To pick up where sasq left off… after cycling the last 23 miles into Eureka, we finally made it to the city park which is actually the city aquatic park aka pool. We rolled up to see Nina's tent set up, but no sign of her. Exhausted after a long, hot day, we collapsed onto the park benches, longingly eyed the refreshing, yet out of reach pool, & picked up our phones to do what we always do at the end of every day--catch up with the rest of the world! It was still hot & getting late and a little further investigation revealed that the showers were locked as well. After setting up camp & doing a bit of unpacking Nina came rolling up in truck with a new found friend! She was the bearer of good news, telling us that she had spoken with Becky, who promised that she would be back later and would open the showers up for us. Now, you're probably wondering who Becky is, huh? Brian, our first touring mate we met on the road back in CT, was the first person to tell us about her. All he said was to go to the pool & ask for Becky and that she would take care of us. Now, there are some amazing and some amazingly nice people that we've met on the road. And then there's Becky. She is the Kansas mother of all touring bicyclists (in rare cases she is also the daughter or sister)! And what a great mother indeed! This woman came barreling into our lives at just the moment we needed her and took great care of us up until the moment we went to sleep. And then she came back because she's that good! She opened up the pool for us after hours so that we could cool down after an insanely hot day of riding (first century under our belts!!), shower, and of course offer us some delicious frozen treats. She apologized up and down for not being able to have us over as her AC was out, yet still offered it to us anyways. After a long chat and learning a bit about each others journeys, we rinsed off, and then she said the magic word, "ice cream". Of course you can't say no, even at 1145 at night, so we opened the freezer to find it fully stocked with every Little Debbies treat imaginable. Then she gave us ice cream cones, stuffed an unopened box of zebra cakes into my hands and offered to make us anything else we wanted. She sure does know the way to a cyclists heart! But this wasn't all. After riding several days in 100+ heat, I've some how managed (haha) to get an ugly rash/skin irritation covering nearly the entire front of my legs. A little concerned about it, we asked Becky what she thought, who revealed that as a mother of 5 she's practically a doctor. With the care & concern of a mother she took a look and made her best diagnosis of sun poisoning. But, a little unsure, she decided it best to check with her doctor. Sometimes timing is everything, and on this particular night, there happened to be an all-night relay for life event taking place and a good chance that her family doctor might be there. So before saying goodnight, she said she would come back or meet us in the morning before we took off if he had any useful info. We of course were shooting for a bright and early start. Now, Becky's already come and opened the pool for us, hung out with us, fed us and she's only just met us. And then she came back. At midnight (which gave sasq quite the fright… and almost got me punched in the face haha). To tell me what her doctor said. Which, was that her diagnosis was probably correct and that udder cream might help. As in the cream put on cows udders and that it could be picked up at a feed store. She then offered to get me all sorted out the next day if we decided to stick around. But alas, the road was calling and we needed to keep going. So many, many thanks go out to our Kansas cycling mother! It's people like Becky that truly have an impact on you. Now despite the late night, we still managed to hit the road at 6 AM and beat some of the heat. About 10 or 15 miles into our ride, we see the Brit's round the corner of a turn and head on down the road toward us. Funny how we keep cat & mousing with all the other west bound cyclists. Chris & Gary are cruising now though as they are no longer self-supported, so it took them no time to catch up to us. So now we'd become quite the little cycling posse ourself--Nina, Chris, Gary, Sasq, & myself. We rode a pretty short and easy day into Newton, where we had sorted out another fire house stay. We had met a Newton fireman on vacation in MO who told us we were welcome to crash at the firehouse when we passed through. Gotta love those firemen ;) haha don't worry LB! Usually a very nice deal, we get mats to sleep on, AC, washer/dryer availability, and showers. And with the heat, a night in some AC is the only way to get some rest. The remainder of the day was pretty uneventful; mostly just trying to hide from the heat and figure out if we can knock off another century tomorrow. Sadly, it seems that we may be parting ways with some of our cycling buddies, as schedules and bodies dictate otherwise. Wishing all the best to everyone out on the road & hoping we meet up again!
Okay, another late night and another early AM.
g'night
little foot
PS. Thanks for all the support everyone! We wicked appreciate it.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
122 miles... cruising through Kansas!
What a day... This morning lil foot and I had our quickest time getting out of. amp, and were on the road by 5:45am. It was beautiful to ride so early, no sun, no humidity and no hills! The morning was flying, we reached 60 miles before 11am and continued on after an ice cream cone from McDonald's! About 20 miles later we found a little shade and had some lunch, during this time we had two people offer us cold water! Apparently Kansas is known for having some of the most polite people and we were sure feeling the love. Only two miles after starting up from lunch a third guy pulled over and waited for us on the side of the road with more water, I felt like a professional cyclist in a race and riding by just grabbing a water without getting off my bike!
This was shaping up to be a great day.
The plan was to meet Chris and Gary in Toronto, but we found out they went on to Eureka, KS. An extra 23 more miles than we originally expected to do, but we figured if we had the wind with us then let's go for it.
We made it 99 miles into Toronto and it was 100 degrees with a heat index of 112, so we thought it would be smart to take a two hour break from the sun. At this point lil foot began to get heat rash on her legs, she was able to put cream on them and ice them up which helped a bunch!
The place we stopped in was a little restaurant in the middle of the three block town, the people in there were extremely nice and chatted us up a bit while we rested in the ac. An hour later we ordered food, and boy oh boy was that a mistake. I had a cheese burger with onions and mushrooms, only it wasn't actually a burger but a gross meatloaf tasting chunk of meat. Lil foot had the ruben which was a special that come with a drink and side, but they never offered her a drink and chartered her extra for the side salad she requested. The two owners had mentioned during our chatting that they weren't doing too well because the town doesn't like new people, but buddy I have to tell you it might be the service and not so yummy food that is causing your lack of business. Haha. YUCK. I won't be ordering anymore hamburger steaks the rest of the trip that's for sure. I must say though it was amazing of them to let us hide out from the sun for a couple hours.
Around 6 or so we got ourselves together and headed off for our last 23 miles to Eureka and a prospect of getting to dip into a pool! Although we were pretty tired and drained, we made it in under two hours! Nina was all set up in the city park when we arrived, so we chatted a bit before an amazing woman entered our lives!
Lil foot told me she would like to pick it up from there so the rest of the night and the next day is all her!
There will be no need to tie me up this time, I'll let her write a post for once, haha.
Before I finish I don't believe I mentioned the crazy guy from Holland or the group of younger guys from all over the states. Let's save the crazy guy for last so first the group of guys... It was 10 miles before reaching Toronto and we were passing through one of the many lovely towns of this beautiful country, we made a turn and noticed about 8 guys heading our way with fully loaded bikes. We generally stop and talk to any cyclists we see, but these guys didn't just stop they swarmed us if they had been in prison for years and the only action they were getting was from their cell mate Spike. I must say one or two were good looking so I didn't mind much haha. One of the guys spent the previous night with Brian (from Connecticut) who apparently has been telling everyone he meets about us. Still not sure if its a good or bad thing, but it feels like we're celebrities among this summer's cyclists. They all seemed like they were having a good time on their trip but we kept the talk short due to the heat rising. So good luck guys.
Now the crazy guy... What a nut! It's about 9am or so and in the distance we notice a cyclist coming our way, as he gets closer we noticed his outfit was a bit much, a fleece, full on high top hiking boats and a reflective vest. Not only was he completely over dressed but he had five bags on his bike and a massive backpack on. I almost groped from heat stroke just looking at him. That convo wasn't all too long or interesting because he definitely didn't understand us a bit. The rest of Tue day lil foot and I would just the word fleece to make the other laugh, so at least we got that out of that encounter!
All done now... Lil foot shall continue some time today!
Sasq
Ps today was 103 without the heat index... Just a little sneak of what's to come I guess.
This was shaping up to be a great day.
The plan was to meet Chris and Gary in Toronto, but we found out they went on to Eureka, KS. An extra 23 more miles than we originally expected to do, but we figured if we had the wind with us then let's go for it.
We made it 99 miles into Toronto and it was 100 degrees with a heat index of 112, so we thought it would be smart to take a two hour break from the sun. At this point lil foot began to get heat rash on her legs, she was able to put cream on them and ice them up which helped a bunch!
The place we stopped in was a little restaurant in the middle of the three block town, the people in there were extremely nice and chatted us up a bit while we rested in the ac. An hour later we ordered food, and boy oh boy was that a mistake. I had a cheese burger with onions and mushrooms, only it wasn't actually a burger but a gross meatloaf tasting chunk of meat. Lil foot had the ruben which was a special that come with a drink and side, but they never offered her a drink and chartered her extra for the side salad she requested. The two owners had mentioned during our chatting that they weren't doing too well because the town doesn't like new people, but buddy I have to tell you it might be the service and not so yummy food that is causing your lack of business. Haha. YUCK. I won't be ordering anymore hamburger steaks the rest of the trip that's for sure. I must say though it was amazing of them to let us hide out from the sun for a couple hours.
Around 6 or so we got ourselves together and headed off for our last 23 miles to Eureka and a prospect of getting to dip into a pool! Although we were pretty tired and drained, we made it in under two hours! Nina was all set up in the city park when we arrived, so we chatted a bit before an amazing woman entered our lives!
Lil foot told me she would like to pick it up from there so the rest of the night and the next day is all her!
There will be no need to tie me up this time, I'll let her write a post for once, haha.
Before I finish I don't believe I mentioned the crazy guy from Holland or the group of younger guys from all over the states. Let's save the crazy guy for last so first the group of guys... It was 10 miles before reaching Toronto and we were passing through one of the many lovely towns of this beautiful country, we made a turn and noticed about 8 guys heading our way with fully loaded bikes. We generally stop and talk to any cyclists we see, but these guys didn't just stop they swarmed us if they had been in prison for years and the only action they were getting was from their cell mate Spike. I must say one or two were good looking so I didn't mind much haha. One of the guys spent the previous night with Brian (from Connecticut) who apparently has been telling everyone he meets about us. Still not sure if its a good or bad thing, but it feels like we're celebrities among this summer's cyclists. They all seemed like they were having a good time on their trip but we kept the talk short due to the heat rising. So good luck guys.
Now the crazy guy... What a nut! It's about 9am or so and in the distance we notice a cyclist coming our way, as he gets closer we noticed his outfit was a bit much, a fleece, full on high top hiking boats and a reflective vest. Not only was he completely over dressed but he had five bags on his bike and a massive backpack on. I almost groped from heat stroke just looking at him. That convo wasn't all too long or interesting because he definitely didn't understand us a bit. The rest of Tue day lil foot and I would just the word fleece to make the other laugh, so at least we got that out of that encounter!
All done now... Lil foot shall continue some time today!
Sasq
Ps today was 103 without the heat index... Just a little sneak of what's to come I guess.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
rest day...
Nothing exciting today to report. Lil foot and I took advantage of the hotel bed and slept in til 9 then hit the continental breakfast and ate our weight in pancakes and bacon! After that we did some organizing and planning for the grand canyon, looks like we should be there around the first of August give or take a day.
It sure was the perfect day not to ride, the heat was back and brutal, bit we did our best to stay indoors. Around 1 we took our bikes to the shop, wow that almost sounds like we're riding motorcycles instead of bicycles. Haha. I had new tires put on and lil foot bought a new tire to replace her back one since its getting pretty bald. Since my bike wouldn't be ready for a couple hours it was time to get some Wendy's for lunch, yummy frosties! Thats when our planning was complete for the next 16 or so days, and we look foward to getting some centuries in. Then did some food shopping for the road. Bagels, tuna, oatmeal, rice, trail mix, fruit and protein bars account for 90% of our diet and then we get subway here and there or something cheap like a burger from a local place we pass through.
When my beautiful bike was ready we returned to the bike shop to find Peter, Amy and Mike waiting there to have a little work done as well. We chatted for a few before heading back to the hotel to grab our bags.
At the hotel we took over the storage room and repacked our bags. In the next day or so Eric, lil foots boyfriend, will be receiving a lovely package of random crap we either no longer need or haven't used yet. The packing was done and we intended to join the other three in the city pack, but decided to stay in the ac as long as possible so we order pizza and Hung out a bit. Before the pizza we chatted it up with a guy staying at the hotel and he gave us $40 for food or anything we needed, two gatorades and two flavored waters! What a great guy. Oh, did I mention he's running a farm show? Anyone know what that is cause I would love to be informed. Thanks.
We were done stuffing our faces and it was time to leave dream land to brave the heat once again, so off to Lincoln park in Pittsburg, Kansas we went. It took a little while to find the others but we did and now its time for bed. Hoping for a 5am start on cycling tomorrow and looking to do somewhere between 90 and 100 miles to Toronto where we will join the Brits, which I will now refer to as the English dudes/guys because I learned to thats what is preferred, but I'll double check with them tomorrow night.
Good night, hope you are all enjoying your ac or central air!
Sasq
It sure was the perfect day not to ride, the heat was back and brutal, bit we did our best to stay indoors. Around 1 we took our bikes to the shop, wow that almost sounds like we're riding motorcycles instead of bicycles. Haha. I had new tires put on and lil foot bought a new tire to replace her back one since its getting pretty bald. Since my bike wouldn't be ready for a couple hours it was time to get some Wendy's for lunch, yummy frosties! Thats when our planning was complete for the next 16 or so days, and we look foward to getting some centuries in. Then did some food shopping for the road. Bagels, tuna, oatmeal, rice, trail mix, fruit and protein bars account for 90% of our diet and then we get subway here and there or something cheap like a burger from a local place we pass through.
When my beautiful bike was ready we returned to the bike shop to find Peter, Amy and Mike waiting there to have a little work done as well. We chatted for a few before heading back to the hotel to grab our bags.
At the hotel we took over the storage room and repacked our bags. In the next day or so Eric, lil foots boyfriend, will be receiving a lovely package of random crap we either no longer need or haven't used yet. The packing was done and we intended to join the other three in the city pack, but decided to stay in the ac as long as possible so we order pizza and Hung out a bit. Before the pizza we chatted it up with a guy staying at the hotel and he gave us $40 for food or anything we needed, two gatorades and two flavored waters! What a great guy. Oh, did I mention he's running a farm show? Anyone know what that is cause I would love to be informed. Thanks.
We were done stuffing our faces and it was time to leave dream land to brave the heat once again, so off to Lincoln park in Pittsburg, Kansas we went. It took a little while to find the others but we did and now its time for bed. Hoping for a 5am start on cycling tomorrow and looking to do somewhere between 90 and 100 miles to Toronto where we will join the Brits, which I will now refer to as the English dudes/guys because I learned to thats what is preferred, but I'll double check with them tomorrow night.
Good night, hope you are all enjoying your ac or central air!
Sasq
Best day by far!!!!
Before I begin about today, let me catch you all up on the rest of our night. As previously mentioned we camped out on Ash Grove, Missouri in the city park with our cyclist buddy, Nina. We thought it would be a pretty simple night, set up camp, sweat a ton while attempting to sleep and then maybe get a few hours like the previous nights. Instead we got what we wished for, thunderstorms! Not only did we get thunderstorms but there were viscous winds that came along with the pouring rain. Lil foot and I were just about ready to pass out when we hauled ass out of the tent and rushed to drag it under the pavilion, then we settled in again thinking we were safe. Not the case. Only 15 minutes later the winds picked up and blew the rain right into the tent again, ugh, now what do we do? After moving some tables around we found a spot on the cement that was safe from the rain so we put the tent there. As we were rushing to move everything, I looked over at poor Nina and then left lil foot holding the tent to help her a bit, I know I'm nice like that!
Now safe from the rain it was off to sleep, at least so we thought. Now around 1am after being asleep for maybe 15 minutes the sound of a train blowing its horn for half a minute came through town. All three of us shot up in our tents and almost had a heart attack. The train didn't only sound like it was passing through town but passing through the pavilion we were sleeping under. UNREAL. Finally we got a bit of sleep, like 3 or 4 hours tops.
On to today, literally the best day by far! This morning was no longer hot as Hell since it rained all night, and we were looking foward to leaving the hills of the Ozarks. After maybe 10 or 15 miles of the last bit of hills we hit the flats! From Ash Give we made it to Golden City for lunch where we ate at Cookie's Cafe. Apparently the pie is famous among locals and cyclists bit I wasn't too impressed by the looks of them. Jerry, yours looks 100x better! I had a milkshake though that was very yummy, and they bring you the melt mixer with the remaining part of it! Loved that.
After lunch as were we getting ready to start up again, I received a call from my brother, Jerry. He asked where we planned to stay the night then called me back 10minutes later with AMAZING news, a night at the Holiday Inn Express, thanks Jerry (and steph and little nugget, of course.) This was the much needed rest were looking for and definitely beat camping yet again in a location with out a shower or rest room at night. BTW the bed is sooooooo great!
While I chatted with Jerry, lil foot and Nina chatted up an older couple, Tom and Diane Richards. I assumed they were going through the usual questions we get from people but when I was off the phone they informed me we would be riding about 10 miles down the road to the couple's farm and each taking a ride in their two person citaborca (acrobatic spelled backwards) plane! We didn't hesitate to take them up on this offer so we hustled over! We arrived to their farm not know exactly what to expect, this was going to be one for the books for sure. Tom and Diana show us their hanger with the plane and now we were like little kids on Xmas morning. Nina went up first with Diana, then lil foot with Tom and that's when the clouds began to roll in. Diana asked if e could wait around a little so I would have a turn, so we all chatted about our travels and theirs. About 20 minutes later it was my turn! I had a blast, Diana showed me different towns, friends farms, the road we would be biking and the clouds! Our luck had clearly changed for the best!
It was easily the best day on the road, we left the hills, had an amazing hotel room for the night, a plane ride in the afternoon then went to applebees for dinner where we bumped into Chris and Gary (the Brits)!! Those guys crack us up! We had a few drinks during dinner and talked about the last few days since we had last seen them. Now the plan is to take today off to get things done and mostly get my bike sorted out. Then tmorrow we will ride to Toronto Kansas where we will camp with the guys!
Big, extremely big thanks to Jerry, Steph, Nugget, Tom and Diana. You all made our hard work through the heat wave beyond worth it!
On a side note here are a few stories we've heard along the way... Nina informed us that the brothers we met back at the beginning of Kentucky had called it quits, the younger of the two was hit by a ... Wait for it.... DEER. Apparently while on one of the back roads a deer came charging out of the woods and rammed right into the back end of his bike, he wasn't hurt but his bike had enough damage to have to called it quits. Now that's a story I would never had expected.
The dogs have calmed down now, and due to my lack of spray, Mike (Asian cyclist we met in bardstown) would be happy to hear that I stopped and pet a dog. Believe me though, this is not my new method of dealing with dogs chasing me, I will be back to spraying those bastards once I have spray again! A little dog yesterday that attempted to Chase me must have forgot he was chained up because he went flying back when the chain reached its limit. Poor little guy but it was like watching a cartoon!
What else... Oh we passed by another eastern bound cyclist from Germany. I noticed that when people don't understand eachother they tend to just say 'yea' to give themselves a little more time to process what was said so they could answer. The German guy used 'yea' to just about answer all our questions, so we kept it short with him when we realized we weren't getting much info out of I'm. Nina on the other hand had plenty to talk to him about, she lived in Germany for a few years, but she mainly lectured him about not having his helmet on. I cracked up that he was getting lectured and probably didn't understand most of what she was saying! Good luck German dude!
I believe you are all caught up. Once my bike is fixed I'll post about that.
Sasq
Oh I thought of a funny way to look at what Jerry did for us, he donated to the Beds For Butts Fund! Haha.
Now safe from the rain it was off to sleep, at least so we thought. Now around 1am after being asleep for maybe 15 minutes the sound of a train blowing its horn for half a minute came through town. All three of us shot up in our tents and almost had a heart attack. The train didn't only sound like it was passing through town but passing through the pavilion we were sleeping under. UNREAL. Finally we got a bit of sleep, like 3 or 4 hours tops.
On to today, literally the best day by far! This morning was no longer hot as Hell since it rained all night, and we were looking foward to leaving the hills of the Ozarks. After maybe 10 or 15 miles of the last bit of hills we hit the flats! From Ash Give we made it to Golden City for lunch where we ate at Cookie's Cafe. Apparently the pie is famous among locals and cyclists bit I wasn't too impressed by the looks of them. Jerry, yours looks 100x better! I had a milkshake though that was very yummy, and they bring you the melt mixer with the remaining part of it! Loved that.
After lunch as were we getting ready to start up again, I received a call from my brother, Jerry. He asked where we planned to stay the night then called me back 10minutes later with AMAZING news, a night at the Holiday Inn Express, thanks Jerry (and steph and little nugget, of course.) This was the much needed rest were looking for and definitely beat camping yet again in a location with out a shower or rest room at night. BTW the bed is sooooooo great!
While I chatted with Jerry, lil foot and Nina chatted up an older couple, Tom and Diane Richards. I assumed they were going through the usual questions we get from people but when I was off the phone they informed me we would be riding about 10 miles down the road to the couple's farm and each taking a ride in their two person citaborca (acrobatic spelled backwards) plane! We didn't hesitate to take them up on this offer so we hustled over! We arrived to their farm not know exactly what to expect, this was going to be one for the books for sure. Tom and Diana show us their hanger with the plane and now we were like little kids on Xmas morning. Nina went up first with Diana, then lil foot with Tom and that's when the clouds began to roll in. Diana asked if e could wait around a little so I would have a turn, so we all chatted about our travels and theirs. About 20 minutes later it was my turn! I had a blast, Diana showed me different towns, friends farms, the road we would be biking and the clouds! Our luck had clearly changed for the best!
It was easily the best day on the road, we left the hills, had an amazing hotel room for the night, a plane ride in the afternoon then went to applebees for dinner where we bumped into Chris and Gary (the Brits)!! Those guys crack us up! We had a few drinks during dinner and talked about the last few days since we had last seen them. Now the plan is to take today off to get things done and mostly get my bike sorted out. Then tmorrow we will ride to Toronto Kansas where we will camp with the guys!
Big, extremely big thanks to Jerry, Steph, Nugget, Tom and Diana. You all made our hard work through the heat wave beyond worth it!
On a side note here are a few stories we've heard along the way... Nina informed us that the brothers we met back at the beginning of Kentucky had called it quits, the younger of the two was hit by a ... Wait for it.... DEER. Apparently while on one of the back roads a deer came charging out of the woods and rammed right into the back end of his bike, he wasn't hurt but his bike had enough damage to have to called it quits. Now that's a story I would never had expected.
The dogs have calmed down now, and due to my lack of spray, Mike (Asian cyclist we met in bardstown) would be happy to hear that I stopped and pet a dog. Believe me though, this is not my new method of dealing with dogs chasing me, I will be back to spraying those bastards once I have spray again! A little dog yesterday that attempted to Chase me must have forgot he was chained up because he went flying back when the chain reached its limit. Poor little guy but it was like watching a cartoon!
What else... Oh we passed by another eastern bound cyclist from Germany. I noticed that when people don't understand eachother they tend to just say 'yea' to give themselves a little more time to process what was said so they could answer. The German guy used 'yea' to just about answer all our questions, so we kept it short with him when we realized we weren't getting much info out of I'm. Nina on the other hand had plenty to talk to him about, she lived in Germany for a few years, but she mainly lectured him about not having his helmet on. I cracked up that he was getting lectured and probably didn't understand most of what she was saying! Good luck German dude!
I believe you are all caught up. Once my bike is fixed I'll post about that.
Sasq
Oh I thought of a funny way to look at what Jerry did for us, he donated to the Beds For Butts Fund! Haha.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Auto Correct...
Ignore the typos, I have auto correct on my phone, and on top of that I'm not the best at spelling!
I must say that the typos make some of the posts funnier though!
Once again, good night.
Sasq
I must say that the typos make some of the posts funnier though!
Once again, good night.
Sasq
Its like a heat wave....
Today was another tough day in the heat and hills of this roller coaster state, Missouri. For all those who own motorcycles you should ride through here, it would be amazing, on a bicycle however, not so fun. The day started a little later than we hoped but we were on the road by 7am. We slept on the lawn of a court house/library which was not only hot but very noisy. Lil foot thought a baby was crying at one point, and I just wanted to punch anything making noise so I could sleep. Anyway, we hit the road and the heat wasn't bad yet, there were clouds in the sky and a slight breeze! But it didn't last long til the heat kicked back in. Ugh.
If anyone of you have seen the weather lately then you'll know that we are riding through a gross heat wave which warns people to stay indoors and limit exposure to the sun, clearly we have a death wish because we are pushing through!
Along the way we made a random find, a little farm that had about 6 peacocks! The guy had the feathers, I believe, and this guy sure was shaking a tail feather to get some attention! Lil foot has a good picture of it, we will try in the next day or so to find a library and upload some pictures.
For lunch we went to subway, eat fresh! I love $5 foot longs! Haha. We also rehydrated and.enjoyed some AC for q couple hours, then back to work. Besides some steep climbs we noticed a new smell, US! We are stinking at this point and were hoping for a shower or something soon. At one point I couldn't tell if I had passed road kill or if it was just me, I know, bad.
During the last part of our ride we began saying that we hoped to see our Norwegian friend, Nina, again. Lucky us she was on the city park of Ash Grove when we arrived! We did a bit of chatting, found out the brothers which we met in eastern Kentucky had called it quits due to a deer running into one of their bikes and damaging it badly. We were also happy to here that this park has showers! Probably one of the grossest but I'll take any thigh at this point. We had dinner, tuna on bagels, and a few cold beers, showered up and now its time for bed.
The three of us plan to camp in Pittsburg Kansas where I will finally get my bike fixed, then the lil foot and I will be taking a day off to get shit done. Tomorrow will be a roughly 60-65 mile day then we plan to start up again Friday and haul ass through all the flat terrain before climbing the Rockies.
Thanks once again to Peter who helped me make it this far on a tire that should have given out already!
Also shout out to Marykate, miss you crazy bitch!
Well its way passed my bedtime, so good night all.
Sasq
If anyone of you have seen the weather lately then you'll know that we are riding through a gross heat wave which warns people to stay indoors and limit exposure to the sun, clearly we have a death wish because we are pushing through!
Along the way we made a random find, a little farm that had about 6 peacocks! The guy had the feathers, I believe, and this guy sure was shaking a tail feather to get some attention! Lil foot has a good picture of it, we will try in the next day or so to find a library and upload some pictures.
For lunch we went to subway, eat fresh! I love $5 foot longs! Haha. We also rehydrated and.enjoyed some AC for q couple hours, then back to work. Besides some steep climbs we noticed a new smell, US! We are stinking at this point and were hoping for a shower or something soon. At one point I couldn't tell if I had passed road kill or if it was just me, I know, bad.
During the last part of our ride we began saying that we hoped to see our Norwegian friend, Nina, again. Lucky us she was on the city park of Ash Grove when we arrived! We did a bit of chatting, found out the brothers which we met in eastern Kentucky had called it quits due to a deer running into one of their bikes and damaging it badly. We were also happy to here that this park has showers! Probably one of the grossest but I'll take any thigh at this point. We had dinner, tuna on bagels, and a few cold beers, showered up and now its time for bed.
The three of us plan to camp in Pittsburg Kansas where I will finally get my bike fixed, then the lil foot and I will be taking a day off to get shit done. Tomorrow will be a roughly 60-65 mile day then we plan to start up again Friday and haul ass through all the flat terrain before climbing the Rockies.
Thanks once again to Peter who helped me make it this far on a tire that should have given out already!
Also shout out to Marykate, miss you crazy bitch!
Well its way passed my bedtime, so good night all.
Sasq
Monday, July 11, 2011
Heat, Hills, Humidity, HELL...
As you might be able to tell by my post name, today what a day of H's. After yesterday's heat we decided to start super early, up at 4:45 and cycling by 5:45, even at that time it was already 80 degrees. We continued climbing the large hills of the Ozarks and have only one full day left of them. Thank goodness!
This morning wasn't great for me especially, after only 6 miles and a few climbs I was covered on more sweat than the day before, I thought I was going to die. Lil foot made me drink a water with a gatorade packet in it, and after a little break it was back to work. We began in Eminence and made it to Houston by 11:15am, a 44 mile morning. Not too shabby! We sat in the entrance of a Walmart for 3 hours to hide from the worse part of the day. During this time we had lunch, picked up a couple items and just people watched. It was hysterical, one nutjob was in a winter coat and the heat index was 106, another toothless guy chatted with me a bit while lil foot shopped, I didn't understand a word he said so I continued to nod my head and act like I knew. Haha.
With the heat still pretty rough, the humidity went down a touch, and a slight breeze, which was also a welcomed head wind, picked up. We had about 17 miles til our next break then 27 more from there. When we reached our break point it was extremely depressing to see the only business already closed for the day. Unbelievable. Luckily a woman across the road was home and let us fill our water bottles up! What a lovely lady.
Last 20 to go and we're exhausted but forced to continue due to lack of sleeping options. The map showed a few more good climbs so we mentally prepared ourselves. It wasn't all too bad after all. The sun was beginning to set and we rode through a few cool spots which was nice, but then we climbed our last hill for the day into Hartville, only to have the humidity return with a vengeance. Bad enough last night we didn't get much sleep, looks like tonight will be a repeater. Ugh this sucks. On the positive side, free camping on the court house lawn!
Right now we smell bad, are over tired, sick of the humidity and the damn hills. Kansas here we come, on Wednesday that is! Also if you were wondering how my bike it, its holding up with the duck tape jimmy rigging Peter originally did and I've done to keep it fresh. It should make it to Pittsburg, KS where there are a few bike shops. Until then I will have to continue to keep a close eye on it.
On a side note, if any one has frequent flyer miles/points for a hotel they would like to give up we wouldn't mind a nice hotel bed for a nice change from this smelly tent.
Be sure to click on the support the cause tab and donate to save the future of boobies.
That is all for tonight, we plan to cycle from Hartville to Ash Grove tomorrow, and are crossing our fingers for a thunderstorm soon.
Nighty night
Sasq
And I almost forgot we met two guys going east today, Ray and Rusty, they were probably in their 50s and seem like they were having a blast, wish they were going our way I'm sure they would have been fun to ride with for a while! Good luck guys!!
This morning wasn't great for me especially, after only 6 miles and a few climbs I was covered on more sweat than the day before, I thought I was going to die. Lil foot made me drink a water with a gatorade packet in it, and after a little break it was back to work. We began in Eminence and made it to Houston by 11:15am, a 44 mile morning. Not too shabby! We sat in the entrance of a Walmart for 3 hours to hide from the worse part of the day. During this time we had lunch, picked up a couple items and just people watched. It was hysterical, one nutjob was in a winter coat and the heat index was 106, another toothless guy chatted with me a bit while lil foot shopped, I didn't understand a word he said so I continued to nod my head and act like I knew. Haha.
With the heat still pretty rough, the humidity went down a touch, and a slight breeze, which was also a welcomed head wind, picked up. We had about 17 miles til our next break then 27 more from there. When we reached our break point it was extremely depressing to see the only business already closed for the day. Unbelievable. Luckily a woman across the road was home and let us fill our water bottles up! What a lovely lady.
Last 20 to go and we're exhausted but forced to continue due to lack of sleeping options. The map showed a few more good climbs so we mentally prepared ourselves. It wasn't all too bad after all. The sun was beginning to set and we rode through a few cool spots which was nice, but then we climbed our last hill for the day into Hartville, only to have the humidity return with a vengeance. Bad enough last night we didn't get much sleep, looks like tonight will be a repeater. Ugh this sucks. On the positive side, free camping on the court house lawn!
Right now we smell bad, are over tired, sick of the humidity and the damn hills. Kansas here we come, on Wednesday that is! Also if you were wondering how my bike it, its holding up with the duck tape jimmy rigging Peter originally did and I've done to keep it fresh. It should make it to Pittsburg, KS where there are a few bike shops. Until then I will have to continue to keep a close eye on it.
On a side note, if any one has frequent flyer miles/points for a hotel they would like to give up we wouldn't mind a nice hotel bed for a nice change from this smelly tent.
Be sure to click on the support the cause tab and donate to save the future of boobies.
That is all for tonight, we plan to cycle from Hartville to Ash Grove tomorrow, and are crossing our fingers for a thunderstorm soon.
Nighty night
Sasq
And I almost forgot we met two guys going east today, Ray and Rusty, they were probably in their 50s and seem like they were having a blast, wish they were going our way I'm sure they would have been fun to ride with for a while! Good luck guys!!
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