on the highway. We got pulled over by a policeman while riding on the highway. He basically told us that, while it wasn’t illegal to be biking along the freeway like highway 20, it was not very safe.  The weather cooperated for the most part, giving us some back wind and no rain! We rode over the rolling hills and finally arrive in Manchester.

Once in Manchester we debated about whether to ride the rest of the way to Chicago and only have a day or so in Manchester, or we could see if we could get a ride most of the way there and stay in Manchester for a couple of extra days… we ended up finding a ride. It was wonderful to see Dan’s family and to stay in a bed for a couple of nights. It was a little strange being able to shower every day, see the same people a couple of days in a row, and to be able to cook.  We are both happy that we stayed there for a couple of extra days because it was rainy and starting to get cold out, which would have been miserable to bike in. We have gone through our fair share of uncooperative weather, and rain just isn’t something that we have enjoyed biking in.

We got a ride with some of Dan’s relatives from Manchester to Rockford, Illinois. It rained most of the time on the way up. We stopped in Galina for lunch, and then continued on to Rockford.  We spent the night in Rockford, and then biked up to Harvard, Ill to catch the Metro train to Chicago.  Luckily it was a relatively short, dry, ride.  From Chicago we hopped on an Amtrak train to Pittsburgh, which was an ordeal on its own.  We had to take our bikes apart to fit them in a cardboard box. 

We arrived in Pittsburgh around 4:30 in the morning, reassembled our bikes, hoped on a bus out to our camp director’s house. While there we caught up on a couple hours of sleep, and showered. We got a ride out to Camp Allegheny and had our first staff meeting that night! Since then we have been learning the local flora and fauna, going over our lesson plans for camp, and exploring the trails. It has been so wonderful being able to stay in the same place for days on end. We are both looking forward to teaching and being a part of camp. The other staff members are awesome and it is so much fun talking about our various experiences in life.

Towards the End of Our Trip

Sorry it has been so long since we have written it has been a busy last couple of weeks!

After our lovely stay in Sioux City we peddled our way towards Manchester Iowa. It took a couple days to get all the way there. We took highway 20 most the time, until it got too nasty to ride on. We also ended up taking side roads as much as we could, but sometimes we had to ride on the highway. We got pulled over by a policeman while riding on the highway. He basically told us that, while it wasn’t illegal to be biking along the freeway like highway 20, it was not very safe.  The weather cooperated for the most part, giving us some back wind and no rain! We rode over the rolling hills and finally arrive in Manchester.

Once in Manchester we debated about whether to ride the rest of the way to Chicago and only have a day or so in Manchester, or we could see if we could get a ride most of the way there and stay in Manchester for a couple of extra days… we ended up finding a ride. It was wonderful to see Dan’s family and to stay in a bed for a couple of nights. It was a little strange being able to shower every day, see the same people a couple of days in a row, and to be able to cook.  We are both happy that we stayed there for a couple of extra days because it was rainy and starting to get cold out, which would have been miserable to bike in. We have gone through our fair share of uncooperative weather, and rain just isn’t something that we have enjoyed biking in.

We got a ride with some of Dan’s relatives from Manchester to Rockford, Illinois. It rained most of the time on the way up. We stopped in Galina for lunch, and then continued on to Rockford.  We spent the night in Rockford, and then biked up to Harvard, Ill to catch the Metro train to Chicago.  Luckily it was a relatively short, dry, ride.  From Chicago we hopped on an Amtrak train to Pittsburgh, which was an ordeal on its own.  We had to take our bikes apart to fit them in a cardboard box.

 

We arrived in Pittsburgh around 4:30 in the morning, reassembled our bikes, hoped on a bus out to our camp director’s house. While there we caught up on a couple hours of sleep, and showered. We got a ride out to Camp Allegheny and had our first staff meeting that night! Since then we have been learning the local flora and fauna, going over our lesson plans for camp, and exploring the trails. It has been so wonderful being able to stay in the same place for days on end. We are both looking forward to teaching and being a part of camp. The other staff members are awesome and it is so much fun talking about our various experiences in life.

More Pictures and Logistical Updates

Hi there Folks! 

To begin, Dan and I have analyzed how much time we have left and how far we need to go and we are not willing to make our bodies try to do that. So we have bought train tickets from Chicago to Pittsburgh in order to get to camp on time. We are very happy with how far we have been able to bike and the route we have chosen. We took some time to see some things that were not the most direct route, and this is part of the reason why we did this trip. Sometimes you gotta take time out in order to enjoy the little things. 

Day thirty nine we went form Randolph, Nebraska to Sioux City, IOWA! Yes, we have made it to Iowa. We encountered a bypass for part of good old highway 20, which added about 7 miles to our trip. We stayed with Dan's cousins aunt Shelly who has been incredibly giving and welcoming.  They cooked us a huge chicken dinner and we played dominos.  The next day, day forty, Dan wasn't feeling well so we decided to rest up for another day, which allowed us to get some things done on our bikes before our last push.

For pictures please visit the facebook albums:

Just Yellowstone National Park pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.564802320113.2059176.65201540&l=0c82d78bd7&type=1 

All other pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.564791397003.2059173.65201540&l=e7bd1897f6&type=1

State Changes, Time Changes, and Sprinklers!

Hello to all!

Day thirty five we left South Dakota and entered into the land of Nebraska. We had a pretty solid ride of about 70 miles, going from Martin, SD to Valentine, NE. Nothing too exciting comes to mind, just the vast openness and rolling hills. We did pass into a new time zone.  When we got to Valentine, we decided to stay at a city park that they had. After setting up camp and falling fast asleep, we woke to sprinklers spraying us! We decided to move across the street to a church. But soon we awoke again to find the sprinklers. This happened two more times, as we just moved our tent to where we thought it would be dry. It turns out we are not the quickest thinkers when it’s the middle of the night and we wake suddenly. When we woke in the early morning by the sprinklers, yet again, we decided to just get up and get going.

On day thirty six we went from Valentine to Long Pine state park. It was a day of wind, and we just had to keep pushing through it. Hills are not so bad, at least you know that at some point you will be going down, but with wind, there is no let up. You have no idea if there is going to be a gust or if it will change direction. Wind wears at the rider like a river on rock. We got to Long Pine somewhat early, thanks to our very early start in Valentine.  We were able to dry out some of our stuff and even enjoy a few good beers next to a beautiful creek. Then we got eaten alive by the skeeters, so we turned in. It was nice to have a good nights rest.

We moved along the highway from Long Pine to O’Neill on day thirty seven. We had a kind of late start to the morning and Dan realized about 0.01 miles into the ride that he had a flat. So after we fixed that we were off! We took our time, and even rode for 10 miles on one another’s bikes. We both agreed that it felt weird on someone else’s bike. But it was nice to see what you really like about your own and what you might want to change. O’Neill was great. We had free camping at Carney City Park, which also provided electricity and showers! We felt like royalty…. Well kinda.

Day thirty eight we started off with showers and a contintal breakfast from a hotel we didn’t stay at. We tried to look for a breakfast place around town, but couldn’t find one. Then we decided to stop in at the hotel. It was delicious.    The ride was pretty easy.  A little wind here and there and some small hills, but nothing that we couldn’t handle.  We passed though quite a few towns, but each seemed to be less populated than the last.  We ended in Randolph, leaving ourselves a short ride to Sioux City the next day.

Mount Rushmore, Reservations, and Wind

Salutations all,

We have noticed in writing this blog post that the days have started to mesh together and we are forgetting the names of the towns we stay in. It is fascinating to be on the road this long and to have so many small towns pass by. It is interesting to talk with people, and the conversations are starting to seem routine, where are you from? Where are you going? Are two of the most typical questions. It has been funny to see people's reactions to our little adventure. While on the portion of the ride we passed through some Native American reservations. Not knowing what to expect we were pleasantly pleased with the amount of curiosity by the locals on what we were doing. We had a couple of people wave us down to talk, and an elderly lady gave us $20 for us to get some lunch. It was amazing to have so much compassion and bigheartedness. We have gotten so much support and kudos from people that we have know our whole lives to strangers we just met, it is reassuring to have the kindness of the world showed to you. 

The twenty ninth day of our trip was fairly uneventful.  We read the weather report, which showed that there was a storm coming into the area and it was going to last form 2pm until 2am. This revelation combined with a late start, and a trip to the bike shop to pick up some details (Rose needed a new bike computer and a tire), meant that we just stayed an extra day in Gillette. It was really fascinating to watch the lightning storm, and we were glad to be inside. Overall it was good to rest the legs and get some down time.

With our legs well rested and our bikes in spectacular order, we made our way to Newcastle on day thirty. It was a good ride. We had the wind at our backs, gently sloping hills in front of us, and the sunshine was steady, but not scorching hot. We were able to find accommodations at a nearby senior center, which allowed us to stay on a patch of grass they had, which seemed good enough for us. But there were trains going by all night long and street lights around. It was not one of our better sites, but it was nice of them to let us stay there.

From Newcastle we decided that we would make it all the way up to Keystone and to Mount Rushmore on day thirty one. The Black Hills are such a gorgeous and mysterious area. There are hills with trees, with giant rocks sticking out from under and looming above. Mount Rushmore was stunning as well; it is amazing what our recent ancestors accomplished there.

Day thirty two was a visually spectacular day.  We biked through the rolling hills of western South Dakota and right through the Badlands.  The Badlands looked like a vast, enormous lake that dried out thousands of years ago.  It ended up being around 80 miles, one of our longest.  We camped behind Our Lady of the Sioux Catholic Church in Oglala and watched one of the greatest lightning shows either of us has ever seen happen all around us. 

Day thirty three got off to a rough start.  Dan immediate had a massive tire blowout that ruined his tire.  We were able to limp the 65 miles through horrible road conditions to Martin, SD.  We decided to catch a Bennett County High School football game.  They were playing Custer, a town we passed through two days ago.  The BCHS Warriors lost to the Custer Wildcats 35-6, with the home team’s only touchdown happening as time expired. We stayed at a city park that allowed for overnight camping. We woke in the middle of the night to high winds, and some sprinklers spraying the end of our tent. After some rearranging we took care of the sprinkler issue, but the winds persisted through the night and into the morning. Exhausted, from little sleep, we decided to wait out the winds and stay at a motel in town.  

Wind, Storms, Wind, Camping, and More Wind.

Day twenty four we meandered on over from Cody to Greybull. A town which got it’s name from a buffalo bull that was an albino, whom died from old age, even though there were many hunters, including white men, that tried to kill it. We stayed at a KOA there. We were able to swim in their pool and we got our second shower in as many days. It was quite thrilling.

Day twenty five was an interesting day.  Our plan was to make it to Ten Sleep at the base of the Bighorn Mountains.  Unfortunately, a thunderstorm materialized right above us, forcing us to take shelter and cut our day short.  We ended up camping in the garage of the restaurant where we ate dinner. Thunder and lightning went on most of the night.

The stormy weather continued on to day twenty six.  The first half of the day was clear as we made our way up the 600 million year old canyon.  It was like taking a ride through history, the farther we got up the older the rocks became.  Again we had to take shelter from the intense wind and rain near the end of our ride.  We camped near the top of the Bighorn Mountain at Meadowlark Lake.

We reached the summit of the Bighorn Mountains on day twenty seven.  It was the highest pass that we would encounter on our entire trip, 9666 feet.  On the way down we passed by some rock formations that were 3 billion years old.  The ride down was not quite as crazy downhill as we thought it would be, and it turns out it was up and downhill for most of the ride. We both got into the 40s mph.  We camped just outside of Buffalo. 

Day twenty eight was a frustrating day.  There was a headwind the entire day.  We decided to stop in Gillette for the night instead of camping somewhere past Gillette, which was a good thing because it rained most of the night.

Tetons and Yellowstone

Hello friends, family, and other random internet people!

So it has been a little while since we updated you all about our cycling adventure, or as somebody else phrased it “pedal bike”.  We have much to catch you up on, some days may have started to run together, but the general gist of what we have been doing is all correct… I think? Also, this is a long one.

Day sixteen was fairly uneventful, we went from Idaho Falls to the middle of the Palisade Reservoir and camped out up there. It was just another day of stunning views and a great day of riding.

Day seventeen  we followed the less mountainous of the routes to Jackson, Wy, then to a town about 6 miles west, called Wilson, where we got to stay at the swanky pad of a Warmshowers host, Walt. He was the bees knees. He let us soak in his hot tub, showed us off to the local bike shop (which gave us some awesome discounts on some more supplies that we needed), gave us some great advice on routes to take and what to expect, and he cooked us a great dinner of stir fry.  ALSO! Rose got a flat tire! The first misfortune in over 1000 miles! It was no big deal.

Day eighteen was stunning. We rode most the day next to the Tetons and marveled at their glory. About half the day we were even able to ride on a bike path. It was a day of photos and tourism. We were even able to find a campsite for $5! Hiker/bicycler special. We are all about discounted camping.

Day nineteen through twenty two we made our way up the hills to Yellowstone National Park! We immediately encountered the worst roads we have been on yet. This might be partially due to the horrible winter they had this past season, about twice as much snow as normal, but there was little shoulder for us to ride on. With the careening RVers, much of which were rented, big trucks, and tour busses, it was a slightly scary experience. That being said, it is a truly amazing place and such a weird part of the world. We decided to play tourist and stay in the park for a little while. Yes we knew it would eat away at some of our precious time, but it is well worth it. We have to take the opportunities to see what is around us and leave the deadlines aside. That is partially what this trip is about, to see the country, and why pass up the first national park? SO, we went to most areas of the park, to the Disneyland like section of Old Faithful, to some of the side hikes. We were able to have great timing one day, we biked a little out of our way to see Lone Star Geyser, which only goes off every 3 hours or so, and within 5 minutes of us being there it went off. This was our first big geyser we saw. It is amazing the amount of energy that just goes shooting up in the air! Next when we were walking around the Old Faithful area, we decided to walk around the boardwalk and sure enough as we made our way to Grand Geyser, which only shoots off every 4 hours or so, it started to shoot waaaaay up in the air, we stood there mesmerized by the awesome force of nature.  The next day we decided to have a no ride day, and hitched a ride up to Mammoth Hotsprings. There was even thunder and lightning up there! We had some wonderful driver hosts and everyone was super nice. The next day we still played a little bit of tourist as we made our way to the east side of the park. Along the way we came upon a pretty large traffic line up, so we meandered our way through it to stumble upon a herd of buffalo, not just three or four buffalo, it was more like 100-150. They scattered the hillside and grazed on grass on the side of the road. It was a very humbling experience to ride next to a wild beast that could gore you with a slight turn of the head. It was great to be able to be so close, but also very frightening.

On day 23 we made it from Bridge Bay Campground all the way to Cody, wy. It was a good 80 mile day, but after the first 15 or so miles of uphill (sometimes with an 8% grade) the rest was downhill with the wind at our back. It felt more like a 60 mile day. We both averaged in the mid teens, Dan at 16.4mph and Rose at 15.8mph.

We will be posting pictures, updating the map and mileage the next time we have internet! Hopefully it’s soon!

Soon to come: We will dominate the Big Horn mountains, and the East side of Wyoming. 

A little bit of rest

Howdy there folks!

In this blog entry we will be discussing days 11 to 15. It will be really riveting, so stay tuned...

Day eleven was mentioned in our previous blog entry, but right after we posted, some events that we thought would take place changed up a bit. We were able to get contact a person on warmshowers.org that was able to house us, this included a much needed shower and a comfortable bed to sleep in! I know, we ask for a lot. 

On day twelve we started the day with some flap jacks and some bacon, yumm! (Don't tell Rose's mother). This was able to fuel us to travel the 70 miles to Craters of the Moon National Monument. It was a pretty solid riding day, there were just enough hills to keep us interested, but not so much that it made the trek to unbearable. We have been encountering some wind that is quite a hassle to deal with. Craters of the Moon was really interesting, it is such a different looking landscape and is so seemingly desolate, but upon closer inspection it is teeming with life. We found a great campsite and one of our most unique sites yet and even managed to squeak into the visitors center before it closed. 

Day thirteen we biked a good 55 miles out into the middle of nowhere. We were somewhat near Atomic City, population 25.  Of those 25 people, according to wikipedia, two are under the age of 24 and something like 18 are over the age of 64. Quite an interesting little town, we're sure.  It was another day of battling against the wind, but other than that, it was a splendid ride. We made camp with a mountain view and some lush sunflowers that are in full bloom. We even got a spectacular mountain sunset to top our night off :)

Day fourteen we took another half day as we dashed into Idaho Falls. We arrived in the early afternoon as we only gave ourselves a 35 mile ride. We ended up exploring the wonderful town of Idaho Falls on a lovely Sunday afternoon, which I would recommend coming into town on another day of the week, as most things are closed on Sundays. We were able to stay the night at the home of another college friend, Rebekah, where we received much needed shower and a good hot meal in the morning. 

Day fifteen is a rest day. Yes, a rest day. We have decided to give our overworked thighs a little break from this incessant riding. Dan was able to do some repairs on his bike that needed to get done and Rose was able to finish a few more chapters in her book. So far it has been a pretty nice little break.

We in Idaho now

We have been cruising down Hwy 20 like nobody's business! The last couple of days have flown by, as with the miles of road.

Day nine was pretty wonderful. We started out in Ontario, OR and ended in Boise, ID. That is right, we have crossed the border. It was a pretty uneventful day, which is a nice day. The temperature has been not nearly as intense, but the wind has increased quite a bit. We were able to contact some of our ol' college buddies, Michael and Daniel  and we stayed with them while in Boise. They were wonderful hosts and even cooked us a good oatmeal breakfast, yumm. Michael even biked with us out to the road we needed to get on!

Day ten was a little bit of a doozy. We had to ride on a major freeway for about 40 miles, which was less than ideal. It was nice to have some slowly sloping uphill and downhill, but the noise and the cars wooshing by made the ride not as enjoyable as some of our other trips. Then to top the day off we had a major hill to climb at the end. We ended up camping in the Boise National Forest off of a side road that we found. It was a pretty wonderful camp site and we even got to see some spectacular stars.

Day eleven was a half day. We are both feeling the major miles that we have been doing and decided to give ourselves a little bit of a break, so we rode 40 miles to Fairfield. We are camping in a city park, where they allow over night campers.

Pictures!

Day 2: getting ready for the day.

Day 3: Santiam River right next to the campground where we stayed.

Day 3: Little did I know that I would spend most of the day going about 5mph uphill.

Day 3: posing so eloquently.

Day 3

Day 3: at a vista point on our long trek. 

Day 3: cresting the summit.

Day 3: "oh gosh, that sucked."

Day 4: Sisters mountains

Day 4: Dan and the Sisters Mountains.

Day 4: Rose being doofy with the Sisters Mountains.

Day 5: Dan managed to pick up a new unitard in Bend. He likes it a lot.

Day 5: Dan and the long road to come.

Day 5: Rose and a straight road to the middle of nowhere...

Day 5: A little bugger that hung out with us next to our camp.

Day 5: Camping on the side of the road. Go us.

Day 6: It is very important to wear sunscreen. Very.

Day 6: Egan Avenue in Burns. There was also an Egan Tavern.

Day 7:  Dan stops to set his time up an hour right when he enters the mountain time zone. 

He is very time sensitive.

Day 7: The road entering Juntura.

Day 7:  The sun setting on the hills outside of Juntura.

Day 8: "What kitten is more fuzzy?"

Day 8: With a view like this and mostly downhill made this day a joy of a ride.

Day 8: Just some gorgeous mountain view as we cruised along.

Day 8: Dan got a companion on his pannier.

Day 8: It's important to eat well while on the road. Dan is enjoying a Vale grocery deli sandwich. 

Day 8:  In between Vale and Ontario, also known as onion country USA.

Day 8: More onion country

Day 8: A whole field of onions, there were so many of them.

Goodbye Oregon!

So, we're out of Oregon, almost.  We are in Ontario, about as close to the border of Idaho as you can get.  Tomorrow will be our first official day outside the state of Oregon. We have gone a total of 460 miles so far.

Day seven got off to a good start with a big meal provided by the gracious Colahan family, fueling us to a pretty productive day.  It was hot, in the 100's, and we had the misfortune of having to summit out tallest summits, Stinkwater Pass and Drinkwater Pass, in the heat of the day.  The water we were drinking was closer to being tea than cold water.  We camped in Juntura, an RV park that also allowed people to pitch a tent.  Not ideal, but after that day of riding we weren't about to go any further. We did get to play with some adorable kittens in the morning, made it slightly worth it, the downside was we may have doubled the amount of mosquito bites while staying there.

Day eight was a good day.  It was downhill most of the day and the scenery was beautiful.  We followed the Malheur River pretty much the whole day and it ended up being our highest mileage day at 75 miles. We felt accomplished getting that many miles in. We rested in Vale before battling intense wind on the way into Ontario. We treated ourselves to plush motel with a shower, tv, and a comfy bed. Thank you to those of you who donated money so that we could enjoy this creature comfort :)

We will now apply some calamine lotion to our dozens of mosquito bites! The next week or so we will be crossing Idaho! Whoohoo!

An update, finally.

Hey all!

So, its been a few days since our last post, but we’ve been a little busy biking.  Generally, things have been pretty good.  No flats or any sort of mechanical issues, knock on wood. 

Day two brought us from Kelly’s place in Corvallis to Cascadia State Park.  It was pretty uneventful but good to have an easier day and get some miles under our belt.  Cascadia was beautiful, and we were able to take a dip in the Santiam River at the end of the day.

Day three was a bit of a test, both physically and mentally.  Cascadia is at an elevation of about 900 feet and the highest pass we summited was 4817 feet, meaning we climbed 3917 feet in one day.  There were definitely trying times, and every corner seemed to lead to another incline.  We made it, though, and the 6 mile decent down the other side and camping at Suttle Lake was a great way to end the day.

Day four was a well needed half day.  We left from Suttle Lake and easily made it to Sisters where we got some food and hung out at a park for a little while.  We continued on to Bend, where we were treated to a scrumptious chicken dinner by our host, Sterling Scott.  As an added bonus, Grant and Larissa happened to be in town.  We replenished some supplies, did some laundry, and finally took a shower. 

Day five was a high mileage day.  The hills we behind us for the most part and the wind was at our backs.  The miles seemed to fly by and it wasn’t too hot.  We passed through two “towns” which were comprised of a café/diner/gas station/postoffice/convenient store and not much more.

Day 6 was another high mileage day.  An early start and high MPH average made for an easy and productive day.  We ended in Burns around 3:00 in the afternoon and we graciously hosted by the Colahan family.

Two more days of biking and we'll be out of Oregon and into Idaho!

And away we go...

Hello friends and family!

We successfully made it through our first day! So here are the stats: Newport to Corvallis, 55 miles, 4 hours 45 minutes of biking, averaging about 11.5 mph. IT WAS SO HILLY! Holy crap! Dan and I have dominated some good sized hills in our training, but we forgot what it was like to not finish where you started, and especially on roads that we didn't know super duper well. It was interesting biking for that long of a time with so much weight on your bike, going down the hills was mass amounts of fun, and going up them was a little quicker than walking and all about sheer determination and patience. This combined with a pretty warm day with no clouds made us go though almost all of our water, but luckily we filled them up with some ice in Philomath, just before settling down in Corvallis. 

So tonight we are staying with Dan's sister Fey, in a cute little house with an amazing garden and awesome fire pit. She fed us some scrumptious dinner to put me into a food coma for a little bit, no really I took a nap on the couch. Tomorrow we are heading to a state park near the cascade range. We will update you all when we get the chance once again! 

Thank you everyone for all the love and support you have shown us through our adventure across the country!

Questions? Put it in the comment section!

Dan and Rose