I would like to list some people who were essential to this trip:
Molly pesich
Mary anderson
Chris anderson
Mike hunter
My mom
Lauren passauer
Sarah boys
Ben stockton
Mary-beth vetter
Sage youngblutt
Jill and kenbob
Mitchell detrich (sp?)
Mike fox
Ron (from nearly new shop)
David steensland
Tara waltmire
Chris de nino
And adam vetter.
Adam and I were talking today. And we were both confident that my bike is in now shape right now to do the mountains. And that's what's on our plate next. Soooooo, after thinking about it, we are gonna stop. We made it half way. Over 1200 miles. 5 flat tires. 4 states. One stolen bike. We are proud how far we made it. We have plenty of time to finish someday. I'm sorry I didn't get to see rennels, or matha. Sage is on his way, currently, to pick us up. Thank fsm.
Watching fireworx in rapid city tonight. Rushmore tomorrow.
Back to ohio.
Freedom on my mind.
So. We stayed in a nice campground last night, compliments of mary-beth vetter! Thank you so much mary-beth (if you read this). She bought us two nights, so we are taking a rest day in rapid city. We decided to get some food at a place downtown. We are sitting there, when all of a sudden, a deafening boom comes out of nowhere. Everyone in the patio area freezes to see what it was. A baby was startled and cried. It turns out I had a weak spot on my tire and it fucking exploded like a an m80!! I took it to a bike shop around the corner from the restaruant, and the guy who owns the shop felt my pain and gave me a tube and tire for free!
But the trouble we have been having with the bike has put a damper on things
We woke up and rode to badlands national park. It was crazy gorgeous! We stopped at every overlook, climbed on the formations, and peed on cacti! We had the wind at our back most or the day, so we made good time. The sites today were beautiful. We are currently in rapid city, we will be here till the 4th. Then, westward into wyoming!
The last post I put up was while we were eating pizza down the rode from the park we were sleeping in. We finished eatinf and as soon as we got outside the wind was whipping like crazy, 30mph easy. We got to the bikes and no sooner then the rain started. Like a fucking monsooooooon! You couldn't see more than ten yards ahead of you, the towns power went out immediately, and adam and I were exposed with nothing more to do than sit under a picnic table. The winds gusted up to 50mph! If you stood up you risked been swept away by the wind, or being stung by the rain. It killed the skin. Everything we had got soaked. We took a little shelter in the bathroom at the park, and once it settled, we went to sleep.
It was the wildest storm I've been out in. Ever.
So, we awoke in a park where we slept on benches. The weather report said it was gonna get near 110 degrees, and we didn't want to ride in that. We decided to leave as soon as we could. We rode till about 11:30, right when the sun was starting to be a dick, and stopped at a little gas station. We ate there and hung out until the peek heat had passed. We were definitely riding in 95 degree weather, but we did pretty good today. Spirits were high, people we met were nice, and we rode 80 miles. We arrived in murdo, s.dakota, and found a swimming pool to clean off the grime off the ride here. So we will be staying in a park in murdo tonight. Murdo was the case dat they gave me.
We crossed. The missouri today. The veiws were abso?utely jawdropping. The temp got up to 95 today! I really hit a wall while we were hill climbing. I took a break, ate a sammich, and changed into a shirt that didn't have sleeves. It helpd. We stopped a lot for little rests, as to not over do it.
We rode to a park in platte. They had a swimming pool. So, we struck up a convo with the lifegaurds, and they let us in for freeeeeeeeee!
Yesterday could be summed up appropriately with the phrase " fuck the wind". We had 20+ mph winds in our face the whole damn day. Couldn't escape it. we slept in the tent on the side of the road. The sunset was beautiful, and the scope of the sky here leaves me in awe occasionally.
We are currently in platte, south dakota. Resting. Eating. Doing a crossword.
We stayed in sioux falls last night. Met david online and he allowed us to stay in his beautiful finished basement. His wife deann, made us spaghetti with cheesey bread. Dave was really funny, and he and deann had a gorgeous house.
We stopped in rock rapids, iowa to take a break before we get to south dakota. We should be in south dakota later today.
So last night we couldn't find a place, even tho this girl, sara said she could help us. We ended up sleeping in a park under a picnic shelter. It was nice, and b ug free, and they had electricity. So we did okay. We rode to emmetsburg, and felt good enough to keep riding. So we did. We rode 104.5 miles today. And if your keeping track, that 217 miles in 2 days, folks. Fucking a!! We rode into sanborn, iowa trying to find a place to pitch tent. We talked to a cop, who got ahold of a priest to see if we could put the tent on his property. It didn't work that way, instead the church offered to buy us a campsite at the local grounds!! And being the atheists we are, we decided to take that churchs money.
You're goddamn right! We left cedar falls this morning before 8 and got to humboldt, iowa. Around 8. The wind was a beast this morning, and it was cold. We road hard to make it to iowa falls, 47 miles away from cedar falls. We made it there around 12:30, ate enough mcdonalds to make morgan spurlock into the hospital, and were on the road by 2:30. The wind had died down. That, with the fact the sun had come out put us in some kind of mood. We rode. Amd rode. And climbed. And rode. And listened to ipods. And rode. Had a strawberry soda. Then road more. 113.5 miles. WHAT!!
We stayed two evenings with this guy. His name is micheal fox. And yes, he gets a lot of jokes about it. He bought us pizza. Let us stay in his house, and took us to a campfire. Swell guy. Really nice.
We were riding yesterday, looking for a place to stay. I was following vetter, when he slammed on his brakes. I rammed the back of him and fell. The fall bent my rim. So that's a bummer. Today has been cold.....real cold. And rainy.......real rainy. Gonna try to find a bike shop in waterloo iowa to help me with my rim.
So, yesterdaqy was quite a day. We left clare, I'LL heading west for freeport. We hit a. Bunch of hills, and with that and the sun baking us, we were feeling rather dead. We founf kenbob and jilly online and they agreed we could stay with them. We rode to their place just outside freeport, and they greeted us with a pitcher of ice water! they said we could stay in their guesthoust, that's right, guesthouse! They are truly great humans. Jill does triathalons even though she is over 50! She is a beast of an athlete, and has some pretty goos stories. Kenbob is handyman extraordinaire, with a bike shop in his basement, a guesthouse he built himself, and about 12 motorcycles, he is one of those genuine and capable people. Plus he has a nice mustache.
