Hey Guys! This will be a quick update!
Ever since we left Charleston, WV it has been an ascent into the mountains. Many of the grades are 9-10% and we have done a few mountain passes so far.
The views have been incredible over the past 3 days! Experiencing the mountains on a bicycle is probably the most personal way to do it, second to backpacking. You smell the mountains, you see many things you wouldn't see in a car, and you hear the noises of the mountains. Also, their is nothing like climbing for a few hours at 3-7mph and descending a twisty curvy road at speeds of 30-50mph in just a few minutes.
I saw a bear for the first time when we were having dinner by a little stream. It was a little cub but we didn't see the mother. It was probably only 150 feet away.
Right now we are resting in a Library in Pocahontas County, I do not know the name of the town that we are in. We should be out of the mountain range in the next few days.
6 More Days of the Trek
11 Days Solo
1 Day on a Bus
1 Day in a Car
3 Days in Durango, CO (Doing the Iron Horse Classic -- 3 Rocky Mountain Passes in 50 Miles... Durango to Silverton is the route)
3 Days in Taos, NM
1 Day car ride to Lindenwood.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
In Charleston, WV
After a long day of riding yesterday, we arrived in Charleston, WV.
We had a semi early start after a night of barhopping and riding Huntington's new critical mass route rolling 12 deep. Once we were rolling in the morning we were moving quite fast. It was a beautiful ride through the hills of West Virginia, all seemed well.
About 2 hours into the ride, Lucy & Nathalie were about a quarter mile back so we stopped to let them catch up but as soon as we stopped every car in the line of traffic pulled up to tell us "they wrecked!" or "they crashed!" so we really didn't know what was going on. I took off and road back to where they were and sure enough, they had wrecked. Nathalie had gotten off the road a bit and couldn't get back on the road because of a 4 inch lip then Lucy ran over the back over her bike bending her back wheel up in a somewhat hardshell taco form. Luckily their were only minor scrapes. We called the LBS and they came and picked up Nathalie and the rest of us rode into meet her and have lunch in St. Alban, WV.
We take off from lunch and about 30 minutes later I look back and everyone is pulled off of the road. I stopped and they were starting to get off of their bikes. I rode back over to them to find Remy with a broken spoke! We disassembled his bike and contemplated how to fix it, we had the spokes, but because of the location of the broken spoke we were unable to make any headway with it, and then it started to pour. Here we are with a disassembled bike, everyone lounging, and it's pouring... we ran for the overpass. We were somewhat dry under there but still had no idea what to do about Remy. We called our hosts and they were more than willing to come out and pick Remy up which was awesome!
Soon, the 5 of us, made the quick 30 minute trip into Charleston, WV to a nice quiet neighborhood that sits right on the riverfront. We will be spending today (the 18th) as a rest day with the other Seattle group making us 30 something strong on the road now!
9 Days Left on the Trek to Reenergize America.
Followed by an 11 day solo tour.
Followed by 7 days in Taos, NM Biking & Video Editing.
Followed the day after by move in for RA Training.
We had a semi early start after a night of barhopping and riding Huntington's new critical mass route rolling 12 deep. Once we were rolling in the morning we were moving quite fast. It was a beautiful ride through the hills of West Virginia, all seemed well.
About 2 hours into the ride, Lucy & Nathalie were about a quarter mile back so we stopped to let them catch up but as soon as we stopped every car in the line of traffic pulled up to tell us "they wrecked!" or "they crashed!" so we really didn't know what was going on. I took off and road back to where they were and sure enough, they had wrecked. Nathalie had gotten off the road a bit and couldn't get back on the road because of a 4 inch lip then Lucy ran over the back over her bike bending her back wheel up in a somewhat hardshell taco form. Luckily their were only minor scrapes. We called the LBS and they came and picked up Nathalie and the rest of us rode into meet her and have lunch in St. Alban, WV.
We take off from lunch and about 30 minutes later I look back and everyone is pulled off of the road. I stopped and they were starting to get off of their bikes. I rode back over to them to find Remy with a broken spoke! We disassembled his bike and contemplated how to fix it, we had the spokes, but because of the location of the broken spoke we were unable to make any headway with it, and then it started to pour. Here we are with a disassembled bike, everyone lounging, and it's pouring... we ran for the overpass. We were somewhat dry under there but still had no idea what to do about Remy. We called our hosts and they were more than willing to come out and pick Remy up which was awesome!
Soon, the 5 of us, made the quick 30 minute trip into Charleston, WV to a nice quiet neighborhood that sits right on the riverfront. We will be spending today (the 18th) as a rest day with the other Seattle group making us 30 something strong on the road now!
9 Days Left on the Trek to Reenergize America.
Followed by an 11 day solo tour.
Followed by 7 days in Taos, NM Biking & Video Editing.
Followed the day after by move in for RA Training.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
In Huntington, WV
Well the past few days have been interesting!
Yesterday we started out from Owingsville, KY and headed out for Grayson, KY. After a long debate in the middle of the horse race track where we were camping we decided to ride about 20 miles and stop at the Library to try and get the website up and running again.
We made it about a mile and then decided to stop and charge electronics since all the iPods were dead and most importantly my iPhone which is our GPS! After another wasted hour or two it is almost noon and we are on the road again.
After a quick 2 hour ride we roll into Morehead, KY. A quiet college town nestled at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. We swarmed the library and then swarmed the state university stealing all the wi-fi we could get our hands on. We still could not get the site updated so we decided to ride on, it was almost 6.
Around 8 we roll into the quaint town of Olive Hill, KY. Luckily, a few hours earlier, I called the fire department to see if they knew of a place we could stay and the man on the phone joyfully said ¨We have a yard here! Stay with us!¨ and that we did. As soon as we rolled up we were met by what seemed to be the entire fire department and there families!
We introduced ourselves and the assistant fire chief soon told us the exciting news that they had left over food! Spaghetti, Salad and all the goodies, fresh french bread, and many desserts. Ends up they just had their monthly meeting and had all the food left over, once we got our paws on it, there was no food left.
After a night of jolly people, a lot of internet, a redesigned website, it was nice to hit the hay in a cold carpeted room.
In the morning we woke up and ate a good breakfast with cold milk, fresh fruit, and all kinds of other goodies, we headed off into the sunrise ( it was then 10am). We made it .6 miles before I noticed that Kelly had a flat tire (she is the queen of flat tires).
We immediately pulled off and all layed down in the shade while Kelly got to work on her bike. The tire was fixed, pumped, and we put the bike back upright and it was already flat again. Round 2, we put in another tube, pumped it up, loaded the bike up, and it was flat... again!!! Round 3, FLAT AGAIN!
At this point we just decided we should eat and decide what to do... After a nice meal behind a discount cigarette shop we thought we would hitch hike, at least two of us, the chosen were kelly with the battered bike and nathalie her security.
Soon someone we ran into a few hours earlier offered to take us at 5 PM into Huntington, buttttttt at the same time I received a text from our host and informed him of our current situation. He then told us that he´d be able to help us out!!!! Sure enough, 2 hours later, we were ALL picked up (it takes two vehicles) and taken into Huntington, WV.
Upon arrival Kelly & I Rode to ¨Jeff´s Bikes,¨a local shop and picked up some new drink mixes and tubes. Then headed to the grocery and back to our hosts who are fixing up a pleasant BBQ in the back yard!
All in all, A very lazy but very good day!
Yesterday we started out from Owingsville, KY and headed out for Grayson, KY. After a long debate in the middle of the horse race track where we were camping we decided to ride about 20 miles and stop at the Library to try and get the website up and running again.
We made it about a mile and then decided to stop and charge electronics since all the iPods were dead and most importantly my iPhone which is our GPS! After another wasted hour or two it is almost noon and we are on the road again.
After a quick 2 hour ride we roll into Morehead, KY. A quiet college town nestled at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. We swarmed the library and then swarmed the state university stealing all the wi-fi we could get our hands on. We still could not get the site updated so we decided to ride on, it was almost 6.
Around 8 we roll into the quaint town of Olive Hill, KY. Luckily, a few hours earlier, I called the fire department to see if they knew of a place we could stay and the man on the phone joyfully said ¨We have a yard here! Stay with us!¨ and that we did. As soon as we rolled up we were met by what seemed to be the entire fire department and there families!
We introduced ourselves and the assistant fire chief soon told us the exciting news that they had left over food! Spaghetti, Salad and all the goodies, fresh french bread, and many desserts. Ends up they just had their monthly meeting and had all the food left over, once we got our paws on it, there was no food left.
After a night of jolly people, a lot of internet, a redesigned website, it was nice to hit the hay in a cold carpeted room.
In the morning we woke up and ate a good breakfast with cold milk, fresh fruit, and all kinds of other goodies, we headed off into the sunrise ( it was then 10am). We made it .6 miles before I noticed that Kelly had a flat tire (she is the queen of flat tires).
We immediately pulled off and all layed down in the shade while Kelly got to work on her bike. The tire was fixed, pumped, and we put the bike back upright and it was already flat again. Round 2, we put in another tube, pumped it up, loaded the bike up, and it was flat... again!!! Round 3, FLAT AGAIN!
At this point we just decided we should eat and decide what to do... After a nice meal behind a discount cigarette shop we thought we would hitch hike, at least two of us, the chosen were kelly with the battered bike and nathalie her security.
Soon someone we ran into a few hours earlier offered to take us at 5 PM into Huntington, buttttttt at the same time I received a text from our host and informed him of our current situation. He then told us that he´d be able to help us out!!!! Sure enough, 2 hours later, we were ALL picked up (it takes two vehicles) and taken into Huntington, WV.
Upon arrival Kelly & I Rode to ¨Jeff´s Bikes,¨a local shop and picked up some new drink mixes and tubes. Then headed to the grocery and back to our hosts who are fixing up a pleasant BBQ in the back yard!
All in all, A very lazy but very good day!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
A weekend in Louisville, KY
The Group!
L to R
Kelly, Me, Natalie, Aur (our host), Anne Caroline (the disciple), Remy, and Lucy
Early last week from the road we heard about "Forecastle," a huge three day music, arts, & activism festival taking place in Louisville which is where we'd be this past weekend. Upon hearing about it Lucy decided to email and see what we could do about getting in to the festival and sure enough we were able to get in free, and VIP.
Friday we rolled into town early after a short 20 something mile day that involved a rural 13 mile long subdivision of overdone houses and 4 or 5 miles on interstate where we had to take our own lane just past the morning rush hour. Whizzing by were tractor trailers, cars, and motorcycles but luckily we crossed into Louisville then appeared bike lanes and many bikers everywhere we looked!
We ate a picnic soon after arriving in downtown Louisville outside the festival gates followed by a quick 9 mile ride to our hosts home! Mark Thomson & Family provided us with a wonderful basement & futon as well as two meals that were great!
Back to Forecastle, it was an amazing festival! Many festivals i've been to have organic and clean energy booths but they usually do not amount to much.. mainly peta and other organizations that are usually just trying to make a scene, or so it seems. This festival was much more laid back with booths from all over the midwest promoting a sustainable way of living, bicycling and walking as the best mode of transportation, and many other admirable things and none of them were in your face about it. I thought that was very cool.
All in all, it was a great weekend!
I have been on the road for 14 days and logged a few hundred miles (not sure how much). 2 weeks until Washington, D.C. followed by two more weeks until Pittsburgh, PA.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Long time, No Blog...
So, I've been on the road for almost 2 weeks now biking across the United States. I told myself I would blog everyday, but that hasn't happened, but now i'm going to try. I have a big blog coming to update you until now... but until then you will have to deal with these little tid bits that I throw your way from Libraries across the country...
Today we started out on the western edge of the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana. Last night we got a little bit of rain and had a wonderful dinner under the porch of an 1800's smokehouse that overlooked a lake.
I've found that on the road I eat a lot healthier than I do at home. Meatless, which I already do, but fishless (almost) as well. It is almost all frest fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, cheese, and of course some candy to top it off!
I am currently really ready for a nap and since we've arrived at our days destination, Corydon, Indiana, I can do so. I feel like i've been here before, in fact I know I have but I just can't remember when...
Exciting News! We are going to a huge music festival called "Forecastle" where you are supposed to ride your bike and then they have bike valet parking, which we are all stoked on. But the coolest part is that we contacted the festival and told them what we were doing and now we are getting to meet the producer of the event and we get to have an interview with him one on one!! Oh and we get in free;) ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA!!!
But since we have to go to Louisville for this festival we are getting up around 4 AM to peace out. Tonight we will probably be camping outside the christian church, they had a sign out that said "July 19th - - Bike Blessing followed by a 40-50 mile bike ride." ohhhh yaaaaa.
Pictures are to come soon!
Today we started out on the western edge of the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana. Last night we got a little bit of rain and had a wonderful dinner under the porch of an 1800's smokehouse that overlooked a lake.
I've found that on the road I eat a lot healthier than I do at home. Meatless, which I already do, but fishless (almost) as well. It is almost all frest fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, cheese, and of course some candy to top it off!
I am currently really ready for a nap and since we've arrived at our days destination, Corydon, Indiana, I can do so. I feel like i've been here before, in fact I know I have but I just can't remember when...
Exciting News! We are going to a huge music festival called "Forecastle" where you are supposed to ride your bike and then they have bike valet parking, which we are all stoked on. But the coolest part is that we contacted the festival and told them what we were doing and now we are getting to meet the producer of the event and we get to have an interview with him one on one!! Oh and we get in free;) ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA!!!
But since we have to go to Louisville for this festival we are getting up around 4 AM to peace out. Tonight we will probably be camping outside the christian church, they had a sign out that said "July 19th - - Bike Blessing followed by a 40-50 mile bike ride." ohhhh yaaaaa.
Pictures are to come soon!
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