From Johnson Shut-ins State Park to Eminence, MO - ~55 miles
our start to the day was delayed again today because of the threat of rain. it seemed to be threatening a serious storm just before we got up, however it seemed to blow over. so before too long, we got things loaded up and got out on the road.
we had a great 10 mile ride into a little town called centerville where we found a great ma and pa joint where we were able to get some breakfast. we went in, sat down, and ordered some food...and before too long the one other guy in the place started to join in on our conversation from his table a short distance away. so we invited him to come over and sit with us. his name was dave, he lives in st. louis but has a little cabin for the weekends in centerville. he was full of great stories about all kinds of different things. it was a great way to start a morning.
we headed out from centervill and had another great 15 miles of riding to get us to a place called ellington. we got some food and drinks in ellington because it was going to be 27 miles without services to get us into eminence. as we left ellington, the riding got significantly tougher...the hills started coming, the temperature went up, and about 10 miles outside of eminence, we began to run out of water. it seemed as though we were literally limping into eminence. i was to the point where i was hoping that at the bottom of every hill we would find eminence. unfortunately, there were a lot of hills that did not have eminence at the bottom of them.
by the time we got to eminence, justin and i were both feeling pretty dehydrated...almost to the point of being delirious. we cycled up to another home down diner type of a place, and headed inside. the waitress must have thought we looked like we were about to die...she came over and asked if we wanted something to drink and so we promptly each ordered a water a mountain dew. it took us a good 10 minutes of just sitting there and drinking before we were even able to order food. once we finally ordered some food, a guy walked in from the bed and breakfast across the street. turns out he was another cyclist on the transamerica...but he had come down with shingles and was going to have to call it quits for his tour in eminence. he was an older guy, and i was just super impressed that he had made it that far. it was sad to see him have to shut it down...but in some senses, i think he was pretty excited to see his wife.
we ate our food and enjoyed it greatly. after we got ourselves feeling better, we headed down the street to the local grocery store to grab ourselves some hot dogs, buns and baked beans to cook over the fire for dinner. from there, we headed down the road about 1/2 a mile to the jack's fork campground that sat right on the jack's fork river. we asked the lady at the office if she could get us a site right down close to the river, and sure enough, they got us a site about 40 yards from the river. we got our tents set up and quickly got our swimming suits on and headed to the river to swim for a good solid hour in some very cold but very refreshing water.
we finished the night by making a fire and cooking hot dogs and beans over an open fire. between the great river swim and the cooking over the open fire, it was a great ending to a quite difficult day.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Day 19 : A Justin Kind of a Day...(he wanted me to call it that)
From Chester, IL to Johnson Shut-ins State Park - ~80 miles
we awoke early, excited to make it to our fourth state of the trip. we took a few pictures of the bulls and then hoped on the bikes, ready to ride. we quickly got to the mississippi river and crossed into missouri. (honestly, i am not sure that i really ever thought we would make it this far) we had a nice, easy 10 miles to start the day as we continued through the valley.
and then things changed...the next 35 miles as we rode to where we were going to meet justin and tracy were brutal to say the least. looking back on it, i am not exactly sure what made them so tough. we were climbing some really serious inclines again for the first time in a number of days, it started to get pretty hot, the winds were up, we started to run short on water, and we probably hadn't eaten as much as we should have. some combination of all of that made it a rough morning.
nevertheless, though a little later than scheduled, we made it to farmington to meet our friends. we enjoyed a excellent pizza at the heart of town at a place called bob-a-rino's pizza. after a couple of hours of eating, drinking, resting and having some great conversations, we got back on the bikes, along with justin, to ride another 35 miles for the day.
we rode about an hour or so, and the clouds started to roll in again...and as the rain started to spit we ducked into the closest driveway to find a house with a good sized porch on the front. we put our bikes on the porch and knocked on the door to see if we could wait the storm out there. however, no one answered the door, so we just waited on the porch and fortunately it only took 20-30 minutes for the storm to pass and we were back out on the road again.
we rode another 25 miles or so to finish up the day, and they were about as opposite from the morning miles as they possibly could have been. they felt largely downhill and seemed to go by easily. maybe it was the freshness and newness of having justin with us. it was really fun to have him along with us kind of trying to figure out the ropes as he began his adventure with us.
we arrived at johnson shut-ins state park to find some very nice rangers who gave us a very discounted price ($6 - cheapest state park on our trip thus far) and as we got into the campground, we found it to be by far the nicest campground that we have stayed in to date! turns out, they used to pump water up to the top of this mountain by the park during the night, and then during the day the water would run down producing energy. and a few years back, in the middle of the night, the levee at the top broke and there was a huge rush of water that basically wiped a bunch of the park out, and i guess that much of the park just opened back up earlier this year.
regardless, they get the award thus far for the nicest state park to camp in for sure! i hope that they are able to continue to maintain it and take pride in it...because it was nice enough that they should!
we awoke early, excited to make it to our fourth state of the trip. we took a few pictures of the bulls and then hoped on the bikes, ready to ride. we quickly got to the mississippi river and crossed into missouri. (honestly, i am not sure that i really ever thought we would make it this far) we had a nice, easy 10 miles to start the day as we continued through the valley.
and then things changed...the next 35 miles as we rode to where we were going to meet justin and tracy were brutal to say the least. looking back on it, i am not exactly sure what made them so tough. we were climbing some really serious inclines again for the first time in a number of days, it started to get pretty hot, the winds were up, we started to run short on water, and we probably hadn't eaten as much as we should have. some combination of all of that made it a rough morning.
nevertheless, though a little later than scheduled, we made it to farmington to meet our friends. we enjoyed a excellent pizza at the heart of town at a place called bob-a-rino's pizza. after a couple of hours of eating, drinking, resting and having some great conversations, we got back on the bikes, along with justin, to ride another 35 miles for the day.
we rode about an hour or so, and the clouds started to roll in again...and as the rain started to spit we ducked into the closest driveway to find a house with a good sized porch on the front. we put our bikes on the porch and knocked on the door to see if we could wait the storm out there. however, no one answered the door, so we just waited on the porch and fortunately it only took 20-30 minutes for the storm to pass and we were back out on the road again.
we rode another 25 miles or so to finish up the day, and they were about as opposite from the morning miles as they possibly could have been. they felt largely downhill and seemed to go by easily. maybe it was the freshness and newness of having justin with us. it was really fun to have him along with us kind of trying to figure out the ropes as he began his adventure with us.
we arrived at johnson shut-ins state park to find some very nice rangers who gave us a very discounted price ($6 - cheapest state park on our trip thus far) and as we got into the campground, we found it to be by far the nicest campground that we have stayed in to date! turns out, they used to pump water up to the top of this mountain by the park during the night, and then during the day the water would run down producing energy. and a few years back, in the middle of the night, the levee at the top broke and there was a huge rush of water that basically wiped a bunch of the park out, and i guess that much of the park just opened back up earlier this year.
regardless, they get the award thus far for the nicest state park to camp in for sure! i hope that they are able to continue to maintain it and take pride in it...because it was nice enough that they should!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Day 18 : Free Dessert!!!
From Ferne Clyffe State Park (Goreville, IL) to Chester, IL - ~66 miles
we thoroughly enjoyed our night with our english friends. we were planning on getting up early and getting the miles knocked out, however, shortly before the alarm was supposed to go off, we woke up to a rather large thunderstorm. so...we when the alarm went off, we turned it off and kept sleeping for a bit while the storm passed. not too much after that, there was a second storm cell that came through, so we continued to wait things out.
we finally got things packed up inside the tent, got out of the tent, went through most of our "normal" morning routine and were about to take down the tent when another storm rolled through. so yet again, we got back in the tent and continued to wait. again, the storm passed, and we finally were able to get the tent down and finish packing up.
it was pushing 9 am before we were able to pull away from the park. we headed, along with our new friends, into town to find a place to grab breakfast. we were cycling down the main drag of town when we saw a nice looking local joint with a sign out front that said, "cyclists welcome". generally speaking, if something says cyclists welcome, it is a good thing. and this was certainly no exception. we went inside to find a very cute place, complete with pictures of cyclist underneath the plexiglass on the top of the tables. we ordered a pretty standard breakfast, ate it, and then the waiter came and asked us if we needed anything else. we said, "no, i think just a check will do it." to which he said, "well, you get a free dessert." mind you, this was 10 am. so just to clarify we asked him if it was because we were cyclists that we got this free dessert, and he said yes, it was because we were cyclists. well, we couldn't pass up the opportunity for free dessert, so we topped our breakfasts off with a piece of homemade pie! not sure if it was the best for cycling, but it sure was good!
it was now pushing 10:30 am and we were finally getting on the bikes. we got about 5 miles of riding in when some serious clouds began to blow in from our right. they were some of the craziest looking clouds i have ever seen. it was very obvious we were in for yet some more rain. luckily, we happen on to a gas station that had shut down. we rolled under their front porch awning and waited as the clouds moved closer. and sure enough, a few minutes later it began to rain and before long it was absolutely pouring. we were thankful...so thankful to have found a great piece of shelter.
we finally got out on the road for good at about 12:30 pm. after the last storm passed on through, the sun came out and it became a very nice day to be riding. we rode 30 or so miles into carbondale with our english friends. when we got to carbondale, they decided they would stay there for the rest of the day to do some interneting and whatnot. we decided that we wanted to push on to chester. so, we stopped at a grocery store in carbondale and picked up some fresh fruit that we had been craving and then got back on the road. we had noticed in the morning that the book we have been using as a secondary resource listed a shortcut to go from carbondale to chester...it said that it was shorter and would avoid some hills, which both sounded great. shortcut it was then.
and it was quite nice to say the least. the ground was fairly flat as we left carbondale. and then, about 25 miles outside of chester, we dropped down into the mississippi river valley and the ground became almost completely flat for as long as we could see. we were so excited about it that we rode along at 13-14 mph for the next two hours. however, as always seems to be the case, we had to climb to get into chester. it never fails, wherever we decide to stay, we always have to climb to get there.
when we finally got into chester, we stopped at this little park at the center of town where there were these really cool murals painted of popeye and the rest of the popeye characters, because chester is the home of the creator of popeye. we then cycled down the main drag a little bit to find the fraternal order of eagles which was listed on our maps as a place that houses cyclists.
we really had no idea what the fraternal order of eagles was or what we were getting ourselves into...and let me tell you, we were still not sure as we rolled up. there were some motorcycles and a bunch of big trucks, and a couple of people drinking and smoking outside. we parked our bikes and headed in the front door...and i was kind of hoping we would find a hostess or front desk or something of that sort. however, there was none of that...instead, we saw to our right an arcade and to our left a full out country bar with a guy with long hair singing live music off of a karaoke machine. we walked around the bar for a minute before a waitress finally came up to us and said, "you guys want to stay here tonight?" we were still thinking...i'm not sure if we really do want to stay here...but we replied to her saying, "yes". she told us to roll our bikes around to the back and she would meet us and show us around. as we rolled our bikes to the back, we discovered that there was more to the fraternal order of eagles. behind the building there were two sand volleyball courts with what looked like a league going on...and then next to those, there were people setting up for a rodeo that was going to be going on the next night...complete with a dozen or so bulls.
she pointed us to a little shack looking building, so we headed down there to discover that there were 9 bunks and air conditioning inside the building. it was nothing fancy, but a nice place to crash for sure. they also had a little shower room that was also nothing special, but a great place to get at least a little cleaner.
i don't know what all fraternal order of the eagles are like, but this one was certainly a great place to end a day of riding!
tomorrow we will cross into our home state...we will cross the mississippi river first thing in the morning and then ride to farmington, mo where our friend justin schroeder will meet us to ride through missouri.
we thoroughly enjoyed our night with our english friends. we were planning on getting up early and getting the miles knocked out, however, shortly before the alarm was supposed to go off, we woke up to a rather large thunderstorm. so...we when the alarm went off, we turned it off and kept sleeping for a bit while the storm passed. not too much after that, there was a second storm cell that came through, so we continued to wait things out.
we finally got things packed up inside the tent, got out of the tent, went through most of our "normal" morning routine and were about to take down the tent when another storm rolled through. so yet again, we got back in the tent and continued to wait. again, the storm passed, and we finally were able to get the tent down and finish packing up.
it was pushing 9 am before we were able to pull away from the park. we headed, along with our new friends, into town to find a place to grab breakfast. we were cycling down the main drag of town when we saw a nice looking local joint with a sign out front that said, "cyclists welcome". generally speaking, if something says cyclists welcome, it is a good thing. and this was certainly no exception. we went inside to find a very cute place, complete with pictures of cyclist underneath the plexiglass on the top of the tables. we ordered a pretty standard breakfast, ate it, and then the waiter came and asked us if we needed anything else. we said, "no, i think just a check will do it." to which he said, "well, you get a free dessert." mind you, this was 10 am. so just to clarify we asked him if it was because we were cyclists that we got this free dessert, and he said yes, it was because we were cyclists. well, we couldn't pass up the opportunity for free dessert, so we topped our breakfasts off with a piece of homemade pie! not sure if it was the best for cycling, but it sure was good!
it was now pushing 10:30 am and we were finally getting on the bikes. we got about 5 miles of riding in when some serious clouds began to blow in from our right. they were some of the craziest looking clouds i have ever seen. it was very obvious we were in for yet some more rain. luckily, we happen on to a gas station that had shut down. we rolled under their front porch awning and waited as the clouds moved closer. and sure enough, a few minutes later it began to rain and before long it was absolutely pouring. we were thankful...so thankful to have found a great piece of shelter.
we finally got out on the road for good at about 12:30 pm. after the last storm passed on through, the sun came out and it became a very nice day to be riding. we rode 30 or so miles into carbondale with our english friends. when we got to carbondale, they decided they would stay there for the rest of the day to do some interneting and whatnot. we decided that we wanted to push on to chester. so, we stopped at a grocery store in carbondale and picked up some fresh fruit that we had been craving and then got back on the road. we had noticed in the morning that the book we have been using as a secondary resource listed a shortcut to go from carbondale to chester...it said that it was shorter and would avoid some hills, which both sounded great. shortcut it was then.
and it was quite nice to say the least. the ground was fairly flat as we left carbondale. and then, about 25 miles outside of chester, we dropped down into the mississippi river valley and the ground became almost completely flat for as long as we could see. we were so excited about it that we rode along at 13-14 mph for the next two hours. however, as always seems to be the case, we had to climb to get into chester. it never fails, wherever we decide to stay, we always have to climb to get there.
when we finally got into chester, we stopped at this little park at the center of town where there were these really cool murals painted of popeye and the rest of the popeye characters, because chester is the home of the creator of popeye. we then cycled down the main drag a little bit to find the fraternal order of eagles which was listed on our maps as a place that houses cyclists.
we really had no idea what the fraternal order of eagles was or what we were getting ourselves into...and let me tell you, we were still not sure as we rolled up. there were some motorcycles and a bunch of big trucks, and a couple of people drinking and smoking outside. we parked our bikes and headed in the front door...and i was kind of hoping we would find a hostess or front desk or something of that sort. however, there was none of that...instead, we saw to our right an arcade and to our left a full out country bar with a guy with long hair singing live music off of a karaoke machine. we walked around the bar for a minute before a waitress finally came up to us and said, "you guys want to stay here tonight?" we were still thinking...i'm not sure if we really do want to stay here...but we replied to her saying, "yes". she told us to roll our bikes around to the back and she would meet us and show us around. as we rolled our bikes to the back, we discovered that there was more to the fraternal order of eagles. behind the building there were two sand volleyball courts with what looked like a league going on...and then next to those, there were people setting up for a rodeo that was going to be going on the next night...complete with a dozen or so bulls.
she pointed us to a little shack looking building, so we headed down there to discover that there were 9 bunks and air conditioning inside the building. it was nothing fancy, but a nice place to crash for sure. they also had a little shower room that was also nothing special, but a great place to get at least a little cleaner.
i don't know what all fraternal order of the eagles are like, but this one was certainly a great place to end a day of riding!
tomorrow we will cross into our home state...we will cross the mississippi river first thing in the morning and then ride to farmington, mo where our friend justin schroeder will meet us to ride through missouri.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Day 17 : An English Kind of a Day...
From Cave in Rock State Park, IL to Ferne Clyffe State Park (just outside of Goreville, IL) - ~60 miles
i have to be honest, it was pretty rough getting out of bed and getting going this morning. it had been so nice to be with mom and dad, to be off the bikes for a day, and to be staying in the luxury accomodations that we had been in for the last two nights. needless to say, we hit the snooze on the alarm a few more time than usual. but by a little before 6 we were out of bed and by 6:45 we had the bikes loaded and were back out on the road.
we rode about 10 miles into elizabethtown where we met mom and dad at a little ma and pa restaurant for breakfast. we had a great breakfast with them before saying goodbye and getting back out on the road for good. just before we left the restaurant, we ran into a couple that appeared to be cyclists. and so as we were leaving, we asked them if they were cycling the transam and they said, "well, kind of". we inquired as to what exactly that meant, and we found out that they are from england, they started cycling 10 weeks ago in orlando, cycled up the coast and joined the transam, they will ride the transam to missoula, mt, and there they will diverge from the route and head to calgary where they have a son.
the english blokes (their word), left the restaurant just a minute or two before us. not too far up the road, we found them stopped on the side of the road and there were 3 cyclists stopped on the other side of the road. they were what appeared to be a father, son and daughter. they have been riding across the country in 3 week increments over the last 3 years.
we cycled with the english blokes out in the distance for the next stretch on the maps, and just before we were supposed to turn, we were passed by two cyclists. when we got up to our turn, the two guys that passed us, the two english blokes, and a support car from the two guys was waiting there. turns out, the two guys that passed us were with a third guy in the car and he was giving them support (food and water). we all pulled alongside the car and had some conversation and shared a few stories, while the guy in the car filled all of our waters for us. it was quite a nice little blessing! and it was great fun to have that may cyclists, doing the same thing, all together at one place!
after we left our mass of cyclists, we rode along with the english blokes for pretty much the rest of the day. we stopped for "lunch" at around 2 pm at a beautiful country church that had some very inviting benches underneath a great shade tree. we had our lunch and rested a bit and were just about ready to get back on the bikes when a nice older lady pulled into the parking lot. she parked right next to us and got out and asked us if we wanted to come into the air conditioning and get a glass of ice water. we said that would be great (and i am pretty sure the ladies were excited about using the restroom), so we went in and the air conditioning was definitely working...she filled our bottles with ice and water, and we stood in the kitchen and had some great conversation with her. her name was patsy curly...and she was a wonderful little find in the middle of a hot june day.
we decided that all four of us would cycle here to ferne clyffe and share a campsite. so, as we got to the turn for the park, the english couple headed to the park because they had food with them and we turned and headed into goreville because we had heard from multiple people that there was a restaurant in town with amazing ribs. we found a place to eat, but i think that as it turns out, i don't think that we found the place with the great ribs. but nonetheless, it was pretty good food!
we enjoyed our food, and then hoped back on the bikes and cycled the mile or so into the park to find our english friends and our campsite for the night. so, we are here with them for the night, sharing a campground and some lovely conversation. they are great people...and amazing conversationalists. i kind of hate to see us part ways, but i think that we will probably cycle on past them tomorrow.
today was probably the best/easiest day of cycling we have had thus far. we are not sure if it was because of the off day, a slightly different terrain, or a little bit lesser number of miles. whatever it was, it was a great day of cycling. i am kind of anxious to see how the legs feel tomorrow. hopefully it will continue to be great, pain free cycling.
i have to be honest, it was pretty rough getting out of bed and getting going this morning. it had been so nice to be with mom and dad, to be off the bikes for a day, and to be staying in the luxury accomodations that we had been in for the last two nights. needless to say, we hit the snooze on the alarm a few more time than usual. but by a little before 6 we were out of bed and by 6:45 we had the bikes loaded and were back out on the road.
we rode about 10 miles into elizabethtown where we met mom and dad at a little ma and pa restaurant for breakfast. we had a great breakfast with them before saying goodbye and getting back out on the road for good. just before we left the restaurant, we ran into a couple that appeared to be cyclists. and so as we were leaving, we asked them if they were cycling the transam and they said, "well, kind of". we inquired as to what exactly that meant, and we found out that they are from england, they started cycling 10 weeks ago in orlando, cycled up the coast and joined the transam, they will ride the transam to missoula, mt, and there they will diverge from the route and head to calgary where they have a son.
the english blokes (their word), left the restaurant just a minute or two before us. not too far up the road, we found them stopped on the side of the road and there were 3 cyclists stopped on the other side of the road. they were what appeared to be a father, son and daughter. they have been riding across the country in 3 week increments over the last 3 years.
we cycled with the english blokes out in the distance for the next stretch on the maps, and just before we were supposed to turn, we were passed by two cyclists. when we got up to our turn, the two guys that passed us, the two english blokes, and a support car from the two guys was waiting there. turns out, the two guys that passed us were with a third guy in the car and he was giving them support (food and water). we all pulled alongside the car and had some conversation and shared a few stories, while the guy in the car filled all of our waters for us. it was quite a nice little blessing! and it was great fun to have that may cyclists, doing the same thing, all together at one place!
after we left our mass of cyclists, we rode along with the english blokes for pretty much the rest of the day. we stopped for "lunch" at around 2 pm at a beautiful country church that had some very inviting benches underneath a great shade tree. we had our lunch and rested a bit and were just about ready to get back on the bikes when a nice older lady pulled into the parking lot. she parked right next to us and got out and asked us if we wanted to come into the air conditioning and get a glass of ice water. we said that would be great (and i am pretty sure the ladies were excited about using the restroom), so we went in and the air conditioning was definitely working...she filled our bottles with ice and water, and we stood in the kitchen and had some great conversation with her. her name was patsy curly...and she was a wonderful little find in the middle of a hot june day.
we decided that all four of us would cycle here to ferne clyffe and share a campsite. so, as we got to the turn for the park, the english couple headed to the park because they had food with them and we turned and headed into goreville because we had heard from multiple people that there was a restaurant in town with amazing ribs. we found a place to eat, but i think that as it turns out, i don't think that we found the place with the great ribs. but nonetheless, it was pretty good food!
we enjoyed our food, and then hoped back on the bikes and cycled the mile or so into the park to find our english friends and our campsite for the night. so, we are here with them for the night, sharing a campground and some lovely conversation. they are great people...and amazing conversationalists. i kind of hate to see us part ways, but i think that we will probably cycle on past them tomorrow.
today was probably the best/easiest day of cycling we have had thus far. we are not sure if it was because of the off day, a slightly different terrain, or a little bit lesser number of miles. whatever it was, it was a great day of cycling. i am kind of anxious to see how the legs feel tomorrow. hopefully it will continue to be great, pain free cycling.
Day 16 : Some Pictures So Far...
From Cave in Rock State Park, IL to Cave in Rock State Park, IL - 0 miles
since today was our first off day...and since we have plenty of internet and power, i thought i would get some pictures posted from the last number of days. here is an explanation of the pictures.
top left: cailyn and her mom in the very nice room that we stayed in last night and will stay in tonight as well.
top right: us with the couple we met here last night that is riding to maine.
second row left: a tugboat with a load of coal crossing in front of us on the ohio river.
second row right: cailyn on the ferry as we cross the ohio river.
third row left: me with the bikes on the ferry as we cross thr ohio river.
third row right: the dad and four kids that are riding on the two tandems and one single bike.
bottom left: cailyn riding along.
bottom right: our tent that we have called home many times over the last two and a half weeks.
today has been great being with mom and dad and not cycling. although, i must say, my legs are more sore today i think than they have been the entire trip. i guess they just haven't been stretched back out. so i am a little nervous to see how they are going to feel when we get back on the bikes tomorrow.
this afternoon we (in dad's truck) crossed back over the river on the ferry and went back to the last town that we passed through. turns out it is an amish influenced town and we drove around a little and then found a great placed called the front porch to eat lunch/dinner. it was good food for sure. as we were finishing eating, we noticed that it was starting to look like a big storm was rolling in, which wouldn't have been a big deal, accept that we had washed our clothes in the tub and had them hanging out on the balcony drying. so we quickly headed back towards home, and just before we got back to the ferry it started to pour. to the point where there were whitecaps on the river going upstream. needless to say, the ferry was not running for about 10 minutes while the heart of the storm passed by. eventually though, the worst of the storm was over and they loaded us on the ferry. the crossing was still awfully choppy...to the point where there were a few waves the came up and over the front of the ferry.
the day off has also given us a chance to reanalyze the maps to see where we stand with the entirety of our trip. it looks like if we are able to average 60 miles a day for the rest of our trips we will be able to get to yellowstone with a couple of days to spare. so we are thinking barring mechanical or medical issues, we whould easily make yellowstone because 60 miles a day shouldn't be a problem at all. and we may end up going a little past yellowstone, it just depends on how things come along over the next few weeks. or, we may also consider just hanging out for our final few days around yellowstone and just see more of the park. we will see.
tomorrow it will be back on the bikes bright and early in the morning (because it is supposed to be hot and sunny again), and we should be through illinois and into missouri by friday and then our good friend justin schroeder will come and meet us on saturday to start riding across missouri. it will be really fun to have some additional company and to be able to share with him what we have been learning and experiencing for the last 3 weeks.
oh, and dad just reminded me, when we got back from our crazy ferry ride, we pulled into the parking lot and there was a female wild turkey with a few really cute, really young babies following behind it. cute little things for sure!
Day 15 : A Stinky Kind of a Day...
From Utica, KY to Cave in Rock State Park, IL - ~82 miles
last night when we arrived in utica, we realized that we had crossed into the central time zone…we were glad to take in our extra hour of sleep. however, we did decide that being in a new time zone would give us light earlier in the day and so we would try to get out on the road even earlier to try to avoid some of the heat. so we were on the road by a little before 6 am, trying to beat the heat. we quickly knocked off 25 miles before the heat got up too high, and we decided we would stop at the sebree dairy bar for a quick breakfast. they had great biscuits and gravy…and interestingly, they were located on highway 41 which is the same highway that runs through kentland, where cailyn is from. we ate quick and tried to get back out on the road before it got any hotter.
we continued into dixon, where we stopped and got some powerade and filled our bottles up with ice, and then on into clay, where we stopped at a great little deli/diner and eat had a chicken salad sandwich and got our camelpacks willed with ice again, because it was going to be 22 miles from clay before we got to our next services. while we were in clay, cailyn had a great conversation with a cute, seemingly lonely, gentlemen who was leaving the restaurant as we were coming in. it is those types of interactions that really make this trip great!
we got back out on the road a little before two, and it was most definitely hot. as we began to ride, we noticed that there were clouds building out in front of us a little ways. often we are hoping to avoid any rain that we can, but today we were just hoping that we could get to the clouds and rain, because the thought of it raining on us sounded like a wonderful thing to say the least. we never really caught up with the rain, but we did catch up with the clouds and with a fair amount of wet pavement that indicated that it had rained just out ahead of us. and let me just say, those clouds were about the biggest help we could have gotten today. it helped to keep the temperatures down at least a little and they also gave us some shelter from the sun, which was much needed as we are both suffering from some sun poisoning.
as a side note, and in reference to the title for the day…today has been an incredibly smelly day. during the morning hours, we rode passed a bunch of huge chicken farms, which smelled awful to say the least. and if you have not had that experience before, just consider yourself lucky. and then in the afternoon, we went passed a number of large cattle operations where the cattle were just laying 6 inches deep in their own “stuff”…which as you can also imagine, made for quite the smell. all in all, a pretty stinky type of a day.
we made one final stop in marion to get a couple of power bars to give us the needed energy to make the final 12 mile push to get to the ohio river to take the ferry across to Cave in Rock State Park where we would be meeting mom and dad. we started in on our last 12 miles and watched as the miles counted up (we have noticed that in kentucky they seem to do some unique numbering of miles on their county roads. there doesn’t always seem to be a method to the madness…they appear to usually be counting either up or down from some intersection. and in this case, they were counting up from the intersection that we had been at in marion.). so, as the miles passed by, we got closer to the ferry and to our first rest day of the trip. we quickly reached the ferry and rolled right on to a mostly loaded boat. we parked our bikes on the side of the ferry and watched as a massive barge of coal passed in front of us. before long, we were off across the river, and then it was back on the bikes to roll off the other side (and surprisingly, it was free to cross over on the ferry, which I couldn’t believe).
we had just another ½ mile or so to get into the state park, with one last big hill to get us up to the lodge. we arrived at the lodge and called mom and dad to discover that they were still about 30 minutes away, so we were able to check in, get the bikes settled in, and get showered up before they arrived. the place that we are staying here is super nice, much nicer than any of us expected, and certainly the nicest accommodations of our trip. thanks mom and dad!
we headed up to the lodge for dinner and about half way through our meal, there were some other people that walked in and sat a couple of tables down from us that looked like cyclists. then when we saw that they had a map out on the table and a drysack along side it, we were pretty positive they were cyclists as well. so as we finished our meal, i walked over and asked them if they were cyclists as well, and sure enough they were. it turns out they are riding from memphis to maine, using two of the other adventure cycling association routes, and this is the one location on our two routes where our paths intersect. just so happens we were both at the right place at the right time. they had been living in memphis this past year, but are originally from maine and have a home in maine, and so they are cycling back home. they both had great, what I would assume are, maine accents. they seemed like a really great couple. i was telling mom as we walked back to our room, there is something really cool about meeting people that are also doing such a unique thing. no matter how different we may typically be from them, we can now almost always be great friends, simply because of the uniqueness of what we are doing. i think there is something there to be learned about loving others and about being friends with people as Christ would have been with others. i guess it is really about seeing the uniquenesses instead of the differences.
well, it is nice to know that we will not be cycling tomorrow. that we will just get to relax, hang out with the family, and let the legs and skin rest. it is much needed to say the least! it will be nice!
Day 14 : Some Awesome Company...
From Sonora, KY to Utica, KY - ~92 miles
we awoke this morning from a very very muggy night of attempting to sleep, at 5 am. we had the bikes loaded, a breakfast of muffins leftover from yesterday in our stomachs, and were out on the road by 6:20 am. we really wanted to be on the road early since yesterday was hot and windy. the best way to try to remedy both of those things is to get out early and get the miles logged.
the beginning of our ride was awesome! we logged miles super fast, and we didn’t see our first car (in either direction) until almost an hour into our ride. we quickly knocked out our first 26 miles, and decided to stop for an early “lunch” (it was about 9:30 am) of sandwiches. we scarfed our sandwiches and then quickly got back on the bikes to try to cover the miles while it was still fairly cool. however, it wasn’t much longer and the heat was up, however the wind was not as bad as it was yesterday.
the day moved along pretty normally, with the exception of the heat. we decided to take a break from the heat and get some much needed calories into our system at a little ma and pa restaurant just outside of fordsville, ky. it was much like all the other ma and pa restaurants in small town america. lots of local folks, local service, and greasy food.
we ordered a large pizza, an order of breadsticks, and some sodas…which hit the spot for sure. and let me just say, we were not in any hurry at all to get out of the air conditioning and back onto the bikes. so after we finished our food, we just kind of relaxed in hopes that it would get cooler. in the meantime, we struck up a conversation with the two guys sitting at the booth behind us. a father and son, who could not have hidden the fact that they were father and son if the world depended on it.
they were incredibly nice and very interested in our trip…what we were doing and where we were going. we told them that we were trying to make it 30 more miles today, in order to leave us 82 for tomorrow so that we could meet cailyn’s parents at Cave in Rock State Park. at that point, the guy just up and offered to put us and our bikes in his truck and drive us to Cave in Rock. i believe his words were, “it should only take us two and a half hours”. and as tempting as it was, we said that we should probably stick with riding…it kind of felt like cheating. then he said, “well I could take you as far as utica.” (where we are staying tonight) but again, we really appreciated the offer, but felt like we should just ride the miles. the guy was just amazingly nice, and it was apparent that he genuinely cared about us and was interested in helping us.
we chatted a little longer, and then they said that they needed to get going to make it back for church. they went up to the register, paid, and hit the road. we decided it was time to fill our waters, pay for our food, and get on the road as well. cailyn went to get started on the waters, while i went to pay for the food…however, when i got to the register, our waitress informed me that the guy that had been at the booth behind us had paid for our food. man…people are amazing…it may seem like there are no good people left in this world…but that is simply not true. a complete stranger just moments before, and he paid for our food!
i think the biggest thing that I have learned and been challenged by to this point in this trip is generosity. i don’t feel like i am always the most generous person, and to have people like this guy and my friend pervis, and the guy that gave us a ride when we broke down, be so generous…it is working on me in a great way i think.
so, we got our waters filled and got ready to tackle the last 30 miles for the day in what was still an absolutely blistering heat. before we got out of the parking lot, though, a truck pulled in with two older guys in it, who I wasn’t sure if they were smoking their cigarettes or eating them, and began to ask us questions about our bikes. they just seemed to be astonished by the way that they worked. and actually, for whatever reason, we seemed to get a lot of interest in our bikes and their uniqueness today.
after talking to them for a few minutes, we finally got back on the road. we actually were able to finish the last 30 miles without too much trouble, although we did have to stop again for more gatorade. (it was probably our third gatorade stop of the day) i just have to say, if you have stock in gatorade, we did our part today to pay for your retirement. we just couldn’t get enough gatorade today!
from the beginning of the day, we were planning on getting to utica, ky because we had heard from another cyclist that they had a nice fire station that hosts cyclists. as we rolled into town, we immediately noticed what looked like a fire house, but it looked brand new, to the point where it may not even be open yet. so we went to the gas station across the street to see if they knew anything about it. they suggested we ride over to the fire house and just see if there was anyone here (which we didn’t think there was anyone, because there weren’t any cars). however, as we rolled up to the building, we could see people inside. next thing we know, the front door pops open, and a young girl, maybe 11 or 12, says come on in. we wheel our bikes inside, to find that there are 5 other cyclists here for the night. a family…well, part of a family. it is a family with 9 kids. 4 of the children and the dad are doing this trip. and get this, they are riding a recumbent tandem, a regular tandem, and one singular bike. they seem like an amazing family. this is like their 32nd day of their tour…the same distance that we have gone in 14. but they are making it one day at a time. it was awesome to be here with them tonight! there is something so cool about watching large families interact!
tomorrow we will shoot for 82 miles…hopefully as quickly as possible…which should be aided by our excitement about seeing mom and dad and also about having our first rest day of the trip. man is it going to be nice to let the legs rest for a day!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)