Wine and oatmeal

[Wine and oatmeal]

Gourmet living, Amtrak style.

Whaaaaaat

[Whaaaaaat]

Single digits. Crazy.

Lucky…

[Lucky...]

The sun is shining at Rainy Pass!

The cascades

[The cascades]

Beautiful.

Yum

[Yum]

An awesome little cafe that uses all local and organic ingredients. All their coffee drinks are made with local raw milk. So good. More places should be like this… And New York shouldn’t make selling raw milk illegal.

Loup Loup!

[Loup Loup!]

Second to last pass of the trip. Tough climb to get here, but tomorrow’s pass is way higher.

Rocks

[Rocks]

Indeed.

Counting down

[Counting down]

We’re on highway 20 for the rest of the trip. These mileage markers will be counting down for us. Less than 400 to go! So close!

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I left Highway 2, the Hi-Line, this afternoon. We’ve been riding it exclusively since the middle of North Dakota, more than 700 miles ago. It was kind of nice to be able to get up and go every morning without thinking about directions. Now I’m going to have to get back in the habit of remembering turns and stuff like that. Made it to Whitefish this evening. It seems like a nice town. I’ll be chilling out here tomorrow before Kate gets in at night, so there’ll be a chance to relax and explore.

Bears!

[Bears!]

“Your car is your cage” sounds like the tagline to a horror movie. Terrifying.

The marias pass

[The marias pass]

Apparently the railroad people spent years trying to find this pass. The Indians had been using it for thousands of years, but refused to tell the white man where it was. Eventually they found it, built their railroad, and stomped on the Indians’ dreams. I don’t know why the railroad people had such a hard time… Highway 2 runs right through it. They should’ve just followed that. Gosh.

Mountains

[Mountains]

Early morning in the Rockies.

Book of sandwich

[Book of sandwich]

Take unto thee a carbohydrate and a paste or butter made from nuts or legumes. Spread ye the paste or butter on thine carbohydrate and partake ye of this most delicious of combinations. Thy energy will reneweth itself as this carbohydrate replenishes thine glycogen stores and the amino acids doth combine to formeth complete proteins. And they didst partake, and it was good.

Leaving

[Leaving]

Cutest one-eyed lamb ever. I’m leaving Cut Bank this morning so that I can get to Whitefish on time to pick up Kate. Colin still needs to build his bike back up, but hopes to leave tomorrow and catch me up sometime in the next few days. The mountains await.

Trains

[Trains]

This is the view from the ranch we’ve been staying at for the past day or so. It’s lovely. Kate will be crossing the bridge in a couple of days on her way out here, and then we’ll both cross it again on the way back to Rochester. I’m looking forward to the reverse view.

Elevation

[Elevation]

Mountains in sight. Glorious.

hello matt

On our way to the bookshop, we came across Matt wandering down the streets of Havre.  He thought it was Sunday, which was a bummer because the bikeshop would be closed and his rear wheel was pretty damaged (that’s what delayed him – he hitched a few rides to get to Havre).  Fortunately, it’s Saturday, so he went over to get the repairs done.  Colin and I swung by the local book exchange, then went to see Hancock at the theatre (disappointing).

We’re in a library now… A very angry man is trying to print something and tried to get me to help.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t even know what he wants to print.  A difficult situation.

Spending the rest of the day in Havre, then heading off into the wind again tomorrow.

Goodbye matt

[Goodbye matt]

We’re in Havre, Montana. We’ll be taking a rest day here tomorrow. Somewhere yesterday we lost Matt, our touring companion of the past week or so. He just never showed up for lunch that day. Maybe our paths will cross again, but he’s going a lot slower than us in general, so it’s doubtful. Neither of us even know his last name.

Rugby, north dakota

[Rugby, north dakota]

We are at the geographic center of North America. Today was beautiful: Hardly any wind, partly cloudy, and just warm enough. We ended up riding a century, our first. That means we only have about 60 miles to do tomorrow to make it to Minot a day early. We’ll be taking a rest day there and then heading out to finish off North Dakota.

2001: A Bike Oddessy

[2001: A Bike Oddessy]

We’ve gone a long way.

Breaking news!

[Breaking news!]

North Dakota is flat. And windy. We’re on Highway 2 now, and will be for a long, long time.

The great plains

[The great plains]

We are now entering the least populated stretch of our journey. We just spoke with a guy heading the opposite direction on our route, and he told us that the last time he was able to make a cell phone call on his AT&T phone (same carrier as ours) was in Sand Point, Idaho, which is a few weeks away. Hopefully we’ll have better luck, but there’s a good chance we won’t, so don’t think we’re dead, anti-social, or anything like that.

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After posting that last picture, I found out that “Pete” is the world’s largest pelican. Erected in 1957, “the pelican is part of us all, no matter how long we’ve lived here.” Another interesting fact: This river never freezes.

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Pelican Rapids is so much prettier when it’s not cold, gray, and rainy out. We’re looking forward to a day of riding under blue skies and sunshine.

Minnesota!

[Minnesota!]

We’re chilling out at a little pavilion in a church yard. We had to do more miles than expected today because of a miscalculation on my part. In case you’re wondering, Darbo is significantly more than 40 miles from Minneapolis. Despite that, we should be in Fargo on Sunday. I found my shoe last night, which I’m very happy about.

Surreal

[Surreal]

Little children and their parents and grandparents are dancing happily in the park to an emo band singing about slitting their wrists and drowning in the deep end. I lost one of my shoes this evening. Lame.

A new state

[A new state]

First state sign we’ve seen since Indiana.
Leaving the land of cheese curds for Minnesota.

Wisconsin is weird

[Wisconsin is weird]

Saw this off some state highway. Guard cow?

Wisconsin

[Wisconsin]

Rolled into South Milwaukee and stopped into a local bar. Not only do
they have Pabst Blue Ribbon and High Life on tap, but the bartender
gave us our first drink free and is letting us camp in the bar’s
backyard. Cheers to PBR and Wisconsin.

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Thanks to the Williams family, we have a new option for our sandwiches: Marzipan and peanut butter. Delicious. In other news, we crossed paths with a large group of cyclists doing New York to Seattle. They were all about our age, and their tour had a support van so they were riding unloaded bikes. Must be nice. They’re raising money and awareness for cancer. (Is anyone unaware of cancer?) Anyway, we chatted with one dude for a while before we went our separate ways. They left NYC almost exactly the same time as us, but took a slightly different route to get here. I’m glad our group doesn’t have to wear matching jerseys all the time though. We’re heading to Milwaukee tonight and hopefully staying with a friend of the brother of a friend of a friend.

Time

[Time]

Time zones don’t seem to matter much when you’re going by when it’s dark or light out. We crossed into central time today, but it just means that we’ll go to bed and get up an hour earlier than yesterday. Weird.

Generosity

[Generosity]

An 83 year old man on a tricycle gave up a delicious milkshake. Then some lady gave us some sweet cherries. The old man just came back and gave us a teacup for the shake. We’re not sure what to do with it, but we couldn’t refuse. Almost every word he said was unintelligible.

Lunch

[Lunch]

Today’s culinary discovery:
Peanut butter, Taco Bell hot sauce, and a touch of honey makes for a
very tasty spicy peanut sandwich.
Also, the Amish around here ride mostly recumbents, from what we’ve
seen. It’s a bit bizarre.

Wind!

[Wind!]

Lunch in Bowling Green. The wind is so awful today. We’ve been going 6-7mph, less than half our normal speed. We’re getting off Route 6 to try and find something more bike-friendly. Forty-three miles so far today.

Tan lines

[Tan lines]

The sun’s almost always slightly to one side of us, so our weird tan lines are way stronger on the left side. I’m working on an awesome finger tan right now.

Lockjaw

[Lockjaw]

Got half a nail through the bottom of my foot this morning. It’s one of those guys in the picture. Unfortunately I threw it away on the floor after I pulled it out, so I’m not sure which one. Good thing I have my tetanus shot. We’re leaving Cleveland this morning, to Oberlin tonight.

For mom

[For mom]

A picture of Colin, to prove he’s not dead.
Only 23 more miles of PA to go!

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Picnic lunch at a campground. We didn’t blog at all yesterday because there was no cell service in the area we camped at. Yesterday started out with a 2-mile climb in a headwind. That headwind kept with us for the whole day. It was a relief to be done… Not so much the added difficulty of riding, but the constant noise and blowing make riding into the wind physically and mentally draining. We ended up doing a metric century (62 miles) anyway. It’s nice to get some miles behind us. We made swiss and spinach sandwiches last night, which were a much-needed break from the peanut butter and honey that’s been sustaining us so far. We’ve done about 32 miles so far today; the skies are mostly clear and there’s no wind. Getting back on the road now.

The kindest town in the world…

[The kindest town in the world...]

If anyone is ever in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, stop by this shop and give them some business. Country Ski and Sports on Main Street. We stopped in for a few random things, and ended up leaving with free Clif shot blocks (energy food) and 20-40% off all of our purchases. The gear shop down the street is also amazing. Liz, the owner, let me exchange my busted headlamp for one of the ones she had in stock, and she’s returnong mine to Black Diamond. We chatted about climbing in the area, bought some stove fuel, and Colin got a new shell.

In other news, a random lady also bought us some flavored water earlier today at a bagel shop, and offered up a shower and a place to stay if we were passing by her place. People just seem really friendly here. Good thing we picked this place for a rest day tomorrow.

Troy

[Troy]

We’ve set up camp in what seems to be an abandoned lot in Troy, PA. We did about 55 miles today, all along Route 6. The hills are getting gentler. Hooray! We’re going to be continuing on 6 for many miles, well into Ohio. Colin just returned from the fruit stand with oranges and… A jar of local honey that the owner operator gave us for free. Thanks Roger! It’s basswood honey, we’ll let y’all know when we’ve sampled it. Bye for now, have to go cook some rice for dinner.

Finally, some real photos.

Almost all of the pictures I’ve been posting so far have been from my old cell phone, so they have been a bit ugly.  Finally, thanks to our amazing hosts, we have access to a computer, so here are some of the photos taken so far…

[Dipping our wheels in the Atlantic, under the Manhattan Bridge.]

[Second campsite in New Jersey.]

[Colin hates flats.  Outside Columbia, NJ.]

[Dave's house.  Colin finally getting a good tube.]

[The late night view from our campsite in Portland, Pennsylvania.  Looking across the Delaware.]

Doughnuts

[Doughnuts]

We’ve stopped at a Krispy Kreme for coffee and a snack while it’s raining here in Scranton. It’s kind of a terrifying place. People eat so many doughnuts. I hope I don’t ever become like them. Colin’s heading to a nearby bike shop to pick up a spare tire. I’m waiting here for a guy to come and pick us up to take us to his house 15 miles away where we can stay for the night. Soon we’ll be showering and eating stuffed shells for dinner, and we’ll be sleeping in beds tonight. Crazy. My knee hasn’t been awful today… We’ve covered about 35 miles, and there were even some big hills along the way. I’m sure we’ll do a bigger post tonight, so I’ll keep this short. Stay away from the Kreme.

Shoes.

[Shoes.]

We walked a lot today. I can only pedal with one leg, so most of the hills we encountered were too much, even in my smallest gear. Fortunately, I’m lucky to have a very patient and understanding touring companion, who has been walking with me most of the day. I imagine it’s pretty annoying when your body is actually in working condition. We’ve also been lucky to have great weather and beautiful scenery, so it’s actually been a decent day. We went through Promised Land state park and have seen some lovely lakes. Unfortunately Colin’s rear hub has shredded, so he can’t ride very well. We’re not sure what to do at this point. We’re camped out behind a church somewhere north of Promised Land. Another unfortunate event: I had a bug bite on my head the size of a silver dollar (the bug hit a vein), but by the time I saw myself in a mirror today (first time in a week… weird) it had gone down to normal size. Colin took a picture of it last night… I can’t wait to see it. Bye for now…

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Our favorite honey is gone. It’s a sad day. If anyone knows where to get this stuff in Pennsylvania, please let us know. We’re desperate.

River cults and relaxation.

[River cults and relaxation.]

Camped out north of Strousburg on some property owned by the Broadhead Fish and Stream Association. They’re kind of creepy, and remind us of a cult. We’ve just been laying about almost all day… I took a couple walks and found some amazing untouched rock. Makes me want to climb. This morning we got Colin’s stuff at the bike shop (nowhere near where google said it was… Second time it’s failed up terribly), then pedaled for a few miles before we had to stop because of my knee. We’re going to continue north tomorrow towards Route 6, which is supposed to be great for cyclists and heads almost due west with few hills. Out for now, until we can find some outlets to recharge the phones.

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Dave who lives beneath an abandoned church, and whose wife we happened to meet hours ago, offered to help us out with a tube. Bike is complete, we’re yards away from the bridge to Pennsylvania. Camping tonight somewhere nearby, then on to the bike shop. New Jersey is showering us with kindness.

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We cannot leave New Jersey. We were literally a mile away from the border, in Belvidere, when Colin had a flat tire. Then another catastrophic one that required a boot (tire patch). Then a bunch of tubes broke. We spent a couple of hours searching for phantom leaks, as tubes started popping holes all over the place. A couple of stems broke under too-vigorous pumping. Finally we got on the way to what google maps said was the nearest bike shop, about 10 miles away in Columbia, New Jersey. About half a mile from the town, Colin had another flat, so I called the store to see if they’d still be open. They were closing until Wednesday… And were actually on the other side of NJ. Google lies. So the kind employee on the line directed us to the next nearest, another 10 miles away. We’re now in visual range of Pennsylvania, and have no more tubes. Again, the phantom leak that we can only hear haunts us. Starting the walk to Stroudsburg, PA… Camping in Portland tonight.

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We decided to take a rest day today. I can’t really ride up hills without pain, even in tiny gears. It’s disappointing to be the weaker link in a group. Colin’s being very understanding, of course, but I still feel like I’m messing up plans. We’ll press on tomorrow, though, and see what happens. Our campsite is nice, thankfully, so hanging out for a day isn’t terrible. We’ve been doing some minor adjustments on the bikes and making friends with caterpillars. We also did a bit of laundry… Hopefully the sun is strong enough to dry it before tomorrow. Bye for now.

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At one of the top ten bike shops in the country, at least according to some beer company, because my rear hub is blown. They have a two week waiting list on repairs, so i have to buy a brand new wheel and hub. I’m $180, plus labor, poorer. Yay. The knee is really painful today as well. At least we got delicious and free bagels, croissants, and fruit for breakfast. It’s sunny, pretty warm, and the skies are blue.

Campsite, night two.

[Campsite, night two.]

In some New Jersey town. Sandwiched between a strip mall and a little planned community. Boy oh boy, Jersey is awesome. Tomorrow we leave. There was a pretty sweet independent outdoor store in the strip mall though… Lots of climbing gear and a mini wall to test it on. This old cell phone takes terrible pictures. I can post some real ones next time we have a computer. I haven’t been taking all that many, but that’s ok. It raining on and off all day, so the camera was in a hard to access drybag.

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on manhattan bridge… Just arrived in the city.

Packed

Leaving the house for the last time…

last-minute

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Still in rochester. We’re doing a test ride for a day or two because neither of up has ever ridden a fully loaded bike. So far, we’ve found out that they are heavy. Startling, I know. We’ll leave for real eventually, i promise.

Leaving tonight for sure.  Hopefully it won’t rain when we’re waiting for the bus.  Hopefully they didn’t lie when they said we could take bikes on the bus.

Departure

Leaving Rochester later than expected.

Chinatown bus late tonight or tomorrow to NYC to dip our wheels in corrosive salt water.