A daredevil turtle named Chuck/Tried

A daredevil turtle named Chuck/Tried road-crossing to press his luck/But a cycling man kept thwarting his plan/So in despair he jumped under a truck.

Strong winds from the S

Strong winds from the S & hot temps made me wimp out after 40 today. The route turns S here & I dont want to battle the wind. Will camp here in Cassoday.

Rode 83 w/ the tandemers,

Rode 83 w/ the tandemers, Ralph & Kris from CA, a nice older couple who can really ride. Now Im staying & eating w/ them & their support RV in Marshfield

Kansas is flatter than a pancake

Really:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2003/jul/27/holy_hotcakes_study/

Goodbye Kansas!

7 AM, directly into the 20 mph+ wind for 3 hrs. Not very fun. 2nd grade science question: what direction am I traveling?

My campsite Saturday night in Cassoday, KS.

This picture is pretty self-explanatory:

So Sunday night I'm riding along, and it's getting dark and I need a place to pitch a tent for the evening. I'd heard from several other cyclists that they'd had a lot of luck camping out in churches. I was too far from Chanute to make it before dark, so I decide to pull off the road in Benedict, KS, population 100 or so. After riding through town, I pull up to the dilapidated church that 3 men are at, working in the yard. After asking if I could pitch my tent they eagerly agreed. I was soon introduced to the three men who had just purchased the church, moved from Wichita, and were hard at work restoring it. The pastor, Joe, with a large belly and dirty "Jesus Lives" t-shirt was the clear leader and had bought the church and property for $4000. The youth pastor, Dale, had wild hair and lazy eyes and was eager to talk. James, with the full head of hair and bushy beard just didn't say much at all.

They proceeded to eagerly show me around the church and the work they were doing. It was actually a really neat old church, dating back, from their estimates, to the "John Brown days". They were all living in the church while restoring in and, as could be imagined, it was well lived in. They showed me the bell tower, pews, and the secret trap door used for "hiding slaves". Piled in the middle of the room where they were living were huge stacks of 50 lb military issue powdered milk. There must have been literally thousands of pounds of this powdered milk. Where they got it, I don't know, but they said that they'd put it in 5 gallon buckets and ship it to "people in need". So, if you know anyone who really needs hundreds of pounds of powdered milk, you know who to call. The ironic thing is the following morning I ran out of powdered milk. I was too timid to ask them for some, so I just bought a box in the store the following day.

I didn't really start getting weirded out until Pastor Joe started telling me about his friend's "prophetic dream". Apparently he had a friend in Wichita who had a dream where "seven fat dairy cows" came out from the ground or river or something like that. They were soon followed by seven skinny cows, who, if I'm remembering it right, ate the dairy cows. For those who know your Old Testament, this is quite similar to Pharoah's dream that Joseph correctly interpreted as foretelling of a period of 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. The only significant difference I could tell between the dreams, if I'm remembering it all right, was the significant detail that Pastor Joe's friend's cows were "dairy cows". His friend in the dream asked "Lord, is this similar to the seven years in Joseph's dream?" The Lord replied that it didn't signify seven years, but seven MONTHS! Seven months until some great famine, or economic collapse or the end of the world. I couldn't quite gather which exactly is supposed to happen in 7 months, and I'm not sure when the dream was had and when we're measuring from, but the general gist of the story was that something bad in 7 months. Apparently, we've had four of the five signs that the end is coming (wars, weird weather, a couple others I forget). The fifth, economic collapse, is just around the corner. I gathered from his telling that this was a significant factor in Pastor Joe & Co.'s decision to flee Wichita for the dilapidated church in Benedict. As he's telling this to me, especially when he got to the part about the "seven dairy cows", I really had to exercise some significant self control to not start laughing. I don't think he would have been too pleased if I started laughing. So I just patiently listened until he was done, knowing better than to disagree. I then politely declined their offer for me to sleep in the church, and left early in the morning. The only picture I took was this one in the church. Pastor Joe and Dale are on the right. I'm bummed I didn't take more. Oh well.

One of the 5 turtles I rescued yesterday. In addition to the 3 from the day before and the one from several days ago, this makes a total of 9. Turtles sure like to pee when you pick them up. Having run out of ninja turtle names the day before, I had to start being a little more creative. The five yesterday I named Tammy, Timmy, Tommy, Tara and Ridgeback. I'm not sure which this is.

OK. So yesterday was a nice, fun, long, hot day. I didn't see any other cyclists. A lot of interesting things happened, though. I ate granola before riding and leaving Benedict, McDonald's breakfast at 9 AM, big Sonic burger at 3 PM, and huge Arby's meal (roast beef sandwich, curly fries, mozarella sticks, cherry turnover and soda, all for $5.95!) at 8 PM or so. I think I set some sort of record for amount of fast food in one day. I think I may tone it down a bit. While riding along highway 7 into Girard, I look on the side of the road and what do I see: a 100 dollar bill!! I naturally scour the ditches for more, and find an envelope near the bill with a name written on it: Chadd Spensel. While in Girard I scoured the phonebook, trying to find Mr. Spensel, but to no avail. So I guess my motel room last night got paid for! I also lost a sandal off my bike (my nice new Chacos! :-( ). Also, in Pittsburg they have a really cool community waterpark with slides and a tubing river that I swam in for only $3.25!

So, today I'm taking it easy. I just going to ride 33 miles to Golden City where there is a biker hostel that's supposed to be nice. After just a few miles I leave Kansas and enter Missouri!! I'll stay there tonight, and get a good early start for a long day tommorrow! Thanks for all of the encouragement and comments!

Da zveedanya!!

Rode 88 to Pittsburg, KS.

Rode 88 to Pittsburg, KS. Rescued 5 turtles, found $100, swam @ Pitts. Aquatic Park, lost sandal off bike, ate lots of junk. Gave in & staying @ motel.

Cmpng in yard of old

Cmpng in yard of old church in Benedict being restored by 3 strange Wichita men. Pastor Joe described a dream w/ "7 dairy cows": WORLD ENDS IN 7 MONTHS!

7 AM start. Spent 9.5

7 AM start. Spent 9.5 hrs going 82 in tough winds. Avgd only 6 mph 1st 3 hrs. Went to Methdst church. Met 4 WB cyclists & rescued 3 turtles. 3+1 4 TMNTs!

Strong winds from the S

Strong winds from the S & hot temps made me wimp out after 40 today. The route turns S here & I dont want to battle the wind. Will camp here in Cassoday.

Mission: to catch the tandem couple

Hello friends,

It's Saturday morning at 10:45 AM. I'm here at the library in Newton, KS, and finally was able to post a bunch of pictures, as you can see. I hope you enjoy them all. Newton is a really nice town. As I came into town yesterday, a couple pulled over in their car to talk. They rode some of the TransAmerica trail last year, and live here in Newton. They were really nice and gave me a bunch of tips.

I stocked up on groceries last night, did my laundry, and camped in the really nice city park. This morning I was able to take a shower (for free!) in the community activity center, and now I'm here in the library updating the blog and checking my email before rolling out of town.

I met a guy on the road yesterday who said there is a couple on a tandem that are just a little bit ahead of me going east. Hopefully I can finally catch them today. I'm not off to a good start, though, so I'm going to stop wasting more time and get rolling! It's going to be another scorcher!

The Great Plains: A pictoral tour

Welcome to Eastern Colorado and Kansas:


A cool time-lapse photo of evening thunderstorms in the distance. You can see the lightning lighting the sky. This is in the town park in Eads, Colorado where I camped.
The Athleticlub TV lounge in Scott City, KS where I slept and survived the serial killer attack.My Puddle. Not the most attractive name for an RV park, but here in Kansas even puddles are exciting.
A turtle I rescued off of the road. He was so scared when I walked up to him that he literally peed himself. That was my good deed for the day. I named him Donatello after the best ninja turtle.
Taking a quick nap in the soldier's barracks at Fort Larned, a National Historic Site near, surprisingly, Larned, Kansas.
You have to be careful of those icy Kansas roads! Especially in this 90 degree weather!!
The delicious macaroni-and-cheese-and-extra-pepper-jack-cheese-and-summer-sausage. I couldn't finish it all. This is at the rest stop in Alexander where I was camping for the evening.
Pretty much the most exciting thing I saw that day:

Where I camped last night in the city park here in Newton, Kansas. It was a really nice park.

Colorado in 5 pictures

Me happily pretending to sleep in a trailer by the Arkansas River. I stumbled across a camp of river guides. After asking if I could camp there, one of them offered his trailer for me to sleep in since he wasn't using it that evening. I happily accepted. This was after an 107 mile day.
My view 6 to 9 hours a day. Usually I'm going faster than this.
A beautiful camping spot at a campground alongside a reservoir in Colorado. This was the evening Dad left to drive back to Salt Lake City.
After spending all day climbing over 30 miles and ascending thousands of feet, I finally reached the summit of treacherous MONARCH PASS on the Continental Divide! It was cold.


A cool picture from the reservoir campsite:

Utah pictures

Driving around Utah with Dad:

Dan's last desperate attempt to get a ride to Denver to catch his flight home to AK before caving in and taking a bus:
Biking through Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah. The 8 mile road going through here was closed, so we had it all to ourselves! It was pretty, pretty cold that is. This was over 10,000 ft. There was still a lot of snow up there.
Hiking in Bryce Canyon National Park. Beautiful!!

Thunderstorms last PM.Biked for 7.5

Thunderstorms last PM.Biked for 7.5 hrs against tough headwinds all day to make 70 into Newton.Met guy going W to NM.Did laund & cmpng in city park.

Didnt make the 60 mi

Didnt make the 60 mi b4 dark so I'm cmpng in a cowfield.I hope a cow doesn't trip over my tent in the dark.Cows are dumb like that.Rode 91.I really smell.

I've sure "Larned" a lot

Hey everyone. I'm at the library here in Larned. It's 4:00, and I've been eating and taking a break for a couple of hours. I rode 47 this AM. On the way I passed and talked with a couple of college girls from Holland who started in NY a couple of months ago, are following the TransAmerica trail to Oregon, then are making their way down to Los Angeles. It's really cool running into all of these other cyclists. They told me that there are a couple of couples just a little bit ahead of me, so I'm hoping to ride a lot more today and camp in the same town tonight that they're supposedly staying at (I forget the name). Hopefully I can join up with them for a day or two to have some company. If I keep singing these same songs to myself and the cows day after day I'm going to lose it by the time I reach WV.

It's in the 90s again today, but it's not too bad. I'm just slathering on the sunscreen and drinking more water. I'm also shedding as much weight as I can to speed me down the trail. I just sent a 3 lb, 10 oz. box of stuff that I wasn't using ahead of me to camp. It was mostly extra clothes and such. I'm also shedding pounds on myself. I weighed myself the other night at the Athleticlub, and I had lost 10 lbs.! That Wendy's, McDonalds, KFC & Taco Bell is really doing the trick! Speaking of food, last night I made a box of macaroni in the rest stop I was staying in, BUT I added a bunch of pepper jack cheese and summer sausage. The entire pot was probably 2000 calories. It was really good, and I'd like to say that I finished it, but, alas, it was just too much for me. It's the 1st time this trip I haven't been able to finish my plate.

Well, I need to go because I have about 5 hrs to try making 60 miles before it gets dark. Plus, I have to go to the bathroom. I'm starting to feel the Wendy's burgers and Sonic shake I had for lunch...

Spent the AM grocerying &

Spent the AM grocerying & interneting in SC.Started riding @ 1130.Hot in 90s.Met 2 guys biking west & 8 lunch w/ NY Dan. Cmpng @ rest stop in Alexander.

Kansas 101

Hey everyone. I'm here at the library in Scott City, Kansas Wednesday morning. Last night I stayed at the "Athleticlub", a gym/fitness center that they let cyclists stay in overnight for $9. It was kind of weird because they just lock you in, and there you are, sleeping by yourself in this big fitness center. They had me sleeping in the lounge/TV room on the couches. It was nice because I was able to shower and relax some. I was tempted to sneak into the pool or hot tub at midnight, but I didn't. No one would have known if I had. When I was getting ready to go to bed, I started getting kind of creeped out. Just me, alone, in the big center, no one else around except the SERIAL KILLER IN THE SHOWER ROOM!!!

I was happy that I got a nice long day yesterday. I avoiding getting started riding today. It's nearly 11, though, so I should get going. Yesterday was in the mid-90s, and it's supposed to get hotter today. Thank goodness for my Camelback. I was just sucking the water down yesterday, going through 100 oz or so every couple of hours.

I'm definitely in Kansas now. It's nice and flat. It's boring, but makes for quick biking. Everyone is really friendly, though. At a rest stop yesterday, two ladies shared some water, a banana, and tomatoes with me.

Since Pueblo, I've now hooked in with the main TransAmerica bike route that several hundred people ride each year. Since there's not much going on in these towns, they really know about and cater to the cyclists, which is nice. There are several cycling-specific hostels and such. It seemed that the Athleticlub I stayed in last night only lets cyclists stay there.

I can't post pictures from this computer, but I'll try getting some up soon. Hopefully I can keep flying through KS, and get to camp on time!

Good winds & downhill let

Good winds & downhill let me get 107 today. Staying @ Athleticlub in Scott City, KS for $9. They just locked me in & I have the run of the place.

65 in tough winds to

65 in tough winds to Eads. Saw snakes & 2 other cyclists going west. Watched some Eads grls sftball & ate "Super Nachos". Note: NOT good cycling food!

Mike & Ikes while Im

Mike & Ikes while Im waiting for someone to show up @ the desk. Mmm, Mike & Ikes. Im taking these as my vitamins now! How d'ya like that, Mom?!

Oh, yeah. I'm working my

Oh, yeah. I'm working my way thru a 9.5 oz box of Mike

Went to Liturgy this AM

Went to Liturgy this AM @ St. Michaels in Pueblo. Biked 55 this afternoon in hot 90s. Now Im hanging out in empty lobby @ funky hotel/hostel in Ordway...

Rode 85 over more Rockies,

Rode 85 over more Rockies, thru sun & storm, past many snakes both live & dead to reach Pueblo. Went to Vespers, followed by pizza. Staying w/ Kuzmiaks.

Big day. Rode 105 mi,

Big day. Rode 105 mi, ascended 3500', crossed Cont. Divide @ 11K' & ate both McD's & KFC. Sleeping in river guide's trailer 4 free tonite! Pueblo Ho!

Dad just left to drive

Dad just left to drive back to SLC. We grilled steaks & corn for din. Camping near Gunnison, CO & hope to make Pueblo by Sat PM. Goodnight,friends & fam!

Rocky Mountain Fever

Dad and I stayed in Moab, UT last night, the mtn. biking capital of the world. It is a really cool outdoorsy town. This morning we went on a half-day rafting trip which was fun. In the interest of trying to make my job at NYSC in WV on June 14, I decided to have Dad drop me a few hundred miles down the road in CO.

Right now we're at the library taking a break from driving in Ridgway, CO. We'll have dinner together, then Dad is going to take off later this evening to start driving back to Salt Lake City. The plan is for me to bike a around 200 miles Fri. and Sat. and make it into Pueblo Sat. night so that I can stay with some people at the Orthodox Church there and attend liturgy on Sunday. I wish I had more time to spend biking through UT and CO; oh, well. It should be interesting trying to have a couple of really long days right in a row. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks everyone for reading and all of the comments. Even though I can't really respond to them individually, I am enjoying reading all of them when I'm at a computer. I'll try posting more pics in Pueblo in a few days. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, and I'll see you down the road!

Peter

Hi! Biked 75 on Mon

Hi! Biked 75 on Mon in amazing Bryce & GS-Esc NPs & did 2 short hikes. Met up w/ Dad & been drivin & explorin w/ him. Rode 38 this AM & going to CO tomm!

Camping & eating candy in

Camping & eating candy in Red Cnyn cmpgrnd near Bryce NP. Someone just started a generator & drunk hikers just stumbled by. Ahh, peaceful nature for $12.

Spent most of yest in

Spent most of yest in Cedar Cty laundering & supplying. Rode 20 yest & 58 today thru Cedar Breaks Ntl Mnmt @ over 10K' elev! Dan left to catch Denver bus

The grand flats of Nevada and Utah

Some pictures from the past few days. I can't seem to post the others I wanted to show, however. Right now we're in Cedar City, Utah. I'm posting these pictures and Dan is trying to figure out how to make his flight in Denver Tuesday at noon. The past several days have been fun, but challenging. I've had a total of 13 flats in the last few days since we entered Utah Thursday afternoon due to a combination of poor tire changing technique, bad luck, bad roads, bad patches, and bad rims. After 4 flats yesterday on the way into Cedar City, we barely made it into town with a leaky front tire and patches that we weren't sure were going to hold. Hopefully we'll start riding some more later today and see some of gorgeous Utah. My dad also meets up with me in a few days. Thanks for all of the comments!

Me angrily changing a flat:


Dan at our impromptu campsite in the high Utah cattlelands:
Dan and I entering Utah from Nevada:
You have to make your own fun in the flat basins of Nevada:
Our delicious pesto-pasta-potato-parmesan dinner goulash. We each had to cram down about 7000 calories worth of this stuff:

Got 4 more flats today

Got 4 more flats today making 13 in 48 hrs! We barely made Cedar City in 60 mi and only 2 junky patches left. We gorged @ delicious Chinese buffet dinnr

9 flats for Pete in

9 flats for Pete in 24 hrs. Camped in cowfield by road last night. Now camping next to playgrnd & horse arena & ate huge late dinners @ Penny's Diner.

I'm ridin' on the loneliest

I'm ridin' on the loneliest highway/From California straight to the end/I'd be the loneliest man in America/If it weren't for my sweet highway friend. 68

& wind let us ride

& wind let us ride 107 mi yesterday. Rode 40 mi this am & eating lunch in ely. Dan looks like a blistered lobster. My burger is delicious!

Nice downhill, sun

Nice downhill, sun

Nice downhill

Nice downhill

Peter whined all day... used

Peter whined all day... used too many wipes... put a snake in my bag. I hate him. -Dan

Loneliest Highway in America

Right now we're staying in the middle of nowhere at Middlegate, NV, which is this cool outpost/restaurant/bar that used to be a Pony Express checkpoint back in the day. Now it's this really fun and interesting cowboy and dirt biker bar. We're staying in the "drunk tank", a shack that they're letting us stay in for free. We had a fun day biking along Hwy 50, the "loneliest highway in America". It was indeed lonely, but great. It was a beautiful sunny day again, but not too hot. We biked by some really neat salt flats and dried up lake beds that are restricted for secret military uses. Tommorrow we do a lot of climbing, but it should be another fun and beautiful day.

Eating lunch on the "

Eating lunch on the " loneliest highway in America" next to salt flats in NV.

Chris dropped us a few

Chris dropped us a few mi. down the road around 6 pm after resting in Reno. Dan quickly broke 2 spokes as it was getting dark, so Chris picked us up.

Nevada HO!!

Hello everyone! Thanks for all of the comments, and, yes mom, I am taking my vitamins! Dan is making me take a multivitamin every morning.

Well, we finally got into Reno late last night having only taken 1 day longer than anticipated to get over the Sierras. As you all have probably gathered from the cell phone text messages, we've been having a grand old time.

Early monday morning we were driven North from the Bay Area to meet up with my uncle Steve and cousin Mike to ride on the 1st day of our trip. The only way I could convince my friends to give us a ride that early was to shave the eyebrows in addition to the newly shaved head and face, so they had to go. It actually doesn't look too weird, and the shaved head is really convenient:


We were both really tired because we were up extremely late Sun. night getting ready to go.

Here is a picture of Dan and I with Mike right before we set out:

After about a mile down the road, Dan gets a flat, the 1st of many mechanical problems:
The rest of the day was a wonderful sunny ride along quiet backroads next to the Sacramento river all the way to Sacramento where we stayed the night with the Howell family and got showers and food. Thanks Howells!!

Tues. AM we hop on our bikes and about 3 miles down the road Dan broke a spoke. Several hours later we finally got it fixed and some extra spokes from a bike shop. Then he got a flat. We didn't actually get rolling until afternoon. The rest of Tues. was a nice ride, ascending into the Sierra foothills in sunny weather. Only 1 broken spoke at the end of the day. We camped that night next to a creek in someone's backyard. The next morning the guy came out with a couple of dogs, including a Rottweiler, but they all were friendly.

Wed was another fun day of riding, but once again we didn't get started until late because we stopped at a bike shop for Dan to get a front rack and panniers for his bike in the attempt to prevent further broken spokes. Late afternoon we came upon a winery, so we entered in our cycling finery and both had our 1st wine tasting! The entire situation was so comical that I started uncontrollably laughing when we got our 1st sample and I tried swirling it around the glass and sniffing it in the attempt to appear like I knew what I was doing. The lady was really nice, we got to sample a few good wines, and convinced the lady to sell us one of the open bottles at a discount.
Also at the winery was when Dan discovered the rocks I had stashed in his panniers about 20 miles and several thousand feet below. We both had a good chuckle over that one.
Wed. night we found a great campsite in the woods, and enjoyed a delicious dinner of Trader Joe's Mac and Cheese, bagels with cheese, and Zanzibar wine from Sierra Oaks Estates winery:


Thursday (yesterday) was the longest and most fun day yet. We finally got an early start at 9:15, and spent 4 hours or so climbing over the beautiful and sunny Sierras. At around 2:30 we had lunch at a restaurant near Kirkwood ski resort, then made it to the top of 8500+ ft. Carson Pass.
The descent was fast and fun, and I hit a new top speed of 46.9 mph! We rolled into Carson City, NV several thousand feet below at about 8 PM where Chris Dunaway picked us up. Last night we stayed with him at his dorm, crashing in the TV room. Before bed, though, Dan and I of course had to put into action some of the Blackjack basic strategy and card counting we had been practicing. I had the basic strategy down cold, and Dan had the card counting down. If we had been combined into 1 person, we would have bankrupted the casinos. As it was, we both came out on top in Blackjack. Me by only a few dollars, but Dan won $33 over a few hours! Not bad for a good time and free drinks. As we make our way across NV, our counting should improve and we'll soon be raking in the dough...


We leave later today from Carson where Chris will drive us, and slowly begin making our way across the state. I guess there are a lot of remote stretches and mountains to climb, but it should be fun. I also may not have cell reception, so don't worry if there is no posting for a few days. Thanks for reading, and I'll try to keep posting as soon as I can! Time to get ready to go!

Peter

Eating lunch @ restaurant in

Eating lunch @ restaurant in kirkwood. Camped last night in woods. Beautiful sunny weather & lots of snow here @ 8000'. Had lots of fun yest on wine tour!

Rode 59 mi today &

Rode 59 mi today & ascended ~2000 feet today. Now we're covertly camping next to a creek near a few houses. Tomm we hope to ride 60

Just fixed Dans spoke, now

Just fixed Dans spoke, now fixing a flat on his piece-o-junk bike in Sacr. Next up: Folsom prison & the snowy Sierras!

Rode 50 beautiful sunny miles

Rode 50 beautiful sunny miles to Sacramento today. Staying with Howell fam. Leave early tomm to hit Sierras!

Eating lunch with uncle steve

Eating lunch with uncle steve & mike in freeport, ca. 10 mi to Sacramento!

T-minus 1 hour!!

Dan and I are a little over an hour away from our departure. We're supposed to meet my Uncle and cousin at 8:30 AM at Brennan Island State Rec. Area to begin our ride. We're almost done packing, and we think we have functioning bikes and packs.

About 2 AM this morning Dan finally figured out how to attach his rack to his bike (purchased about 6 hours before). It was quite the complicated procedure considering the bolts for attaching were the wrong size. This was shortly after I had finished shaving my face to complement my shaven head from the day before. I'm sure to be extremely aerodynamic on the bike and leave Dan in my dust.

About 3 hrs ago at 3:30 AM I finally got all packed up and turned in for the night. As I went to bed, Dan was trying to frantically finish up a paper due for one of his environmental engineering classes. He happily finished.

Pictures and a better update soon. Perhaps tonight in Sacramento.

Bon voyage, we have some riding to do!!

Peter