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"Well, there is the country guys..."

First, I would just like to apologize for the lack of postings and pictures on this blog as of late.  We began riding much longer days as the trip went along which made us begin to value sleep and rest much higher than some other activities, including this blog, and they sort of fell by the wayside.  So, again I apologize for that.  But, no fear, because this is going to be the blog of all blogs, the "Super Blog" if you will, and all of your dread and dismay for the lack of posts will be wiped away and you can finally go back to peaceful nights of rest filled with plenty of dreams and REM cycles. 

So here goes.... Well for one.... umm well we ahh biked across the country.  Yeah we made it! Who would have thunk it but we actually bicycled our way across the entire damn country.  And we did it in pretty good time.  We started riding on June 11th and we arrived at our final destination on August 5th making it 55 days to get from San Francisco to Long Beach Island, NJ.  One night towards the end of our trip I sat down and reviewed my skills from 4th grade and crunched some numbers with some long division and here is what I came up with....

-55 days of bike trip

-53 days of actual riding

-4026 total miles (might be a little off as some of the days were guestimates)

-59.96 miles per day for the first 4 weeks

-83.22 miles per day for the last 4 weeks

-73.22 M.P.D. for the entire trip

At this point there are so many different stories and adventures to talk about since my last post that I could honestly be writing for the next week.  But, I will try to highlight some of our more interesting stories as a fill you in on the end of our trip.  Well, as you can see from some of the stats above this second part of the trip we began to do quite a bit more miles than we had been previously doing.  The terrain through the states of Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey (the states we went through since I last posted) were for the most part much flatter than the god-awful states like Utah and Nevada.  Don't get me wrong there were some really bad hills and steep inclines, like in the Ozarks (Missouri) where we had possibly our hardest single climb, but it was much smaller than our previous hikes but it was a hell of a lot steeper.  Basically, if you stopped pedaling you would fall over and I am pretty sure that Kara did about 3 times.  Our other very hilly parts were Eastern Kentucky and parts of Virginia, like "Big A Mountain" (I think you can figure out the "A") and Mount Vesuvius (a 3-mile hill with an elevation change of over 2000 ft) but on the whole, even with these steep parts, we eased through these states with much more splendor than in our amateur days on the Western Express.  

Other than biking a great deal more miles per day towards the end of the trip, we also ran into some issues with our bank rolls, or lack there of towards the end.  Now some may see this as a bad thing (maybe everyone but myself), but I for one believe it was a blessing in disguise because it forced us to be much more thrifty and much more adventurous when it came to camping which caused us to meet many people that we never would have come across otherwise.  One example being the firemen from Farmington, Missouri.  We asked to camp outside of their station and they went one step farther by offering us lazy boys in the actual fire department.  We got to sit around and talk with them, watch all the TV we wanted to and even got to shower.  There actually was a fire call that night and none of us even woke up for it amazingly enough.  Besides meeting these fine men of duty, Farmington also brings back another fabulous story from our epic quest....THE MILK CHUG CHALLENGE!  The milk chug challenge is a tall task for anyone to take on that consists of trying to finish an entire gallon of chocolate milk in one hour and to keep it down.  Naturally, J thought that he was just the man for the task.  So here goes J, he is chugging away and looking like a champ as he finished the first half in record time (12 minutes).  Now, only half a gallon and he will join the immortals up on Mount Olympus (no we didn't climb this mountain... maybe next year).  But he began drinking slower and slower, and facial and body gestures began looking more and more pained and agonized... and then it hit him, "Oh mylanta I must go outside at once" (Yes, J talks like that).  Oh ya forgot to fill all of you in on the scene.... we were sitting in a Ponderosa Steakhouse eating a delicious buffet while J was pounding away this chocolate milk.  So J ran outside and tucked away into a little corner of the front garden and here is where I witnessed one of the most glorious and spectacular vomits of my life.  Basically, a fire hydrant of brown, chocolatey milk came gushing out of J's mouth for what seemed like 3 1/2 minutes (just a guess).  And that is how I believe all MILK CHUG CHALLENGES end which is why they are so amazing.  J, I know you really wanted to be up there with Zeus, but in my mind you still are champ so keep the head up high.  So J wasn't able to do it, but... well, being the smart young lads that we are, Dan and I thought, "hey maybe I can do it and J's vomit was a fluke" so we tried the same challenge the following day.... Lets just say that J's wasn't a fluke and end it at that.  Well, that is that....now back to our interesting places that we slept.  Other nights rest took place behind churches, in people's back yards, behind schools, behind grocery stores, in town parks, on baseball fields, and even behind a State Farm Agency building just inside the border of New Jersey (we felt very safe and in good hands that night).  

From the State Farm Agency building we rode 68 miles to Kara's house in Jobstown.  Now we had some interesting things happen to us on this trip, but it is possible that one of the most unbelievable things happened to us within the last 5 miles of our journey to Kara's house.  We were given a police escort to Kara's house.  So picture it.... Kara, J, Dan, and I riding down the middle of the road with cop cars (flashing lights and all) in front of us and behind us courting us down the road to Kara's abode.  All the while there are photographers driving up ahead of us, taking pictures, and then riding ahead again to do the same thing.  Now the hoopla did not stop there.... oh no siree.  We turned onto the final road and in the distance we saw a banner across the road and a huge crowd (and by huge crowd I mean like 20 family members) of people hooting and hollering and chanting our names.  So we rode through the banner and were finally  welcomed home.  Now I love you Deb (I hope that I can call you that and if not then that is a typo and I meant to say Mrs. Pigott) but that may have been the most absurdly ridiculous thing to have happened to me on this entire trip.  None of us could really believe that all of that was actually happening, but we were reminded by the multiple newspaper articles that came out the following days about us, another thing set up by the Debster.  After our arrival, there was a party in honor of our return back to New Jersey and we all got some much needed R and R.  The next day was a slow start, but we eventually left Kara's house and made it to Long Beach Island by about 4:30.  We immediately jumped off of our bikes and began walking onto the beach.  We walked down to the water, still in our spandex bike shorts and jerseys, and stood at the foot of the ocean looking out into the water.  And although we were all so excited to be done it was a very strange feeling to be looking out across the Atlantic Ocean, going as far east as we could and knowing that our journey was now finished.  As we all looked out over the water in silence I remember one of us looked up and remarked, "Well, there is the country guys..." and we all gave a little chuckle.  In 55 days we had gone from San Francisco all the way to the beach on LBI and we were all in a way dumbfounded by what we had just accomplished.  However, with the odd feeling of being done with our bike trip aside, we were all so excited to have a few days off and enjoy our days with Rob and Beth and the rest of the fam who so graciously took us into their beach house for a few days.

But, now back to the real world I guess.  I am now back home in Sauquoit trying to prepare for the final year of college and soccer, which is rapidly approaching and the rest of the gang is back at their homes doing that whole "real world" find a job thing (or maybe they aren't).  But on a more serious note, we really do appreciate all of the help and generous support we have gotten throughout this trip from our friends and families, and even from the complete strangers that we met throughout our journey who either took us into their homes, or let us stay in their yard, or let us do laundry, or whatever it may have been.  So thank you all once again and we could not have made it without you.

Hold up, I can't end with that mushy stuff so here are some funny quotes and awards that I came up with for the trip....

"So uh you guys ready to go" (Me, normally said to Kara/J) (they made fun of me for how much I said it) (I made fun of them for how much we waited for them)

"What you dare me to get...." (anon)

"Yeah my uncle did this trip only he started in China" (boy that we met in a park in Missouri)

"Dan come look at these stars" (J said to Dan, as J and I were peeing outside of our tent at 3 in the morning and Dan was sleeping)

"I hit that hog straight perpendicular.... I T-boned it" (Greg from Middlegate)

"It was still cold when it came out" (J after MILK CHUG CHALLENGE)

"But we have no idea what is out there" (said very dramatically by Dan, talking about riding on a very well populated highway) (a little bit of an exaggeration)

"What you trying to do? You trying to stick that little itty bitty tent in that little itty bitty bag?" (repeated twice by a man in Missouri to us) (his voice sounded like a banjo if you can picture that)

"Holy Mackeral" (Rod from Dove Creek)

"Biking across the country is a lot like farming.... you don't have to be crazy.... but it sure as hell helps" (said by a farmer to us one morning before we started riding)

AWARDS

Flatulence Award: Jason Keil

Temper Tantrum Award: Dan Pigott (when lost cooking pot and also in Wytheville outside of Arby's...you know what I am talking about Dan)

Most Unique Sleep Award: Brian Homer Gunther (actually a double award for my snoring in the tent and also for my one nights rest in a bathtub....oops.)

Bike Safety Award: Kara Pigott (hands down the safest biker in the world)

Popped Tire Award (aka Fat Ass Award): Jason Keil (for popping what seemed like 230 tubes)

Most Falls Award: Kara Pigott (about 230 logged falls on the trip, none of which while actually riding.... all while trying to stop and forgetting that her feet were in the clips)

Best Fall Award: Dan Pigott ( riding through Delaware he took a huge spill and none of us really know how it occurred....he didn't get hurt)

Well, in the words of my forefathers, that's all she wrote there fellers...... Sayonara Suckers.

Homecoming Time Update

The bikers are making great time, they can really pedal. They plan to arrive at Rowan University today, Sunday, Dan's Alma mater. Now with only about 50 miles to Jobstown, arrival will now be around 5pm on Monday.

Homecoming Event

The bikers were in Charlottesville, Virginia last night and met a wonderful couple who was letting them sleep in their yard. Now that they are off the Transamerica Bike route, they are winging their way towards Delaware. They assure me they are still on schedule and plan to arrive in Jobstown, NJ on Monday, Aug 4th, early evening.
A homecoming welcome celebration is set for Monday at The Pigott's (Dan & Kara's home), 151 Springfield Meetinghouse Rd., Jobstown, NJ. As of now we have local newspapers and Philly TV stations, fox29 and CBS3, covering the homecoming. The local police will also help out with an escort through town.
All are welcome to cheer them home. They are planning a 6pm (approximate) arrival.
email questions to debpigott@comcast.net

Almost Home!!!

The fabulous four spent the night in a motel in Wytheville, Virginia waiting for the local bike shop to open on Tuesday morning. They have had a few!! mechanical difficulties and are in need of some minor repairs. Kara said she "threw" her bike after another flat tire, which was about the eighth for the group in less than a week. Out of spare tubes they decided to stay in Wytheville, relax and get some much needed rest. Dan Armstrong did want to go another 50 miles and "risk" a breakdown, but the group decided against it, even Brian Homer LeMond choose not to take the "risk".
Their final leg will take them north through Virginia, into Maryland and then to Delaware where they will cross into New Jersey, unless they turn around and go back, as I hear Kara and Jason have contemplated.
A homecoming celebration will take place either the 3rd or 4th of August at the Pigott's in Jobstown, NJ, a stopover before their last day ride to Long Beach Island. I will keep everyone updated as they get closer. Signs, cheering and a party will welcome them home, all are invited to join the fun.

Update

Here's the whereabouts of the Riders:

July 20 :  They crossed into Illinois.  They found a short cut that cut off 80 miles.

July 21:  Kentucky!!

July 24:  Berea, Kentucky

NO MORE WESTERN EXPRESS!!!!

Update on our days and mileage...
7/3- Dolores to Telluride (70 miles and over Lizards head, a 10,222 ft summit
7/4- Lucked out and talked to a lovely woman named Melissa who amazing found us lodging in an unoccupied home for the weekend (Thanks again Melissa, Susan and company)
-most of us got to see some fantastic fire works!
-got to see the town parade, where post-Scientology Tom Cruise and fam was in attendance (even though we didn't see him) and ate at the town picnic
7/5- Telluride to Montrose (only 60ish miles because we were kinda lazy and tired)
7/6- Montrose to Parlin (over Monarch Pass 11,300 ft in elevation)
7/7- Parlin to Pueblo (92 miles) FINALLY FINISHING THE WESTERN EXPRESS!!!!
7/8- Pueblo to Ordway 48 miles) got really lazy this day, oops.
- met the winner from the Biggest Loser tv show who is biking across the country with his wife
- got to watch a movie in the town park
7/9- Ordway to Tribune (118 miles) OUR FIRST CENTURY CLUB (10 1/2 hours of biking)
7/10- Tribune to Ness City (102 miles)
7/11- Ness City to Larnerd (66 miles)
7/12- Larnerd to Newton (110 miles)

So that is what we have been doing the last week or so and that is why no one has really heard from us lately.... We are still alive and kicking and feeling good that we are out of the Western Express and on the TransAmerica Trail.

We have been able to put in a lot of miles and have felt really good to be getting some days with over 100 miles.

Wally, it was good to hear from you and to answer your questions, I (Homer) do the blogging and everyone else helps in telling me where we have come from and where we are going and other good stories (PG of course) that we should share with everyone else. As for the brushes with the law we have been trying to be more unlawful. While camping in Ness City we snuck into the town pool, scaling a very large fence, so that we could take "showers" in the pool. Also, we have been continuously ignoring traffic safety signs in towns and cities in order to save time...don't worry mom we are all still ok. Oh, I must make a correction. Kara has yet to break any traffic laws, and is all about bike safety.

Sorry, but this is all I got for now. There are plenty more stories, but just don't have the time right now.

Here is the update for where we are right now however. On our ride into Newton, our destination for the night, we met two fabulous people (Dave and Cookie) They were bikers who have gone all over the country and make us look like complete amateurs. We are currently cleaning our clothes in their washer/dryer, taking showers, and sitting around exchanging stories while drinking chocolate milk and eating popcoron. We still are consistently being amazed at the kindness and care that we have been encountering throughout our trip so far. It is a great thing to see and we are so appreciative.

OK, hopefully pictures soon?

The bikers

3/4 Through the W. Express and Loving It...

Well, we finally got back to a place with phone service and internet so here I go with a recap since my last post.... We had kind of a slow start on the 26th because we were really dreading climbing Cedar Mountain, but eventually, after eating a breakfast/lunch, we got on the road and started up the mountain at around 12. The climb was really hard and took over 4 hours to rise from about 6500ft to over 10,000ft in elevation (only 26 miles). Once we got to the summit however we had a nice relaxing joy ride down the other side of the mountain and made it another 30 miles in 2 1/2 hours to our final resting place for the night in Panguitch. Once in Panguitch we stopped to eat at an Arby's and then started looking for a place to sleep for the night. We called the sheriff who told us that there was a restaurant/motel that let peole stay behind it for free (he failed to mention the name and we failed to ask what the name was) After looking for this phantom establishment for about 15 minutes and coming up with empty pockets we decided to call back and get the name. Unfortunately, when we called back there had just been a shift change and the new sheriff that we talked to had no idea what we were talking about. We hung up and decided to go looking for somewhere to stay on our own. We first checked out a church, but those damn sprinklers were everywhere. We then went to a hospital and Danny used his suave moves to finagle our way into being able to sleep on some grass behind the hospital for the night. While setting up the tent we found some sprinklers and got a little disheartened, but then we made a miraculous finding. We found the underground sprinkler regulator that controlled all of the sprinklers and were able to turn it off. Finally we had outsmarted the sprinklers!

The next morning we woke up to Danny yelling at us to come outside the tent. J, Kara, and I had slept passed the alarm and thought that Danny was going to give us a little treat for us being so lazy, but we were happily surprised as we emerged from our lair to see tons of hot air balloons taking off and landing all around us in the sorrounding fields. After watching the balloons for a bit we packed up and began riding by around 9. We rode until 12 and stopped in Cannonville for lunhc (36 miles). There was no restaurant but there was a market with a microwave and we got excited (especially J). So we all got a bunch of microwaveable foods and cooked them up for lunch. Somehow J spent more money at this market than for any of his meals so far? I'm not quite sure how that happened... From Cannonville we started up riding again and ended our night a little early at around 6:30 in Escalante at a campsite. Danny and I headed into town, another 2 miles, to get food. We came back so excited with our pick, sloppy joes, but upon arrival back to our site we were informed by J and Kara that we had only gotten sloppy joe sauce and no meat. We felt like idoits... After our mistake, J and Kara took a ride into town and saved the night with pasta and alfredo sauce that we cooked on the fire. Danny and I are really good at getting wood and making fires, not so good at the whole grocery thing (another lesson learned).

We left Escalante in the morning, rode 28 miles up a mountain and stopped in Boulder for lunch. On this ride we went up a 4 miles section that had a grade of 14%....it was terrible. After eating in Boulder we all layed outside the restaurant and took naps for about an hour. When we woke up there were a lot more people there than before and they were all staring at us and our bikes (we were sprawled all out on the ground outside the restaurant trying to relax in the shade). When I woke I turned to J and said, "they are looking at us like zoo animals." It felt terrible and I am now starting a lifelong quest to free all zoo animals because it feels terrible. Ended the night in Torrey where we stayed behind a church, which we thought we had gotten permission to stay behind, but came to find out that we were given permission to stay behind a completely different church. Who knew there would be more than one church in a town of 170 people.

On the 29th we rode from Torrey to Hanksville in the morning (46 miles) through beautiful canyon. Saw 5-6 deer (3 bucks, 2 babies), and came across a really cool waterfall. We stopped in Hanksville to eat lunch and then left and rode another 48 miles to a campsite in Hite State Park. Almost made it to a Century Club(100+ day) but came up a little short. We will get it one of these days. From Hite Park we had an 86 mile day that put us in Blanding with no services in between. This day was really terrible. We were all really tired, and the first 50 miles of the ride was all up hill. For lunch we walked off of the road and cooked food underneath a tree, sorrounded by dried up cow poop and bugs all around us. We definitely ate some bugs for lunch but none of us cared. Anyways Bear Grylls says they are an excellent source of protein. From Blanding we rode to Dove Creek. During that trip we encountered our first rain storm, we felt really B.A. as people drove past us in their cars. Then this morning we rode from Dove Creek to Dolores. We are shacked up in a cozy little motel and our preparing to climb our first big mountain in Colorado. Oh yeah, we left AWFUL UTAH, and are so excited to be out of the damn desert. Also we have crossed to 1000 mile marker and are approaching 1300 miles so far. For now that is all.

In closing, a few more lessons....
1. Dead, rotting animal carcasses smell awful
2. Mexican meals= more bodily functions
3. Open Ranges + Cows in the middle of road= Homer terrified of livestock
4. 14%.........GAAAAA
5. When you are tired, you will sit down anywhere to relax, even sorrounded by bugs and feces
6. swimming in lake= shower for the week
7. Don't leave your wallet at restaurants (I am an idoit)
8. Rod from Dove Creek is maybe the coolest person in the world.

Hasta luego,
Kings of the Road

First Slideshow

"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.

Pictures

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!!!!

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

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.

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)

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.

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.

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 -

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.)

First of Many posts...

Alright, so my name is Brian Homer Gunther(thats my sexy picture to the left), and I am one of four people about to embark on a bike trip from San Francisco, California to Long Beach Island, New Jersey.  I am going to be a senior at Franklin and Marshall College in the fall where I play soccer and am an American Studies major.  My other compatriots are; Jason Keil, recent grad from Franklin & Marshall College majoring in Chemistry and fellow soccer player with me; Kara Pigott, also a recent grad of F&M in Biology and member of the women's soccer team; and Dan Pigott, brother of Kara, who graduated from Rowan University in 2007.

This trip began one night when myself and Jason were sitting around our apartment talking about our plans for the summer.  Neither one of us wanted to work or do anything in the "real world" so we both decided we wanted to go on some sort of bike trip.  On this first night we also promised one another that we had to go on this trip, and that neither one of us could back down.  This was back during the Winter and as our talking and plan making continued it evolved from a simple bike trip into a cross-country bike trip, with our friend Kara, and her brother Dan, who was planning the same trip for this Summer by himself so it was only natural for us all to do it together.  We decided to go big and there was no turning back!  All we had to do.... plan the entire trip, get bikes suitable for riding across the country, get the gear needed to cross the country and train..... no big deal. Except for we didn't get to doing it.

As school came to an end, and our activities around graduation began to come to a close, it finally hit us right in the face that we had a whole lot of work to do for this trip, as we were reminded that we were leaving June 9th from Philadelphia, PA on a non-stop flight to San Francisco, Californnia (we booked the tickets as another way to make sure we did this trip).  So for the last two weeks, and for the next week and a half we have before we part with the east coast for 2 months(hopefully before my preseason starts so my coach does not kill me) we will be on a mad dash to get all of our bike gear together, and arranged so that we will be all set for our trip.  Its been crazy, but I am already getting goose bumps because I am so excited for the adventure that we have ahead of us.  

But for now that is all I have to say.  I just wanted to give an introduction to who we are and what we are doing and I promise that there will be many more postings and pictures to come as we prepare and commence on this trek across the country....

-Brian "Homer" Gunther