June 25th- Baker City, Oregon!

I wanted to update today, but I'm at a library with fairly ancient computers, so I can't get any pictures to download. So we'll try & update again soon somewhere else. But we're in Oregon!! Only a few hundred more miles & we'll be done!

Lolo Hot Springs to Idaho!

No more rain please

I think this picture was actually from the day before- oh well

Idaho! We're almost home!

The wonderful lodge where I had prime rib!

We stayed at Lolo hot springs last night & enjoyed a little bit of time in the springs which our muscles enjoyed. We chatted with the campground manager for awhile, who we discovered rode horseback for two years from Montana to Panama- crazy!! It rained all night long, which is always a joy. It has rained EVERY day since Pueblo. Thats been rain everyday for 2 weeks +! What the heck? I'm so sick of the crud weather. Seems like the whole nation has had a real shotty June. 

We stopped for lunch at a cute little lodge (the only place to eat for about 70 mile) that had really good food. We met our first female TransAmerica cyclists there. Two college-aged girls who are riding eastbound. They seem a little more in shape for the trip than we were, so it should go a little smoother for them. 

After we left the lodge we were just cruising along, & I was lamenting the crappy weather and wishing we didn't have our beast trailers along (I don't mean to be the huge whiner that I am, but the extra weight of the trailer causes me extra grief on the mt. passes because my back just starts to throb where I had surgery, and then I get some weird paranoia that I'll have to go through it all again- blah) when I looked up and saw a familiar vehicle. Dad! He has been in Idaho for a fly in, and we haven't had phone service for a couple days & apparently our GPS tracker hasn't been working (out of batteries but we didn't realize it) so he was a little worried & decided to back track & make sure we were ok. No complaints here- we loaded our trailers into that car and enjoyed some more load-free riding. Honestly, you can't compare the two, riding without the load seems to increase our speed two fold. Then of course it started pouring down rain & temps dropped into the 40s, so we went off route & got a hotel. 

We're not too far from Oregon!

Hamilton to Lolo Hot Springs, MT

Our site on the river

Part of our ride today consisted of 16 miles of bike path. I love not having to ride on the highway for a spell- Thanks Montana DOT! When we were stopped at a gas station in Lolo, a guy came up to us and lectured us on the dangers of biking the Lolo pass, which we'll go through for the next 30 some miles. My favorite part of the conversation was when he told us "You know, I have a motorhome, I can't slow down for bikers. Either I hit them or I hit the semi in the oncoming lane, and I'm not going to hit a semi." Hmm, I completely forgot that they no longer equip motorhomes with brakes. Seriously sir, consider letting off the gas for a second if it comes down to it. Overall we have found the drivers throughout the trip to be pretty great, but I hate stupid comments like that. It's not like a bike takes up a whole lane. Go around. 

Dillon, MT to Hamilton, MT

We made it into a cute little campground on the river near Hamilton, MT. The father has to leave now for an airshow in Idaho, so we're back to carrying our trailers. It was such a nice break... sigh. We camped near a group of middle school kids who were cycling on a historic tour of the Lewis & Clark trail. One of the teachers had started a non-profit and during the summers he takes group of students on different bike tours, mostly in the Montana region. He suggested I be a teacher, and then I could do the same. hmmm, I forgot that I'm going to have to get a real job soon. 

The campground was about 4 miles from town on a nice little bike path, so we rode into town and hung out for a little bit, enjoying even more of Montana. We decided we want to do a bike trip just through here sometime. 

West Yellowstone to Dillon, Montana

Historic Virginia City

Earthquake lake, formed by-you guessed it- an earthquake

Montana has been wonderful! It is such a beautiful state. One of the things that surprises us the most is how much different it is being here than say Kansas. In Kansas when we would enter a town of 1,500 people, there was usually 1 grocery store that closed by 6 pm, and 1 restaurant that offered burgers, cheeseburgers, & maybe a ham sandwich (thick white bread, a slab of processed ham, and Kraft singles cheese- mmm, tempt me more). Now in Montana we'll go into a town of 1500, and it will be bustling little tourist destination with several restaurants (including my favorite- sushi!), cute boutiques, organic grocery stores & normal grocery stores (that are still open when we get into town, which is key), and even when you go into what looks like a down home eatery there is a nice little diverse crowd of local farmers, fisherman, and everyday folk- all dressed in Patagonia and North Face. It's quite interesting the difference. But we are really loving Montana- all the towns and the scenery, and wishing more of our trip had been this gorgeous.

Grand Tetons and Yellowstone!

I have about 100 pictures from the national parks, but here's a few. The Tetons were phenomenal. I've been here before, but it never ceases to amaze. You see something different everyday, and if you pay attention there is always wildlife on the side of the road (and we saw several herd of buffalo). There was a ton of road construction going on when we entered the park, and they weren't allowing bikers (they were loading them in the pace cars) so we felt lucky that Dad is still with us and we can just go in our car & not try and lift our trailers into their big trucks. Also, when we got into the parks we tried to find a campsite and EVERY single spot was taken. I think there was a few RV spots, but if we wanted to pitch our tent there we had to pay a whopping $70 +. That sounds fair to me. I'm glad that the parks make plenty of RV spots and few tent spots, to really encourage the more eco-friendly version of camping. Some campgrounds will let you pitch your tent on an RV spot for the tent rate, but God forbid Yellowstone pass up on a little extra cash. But enough of the rant- we ended up having to go out of the parks to West Yellowstone (which was another 50 miles or so from where we were at, so again thank goodness Dad is still with us!)

Brief Review...

We made it into Wyoming! Since Dad is driving along with us, we took advantage of the use of a vehicle and cut a little time off our trip. There is a 120 mile stretch in Wyoming with no services which we decided we did not want to ride. Plus we're running a little low on the cash, so any extra push forward will help save there. Colorado was absolutely beautiful & we were told from bikers we passed a little bit ago that Wyoming was kind of blah, but we found the area we went through was quite pretty (those guys hadn't gone through Kansas yet, so I'm not sure they had the appropriate gauge of nothingness). 

This portion of our trip has by far surpassed the previous half. The scenery has been unbelievable, the food has finally gotten good, and even the riding has been pleasant. I think if I were to ever do a trip of this length again I would just ride Oregon to Colorado and double back on a different route - no offense rest of the country, it's just prettier. 

Hoosier Pass!

Dillon Reservoir

Breckenridge

Highest point on the trip- 11,539 feet!

bike path on the side of the road

Fairplay- right next to South Park

We bike our highest point on the trip today, Hoosier Pass. Since my dad is driving along with us for the week, we don't have to carry our gear which is awesome & feels incredible to be light riding! The first ten miles were awkward because we have had to drag along the dead bodies for so long- but it was glorious! We were amazed at our ability to climb the mountains, Hoosier Pass didn't take that long at all given the huge elevation gain, & the only thing that hurt was our lungs since the air is so thin up here. Biking through the Rockies is phenomenal- we knew Colorado was going to be better! We're looking forward to some more natural beauty throughout Colorado & again when we get into the Tetons. 

Denver!

We had a fantastic break in Denver. The parents stayed in a hotel & I stayed with Molly & Jason. We did some touring around & went to the Red Rocks, & Molly & I got to look at some wedding dresses which was really fun (she's getting married!!), and we ate real food! It was a much needed break & we both enjoyed every second of it!  And I want to move to Colorado!

Ordway to Pueblo, CO 54 miles

Fixing a trailer flat

Hotel Ordway

We left our cute little hostel early in hopes to make it to Pueblo in time for a sushi lunch. The weather wasn't horrific & we were making pretty good time. I ran over one of those blasted little tack burrs and got a flat on my trailer, but apparently we're getting much more skilled at flat fixing and it didn't take too terribly long. We hit some nasty winds the last 10 miles, but we made it into Pueblo, which is the 2nd largest town on our route and means that we are more than halfway!! I also got to eat sushi for the first time in like 7 weeks, so pretty happy about that. Next we are going to take a detour to Denver and hang out with friends & dad!

Eads to Ordway, CO 65 miles

Miles of unused train cars

the infamous outhouse operated by Cathryn (below), much better than the side of the road and operated solely for the bikers

This was the only place to stop for food for the day. Another meal of sunchips & tea

Got a little lucky today and had no real winds. We started to pass a ton of bikers biking West to East. In Tribune we had passed a guy from England (biking without a helmet- genius) and today we encountered 7 more bikers (all guys- so far we have yet to see other females doing this although we know they are out there). One of the guys has been touring since 2002. He's been through all of Europe, Japan, China, Canada, etc., and now he is riding to Columbia. Crazy! 

We're starting to see the mountains now and we can't wait! We won't be sad to leave behind the flat, windy, and sparse territory that we have been biking through. Although I can say that everybody in Kansas was incredibly friendly - although not as friendly as Kentucky (I mean, nobody tried to get in bed with us). 

We will spend the night in a cute little hostel called Hotel Ordway.

June 6th Scott City, KS to Eads, Colorado

We left Scott City at 5:30 am with hopes of beating the afternoon winds but no such luck. It was already windy when we woke up at 4 am. We stayed at a "hostel" last night, a cute little Athletic club that allows bikers to sleep in their lodge & use their showers, etc. I forgot to take a picture.

The riding was same old Kansas, windy & hot. We made it into Tribune where we were planning on staying but the only hotel in town had some sort of crime scene investigation going on, and the camping was super sketchy, so we had to make a choice to move on. Unfortunately there wasn't another place to stay until Eads, which was another 58 miles (on top of the 50 some we had already done). We knew we weren't going to be able to make it, so we ended up hitchhiking with a farmer, who we had really interesting conversations about the government & farming with (and I finally learned how a grain elevator works- which I had asked about 10 people and they all didn't really know). We got to stay in Eads, which is a dirty little town with just about nothing there. The only restaurants in town were closed, and so was the store, so it was another nasty meal of gas station food for us. 

June 4th Ness City to Scott City, KS 58 miles

This is Kansas!

We hit headwinds again today which was disappointing, but we were very excited to make it into Scott City because we had packages & we're taking tomorrow off. We made it to the post office before they closed and got all of the delicious food people sent us. Thanks so much to Dustin, Emily & Eric, Annie, and Dad! It's so nice to get some decent snacks!

We've ridden for 7 days straight, so we're going to take a layover day. But we are almost to Colorado. We have been really looking forward to Colorado for a number of reasons. We can't wait for the mountain air & scenery, and to finally be closer to the west, and when we reach Pueblo we will be halfway done! Right now we are over 1900 miles into our trip which is pretty crazy, at Pueblo we'll be over half way into the 4300 miles. My Dad is coming out to Colorado next week so we're really excited for that & I am thrilled to get to spend 3 days in Denver with one my best friends of all time- Molly! Overall we are really looking forward to the 2nd half of the journey more than we did the first. The west is home, and I love the dry air, the mountains, rivers, lakes, and all that beautiful scenery that we haven't seen a whole lot of thus far. The first half of the trip has been really hard, and though I am sure the 2nd half will be equally as grueling, we feel like we'll finally be making some progress, and there will be more places that we actually want to get out and explore versus just trying to get from point a to b. It's definitely been an interesting & challenging trip so far, and while I'm glad I'm doing it I really miss normal life & most of all Dustin & Davis. So while it will be an experience to remember, I don't think I'll shed too many tears when we hit the Pacific Ocean, but we do think we will really enjoy the next month of riding more so than the first. And by Sunday we should have crossed to Colorado border!

June 3rd Big Bend to Ness City, KS 68 miles

Caming at the city park in Ness City

We got lucky with another slightly overcast (hence much cooler) day & more favorable winds so we trucked it into Ness City & camped at the city park. All the little towns along the route have public pools & fields where you can camp for free. We got lucky and there was a girls softball game going on, so we even got free entertainment.

Now I frequently get the question, "Does your rear end hurt?" And the answer is YES. So much so that the first 15 minutes of every bike ride I contemplate whether or not I can hold back my tears. No, we have not gotten used to our bike seats (would you get used to sitting on a 2x4 for 8-10 hours every day?). Honestly with all the technology they have these days you think they would have come up with something better than these ridiculous seats. And it's not like I don't have a cushy hind end. It's probably pretty much the biggest downer on the trip, because no matter how nice the day of riding is, you're still battling intense bum pain. I thought by now it would have at least formed one big callous.

June 2nd Hesston to Big Bend, KS 96 miles!!!

This is what we see about every 8-10 miles or so

We pulled our longest mileage day so far! Yesterday we only rode 20 miles, as I was suffering a little case of food poisoning, and lets face it I'm not stopping on the side of the tree-less road every 5 minutes to take care of business. So we called it a day at 9:30 am and crashed the rest of the day. Then we decided to change up our route again, not cutting off any mileage, but going on some busier roads so we would avoid those long stretches with no services. It was fairly overcast and for the first time ever we had a little bit of tailwinds so we just kept going as far as possible. We actually wanted to stop in another town, as the weather started to turn nasty, but there was nowhere to stay so we made it another 12 miles into the town of Big Bend, KS. It's highly unlikely that we will ever ride this many miles again in a day, but it was good to get caught up.

May 31st Eureka, KS to Newton, KS 72 miles

Curtis Stubbs, our generous host for the night

Kansas "scenery:

Riding before the sun!

It was a pretty brutal day of riding. Unfortunately we had major headwinds again, and in addition the only service stop on our days journey was closed- so we had to truck 70+ miles with no cold beverages, and only the delicious (note, bagels with peanut butter are only delicious once a month, not everyday) food in our packs. It was another hot one to top things off, and about 50 miles into the day I was done for. I think the last 20 miles literally took the amount of time as the first 50. I feel sorry for the mother, because when I've had no protein for several hours I'm a real ray of sunshine to be around.

Our plan was to make it into Newton, but about 5 miles east of town another rider, Curtis Stubbs (heading east), stopped and asked if we wanted an air conditioned place to stay. Now, given our last encounter staying with people (recall scantily clad Kentucky creeper) I was a little wary, but too tired to really care. We followed him to his home (with the plan that if anything felt odd we were out of there), but he was a really nice retired high school counselor, who does quite a bit of touring himself so all was ok there. He and his wife live in a "dome" house (hippies in Kansas, who would have thought?) and he rode the Adventure Cycling "Underground Railroad" route last summer. I chugged about a gallon of water and then we rode into town to eat dinner & he actually called a guy he knew was good with bikes (there are NO bike shops on the route at all in Kansas) and we took mom's bike to him to get it fixed (it wasn't shifting properly). So all in all it was a nice evening, but we were plenty exhausted and not really looking forward to another day of Kansas heat and wind.