Home, sweet home!

I want to let everyone know that we're home! We'll go back and fill in some gaps - including pictures - but for now I thought we'd let you know that we're home. Safe and clean.

For the last two days on the road, we were accompanied by Lindsay and Mike's parents and brother, Kevin, and my parents, sister Hannah, and boyfriend, Ben. Keat Sanford, our assistant dean of admissions, even came out for a day. Having everyone out there with us was awesome; this summer has made me more certain of how important my family is to me.

After a week of sleep, food, and catching up on life, we took off from UConn to do our final ride to the shore in Milford, CT. About 20 people joined us for the ride, which included one huge hill on which they could all impress us! We arrived at the ocean, where we dipped our tires in the water and took a bunch of pictures to remember the day by. More friends were waiting at Archie Moore's to celebrate our arrival with us - all in all, a great day!

So... thanks for keeping up with us throughout our ride. We've raised almost $50,000 for Lea's Foundation. We'll be back to tell more through words and pictures about the past couple weeks...

Indiana

We crossed into Indiana very late in the afternoon, trying to squeeze in as many miles as we possibly could. Arriving in Clinton, we went to the only place in town that was luckily still open for dinner. We made some phone calls to the police and fire departments to try and find a spot to camp for the night but unfortunately had no luck. When the sun went down, the true colors of Clinton were able to really shine through. We encountered some very shady people and decided staying in town was not safe without a firearm. After barely escaping from a few pickup trucks intentionally trying to ram us, we called in the reinforcements. A police car escorted us all the way out of town and to the nearest motel which was quite a sight to be seen. Thankfully we all survived the night and can laugh about it now. The next day we took off on a long ride to Westfield and had some late afternoon showers to end the day. The ride was pretty flat and we rode ambitiously for hours, knocking off miles at a great pace. After lunch, we were cruising down a stretch when all of a sudden we rode right past a huge pothole in the middle of the shoulder. Obstructed by the three of us in front, Chey plunged right into the street-side abyss and was catapulted right over her handlebars. It was quite a scare and thankfully cars were able to hit the brakes quick enough to avoid her. She was shaken up and had some fresh wounds, but pushed on soon after and really showcased her road worthiness. We were so grateful to have beds that night and all slept great. When we woke up, we searched around town to replenish our tube supply and then headed northeast towards Hartford City and eventually the Ohio border. Indiana was the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln.

Crossing The Mighty Mississip?

Soon after leaving St. Louis' hospitality we came upon the Mighty Mississippi, well it wasn't so mighty after all. All of us were looking forward to our ferry ride across the great river, what we ended up getting was a ride on a mini barge across what seemed more like a glorified stream. Our laughter and comments about the mighty Mississippi stream drowned out any disappointment we might of had. On the other side we crossed into our next state Illinois.

The roller coaster hills of Missouri calmed, the roads greatly improved (thank God), but the corn continued. 125 miles that day of corn, who eats all of it? The most refreshing part of entering Illinois was that everyone seemed happy to see us. When we pulled into Nokomis at 8:30 that night the the girls went into the police station to ask if there was a place to camp. While they where in there the town's church minister drove up to Mike and I and offered us a place to stay. Without hesitation we took her up on her offer. On the way to the church people kept stopping generously asking us if we wanted to stay at there homes. Then on the way to dinner three other towns people asked if we needed places to stay or if we needed pillows or other amenities. Nokomis, Illinois you are the most friendly town in the USA. The next morning the minister had prepared an egg breakfast for us, which was a nice change from gas station donuts and candy, our usual.

We road on and the corn continued, and we where on to Indiana. We crossed the entire state in one and a half days, Impressive. It may seem like we are patting ourselves on our backs, we are it is impressive.

...and then came Ohio

I've been asked to apologize for not updating the blog all that often... we've been riding 100+ miles a day, and any time not on the bikes has been spent eating and finding a place to sleep at night! We're sorry! Here goes Ohio...

Mike was probably particulary grateful that we reached Ohio, as I'd been riding behind him, singing a song (called "Ohio") that I made up. Needless to say, you will not hear it on the radio anytime soon. We got there at the very end of the day - a day we spent nursing some minor injuries and enjoying one of the last flat days of the trip. We stopped for the night in Celina, Ohio, where we found few hotel vacancies due to the annual "Amphicar" weekend. Celina is on the edge of Grand Lake, a beautiful 10-mile long lake that would be full of cars the next day. Yup, full of cars - we learned that there are around 300 of these boat/cars in the world and that 65 or so of them were convening in Celina that weekend. The hotel we stayed in was packed, and everyone was so friendly and very interested in our trip.

The next day, July 27, Lindsay turned 24. Happy birthday, Linds! We celebrated by eating breakfast, velcroing our shoes, and clipping into our pedals. On the way out, we talked with a few amphicar drivers who were about to take off to a nearby retirement community for the annual "take everyone out for a ride on the water" event. Sounds like tons of fun!! About 20 miles later, those nagging injuries cut our day short and we ended up in Lima. The Holiday Inn kindly donated a room, so we were able to shower, relax, and have some much needed time to catch up. (It's funny. You'd think that we'd do that all day, but when we're riding bikes for 11 or 12 hours a day, we spend a lot of time by ourselves...) The local Olive Garden helped us celebrate Lindsay's birthday with good food and, of course, free cake.

No day is easy. After an afternoon of rest, we felt good and rode hard to Upper Sandusky, OH. There, Josh and I stopped at a bike shop to stock up on tubes and tires, while Lindsay and Mike took off towards lunch. In response to our saying that we were "taking 53 to Bucyrus," the guys at the bike shop said, "Funny. You can't do that." So, after realizing that Josh and I had all the phones and both pumps for the tires, we decided to take the unplanned route to Bucyrus. Of course, Lindsay and Mike had taken the planned route to not-Bucyrus. Two separate 130-ish mile rides later, we all happily reunited in Findley State Park, just outside of Wellington, OH.

The next day, I learned that I should listen more carefully to Ben's precious words of wisdom. Evidently, the "Ohio is incredibly flat until you reach the mountains towards Pennsylvania" was shorted in my head to "Ohio is incredibly flat." Oops. We rode some crazy hills throughout the day, which ended in Mosquito State Park near Champion, OH. By the way, yes, the park is considering changing its name. Our night was completed by s'mores and sodas, and we got to bed to get ready for the hills that, this time, we actually knew were ahead of us.

We're coming home! ETA: August 4th or 5th, depending on Pennsylvania...
Chey

Mizzourah!

The citizens of Osage City prepared us for entering Missouri, promising us beautiful scenery and gentle rolling hills. We were so happy to bid Kansas good-bye and head into our next state... until we actually got to the state line. While Missouri may boast green "rolling" hills that are beautiful from a car or indoors, they also have the worst roads in the developed world. When we had shoulders, there were huge potholes every 50 yards or so that could only have been created by strategically placed bombs, or perhaps by some sort of specialized road-wrecking machine. Thankfully, we were so happy to be another state closer to home that we were able to find the humor in the Misery (get it?) Asphalt. An hour or two later, we rolled into Harrisonville, happy to rest our tired legs. We ate at an Applebee's next door to our hotel, Chey and I visited Wal-Mart to pick up some much-needed supplies, and we played cards until bedtime.
The following day we were hoping to do a long ride to Marshall, MO. However, the weather had different plans for us, and several hours into our ride, the heavens opened up and we got POURED on. We rode in the torrential rain for 10 miles or so and were happy to see the Classy Motel in a small town called Higginsville. Whether or not our home for the evening deserves its name is debatable at best, but the owner was very nice to us, and even offered us her dryer for our clothes.
After being on the road for six weeks, our days were starting to feel a little monotonous... until our ride from Higginsville to Hallsville. When we were just about a mile shy of crossing the Missouri River, we had a real Tour de France-style pile-up. Allow me to paint a picture: Rider 1 (who shall remain nameless) was leading the pack, with the rest of us drafting tightly behind thanks to a wicked headwind that we had been battling for much of the morning. He (or she) lost concentration for a moment and rode right off the road, onto the gravel shoulder. All was not lost yet, until he (or she) decided to swiftly dart back onto the road - right into Rider 2, flipping me sideways off my bike and onto the pavement. Mike was behind me, and somehow managed maneuver around me and off of the right side of the road, escaping unscathed. Chey was headed ride for me, and kindly sacrificed herself to avoid riding square over my bleeding body. The tangle of bikes and limbs on the road made the day of some lucky man who witnessed the whole scene from his pick-up truck. Thankfully, we were all okay, ending up only with a couple of good scrapes to show off. Oops! Did I let the cat out of the bag and reveal the identity of Rider 1?? Mea Culpa.
The rest of the ride was a series of short, but terribly steep rolling hills, and before we knew it, it was 9:00 and we were in Hallsville. Chey and I dropped by the town's firehouse to inquire about camping, and they were happy to let us stay in their town park, which was a great spot. Everyone in town was incredibly nice to us - people were literally giving us high-fives from the side of the road - and it made the tough day seem worth it.
Our last full day of riding in Missouri took us to Troy, just west of St Louis. There, we locked up our bikes at the firehouse and were picked up by Terri-Anne Segovia and her friend Kelly, who drove us into St Louis for a day in their life. We were greeted at TA's apartment door by her dog Fenway and Kelly's dog Louie, who we could have played with for all of eternity, and their friend Hot Dogs (a human). We had a great tour of the hip neighborhood that the girls live in, ate a great dinner and then returned to their place for a relaxing night of conversation and dog petting. Sunday was a wonderful day of sleeping in, lounging by the pool, playing catch and BBQ. After more than two weeks without a day off, we couldn't have appreciated it more. St Louis is a great city and Terri-Anne et al are wonderful hosts! They more than made up for the bad roads.
Regrettably, we set our alarms for 6 and were up bright and early the next day, ready to cross the Mississippi and enter Illinois.

I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore, Dodo.

But we were last week and oh was it a jolly good old time...Kansas is home to lots of massive farm equipment, corn, and obviously a few farmers to control the whole situation. We found that the people were extremely generous and helpful as we passed through. Leaving Eads, we traveled east towards Leoti where we spent a night, and the following day we treked onward to Ness City. There, we once again reunited with out Swedish friends and found a great public park to setup shop in. We had a great time telling stories all night and playing cards. Some local guy came by at one point and hustled us for the pink slips to our bikes though. The situation got kinda sticky but thankfully he let us cut a deal and escape in the morning with all our gear.
That morning, we made an executive decision to stray away from our adventure cycling route for a cultural detour with the Swedes. They had plans to visit "little Sweden" in Kansas which is a town called Lindsborg that would take two days to get to. We departed and rode up and over rolling hills all day long. The ride wasn't too taxing because of the gradual climbs and we arrived nice and early to Hoisington, KS. There, we quickly found a public pool and after a quick lunch we lounged around the water and messed around on the diving board for an hour or two. We set up camp in the park right next to the pool and had a bbq with Daniel and Nisse which marked our first of the trip, surprisingly. I also was lucky enough to get my haircut with a swiss army knife. Another big storm was brewing and as we got ready to get in our tents, lightning was continuously exploding in the night sky. We were barraged with insane winds, torrential rain, and booming thunder throughout the night. We all loved the excitement.
Day 3 in Kansas we finally arrived in little Sweden and got a taste of what home is like for our traveling partners. We had some great meals and continued to learn more about Swedish life and of course humor from the two comedians. We were extremely sad to part ways with them that evening and wish them all the best on the remainder of their trip. We will see them again someday.
Our journey continued bright and early and we endured a massive 120 mile day from Lindsborg to Osage City. The ride was very enjoyable and entertaining until we crashed towards the very end. We saved an owl along the way, played king of the haybail, and saw many lush green cornfields. In Osage City, the nicest lady named "Dee" let us camp on her lawn and fueled us with an amazing breakfast the next morning. She left us with great last impression of all the nice people we were able to meet in Kansas. Hours later Missouri would attack from all directions with relentless intensity and fury.

Good Friends and Green Fields

The ride from Salida to Westcliffe, CO was one of the most beautiful to date. We began riding through narrow canyons that gave way miles later to open, green fields. With the Rockies as a backdrop and on a cool, sunny day, we couldn't have asked for more. We passed many ranches and cattle farms as we pedaled through the countryside. Us girls left earlier than the boys, who decided to stay in the Super 8 motel room that was kindly donated the evening before in order to watch The Transporter 2. We arrived in Westcliffe in the early afternoon and promptly sought out the best restaurant in town. We took a seat at Wild Thyme and began to chat with our server, Kendra, and her mom/owner of the restaurant, Sharon. They were both wonderfully energetic and very funny, and we ended up sharing stories and laughing for hours. They invited us to spend the night at their house, and we graciously accepted their offer. The boys rolled into town with a storm in hot pursuit in the late afternoon.As the rain started to fall, we were able to seek shelter in Sharon's restaurant, where we spent the rest of the evening. After some great food, we helped close up shop for the evening and hopped back on our bikes for a quick 7 or 8 mile night ride back to the house. The trip was a blast as we plotted our way up the hill guided only by one headlamp and the moonlight.
As we headed up the driveway to their house, we were greeted by the unmistakable smell of a bonfire. Sharon showed us our rooms for the evening, and we quickly changed into warm clothes and headed outside to the fire. We spent hours petting their three golden retrievers, talking, and laughing with Sharon and Kendra underneath the stars. It was the best night of our trip. By 1:00, we decided to turn in, and bid our new friends goodnight. The following morning, we awoke and leisurely enjoyed our coffee, as we looked out at the Rockies looming in the distance. Hours later, we regrettably had to part ways, and we took to the road once again, this time headed for Pueblo. Another one of Sharon's lovely daughters, Kayla, kindly arranged to have us stay with the family whom she is spending the summer with in Pueblo West. Once again, a nasty storm was nipping at our heels as we pulled into the driveway. The family's son, Connor, and Kayla welcomed us to the house, gave us a tour and offered us some drinks. After showering, we were able to meet Connor's sister Alex and his parents, Shawn and Chuck. They were such a wonderful family, and we told them many stories from our trip over a delicious pizza dinner. We then headed to the basement for a ping pong, cribbage and billiards bonanza. Connor and Mike ruled the tables all night.
We awoke early the next morning and headed upstairs to find Shawn preparing a breakfast of bacon and eggs for us. We were glad to have good food before beginning our longest ride to date: 125 miles to Eads, CO. We said goodbye to our new friends and pedaled towards downtown Pueblo. We rode through the city's park, waving at the zebras in the Pueblo zoo on our way by, and made our way to Interstate 96, our yellow brick road for the next week. As the majestic mountains faded into the distance, we found ourselves in the Great Plains, which are deserving of their name. As far as the eye can see, there really is nothing but grassy plains. It is beautiful in a very lonely, solemn way. Thankfully, the skies were cloudy and the air cool, making our marathon ride through the grasslands bearable. We arrived in Eads tired and hungry, but our spirits were soon lifted when we saw our friends, the Swedes! We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then began to set up camp in the town park, next to Daniel and Nisse. All was calm as Chey headed to the gas station to grab ice and Mike, Josh and I began to put up tents. Then, out of nowhere, wild winds beared down on Eads and the sky became black, lit up only by the incessant lightning that we could see in all directions. Our tents were no match for the winds, and our camping gear was quickly blown all over the park and the feed mill next door. Chasing the tents, we ran towards the mill, and asked the men working there if we would be safe in the park (typical easterners). After telling us about the softball-sized hail that had fallen in the next town over the night before, they checked their radar and screamed to us through the howling winds that we "probably" wouldn't see any tornados that night. Great! To boot, they pointed to the train that was parked on the tracks near the park and suggested that if there were a tornado or hail, that might be a good place to seek asylum. "Unless the train blows away!" one of the men joked. Very funny!
After securing our tents with a dozen tent pegs, we donned our raingear and headed out to enjoy the storm with the Swedes. It was amazing. There was never a moment without lightning - just one bolt after another lighting up the sky. Thanfully, the rain skirted around Eads, and we somehow managed to stay dry. We watched in awe for hours as the storm moved to the east. We ran into a rider today (the next day) who had spent the night 50 miles of east of where we were, and he said they had winds of 150 mph and hail for hours. I suppose we got quite lucky!
This morning we grabbed a quick breakfast and rode towards Kansas. 42 miles later, I made some bad Wizard of Oz jokes (also see blog, above) as we crossed into the 5th state of our ride. Thus far, Kansas seems pretty similar to eastern Colorado: flat plains that stretch on as far as the eye can see. We are glad to be here!

...and more beautiful Colorado

So you see we're a little behind on the blog. I guess that's what happens when we're climbing the Rockies!

A quick update on my few days: having Ben accompany us was tons of fun! We had the chance to swim in local swimming holes, see some sights that would otherwise have been too far out of the way, and of course enjoy the company. In regards to the ride, the highlight of those days was the 2 am ride in the moonlight. In order to escape the heat, we slept for a few hours at the Hite Recreation Area (home of the barely-there Lake Powell) then put on my blinkie lights and hit the road. Riding through Utah with the road lit by the moon and stars overhead, knowing that Ben was watching out for me just a few miles ahead, was an experience I can't explain. I wish I could package it up to share with everyone!

In Dolores, we met up with our friend Marilyn's aunt and uncle (Wendy and Jack, who are awesome and have already been mentioned) and got a tour of the area and lots of laughs. It's also worth mentioning that we stayed in the Lebanon Schoolhouse Bed and Breakfast, owned by the friendly Laura and Ken, which was one of the most charming places I've seen during the whole trip. Talk about nice people in Dolores!

Back to Telluride and the proper order of things...
After once again throwing on our spandex shorts and jerseys, we took off for Montrose. Looking over our shoulders as we climbed out of Telluride provided yet another impressive view of the area. Colorado is currently battling it out with Utah for the title of prettiest state we've seen - it's a close one!

The ride from Montrose to Gunnison, CO, began our countdown of climbs remaining before reaching the midwest. Numbers 4 and 3 were tough because of a less than roomy shoulder. The whole time we had Monarch Pass, the next day's challenge and the highest elevation we would hit on this trip, in the back of our minds. That night, we warmed up after riding through some rain, enjoyed the hot tub at the Wagon Wheel Inn, and got to bed in preparation for the next day's climb.

Seeing as climbing mountains is not my greatest strength, the 30 flat miles we rode to the base of Monarch were somewhat daunting. We rode to Sargents, where we ate a good lunch and the best sweet potato fries I've ever had, then hopped back on our bikes to take on the mountain. 1 threatening sky, 10 miles, and about 3500 vertical feet later, the four of us proudly reached the summit at 11,312 feet. You sure don't find mountains like that in Connecticut!

One thing we've learned: when there's an uphill, there's usually a downhill. The downhill from the top of the mountain into Salida was incredible! Tight, winding curves for miles meant no need to pedal. We felt like we were racing motorcycles down the hill as we shifted our momentum side to side and let the contours of the road lead us down- a great feeling since I'd practically drooled while watching motorcycles climb the hill.

Read on to hear about Salida to Westcliffe, what I consider the prettiest ride of the trip so far...

Best wishes from all of us!
Chey

Dolores and Telluride

Leaving Blanding Utah we had a short climb off the bat. A few miles later we hit a town. This was a very exciting event for us since the past few days there where 50 to 80 mile stretches with no amenities. We took full advantage getting Gatorade and snacks. Then 15 miles later we came upon another small town, our excitement had not yet subsided so again we stopped for drinks and snacks.
After 40 miles of rolling hills we entered our next state, Colorado. The landscape changed immediately as it did before when we crossed previous state lines. Green fields, rolling hills, and believe it or not trees lined the road which was quite different from the red rocks of Utah. Mike quickly took advantage of this and stopped roadside to enjoy a renegade sprinkler that was watering some crop fields and now Mike.
As we entered Dolores Colorado, our home for the night, we reminded each other that it was July 4th. So we did what any good American would. We picked up a case of Budweiser and strapped it to the back of the bike and road into town turning heads as it was not something one might regularly see in the cycling community.
Jack and Wendy Stewart put us up for the night in a hotel and took us out for an authentic German dinner and 36 oz beers. After a wonderful dinner full of laughs they took us on a tour of the town, showing us landmarks and beautiful scenic lookouts where our hiking issue flip flops came in handy again. Wendy and Jack topped off the night with coffee and a showcase of arrow and axe heads they had found in and around the area.
We slept in the next moring and began the most gorgeous ride of our trip thus far. Lindsay began breathing hard which seemed funny as we were hardly going up hill. When I asked her what was going on she exclaimed that it smelt like Christmas as we were now into the pine forests of Colorado. These where the first forests that we had seen since Kirkwood, California.
As we continued to climb we went though Lizard Head pass at an elevation of 10,300 ft, too high for most trees but home to thousands of sheep. We all maturely baaaaaaaaa-ed at them and got a few sheep heads to turn. We began our descent and for the first time we felt like we were in the Rockies.
Gigantic sheer rock cliffs surrounded us as we sped down into the canyon. At the base of the Canyon was ski town Telluride (maybe you've heard of it?). Since we slept in we rolled into town at about 9pm, only to find that every hotel was booked solid. Camping was not high on our list as it began to rain and it was rumored to get down to 28 degrees that night. The posh hotel the Ice House respected our cause and took pity on our now desperate situation and rewarded us with a nice big room and kept the hot tub open late for us. Thanks.

The next day was our deserved day off, after all we are scaling the Rockies. That morning however, we ran into a similar problem as the night before and again the entire town was booked up. Luck however was on our side as the Historic New Sheridan Hotel donated their last room to us, which happened to be the last room in town. The rest of the day was full of exploration of the landscape and the local food in town. We walked to the free gondola ride which takes you from town to the top of the ski mountain then over the back side of the mountain to the resort town. On the way we came upon a farmers market. It was full of local craftsman's knick knacks but most importantly delicious food, fine cheeses, kabobs, and best of all multi flavored truffle fudges. We all stuffed ourselves before the gondola ride. After a bit of site seeing we decided it was time to meet the locals. We moved from spot to spot for hours, as the night rolled on the class of the restaurants/bars was becoming more and more colorful. That is when we met Jeremy. Jeremy was a local ski and mountain biking guy who loved nothing more than dinking, laughing and telling us his stories of his wild times. We found him to be one the most unique and hysterical people thus far on the trip. So we followed him around town, and met his friends who were no less entertaining then him.
We left Jeremy in search of more food. After an "authentic" Chinese dinner in Colorado we went for a late night gondola ride just as it was getting dark. On the gondola back down into town Chey said that Telluride looked similar to a lit up snow globe. That final ride topped off our day and we called it a night. Telluride we love you and hope to come back soon.

Torrey, Lake Powell, and Blanding

Leaving Torrey, UT we quickly entered Capital Reef National Park and rode alongside an awesome little river for most of the morning. Again the early sun provided spectacular views of canyon walls and the massive Utah water fold.The brewing heat could be felt early and we knew that we would be in for a scorching long ride. We cruised for the first 47 miles without many interuptions and saw some sweet natural dirt bike parks before stopping in Hanksville. There we loaded up on supplies and water in anticipation of the following two days which would have no services along the way. Then we sat down for a nice long lunch and played some cards to wait out a few hours of the peak heat. Unfortunately when we took off again it was about 115 degrees and we still had another 50 miles to travel to Hite Recreation at Lake Powell. My jersey which i soaked in the bathroom before taking off dried right up about 20 seconds after our departure. The miles were grueling and we felt like sunday dinner roasting in the oven all afternoon. The scenery was beautiful but most of our attention was devoted to maintaining a postitive attitude and continuing to pedal. Lake Powell presented itself towards the end of the ride and by this point all we wanted to do was go swimming and float off into the night. Unfortunately the animals in Utah have been drinking a little too much water over the past few years and Lake Powell has dropped over 100 feet and the shoreline has retreated miles and miles to a convenient spot where we couldn't reach it! We got in to Hite at 9 oclock completely exhausted and slept outside under the stars for a short number of hours. The next morning, we cruised to Blanding and ate full chickens with our bare hands...

Visitors!

Escalante proved to be a wonderful home for the evening, complete with great pizza and beautiful cabins that reminded us all of sleep-away camp. After playing some rummy with Daniel (our Swedish friend, who is quite proficient at cards, evidently), we turned in for the night, looking forward to the next day and all the visitors it would bring. We hit the road a little later than usual because we had a relatively short day ahead of us. Although short, the ride was not easy.
The road boasted some 14% grades - for those of you who aren't well-versed in cycling, 14% feels like you're going to flip over backwards it's so steep - and had a 3 mile stretch known as "The Hogsback." We had been told about this section by east-to-west riders we had run into in the past and were well aware of the fact that it has small, if any, shoulders, no guardrails, and a 1,000 foot drop on either side of the road. Thankfully, it was not as hair-raising as we had anticipated it would be, and we all survived unscathed. The views throughout the ride were breathtaking: no trees to speak of, but unreal rock formations on all sides. Southern Utah has a very distinct and unforgettable beauty.
We arrived in Boulder, Utah in the early afternoon and had a nice lunch with the Swedes. Several hours later, The Moms (Karen, Debi and Laurie) and the Murphys (Bob, Laura, Jess and Kelly) arrived, followed by Ben an hour or two later. We had a wonderful reunion and dinner (thanks, Mom!) and chatted for hours before heading to bed once again. The following day, Ben and Chey decided to push on to Torrey, conquering Boulder Mountain, while Mike, Josh and I got a tour of Capitol Reef National Park along with our guests - in a car! Again, the scenery was jaw-droping, and we even treated ourselves to a little flat-tire-in-the-desert excitement. One park ranger and several sunburns later, we finally got the new tire to cooperate and we were on the road again. We polished off the day with some mini burgers, ice cream and many stories from the first 3 weeks of our ride.
The following morning, we sadly parted ways. As our visitors headed back to Park City, we headed up the mountain that Chey had battled and beat the day before. As a nice treat, our bags were carried for us and dropped in Torrey. Without our bags, the bikes weighed little more than air... or perhaps the boys are just really, really strong...
Needless to say, we made it up the mountain and coasted into Torrey. We all took a much-needed nap after a couple of wonderfully exhausting days off and drank liters and liters of gatorade and water, in preparation for the next day, our first 100 mile ride.

Red Rocks and Hoodoos

Cedar City, Utah was our last stop before we encountered our new buddies, the Rocky Mountains. It started as a small Mormon town in the 1800s and has grown considerably in recent years to what it is now. We were lucky enough to have our bikes tweaked, catch a movie, and sleep in beds on this particular night. For any of you horror movie fans out there, 1408 will absolutely rock your scary world and make you wonder how Steven King has not had his children taken away by social services. We woke up at a reasonable hour the following morning and devoured a huge breakfast before beginning the most intimidating climb on the journey thus far. The 22 mile stretch from Cedar City to Cedar Breaks, Utah boasts a 4,500 foot vertical gain and unbelievable red rock cliffs around winding curves. Sections of the climb were very challenging and we felt extremely victorious upon reaching the summit. Our pace ended up being much faster than we anticipated and gave us a nice chunk of time to check out Cedar Breaks National Park. The changes in landscape that we witnessed from one side of the mountain to the other were absolutely mind-blowing. We went from the flat dry desert to expansive pine forrests and these amazing world famous red rock canyons.
This area of the country is home to so many national parks and houses what must be some of the most beautiful rock formations in the entire world. The ride down from Cedar Breaks to Panguitch was very rewarding and it was impossible to keep our eyes from wandering all along the horizon in every which direction. We were so ecstatic to have reached this part of our trip, and little did we know that we had seen nothing yet.

This morning (Thursday), we roused again and headed towards Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon. We had heard that the scenery only gets better as you travel east across southern Utah but I figured the people telling us these fallacies must have been delirious. Strangely, it appears I was wrong for officially the first time in my entire life. They were correct. We started with a 15 mile section of typical contours and views. Then, all of a sudden we rolled into Red Canyon. Spires of rock shot up on either side of us and the morning sun coaxed fiery red and orange tones out of the iron filled rocks. An awesome bike path led us through the 3 mile tour of this national monument and allowed us to take our sweet time for photo ops and jaw-drops without worrying about semis cleaning our clocks. We continued on to the base of Bryce Canyon and hopped on a shuttle to explore the grounds of our next national park. The formations were similar to those which we had seen earlier in the day, however the sheer size of the Bryce rim and canyon must have dwarfed the predecesssor fifty times over. We ambitiously took on a hike down into the canyon with our national hiking association approved steel toed wal-mart flip flops. Normal folk were obviously blown away by our bold athleticism. Countless photo shoots were in order and we ended up spending almost 4 hours climbing around and enjoying ourselves. The shuttle trip down put little baby Josh right to sleep and after a quick meal we were "happily?" back on the road. 40 miles remained between Bryce and where I am writing from now, Escalante. The first portion was down, followed by about a 10 mile ascent and matching final coast down into port. To our surprise, a mile stretch of the uphill threw a knuckleballing 16 degree pitch at us! This would be meaningless to most of you (myself included 3 weeks prior to now), however our steepest grade up to this point was around 9 degrees...just to put it into perspective. Towards the top, I was rejuvenated by a flag waving encouragement ceremony spontaneously put on by our good friends the Swedes. The rest of the crew was close behind and we had conquered our last summit for the day. Daniel and Nisse, our favorite foreign companions accompanied us all the way downhill into town and are here with us now enjoying dinner and some card playing. Tomorrow we will be blessed with the wonderful company of our amazing moms and Ben. We have been waiting for this day for some time now and only a short 28 mile ride stands in our way. I hope summer is treating everyone extremely well and promise more good stories to come.
Cheers,
Mike

Utah!

Poor Mike. He had to wake up at 4:00 again to start our 84 mile ride from Baker, Nevada, to Milford, Utah. Here's what happens when we ask Mike to wake up so early:

Sunrise rides are beautiful! And getting some big climbs out of the way while it's still cool out is the way to go. As soon as we crossed the border into Utah, the landscape came alive.

We saw cows, antelope, and tons of bunnies. I guess they'd heard the word from the bull and didn't dare stand up to us (so no roadblocks). It's much more interesting to ride mile after mile when you have new things to look at! Even the mountains in Utah seemed a little different from those in Nevada. Maybe we were just psyched to get there.

At the top of the last climb before reaching Milford, we stopped for lunch at Frisco, one of the better ghost towns we've come across. It was a mining town in the late 1800's and has been deserted since about 1920. Lindsay has now gotten her wish. She loves ghost towns.

Today we completed our 2nd map when we arrived in Cedar City. The town has a whopping 20,000 people - we played in traffic for a while before getting used to having so many cars around again. With so many people comes a bike shop - good news, as we had our tires filled properly and bikes prepared for the mountains that await us.

We're all especially excited for Friday, when Lindsay's and Mike's and Josh's moms and my fantastic boyfriend Ben come for a visit! We've been told that southern Utah is something to see, so we're looking forward to seeing it with them.

Hello to everyone at home and to all the friends we've met along the way,

Chey

p.s. Nikki and Jared, we wish you were here!

...and more desert

So Mike did manage to wake up at 4:00. Good job, Mike. The climb out of Eureka to begin our 78 mile day was challenging, though not quite "literally straight up" like one local told us it would be. Throughout the day, we rode up and down mountains and across basins and looked forward to the downhill into Ely. As we learned that afternoon, Nevada is not only the king of the fakeout summit. It's also the king of the fakeout downhill. At times I felt like I was being blown back up the hill and out of Ely by the wind. When we got into town, we found a restaurant, ordered our usual waters and sodas, and collapsed into our chairs. After talking with a couple biking from Kansas to California about our ride, another couple approached us, said they were impressed, and bought our lunch. Just one example of how generous people have been along the way.

After a good night's sleep, we took off for Baker, where we finally left Highway 50. And this time the afternoon downhill was legitimate. Thank goodness; it was hot! (You can tell it's hot when the M&M's and the block of cheese melt and reform overnight.) Though Baker is a town of 100 people, it's also home to a national park and the Lehman caves. The caves were too tempting and worth a day off. Fun fact: the last owners of the cave dressed up in caveman outfits to give tours. And no, we didn't see any bats. Too bad.

The Desert

The rest of our night at Middlegate proved to be very interesting and we left town having met a number of very unique individuals. One who Josh interacted with taught him about the ancient secrets of rattlesnake hunting.

In the morning we had a huge breakfast and picked up some final tips before taking off. The beginning of the ride presented a formidable mountain range so we were sure to pack at least a gallon and a half of water per person. Towards the beginning of the Ascent, we were lucky enough to run into a true nevada style roadblock. By this we mean an angry hot bull was stubbornly challenging our manhood. As usual, I (Mike) refused to succumb to the bull's request to halt and challenged back with a booming moo. The ladies were quite impressed and the bull seemed to quiver in anticipation of the showdown. Despite our building concern, he eventually folded and granted us passage.

By late afternoon, the sun was beating down upon us with all of its intensity and we could not wait to arrive in Austin, NV. The climb up the final hill into town was one of the steeper ones we have encountered and made us truly appreciate a cold drink when we finally completed it. While in town that afternoon, we shot some pool with a few of the locals and heard wild tales of the "Nam" days and other such adventures. We came across a beautiful place in town to watch the sun go down, and soon after called it a night so that we could wake up nice and early.

Again, a quick breakfast started our next day and we hit the road heading eastward. Many more abrupt mountain ranges and expansive basins in between were in store. Eureka was our final destination on this afternoon, and we quickly made our way to the public pool when we heard rumors of its existence. We were allowed to camp at an awesome park in town which had running water and numerous picnic tables for us to prepare dinner and breakfast the following morning. We camped out with our route buddies David and Zack who provided great conversation and company throughout the night. We went to sleep very early on this particular night and all had devestating nightmares about rising at 4 the next morning...(at least I did...)

Old Middlegate

W just took our well needed day off. Beds, showers and air conditioning never felt so great or were more needed.

Monday morning we left the comforts of Fallon and moved into the hot desert. Unfortunately ten miles into our ride our navigator Jared injured his knee. We then made the decision to turn around and head back to Fallon to look for a doctor and figure out what to do. So after another night of comfort and tough decision making Jared sadly had to leave the group and head home due to his knee injury. This was an arduous decision for him and the four of us deeply feel the loss already.

Today is Tuesday and we headed out early to try to beat the heat. Ha. Like we had a chance of that in the desert. Along the ride we traveled across endless salt flats which resembled snow fields. Lindsay insisted on walking on them to see what it felt like. The answer: soft then crunchy in case you where wondering. Alongside the salt flats we saw that local kids had spelt their names and initials in black rocks as they contrasted the pure white salt. Following last year's riders' tradition, Chey had the great idea of writing our own message in the salt. Rather than describing it, the picture is worth a thousand words:

At the end of the salt fields we encountered the largest sand castle in the world. It was in the the shape of a mountain. It is known as Sand Mountain.

Fighter jets cruised by us, as the Top Gun flight school was right near by. We all yelled Iceman, Maverick, and Goose, spending the next hour quoting scenes from Top Gun. Mike tries to act like he is too cool like Iceman, but he is not.

Our day ended on the loneliest highway in America (Highway 50 East of anyone in their right mind) at a reasonable hour of 12:00 after 60 miles or so in Old Middlegate. The population was 18 but that was corrected and chalked in with the new population of 17. RIP.

The town consists of a bar, tree, rusted model T, and some of the nicest 17 people I have ever met. We have spent the day in a bar that has been here since 1859. The bar is equipped with food, grocery, video store, ice cream, gift shop, shower, pool table and a TV. I don't know why we don't have the all in one stop in the East. The reason I think is that it is so freaken hot out here that once you go inside you never want to leave.

We will spend the rest of the night here playing pool and cards and having the locals teach us things I never knew I want to know, but am happy I know now. Chey "Billiards" Beach is cleaning up at the pool table!