Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
"That has to be the top...shit it isn't"
So we were a little rushed at the end of the last post and were not able to finish up with everything we wanted to say, but now we have time to get you all up to date on everything that has happened since entering into Nevada. On our first real night off in Carson City we decided to celebrate by going out to eat at a real classy establishment with grade A meat. We chose a combination of Wendy's and Taco Bell and it was delicious. After filling our faces with the very healthy food, we then walked back down to our hotel room to watch tv and relax, after a quick stop at the super market for a case of St. Pauli's Girl. We got back to our room, and all jumped onto the beds to relax and sip on some beers. I(Brian) mistakenly thought that we were there that night to sleep and recuperate, naturally falling asleep after 3 sips of my first beer (ya I am a light weight). It seems however that I was enjoying my sleep a little too much as my snoring was drowning out the sound of the tv, and I was made fun of and tormented for the rest of the night. PS Kara ate an entire octopus at a Chinese Buffet for $6 that she has yet to receive.... ya gross.
Anyways, back to the biking, the next day we rode from Carson City to Dayton, where we stayed at a camp ground. That night we made a fire, and cooked hotdogs. I dropped my first one in the fire, but don't worry we took it out and threw it in the campsite a few places over from us so that the bears and mountain lions would eat them instead of us. This night also marked the first night that Kara, J and I spent in our new tent, a very water tight tent, that we had just bought (sorry mom and dad if this breaks up our family).
We woke up the next morning at 6, and after fixing a flat tire on my bike, we headed towards Fallon, the site of the new Top Gun school. While riding past the school, yes be jealous G because pre-Scientology Tom Cruise zoomed by us in a leather jacket and aviators and gave us a nod, we were able to see a bunch of fighter jets flying around practicing. In just 3 hours, with a great tailwind, we were able to ride over 47 miles into Fallon. The ride was a great success and we even were able to cross another thing off of our bucket list.... getting pulled over by a cop on a bicycle. We were riding down the side of the road minding our own business, thinking that we were being very careful and safe, when a cop car zooms by us going the opposite direction. We were unfazed and continued to ride until Danny turns to us all and says, "Guys I think we are getting pulled over." We all turn around and the cop car that had just passed us was now behind us with its lights on. We all stopped and waited to see what was going on. A woman officer stepped out of the car with a big smile on her face and walked towards us. As she approached us she said, "yeah I know it is a first for me too." Apparently she had gotten a call from someone that was worried we were going to get hit and wanted her to pull us over to tell us to be careful. So she told us to be careful and talked to us for a few minutes about our trip and then sent us on our way. Once in Fallon, we took the afternoon off and relaxed in a park to get out of the heat. Then at around 6:30 we started riding again and rode until around 10:30 where we came upon the lovely town of Middlegate. And by town I mean a Bar/Motel/General Store surrounded by a collection of mobile homes and trailers housing 12 people, all being run by a very loud diesel generator because they don't have real power. They are "off the grid" as they put it. We got to the bar/motel/store and saw that all of the lights were off even though there was a collection of people that we could see in the bar. Seeing that there was nowhere else to go, Danny and I walked into the bar to pitch our story about our bike trip and see if they could accommodate us for the night. As we walked in and took in the scene, consisting of 5 old men and one older woman sitting around the dark bar listening to one man singing and playing the guitar, they all stopped and turned towards us. The one man behind the bar turned and said, "Are you guys from Mars" (we were still in our biking attire) and they all laughed....we just kind of stood there all awkward-like. After telling them what we were doing the man who owned the bar, Russ, took us to the side of the bar and showed us a place where we could stay. He then told us that after we finished putting up our tents that we should come back in and have a few drinks with them. We felt obligated to for him helping us out and all. So we put up our tents and then headed back into the bar not knowing what to expect. It ended up being one of the greatest nights so far. We spent the next 3-4 hours drinking and hanging out with the guys, who were 10x more drunk than could be imagined and heard all of their. Much of the entertainment came from a man named Greg, and just so you can get the picture, this is a very tall, lanky, man with a huge beard, very tight jeans on, and a cowboy hat who was having trouble standing up on his own at this point. But he was once a marine biologist, who spent 3 years in the Peace Corps, who now was a bartender in Middlegate doing god knows what. Well I guess getting drunk on Wednesday nights. But he told us about his time in the P.C. and other interesting stories like the time he hit a pig with his truck in Honduras or when his wife stabbed him in the back with a Ginsu Knife. Ya we thought he was joking too, but his now ex-wife legitimately stabbed him in the back with a knife, and he had the scar and the wrench used to pull the knife out to validate the story. What an odd night that was.
Before going on let me just fill you in on Nevada. It sucks! Our entire ride across Nevada was on Route 50, called the loneliest road in America, and for good reason, no one in their right mind would ever want to create an abode in that awful, dusty, windy, mountainous, terrible place. From Dayton here were the ONLY towns that were along Route 50. First, Austin (a 52 mile ride from Dayton). Then Eureka (64 miles from Austin). Ely (77 miles from Eureka), Baker (68 miles from Ely), and finally Millford (84 miles and across the Utah border). So these were the only places that we could stop for the past week to refill waters and food. All of these towns were extremely small, under 500 people mostly, and really had nothing to do in them except to eat or sleep, which was fine with us because we were all very tired. The ride across Nevada was very simple. Up a mountain into elevations between 6500 ft to 8000 ft, then down over 1000ft into a valley, across a basin, and then up a mountain again. This would be hard enough, but to top it off, every way we turned it seemed like the wind was blowing directly in our faces. Now we know why no one does the Western Express....it's hard.
Another cool story was our stay in Baker. Here we had heard that there was a restaurant that let bikers stay for free. So we went to the deli and asked the owner if we could stay behind his store. He said it was free as long as we ate at his place, which worked out very well for us. After cooking pesto chicken pasta for us, Terry(the owner) told us that it was movie night as well and he pulled down a huge projector screen on one of the walls and hooked up his projector screen that was mounted on the ceiling. We watched a French film, named La Vie en Rose, which was very good and made us feel very cultured and then we hit the sack after another long and hard day.
Also, in Millford, we again got attacked by sprinklers in the middle of night, while we were sleeping in a park. Our tent held up very well, and we did not get wet at all, we didn't even move our tent because we were too lazy to get up. Danny on the other hand, had a little more trouble dealing with the sneaky sprinklers and got pretty wet, and also could not fall asleep until the sprinklers went off at 4:30am.... that grass was really nice and fluffy though.
From Millford we rode another 56 miles to Cedar City, the first major city we have seen in over a week and decided to take a day off. Last night we sat around our hotel room and watched tv and relaxed, I wasn't the first one asleep this time because I was still scarred from my last attempt at trying to get a good nights sleep in a hotel. Just kidding, just kidding, well not about the falling asleep part, I really wasn't the first asleep, I swear, I meant about the being scarred for life thing and never...ever again being able to fall asleep and feel comfortable...thats only partially true. Today, we got lunch at Dairy Queen and had some delicious blizzard ice creams and then went to see The Happening, a little disappointed M. Night, and got mine and J's bikes tuned up. Tonights agenda consists of more sitting around, a visit to Little Caesar's, yeah that place really still exists, and then more sitting around and hanging out. Tomorrow we climb our first giant of a mountain at over 10,000 ft and we are all a little nervous. But the good news is we are 60% through the Western Express and still are feeling confident that we will be able to get to Long Beach Island by the first week in August.
More Lessons to be learned....
1. towns of less than 300 people do not have movie theaters (Danny got made fun of by a waitress for asking)
2. small towns have very interesting people that frequent them during the week (like Greg)
3. Still be weary of green and fluffy grass....those damn sprinklers are always hiding somewhere
4. Wind is the devil...just watch The Happening
5. The desert SUCKS... never, EVER, EVER come to live or visit, or stay for period of time longer than 12 seconds
6. Your butt may or not still hurt after 2 weeks of riding (perhaps even bleed... no names, but its a girl)
7. Southern Utah University in Cedar City does not have fun people (apparently they do NOTHING for fun, except for a Shakespeare festival held once every leap year)
8. Eating burgers, fries, and oreo milk shakes 6 times a day will result in extremely painful and hilarious amounts of bodily functions
Love,
Bruce Wayne (Me), Bruce Banner (J), Clark Kent (Danny), and Lois Lane (Kara)
-Don't feel too special dad that your name is on here twice...you are not that cool.
Anyways, back to the biking, the next day we rode from Carson City to Dayton, where we stayed at a camp ground. That night we made a fire, and cooked hotdogs. I dropped my first one in the fire, but don't worry we took it out and threw it in the campsite a few places over from us so that the bears and mountain lions would eat them instead of us. This night also marked the first night that Kara, J and I spent in our new tent, a very water tight tent, that we had just bought (sorry mom and dad if this breaks up our family).
We woke up the next morning at 6, and after fixing a flat tire on my bike, we headed towards Fallon, the site of the new Top Gun school. While riding past the school, yes be jealous G because pre-Scientology Tom Cruise zoomed by us in a leather jacket and aviators and gave us a nod, we were able to see a bunch of fighter jets flying around practicing. In just 3 hours, with a great tailwind, we were able to ride over 47 miles into Fallon. The ride was a great success and we even were able to cross another thing off of our bucket list.... getting pulled over by a cop on a bicycle. We were riding down the side of the road minding our own business, thinking that we were being very careful and safe, when a cop car zooms by us going the opposite direction. We were unfazed and continued to ride until Danny turns to us all and says, "Guys I think we are getting pulled over." We all turn around and the cop car that had just passed us was now behind us with its lights on. We all stopped and waited to see what was going on. A woman officer stepped out of the car with a big smile on her face and walked towards us. As she approached us she said, "yeah I know it is a first for me too." Apparently she had gotten a call from someone that was worried we were going to get hit and wanted her to pull us over to tell us to be careful. So she told us to be careful and talked to us for a few minutes about our trip and then sent us on our way. Once in Fallon, we took the afternoon off and relaxed in a park to get out of the heat. Then at around 6:30 we started riding again and rode until around 10:30 where we came upon the lovely town of Middlegate. And by town I mean a Bar/Motel/General Store surrounded by a collection of mobile homes and trailers housing 12 people, all being run by a very loud diesel generator because they don't have real power. They are "off the grid" as they put it. We got to the bar/motel/store and saw that all of the lights were off even though there was a collection of people that we could see in the bar. Seeing that there was nowhere else to go, Danny and I walked into the bar to pitch our story about our bike trip and see if they could accommodate us for the night. As we walked in and took in the scene, consisting of 5 old men and one older woman sitting around the dark bar listening to one man singing and playing the guitar, they all stopped and turned towards us. The one man behind the bar turned and said, "Are you guys from Mars" (we were still in our biking attire) and they all laughed....we just kind of stood there all awkward-like. After telling them what we were doing the man who owned the bar, Russ, took us to the side of the bar and showed us a place where we could stay. He then told us that after we finished putting up our tents that we should come back in and have a few drinks with them. We felt obligated to for him helping us out and all. So we put up our tents and then headed back into the bar not knowing what to expect. It ended up being one of the greatest nights so far. We spent the next 3-4 hours drinking and hanging out with the guys, who were 10x more drunk than could be imagined and heard all of their. Much of the entertainment came from a man named Greg, and just so you can get the picture, this is a very tall, lanky, man with a huge beard, very tight jeans on, and a cowboy hat who was having trouble standing up on his own at this point. But he was once a marine biologist, who spent 3 years in the Peace Corps, who now was a bartender in Middlegate doing god knows what. Well I guess getting drunk on Wednesday nights. But he told us about his time in the P.C. and other interesting stories like the time he hit a pig with his truck in Honduras or when his wife stabbed him in the back with a Ginsu Knife. Ya we thought he was joking too, but his now ex-wife legitimately stabbed him in the back with a knife, and he had the scar and the wrench used to pull the knife out to validate the story. What an odd night that was.
Before going on let me just fill you in on Nevada. It sucks! Our entire ride across Nevada was on Route 50, called the loneliest road in America, and for good reason, no one in their right mind would ever want to create an abode in that awful, dusty, windy, mountainous, terrible place. From Dayton here were the ONLY towns that were along Route 50. First, Austin (a 52 mile ride from Dayton). Then Eureka (64 miles from Austin). Ely (77 miles from Eureka), Baker (68 miles from Ely), and finally Millford (84 miles and across the Utah border). So these were the only places that we could stop for the past week to refill waters and food. All of these towns were extremely small, under 500 people mostly, and really had nothing to do in them except to eat or sleep, which was fine with us because we were all very tired. The ride across Nevada was very simple. Up a mountain into elevations between 6500 ft to 8000 ft, then down over 1000ft into a valley, across a basin, and then up a mountain again. This would be hard enough, but to top it off, every way we turned it seemed like the wind was blowing directly in our faces. Now we know why no one does the Western Express....it's hard.
Another cool story was our stay in Baker. Here we had heard that there was a restaurant that let bikers stay for free. So we went to the deli and asked the owner if we could stay behind his store. He said it was free as long as we ate at his place, which worked out very well for us. After cooking pesto chicken pasta for us, Terry(the owner) told us that it was movie night as well and he pulled down a huge projector screen on one of the walls and hooked up his projector screen that was mounted on the ceiling. We watched a French film, named La Vie en Rose, which was very good and made us feel very cultured and then we hit the sack after another long and hard day.
Also, in Millford, we again got attacked by sprinklers in the middle of night, while we were sleeping in a park. Our tent held up very well, and we did not get wet at all, we didn't even move our tent because we were too lazy to get up. Danny on the other hand, had a little more trouble dealing with the sneaky sprinklers and got pretty wet, and also could not fall asleep until the sprinklers went off at 4:30am.... that grass was really nice and fluffy though.
From Millford we rode another 56 miles to Cedar City, the first major city we have seen in over a week and decided to take a day off. Last night we sat around our hotel room and watched tv and relaxed, I wasn't the first one asleep this time because I was still scarred from my last attempt at trying to get a good nights sleep in a hotel. Just kidding, just kidding, well not about the falling asleep part, I really wasn't the first asleep, I swear, I meant about the being scarred for life thing and never...ever again being able to fall asleep and feel comfortable...thats only partially true. Today, we got lunch at Dairy Queen and had some delicious blizzard ice creams and then went to see The Happening, a little disappointed M. Night, and got mine and J's bikes tuned up. Tonights agenda consists of more sitting around, a visit to Little Caesar's, yeah that place really still exists, and then more sitting around and hanging out. Tomorrow we climb our first giant of a mountain at over 10,000 ft and we are all a little nervous. But the good news is we are 60% through the Western Express and still are feeling confident that we will be able to get to Long Beach Island by the first week in August.
More Lessons to be learned....
1. towns of less than 300 people do not have movie theaters (Danny got made fun of by a waitress for asking)
2. small towns have very interesting people that frequent them during the week (like Greg)
3. Still be weary of green and fluffy grass....those damn sprinklers are always hiding somewhere
4. Wind is the devil...just watch The Happening
5. The desert SUCKS... never, EVER, EVER come to live or visit, or stay for period of time longer than 12 seconds
6. Your butt may or not still hurt after 2 weeks of riding (perhaps even bleed... no names, but its a girl)
7. Southern Utah University in Cedar City does not have fun people (apparently they do NOTHING for fun, except for a Shakespeare festival held once every leap year)
8. Eating burgers, fries, and oreo milk shakes 6 times a day will result in extremely painful and hilarious amounts of bodily functions
Love,
Bruce Wayne (Me), Bruce Banner (J), Clark Kent (Danny), and Lois Lane (Kara)
-Don't feel too special dad that your name is on here twice...you are not that cool.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Location Update!!
The bikers spent Saturday night in Ely, Nevada and were heading towards Baker, NV today. Their plan is to make it into Cedar City, Utah on Monday. Hopefully we will get an update from Cedar City.
Kara is sending pictures and I hope to get them online later in the week.
P.S. Aunt Beth, yes they are hydrating!!!!
Kara is sending pictures and I hope to get them online later in the week.
P.S. Aunt Beth, yes they are hydrating!!!!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Peace- Out Cali
Ok so we made it out of California and we are now in the lovely state of Nevada, regrouping and getting ready for our trek across the desert. We felt we deserved a little break after passing over the Sierra Nevadas (over 8500ft in elevation)....woof. Sorry about the long delay from our last post, but it has been difficult to find time and the strength needed to type wonderful new updates on our trip. But now that we have time we will try to catch up on what we have been doing since Vacaville.
After leaving Vacaville, we headed out in the blistering heat and eventually made it to Davis. All of us were feeling very woozy from our riding, especially J who managed to fall asleep while at the wheel and take a little spill into a very soft fence (he didn't get very hurt Leslyn, don't worry he is managing just fine with one arm). After we arrived in Davis we tried finding a place to sleep and while searching we came across a Unitarian Universalist church so we decided to take a shot. Danny and J went into the church and walked in a meeting that was taking place and pitched our dilemma to them. Luckily, we met a very generous and welcoming fellow named Tom, who was a fellow cyclist and had always dreamed of riding across the country as well. He hooked us up with suspisciously green patch of grass towards the back of the church that we could use for camping. We were in heaven! until around 11pm, just as we were entering our first REM cycle, that we heard the sound...... Chhtchcth chtch chtch chtch and began getting showered on by an army of underground water sprinklers that had skillfully avoided our detection the entire night. We quickly moved our tents to a much less comfortable area, still however a little green... An hour later, those clever sprinklers out-flanked us again and we were again pummeled by an array of tiny water cannons. That is until I, Homer the Savior, as I now call myself, came up with a plan much like the Great McGyver. Using A single piece of bubble gum, 2 tent stakes, a rubber band, and a razor sharp intellect, I fixed the sprinklers so that they would point away from our tents and we were finally able to get back to sleep.
The next morning we rode through Davis, stopped at a post office to drop off some unneeded belongings (Kara had an entire make-up kit, 3 prom dresses, and 2 pairs of stiletto heels...we are not sure why, maybe she was thinking of staying in Nevada). On our days trip we rode most of the day on a bike path all along a river which made the days ride very enjoyable. The bike trail ended in Folsom, where we first stopped to take a dip in the freezing cold water, and then cooked some pasta in a baseball park in the middle of the town. We finished eating and headed towards a state park where we were incorrectly told that we could stay the night. After getting a very scary glare from a park ranger we left the park and continued riding and trying to find somewhere to sleep. We ended up going into a housing development and as were looking for somewhere to hide away J miraculously got a bloody nose. This was the best thing that could have happened to us because at that moment a man pulled into his driveway and came out to ask if we needed any help. Danny again worked his magic and conned our way into sleeping on Mark's front yard, the man that came out to ask if we were ok. Very green grass, and Mark turned the sprinklers off for us this time.
Saturday was a very long day of biking up and down mountains all day. After climbing one very large hill we were resting at a local store and a man pulled up in a car. He asked if we were riding across country and if we had a place to stay for the night. He then offered us a place behind his restaurant in Fairplay, just a few miles away, and we jumped on the offer of a free place. We got to his very nice establishment, and he walked us back to where we would be staying. While walking back to our "campground" he came to a stop on a slab of brick pavers, and turned and looked at us like this was the best place to camp ever. Little did he know we had just had 2 consecutive days of very green, lush, and soft grass fr camping on previously. But, despite the unforgiving brick pavers, the area turned out to be very nice and we were very thankful to have yet another free night.
The next two days were filled with all uphill riding as we started climbing the Sierra Nevadas. On the first day we climbed over a mile vertically peaking at over 8000ft in elevation. That night ended in Silver Lake, where we stayed in a camp ground and payed for our first night of lodging ($27...not too bad). The campground was nice, however, at that altitude it got very, very, very cold at night and sleeping was quite difficult that night. ps there was snow all around us, and all over the mountain peaks while we were riding this high. The next morning we had a rough start, but eventually got riding and made it the top of Carson's Pass (8500ft elevation) and then had an incredible ride down the other side of the Sierra Nevadas for the rest of the day. We ended in Carson City, Nevada (finishing our first Moutain and our first state) and decided to take the night and the next morning off staying in a motel for the night.
That is all for now,
Love Bikers
After leaving Vacaville, we headed out in the blistering heat and eventually made it to Davis. All of us were feeling very woozy from our riding, especially J who managed to fall asleep while at the wheel and take a little spill into a very soft fence (he didn't get very hurt Leslyn, don't worry he is managing just fine with one arm). After we arrived in Davis we tried finding a place to sleep and while searching we came across a Unitarian Universalist church so we decided to take a shot. Danny and J went into the church and walked in a meeting that was taking place and pitched our dilemma to them. Luckily, we met a very generous and welcoming fellow named Tom, who was a fellow cyclist and had always dreamed of riding across the country as well. He hooked us up with suspisciously green patch of grass towards the back of the church that we could use for camping. We were in heaven! until around 11pm, just as we were entering our first REM cycle, that we heard the sound...... Chhtchcth chtch chtch chtch and began getting showered on by an army of underground water sprinklers that had skillfully avoided our detection the entire night. We quickly moved our tents to a much less comfortable area, still however a little green... An hour later, those clever sprinklers out-flanked us again and we were again pummeled by an array of tiny water cannons. That is until I, Homer the Savior, as I now call myself, came up with a plan much like the Great McGyver. Using A single piece of bubble gum, 2 tent stakes, a rubber band, and a razor sharp intellect, I fixed the sprinklers so that they would point away from our tents and we were finally able to get back to sleep.
The next morning we rode through Davis, stopped at a post office to drop off some unneeded belongings (Kara had an entire make-up kit, 3 prom dresses, and 2 pairs of stiletto heels...we are not sure why, maybe she was thinking of staying in Nevada). On our days trip we rode most of the day on a bike path all along a river which made the days ride very enjoyable. The bike trail ended in Folsom, where we first stopped to take a dip in the freezing cold water, and then cooked some pasta in a baseball park in the middle of the town. We finished eating and headed towards a state park where we were incorrectly told that we could stay the night. After getting a very scary glare from a park ranger we left the park and continued riding and trying to find somewhere to sleep. We ended up going into a housing development and as were looking for somewhere to hide away J miraculously got a bloody nose. This was the best thing that could have happened to us because at that moment a man pulled into his driveway and came out to ask if we needed any help. Danny again worked his magic and conned our way into sleeping on Mark's front yard, the man that came out to ask if we were ok. Very green grass, and Mark turned the sprinklers off for us this time.
Saturday was a very long day of biking up and down mountains all day. After climbing one very large hill we were resting at a local store and a man pulled up in a car. He asked if we were riding across country and if we had a place to stay for the night. He then offered us a place behind his restaurant in Fairplay, just a few miles away, and we jumped on the offer of a free place. We got to his very nice establishment, and he walked us back to where we would be staying. While walking back to our "campground" he came to a stop on a slab of brick pavers, and turned and looked at us like this was the best place to camp ever. Little did he know we had just had 2 consecutive days of very green, lush, and soft grass fr camping on previously. But, despite the unforgiving brick pavers, the area turned out to be very nice and we were very thankful to have yet another free night.
The next two days were filled with all uphill riding as we started climbing the Sierra Nevadas. On the first day we climbed over a mile vertically peaking at over 8000ft in elevation. That night ended in Silver Lake, where we stayed in a camp ground and payed for our first night of lodging ($27...not too bad). The campground was nice, however, at that altitude it got very, very, very cold at night and sleeping was quite difficult that night. ps there was snow all around us, and all over the mountain peaks while we were riding this high. The next morning we had a rough start, but eventually got riding and made it the top of Carson's Pass (8500ft elevation) and then had an incredible ride down the other side of the Sierra Nevadas for the rest of the day. We ended in Carson City, Nevada (finishing our first Moutain and our first state) and decided to take the night and the next morning off staying in a motel for the night.
That is all for now,
Love Bikers
Sunday, June 15, 2008
call from Kara
Kara called this morning to let us know all is well. They are climbing the Sierra Nevada mountains heading towards Kirkwood. When asked how the ride was her response was "STEEP" and her legs were burning.
They were cooking dried mac n cheese for breakfast, yummy! breakfast of champions
Looking forward to their next post and the great stories.
They were cooking dried mac n cheese for breakfast, yummy! breakfast of champions
Looking forward to their next post and the great stories.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Greetings from Vacaville!
Ok, so here is our first post after starting this trip. We have ridden for about 2 days now and already have a bunch of stories to share... First off, as beautiful as San Francisco is and as much as we enjoyed it, it was filled with a lot of frustration. We had a great deal of time sitting around waiting for things to happen, and we also spent way too much money in the city. As bad as that sounds, we still did meet many cool and "interesting" people in our stay in San Fran. We met a man on the bus our first day and he insisted that we go to Haight Ashbury, as he said the place was "really psychedelic." And as he declared that place was very hippy-looking and we saw a lot of cool shops and a lot of interesting glassware. Other than this guy we also met the people at American Cyclery (the place our bikes were shipped to) and got to know them a little more than we expected because we were hanging around their shop for about a day and a half. But we really want to send out a big thankyou to those guys because they really worked with us and gave us all the support that we needed in order to begin our trip.
Our bikes were finally ready yesterday at about 4pm, which was very close to the cut off that we had made on whether we rode out yesterday or stayed one more night in San Fran. Once packed we decided we had to start going so we headed out from the bike shop at about 4:30pm in an attempt to get across the city to the 5:15 ferry to Vallejo. So we began winding through rush hour traffic, all the while getting yelled at by bus drivers and shuttle drivers that we were not supposed to be there, and just as we got to the loading dock to the ferry we saw people loading and the ferry ready to leave. We jumped into line and thought we had made it....then we got to the front and realized that we didn't get any tickets. Luckily after a few moments of fear and panic, we were told that the ferry was not full and that they could accomodate us and our loaded bikes on the boat ride. While on the ferry and gandering out upon the bay we saw a giant golden bridge in the distance. Something that we had not seen the entire 2 days in San Fran, but we were informed that it is apparently a big deal. It's something called the Golden Gate Bridge...go figure.
Once in Vallejo, it was just after 6pm and we were excited to start biking. We expected to ride for a short while, get some food, and then camp and call it quits for our first day. However, we were quite wrong. The short ride, to food, to sleep, turned into about a 3 hour ride with Jack-in-the-Box fast food strapped onto the backs of our bikes begging anyone that we saw if they would let us stay the night in their lawn. Apparently Californians are scared of us Easterners, or we looked particularly menacing (We blame Kara) because we attempted and failed 3 times in a row. Once because a peacock farmer said he had interns staying at his house?, once because a crazed woman wanted to think about letting us stay for 20 minutes and then telling us that we had to "shoo off", and finally we were directed to a public school that fined outsiders $500 and 6 months in jail for trespassing....by now it was pitch black as well. We then trodded back into a huge development near the school and walked down a steep hill behind some houses and set up camp on a flat grassy area near a creek. It was a perfect resting place for the night, except for one minor, very small thing. There were more mosquitoes in that small grassy knoll, than in all of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Once the tents were up we spent the next 10 minutes killing rogue mosquitoes that had slipped into our tents on the sly while eating our greasy, 2-hour old burgers with no light. Night for most of us came around 10pm, for Kara on the other hand bedtime did not so much happen....at all. That's why she is currently sleeping outside the library under a tree as J and I write.
Today began with a nice 5am wake-up call, it was nice and cold, and the mosquitoes had been waiting outside for us all night. We then managed to pack up the tents, and wake up the entire neighborhood (because their dogs were barking) in just under an hour and we headed out feeling confident in our riding to come. The riding went great from about 6 until about 7:30 and then Kara busted 3 tubes within a quarter mile before we found a small piece of glass wedged down through the tire. She now is riding on one of Danny's tubes which is much too large for her bike, but it is working in the mean time. That little excursion took about 1 1/2 hours and then we were back on the road. The rest of the trip has gone good so far, except everywhere you turn the wind is directly in your face making the biking much more difficult. We are now resting in the quaint and sleepy town of Vacaville, where we stocked up on extra tubes for Kara, and got some delicious chinese food to fill our tummies. Optimistically, we are hoping to get to Sacramento tonight where there is a camp ground calling our names. Otherwise we might be "bushwhacking it" for another night. Farewell humble readers and we hope to be posting again soon and getting some pictures up because we have already seen some unbelievable sights.
Now to leave you with a few pieces of advice...
1. There is free campgrounds at the Golden Gate Park in San Fran if you don't want to spend money on a fake Ramada Inn called "Ramada Limited"
2. Try to have an idea where you are going to stay for the night before it gets dark
3. Ship bikes by FedEx or Air
4. Bums give good directions (sorry if thats politically incorrect but it's true)
5. grundle cream.... we will leave that one up to the imagination
Hopefully be posting in a couple days, until then sit at your computer and refresh this page every 10 minutes until a new post appears. Also, keep writing comments, we love to hear them.
Peace out Cub Scouts,
J and Homer (Kara and Danny are asleep but they are here in spirit)
Our bikes were finally ready yesterday at about 4pm, which was very close to the cut off that we had made on whether we rode out yesterday or stayed one more night in San Fran. Once packed we decided we had to start going so we headed out from the bike shop at about 4:30pm in an attempt to get across the city to the 5:15 ferry to Vallejo. So we began winding through rush hour traffic, all the while getting yelled at by bus drivers and shuttle drivers that we were not supposed to be there, and just as we got to the loading dock to the ferry we saw people loading and the ferry ready to leave. We jumped into line and thought we had made it....then we got to the front and realized that we didn't get any tickets. Luckily after a few moments of fear and panic, we were told that the ferry was not full and that they could accomodate us and our loaded bikes on the boat ride. While on the ferry and gandering out upon the bay we saw a giant golden bridge in the distance. Something that we had not seen the entire 2 days in San Fran, but we were informed that it is apparently a big deal. It's something called the Golden Gate Bridge...go figure.
Once in Vallejo, it was just after 6pm and we were excited to start biking. We expected to ride for a short while, get some food, and then camp and call it quits for our first day. However, we were quite wrong. The short ride, to food, to sleep, turned into about a 3 hour ride with Jack-in-the-Box fast food strapped onto the backs of our bikes begging anyone that we saw if they would let us stay the night in their lawn. Apparently Californians are scared of us Easterners, or we looked particularly menacing (We blame Kara) because we attempted and failed 3 times in a row. Once because a peacock farmer said he had interns staying at his house?, once because a crazed woman wanted to think about letting us stay for 20 minutes and then telling us that we had to "shoo off", and finally we were directed to a public school that fined outsiders $500 and 6 months in jail for trespassing....by now it was pitch black as well. We then trodded back into a huge development near the school and walked down a steep hill behind some houses and set up camp on a flat grassy area near a creek. It was a perfect resting place for the night, except for one minor, very small thing. There were more mosquitoes in that small grassy knoll, than in all of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Once the tents were up we spent the next 10 minutes killing rogue mosquitoes that had slipped into our tents on the sly while eating our greasy, 2-hour old burgers with no light. Night for most of us came around 10pm, for Kara on the other hand bedtime did not so much happen....at all. That's why she is currently sleeping outside the library under a tree as J and I write.
Today began with a nice 5am wake-up call, it was nice and cold, and the mosquitoes had been waiting outside for us all night. We then managed to pack up the tents, and wake up the entire neighborhood (because their dogs were barking) in just under an hour and we headed out feeling confident in our riding to come. The riding went great from about 6 until about 7:30 and then Kara busted 3 tubes within a quarter mile before we found a small piece of glass wedged down through the tire. She now is riding on one of Danny's tubes which is much too large for her bike, but it is working in the mean time. That little excursion took about 1 1/2 hours and then we were back on the road. The rest of the trip has gone good so far, except everywhere you turn the wind is directly in your face making the biking much more difficult. We are now resting in the quaint and sleepy town of Vacaville, where we stocked up on extra tubes for Kara, and got some delicious chinese food to fill our tummies. Optimistically, we are hoping to get to Sacramento tonight where there is a camp ground calling our names. Otherwise we might be "bushwhacking it" for another night. Farewell humble readers and we hope to be posting again soon and getting some pictures up because we have already seen some unbelievable sights.
Now to leave you with a few pieces of advice...
1. There is free campgrounds at the Golden Gate Park in San Fran if you don't want to spend money on a fake Ramada Inn called "Ramada Limited"
2. Try to have an idea where you are going to stay for the night before it gets dark
3. Ship bikes by FedEx or Air
4. Bums give good directions (sorry if thats politically incorrect but it's true)
5. grundle cream.... we will leave that one up to the imagination
Hopefully be posting in a couple days, until then sit at your computer and refresh this page every 10 minutes until a new post appears. Also, keep writing comments, we love to hear them.
Peace out Cub Scouts,
J and Homer (Kara and Danny are asleep but they are here in spirit)
and they're off!!!
Finally got on the road around 4pm on Wednesday. Spent most of the day sitting in front of the bike shop waiting for Kara and Dan's bikes to be delivered. After a short 6.5 mile ride they hopped onto the Ferry for a 50 minute ride across the bay. They pedaled until about 9pm where they slept on a grassy knoll near a development.
Up early on Thursday morning and hit the road. 50 miles into the trip Kara has blown a tire, learning bike repair early, hope she has alot of extra tubes. They are in Rockville, CA fixing the tire and heading to the Nevada state line, might make Nevada Friday or Saturday.
Up early on Thursday morning and hit the road. 50 miles into the trip Kara has blown a tire, learning bike repair early, hope she has alot of extra tubes. They are in Rockville, CA fixing the tire and heading to the Nevada state line, might make Nevada Friday or Saturday.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
San Francisco
The bikers ate dinner in Little Italy at "Steps of Rome" and walked "all the way" to Chinatown, tried to take taxi but driver couldn't find downtown, did not know how to read GPS, must have been his first day!
Walked "everywhere" in San Francisco. Learned history of Haight-Ashbury District, famous for 1960's hippie movement - dropping- acid & flower-power!!!
Bike shop where bikes were shipped from back East not very helpful, so they found another shop close by that will get them on the road Wednesday, hopefully. Original bike shop would not get the bikes ready until Saturday - don't forget "Homer" has to be on the soccer field August 17th and there are many mountains to climb between now and then, must get rolling.
The group commented on how heavy the bags are - the homeless people in San Fran might be getting presents, we know they will be getting luggage.
Last minute shopping at REI (an outdoor adventure store) also was part of the day.
The fabulous four are having a great time so far snuggled up in a OK hotel and touring San Francisco, let the adventure begin.
I hope my next post will have them on their bikes and making their way back home.
Walked "everywhere" in San Francisco. Learned history of Haight-Ashbury District, famous for 1960's hippie movement - dropping- acid & flower-power!!!
Bike shop where bikes were shipped from back East not very helpful, so they found another shop close by that will get them on the road Wednesday, hopefully. Original bike shop would not get the bikes ready until Saturday - don't forget "Homer" has to be on the soccer field August 17th and there are many mountains to climb between now and then, must get rolling.
The group commented on how heavy the bags are - the homeless people in San Fran might be getting presents, we know they will be getting luggage.
Last minute shopping at REI (an outdoor adventure store) also was part of the day.
The fabulous four are having a great time so far snuggled up in a OK hotel and touring San Francisco, let the adventure begin.
I hope my next post will have them on their bikes and making their way back home.
The Adventure Begins!!!
The 50 minute ride to the Philadelphia Airport is just the start of the adventure, no traffic to deal with, excitement is there though the bikers are not very talkative in the car, I'm sure they are saving their energy for the bike ride -
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Our Route...
Here is the route we are taking thanks to Kara’s comments on the previous post…
We are basically starting out on the western express trail, which starts in San Francisco, CA and ends in Pueblo, CO. Then we are going to jump onto the Transamerica route in Pueblo. That route will take us across Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky and into Virginia. After Virginia we are going to probably wing it back up into PA and finally into NJ.
Here is more detailed route for the western express:
1. San Francisco, CA, to Fallon, NV
(314 mi.)
2. Fallon, NV, to Cedar City, UT
(465.5 mi.)
3. Cedar City, UT, to Dolores, CO
(447 mi.)
4. Dolores, CO, to Pueblo, CO
(359.5 mi.)
And this is the Transamerica Trail:
1. Astoria, OR, to Eugene, OR
(235 mi.)
2. Eugene, OR, to Baker City, OR
(340 mi.)
3. Baker City, OR, to Missoula, MT
(413.5 mi.)
4. Missoula, MT, to West Yellowstone, MT (332 mi.)
5. West Yellowstone, MT, to Rawlins, WY (351 mi.)
6. Rawlins, WY, to Pueblo, CO
(393 mi.)
7. Pueblo, CO, to Alexander, KS
(292 mi.)
8. Alexander, KS, to Girard, KS
(331.5 mi.)
9. Girard, KS, to Murphysboro, IL
(407.5 mi.)
10. Murphysboro, IL, to Berea, KY
(416 mi.)
11. Berea, KY, to Christiansburg, VA (381 mi.)
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