Kansas

The bicycling crew has had two ~90 mile days in a row now. Lots of straight Kansas roads. Last night was spent in Rush Center, a tiny town with only 170 people and no gas station to get food at. Dan had some wheel trouble and decided to take it apart, only to lose some ball bearings from it. He got in late last night after fixing it. Tonight the crew is in Scott City, KS. The town is bigger and pretty close to the Colorado border. They should get into Colorado tomorrow or the day after and hopefully arrive in Denver on the 4th, in time to stay at my mom's house and see some fireworks!

Today Michael saw a dust devil with birds riding the thermal above it. They had a pretty good crosswind so he could watch as the dust devil and birds moved relative to the earth's surface. Cool! They also had lots of trucks passing by today and one blew out a tyre right beside Michael. He was not hurt or anything, but I imagine it was quite a shock! Combines for harvesting also were a common sight and a bit scary to pass by on the road.

In Nickerson, KS, about three nights back, the group ran into a group of 5 other guys who are also going west on the TransAmerica route. They spent last night and tonight together as well and Michael rode 33 miles with them today. Different company and riding styles must have been an interesting spice.

Slideshow of Pictures

The third installment of pictures from Michael's trip! For good measure I've uploaded the other two picture installments in slideshow form as well. If you click on the pictures it should take you to the online album where you can read Michael's comments and any captions for the pictures.

Halfway!- changes

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As of Friday Michael was at ~1720 miles on his bicycle and about halfway across the country (as the fingers measure on a computer screen ;) . Tonight they are in Hutchinson, staying with Trevor's uncle. Today is a long day because they are riding a stretch where there are no towns or anywhere that the group can stop to sleep. I should be able to post more pictures soon too! Keep checking.

The crew took a half day and split up to go play around with the day off. Dan went and bought a backpacking guitar so he could play music for the rest of the trip; in fact, he was playing it as Michael and I talked. Claire and Calum decided to go play at a waterpark in Wichita. Trevor's uncle picked him up so they could have family time before the whole crew arrived. Stavros, Nathan, and Michael set out together from Wichita to ride to Hutchinson.

For lunch they stopped at Anne's Variety store in Mt. Hope, KS. The place was being renovated, so the owners didn't have their health inspection certificate yet. As a result, the food was pretty cheap and the boys had to cook their own food that they bought at the store. The owner (maybe Anne??) helped them out with this and regaled them with her opinions about goat breeding. The woman was a serious goat breeder for a hobby and even got out her magazines of goat stock (males?) to breed. They got to hear how she liked the coloring and size of this one or that one, but perhaps the ears were too long and reached the mouth, a serious no-no in goats! I wonder if they have a Westminster type show for goats or if they are just at the state fairs and perhaps other events like that.

Hutchinson is home to underground salt mines, one of a handful like this in the world and one of the 8 wonders of Kansas! Salt, along with wheat, other crops, and fossil fuels, was important in establishing the wealth of Kansas because when the mines were founded salt was still very difficult to obtain. In addition to tours of the salt mine, places that have already been mined are now used as storage facilities for things from Hollywood movies to business records so that there are backups of information stored there. These vaults are somewhere around 350 feet below ground.

Now, what I want to know is why there? The website was sort of helpful here, but not very detailed. Of course, underground storage will remain at pretty constant temperatures year round and if there are no rivers nearby then it wouldn't be too humid. Kansas is pretty much right between the New Madrid fault and the Rio Grande Rift valley, so I suppose it is not super tectonically active. (I don't think most people know there is a very active and potentially dangerous fault in the middle of the country.)

However, I wanted geologic information on how salt came to be in Kansas. I didn't find much online so I'm speculating here. If you read this before it has changed because I've consulted my mom (she's a geologist). During the Cretaceous (and various other geologic periods) there has been a large inland sea in the midwest US. See below:


As you can see, in the area where Kansas is it may have been quite shallow. As the continent closed up and the sea evaporated it could have left a lot of salt deposits behind. My mom suggested that another support for the sea theory was that the limestone in Kansas is not very pure and has lots of sandy bits. This suggests that the area was a transition area: somewhere shallow where salt could collect, but this isn't necessarily on the coast. In contrast, the limestone in Missouri and Kentucky is fairly pure meaning they were out farther and deeper in the sea. The limestone forms the famous caves in this area.

Wichita, KS

First on the agenda tonight, pictures from Kansas.

The requisite state entrance sign:




Crops next to one of the straight Kansas roads:


Moooo! Wow, look at that big sky!


Today the gang is in Wichita, KS for the evening. Tonight they are staying at a home found via couchsurfing. Michael reports that the residents are classical musicians and had a record collection of classical music that he really envied. He wished he could listen to it all, but that alone would take several days.

Today was another day of mostly long, straight roads. Michael said that the days of riding here go something like this: ride 30 miles west, turn right and ride 10 miles north, turn left and ride 15 miles west, turn north and ride 3 miles north, turn left, etc etc etc. The constant tempo without much gear changing has made them pretty tired because going at the same pace and in the same position all day leads to cramps and aches.

Michael had a dinner of falafel and cheese after which he took a walk and could see storms in the distance. Below is the radar for tonight in Wichita thanks to NCAR weather. Wichita is the point in the center of the light blue. The red, yellow, and green all around is a squall line of thunderstorms. Fortunately Michael and company are not in the serious rainfall areas, so Michael was just enjoying watching the clouds and lightning on his evening walk, but this storm is no joke. Much of Kansas is currently under flash flood warnings and these storms can produce the tornadoes that Kansas and the rest of "tornado alley" are famous for.



Fortunately tomorrow will be a half rest day, so hopefully they'll get to stretch some too! Michael hopes to visit an aviation museum tomorrow in the town they're riding to. But it seems that the planes are very present in Kansas; he told me "I was definitely on the sky all today." There were lots of general aviation planes and biplanes up and about as they rode into town, so he enjoyed that. I read online that Wichita is home to Boeing, Cessna, Learjet and Ratheon, so it is no surprise that the city has also been nicknamed the "Air Capital of the World." He also got really (and yes, I mean so excited it hurt my ear to listen on the phone) excited about a twin-rotor helicopter flew overhead at a really low altitude (thanks to Dr. Howard here!).

But there aren't just airplanes around Wichita. Michael and crew rode through El Dorado, KS, home to the state maximum security prison. At a gas station in town they ran into a guard who, along with many people, found it amazing and unbelievable that these kids are riding all the way across the country on bicycles. I find it pretty unbelievable that she can work with the serial killers in prison. To each their own, I suppose. I think I'll stick to the climate modeling though.

Random notes: Michael has apparently acquired a new riding nickname: M-bot (or variations of that ilk). The group has decided that he is THE authority for knowing how to fix bicycles, knowing about planes, knowing about the clouds and storms they always see, and also predicting the weather. So he'll go for a walk or to the grocery store and come back and be bombarded with requests to fix the chain on this bike, or maybe adjust the derailleur on another bike, etc etc. I think he likes being the group mechanic/bike authority and I certainly look forward to his help on tuning up my bicycles!

Michael is thinking about possibly taking the Western Express route from Colorado to San Francisco instead of riding north through Wyoming to Oregon. I think he's going to bring it up with some of the kids sometime soonish. Maybe they'll wait till they get to Colorado and take a bit of a longer break. They're hoping to get to CO by the 4 July so they can see fireworks and celebrate because there aren't many sizable towns between where they are and Denver. If they miss the 4th they can always make Bastille day though! ;)

That's all for tonight, but I'm wishing them good weather, good winds, and speedy travels.

Chanute- a brief history

Michael has reached Kansas and the long, flatish road that accompanies it. He rode about 60 miles today with a headwind that made the whole day a bit more of a slog than anything. But tonight will be spent in Chanute, KS. At Michael's request I'm writing about that.

He said he rode into the town and saw pictures of gliders and airplanes on the welcome board. I think he poked around and found out that the town was named after Octave Chanute, an aviation pioneer who helped the Wright brothers with their ideas and who graces our presence in the photo above. You can read more at this link, but he sounds like a cool guy.

Tomorrow holds more of the same in terms of riding. I will continue updating the map of where the group is, so it will be available for viewing as well!

Missouri

This picture is one that Michael took this evening of the clouds near Ash Grove, MO. The top of the cumulus cloud is lit up by the sun, but this one isn't a thunderstorm yet.

He said today wasn't that great a day and seemed pretty off his normal self on the phone. The hills were steeper than they expected, they took long breaks and didn't get in as many miles as they wanted. A pack of dogs ran after them at one point and one bit Claire's shoe. She was pretty shaken up about that and it took a bit to recover.

Highlights were that he saw a scissor tail out flying around. Also, while Michael was waiting for the rest of the crew to get to a rest stop some guys drove up to get some beer. They asked Mike where he was going and he said "Oregon" and they said "no way". They asked where he was from and he said "North Carolina" and they just told him that he must be bullshitting them. Then they insisted that they shake his hand if he was really doing that. To cap it all off, as they drove away one yelled out the window: "If that doesn't get you laid, I don't know what will." Interesting...

They're hoping to get to Colorado by the fourth of July. I did some calculations for them and that meant 70 mile days from tomorrow on. Well, in Kansas maybe it won't be such a problem. The maps for Kansas (you can see them on the Adventure Cycling association link, to the left) have very straight lines with none of the curviness we've seen so far. They're hoping to get out early, so tonight was an early to bed night as well.

Popeye

"The biking gang went through Chester, IL--- home of the creator of Popeye! The TV show Good Eats filmed there recently otherwise we wouldn't have known either. Michael said there were references to Popeye all over town. Hope they had some spinach while they were there!"

Thanks to Marsha!

Missouri Pictures

Michael sent some pictures this evening from Marshfield, MO (just east of Springfield). I believe more are on the way as well, but we'll have to wait to see in the morning!

The big surprise today was that they didn't all get rained on horribly. I checked the forecast and Doppler earlier today so they had an idea of weather and it didn't look good: severe thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings over Springfield. The crew was deciding what to do when a sheriff came into the subway where they were eating and told them the weather was looking bad. They prepared for the worst and got rain gear out, but no one actually took the precaution of putting it on except Claire. By doing so she saved the rest of them and scared away the weather. ;) There was tons of rain in the area, but it seemed to pass them all by and they didn't actually get rained on at all.

Michael's trouble had more to do with flat tires. Fortunately, while he changed the flat tires he was able to look at the fantastic storm clouds. He said that while he was watching he saw an updraft of a cloud shoot up until it started moving outward in the identifying anvil for thunderstorms. I'm going to add a little atmospheric science in here (hey, I'm not doing work on cloud modeling for nothing this summer! Actually this has nothing to do with my modeling...). The fact the Michael could see the top of the anvil means that this particular thunderstorm was really far away from him. The anvil only forms when the updrafting air hits the tropopause (a boundary layer in the atmosphere) and can't rise anymore and must move outwards. Since the tropopause is usually around 35000 feet high this is a really high cloud and you can only see it if you're far away. So, I guess I'm saying Michael had nothing to fear from that particular storm, at least as he watched it form. He said the the colors were really cool with the bottom being light pink and the top being lit up by the sun (this happens because of the extreme height too. Think of watching a sunset on a tall building vs. the ground. It sets sooner for the ground viewer than the higher up one).

Anyway, I think Michael has more cloud pictures for us maybe tomorrow. The group got into town and are staying at the fairgrounds. They were able to shower and then relax for the night. After dinner of falafel Michael called and said he was watching a family of foxes (two adults, two kits) playing near him. They were running around and barking! He finally went off to bed saying that they're aiming for getting near the Kansas border tomorrow and will hopefully be in Kansas in two days!

Some random things before we get to pictures:

Michael's road name is "Flattius". I think it might be a combination of his flat tire incidence rate and his flatulence. Not sure which made more of an impact on the nickname.

Apparently in VA, KY, IL, and most of MO the main type of roadkill was turtles. Now it is Armadillos. Neither of us really knew armadillos were that common in southern MO. Too bad they get hit by cars so often!

Michael learned how to pull on the upstroke of pedaling so maybe he can get a full leg workout now. When you have clipless pedals you can get power from the upstroke and downstroke and can get moving faster or use it to work different muscle groups.

Manners go out the windows when you're riding XC. I guess this is one of the main topics of conversation for the group when they're in a town and eating dinner or in a library/store/whatever. Maybe Michael will elaborate more on this for us when he can enter some stuff himself on the blog!

Pictures!

Missouri! I think that taking a picture of each sign is now a tradition.

Michael riding along. I've noticed he seems to have lots of side facial hair in this and pictures on the album of other pictures he sent me. I wonder if it's itchy?

Clouds at the base of a storm in Missouri. These often form below thunderstorms!

A few more things

I almost forgot: Michael has commented on many of the next batch of pictures that I have posted. I think the comments say they were made by me, but I guess he signed in as me to comment because he has done all the commenting. Check those out if you are interested.

Also, Claire has a livejournal blog that I have linked at left. There you can find more descriptions from the perspective of one of the riders.

Alley Spring

Hi again everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts this week, but I have been at a climate modeling conference in the mountains and didn't have my computer or internet. Michael has also been rather out of touch and unable to get reception in rural Missouri. I guess the Ozarks are not the most in demand place for cell service.

Michael and company are now about 1/3 of the way through Missouri. All I heard of the ride today was that it was arduous: hilly, hot, and lots of unfriendly cars. Too bad! All I have besides that is the map of their progress. Hopefully we'll get more of an update later this weekend!


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Bicycling for all ages!

Today was a rest day well earned for Michael and crew and it sounds like the name of the game was "Consume as Many Calories as Possible." They slept in, then when they woke up went out to eat at a coffee shop for breakfast. Immediately after the coffee shop they went to some markets to buy food for the trip and the potluck this afternoon. Michael said he got falafel mix. Then they made the food and went to the picnic where they ate some more, hung out, and experimented with slacklining, which I can attest is much harder than it might seem. When I talked to him they were thinking about heading out for a second dinner. I'm sure they need the food, so great! Plus, we get the second round of pictures and I believe Michael has commented on them and the first round so we can have an idea of what is going on in each. Hooray!

At Michael's request I'm going to write about what I did this afternoon: watch a local bike race. The picture above is from the races. A mere kilometre away from my summer home on the Colorado State University campus are the "Races at the Oval" and it was great fun to go watch.

The best part about the races is that they are totally family friendly. There are races for all ages and abilities, both men and women (or girls and boys depending on ages here): under 6, 7-12, 13-17, 18+ and then 50+. In the last two categories there are also the distinctions of "citizen" and "licensed" racers. I went to see a friend of mine and co-intern for the summer from Colorado College race (he was in the 18+ men, licensed). It was great to see the older groups race around the oval and to oogle their very beautiful (and pricey) bicycles. It was cool, but a rather big crash in the last citizen men's race required an ambulance transport and reminded me that bicycles are not just fun, games, and racing. Fortunately the races require helmets (not all races do) as a safety example for the kids who are racing.

However, I think the best part was the kids races. The above is a picture of the start of the under six race. The kids races were great because these kids still had training wheels. I mean their bicycles barely come up to my knee and they're racing them! Older kids had everything from mountain bicycles, to BMX bikes, to road bikes. And they all just had a jolly good time. It wasn't super competitive and everyone cheered as they came into the finish. And I mean cheered the whole time until the very last kid completed his last lap. Talk about community support!

I think the best part of these races, which I want to emphasize and I think Michael would agree with, is that bicycling can be for everyone and not just racing. This race series includes things like "messenger" bicycle races for the career messenger bicyclists who use very different bicycles than a typical road bike. There were also trackstand contests to see who could balance longest on the bike (I know Michael is very proud of his trackstanding ability, of which I have none). Families who don't compete ride their bicycles there to watch and play on the grass and have picnics and cheer on others. And on the other end of the spectrum, there were definitely families where the mom, dad, and kids would be racing in their respective categories. Loads o'fun and very family oriented. If you want to see a few more fun pictures check here. I also saw a photographer from the local paper, so perhaps there will be some in there tomorrow too!

Carbondale, IL

Michael has called to check in for the past two days. These past days the crew has ridden into and almost through Illinois and Michael's odometer clicked over the 1000 mile mark. He's currently at 1025 miles!


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Friday the 13th the crew had a very bad day for cycling. They started from Marion, KY but it was a rainy day. They were all packed and ready to go pretty early on but it was raining in the morning. They had to cross the Ohio river and past there into Illinois the road got pretty bad. Michael rode through ahead of the group through Elizabethtown but soon after some storms came up and he waited them out in an empty carport along the road. He waited about an hour and then suited up for rain and rode on a few more miles. At that point Claire called to say the rest of the crew was stuck due to storms in Elizabethtown and they weren't going on. All in all Michael did 35 miles.

She went to pick Michael up and brought him back there. They stayed in a church there and met two other cyclists from Boulder who were riding XC starting in San Francisco. They talked about routes through Colorado, Kansas, and Kentucky. Then Michael said that because his quads had been (and I quote) "screaming at me a lot" he made sure to eat a lot of food and stretch for a long time. He also started reading Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a good book that I would highly recommend and that I think was recommended to him. He got to sleep around 11, but he said it wasn't very good sleep because he was sleeping right above an air conditioner, cars kept rolling by, and dogs were barky all night.

He woke up at 4:45 and woke the rest of the crew. They were planning to get on the road by 6AM. Because Michael was ahead he decided to drive the car on up to where he'd last stopped. He also said the roads were bad in that section, so he didn't really feel like re-riding it. I guess the roads used to be gravel and then to "pave" the road they just tarred over the tar so it is very bumpy, sticky, and annoying. When Trevor caught up he took a turn driving the car (I wonder how big this car is...) and then Claire and Nathan took turns driving later on.

Mike said the day was a nice one of hills, minus the road quality. He did about 90 miles in total and arrived in Carbondale. When we talked they were waiting for Claire to pick up Trevor and Nathan who had broken down on the road. One had a broken spoke in his wheel and the other had a CO2 inflation capsule blow up as he tried to fix a flat and I guess neither had a hand pump. Then they were going to go out to dinner. Michael said he thought Carbondale was pretty nice, so it is a good stopping place.

Tomorrow they will be taking a much needed rest day. Because Michael's legs are screaming (After 1000 miles I would scream too!) and everyone else is tired too. Tonight they are staying with someone they found on couch surfer and the people happen to work with solar panels. Tomorrow they are getting some local publicity for the trip. I don't know if there will be sound, video, an article or what, but as I know I will post it here (if it is available via interweb). They will be having a potluck for them and I think Michael is also hoping to email a bunch more pictures and get some access to internet.

Two pictures

Some Kentucky countryside!

Illinois! Need I say more? I have no idea who is in front of Michael here.

Perhaps more of an update tonight or tomorrow AM.

song

Today Michael said that he had a pretty good day. It was a day of cruising over hills, but there wasn't anything particularly interesting to report. They are definitely out of the mountains with lots of trees and Michael said all the cicadas are gone now. I asked if he has music stuck in his head or anything and he said yeah, sometimes a concerto or symphony, but right now this particular song. Look under "songs" on the left and then on that page in the first paragraph there is a link called "bicycle". Click it!

He rode near on 70 miles, though he did 80 because he took a wrong turn at some point on the ride. His bike odometer is now at 835 miles, which means he's almost 1/4 of the way there!

The three other kids- Trevor, Nathan, and Michelle- who left the ride for various reasons (vacation, class, strained tendon) decided to drive to meet up and ride on with the crew. When I talked to Michael they were still a few miles away. What they'll do with the car when they arrive I didn't really understand, so that will still have to be worked out.

Tonight they are in Utica, KY where they are staying at the fire station. Tomorrow they're hoping to get to Marion, KY, which is very close to the border with Illinois. So within a few days they'll be changing states again.

Past Louisville

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Today the crew is staying at a free hostel for cyclists near the intersection of highways 84 and 920 in Kentucky. Michael said highway 902, but since I couldn't find any highway of that name intersecting 84 I'm going to assume he was mistaken. Today was a total of near 60 miles. The group decided that they were going to forsake the caves on the trip. It would have been about an ~80 mile detour and the group was behind because of the storms last night.

Though there was lightning throughout the night the storms never broke again except for a little bit of rain. The crew was up at 6:30 today, a nice change from the typically late starts they've been having. They hung out a bit in the morning because the nuns (??) brought them milk and coffee and also postcards if they wanted them. And then they were off! The pace was relaxed and on a "sortcut" they happened to get on they rode by a childhood home of Lincoln. I guess the group got a little split up over the day, so they did their own things. Lunch was a chicken sandwich and a tasty tasty chocolate milkshake for Michael. He said that the day was rolling hills, but definitely flatter than they had been. It was warm and less humid than it had been. At one point Michael rode alongside a horse and carriage that was along the road.

Holy Mackerel! That's a lot of pictures!

I woke up this morning to a whole slew of emailed photos from Michael. Since there are 100+ of them, I decided that the best option for getting them out there was just to upload them to my Picasa site and link it here. Michael is hoping to get online sometime and comment on the photos, but for now they stand alone. They are in chronological order so best of luck placing them on the timeline of the blog so far. Also, I will continue updating the map each night, so that should also show where the crew are nightly.

Tonight Michael and crew are staying in Loretto Motherhouse, a Catholic convent in Nerinx, KY. This is about halfway to where they intended to get tonight, but Michael said that they were very lucky to get shelter tonight as the storms are rolling through en masse. One already passed today with lots of hail and winds and as he talked he could see one approaching. The lightning in the approaching storm was apparently so good that several times in his message Michael stopped to gasp or just stopped talking because he was in awe. So, they will hold down in the convent tonight and hopefully by morning the storms will be mostly passed so the crew can get down to the caves. Today was 40-50 miles of steep rolling hills and tomorrow looks to be much of the same.

This morning the crew left Berea and headed north to Harrodsburg, KY. The ride in total was about 60 miles and Michael said that as of today his odometer reads 645 miles. So he's about 15% there! In addition, tomorrow the crew is set to officially cross from Eastern to Central time. It seems to soon for that, but I suppose they are moving pretty quickly.


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Michael woke up this morning and headed downstairs to eat a continental breakfast at the hotel. For him this included: three bowls of frosted flakes, three pieces of toast with corn (jam/jelly), several donuts, and some juice. He mentioned that his bike shorts are now loose in the thigh but he's not sure if they were stretched when washed or if his thighs are shrinking. I have to say though, two weeks burning near 4,000ish calories a day may have something to do with it. Anyway, after breakfast Michael headed upstairs to pack up and clean off his camelback, which had apparently gotten green goo on it from the hotel faucet (don't ask me, I am just the messenger. But to me that sounds like a sketchy motel... water-wise anyway)

Michael, C&C met up with Dan and Stavros in the main square of Berea. Then the whole group of 5 left together. Along the ride they could do some catching up from the time they were separated and it sounds like Dan and Stavros met some fun people and had interesting times (I will decline to comment further so as not to, uh, implicate anyone in any activity).

Michael said that it was VERY flat going out of Berea. Welcome to the plains! He also said that there were some 1960's style of weird 2000's style building that he took pictures of. I have no idea what he means, but perhaps in future days this will make more sense with a picture to go along with it. As they rode further they got into some rolling hills, but though there were some fairly steep climbs it was not like the mountains they had been in. Today the cicadas were very bad, not only loud but flying around so that the riders had to do lots of ducking and dodging. The day itself was drier, so Michael said that he was sweating less but going through water much faster than before. Again, welcome to the plains!

Before getting to Harrodsburg the group went by Herrington lake. Michael says it was cool because the walls were vertical rock for 8-10 ft, but there was also soil, vegetation growing in it. I looked it up online and apparently the lake was formed by damming a river which explains vertical type walls. After that they had a short climb up to Harrodsburg.

Upon arriving the group split up to find camping for the night. After consulting firefighters the group learned they could camp by the hostel, just outside of town. They're all staying together there over and went to get mexican take out for dinner and ate in a "arboretum" (just a nice grove of trees I suppose) near the restaurant. They ran into a group of Tennesseans there who were taking pictures by a fountain. They got talking and the Tennesseans thought what they were doing was cool so they bought the group dinner. It sounds like Michael and crew have run into some very generous and friendly people on the trip!

Tomorrow they are up to Cave City,KY. They hope to get into Mammoth Caves Park to camp and then they could tromp around the caves for a bit before heading out. Its a bit of a detour, but they're looking forward to the fun. They're also hoping to get to a library tomorrow AM and then maybe I can get more pictures! Thunderstorms may be a problem for the next couple days as it looks as though a front is moving across the country. With the plains come the thunderstorms over the plains. Keep your fingers crossed for them!

Lots of pictures!

Michael has checked in today where the group is now in Berea, KY. In addition, I guess the proximity to Lexington and a half day break means we get to see pictures! I'll write more about today's ride after the pictures. I've dated them so hopefully they are easier to place in context of the earlier blog entries:

3 June
This is specifically for Alan, it looks like Puta might have a long lost cousin or maybe a girlfriend. That's Claire on the left side during a stop to buy food.

3 June
Cicada. Michael says they're everywhere (crawling over roads and stuff) and very loud.

3 JuneMichael at the Grand Canyon of the South near the KY/VA border.

4 June
In the coal country. The darker lines in here are veins of coal running through what looks to me like it could be limestone.

5 June
Michael has picked up a hitchiker at Knott historical society bed and breakfast where he and C&C stayed the night. Apparently there were kittens everywhere and this kitty crawled up Michael's shoulder. He liked her (since she is calico) lots. Good thing he isn't allergic to cats!

6 June

Here is the exterior of the cathedral in Buckhorn, KY. As you can see, it is made of logs.

6 June
The interior of the cathedral at Buckhorn. There was a major flood in 1957. Michael says there is a flood line midway up the organ where there should be a major difference in color of the walls. I don't see it myself, but the fuzziness of the picture makes it harder to see.

6 June
Some hills just north of Vinson, KY. I think that the cloud sort of looks like a dragon!

6 June
Scenery from last night near where they camped.

7 June
This morning Michael woke up and grabbed his sunglasses and to his surprise found a spider had made its web in there. Apparently this is not prime real estate, however, because there were no flies or any other insects in the web. The campsite this morning was not lacking for bugs though. Michael reported that the campsite was buggy with ants and mayflies etc etc. Shucks! I don't think I'd want that spider as my roommate however...

The group rode toward Berea: 30-40 miles from last night's campsite. I'll just report the "interesting" things that Michael told me about. On the way they came across a snake that was hit by a car and still alive (very sad!), so they tossed it off the road. Then they filled up on water at local friendly guy's house. At one point 150 motorcycles passed them in one long line, most were nice but some revved their engines. Growl. Today there were only two small climbs, but it was mostly flat. A good preview for the Great Plains.

C&C and Michael arrived Berea at 3 and ran into Mike, a guy they met in Damascus who is also riding XC. The three of them are staying in a hotel for the night courtesy of Calum's mom. In addition, Michael got the location of a bike shop from Kent, so he rode up there and fixed his tire, got two tubes, but unfortunately Calum was unable to fix his cassette because the shop didn't have shimano parts.

On his way back into town, Michael ran into Stavros and Dan who were sitting in the main part of town. Apparently the trip to Asheville was a little nuts (no details here) and in the process Stavros lost his phone. So it was pure coincidence that Michael's little group ran back into those two today in this place. Nice luck considering they would have been unable to contact Stavros any other way. Dan and Stavros are staying somewhere else tonight and it is unclear whether or not they will continue with Michael, C&C tomorrow. Instead, those three went out to a Mexican dinner of beans, rice, and cheese. This was followed up with ice cream so that they can continue to get energy. They're planning to head out tomorrow, but to where is not yet planned.

A few more hills to go

Michael checked in tonight to say that he and C&C are camping on top of a mountain near the intersection of Lee County, Owsley County, and Jackson County, KY. They left the Hamblin family house this morning only to be followed for about 2 miles by the family's German Shepard. They stopped in Buckhorn to see the cathedral which has an impressive organ and considerable flood damage from a flood in the 60's. Michael said he took some pictures, so hopefully they'll be coming soon. They stopped in Booneville for a lunch/dinner at a diner there. In addition, they met their first West --> East biker: a guy going from LA to NYC.

In total, they did about 50 miles of hills today. Soon they'll be out of hilly country and on to the flat, flat Great Plains. (Just to give an idea, it's pretty darn impressive how big the Appalachians are still considering they are 480 million years old! In contrast, the Colorado Rockies are only about 75 million years old.) They're aiming to hit Berea, KY tomorrow and take a half day break. Michael said he's having some trouble with his tire being "sketchy" and that Calum is having trouble with his cassette. So they're hoping for a bike store in Berea. That's all for today!

Slow Day

Michael called late tonight, nearly midnight Eastern time. I was expecting that they didn't have service tonight, but apparently it was just a very long day. Here is the map of the past two days.


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Last night the crew stayed in Hindman, KY. Michael got separated from C&C (Claire and Calum) and waited for them at the main crossroads in the town for a while. They had planned to stay at the Bed and Breakfast in town because it had specials for bicyclists. He rode up to the B&B after waiting for a while and then C&C didn't show up until 9:30 or 10 at night. They ordered pizza for dinner and didn't get to bed till about 1.

As a result, this morning they didn't get out until just after noon. They hoped to make it to Booneville today, but because of the late start and setbacks they didn't make it. Just north of Hazard, KY Claire was having cramps so they went to a clinic there to get her some medicine. Nearly 4 hours later they were back on the road but much behind schedule. They were unable to stay in Chaives, KY and were planning just to "stealth camp" somewhere along the road, but a sheriff pulled up and told them that they had to continue to the next town. Somewhere in here a family pulled up and said that they would pick them up and take Michael, C&C to their home. Michael said that they are staying in the family's basement and were fed some dinner as well. The house is in Gays Creek, KY between Chavies and Buckhorn on the map.

Michael was unsure of the plan for tomorrow, but they are hoping to get out early to make up for today's lost time. Still no pictures, but maybe coverage will be stronger near Lexington, KY and we can get some more photos. Maybe even one with Michael in it!

Kentucky!

Michael has called in to say that he, Calum, and Claire have made it to Kentucky! They are spending the night in Elkhorn City, KY. Apparently the day was a bit slow and disappointing mileagewise. I'm not aware what the total mileage was however, sorry!

The group was in hilly country and Claire even saw a bear! Michael and Calum were/are jealous of this sighting, though from what I could tell Claire wasn't best pleased to be the "lucky" one to spot it. Perhaps there are more to come, but they might just have to wait till they get to Wyoming for bears.

The group road out of Council, VA early this morning. They rode up to Haysi, VA and got some groceries. Then they rode on up to the VA/KY border. There was a quick break at the "Grand Canyon of the South," a gorge along the route. Continuing on, they next stopped and spent a good deal of time at Breaks Interstate Park trying to find a log for bikers to sign in. It was important for the three to find this log and sign because the log is used to promote awareness for alternative transportation and bicycling in Virginia. Then they pushed on to Elkhorn City, KY for the night.


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In addition to the roads, thunderstorms rolled over throughout the day. Here is a radar from this evening of the east coast. Notice the storm cells located now over VA. In the afternoon these were moving from Kentucky to Virginia, right over the crew's route. There were no problems, but Michael reported very wet roads and rain. Right now the radar shows scattered, light showers where Michael is staying and very severe weather to the north, along the Ohio border.


The weather tonight should not be a problem, however, because the three are staying in the basement of a church. Some female church members had a dinner meeting tonight and there was enough leftover food that they invited the three bikers to share. Michael said he was stuffed with deviled eggs, salad, ham sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, pasta, cheese and crackers, strawberry jam, and chips. Finally lots of dessert. The following list is a direct quote from Michael and he said that he had some of each thing listed: peanut butter things, chocolate and nut things (bar form), chocolate cake, chocolate pie, coconut cake, and gelatin peach goodness with nuts. Now off to bed sleepy and full!

Tomorrow the crew is aiming for Pippa Passes, KY. Good luck!

Pictures!

Michael has been staying at the Place, a hostel for hikers and bikers, in Damascus, Virginia the past two nights. The town is a crossing point for both the Virginia Creeper Trail (bikes) and the Appalachian Trail (hiking). As a result the town is very friendly to bikers and hikers who pass through. Apparently showers, internet, phone, and gear stores are readily available. Michael and the crew spent two days relaxing and resting in the friendly atmosphere there.

This morning Stavros and Dan rode out for Asheville, NC. Tomorrow Michael, Calum, and Claire will ride out towards Kentucky and then farther west. I don't know yet if they have a destination for tomorrow night, but the ride will be resuming then.

Here are pictures Michael sent me from the first few days of the ride. He's been taking them on his cell phone and then can send them via email. Unfortunately there are none of him since he's behind the camera. The first two are from a short hike Michael took in Stone Mountain park to Stone Mountain Falls, the second is of Stone Mountain itself. The next is of a section of the New River Trail. The final one is of some beautiful countryside in the Draper Valley, VA with rolling green hills and clouds. So at least Michael is seeing the beautiful country out there!

I'll try to get him to send some more photos soon and hopefully one with him in it too! Good luck kid with the next state! One down (almost), only a few more to go!