On the road again...

Just a short update after a long break. After two weeks off, one in Indiana and one in Michigan, we're on the road once again! Pushing off from Monroeville, IN, where we left our route some days ago, we quickly crossed into Ohio which is the eleventh State of our trip. We're excited about the last stretch of our ride; the change of landscape and a new part of the country. More to come soon....

 

 

Demolition derby and some days off

 

After a very peaceful night along the Tippecanoe river, minus chasing away some awfully brave raccoons, we packed up and hit the road, classically late,  with the plans of a 75 mile day to Monroeville, IN. Monroeville is a very bicycle friendly town which  offers a complimentary shelter, showers, and laundry to all touring cyclists.  Later in the evening, upon arriving in town, we discovered the "harvest festival" in full swing complete with food, a demolition derby, and an opera singer attempting to be heard over the deafening noise of jalopies driving around in a figure eight and smashing in to each other. Warren, who's in his late 70's and one of the nicest guys in the world, showed us around while other nice townsfolk fed us ice cream sundaes and carmel popcorn. After eating, hanging around, and watching the demo derby for hours we headed back to our little shelter to crash, sometime past midnight, with the derby still in full swing. What an exhausting and eventful day!

 

The following day we left our Eastward route and pedaled 60 miles North to take some time off the bikes and visit family and friends. The days ride, which included a small town parade and blackberry picking, was very enjoyable. It was also pretty surreal riding through the small population 900 town where I grew up after having cycled 3,600 miles all the way from Oregon.

Since then we've spent the last five days enjoying some non ride time hanging with family and friends. Tomorrow we head up to Michigan to spend six more days visiting family....then we shall push off fully refreshed and rested for the last 1,200 miles of our trip....

Jumping on the Northern Tier

It's been quite awhile since we's done wrote on this thing to let y'all's know how we been doin' out here's in the Midwest, so here's the happenings of the last week and a half....After our last writing we had one more full day riding North along the Mississippi. We spent the day jumping back and forth across the river from Illinois to Iowa, eventually ending in the smelly town of Muscatine, IL where there's a huge corn processing plant, among many other industrial endevours. Around a large portion of the population 23,000 town there's a very strong noxious burnt corn/gasy odor looming that cannot be ignored. Luckily that night Mark and Julie opened their country home to us with great hospitality. After first having a burger and beers with the local bicycle club we found ourselves relaxing in their basement, freshly showered, catching up on some good 'ole T.V. Mark and Julie were yet again another inspiration; both in their 60's yet healthy, fit, and still competing in triathlons.

The next morning after feeding us a great breakfast Julie personally rode the couple miles back to town with us to assure we get started on our new route, the Northern Tier, without difficulty. With full stomachs and righteous coffee buzzes we were once again pedaling East through endless corn and soybean fields. That evening found us camped in a city park literally on the bank of the Illinois river. We sat cooking dinner, watching an amazing and unbelievably colorful sunset, while tugboats pushed huge barges full of corn downriver. 

 

The next days pedal found us in the small town of Odell, IL where we were picked up by some friends to spend a long weekend in the Chicago area. Much thanks to Dustin and Elsa for having us over for a relaxing weekend and for spending a day as our tour guides around the big city!

After a rejuvenating three days out of the saddle come Monday morning we were once again pushing East. The scenery has been more of the same, however, a couple days ago we had our first constant all day tailwind of the whole trip. Cruising at a steady speed of 16-20 mph while hardly pushing on the pedals was oh so refreshing. It's a good thing we enjoyed it as the winds shifted during the night and we spent the following day riding into a cross/slight head wind. The owner of the diner where we stopped for lunch mentioned in conversation she had heard of a couple cyclists being welcomed into the church for the night in the next town, Brooks, fourteen miles up ahead. Upon arriving in town Sarah went to check out the church and soon came back with the pastor as our personal chauffeur, in car with hazard lights flashing, to lead us down to another town members house to shower. Post shower, after giving us a tour of the church, we walked across the street where he treated us to a great dinner at the local restaurant....the best food we've had in quite awhile! Just when things couldn't get any better settling into our little room in the basement, complete with cushy couches and a TV/DVD, we discovered one of the two DVD's laying around was "What about Bob"; one of my all time favorites. This morning was a treat having coffee with a handful of old time locals and hearing little bits and pieces of the towns history. We cannot thank pastor John and the people of the United Methodist church in Brook, IL enough!

Todays pedal was very enjoyable. Lately there's been a good mixture of woods and undeveloped land along with the corn and soy fields....a nice change from the last week of strictly the later. Which brings us to this evening.....camped in a nice little spot along the Tippecanoe river. Sitting here watching the river flow reflecting on having cycled 3,600 miles; how fast it's gone, from the rainforest of Oregons coast, up and over the Cascades, across the Plains, through the Rockies, across the Heartland, up along the Big Muddy, to this here Tippecanoe river in good 'ole Indiana! What a journey! 

The Katy Trail and Great Rivers Route

 

 

 

A handful of days ago, after visiting with family in Oklahoma, we got things rolling again with a day and a half spent on the Katy Trail heading East across Missouri. It was nice to trade the road for a nature trail, if only for a short spell. The trail parallels the Missouri River, oftentimes through a green tunnel of thick vegetation, every ten miles or so passing through very small old towns dating back to the early 1800's.

Unfortunately, it had to be done sooner or later, we said our goodbyes to the Katy Trail and turned North to follow the Great Rivers route. After two days spent riding on an old flat railroad bed looking up at all the hills surrounding us we were introduced to the real Missouri....hills, hills, and more hills. Shorter climbs, but very steep and one right after the other. Turned out to be two of the most physical trying days of the trip thusfar, which involved actually walking our bicycles up one ridiculously steep hill late in the day, however, we did get our first look at the Mississippi River. 

Shortly thereafter, after first hanging out where Mark Twain spent his childhood, Hannibal, MO, we crossed the river and entered Illinois. No poses of excitement here, as the only way across was the expressway (don't worry parents it had a very wide shoulder as you can see).

 Since our first sighting of the Big Muddy heading north the river and surrounding landscape continues to become more and more beautiful. We've been alternating between riding right beside the river, literally, to turning just a bit inland to cruise through what appears to be very healthy and fertile farmland. Fields of corn and soybeans as far as the eye can see. Also, passing a handful of really cool ancient barns and old grain silos, still standing, which makes it easy to imagine the heartland of yesteryear. 

The first bit of our trip everything was so new, as neither of us had ever traveled by bicycle before...."We're riding our bikes across the country!" Hitting the two month point in our adventure days, or moreso parts of days, have the potential to become a tiring grind. However, we've found this to be the reaccuring case without fail....whenever either of our spirits start to get even the least bit downtrodden there's always something around the next corner to restoke the fire....a beautiful stretch of road, a great meal your body's starving for, that hour of perfect golden light late in the day, or a good laugh shared. Riding like we are is physically hard, however, it's definitely more of a mental thing; often a test of your frame of mind and patience. A large fraction of the time you're dealing with something whether it's the wind, rain, a soft sticky blacktop road late in the day, no shoulder with traffic, traveling without detailed maps for a week thanks to a certain company and a seemingly unintelligent sales manager....we won't name names (Patrick at Adventure Cycling Association). It's up to you how you deal with the little things. If it's windy you can think "THIS WIND SUCKS!" all day, or you can happily deal with it and be thankful it's not raining. 

But anyways, this time we leave you along the Mississippi in the small town of Nauvoo, IL. A land thought unsettleable by all in the 1800's due to swampy conditions....at least until Joseph Smith (the said prophet who founded the Mormon church) and his followers were chased out of Missouri. They created this settlement and town of Nauvoo along with a beautiful temple which was over population 15,000 at one time...that is until a certain group, again we won't name names, (Christians) killed Joseph and chased his people out of the area. One thing we're learning on this ride across the country is the Christians were a tough crowd to hang with back in the day. Today's our last day heading North along the Mississippi, then we shall turn East once again along the Northern Tier.