Thursday, August 16, 2007

Home, sweet home!

I want to let everyone know that we're home! We'll go back and fill in some gaps - including pictures - but for now I thought we'd let you know that we're home. Safe and clean.

For the last two days on the road, we were accompanied by Lindsay and Mike's parents and brother, Kevin, and my parents, sister Hannah, and boyfriend, Ben. Keat Sanford, our assistant dean of admissions, even came out for a day. Having everyone out there with us was awesome; this summer has made me more certain of how important my family is to me.

After a week of sleep, food, and catching up on life, we took off from UConn to do our final ride to the shore in Milford, CT. About 20 people joined us for the ride, which included one huge hill on which they could all impress us! We arrived at the ocean, where we dipped our tires in the water and took a bunch of pictures to remember the day by. More friends were waiting at Archie Moore's to celebrate our arrival with us - all in all, a great day!

So... thanks for keeping up with us throughout our ride. We've raised almost $50,000 for Lea's Foundation. We'll be back to tell more through words and pictures about the past couple weeks...

Monday, July 30, 2007

Indiana

We crossed into Indiana very late in the afternoon, trying to squeeze in as many miles as we possibly could. Arriving in Clinton, we went to the only place in town that was luckily still open for dinner. We made some phone calls to the police and fire departments to try and find a spot to camp for the night but unfortunately had no luck. When the sun went down, the true colors of Clinton were able to really shine through. We encountered some very shady people and decided staying in town was not safe without a firearm. After barely escaping from a few pickup trucks intentionally trying to ram us, we called in the reinforcements. A police car escorted us all the way out of town and to the nearest motel which was quite a sight to be seen. Thankfully we all survived the night and can laugh about it now. The next day we took off on a long ride to Westfield and had some late afternoon showers to end the day. The ride was pretty flat and we rode ambitiously for hours, knocking off miles at a great pace. After lunch, we were cruising down a stretch when all of a sudden we rode right past a huge pothole in the middle of the shoulder. Obstructed by the three of us in front, Chey plunged right into the street-side abyss and was catapulted right over her handlebars. It was quite a scare and thankfully cars were able to hit the brakes quick enough to avoid her. She was shaken up and had some fresh wounds, but pushed on soon after and really showcased her road worthiness. We were so grateful to have beds that night and all slept great. When we woke up, we searched around town to replenish our tube supply and then headed northeast towards Hartford City and eventually the Ohio border. Indiana was the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln.

Crossing The Mighty Mississip?

Soon after leaving St. Louis' hospitality we came upon the Mighty Mississippi, well it wasn't so mighty after all. All of us were looking forward to our ferry ride across the great river, what we ended up getting was a ride on a mini barge across what seemed more like a glorified stream. Our laughter and comments about the mighty Mississippi stream drowned out any disappointment we might of had. On the other side we crossed into our next state Illinois.

The roller coaster hills of Missouri calmed, the roads greatly improved (thank God), but the corn continued. 125 miles that day of corn, who eats all of it? The most refreshing part of entering Illinois was that everyone seemed happy to see us. When we pulled into Nokomis at 8:30 that night the the girls went into the police station to ask if there was a place to camp. While they where in there the town's church minister drove up to Mike and I and offered us a place to stay. Without hesitation we took her up on her offer. On the way to the church people kept stopping generously asking us if we wanted to stay at there homes. Then on the way to dinner three other towns people asked if we needed places to stay or if we needed pillows or other amenities. Nokomis, Illinois you are the most friendly town in the USA. The next morning the minister had prepared an egg breakfast for us, which was a nice change from gas station donuts and candy, our usual.

We road on and the corn continued, and we where on to Indiana. We crossed the entire state in one and a half days, Impressive. It may seem like we are patting ourselves on our backs, we are it is impressive.

...and then came Ohio

I've been asked to apologize for not updating the blog all that often... we've been riding 100+ miles a day, and any time not on the bikes has been spent eating and finding a place to sleep at night! We're sorry! Here goes Ohio...

Mike was probably particulary grateful that we reached Ohio, as I'd been riding behind him, singing a song (called "Ohio") that I made up. Needless to say, you will not hear it on the radio anytime soon. We got there at the very end of the day - a day we spent nursing some minor injuries and enjoying one of the last flat days of the trip. We stopped for the night in Celina, Ohio, where we found few hotel vacancies due to the annual "Amphicar" weekend. Celina is on the edge of Grand Lake, a beautiful 10-mile long lake that would be full of cars the next day. Yup, full of cars - we learned that there are around 300 of these boat/cars in the world and that 65 or so of them were convening in Celina that weekend. The hotel we stayed in was packed, and everyone was so friendly and very interested in our trip.

The next day, July 27, Lindsay turned 24. Happy birthday, Linds! We celebrated by eating breakfast, velcroing our shoes, and clipping into our pedals. On the way out, we talked with a few amphicar drivers who were about to take off to a nearby retirement community for the annual "take everyone out for a ride on the water" event. Sounds like tons of fun!! About 20 miles later, those nagging injuries cut our day short and we ended up in Lima. The Holiday Inn kindly donated a room, so we were able to shower, relax, and have some much needed time to catch up. (It's funny. You'd think that we'd do that all day, but when we're riding bikes for 11 or 12 hours a day, we spend a lot of time by ourselves...) The local Olive Garden helped us celebrate Lindsay's birthday with good food and, of course, free cake.

No day is easy. After an afternoon of rest, we felt good and rode hard to Upper Sandusky, OH. There, Josh and I stopped at a bike shop to stock up on tubes and tires, while Lindsay and Mike took off towards lunch. In response to our saying that we were "taking 53 to Bucyrus," the guys at the bike shop said, "Funny. You can't do that." So, after realizing that Josh and I had all the phones and both pumps for the tires, we decided to take the unplanned route to Bucyrus. Of course, Lindsay and Mike had taken the planned route to not-Bucyrus. Two separate 130-ish mile rides later, we all happily reunited in Findley State Park, just outside of Wellington, OH.

The next day, I learned that I should listen more carefully to Ben's precious words of wisdom. Evidently, the "Ohio is incredibly flat until you reach the mountains towards Pennsylvania" was shorted in my head to "Ohio is incredibly flat." Oops. We rode some crazy hills throughout the day, which ended in Mosquito State Park near Champion, OH. By the way, yes, the park is considering changing its name. Our night was completed by s'mores and sodas, and we got to bed to get ready for the hills that, this time, we actually knew were ahead of us.

We're coming home! ETA: August 4th or 5th, depending on Pennsylvania...
Chey

Mizzourah!

The citizens of Osage City prepared us for entering Missouri, promising us beautiful scenery and gentle rolling hills. We were so happy to bid Kansas good-bye and head into our next state... until we actually got to the state line. While Missouri may boast green "rolling" hills that are beautiful from a car or indoors, they also have the worst roads in the developed world. When we had shoulders, there were huge potholes every 50 yards or so that could only have been created by strategically placed bombs, or perhaps by some sort of specialized road-wrecking machine. Thankfully, we were so happy to be another state closer to home that we were able to find the humor in the Misery (get it?) Asphalt. An hour or two later, we rolled into Harrisonville, happy to rest our tired legs. We ate at an Applebee's next door to our hotel, Chey and I visited Wal-Mart to pick up some much-needed supplies, and we played cards until bedtime.
The following day we were hoping to do a long ride to Marshall, MO. However, the weather had different plans for us, and several hours into our ride, the heavens opened up and we got POURED on. We rode in the torrential rain for 10 miles or so and were happy to see the Classy Motel in a small town called Higginsville. Whether or not our home for the evening deserves its name is debatable at best, but the owner was very nice to us, and even offered us her dryer for our clothes.
After being on the road for six weeks, our days were starting to feel a little monotonous... until our ride from Higginsville to Hallsville. When we were just about a mile shy of crossing the Missouri River, we had a real Tour de France-style pile-up. Allow me to paint a picture: Rider 1 (who shall remain nameless) was leading the pack, with the rest of us drafting tightly behind thanks to a wicked headwind that we had been battling for much of the morning. He (or she) lost concentration for a moment and rode right off the road, onto the gravel shoulder. All was not lost yet, until he (or she) decided to swiftly dart back onto the road - right into Rider 2, flipping me sideways off my bike and onto the pavement. Mike was behind me, and somehow managed maneuver around me and off of the right side of the road, escaping unscathed. Chey was headed ride for me, and kindly sacrificed herself to avoid riding square over my bleeding body. The tangle of bikes and limbs on the road made the day of some lucky man who witnessed the whole scene from his pick-up truck. Thankfully, we were all okay, ending up only with a couple of good scrapes to show off. Oops! Did I let the cat out of the bag and reveal the identity of Rider 1?? Mea Culpa.
The rest of the ride was a series of short, but terribly steep rolling hills, and before we knew it, it was 9:00 and we were in Hallsville. Chey and I dropped by the town's firehouse to inquire about camping, and they were happy to let us stay in their town park, which was a great spot. Everyone in town was incredibly nice to us - people were literally giving us high-fives from the side of the road - and it made the tough day seem worth it.
Our last full day of riding in Missouri took us to Troy, just west of St Louis. There, we locked up our bikes at the firehouse and were picked up by Terri-Anne Segovia and her friend Kelly, who drove us into St Louis for a day in their life. We were greeted at TA's apartment door by her dog Fenway and Kelly's dog Louie, who we could have played with for all of eternity, and their friend Hot Dogs (a human). We had a great tour of the hip neighborhood that the girls live in, ate a great dinner and then returned to their place for a relaxing night of conversation and dog petting. Sunday was a wonderful day of sleeping in, lounging by the pool, playing catch and BBQ. After more than two weeks without a day off, we couldn't have appreciated it more. St Louis is a great city and Terri-Anne et al are wonderful hosts! They more than made up for the bad roads.
Regrettably, we set our alarms for 6 and were up bright and early the next day, ready to cross the Mississippi and enter Illinois.

Monday, July 23, 2007

I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore, Dodo.

But we were last week and oh was it a jolly good old time...Kansas is home to lots of massive farm equipment, corn, and obviously a few farmers to control the whole situation. We found that the people were extremely generous and helpful as we passed through. Leaving Eads, we traveled east towards Leoti where we spent a night, and the following day we treked onward to Ness City. There, we once again reunited with out Swedish friends and found a great public park to setup shop in. We had a great time telling stories all night and playing cards. Some local guy came by at one point and hustled us for the pink slips to our bikes though. The situation got kinda sticky but thankfully he let us cut a deal and escape in the morning with all our gear.
That morning, we made an executive decision to stray away from our adventure cycling route for a cultural detour with the Swedes. They had plans to visit "little Sweden" in Kansas which is a town called Lindsborg that would take two days to get to. We departed and rode up and over rolling hills all day long. The ride wasn't too taxing because of the gradual climbs and we arrived nice and early to Hoisington, KS. There, we quickly found a public pool and after a quick lunch we lounged around the water and messed around on the diving board for an hour or two. We set up camp in the park right next to the pool and had a bbq with Daniel and Nisse which marked our first of the trip, surprisingly. I also was lucky enough to get my haircut with a swiss army knife. Another big storm was brewing and as we got ready to get in our tents, lightning was continuously exploding in the night sky. We were barraged with insane winds, torrential rain, and booming thunder throughout the night. We all loved the excitement.
Day 3 in Kansas we finally arrived in little Sweden and got a taste of what home is like for our traveling partners. We had some great meals and continued to learn more about Swedish life and of course humor from the two comedians. We were extremely sad to part ways with them that evening and wish them all the best on the remainder of their trip. We will see them again someday.
Our journey continued bright and early and we endured a massive 120 mile day from Lindsborg to Osage City. The ride was very enjoyable and entertaining until we crashed towards the very end. We saved an owl along the way, played king of the haybail, and saw many lush green cornfields. In Osage City, the nicest lady named "Dee" let us camp on her lawn and fueled us with an amazing breakfast the next morning. She left us with great last impression of all the nice people we were able to meet in Kansas. Hours later Missouri would attack from all directions with relentless intensity and fury.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Good Friends and Green Fields

The ride from Salida to Westcliffe, CO was one of the most beautiful to date. We began riding through narrow canyons that gave way miles later to open, green fields. With the Rockies as a backdrop and on a cool, sunny day, we couldn't have asked for more. We passed many ranches and cattle farms as we pedaled through the countryside. Us girls left earlier than the boys, who decided to stay in the Super 8 motel room that was kindly donated the evening before in order to watch The Transporter 2. We arrived in Westcliffe in the early afternoon and promptly sought out the best restaurant in town. We took a seat at Wild Thyme and began to chat with our server, Kendra, and her mom/owner of the restaurant, Sharon. They were both wonderfully energetic and very funny, and we ended up sharing stories and laughing for hours. They invited us to spend the night at their house, and we graciously accepted their offer. The boys rolled into town with a storm in hot pursuit in the late afternoon.As the rain started to fall, we were able to seek shelter in Sharon's restaurant, where we spent the rest of the evening. After some great food, we helped close up shop for the evening and hopped back on our bikes for a quick 7 or 8 mile night ride back to the house. The trip was a blast as we plotted our way up the hill guided only by one headlamp and the moonlight.
As we headed up the driveway to their house, we were greeted by the unmistakable smell of a bonfire. Sharon showed us our rooms for the evening, and we quickly changed into warm clothes and headed outside to the fire. We spent hours petting their three golden retrievers, talking, and laughing with Sharon and Kendra underneath the stars. It was the best night of our trip. By 1:00, we decided to turn in, and bid our new friends goodnight. The following morning, we awoke and leisurely enjoyed our coffee, as we looked out at the Rockies looming in the distance. Hours later, we regrettably had to part ways, and we took to the road once again, this time headed for Pueblo. Another one of Sharon's lovely daughters, Kayla, kindly arranged to have us stay with the family whom she is spending the summer with in Pueblo West. Once again, a nasty storm was nipping at our heels as we pulled into the driveway. The family's son, Connor, and Kayla welcomed us to the house, gave us a tour and offered us some drinks. After showering, we were able to meet Connor's sister Alex and his parents, Shawn and Chuck. They were such a wonderful family, and we told them many stories from our trip over a delicious pizza dinner. We then headed to the basement for a ping pong, cribbage and billiards bonanza. Connor and Mike ruled the tables all night.
We awoke early the next morning and headed upstairs to find Shawn preparing a breakfast of bacon and eggs for us. We were glad to have good food before beginning our longest ride to date: 125 miles to Eads, CO. We said goodbye to our new friends and pedaled towards downtown Pueblo. We rode through the city's park, waving at the zebras in the Pueblo zoo on our way by, and made our way to Interstate 96, our yellow brick road for the next week. As the majestic mountains faded into the distance, we found ourselves in the Great Plains, which are deserving of their name. As far as the eye can see, there really is nothing but grassy plains. It is beautiful in a very lonely, solemn way. Thankfully, the skies were cloudy and the air cool, making our marathon ride through the grasslands bearable. We arrived in Eads tired and hungry, but our spirits were soon lifted when we saw our friends, the Swedes! We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then began to set up camp in the town park, next to Daniel and Nisse. All was calm as Chey headed to the gas station to grab ice and Mike, Josh and I began to put up tents. Then, out of nowhere, wild winds beared down on Eads and the sky became black, lit up only by the incessant lightning that we could see in all directions. Our tents were no match for the winds, and our camping gear was quickly blown all over the park and the feed mill next door. Chasing the tents, we ran towards the mill, and asked the men working there if we would be safe in the park (typical easterners). After telling us about the softball-sized hail that had fallen in the next town over the night before, they checked their radar and screamed to us through the howling winds that we "probably" wouldn't see any tornados that night. Great! To boot, they pointed to the train that was parked on the tracks near the park and suggested that if there were a tornado or hail, that might be a good place to seek asylum. "Unless the train blows away!" one of the men joked. Very funny!
After securing our tents with a dozen tent pegs, we donned our raingear and headed out to enjoy the storm with the Swedes. It was amazing. There was never a moment without lightning - just one bolt after another lighting up the sky. Thanfully, the rain skirted around Eads, and we somehow managed to stay dry. We watched in awe for hours as the storm moved to the east. We ran into a rider today (the next day) who had spent the night 50 miles of east of where we were, and he said they had winds of 150 mph and hail for hours. I suppose we got quite lucky!
This morning we grabbed a quick breakfast and rode towards Kansas. 42 miles later, I made some bad Wizard of Oz jokes (also see blog, above) as we crossed into the 5th state of our ride. Thus far, Kansas seems pretty similar to eastern Colorado: flat plains that stretch on as far as the eye can see. We are glad to be here!