2.5 weeks later, I'm biking to Hoes Down Festival

Right now, I'm in Shields Library, just finished my differential equations homework and planning my trip to Hoes Down Festival in Capay Valley this Saturday. It's a 40 miler (not too bad, and pretty much flat) and I will be going with a couple other Davis riders. They have free camping for bicyclists and volunteers, so I will be doing both, helping with the WERC re-usable dish stations, and maybe see my sister there.

It's really nice to be back in Davis. I feel like a different person than I was when I first started this bike trip. My classes are Urban Forestry, Human Sexuality, Differential Equations, and Biology. My housemates are Marguerite, Q, Jennifer, Sunny, Erich, Liz, Christine, Raven, Noah, Sarah, Dan, and my roommate Jessie. DSC has a ginormous kitchen now after the big renovation, and that seems like a big enough change to make living there way more enjoyable for everyone. The gardens are amazing: right now I've been eating fresh pomegranates, persimmons, and raspberries from the garden, and cooking onions, garlic, squash, basil, egglplant, tomatoes, greens, and more. The new compost director, Alden Seabolt, is stellar and making me feel like everything is under control (it was, to be honest, a big thing for me to pass on). I'm glad to finally feel like I can keep up with my school work and have time to go on runs (I still plan on running the Davis Turkey Trot, which I finished 4th in last year, 30 seconds behind the winner). I hope to run it faster this year.

Today, just ran into an old running teammate of mine who was a freshman when I was a senior at Loyola High School. He just started his freshman year at UC Davis.

Well, time to go to sleep.

For a link to Sarah's bike profile on the Adventure Cycling website, click here: (mine will go up soon enough)
http://www.adventurecycling.org/ride_registry/detail.cfm?r=18AEF448

we camped near a compost pile, in a Virginia mansion, behind a truck trailer, and everthing in between

3 stories of pizza, a bloody knee with 23 miles to go, and a 1 hour chat with The Cookie Lady

The bicycle is parked, the ride is finished!

The 4,670 miles ride is over. After getting to Yorktown, we managed to hike down this trail with our bikes to take a pic with the wheels in the Atlantic Ocean. Reminds me of Florence, without the sand Dunes. Also took a swim in the warm waters of the mouth of the York River...
Time to eat bagels and cream cheese and sit on our sore bottoms on a couch or something a little different then the bike seat. Meaghan drove down all the way to Yorktown and then drove us back to her D.C. home last night. Finally washed those stinky clothes and took showers (it's sad though, I was getting to like my B O), and rest our legs, which have quite a beating in the last month of riding 80+ mile days and only a few breaks. There was only 1 day of our entire trip that we didn't get on the bikes once and that was Golden City, Missouri, when we experienced the best pie from coast to coast. I'm sure Sarah will write some final words of wisdom when I stop hogging this computer. Thanks to all of you who made this blog worth keeping!
-Derek

Final Trip Log up to September 15th!

Day 1 (7/2): 29.5 miles, Davis to Lake Berryessa
Day 2: 49 miles, Berryessa to Jim Town, CA
Day 3: 45.6 miles, to Indian Creek Campground (in Redwoods near Boonville)
Day 4: 44 miles, to Mackerricher Beach State Park just past Fort Bragg
Day 5: REST DAY!!!
Day 6: 55 miles, to Richardson Grove State Park
Day 7: 63 miles, to Fortuna RV camp
Day 8: 43 miles, to Clam Beach County Park
Day 9: 63 miles, to Crescent City (Orman Guest Ranch and Stables)
Day 10: 33 miles, to Brooking, Oregon Harris Beach State Park (WE REACHED OREGON!!!)
Day 11: 50 miles, to Humbug Mt. State Park
Day 12: 70 miles, to 8 miles north of North Bend
Day 13: 35 miles, to Honeyman State Park (near Florence)
Day 14: REST Day!!!
Day 15: 60 miles, to Junction City
Day 16: 15 miles, to Eugene Whitaker Hostel
Day 17: 55 miles, to Delta CAmpground USFS, 4 miles past Blue River
Day 18: 55 miles, to Indian Creek Campground, 6 miles before Sisters
Day 19: 81 miles!, to Ochoco Divide Campground
Day 20: 56 miles, to Dayville Presbyterean Church
Day 21: 53 miles, to Dixie Pass Campground
Day 22: 60 miles, to Oregon Trails RV Park in Baker City, OR
Day 23: REST DAY!!!, sadly, last day Rachel is with us.
Day 24: 84 miles, to Brownlee Dam, ID (WE REACHED IDAHO!!!)
Day 25: 78 miles, to New Meadows
Day 26: 64 miles, to Whitebird Swiftwater RV park
Day 27: 69 miles, to Lowell
Day 28: 68 miles, to Powell Campground
Day 29: 60 miles, to Missoula, Montana (WE REACHED MONTANA!!!)
DAY 30: REST DAY!!!
Day 31: 83 miles, to Sula Spring Gulch in the Bitteroot Valley
Day 32: 72 miles, to Big Hole Pass, camped at the Carrol Ranch info station
Day 33: 85 miles, to Alder, secretive free camping spot, so called KOA #"41"
Day 34: 54 miles, to South Madison BLM Rec Area campground
Day 35: 64 miles, to Yellowstone Madison Campground (WE REACHED WYOMING!!!)
Day 36: 76 miles, to Colter Bay campground in Grand Teton National Park
Day 37: REST DAY!!!
Day 38: 69 miles, to Dubois Longhorn RV site (Dena joined us!)
Day 39: 72 miles, to Lander
Day 40: 80 miles, to Mud Flats (we reached 2,000 mile point for our trip !!!)
Day 41: 86 miles, to Saratoga (our highest mileage day for the trip!!!)
Day 42: 70 miles, to Walden (WE REACHED COLORADO!!!)
Day 43: 76 miles, to Grand Lake (10 feet from boundary of Rocky Mountain NP)
Day 44: 86 miles, to Boulder (we biked the highest road in the US,--12,183 feet!!!)
Day 45: REST DAY (staying with Sarah's friend Kirsten and Evan)
Day 46: 81 miles, to Byors, CO
Day 47: 72 miles, to Limon, CO
Day 48: 85 miles, to Eads, CO
Day 49: 80 miles, to Leoti, Kansas (WE REACHED KANSAS!!!)
Day 50: 81 miles, to Ness City, KS
Day 51: 65 miles to Larned, KS
Day 52: 96 miles!, to Hesston, KS (longest daily mileage of trip so far)
Day 53: 83 miles, to Eureka city park, KS
Day 54: 83 miles, to Erie City park, KS (we reached 3,000 mile point for our trip!!!)
Day 55: 81 miles, to Golden City, MO (WE REACHED MISSOURI!!!)
Day 56: REST DAY in Golden City, eating pie at Cooky's cafe, best pie ever
Day 57: 79 miles, to Marshfield City Park, MO
Day 58: 88 miles, to Summersville City Park, MO
Day 59: 77 miles, to County Line Bar and Campground, MO
Day 60: 74 miles, to Chester, Illinois--home of Popeye the Sailor Man (WE REACHED ILLINOIS!!!) and crossed the MISSISSIPPI RIVER!!!
Day 61: 70 miles, to Goreville, IL
Day 62: 82 miles, to 6 miles past Marion, KY (WE REACHED KENTUCKY!!!)
DAy 63: 100 miles!!!, to Fordsville, KY (LONGEST MILEAGE DAY OF OUR TRIP)
Day 64: 82 miles, to Howardstown, KY (passed into EASTERN TIME ZONE, 3 hrs ahead of Davis)
Day 65: 76 miles, to Harrodsburg, KY
Day 66: REST DAY in Harrodsburg, oldest town of Kentucky (our last rest day)
Day 67: 91 miles, to Vincent, KY
Day 68: 85 miles, to Pippa Passes (WE reached 4,000 mile point for the trip!!!)
Day 69: 80 miles, to Bee, VA (WE REACHED VIRGINIA!!!)
Day 70: 75 miles, to Konnarock, VA
Day 71: 86 miles, to Radford, VA
Day 72: 81 miles, to Buchanan
Day 73: 67 miles, to Blue Ridge Reeds Gap (climbed the famed Vesuvius Pass)
Day 74: 76 miles, to Tabscott (day we sat and chatted with the famous Cookie Lady of Afton)
Day 75: 100 miles, to Glendale
Day 76: 60 miles, to Yorktown, making visits to Jamestown and Williamsburg along the way

Total Mileage from July 2nd through September 15th: 4,670 miles.

mileage update 9/10, with 385 miles to go!

Day 1 (7/2): 29.5 miles, Davis to Lake Berryessa
Day 2: 49 miles, Berryessa to Jim Town, CA
Day 3: 45.6 miles, to Indian Creek Campground (in Redwoods near Boonville)
Day 4: 44 miles, to Mackerricher Beach State Park just past Fort Bragg
Day 5: REST DAY!!!
Day 6: 55 miles, to Richardson Grove State Park
Day 7: 63 miles, to Fortuna RV camp
Day 8: 43 miles, to Clam Beach County Park
Day 9: 63 miles, to Crescent City (Orman Guest Ranch and Stables)
Day 10: 33 miles, to Brooking, Oregon Harris Beach State Park (WE REACHED OREGON!!!)
Day 11: 50 miles, to Humbug Mt. State Park
Day 12: 70 miles, to 8 miles north of North Bend
Day 13: 35 miles, to Honeyman State Park (near Florence)
Day 14: REST Day!!!
Day 15: 60 miles, to Junction City
Day 16: 15 miles, to Eugene Whitaker Hostel
Day 17: 55 miles, to Delta CAmpground USFS, 4 miles past Blue River
Day 18: 55 miles, to Indian Creek Campground, 6 miles before Sisters
Day 19: 81 miles!, to Ochoco Divide Campground
Day 20: 56 miles, to Dayville Presbyterean Church
Day 21: 53 miles, to Dixie Pass Campground
Day 22: 60 miles, to Oregon Trails RV Park in Baker City, OR
Day 23: REST DAY!!!, sadly, last day Rachel is with us.
Day 24: 84 miles, to Brownlee Dam, ID (WE REACHED IDAHO!!!)
Day 25: 78 miles, to New Meadows
Day 26: 64 miles, to Whitebird Swiftwater RV park
Day 27: 69 miles, to Lowell
Day 28: 68 miles, to Powell Campground
Day 29: 60 miles, to Missoula, Montana (WE REACHED MONTANA!!!)
DAY 30: REST DAY!!!
Day 31: 83 miles, to Sula Spring Gulch in the Bitteroot Valley
Day 32: 72 miles, to Big Hole Pass, camped at the Carrol Ranch info station
Day 33: 85 miles, to Alder, secretive free camping spot, so called KOA #"41"
Day 34: 54 miles, to South Madison BLM Rec Area campground
Day 35: 64 miles, to Yellowstone Madison Campground (WE REACHED WYOMING!!!)
Day 36: 76 miles, to Colter Bay campground in Grand Teton National Park
Day 37: REST DAY!!!
Day 38: 69 miles, to Dubois Longhorn RV site (Dena joined us!)
Day 39: 72 miles, to Lander
Day 40: 80 miles, to Mud Flats (we reached 2,000 mile point for our trip !!!)
Day 41: 86 miles, to Saratoga (our highest mileage day for the trip!!!)
Day 42: 70 miles, to Walden (WE REACHED COLORADO!!!)
Day 43: 76 miles, to Grand Lake (10 feet from boundary of Rocky Mountain NP)
Day 44: 86 miles, to Boulder (we biked the highest road in the US,--12,183 feet!!!)
Day 45: REST DAY (staying with Sarah's friend Kirsten and Evan)
Day 46: 81 miles, to Byors, CO
Day 47: 72 miles, to Limon, CO
Day 48: 85 miles, to Eads, CO
Day 49: 80 miles, to Leoti, Kansas (WE REACHED KANSAS!!!)
Day 50: 81 miles, to Ness City, KS
Day 51: 65 miles to Larned, KS
Day 52: 96 miles!, to Hesston, KS (longest daily mileage of trip so far)
Day 53: 83 miles, to Eureka city park, KS
Day 54: 83 miles, to Erie City park, KS (we reached 3,000 mile point for our trip!!!)
Day 55: 81 miles, to Golden City, MO (WE REACHED MISSOURI!!!)
Day 56: REST DAY in Golden City, eating pie at Cooky's cafe, best pie ever
Day 57: 79 miles, to Marshfield City Park, MO
Day 58: 88 miles, to Summersville City Park, MO
Day 59: 77 miles, to County Line Bar and Campground, MO
Day 60: 74 miles, to Chester, Illinois--home of Popeye the Sailor Man (WE REACHED ILLINOIS!!!) and crossed the MISSISSIPPI RIVER!!!
Day 61: 70 miles, to Goreville, IL
Day 62: 82 miles, to 6 miles past Marion, KY (WE REACHED KENTUCKY!!!)
DAy 63: 100 miles!!!, to Fordsville, KY (LONGEST MILEAGE DAY OF OUR TRIP)
Day 64: 82 miles, to Howardstown, KY (passed into EASTERN TIME ZONE, 3 hrs ahead of Davis)
Day 65: 76 miles, to Harrodsburg, KY
Day 66: REST DAY in Harrodsburg, oldest town of Kentucky (our last rest day)
Day 67: 91 miles, to Vincent, KY
Day 68: 85 miles, to Pippa Passes (WE reached 4,000 mile point for the trip!!!)
Day 69: 80 miles, to Bee, VA (WE REACHED VIRGINIA!!!)
Day 70: 75 miles, to Konnarock, VA
Day 71: 86 miles, to Radford, VA

We only have 385 miles of Virginia to cross now and the Blue Ridge to cross, which is coming up in the next few days. On Thursday, we'll be descending the other side of the Appalachians, then it's an easy ride Friday and Saturday to the East coast! We have been on our bikes a total of 4,286 miles since July 2nd!

We are amazed by the generosity of Dr. Lee in hosting us strange strangers into his home. I think we went 10 days since our last shower and over 800 miles so it was nice to have this stop on our journey.

I'll post more pics and such Sunday in D.C. when we're not biking 10 hrs a day.

An unexpected update from Radford, VA

So a few days ago (9/7), we happened upon the small town of Buckhorn, Kentucky. This town consisted of a general store and a guy who stood behind the counter. His name was Dick. Like many such men, Dick had a small notebook behind the counter which he gets all the cyclists to sign as they pass through. When Derek was signing the book, Dick pointed out an entry which said "If you need a place to stay in Radford, VA..." or something like that, and had the name and address of a family. Well we ended up calling, and here we are! A beautiful home, a sweet chocolate lab named Olive, showers (our first in...well...awhile), and free dinner!
We have 385 miles to go to Yorktown and 5 days in which to do it. Currently we are in the region of the Appalachians known as the Great Valley, which lies between the Alleghanies (western Appalachia) and the Blue Ridge (eastern Appalachia). The Alleghanies were not tall, but they were steep and pretty tough. (Although we saw some steeper climbs in the Ozarks (Missouri), they were very short and we were only in the mountains for about a half a day). The Blue Ridge Mtns are much taller...So the next three days or so will be very tough, but soon enough we will be descending out of the small town of Afton, where we will pay a visit to the Cookie Lady (although rumor on the road has it that she's pretty sick this year, so she's not making cookies anymore) (http://www.biketouring.net/rides/xcountry/curry.html) and then proceed down the ridiculously steep grade to Charlottesville. From there, the rolling hills of the Piedmont and Tidewater regions will carry us gently to Yorktown, and if our brakes get all worn out on the way out of Afton, straight into the Atlantic Ocean.

Derek's word

I hope you enjoyed this blog. we did our best and updated it when we had he chance (which wasn't very many times). Add a last minute comment if you'd like so that I can see who's actually checked the blog and feel more special. hehe

I'm in the county library in Harrodsburg, KY, also trying to figure out what to do when we get to Yorktown. So far, it looks like Sarah's sister Meaghan will meet us there on Sept 15th as we bike to the ocean, and we'll head to D.C. I'm going to act as a tourist and check out the historical cool stuff in D.C. and then maybe take a bus to Manhattan to visit my buddy Hashim and Annie, and my cousin Tony, his wife Vicki, and their baby son Gabriel. Then I will fly back home to Davis (originally planned to take the train back but I think that would be torture to wait any longer to arrive in Davis) so forgive my jet fuel pollution if you would. I hope you will. I then return to Davis as a Senior Biological Systems Engineering student, trying to raise my grades and maybe help out the local compost establishment as well (:>).......

This country was wide, hilly, windy, rainy, beautiful at times, ugly at times, very corny and soybeany and sorghummy, and with lots of cattle, and the people we've met along the way have been the nicest I've ever met in my life...there have been the occassional jerks that remind me of L.A. drivers but for the most part...very good people who don't mind talking to a stranger and saying hi when you pass them in the street.

Well, we still have 791 miles to go, which is still a lot of biking, and we are hoping to get by all those unleashed dogs of kentucky without them getting hurt by cars as they chase us in the street and without us getting bit. so far successful!

I end with a poem I wrote in the 10 minutes Sarah was on the phone with Keren last night:

"my ass hurts" by Derek Downey
To drive across the country
you'd lose your money and your glee,
to bike across this continent
you'd find no one who'd believe,
the ability of the common
folk to pedal sea to sea.

(following no common poetry rules)

mileage update from Davis to Kentucky

Day 1 (7/2): 29.5 miles, Davis to Lake Berryessa
Day 2: 49 miles, Berryessa to Jim Town, CA
Day 3: 45.6 miles, to Indian Creek Campground (in Redwoods near Boonville)
Day 4: 44 miles, to Mackerricher Beach State Park just past Fort Bragg
Day 5: REST DAY!!!
Day 6: 55 miles, to Richardson Grove State Park
Day 7: 63 miles, to Fortuna RV camp
Day 8: 43 miles, to Clam Beach County Park
Day 9: 63 miles, to Crescent City (Orman Guest Ranch and Stables)
Day 10: 33 miles, to Brooking, Oregon Harris Beach State Park (WE REACHED OREGON!!!)
Day 11: 50 miles, to Humbug Mt. State Park
Day 12: 70 miles, to 8 miles north of North Bend
Day 13: 35 miles, to Honeyman State Park (near Florence)
Day 14: REST Day!!!
Day 15: 60 miles, to Junction City
Day 16: 15 miles, to Eugene Whitaker Hostel
Day 17: 55 miles, to Delta CAmpground USFS, 4 miles past Blue River
Day 18: 55 miles, to Indian Creek Campground, 6 miles before Sisters
Day 19: 81 miles!, to Ochoco Divide Campground
Day 20: 56 miles, to Dayville Presbyterean Church
Day 21: 53 miles, to Dixie Pass Campground
Day 22: 60 miles, to Oregon Trails RV Park in Baker City, OR
Day 23: REST DAY!!!, sadly, last day Rachel is with us.
Day 24: 84 miles, to Brownlee Dam, ID (WE REACHED IDAHO!!!)
Day 25: 78 miles, to New Meadows
Day 26: 64 miles, to Whitebird Swiftwater RV park
Day 27: 69 miles, to Lowell
Day 28: 68 miles, to Powell Campground
Day 29: 60 miles, to Missoula, Montana (WE REACHED MONTANA!!!)
DAY 30: REST DAY!!!
Day 31: 83 miles, to Sula Spring Gulch in the Bitteroot Valley
Day 32: 72 miles, to Big Hole Pass, camped at the Carrol Ranch info station
Day 33: 85 miles, to Alder, secretive free camping spot, so called KOA #"41"
Day 34: 54 miles, to South Madison BLM Rec Area campground
Day 35: 64 miles, to Yellowstone Madison Campground (WE REACHED WYOMING!!!)
Day 36: 76 miles, to Colter Bay campground in Grand Teton National Park
Day 37: REST DAY!!!
Day 38: 69 miles, to Dubois Longhorn RV site (Dena joined us!)
Day 39: 72 miles, to Lander
Day 40: 80 miles, to Mud Flats (we reached 2,000 mile point for our trip !!!)
Day 41: 86 miles, to Saratoga (our highest mileage day for the trip!!!)
Day 42: 70 miles, to Walden (WE REACHED COLORADO!!!)
Day 43: 76 miles, to Grand Lake (10 feet from boundary of Rocky Mountain NP)
Day 44: 86 miles, to Boulder (we biked the highest road in the US,--12,183 feet!!!)
Day 45: REST DAY (staying with Sarah's friend Kirsten and Evan)
Day 46: 81 miles, to Byors, CO
Day 47: 72 miles, to Limon, CO
Day 48: 85 miles, to Eads, CO
Day 49: 80 miles, to Leoti, Kansas (WE REACHED KANSAS!!!)
Day 50: 81 miles, to Ness City, KS
Day 51: 65 miles to Larned, KS
Day 52: 96 miles!, to Hesston, KS (longest daily mileage of trip so far)
Day 53: 83 miles, to Eureka city park, KS
Day 54: 83 miles, to Erie City park, KS (we reached 3,000 mile point for our trip!!!)
Day 55: 81 miles, to Golden City, MO (WE REACHED MISSOURI!!!)
Day 56: REST DAY in Golden City, eating pie at Cooky's cafe, best pie ever
Day 57: 79 miles, to Marshfield City Park, MO
Day 58: 88 miles, to Summersville City Park, MO
Day 59: 77 miles, to County Line Bar and Campground, MO
Day 60: 74 miles, to Chester, Illinois--home of Popeye the Sailor Man (WE REACHED ILLINOIS!!!) and crossed the MISSISSIPPI RIVER!!!
Day 61: 70 miles, to Goreville, IL
Day 62: 82 miles, to 6 miles past Marion, KY (WE REACHED KENTUCKY!!!)
DAy 63: 100 miles!!!, to Fordsville, KY (LONGEST MILEAGE DAY OF OUR TRIP)
Day 64: 82 miles, to Howardstown, KY (passed into EASTERN TIME ZONE, 3 hrs ahead of Davis)
Day 65: 76 miles, to Harrodsburg, KY
Day 66: REST DAY in Harrodsburg, oldest town of Kentucky (our last rest day)

we have 791 miles left to Yorktown, Virginia, on the Atlantic Coast. We plan on biking 10 more days,averaging about 80+ miles per day, starting tomorrow and finishing on Saturday, September 15th! Thanks for checking the blog...apologies for not updating it more frequently...internet has been hard to come by.

Daily Mileage update since Boulder, CO

Day 1 (7/2): 29.5 miles, Davis to Lake Berryessa
Day 2: 49 miles, Berryessa to Jim Town, CA
Day 3: 45.6 miles, to Indian Creek Campground (in Redwoods near Boonville)
Day 4: 44 miles, to Mackerricher Beach State Park just past Fort Bragg
Day 5: REST DAY!!!
Day 6: 55 miles, to Richardson Grove State Park
Day 7: 63 miles, to Fortuna RV camp
Day 8: 43 miles, to Clam Beach County Park
Day 9: 63 miles, to Crescent City (Orman Guest Ranch and Stables)
Day 10: 33 miles, to Brooking, Oregon Harris Beach State Park (WE REACHED OREGON!!!)
Day 11: 50 miles, to Humbug Mt. State Park
Day 12: 70 miles, to 8 miles north of North Bend
Day 13: 35 miles, to Honeyman State Park (near Florence)
Day 14: REST Day!!!
Day 15: 60 miles, to Junction City
Day 16: 15 miles, to Eugene Whitaker Hostel
Day 17: 55 miles, to Delta CAmpground USFS, 4 miles past Blue River
Day 18: 55 miles, to Indian Creek Campground, 6 miles before Sisters
Day 19: 81 miles!, to Ochoco Divide Campground
Day 20: 56 miles, to Dayville Presbyterean Church
Day 21: 53 miles, to Dixie Pass Campground
Day 22: 60 miles, to Oregon Trails RV Park in Baker City, OR
Day 23: REST DAY!!!, sadly, last day Rachel is with us.
Day 24: 84 miles, to Brownlee Dam, ID (WE REACHED IDAHO!!!)
Day 25: 78 miles, to New Meadows
Day 26: 64 miles, to Whitebird Swiftwater RV park
Day 27: 69 miles, to Lowell
Day 28: 68 miles, to Powell Campground
Day 29: 60 miles, to Missoula, Montana (WE REACHED MONTANA!!!)
DAY 30: REST DAY!!!
Day 31: 83 miles, to Sula Spring Gulch in the Bitteroot Valley
Day 32: 72 miles, to Big Hole Pass, camped at the Carrol Ranch info station
Day 33: 85 miles, to Alder, secretive free camping spot, so called KOA #"41"
Day 34: 54 miles, to South Madison BLM Rec Area campground
Day 35: 64 miles, to Yellowstone Madison Campground (WE REACHED WYOMING!!!)
Day 36: 76 miles, to Colter Bay campground in Grand Teton National Park
Day 37: REST DAY!!!
Day 38: 69 miles, to Dubois Longhorn RV site (Dena joined us!)
Day 39: 72 miles, to Lander
Day 40: 80 miles, to Mud Flats (we reached 2,000 mile point for our trip !!!)
Day 41: 86 miles, to Saratoga (our highest mileage day for the trip!!!)
Day 42: 70 miles, to Walden (WE REACHED COLORADO!!!)
Day 43: 76 miles, to Grand Lake (10 feet from boundary of Rocky Mountain NP)
Day 44: 86 miles, to Boulder (we biked the highest road in the US,--12,183 feet!!!)
Day 45: REST DAY (staying with Sarah's friend Kirsten and Evan)
Day 46: 81 miles, to Byors, CO
Day 47: 72 miles, to Limon, CO
Day 48: 85 miles, to Eads, CO
Day 49: 80 miles, to Leoti, Kansas (WE REACHED KANSAS!!!)
Day 50: 81 miles, to Ness City, KS
Day 51: 65 miles to Larned, KS
Day 52: 96 miles!, to Hesston, KS (longest daily mileage of trip so far)
Day 53: 83 miles, to Eureka city park, KS
Day 54: 83 miles, to Erie City park, KS (we reached 3,000 mile point for our trip!!!)
Day 55: 81 miles, to Golden City, MO (WE REACHED MISSOURI!!!)
Day 56: REST DAY in Golden City, eating pie at Cooky's cafe, best pie

JUST GOT KICKED OFF COMPUTER....DAMN!!!!! talk to you from Virginia
Day 55:

And on the 66th day, we rested.

September 5th, Rest day in Harrodsburg Kentucky. Sorry it's been so long since our last update (Boulder Colorado, 4 states ago!). I can tell I've been on the road awhile because (1) I don't really remember what it's like to be home and (2) my hair has reached this really ridiculous (thanks for the spelling lesson, Derek) length of about 2 inches, but when it's clean, it still sticks straight up in the air. And I think I'm making all the old ladies jealous. They all wish their hair could have this much volume, this much pizzazz.
From Boulder, we made our way SE using a route designed by Dena to meet up with the TransAm trail in Eads, CO. That was a tough couple of days because of the Northbound wind directly in our faces for hours at a time. Scenery in this region included fields of corn and sorghum a square mile in size, a grain elevator in every town, and ginormous feed lots. Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas looked remarkably similar, and we kind of blew through them, despite the headwind. Dena left us in about central Kansas, and we ended up biking a total of 10 days and about 800 miles from Boulder before crossing the border into Missouri. By this time, the farms were getting smaller and houses and trees became a more regular site. The terrain also began to get a bit hillier and things began to look a bit more familar as my East Coast Senses began to tingle. Brick houses, lots of greenery, colonial style mansions, etc. 30 miles after the KS/MO border, we arrived in Golden City, MO. We had heard of this town before. After being disappointed by the one chance we had to try a taste of the famous homemade pies of Kansas, we met a cyclist from Sacramento heading from Yorktown to Sac via the TransAm and Western Express trails (which continues Westward from Pueblo, CO through NV and UT to SF instead of northward to MT). This man told us tales of a wonderous place, with streets of gold, kind people, and a diner (Cooky's) with the best damn homemade pies money could buy. Well, he didn't mention the showers in the city park...and once we learned of that, we were hooked. This little town of about 350 people was to be our home for our first rest day since Boulder! Due to the small size of the town, that sunday was the first day since July 2nd that we didn't touch our bikes. We just ate at Cooky's, took a nap, read, and even went to church, for which we got all kinds of praises from the senior citizens of Golden City. Complete relaxation.
At that time, we calculated that, at the rate be had been going (80 miles a day on average) we would be able to make it to Yorktown, VA (and the Atlantic Ocean) in 19 days, and if we took 2 rest days, we would arrive on Sept 15th. So that's the plan. Since Golden City, we've biked 9 days, and here we are, in the oldest permanent white settlement West of the Appalachans. We kept up our goal of an 80+ mile average, and even did 100 miles a few days ago (just for kicks...). The terrain in Missouri was pretty tough through the Ozarks, with lots of short but exceedingly steep hills. But, wow, it is beautiful... The hills got progressively better through Illinois, and Kentucky has had generally fairly gentle terrain with some hillier sections. From here, we have 10 days at 80 miles per day, but the hills will progressively get steeper and steeper as we make our way into the Alleghenies, cross into Virginia, and then on to the the dreaded Blue Ridge (these are the two ranges that make up the Appalachan Mtns.). After about 5 or 6 of those ten days, we should be out of the mountains and into the gently rolling terrain of the Virginia Piedmont and Tidewater regions. And we're going to blast into Yorktown and right into the ocean (or at least the brackish waters of the Chesapeake Bay).

Derek's realization come late at 1:30 in the morning

so, I write in a journal everyday and make sure to remind myself of the ridiculous things that happen along the way. I wish I could write them all down but I better go to sleep soon.

However, to tell you of my day today would suffice for you to understand my state of mind which is teetering somewhere between happiness and peace with a little bit of spice added for good measure. I woke up and felt like making pancakes. That happened, with the added pleasure of orange juice and peaches in yogurt. I'm a Taurus, and food makes me very very happy.

We finally fully cleaned our clothes at the laundrymat and were glad to hang dry them on Kirsten and Evan's clotheline in front. We eventually, with Kirsten's guidance, meandered our way through the city on this amazing bike path that followed the creek, went through the residential areas, passed through the university and high schools, and landed us in downtown. I was very impressed with Boulder's system of bike paths....Davis could learn from this town. We happened to be here on a Wednesday, one of the days Boulder has its Farmer's Market, which I have been personally reading about for quite some time given its zero waste recycling program. I spoke with the market manager and was able to get some contacts to see if the Davis Farmer's Market can move in the same direction.

In the summer, if you're in Boulder, you'll expect a short rainstorm to come in the afternoon, around 4 or 5pm. so it rained on us, Kirsten called Evan and asked him to take our clothes off the lines at home, which was very cool of him to given he needed to get to his class in Denver. We ducked in the Russian Tea House, an amazingly beautiful building filled with handcarved support beams, and painted mosaics on every wall. We sat down and had tea there and I learned that this building was a gift from Boulder's sister city in Tajiskstan (I know I butchered that one but please comment on this with the correct spelling). we went back to the farmers market and saw a performance of interpretive dancers doing incredible and funny acts with a bucket of water. they eventually incorporated me into their dance, which was alright with me after I had my yerba mate fix.

When we returned back to the homestead, Kirsten gave me her favorite banana bread recipe, which I made with her help and tried some mead that her friend made.

What i learned from this rest day is that I may one day come back to Boulder to experience life here as a resident. I haven't had such a positive feeling about a city as much as I had with this one. I also gained an appreciation for getting to know Kirsten and Evan, who both are amazing people and hosts and made this day special for me.

so it's 1:45am and Ima going to a sleep!!! By the time you hear from me again, we may well be across Kansas already. can't wait to have some of that famous pie.

by the way, I'm planning, upon my return to Davis, to give a slide-show/anecdotal/interpretive "dance" of this 4,600 mile journey, so stayed tuned for the time and place (probably some day between September 23-27, in one of the UC Davis Tri-Co-operative houses).
love,
derek

Boulder or bust...and on the road again

Just a note: The pics are posted roughly from most recent to most ancient, although they aren't perfectly in order, so if you want to follow along, start at the bottom of those Derek posted this evening.
Sorry about the crazy long delay in blog updates, but daylight hours are precious and 6 days a week spent pedaling hard leaves little time for library drop-ins and leasurely internet access. I guess it's been over two weeks now since Missoula, but I can't even decide if it seems like yesterday or an eternity ago that we were there. From Renee's lovely abode, we headed south through the Bitteroot Valley of Montana. The ride was mostly flat, but mountain ranges surrounded us on either side. It was fairly picturesque, although smoke from the summer fires that regularly plague the surrounding region put a bit of a damper in the view at times, but we still got some descent scenery. Ths region is known for the high quality of its natural grasses for cattle grazing...giant haystacks are found throughout.
The climb out of the valley led us across the Continental Divide for the first time and Eastward towards Yellowstone! Shortly after crossing into the park, we hit the Wyoming state line...and continues on into our 5th state.
A few days before hitting Yellowstone, our afternoons began to be characterized by short (but intense!) mountain thunderstorms which make riding a bit of a hassle and sometimes too dangerous to do. But the do produce some pretty awesome rainbows...
After spending a night in the oldest national park in the world, we spent the day viewing the geysers, etc, and then biked on to Grand Teton National Park to the south. In the short stretch of road between the two parks, during a bit of a storm, we saw a black bear crossing the road right in front of us. It wasn't too interested in us, and was kind of scared of a car passing by, so it took off pretty quickly without mauling us or stealing our dehydrated powdered beans...but it was still pretty exciting.
We spent a rest day last Tuesday in the Grand Tetons, recooperating and preparing for our next big climb...up 9600 ft. high Togwotee pass. We got pretty creative with Derek's hair and safety traingle signs. As if everyone didn't already know we were from California...
Well our big climb of Togwotee and reaching the top was kind of bittersweet. We hit road construction a mile or two from the top and they wouldn't let us ride up. Instead, they stuck our bikes in the back of the pilot truck and took us most of the rest of the way up the hill. Another truck took us down about 6 miles on the other side. This was especially disappointing because it was the highest point we had reached, and, as far as we knew at the time, the highest we were going to climb.
On the other side of the pass, we met up with Dena! She's with us for a couple of weeks. We broke her in pretty quickly with some big days...right through central Wyoming and into COLORADO!
Well, not quite that easily. The night before entering our 6th state, we spent the night in Saratoga, Wyoming. They have hot springs and a free public hot pool located in town. We really wanted to go take a dip, and, even though we knew we werent' allowed to, we decided to try to camp in the woods behind to pool. Around 12:30 at night, we awoke to the shining of a flashligth and a cop saying "Alright, you aren't allowed to camp here...get up...that's a $210 fine" and telling us where the nearest campground is. He said he would be back to check on us later and took off, never to be seen again. But we packed up and took off to spend the rest of the night at the campground and avoid the fine.
At some point in there I got a flat after going over a big bump. This was my second of the trip, but I was sort of waiting for it to happen. The first was in my back wheel and was also caused by a big bump. When I went to change that tire, I realized that, in all my silliness, it had not occurred to me to get bigger tubes when I change tires for 1 1/8 in to 1 1/4 in width. I knew the same thing would happen in my front eventually, but I decided to just wait and deal with it when it popped. Well it tok about 1500 miles, but now both my tubes are properly sized and, assuming I don't run into any unfortunately placed nails on the road, I should be good to go.
Shortly after entering Colorado, we got off the TransAmerica trail to head to Boulder. We decided to take the scenic route through Rocky Mountain National Park. We got the town the of Granby pretty easily (53 miles from Walden, where we had spent our first night in Colorado), which is where we left the trail. According to the oh-so-reliable road map of Colorado that we were using for off-route travels, it is 39 miles from Granby to Estes Park on the other side of Rocky National and roughly 30 from there to Boulder. We figured we would bike in a few miles and do the rest the next day. It wouldn't be very many miles, but we knew we had quite a climb in front of us.
Well, upon leaving Granby, a roadsign informed us of the fact that it was actually 62 miles from there to Estes park, making it over 90 to Boulder. Now this wouldn't be so bad because we still had a few hours of daylight left and the entire next day to bike, except for the little elevation change: Granby was at about 8000 feet and the top of the pass that we had to climb was over 12000!
Well, we made the best of it anyhow. We biked 16 miles past Granby that night and camped in the woods, and then hauled ass the next day: along the highest paved through highway in the United States!
Near the top, there were signs welcoming us to the Alpine Tundra, and holy crap it was freeeezing cold up there. To top it all off, we arrived at the top just in time for the daily afternoon thunderstorm...so our 25 mile descent into Estes Park was chilly. But bundled up, held onto our break levers for dear life, and prayed that we could avoid any run-ins with cars like the Subaru which had apparently ran off the road and into a tree before we passed it or the line of touristmobiles stopped in the middle of the roadso the occupants could view the elk by the side of the road.
But we made it...and the ride into Boulder after that as relatively pleasant. Ate a big pizza dinner, and came home to my old friend Kirsten's house to lay down our heads and take a rest day.
And we're back on the road in the morning....and onto Kansas!