helloooo missouri!

i haven't blogged since i was in kentucky. since then, i have biked through illinois and now i'm in missouri. we enter kansas tomorrow. wow, i am terrible at updating this thing.

we took the ferry across the ohio river into illinois. here are a couple pictures on the ferry.

right when we entered into illinois, we stayed at a campsite in a town called "cave in rock." why was it called that? because there was a cave in a rock. we went exploring after dinner. as soon as i saw the cave, i instantly thought of harry potter. it was eerily similar to the horcrux cave in 'harry potter and the deathly hollows.' i tried to take a picture of it but it was too dark. it basically looked like this though:

then we had a rest day in carbondale, illinois. a few of the guys on the ride are from there so it was a wonderful day off. we rode around 82 miles into carbondale and stayed at seth's parent's house. they had a TON of food waiting for us and it was wonderful. then we went to a bar afterwards, all wearing matching "welcome to the 'dale" tshirts that one of the boy's mom made. it was such a fun night with lots of dancing.

the next morning, we woke up and did a bunch of yardwork for a woman who has MS. she is in a wheelchair and isn't able to do yardwork anymore. she was so excited to have us there and we did a huge transformation to her yard. she was such a nice lady and i'm grateful that i was a part of that.

after yardwork, there was a HUGE barbeque at seth's house. nonstop food and pool action. a little later, a few of us went to the movies. i was able to see toy story 3 in theaters which i am extremely excited about. i was so afraid i wouldn't be able to see it in theaters since i'd be riding all summer, but i was able to see it with mark. it was a fantastic movie and i may or may not have bawled during it. i like to think that even the 8 year old me that fell in love with toy story 1 would cry during the third movie as well.

the next day, we went to a local radio station and talked a little bit about what we are doing. there was also an article about us on the front page of the paper.

when we entered illinois, there was no "welcome to illinois" sign. so right before crossing the mississippi river into missouri, i took a picture with the missouri sign. even though i had been out of kentucky for a few days, i decided to take a "so glad i'm not in kentucky anymore" picture. i think i look more scared than excited, though.

then we crossed the mississippi river and took a picture with the missouri sign.

wednesday was a such a tough day. it was 87 miles and EXTREMELY hilly. we rode through the ozarks wesnesday and yesterday in 100 degree heat. let's just say i'm extremely thankful for this little gem we found.

(taking a quick siesta after swimming and before another 35 miles on the road)

on wednesday, we woke up at 4:45am and didn't get into camp until around 7:45pm. yes, we WERE the last ones into camp. (it was me, liza & carmen.) carmen had 3 flats plus we stopped A LOT. a lot of people got into camp way before us so we heard "did you just get into camp?" a lot. actually, we hear that just about every day. there is a group that likes to wake up at 4am every morning and race to get into camp first. the ladies (myself included) like to take our time and actually see the country. we don't like to race. not that there is anything wrong with the way they do it... except for when i hear them rustling around at 4am and wake me up. not cool. once we got into camp, though, we stayed at a campsite right on the river. here is my tent right next to the water. it was absolutely wonderful.

the next morning, we woke up to don making us pancakes. the route leaders will make us breakfast from time to time and it is always amazing when they do.

yesterday we rode through houston, missouri in texas county! it was pretty exciting for me. nobody else seemed to think so. but i got a picture of the texas county sign! made me miss home.

anyway -- that's about it. or at least what i remember. oh, and here is the new video.

hello central time zone!

we rode through virginia in 10 days, left behind the appalachian mountains by day 13, and this morning crossed into central time zone! it's crazy how fast this trip is flying by. kentucky has been a lot of rolling hills, which is nice compared to the mountains we had to climb in virginia. i've noticed just in the past few days how strong i have become. before these hills would have been the death of me, but now they are no big thing (not counting the 17% grade hill today that came out of nowhere and almost killed us all. i swear, i thought i was about the fall backward riding up it.

on monday, we did our longest ride. it ended up being around 92 miles. a few of us woke up around 5:15am so we could get a head start on the day and try to beat the heat. tara and i fell back and ended up missing a turn. we didn't realize we had missed the turn until we were about 10 miles past it. we decided there was no way we wanted to add on a good 20 miles to an already 90 mile day so we looked at the map and found a different road we could take. unfortunately, that road seemed to be an extremely busy road without a shoulder. so, we road 20 miles thinking we were going to die the entire time because semi-trucks kept cutting it pretty close. sorry mom. it ended up being 100 degrees out that day, so with only about 8 miles until we reached camp, tara and i found a very large tree in the front of someone's yard and passed out. we were laying in their yard for a good 30 minutes before anyone came out and asked us what we were doing. that's when we decided we should probably finish the last 8 miles. when we finally got to the camp site, we realized that not only were we one of the first people there, but also that our route was 2 miles shorter than everyone else. WIN! then don, the founder of bike the US for MS bought us lots of pizza and beer. a perfect ending to a very long day.

yesterday was a short 45 mile ride which was so nice after such a long ride the day before. it was a fun ride with just a few hills. there was one point where a bunch of us were chasing after the support vehicle. it was such a fun road to ride down.

we ended up staying in hodgenville, kentucky which is the birthplace of abraham lincoln. liza and i decided to stop in the 'abraham lincoln birthplace national historical park.' i was so excited to see the house that he was born in, only to find out it wasn't there. it was just the land where his house used to be. so... it was pretty lame. but humphry had a good time and liza got her picture taken with lincoln.

today was another short day. we rode about 55 miles. usually me and the girls wake up around 6:30 and try to leave around 8 or earlier. today we decided to stop at subway to get some coffee before heading out. we rode to subway and ended up hanging out and talking for a long time. we didn't get on the road until 11am! the route leaders drive the support vehicle and stop every 20 miles so we can have a rest stop. they usually leave at 8am every morning and stay at each stop for about 2 hours or until everyone stops there to get water. they called us wondering where we were and we had only left subway 5 minutes before. needless to say, they left before we got there so we had to make our own rest stop where we filled up on chocolate milk. we saw a few amish people riding in their buggies which was kinda cool, but not so cool that we had to ride our bikes through the horse poop that was all over the road.

also riding through kentucky, i have seen a lot of rand paul signs! this basically makes me love the state that just a few days ago i hated because of all the coal trucks and dogs trying to run me off the road.

tomorrow we ride around 75 miles so i guess that means no hanging out at subway for 2 and a half hours.

each week, the route leaders create a video to capture the highlights of that week. video 3 was just created and you can watch it here. everyone keeps telling me that i have the best quote in the video, so watch for that. it's right after we climbed hayter's gap -- 1600ft climb in 4 miles.

eastern kentucky

so far so good. haven't been eaten by any dogs, so that's a plus. i have been chased by a few, though.

kentucky is... interesting. i miss virginia already. virginia was absolutely gorgeous. beautiful rides. beautiful scenery. i mean, just look at my gnome, humphry, checking out the beautiful views. he loved virginia and all of it's history.

the views in kentucky mainly consist of coal trucks and houses with about 10 rundown cars in the front yard. also, drivers in kentucky don't like bikers like drivers in virginia do. they like to honk at us and throw things at us. it's a good time, really.

here is humphry right as we entered kentucky... and right before we almost got hit by a coal truck.

throughout the trip, we have been lucky enough to meet some incredibly generous people. many nights we stay at churches or fire stations that have bathrooms, showers, and air conditioning -- 3 of my favorite things after a long day of riding. we stayed at a church a couple nights ago that even had a wii that we could play!

riding through kentucky

liza's first walmart experience. the girl must be very sheltered.

my favorite thing about riding a bike all day: milkshakes. milkshakes. milkshakes.

biked virginia in 10 days. bring on kentucky

tomorrow we will officially be out of virginia! i've heard many horror stories about kentucky, though, so i am kinda nervous. apparently there are a lot of viscous dogs that like to eat bikers for breakfast.

yesterday was probably my favorite ride. 82 miles, mostly in the rain. i had sarah jaffe playing on my ipod and for most of the ride i was smiling and thinking "wow. i love my life right now." then we got to hayter's gap. 1600ft climb in 4 miles. it's interesting going from one moment of loving life and the next moment thinking "this is what hell must be like." but the welcoming crew at the top of the mountain cheering everyone on once they reached the top must be what heaven is like. i love these people.

while i am riding, i always think "wow, i should blog about this!" and then when i finally sit down to write, i have nothing to write about. i need to take more pictures too. everyone else is way better at blogging than i am. maybe you should read theirs instead.

day 5

(side note: i wrote this entry a couple days ago and i'm just now getting around to posting it.)

Five days down. It feels like I have been doing this far longer than that. I’ve said a good amount of profanities these last five days. No regrets though. I’m still so glad that I’m doing this.

Yesterday was the hardest day by far. But I guess that’s not saying much because it was only day 4. It was over 4500 feet of climbing with a 15 mile climb. So, the mountain was brutal, but I crushed it. Plus, the ride down it was amazing. It was a 10 minute ride going completely downhill. My hands started hurting because I was holding the breaks the entire time because there were so many twists and turns. You don’t get the sweet rides going down the mountain without the brutal rides up it. Or the views.

Also yesterday, we visited the “cookie lady.” She is this cute little old lady who used to bake cookies for all the TransAm riders. She doesn’t bake cookies anymore because she has gotten so old, but she does let you tour her house and talk to her. Her house is like a museum. Riders will leave her shirts, stickers, toys, etc. They also send her postcards and as you can see from the pictures, I’m pretty sure she has kept every single postcard she has received. She was the nicest lady and was so excited to get visitors. She’ll talk your ear off.

Today was a pretty exhausting ride. It wasn’t even that hard of a ride, we were all just so sore and exhausted from the climb up the mountain yesterday. With only 20 miles left to go, we saw a little river and decided to take a swim. It was refreshing, to say the least.

Then with only 4 miles left of the ride, we stopped for ice cream! It was only $1.60 which is ridiculous because they packed those cups up! Anywhere in San Antonio, it would have cost a good $8, if not more. That ice cream got me through the last 4 miles

It’s amazing how many other riders we have met that are riding across the country. A lot of those people are doing it completely unsupported and loading up their bikes with all their clothes and gear. They have an extra 45 pounds on their bikes going up those hills. I can’t even imagine. We have met 2 guys, riding the TransAm separately, that have basically become part of our group. We just met them riding on the trail and now they stop whenever we stop. One of the guys is in a punk rock band and drinks PBR, saying it’s the “punk rock beer.” So... of course I love him.

3 days down, 57 more to go

it’s been a busy three days. and by busy, i mean lots of riding, eating and sleeping.

on the first day, we dipped our bike tires in the atlantic ocean. in less than two months, we will be dipping them into the pacific. or even possibly just throwing our bikes into the ocean and never riding a bike again. i'm hoping that doesn't happen though. i am too in love with my bike. but i am fully expecting my mom to go to a spa with me in san francisco so i can get a very, very long massage.

today was the hardest day by far. i think God should reconsider this whole “earth is hilly” thing. tomorrow we are riding up a mountain. it’s supposed to be the hardest ride until we make it to colorado. so… i might be dead by the end of the day. it’s been nice knowing you all. today was an extremely hilly 68 mile ride. tara and i decided to reward ourselves with beer. it was pretty much the best reward ever.

actually, i’ve been doing really well. there is a great bunch of girls on this trip that always seem to make dinner time absolutely hilarious. but maybe it is just because we are so tired and loopy that anything is funny to us.

ok... it's 9:20. which means it is 20 minutes after my bedtime. i have to wake up early so i can ride up a mountain. gosh, that just sounds terrifying.