Soaking up the last of the summer sun and rain.

I wanted to apologize for such the long delay for the last of the Big Ride installments! We got home late, late, late on Monday night, and I spent all day Tuesday sleeping and relaxing with my family. The very next morning my parents and I headed up north to a little cabin on Thunder Lake where I got crappy cell phone coverage and even worse internet access, so I didn't get a chance to publish the last of the ride entries. Thanks for all of the support and patience!

The day after.

We got enough relaxation in yesterday afternoon and evening that we were ready to go out and see a little of our nation’s capital last night. It was dark when we headed out to see the Washington Monument, which was a truly impressive sight to see it all lit up and mirrored in the reflecting pool. Directly across from it sits the Lincoln memorial, which was also striking at night when it is all lit up against the dark sky. From here we wandered over to the Vietnam Memorial, which was truly an extraordinary monument. Our whole trip I had barely given any thought to what we could see or do in Washington, and honestly I was surprised at how much I enjoyed visiting the monuments. It was truly amazing to look at the Washington Memorial and realize how clever it was to see the perfect reflection in the pool, or how grandly the Lincoln memorial stood with its pillars and larger than life marble statue of Lincoln. The most impressive, most well-thought-out and moving memorial was the Vietnam Memorial with its black granite that you can see your reflection in, the names listed in order of the date of casualty, the form it took as the two walls come together in a point, how you can trace those names onto paper you can take home with you.

I think that both of us slept better than we had in a while last night. Ane’s mom had mentioned that it sounded like a party was going on in the hallways in the middle of the night, but neither Ane or I woke up to it we slept so soundly on our real beds with fluffy pillows. At breakfast we ran into several Big Riders who were staying at the hotel, and it was nice to be able say hello to Marty and give Andy one last Good Morning hug. We ate with Jody and Margo’s family, which was so nice to start the day with. Not to mention that I spilled coffee all over the table linens, that’s always a good way to start the day :)

With a few more final goodbyes, we packed up our bags in the room and took our bikes down to meet the boys. Ben and Sean just couldn’t stay away from us they had to drive all the way back into the city to meet us, what are we going to do without them? The four of us toured around the capital on our bikes, and we were rebels without our helmets and mirrors! It sure was strange to see Ben and Sean in clothes other than they’d had all summer, Sean even in a polo shirt, and cruising around on their bikes without helmets. It was the perfect way to see the rest of the monuments because we went almost nine miles, and we certainly wouldn’t have been up to walking that distance. We saw the Washington Monument again, the World War II memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the mall area, the Botanical Gardens, the Capitol Building, and of course the White House. My favorite by far was the Botanical Gardens. I could have spent hours and hours there, the plants and the flowers were so neat, and it was just so lush everywhere. Someday I’m going to have to come back and spend some real time here, when I have the energy, to spend more time at the gardens, and to really take the time to see the museums.

Chinatown offered us all kinds of options for lunch, and we ended up eating at some cheap tortilla place. Finally we returned to the hotel where Ane’s mom and brother had been so patiently waiting for us, fit our bikes onto the car rack, took our last group pictures, and gave our final hugs goodbye (which I’m sure was a humorous sight with Ben being 15 inches taller than me :). Yesterday was such a crazy day that I’m so glad they came to see us today for some proper farewells.

After about 6 hours of driving we’re staying the night in Zanesville, OH tonight. It’s dawning on me for real now that our journey is over and we’ve entering back into the real world. Driving home, all I can do is reflect on the trip, and I keep on picturing all of the people in my mind I may or may not ever see again. There are at least a handful of people that I certainly intend on visiting and keeping in contact with, but never again will we all be together again as a community. Ane made a thoughtful comment about how such grand adventures and traveling like this can leave you so unsatisfied with the real world and your normal life, and it’s definitely true because ever since I’ve started canoe tripping even I’ve always thirsted for seeing and doing more. But that’s all part of who I am, and this trip, this community that we’re all invested in now, the things that I’ve seen and learned on this ride are always going to be with me. It’s like the cliché saying that it’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Thank you everyone for making it such a memorable summer. I’ve never laughed so much, so often, in my life.

Day 48 – Believe it or not, here we are.

Holy moly—what a day. We packed up for the last time this morning, and had a typical truck breakfast for the last time. It was a beautiful morning and we really got to appreciate Maryland’s country roads in some good weather. I couldn’t have asked more a more graceful last ride together in the weather and the scenery, which included rolling pastoral farmlands with beautiful strips of sunflowers and trees that arched over the paved roads. We got to Kathy’s waterstop this morning well within the timeline we were given, and what a sweetheart she had starbucks coffee waiting for us in the absence of any other coffee stops.

We slowly made our way into busier areas and the outskirts of the DC area. The cue sheet directed us onto a bike path before we hit too busy of traffic, and I swear I have never in my life been on such a trafficked bike path. There were people everywhere biking, walking, or running, and for the first time all trip I felt like how cars must feel when they have to pass us cyclists in busy traffic as we swerved around recreationalists. Then boom! we exited the bike path and we were in the District of Columbia riding along the water and admiring the buildings in our nation’s capital. It was crazy. Poor Ben and Sean, we expected them as native Marylanders to be able to tell us what every building was.

Our cue sheets directed us right past the park around the Washington Memorial where our finish line would soon be, so that we could all meet up at a little Greek Restaurant for dinner. It was nuts because everyone’s families were already gathering around the park to meet us, and we ran into Ane and Sean’s families prematurely! Everyone was asking us where they were supposed to meet us, and of course we had no idea, and all we wanted to do was get to the restaurant so that we didn’t spoil the finish. There was a lot of excitement in the air, and probably one of the coolest parts was when we were stopped at a busy intersection, with a row of cars behind and all around us, and about ten cars back someone stood up out of their sunroof and called out, “Hey Big Riders! Welcome to D.C.!” It was a great feeling, and there was too much going on to really feel sad yet about our trip coming to an end. It was all too surreal.

We all parked our bikes outside of the Old Post Office, in the basement of which a former Big Rider had generously catered our last lunch together. It was fantastic Greek food, but I was too overwhelmed to really eat too much of it. There were a handful of former Big Riders there from last year who kindly offered us their services by taking ALL of our cameras for one last group photo on the steps of the building.

Everything was going by so quickly and before we knew it we were lined up to ride to the finish. We rode in twos, threes, and fours, two minutes apart so that friends and family could be sure to get good pictures of us coming across the finish line. Ane and I rode together, of course, followed immediately by Ben, Sean, and Micheal Yee. It was more confusing than we’d expected to make our way to the finish line, weaving around pedestrians on the park sidewalks and trying to follow the Dan Henrys. Finally we saw all of the people and the finish, and Ane and I decided to hold hands as we came through. Well as it turned out after 48 days of riding we’re still not coordinated enough to do that, and we both swerved off the sidewalk right before the finish. What a classic finale for us. We made it safely across the finish line which was thronged with cheering family members and hopped off the bike for hugs from Ane’s Mom. I called my own mom, and then we were swept away in the excitement for a while everyone else was finishing.

A representative from the national American Lung Association office offered some words of congratulations and of thanks for our efforts during a brief ceremony during which Pollie offered us certificates of completion. Eventually we made our way over to the hotel and unloaded the truck for the very last time as a group. It was such a strange feeling saying goodbye to everyone, because it was hard to recognize that I was actually saying goodbye. How do you spend 48 days with a exclusively with this same group of people, form these relationships and develop such a solid community, and then suddenly have to say goodbye?

Back in the hotel room, Ane and I have just been absolutely spoiled by her mom. When we started to discuss dinner options, it was quite apparent that Ane and I were just not up for any real decision making. Even though we only rode about fifty miles today, it was just an exhausting day. After a showers and a nap on the hotel beds, we decided that getting delivery was much more conducive to our energy and emotional capabilities. We had some Thai delivery and then Ane’s mom went out specially for us to pick up dessert from TGI Friday’s. She let us just relax and even gave us foot massages. It was just perfect.

Day 47 – Dessert anyone?

For the longest time last night we debated, should we sleep inside the lighted school hallways or should we risk sleeping outside under the stars when it might rain? Finally we decided to walk around and sleep under the school’s covered entranceway, which was a great decision. Our slumber party was two bigger last night when Andy and David Lambert joined us, and we enjoyed watching a brief rain before we fell asleep safe and dry against the building. This morning was our first ever $5 morning, which was fantastic because it was a short day and we rode back into town to find a good little dinner. We found a little place called Ernie’s which gave us just what we wanted for a good start to the day, and we took our time eating and drinking coffee. That was the name of the game today: enjoy the company and the stops.

Before long we were off and leaving Gettysburg behind us. We took some great pictures of our first “restroom” stop along a beautiful strip of sunflowers lining the road, and then we almost passed right by the marker for the Maryland border. After some more pictures we made our way to Kathy’s waterstop, where we decided we could really spend some time off the bike again. We laid our bikes down and headed straight over to the shade of some trees to lay down and nap in. It was glorious, with a waterbottle as a pillow I could have laid there all day napping.

Finally we dragged ourselves onward, and we decided it was lunchtime when we hit Frederick, MD. It was such a cute little town, and honestly it reminded me a lot of the city I lived in in the Netherlands with the brick sidewalks that went right up to the brick buildings and homes. Recommended by a local, we walked into the Orchard for lunch, which was a vegetarian’s dream. I had the best salad that I’ve probably ever had in my life there, so much so that I took a picture of it: organic mixed greens, shredded carrots, sprouts, hummus, avocado, and sesame tofu. Mmm mmm.

We finally made it into the campground tonight just as the first shuttle was leaving for dinner at Applebee’s. I had a quick rinse-off in the shower before it came back, and we were shuttled off to Applebee’s for our last dinner together. The ALAW generously covered the tab for whatever we wanted to order, minus alcoholic drinks. I had a totally un-filling salad, and decided I was definitely going to need dessert. I was sitting next to Tom, who had already had a huge meal and one dessert, but was still hungry, so we decided to each order different desserts and we’d split them. We did, and then ordered Scott’s dessert and ate most of it, and claimed someone else’s unclaimed dessert, and before long we had eaten some of each of the five desserts that Applebee’s offers. It was fantastic.

As our last night in camp, we had some organized ceremonies, which included a mock-marriage between Margo and Adam, an awarding of distinguished titles for most inspiring rider and other such appropriate and less appropriate honors, and a final farewell songs written and preformed by fellow riders. We laughed so hard, and it was a good way to spend our last night together.

Day 46 – Chillin’ at the Laundromat.

It’s unbelievable that today was our very last rest day, what a sad realization. We had a good day today despite that strange prospect settling in over the community that our journey is coming to an end. I woke up early this morning on the wet grass next to Ben and Sean, and wandered inside to find Ane stirring. She was feeling better than she had last night, and we gathered up our things to walk into town with Bob Dumke for some coffee at The Spot. The coffee was not so good, but we met a very interesting guy not too older than ourselves who was also from Minnesota, and what’s more, had walked all of the way from Minnesota to Gettysburg. Unbelievable. He said that pretty much he woke up one morning and God told him to leave his cell phone, money, and watch at home and to start walking and He will provide. Thus far he had had three meals a day, over $600 in donations, and a place to sleep every night. The generosity of people across this country never ceases to amaze me.

From coffee we made our way over to the Lincoln Cafe for some real breakfast, laundry in tow in hopes that someone could direct us to a laundromat. By this time the boys were up and they met us there for some good greasy breakfast. We hit up the library for some internet access on the way back through town to the laundromat, and threw our clothes in just as a good thunderstorm began to hit. Our clothes had been in just long enough to get good and sudsy before the power was knocked out from the storm. Thus began our four and a half stay in the Gettysburg laundromat waiting for the power to go back on, passing time by playing cards, writing in journals, finding nearby places open to use restrooms and get food, napping, and taking pictures our now massive leg muscles. Honestly, you know you’re with good friends when you can pass 4 ½ hours in a laundromat and not even mind.

By the time we got back to the middle school, it was already approaching late afternoon and dinnertime. After bumming around for a while, vaguely doing some bike maintenance and taking showers, we started off with everyone towards the town center to meet Brack and Jeananne who were in town to meet us for dinner. They were looking good and it was so nice to see them. The hotel restaurant was super fancy and a little above our broke college student budget, so we hugged goodbye and wandered over to the pub for dinner again. We had a good time laying outside on the dirty ground waiting for our table and watching the sky for the impending rain. I had a delicious salad and sweet potato soup at dinner, which was just perfect. Back at the middle school, we’re just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company tonight knowing that the real challenging rides are over and from here on out we’ve just got to appreciate the time that we have.

Day 45 – A good kind of crazy.

The cue sheet calls today Final Exam Day. I’m pretty sure that a whole third of the day was in my lowest gear, a third of the day was in my highest gear, and only about a third was somewhere in between. Up and down, up and down, up and down. My granny gears were getting tired they weren’t used to working so hard! But it was a good day. And BEAUTIFUL. Naturally, beautiful.

Right from the beginning our hills began, and my muscles were definitely beat up from yesterday. Ane got two flats by the first ten miles, and both made explosive booms like firecrackers. They were very impressive. After some very healthy climbs, we arrived at our first waterstop identified on the cue sheet as at the MacDonalds. As it turned out, there was no waterstop there but we made it one with breakfast and coffee. From there we had some more hills, hills, and hills. They began as rolling hills through farmlands on country roads, passing barns and horses and small towns. It was hot from the beginning today, and we stopped at a gas station before the second stop to refill our waterbottles and admire the hunting supplies in the air conditioning.

Eventually we hit a state park which was a nice change of scenery to winding forest roads, still up and down hills of course. The forest reminded me of roads up in northern Minnesota except that we were surrounded by deciduous trees instead of the nothern pines. The floor of the forest was so green at some points that it looked like a fuzzy green sweater, whereas the northwoods have needles for groundcover. Not a mile too soon we found Pollie and Mark’s waterstop located at the park swimming beach. We sat there for a long time eating and relaxing. Yesterday was definitely the kind of day where we had little appetite, but we were hungry and our bodies were telling us that we needed to eat and eat and eat. Ane declared that it would be at least another year before she can eat another energy bar. Lately we’ve been really taking our time at waterstops, to the point that Pollie asked us how long our social hour would be today.

The next twenty-five miles were brutally hot and humid. We made our way out of the park and onto more country roads. Even Ane, who is rarely affected by the heat, was getting just drained. By the time we made it to Kathy’s stop we were just about dying. Some M&M’s, kiwi strawberry slush puppies, and more energy bars really helped to get some energy into us. We were so far into the mileage, but we knew that we had a monster hill in front of us before we could descend into Gettysburg. Riding in anticipation, we ascended gradually and mentally prepared for a huge hill in front of us, until before we knew it we were descending. It was a little anticlimactic that the hill turned out to be nothing compared to the morning’s climbs, but we were certainly welcome to the long descent.

We rode our way through the old brick buildings of the town and arrived to a warm welcome at the Gettysburg Middle School from Bob Jone’s workplace. The ladies from his firm brought us all yummy, yummy baked goods and coolers of cold drinks, it was so sweet. We went out to a late dinner at a local pub, which had delicious food. Ane was suffering from some heat exhaustion, and we retreated to camp for some R&R. What a hard, long, fun, satisfying day. It seems so absurd to put those four words together to describe the same thing, but they all fit. It’s so crazy here what we’re doing, what we’re almost finished accomplishing. Ben and I were talking about how it’s crazy to love this so much, to love the burn climbing long hills or the challenge of 100+ miles in one day. But it’s a good kind of crazy.

Day 44 – Breathing and drops of sweat.

Today was such a fun day, and the first day in what seems like a while that it didn’t rain. We had two choices this morning: (1) ride 30 more miles on the flat bike path, or (2) ride 26 miles on a road that went straight up and down the whole way. Honestly, my bike hated me enough as it was from the path yesterday, and I hated the grit in all of my clothes from the bike path yesterday, that it wasn’t a hard decision for me to make in favor of the road. Climbing didn’t scare me—we’d had enough easy days that I figured I could use the challenge before the end of the trip. There were only six of us who chose the road, and I climbed with Sean and Kari the whole way. I guess I didn’t know before what a long and steep climb really meant, or felt like, but I learned today. We had a few healthy climbs where we got down into our granny gears, and then we hit THE climb. All of the sudden I realized that I was in my lowest gear, my legs were barely moving the pedals, my breathing had increased exponentially, and my speedometer read about 3.5 mph. And it kept going and going. This was what a long and steep climb meant I discovered. Strangely enough, I loved it. It burned, it hurt, I was tired, and it just kept going, but I loved it. It was the most satisfying thing in the world to see that top, to feel the release of resistance in the pedals, and to turn around and look at what we had just done, what I had just done. The best part was when we turned around and saw the sign for the gradient going down the hill we just climbed up: 14% for ½ mile. Pretty freaking sweet.

Our climbing wasn’t done yet, but eventually we hit the summit, which was the highest point in Pennsylvania: Mt. Davis. This was at mile marker 16.9, and Pollie and Mark met us there for a waterstop. They told us that they hadn’t expected us so soon, and it was incredible that when Steve was the first to arrive, what they heard before they actually saw him was the sound of his breathing and the sweat dropping down on the pavement. I was so sweaty from the climb and the humidity that literally it looked like I had just crawled out of the pool. After a photoshoot, a waterbottle refill, and some gnat swatting, we embarked on the descent. It was such a beautiful morning, and with breathtaking scenery. It reminded me a lot of Wisconsin as we rolled through farmlands, some Amish lands, rolling hills spotted with trees, and fog that made the distant hills look like layers of paper cut-outs. I am infinitely thankful that we chose the road today; it was hard and satisfying and beautiful. You can’t see much on the bike path, and it turned out to be somewhat boring drudgery for them to get through the unpaved path.

Around mile 26 we hooked onto the rest of the group on the cue sheet. We were riding along with Kari coming into town and it’s a good thing that there wasn’t any oncoming traffic because when Sean and I saw the sign for coffee we practically screeched into a sharp left turn for it. It was little local diner owned by some really sweet people who showed us pictures of previous cross-country riders who had come through. It was a nice surprise to see a handful of riders walk in who were among the first off of the bike path, because we were certain that after all of that climbing everyone on the bike path would have passed us. Not to mention that we were practically the last ones out this morning while Dave fixed my chain (again...pretty soon my chain won’t have any of the original links in it I swear).

We didn’t stop for too long, just enough to enjoy the coffee, and we were off again for more climbing and small towns. It was comforting knowing that since we had already hit the highest point in PA we wouldn’t have to climb any higher, and we enjoyed the weather, the views, the road, and the company of just Sean and I. It’s been a while since we’d found ourselves at the front of the pack, and we surprised to learn at Kathy’s stop that only Steve was ahead of us. Kathy’s waterstop was at the memorial for Flight 93, the plane that went down during the 9/11 attacks. It was a moving memorial because it was so unofficial. One huge gate had been erected and just covered with hats, flowers, poems, stuffed animals, pictures, and other such tokens of grief, sympathies, memories, and prayers. There were about a dozen plaques mounted alongside from various group and organizations, enough park benches to be labeled with each person who died in the crash, and a few other pieces of memorial that were contributed by various people.

Moving on from that site, we found ourselves on, surprise, more hills. I still have this image in my mind tonight of a long stretch of straight road ahead of us that just went up and down and up and down. At this point I was getting a little worn out, but I was doing alright, especially when we got to a sign that read: 9% grade for 6 miles. All downhill that was, and with spectacular views. I’ve decided that this is some of my favorite type of riding, and I’ll take this real climbs any day over smaller rollers. I like to just get down into the granny gears and then feel the satisfaction of the descent before I do it again. After some more climbing, some construction, and a torn-up stretch of road that hurt my hand and feet from the vibrations, we finally saw the Cannondale sign for its factory buildings. It was a welcome sight because we knew that our campground was immediately thereafter, and we rolled in to find only three other people there. We even beat the truck! Thankfully the campgrounds also had laundry, seeing as how most of us had loads of clothes reeking of mildew from all of the rain and no way to dry wet clothes in the humidity. The campground even gave his free ice cream, and Sean’s magically refilled itself after every bite as I scooped my too-huge portion into his cup.

After some rain, pizza, and salad with pickles (who does that?), we walked over to the Cannondale factory for a tour. It was super interesting to see the logistics of how these bikes that are taking us across the country are made, to see to the rows of unfinished frames lined up on the racks and shelves, to see the paint room where every machine was covered with intricate layers of different colors of dried paint, and then to see the room where they test the products and break everything with machines. It’s a shame we were so exhausted that it felt like it took eighteen hours because it was a really cool tour.

Day 43 – Grits for lunch.

Last night we had quite the weather in our tent as we fell asleep to a nice mist on our faces as it rained. This morning was a wet, mildewy morning that we started off by singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Floyd surprised us with a strong verse even, and it was a nice silver lining to the morning. The first thirty miles went by in more or less of a blur, with scattered sprinkles and some small climbs. As we were coming down the hill for the first waterstop, Sean got a flat where he also went through a second tube when it was punctured by the tire iron. I’d never actually seen that happen, but now I know why I’ve always been warned about it.

After a little break at Mark’s stop we embarked on the bike path that would take us all of the fifty miles into camp for the night. I quickly discovered that there are a couple of definitions of what a bike path is, because it certainly was not the paved, smooth, black path that I am used to. Instead it was packed cinder, dirt, mud, and sand, which occasionally became as narrow as a footpath. It wound us through parks and woods alongside a river that we occasionally got peaks of. And then it rained. Myself and my bike were just caked with grit. Without a fender or rack on the back, I had one impressive streak running from where my shorts hit the saddle all the way up to the tip-top of my helmet of grit, sand, and dirt. I was the best of the worst, and had eight million pictures taken of me before I could take my helmet off. Somehow, miraculously we seemed to be the only ones who hit the rain and mud.

The checkpoint today that we came to today was along the bike path today was hosted by a former big rider named Fred and his wife Roseanne, and it was so, so sweet. They had birch beer, sandwiches, chips, fruit, cheese, and lots of pies for us. Thank goodness because we were starving and so thankful to get the nourishment.

We continued on to finish the bike path, went over some really fun bridges high over the river, and Ben conveniently got a flat at one of the best views of the river that we’d had so far. Camp is at a state park campground tonight, and unfortunately we weren’t able to find a laundromat open late enough for us to get the mildew out of our wet clothes (which is now mission number one when we get into camp tomorrow). We’re camped next to a dam, and we spent a lot of time just sitting by the water tonight.

Day 42 – You want to split it?

I swear there’s not much better that falling asleep under the stars and waking up in the morning breeze. I love it. Today was another gloriously laid-back day. Most of the morning was off-set from the cue sheet because we stayed in a different city than was original and there was construction on top of that, so for a good chunk of the morning we had only Dan Henrys to go off of (“Dan Henrys” are markings that our staff makes on the actual road with chalk that tell us to go left, right or straight). It was kind of nice to relinquish directional responsibility for a while, and only have the road to pay attention to. The sky was threatening rain all morning, and we decided to stop at Tim Horton’s for a second breakfast and coffee while we were still dry. I made sure to get a good picture of my three donut holes I bought next to Ben’s three large frosting-filled donuts.

Pennsylvania marked state number something-or-another today, and the scenery was rich with green, hills and valleys, rocky streams, and offered us some good mild climbs to prepare us for the mountains coming up. As we were coming into a little Pennsylvanian town, we hit Kathy’s stop. She warned us not to take pictures of the nuclear power plant we could already see on the outskirts of town coming up, because a policeman specifically stopped to inform her any photographs of it would be confiscated. National security issue apparently. It’s too bad because I have never been so close to such a plant. We crossed a bridge and rode so close to one of the three structures that we heard the roaring water and could see it pour down the sides of the huge formation. I have huge trepidations about using nuclear plants for energy, but honestly the things were so massive and downright remarkable to see up close.

My chain broke for the second time today, well it would have if it wasn’t caught in time, and luckily Dave was within reach to offer me a master pin to fix it. Luckily for Sean he pulled on his garbage bag raincoat just before the rain hit, and it’s too bad for the rain because I didn’t get a picture. We were soaking and cold when we saw a little diner flanked by bikes on every wall. I love how obvious it is to find where the Big Riders are. I had a grilled cheese and watched Ben and Sean scarf down ¾ pound burgers and then claim they were still hungry. Ane and I ordered a brownie-sundae type desert to split, and then ordered another one to split when we decided it wasn’t enough. If that’s not classic Ane and I style I don’t know what is, but it’s always better to split things. The cook and the staff were so great here, and they even gave Ane and I free tee-shirts. The generosity we’ve received across the country continues to blow my mind.

When we go into camp today it was still raining. We’ve been making it our style to be among the last to ride into camp, and by the time we go there everyone was huddled up around a campfire and under some tents covering some picnic tables. Except Jody that is, who snuggled up right under the gear truck with her thermarest and sleeping bag all rolled out between the wheels and her wet clothes hanging up along the underbelly. Ben and I figured we were already soaking so we stretched out on the grass and enjoyed the feeling of the rain coming down. For all of the camping and canoeing I’ve done in my life, I’d never done that before. As I was laying there with my eyes closed, I had the image in my head of what a calm lake looks like in the rain: all of the drops identified by the co centric ripples radiating outward and creating the intricate pattern and texture as they bounce off other ripples. That’s what I felt like, the surface of the water that is, because I could feel each chilly drop hit me. It was an awesome sensation, until I got cold.

The rain let up enough for us to put up the tents and shove our stuff it before it got wet, if was even still dry. I am very lucky to have so many dry bags I am using from canoe trips because many people’s things were soaked from sitting under the tarps. Hopefully soon enough we’ll find us some washers and dryers, and until then we’ll made the best of our mildewy smells.

Day 41 – The day ends as the day begins?

Today was one of our shortest mileages and longest time out on the road—and it was awesome. We stretched the day as long as we could. The morning began at Cogan’s restaurant for breakfast, which was wonderful because we were allowed to order whatever we wanted and it was a nice time for us all to gather together after the rest day. Our little foursome was one of the last ones out of the restaurant, getting a fantastically pokey start to our 50 mile day, and to prolong our morning further, Ane had a flat outside of the restaurant. This town of Burton sure has some witty locals who made us chuckle because at least 3 people offered us advice such as, “You know, if you had nicer bikes maybe you wouldn’t have to change that flat,” or “You know what they say: the day ends as the day begins.” Well thanks!

Ane and I had the honor of wearing Brack and Jean Anne’s McGowen Institute jerseys today. They were plenty large on us, so of course for our photo shoots we had some 80’s flair thrown in with the tie on the side and the side ponytails. By the time we got to Kathy’s waterstop, we decided that it was far too early in the day for the scant number of miles left. I took a wonderful nap alongside Ben, and then we wandered over the War Vet Museum across the street. Aside from providing the only restroom in the area, it was fascinating. Located in an old home used during the Civil War, it was owned an operated by a family, was free to the public, and covered every war from the Revolutionary War on up. It was complete with an intricate model train in the basement, a diorama-style reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg, and each of the four floors were packed with thousands of artifacts that were all donated.

Eventually we continued on into camp, and finally made it in after a stop at Taco Bell and a brief stop for Michael Yee’s broken spoke. It was after five by the time we got in, and even if we hadn’t had all of the fun we did today, our pokiness was well worth the effort by the look of sheer disbelief on Scott’s face that we were just then pulling into camp on a 60 mile day.

Camp is a decent campground tonight, with a nice picnic area and plenty of tent space. After dinner catered by Boston Market and a Rider’s meeting, I found myself relaxing on our thermarests hanging out. That combined with some Ane and Liz time, was the perfectly lazy ending to a lazy day.

Day 40 – Small town R & R.

I’ll admit that a lot of us were apprehensive about what Burton would have to offer us for a whole rest day, but it was truly a charming little town. It may not have had a bike shop or an exciting bustling city, but it was cute and welcoming. I spent the entire time with Joe, which was really nice. We stopped at most of the little restaurants and coffee shops throughout the day for meals, ice cream, and coffee. I was spoiled with his car because we were able to drive down to a little Amish store where I got some local maple syrup and a beautiful rug for Ane’s birthday, in her trademark favorite colors. I napped a lot today, and got some real rest in which was just what I needed.

Day 39 – Cleveland rocks.

This morning the four of us wanted to get out early so that the other three could get to the Indians-Texans game at noon, and so that I could get into camp early for a special visitor. We set our clocks early, picked up some cue sheets early, and then were off a little after six this morning. Early. We made our way out of Sandusky, though it was a different landscape today than any other day because we never fully got out of towns today. One town bled into another, simply marked with city limit signs. Our eyes were open for coffee shops, and while looking for one we made our way out to a viewing point of Lake Erie. No coffee but a nice view. We finally found a little coffee shop, a strange little eclection of things there, and from the TV news Ane and I learned about the Minnesota bridge collapsing. What a sobering newscast. It’s much different to see such things on the news and in the papers about place that you know, and that you’ve been to.

Eventually we started to get into the Cleveland area. On our way in, riding on a street paralleling Lake Erie, we gaped and gasped at all of the new mansions built on the waterfront. Crazy, huge, monstrous things sitting next to random, small, older properties that had obviously been there for some time. For a while we had a nice bike lane, but soon enough were tossed onto busy shoulderless roads that were marred with potholes and bumps. The sights and city were enough to distract from the road though, and before we knew it we were in downtown Cleveland.

Our waterstop was at a Starbucks in the downtown area, and from here our group made a split. About ten people took off to find the baseball stadium, and I took off through the downtown area with Greg, Jay, Nick, and Bob Jones. It was crazy traffic, and a lot of very tricky turns. We passed by the Browns stadium, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and many other landmarks. It was exciting, but I’m so glad that we had group of us because I’m not used to city riding at all.

We finally made our way out from the heart of Cleveland, and Greg and I pulled out ahead to ride the last twenty miles together. It was so nice to ride with him as we gossiped and talked. It was his wife and his fortieth (!!!) anniversary, so I got to hear the story of how they met and other stories. It was so much fun. We wondered what the cue sheet meant by “busy and hilly” roads, and we sure found out. It had been awhile since I’d really gotten down into my granny gears, but I remembered soon enough.

Finally we got into Burton around 3:00, and it was a cute little town with a center around a oval-shaped park. I was making my way towards camp at the fairgrounds, and there was this tall guy with a big goofy grin walking toward me on the sidewalk. It’s been almost two months now since I’ve seen Joe, and it’s so good to see him!

Day 38 – "I like big butts and I cannot lie!"

I should really count how many times I write the word “fun” in this blog, along with “beautiful” and “inspiring” and “sweet.” Well, today was a really “fun” day. We really took our time today, and had a grand time on the back roads of Ohio. I know that some people were considering cutting some miles by taking the highway today, but I wouldn’t even consider trading twenty miles for the quiet and rarely trafficked country roads. We found a nice little local coffee shop in one of the towns, with good coffee and espresso. It was also a used bookstore, and Ane found an awesome book called Arctic Dreams for me, one that I had read partially in the Arctic on my canoe trip. Of course it was fate and I had to buy it. After that we retreated to the bathrooms in the back to apply more tattoos, or “iron-ons” as Helen likes to call them. Ane and I were styling in them, but unfortunately for Ben and Sean they didn’t realize that you need to peel off the plastic before you wet the back to apply them. Poor guys, they’re going to get a hard time for this one for a while.

We enjoyed the scenery, some windmills, and winding country roads through corn fields. Mark’s waterstop today was in a little town across the street from a Speedway station, which had slurpee-type drinks! You wouldn’t know it from this trip, because I’m usually some kind of health nut, but man that slurpee tasted good. My tire blew up while I was in the gas station, and I was only sorry that I didn’t hear it because it sounded like a firecracker I was told. After the tire change, we were off again.

During the afternoon I was taken back through memory lane as we sang all of the songs from the nineties that I listened to as an ultra-cool middle schooler. It was hot and sweaty, but we had a blast singing. We finally got into Sandusky, upon which I still had about ten more miles to complete owing to a moment of absurdity last night when I pinky-swore to ride out a full century today. So we set out again from camp with David Latner, a self-professed sucker for extra miles, and explored the city of Sandusky. We weren’t allowed to ride our bikes across the bridge to Cedar Point, but we cut through the parking lot for the workers’ dormitories to make it to the shoreline for pictures. Those rides are so big that you can see them on a clear day across the bay forty miles away. Crazy.

The extra ten miles was through an ugly tourist area, but we found ourself at a little deli that served me a huge garden salad with fresh spring mix lettuce, which was quite a treat. I felt really bad that I accidentally missed lunch duty, but with a little (no, a lot!) of help from Ben and Sean I made it up by taking care of tomorrow’s water jugs. We’re all crammed in tonight to a little area of the campground, but it’ll be cozy and even we plan on getting up early tomorrow because people want to make it to a baseball game in Cleveland tomorrow.

Day 37 – A few of my favorite things.

What a feast we had for breakfast this morning: in addition to our typical truck breakfast we had leftover fruit, corn, meat, and cheese from last night’s dinner. Ben grabbed a whole package of crackers and Sean stuck two ears of corn into his back jersey pocket to eat on the bike later. The beginning of the ride today were small rollers, but a lot of them. They were a nice change from the flats we had yesterday, and the flats we were to have later on that day. I rode side by side with Margo for a while today, and it was so nice to talk to her because we’re in similar stages in our lives right now, or I will be shortly. By that I mean the stage of life where we don’t know where we’re going to be or what we’re going to be doing. Jody told me yesterday that I should only be thinking three days in advance, and to live day by day and moment by moment. Man, I wish I knew how to do that.

This morning we made another McDonalds coffee stop (and fatty yummy breakfast things for some people). Bob joined us too in time for Ane and I to reveal our stunning new tats: Michelangelo tattoos that went together side by side. I was chided for having the audacity to wear a picture of God on my biceps, but of course it was totally appropriate for Ane to have a naked man on her’s. Thank you Will for the great tattoos, we’ll be using them up by the end of the trip for sure.

The rest of the ride today definitely flattened out. It was sad because we rode through so many just wasted fields of corn and soybeans. They were totally desolate fields, akin to the destruction we witnessed as we rode by the burnt forest at Custer State Park. We discovered later that the fields were destroyed by hail damage, and I can’t even imagine how much the farmers are hurting from that.

Kathy held her checkpoint waterstop around mile 50 today, and she was such a sweetheart she went and bought us a whole pack of A&W rootbeer. This treat was accompanied by our socialite Mary’s cheese from her bike cooler that we ate with Ben’s crackers. What a picnic. The rest of the route was short, flat, and easy with the sun beating down on us and good conversation. Ane had the Soung of Music’s “These are a few of my favorite things” stuck in her head, so we began to list off ours together. What a fun game: sitting in her mother’s flannel shirt pocket kitchen, watching lightning storms from porches, flying kites, freshly baked out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies, and on and on and on.

When I finally rolled into the Neopolean County Fairgrounds, I spotted my brother’s bright blue Saturn complete with the bike rack on top. He was waiting for me, and chit-chatting with the crew. It was so much fun to see him, so much fun. Poor guy, Alex ended up driving us all over the place. First to the emergency room so Ane could get a skin condition checked out, then to the Wal-mart pharmacy, then to dinner, then to the pool, and then finally to the Mr. Frosty ice cream place. Ane and I splashed around in the community pool, which was a blast. My roommate Claire showed up at the last minute tonight and met us at the ice cream place, and it was so much fun to see her. We had some quality gossip time and she brought me plenty of chocolate and gatorade to qualm any chocolate cravings I might have, it was so sweet.

Day 36 - The run around the driveway.

Last night was our last sleep for a while in a real bed, and we were even generously greeted with Starbucks coffee from Kathy at breakfast. Oh the small but oh so significant gestures and pleasures we find on this trip. Rumor had it that the former Big Rider Larry was setting up a second breakfast twenty miles into the route today, and I swear that those twenty miles were collectively the fastest twenty miles yet because everyone was there. This was after a ridiculous yet quite funny four mile loop through downtown Valparaiso, by following the cue sheet, that took us exactly right back to the dorms we just left. When we got to Larry’s waterstop, it was so fantastic. He had dozens of home-baked pastries, lots of fruit and cookies, chips, milk and coffee. It was so generous. Off again, we rode in a large group until we reached an unexpected second waterstop hosted once again by the Lambert family. Again, lots of fruit, cookies, drinks, and other such goodies. The Lamberts freaking rock.

It was a long day mileage-wise, the longest yet at approximately 116 miles. Who would have thought that I could bike so far? It was a good ride today, and I rode mostly as a small group with Kari, Alison and Sean, but also for a while with Jody as well. We just went and went and went, which is precisely what I needed. We didn’t take long breaks today, but I thoroughly enjoyed the riding today. The landscape was some of the flattest we’ve had, which is so nice for a long mileager, and we rode through a lot of Amish country. It was just fun to ride through this area, waving to families in horse and buggies, observing an area with such a drastically different and simple lifestyle. Kathy told me that above a building in one of the towns off of our route there was a sign that read, “Living in the past lane.” It’s so amazing that such a lifestyle can exist and still thrive in this society, and so cool.

The final stretch into Kendalville did seem a little like it would never come, but on the other hand, I felt pretty good. It’s a good feel having done so many miles, and knowing that if I had to do twenty more I would have been capable. Allison grew up with seven brothers and sisters, and she told us that when they were little and weren’t ready for bed, her mother would send them outside to run around their circle driveway until they got all of their energy out. We decided that that final stretch was just the run around the driveway for us, in case we hadn’t gotten all of our energy out yet.

Dinner tonight was fantastic, and it consisted of build your own sandwiches, fruit, and fresh sweet corn grilled to perfection by Bob Dumke. It was one of the best meals honestly that I’d had so far. Whole wheat bread, hummus, loads of veggies, and all fresh and purchased in the amish community at stands along the way by Pollie. What a way to go. We’re sleeping at a cozy little campground tonight with nice grassy areas, though we all rolled in so late and lost an hour today due to time zone change that we all came to bed pretty immediately after dinner. I doubt anyone will have trouble sleeping tonight.

Day 35 – Resting in Valpo.

Rest day, rest day! Ane and I feasted on granola and yogurt that we had swiped yesterday from the cafeteria for breakfast. We sauntered over to the Starbucks for some coffee with the boys, and met Jerry there who was trying to read but we distracted him for a while. I came back and did some bike maintenance, some sleeping, some reading, and all of the resting that I try every rest day to accomplish. It was great.

Ane and I went over to the super-Wal-mart to pick up yummy yummy salad fixings, and a microwavable orgainic burrito for me. After much dilemma and trial and error, she finally figured out her camera situation and bought a Cannon similar to mine (her old one was ruined in a rainstorm this week). After some computer time at the library, and some chill time in the lounge, we’re off to bed to get ready for our short week coming up.

More Pictures!

Liz has sent in more pictures from her trip! Click on the photo below to view.

Day 34 – Pizza delivery woman.

Morris, Illinois to Valparaiso, Indiana

Man-oh-man we had a noisy night. Our campground was a public campground complete with car campers looking for a good place to drink alcohol around a smoky campfire with music blaring. I was just waiting for one of our riders to go over there, but I guess no one was up for the confrontation. Fortunately someone had the responsible idea of calling the police, and they were shushed up before midnight. The four of us decided to have a slumber party in Sean’s huge Taj Majal of a tent last night, with huge screened panels that allowed us all to “sleep under the stars” in a bug-free zone. It was great. When we woke up, people in our group had vowed to be as loud and obnoxious as our neighbors had been the previous night. They got a grand 5:30 a.m. wake-up call of cheering Big Riders. An unnamed Big Rider even rode his bike through the neighbor’s area with his alarm ringing, and we sang loud rowdy Christmas songs as we rode out of camp. It was great, I thought us kiddos were supposed to be the immature ones :)

We actually had a dry day today, no rain although it looked probably all morning. By the time that we got to the first waterstop, it was apparent that it was going to be a chug-chug-along day. Riding 13 out of 14 days in a row, including 600 miles in the past week, can make a person a little tired. The thing is, my body and my muscles are totally capable and trained by now to do it. But I sure don’t have the spring in my pedaling like I did earlier in the week. This rest day will be good for us.

MacDonalds was our coffee stop today, along with hashbrowns and other such breakfast goodies for the others. I talked to Pollie a little bit tonight about how everyone’s riding styles and perspectives have changed so noticeably since the first couple of weeks, and stops like these are indicative of how ours has evolved. We still ride at a pretty good pace, but we stop long and often. There’s really not a whole lot that’s going on at the campsite, so we figure we might as well enjoy the stops along the way. Sit for some coffee. Talk with some locals. Smell the flowers. Take some pictures. As ride director, Pollie gets to observe everyone at a little distance from being an actual rider, and she told me that even the speedsters in our group have evolved to the point that it’s not really about the cycling anymore. It’s hard to put into words or to convey to those outside of the ride, but it’s a humbling thing this community and this journey.

As we boxed around the Chicago area we found ourselves in more populated areas with busier traffic and bumpy bumpy roads. There was no Indiana sign to mark our next state line, so we used Ane’s arm instead. Let me tell you, Indian sure has some potholes. By the time we got to Kathy’s stop we were hungry, and she had boxes and boxes of leftover pizza from last night’s dinner. Ben and Sean had the brilliant idea of bringing some on the road with us, and replaced Ane’s rack pack with pizza boxes, ducted taped on for security. Ane’s Pizza Delivery, delivering pizza across the country within 48 days. We got some good pictures, and we snacked all of the way into camp from her bike.

Around mile seventy today we were warmly greeted by yet another Rider’s family waterstop. David Lambert’s parents and sisters had a tent with food and drinks set up for us, which was such a nice break. No one wanted our pizza though. The rest of the ride was going smoothly until the cable for my back gears broke and I was stuck with just my hardest gear in back. So I had two gears: hard and harder. With only seven or so miles left to go, it wasn’t too bad. And I was honored that Ben and Sean decided to shoot their knees with me by riding in the same high gears up hill and down. We got to the dorms in Valparaiso and Dave was able to just replace my cable.

I actually got ice cream tonight at the Dairy Queen tonight, which ruined my appetite for the cafeteria dinner, for shame. It was a totally tranquil night night for me, which is exactly what I needed. Ane and I played Sweet Honey in the Rock in our room for Jody to listen to, and we just surrounded ourselves in rest and relaxation. I’m ready for a recharging rest day, and then a short four day week next week. I can’t believe that this is all passing by so quickly. Everyday feel long and full and satisfying, but all of the sudden there are 34 of those days behind us and not enough in front of us.

Day 33 – Porpoise pod.

Belvidere, Illinois to Morris, Illinois

Last night us four kiddos decided to set up beds a little further away at a smaller picnic table shelter away from the main group; we were not about being woken up to everyone else’s alarms and zippers at 4:30 a.m. again. Privacy and sleeping in was priority. Unfortunately, we got a little rain last night and our smaller picnic shelter was not quite as protected, but we got enough sleep. Today’s ride was a million turns again, and it doesn’t feel like you’re actually getting anywhere but in a circle, except that you are and before you know it you’ve gone 108 miles. It was another rainy morning, and it was warm enough that I just rode without a coat and just got wet.

Jody rode with us for a long time today, which was really nice. Naturally we stopped for some classy gas station coffee, and down the road we met up with Kelly. That strong woman rides everyday on an arm-cranked bike, and it’s so fun to see her out on the road. Jody had done some “off-route” riding with Kelly earlier in the trip, and when we caught up with her today, Jody encouraged us all to ride at least five miles with her at her pace. It was so wonderful. We all formed a little tunnel around her to serve as a wind guard, and it worked so well that her average speed of 11.5 mph was bumped up by 3 mph. And it was so fun, singing songs and talking with her. Jody told us about how porpoises form pods around birthing mothers to protect her and the newborn, and how we were Kelly’s porpoise pod. It was so inspiring. Even more inspiring: Kelly made the whole century today. Her first century. What a beautiful day. I tried her bike out this evening, and it was fun, but I couldn’t even fathom riding 100+ miles in a day.

About ¾ into the ride today we decided to stop at the subway, and after a little chat with the manager, were given free meals again. Subway sure has been good to us, three out of four times we’ve asked we’ve been given free meals. We were sitting there for a long time, when we noticed Bob ride by us, and when he saw all of our bikes lined up outside he did a lightning fast U-turn. He gave each of us hugs when he came in, he was so happy to come upon fellow riders after doing 20+ bonus miles from getting lost. Poor guy, on a century day as it were already. Bob rode the rest of the day with us, and we were definitely the last ones into camp with Floyd after our ride with Kelly and long rest at Subway. But we got to usher the pizza delivery men in for dinner.

Day 32 – Singin’ in the rain.

Madison, Wisconsin to Belvidere, Illinois

This was one of the first mornings in a while where I woke up right away to my alarm, and I suppose that means that I was exhausted enough to sleep soundly through the night. After a typical truck breakfast (cereal, oatmeal, etc.), we were given our cue sheets which was two pages of a million turns. Our longest stretch on one road was about nine miles. What a change from out west. I truly loved Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakoa, where you could go all day and not pass a single town: being in the middle of open range, having the road almost to ourselves, feeling a part of the land around us. Now we are strong into more developed land, where we have half a dozen or more cities in one day, and I love this too. That’s what’s cool about this ride, and about riding your bike across the country, that the route is continually changing and each change allows you appreciate different parts of America. So far we’ve had mountains, dessert, open range, small towns, larger towns, farmland, and everything in between. I could say that I miss the mountains, but every day in the moment is my favorite scenery.

All morning it was hazy and grey. We were winding right and left through a grid of Wisconsin coutry roads. Not once, but twice we stopped for coffee at gas stations. It sounds a little silly, but sitting on the curb outside of the gas station drinking coffee was just perfect. Today was just a contentful day—not the funnest, not the most beautiful, but contentful (yes I know that’s not a word). For once it was nice not to have the sun beating down, and not to be slathered in sunscreen.

Our checkpoint today was in Beloit, WI immediately before South Beloit, IL. We walked across the street to the McDonalds where we sat for a long time for a little more coffee and some food. As planned, of course, we sat there until it started to rain outside, and as we started out it began to absolutely pour on us. Thank goodness we only go as fast as we do because I was having enough trouble seeing things as it was. It was cold. And it was fun. I was drinking the tire spit from the bike in front of me, my whole body was covered in goose bumps at different points, and every inch of my clothes were soaking, but it was fun. We were singing Christmas songs in celebration of yesterday’s half-Christmas on the 25th, I was busting out with some Jewel and Jack Johnson, and we were all having a good time in the rain. It felt like we were in a Nike commercial or somthing, and it lasted for a good 25 miles.

We rolled into camp today at a campground called Outdoor World outside of Belvedere, IL. This place has the most massive picnic shelter that I’ve ever seen, and we’re all set up for the night underneath it. Pollie broke out some chips and salsa for us, and the showers were really good (it’s always nice not to have “gang” showers). There must have been a miscommunication while planning the catering tonight, because the kitchen women were really trying, but most of the group was left hungry and had to be remedied with ordered pizza. This is a nice campground though, with a pool, laundry facilities, and a TV for Tour de France viewing pleasure.

Day 31 – A whole ‘nother place.

Viroqua, Wisconsin to Madison, Wisconsin

It was great sleeping under the stars last night. I woke up with a damp sleeping bag from the dew, but it was totally worth it. We had another typical truck breakfasts, and was off with the anticipation of our second longest day yet: 108 miles. I was feeling good, I didn’t get out too late, I was excited to get some miles in while it was cool still in the early morning, and then—my chain broke. It had already fallen off twice climbing some short hills, and then it totally broke. It was a brand new chain that I had put on yesterday with more than a little help from Sean, and there had been a stiff link that we thought we had worked out, but I guess not. So I got some help and advice from Andy and other such generous riders who had stopped, and then waved everyone goodbye as I waited for Dave the Mechanic to come to my rescue. I was definitely bummed out that here was a big day and not three miles out on the road I had such a major set back. But Ane was with me. Thank God. What would I do without that girl. We’re such a necessary balance.

As it turned out, that broken link was a blessing in disguise. Dave had no problem fixing it, and we started out again as the very tail end of the group. What a morning. It was beautiful. Being in the rear with Ane, we took our time instead of just riding to get some morning miles in. The landscape was literally breathtaking. I have driven through Wisconsin so many times I couldn’t even try to count them, but you really don’t see anything on the interstate. I was absolutely in awe of how beautiful this part of Wisconsin was, who knew? Rolling, rolling hills and valleys covered in farmland and dotted with trees, the roads lined with all different kinds of wildflowers, rustic farms and friendly farmers and locals of small towns to wave at. Glorious. We came upon an unexpected steep descent the wound us through fog and mist as a flock of birds flew across the country road right before us. I’ll pay the price for sounding cheesy, because anyone there would avow for how almost magical it felt. When we got to the waterstop later, and tried to convey it to Pollie and Andy, we were teased with inquiries of Angels ascending and fairies sitting on the side of the road with us too, but hell, we couldn’t help it. We reached the bottom of that hill, glided into a tiny little gas station and talked to some locals about how they lived in one of the most beautiful counties we’d ever been in.

When we finally reached the first waterstop, we were surprised to find Speedy Gonzales Andy there. He had had a terrible morning, and decided he wanted to ride with us and be a part of our magical morning. We had a good ride through the next stretch of miles as the terrain flattened out and the farmland petered into more towns. Kathy’s waterstop today was at a cute little farmer’s market type stand, with a petting zoo! I swear it was so bizarre, with little goats, a zebra, and even a camel. Poor things aren’t meant to live in little pens in rural Wisconsin, but it sure was an interesting sight. We feasted on fresh cantaloupe and tomatoes with hearty whole grained bread. Mmm mmm.

The next twenty miles flew by across flat roads while Ane and I digested all of the food we had just eaten. Eating on the road is a tricky balance because had we not eaten that lunch, with sixty miles left to go still, we would have totally bonked in the last quarter of the ride. You get to points where you don’t want to eat anything, you’re sick of all of the food you’ve been eating for the past month, but you know you have to and you know by now what works and what doesn’t.

The last thirty miles or so went by a little more slowly today, but it was so nice to ride with Ane and just Ane, we haven’t had much chance to do that on this trip. As we entered the Madison area, the directions got a little tricky, but more or less it just got a little long because you know you’re in the destination city but the campsite is still twenty miles away. At the very end, we somehow missed the turn into the campground, and when we were about to turn around a quarter of a mile away, Ane got a flat. Goodness gracious. It was only fair that if my chain got us off to a slow start, Ane would get a flat to delay our finish. When we finally rolled into camp (with almost 110 miles on the computer) we were warmly greeted by Bob Dumke’s and Dan Scott’s family with smiles, tables of food, and coolers of drinks. It was such a nice reward to the day. And boy did these Wisconsinites know how to provide a meal: salad, potato salad, fruit, squeaky cheese curds, grilled burgers and hot dogs, and most importantly, really good veggie burgers and veggie hot dogs. It was so wonderful.

As if the day couldn’t have gotten any more full, my good friend Emma met me at the campground. She goes to school and has an apartment in Madison, and since we were a ten minute drive out of the city, it was so fun to be able to go into town with her. Emma took me to the Union where we ate ice cream from the campus creamery and sat on the lakefront terrace for a long time chatting until the sun started to set.

Day 30 – Do the hoooookey pokey!

Winona, Minnesota to Viroqua, Wisconsin

I slept well today for the first time in a couple of nights, on a real mattress on a real (bunk) bed. It was lovely. Though I must say that my alarm went off and I looked out the window to see people already loading up the truck. Honestly, we must have some real morning people in this group. Our breakfast was a little shotty today at the cafeteria, but we had an exciting announcement that we had a new crew member joining us: her father Mark! (We lost a crew member a couple of days ago for a personal crisis.)

This whole day was absolutely gorgeous as we traveled through and finally climbed out of the Mississippi River valley. I have driven through the area many, many times, but never have I experienced it as I did today on the bike. The first twenty miles led us from Winona to Dakota, MN. The entire route was along the river, and we even travelled a couple of miles on an intimate little bike path through the trees and parallel to the bank. Perfect slow, pokey, lazy, content riding. Ben was our little gentleman this morning, reaching down on the bike and picking wildflowers from the side of the road for us. He even wore some in his helmut and Sean had a whole garden stuck into his handlebar bag.

Eventually we turned back onto hwy 14 and then exited towards Dakato. Here we were greeted so warmly by the Meyer family, and I was grateful that I hadn’t had much of a breakfast at the cafeteria because they had loads of yummy yummy food for us. It was so fantastic, this family has hosted this Minnesotan breakfast for the Big Riders for years now. They had signed posters up from previous years and photo albums of previous riders. They even had pictures already printed off of us, and asked for our autographs! How cool. One of the girls conducted an interview with us, and in exchange we were given hand-made bracelets to keep with us. Truly I cherish mine, what a good memory. As one of the former riders wrote on her poster, they truly made us feel at home. These are the people who are inspiring.

We moved on down to La Crescent and across the bridge to La Crosse. Right beforehand I watched as a car immediately in front of us came to a quick and random complete stop, and then watched as Sean slammed right into the back of it. He fell, rolled, and sprang up just like a bouncey ball. He was totally fine, as was the car and the bike, but it certainly woke us up. The bridge across the Mississippi was huge, and we soon found ourselves taking pictures of the sign for state number five: Wisconsin. Ben was even bold enough to lay right in the flowerbed under the sign.

Once in La Crosse, the traffic was a little hectic through the downtown area. We were even witness to a fender-bender accident ahead of us (thank goodness it had nothing to do with us). On our left we watched the world’s larges six pack approach at the city brewery. Of course we were with Micheal Yee and Helen who convinced us to stop at the gift shop and visitor’s center.

The mighty Mississippi remained on our righthand side for a while longer, and I took so many pictures. It was so beautiful with the bluffs on our left, the train tracks immediately on our right, the shoreline after that, followed by green algae and lily pads speckled with bright yellow flowers, fishermen mingling in the shallow waters, and the river’s expanse topped off with the western bluffs on the far shore. I’ve never appreciated the river as much as I did today.

Slowly we turned east again and began to climb out of the valley. The whole experience was breathtaking, absolute picturesque landscape. I couldn’t believe it. Steep rolling, rolling hills on a small rural road surrounded with fields of corn and hay dotted with trees and bluffs. It was Amish country as well, and I spotted long black clothes on clothes lines, waved to a family in a horse and buggy crossing our path, and admired and awed the neatly piled bunches of hand-bundled hay. It was incredible. The scenery was too overwhelming to photograph even.

We had a super steep 1.5 mile climb at one point, as well as a super steep descent that was curvy, and thrilling. I was having so much fun, and really had no idea how fast I was going until afterwards my jaw dropped at my computer’s max speed of 47.1 mph. Sean and I tried to convince Kathy to drive us back up to the top to do it again, but she wasn’t biting at the idea.

Viroqua was our destination today, a cute little town of 4,300 people. It was a short day about 67 miles, but we took our time so much at the Meyers and through the terrain that we got into camp pretty late. It was blissful to just lay around, even before showering, and just hanging out. Sean helped me change my chain, and it was a very educational experience. Ane and I ate dinner at the Viroqua co-op store, and I seriously felt like I was in heaven. I ate piles of organ salad with everything on it I could have dreamt up, and then enjoyed some soy ice cream treats. This little town sure knows how to build and stock a co-op, it was like a mini Whole Foods!

Tonight I plan on sleeping out under the stars again, we have a fairly quiet piece of land at the fair grounds with plenty of nice green grass.

Day 29 – Home sweet home.

Owatonna, Minnesota to Winona, Minnesota

Today was a wonderful day, and a wonderful day of ironies. Last night we slept under the stars in a little row of four sleeping bags. Ane got fed up with the flood lights of the recreation center next door, and moved into the Beer Garden building where everyone else was sleeping. That’s right, the Beer Garden building. The remaining three of us finally fell asleep under the stars to passing lightning in distance. About three o’clock in the morning I woke up to a few sprinkles on my face. Deciding not to take my chances, I instigated a move to the Beer Garden, and just as we approached the door it began to pour outside. Not exactly a great night’s sleep, but an adventure nonetheless.

After a truck breakfast in the Beer Garden, we were off to an on-again-off-again rainy morning. The sunrise was gorgeous with the intense color around the clouds that washed out to either side into to the horizon. Beautiful. We sure knew how to make that first twenty miles last: 3 flats and one punctured tire. So the one morning we had somewhere we wanted to get to fast, we were almost the very last ones to Rochester. All we could do was laugh. What a sign was this? At least there was a great rainbow by the last flat we were fixing.

Finally, finally, we made it to Rochester. As we came down the hill on Country Club Dr., I saw my grandmother’s assisted living home, and across from it some yellow tents with people milling around—our welcoming committee! Ane’s family and mine were there with muffins, strawberry rhubarb pie and crisp, lots of fruit, cake, gatorade, and water. What a treat. It was so wonderful, and it was apparent by the empty trays that everyone else before us enjoyed it as well. Not to mention my generous father greeted the four of us with espresso drink orders, what else could we have wanted? It was so much fun. I went up to see my grandma and my aunt Kady for a little while as well, which was so nice.

After a long period of eating and socializing we moved on to ride through downtown Rochester, and Ane and I were tour guides for Ben and Sean pointing out St. Mary’s, the Mayo building, where I bought my sunglasses, where we used to get our hair cut, where I once saw an accident, and other such obviously important landmarks. And then I got another flat tire. Another! That brought our total of the day up to four flat tubes and two replaced tires for the four of us, and a grand total of four flats for me so far this trip.

The rest of our day was blissful. I can’t say enough times how much I love Minnesota. We were definitely among the last handful of people in the group on the route today, but it didn’t bother me at all because it was all totally worth it. We didn’t have the best shoulders today, but we spent most of the day riding two abreast talking and enjoying ourselves, stopping often to eat and use “the facilities.” It was fun to arrive at each rest stop throughout the day to see smiling familiar faces of friends and family. And it was beautiful. Of course.

Camp tonight is in the dorm rooms of Winona State University, where we got to do laundry! Washing things in the sink can be so inconvenient. Both my family and Ane’s family met us in Winona and we all went out to the Acoustic Cafe for dinner. Holy yumminess. Just what I wanted and way better than the cafeteria food we heard was served to the group. The Cafe’s atmosphere was so chill and comfortable, just what we needed, and we were so fortunate to be surrounded by both our families. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Day 28 – American pie and the Beer Garden.

New Ulm, Minnesota to Owatonna, Minnesota

Last night was a restless night for some reason, and I heard Ane thrashing around on her mattress all night as well. Breakfast was in the cafeteria this morning, and I had some Life cereal with the yummy blueberries that my parents bought for me. Perfect. I had a pretty good day today, and thoroughly enjoy the southern Minnesotan terrain, small towns, and of course people as we approach my hometown. It was cloudy all day, sometimes with a headwind and often with a strong crosswind. Ane and I feel right at home in the rolling farmland, and today we passed field after field of corn and soybeans. I love the soybeans: they look like seas of sequins or velour with their shiny texture.

Not too much exciting happened today, it was a pretty short day at 72 miles. I had a flat at mile 57 at the rest stop, which was not a problem to fix. We hung out there at Kathy’s stop for a long, long time eating donuts and cookies. It was nice. When we rolled into Owatonna this afternoon we were greeted by a Vern fan club (this is his hometown) and were served pie by his wife—what a treat! Camp is at the Owatonna fairgrounds, and tonight’s $10 night was spent at a Mexican Restaurant across the street. So I’m full and content now just to lay here in the breeze on my thermarest, anticipating a fun day tomorrow going through Rochester.