Bobby’s Family!

Thanks again for all the help guys!

July 19 – 24

After our fantastic visit to St. Louis, Moira drove us back to our route and dropped us off in Marion, Kentucky.  Marion was about a day or two bike ride from St. Louis but in a car we were there in no time.  We set up camp in the city park which included a skate park that was right next to where we were sleeping. Here is an interesting side story: We used to skate so we went down to the skate park to look around and talk to some of the local skaters.  We told them how cool it was that they had a nice skate park and how lucky there were to have it.  They told us that they raised the money themselves for the skate park by cleaning highways and applying for grants.  It took 7 years, but they eventually got some help from the city and even got to design the park themselves.  We were very impressed by their dedication and initiative to get a place to skate.  Anyways, back to the riding.  The next day we hit the road early hoping to ride about 70 miles to Utica, Kentucky.  After 48 miles we arrived in Sebree, Kentucky where we heard about a church that would let us shower and take a rest.  We found the church no problem and we were immediately greeted by Violet, the pastor’s wife.  She invited us into her home, which was directly next to the church, and gave us fresh cut cantaloupe and lemonade.  The church’s basement was set up with a kitchen, couches, and a big TV.  The church was so nice we decided to call it a day and stay the night.  That night we ate dinner with Bob the pastor, and his wife.  It was awesome to have a home cooked meal and a nice place to sleep.  Thank you Bob and Violet!  The next day the usual blazing sun was blocked by clouds which was a nice break for us.  Even though we had overcast the whole day the humidity was close to 100% making it very uncomfortable to ride.  With the sun blocked for the day we peddled about 80 miles to Falls of Rough, Kentucky.  We were planning on camping for the night and on our way into town we stopped by the volunteer fire station to ask directions to the campsite.  After a quick conversation the fire chief told us we could just stay there for the night.  We gladly accepted the offer and that night we slept comfortably.  Fire fighters are awesome!  The next day we decided to stray from our map and take a shortcut to Bardstown, Kentucky.  It was about a 70 mile ride but because the shortcut saved us 30 miles we ended up making about 100 miles of progress that day.  Not bad at all.  We had plans to meet Bobby’s dad and stepmom Kathy and also her sister Karen and her husband Harry in Berea, Kentucky by Saturday, which was only about 75 miles from Bardstown.  It was only Wednesday so the next day we took it easy and went about 45 miles to Danville. We stayed the night at an overpriced campground that was also an outdoor theatre.  Still on our own route, the next day we cycled 35 quick miles to Berea where we checked into a hotel that Karen and Harry reserved for us.  Relaxing the rest of the day at the hotel was a good time.  We played catch in the pool, and then played some basketball in the parking lot of our hotel.  We cannot thank you guys enough for the room, and also thanks to everyone for coming down to Kentucky to say hi and spend a relaxing evening with us, we love you all very much!  Today Bobby’s dad and stepmom arrived early and we all got breakfast, then explored the town a little bit.  We met everyone for dinner a little later on and we just relaxed while we told stories about our trip.  Tomorrow we will be hitting the road for our final stretch.  No more breaks, just 13 days of riding.  Yorktown or bust.

The Howerton Family!

Thanks again guys! Hopefully I see you again this fall!

July 8 – 18

The last 10 days have been very exhausting! Not long after our last blog we ran out of flat land and the route started to get very hilly.  Are next big stop was Hutchinson, Kansas for Bobby’s birthday.  When we arrived in town we stopped at the local bike shop where we were told they had keys to a place to stay for bikers.  Sure enough they had keys and directions to a church right down the road.  The church turned their basement into a free biker hostel.  It was super cool to say the least.  They provided beds, showers, food, cable TV, and above all air conditioning.  We stayed there for a rest day to celebrate Bob’s birthday and because the church was such an awesome place to stay.  Since then we have been focused on riding and battling the extreme heat.  We put together a couple of our longest days, 100 mile day followed by a 90 mile day.  Lately we’ve become a little less picky with the places we sleep.  We slept on a baseball field one night, and outside a community building another night.  At night the temperatures dip way down into the low 90’s with high humidity, so sleeping in tents is tricky.  Bobby decided he was done sweating in his tent so he just slept on a picnic table the other night.  Since it’s been so hot lately, as in well over 100 degrees, we have changed our schedule to avoid riding during the hottest part of the day.  We get up around 3 or 4 am and ride until 11am or so.  Then we find somewhere to rest, preferably somewhere air conditioned like a library.  We rest until the temperature starts dropping around 4 or 5 pm. Then we ride another few hours until it gets dark out.  Its been working well but we want to be clear about one thing, it is still very, very hot.  We made it through Kansas and into Missouri where we entered the Ozark Mountains.  The Ozark’s do not have very high elevations but the grades are very steep, and the hills are one after the other, all day long.  The hills and the heat combined make for some long days and tired legs.  Are next destination was St. Louis for some family time and some rest with my sister Moira and her family.  The plan was for her to come pick us up on our route directly south of St. Louis, but a few days before the planned pick up day we lost our map.  We were drying it out at a laundry mat after we got rained on, and when we left we forgot to grab the map.  By the time we remembered it and went back to the laundry mat it was long gone.  With our map gone we decided to just make our way north towards St. Louis.  It was exciting to make our way without the map, and within a couple days we were at Jefferson City where we were picked up by Moira, her husband Dereck, and their daughter Niala.  We got to see downtown St. Louis and the Arch as we rested our legs for the home stretch of the trip.  This is a short blog I know, but Kansas was uneventful and Missouri is just hot and hilly.  St. Louis was awesome but now it is time to hit the road once again.  My sister will be dropping us off back on our route and we are planning on being in Virginia by August 6th!

July 2 – July 7

Riding in the plains has been a huge change from the Rocky Mountains.  The flat terrain makes riding easier, and we are able to cover more ground in less time.  The temperatures have gone up significantly which we both enjoy.  No more waking up to freezing temperatures!  We have made our way from Pueblo, Colorado to Great Bend Kansas in the last week or so.  In Ordway, the first stop after Pueblo, we stayed in a trailer outside a woman’s house (Jillian) with a few other bikers.  We got to help Jillian move her goats from one field to another for the night. It wasn’t anything serious but for city folk it was hardcore farming stuff.  From Ordway we rode to Eads and got a super cheap hotel for the night.  We made big plans to wake up the next morning really early and beat the heat and the winds.  The plan went perfectly at first.  We were on the road by 3am and cruising down the dark highway.  About 20 miles later we realized that the sun was rising to our left instead of directly in front of us as it should when you are traveling east.  We soon found out that we were on the wrong road and we had been riding south for the last couple hours.  Long story short it was 3am, dark, and we missed the turn.  It could happen to anyone.  We were disappointed to say the least but we turned around and peddled 20 miles back to where we started by 8am.  We went back to our hotel and told them we locked our key in the room, got another key, got back into our rooms and took a three hour nap.  At 11am the front desk told us we had to leave so we got back on the bikes and rode over 60 miles to Tribune with just enough time to find a place to pitch our tents and go to sleep.  We camped in the 4-H barn with a couple other bikers.  That was how we spent the 4th of July.  The next day we road about 75 miles to Dighton and slept in the city park.  Thats one of the new perks to riding through this part of the country.  All the small towns have city parks that we can camp in for free.  We have not paid to sleep or shower since Eads when we spoiled ourselves with a hotel.  From Dighton we made our way to La Crosse and camped at the city park.  It stormed overnight and it continued to rain the rest of the day as we cycled to Great Bend, our current location.  Tonight we are sleeping behind a car wash with Jon, another cross country rider we met a few days ago.  The car wash isn’t much of a campsite but its free and we got to set up in an old garage.  The bathroom takes First Place in the race for the smelliest place we are ever going to shower.  The weather report for the next couple days is rain, but we hope to be out of Kansas by the end of the week.

The White Family!

Thanks again for everything! We had a great time. You guys are the best!

June 23 – July 1

Our first day in Yellowstone was amazing!  Within a few miles we came across a bald eagle, and just down the road was a nest with two baby bald eagles.  That was really cool but we both had bigger animals on our minds.  We wanted to see a bear.  Down the road a few miles we ran into a herd of buffalo.  We took some pictures as the herd slowly made their way across the road.  This took almost an hour and caused a rather large traffic jam.  As we waited for them to cross, one of these giant animals decided to stray from the pack and ended up walking about eight feet in front of us!  We also stopped to see Old Faithful as well as some of the mud pots and bacteria mats.  We got to see a few elk and a red fox before the day was over, but still no bear sightings. We biked about 55 miles that day and camped in the park at Grant Village.  The next day we made our way out of Yellowstone and into Teton National Park.  We stopped at a lodge about 30 into our day for lunch and to wait out yet another storm.  After we finished our meals we were disappointed to see that it was still storming really bad.  The prices for rooms or even camping at this place were way out of our price range but after we talked to the staff for a little bit they gave us a super deal because we were biking.  We got a hotel room for the price of a cheap campsite and it included three meals!  We decided to take advantage of the great deal and stay an extra day.  We enjoyed the beds, the free laundry, hot meals, and the shower that wasn’t coin operated.  Plus they had a free pool table, so we took advantage of that as well.  The next day we got up early and we were on the road by 7 am.  This ended up being a poor decision because by about 7:45 am we were in Bobby’s tent on the side of the road waiting out another storm.  Eventually it cleared up and Bobby and I were back on the road.  We made it 85 miles to Dubois, Wyoming which included a climb over Togwotee Pass, elevation 9658 ft high. That night Bobby’s family came and picked us up and gave us a ride to their house just outside Denver, Colorado. This was a huge help for us! We saved several days of riding, got a free place to rest for a couple days, and above all we got to hang out with some friends and family.  We spent a couple days with Mike and Jeri along with their two lovely children Alexis and Jonathon.  They took us to downtown Denver to show us around and eat Chipotle (We’ve been craving Chipotle!).  We spent the rest of our time hanging out at their house, jumping on the trampoline, watching movies, eating tons of great food, and enjoying some time off the bike.  All good things must end, so after a couple days they gave us a ride back to our route.  Mike and Jeri: You guys rock!  You helped us out so much and we can’t thank you enough.  Alexis: Good luck with cheerleading! Jonathon: Take no hostages!
Our first day back on the trail we conquered Hoosier Pass, elevation 11,542.  That is the highest point our route will take us and it was a very challenging ride.  We stopped for the night on the other side of the pass in Alma, Colorado (The highest incorporated town in America!).  We ran into one of the locals after dinner and we ended up staying at his house.  It was a very old house with several people living there.  We did not have to check in or anything but we did donate a little money for the couch and the hot showers.     We couldn’t decide what exactly the situation was there.  Maybe a boarding home? Maybe a hostel?  Maybe just a bunch of really nice people living in a yellow mansion they called the “Yellow Elephant”?  Either way it was a cheap place to sleep! The next day we continued our decent out of the Rocky Mountains.  We battled head winds all day but we made it about 75 miles to Canon City.  Nothing special there, just another campsite with coin operated showers.  We woke up this morning and headed to Pueblo, Colorado where we are sleeping tonight.  The weather has changed drastically as we make our way out of the mountains.  90 degree temperatures, and no rain is going to make the next few days feel like a an entirely different trip.  We are both looking forward to experience the flat terrain of the plains!

June 15 – 22

We left Missoula Tuesday June 15th and and headed to Darby, Montana which is about a 66 mile ride.  The weather was once again threatening rain the entire day but for the first few hours it held off.  Along the way we were riding through a town called Stevensville which has a population of about 550.  We were slowly making our way through the “Downtown” area when a distracted woman driving a mini-van hit Bobby with her car.  She was only going about 5 mph and only made contact with his trailer so he was able to stay on the bike and was totally unharmed.  As we rolled out of Stevensville the weather began to take a turn for the worse.  The temperature dropped and it started raining.  We made it another 20 miles to Hamilton and decided to call it a day.  We were about 13 miles short of Darby but we were tired, wet, and Hamilton ended up being a pretty good town to stop in so we found a campsite and went to bed.  The next day we woke up to even worse weather.  The mountains that were all around us in Hamilton, and clearly visible the day before, were covered by clouds and it was raining.  We were planning on going over our next pass that day, Chief Joseph Pass, but all the locals said that it would be snowed out for the next couple days.  It’s about a 3,000 ft climb so Bobby and I decided it would be wise to wait out the storm.  We spent the next day at our campsite just relaxing and throwing the football around.  We came up with a plan to ride the next day to a town at the base of the mountain named Sula.  It was only about 40 miles away but with the weather still pretty rough on the pass we decided that if we can’t go over the pass we should get as close as possible to make the climb easier.  Sula has a population of 50 and we camped at the cafe/gas station/ campground/ convenience store which also happened to be the only building in town.  The next day the weather was perfect for a climb so we got up and headed up the biggest pass we had to climb to that point.  We climbed 8 straight miles at a 7% grade to reach 7,241 ft.  At the top there was still snow along the side of the road from the storm, but the roads were in great shape so no big deal.  We took some pictures with the “Continental Divide” sign (The first of several times we will be going over the divide.) and continued another 42 miles to Jackson, Montana.  Jackson is located in an area called “The Bog Hole” which is a relatively flat area surrounded by mountain ranges.  Ridiculous amounts of mosquitoes live in The Big Hole which made things slightly uncomfortable, but Bobby and I got to soak in the natural hot springs at our campsite so it ended up being a great place to stop for the night.

The next day we set out for Dillon which was about a 50 mile ride.  Our route included another two passes that reached over seven and six thousand feet.  We got to Dillon, population 3,752, at about 5pm and just in time to get hit by a large lightning storm.  We took cover at the local McDonald’s for about 2 hours while the storm passed over.  After that the weather got really pleasant so we decided to make a break for the campgrounds.  We set up camp but shortly after got hit with more rain.  Rain has been a huge part of almost everyday of this trip so far, and we would be lying if we said we weren’t getting sick of it.  Anyways, the next day we rolled on with Virginia City as our planned destination for the day, which was about 55 miles down the road.  Once again the weather was looking questionable but it held up until we hit a little town called Twin Bridges, population 400.  A storm was right on our tail so we stopped and had lunch at the local cafe as the storm went over us.  Earlier that day we ran into a group of older riders that were also heading across the country.  We talked with them for a little bit and then passed, only to see them again at Twin Bridges at the cafe.  After the storm we kept moving and decided to ride with our new friends for a little while.  There was three men and one woman, and they all looked to be well over their fifties.  A couple miles down the road from Twin Bridges Bobby’s chain snapped a link.  We had never had this happen to us and we were a little lost on how to repair the chain.  Luckily one of our new friends was willing to help.  Before we knew it we were as good as new and back on the road.  As we reached the next town, Alder population 116, yet another storm was brewing.  Bobby and I had two choices. The first option was to call it a day at Alder, or press on and try to beat the storm another 12 miles to Virginia City.  We decided to go for it, and thankfully we made it to a pizza shop in Virginia City right before the storm hit.  It was about 7pm when we got there and by 8pm the storm had passed and the weather was once again pleasant.  Thats when we decided to take advantage of the good weather and just keep riding to the next town.  It was only about a 14 mile ride and we had about 90 minutes of daylight left, but the ride included another mountain pass.   As we climbed up the mountain we passed the freshly fallen snow until we reached the top, about 7000 ft.  At the top we were rewarded with an awesome view of the valley below with a mountain range just beyond the valley. We rode into the town of Ennis and set up camp by about 9:30 pm, made a couple of phone calls and then hit the hay.  We rode close to 80 miles that day and we were beat.  The next day we woke up and went to get breakfast at a little place called “Yesterdays”.  As we were eating we were talking to a guy and when we told him we were planning on riding into West Yellowstone, he laughed and told us we were going to be battling headwinds the whole way in.  Hoping he was wrong we headed  off on our 70 mile ride to West Yellowstone .  About 10 miles in and 1 1/2 hours later we were getting blasted by 25+ mph headwinds and we were only moving at about 5 miles per hour.  Eventually, 6 hours later and 30 miles later, we pulled over to a day site called Palisades. We were resting on some rocks when a man who was working construction drove up in his truck and told us that if we wanted to camp there then Andrew and I were more than welcome to.  We took him up on the offer and immediately set up camp.  We decided that we needed to get up extra early the next morning and get it moving to beat the headwinds that we were battling that day.  We set up camp, and were asleep by 9:30 that night.  The following morning we woke up at 5:15 and it was about 35 degrees outside.  It was really hard to get moving but regardless, we had to do what we had to do so we started moving.  After about 15 miles up the road we found a restaurant for breakfast and ate and warmed up a bit.  After we ate we kept it moving and we finally rode into West Yellowstone 40 miles later (for a total of about 55) around 1 p.m.  We went to the local bike shop called “Free Heel and Wheel” where the co-owner Melissa gave our bikes a total makeover.  New brakes, tightened all the bolts and trued our tires.  We are now good to go for tomorrow when we make our way into Yellowstone National Park, where we will be sleeping with the buffalo, grizzlies and black bears.  We will have some amazing pictures coming so stay tuned to our facebook page. We anticipate encountering some amazing animals within the next few days!

Awesome People!

This is Joe and Meredith. They went above and beyond to help us out in Missoula. Thanks again, you guys rock!

June 7 – 14

After are rest day in Baker City Bobby and I continued to Oxbow, Oregon which was about a 70 mile ride.  Oxbow is right on the border of Oregon and Idaho and we found a really nice campground to stay for the night.  We set up camp, talked to some of the other campers about our ride, and then planned out the rest of our week.  We increased our miles per day to about 60 – 70 in hopes of reaching Montana within one week.  The next morning, Tuesday, we were happy to see some sunshine as we set out for the day.   We rolled into Idaho about twelve miles into our ride, and we were pretty excited about riding across our first state.  We spent the day peddling along Snake River through Hells Canyon which was absolutely beautiful and truly a site to see.  They call it Hells Canyon because it is the deepest canyon in North America.  We arrived in Council about 65 miles later and set up camp at a local RV park.  Not much happened in Council except a little wheeling and dealing with the local RV park owner, which ended up saving us $4.  We got some hardy meals and learned about the local hybrid wolves that we did not want to run into because they weigh about 5-6 hundred lbs.  The next day we were faced with more rain but we were about 65 miles from our next town so we packed up and started our day.  The ride to Riggins was fairly easy besides the wet conditions.  When we got there the entire town was out of power as a result of the storms Bobby and I had been riding through all day.  We immediately started looking for a place to stay for the night but we were turned away because the road that you take to get to the local campgrounds was closed for construction.  We rolled around town asking people if there was anywhere we could set up camp but came up empty handed.  After searching for a place to stay for about an hour it started raining on us so we decided to just to go to the cheapest hotel we could find and sleep there.  The next day we had a 2500 foot, 10 mile long pass to conquer called White Bird Pass.  It started out fairly well, but about 7 miles up the weather took a turn for the worse and the skies turned black all around us.  Suddenly we were faced with a larger challenge, how to survive this pass DURING the storm.  It was raining down on us hard, and the temperature was quickly decreasing as the winds increased.  We were getting worn out quickly when all of a sudden we spotted a port-o-potty.  As quickly as we could we rode up to it and hopped in.  It was a life saver to say the least.  We stayed in there for about 30 minutes while it continued to downpour.  Eventually, we realized that it wasn’t going to stop raining anytime soon so we decided to keep moving.  We hopped on our bikes, and continued up the pass in the rain.  Three miles later we were at the top and cruising down the other side into Grangeville, Id.  The first thing we did was stop at the laundry mat and dry all of our clothes and shoes and then directly after that we went to Subway where we ate soup and subs.  The next day we continued on to our next destination about 60+ miles to a small town called Lowell, where we camped at a sight right where the Selway and Lochsa rivers join to form the Clearwater River.  There were some bikers there and they kept me up for a while getting rowdy, however eventually they cooled it down enough for us to get some sleep.  The following day was a long one, we had to do 70+ miles uphill.  We finally made it into Powell around 5:30 and ate dinner at the Lochsa Lodge, which was delicious.  We then set up camp and ended up going to sleep not to much later.  The next morning when we woke up we had breakfast at the Lochsa Lodge again, and as we were getting ready to leave we started talking to a woman named Meredith.  She told us how she did some touring before and if we were going into Missoula later on that night then her boyfriend Joe and her would be more than happy to save us money by letting us sleep in their backyard. We gladly excepted the invitation.  On our way to Missoula we stopped by Lolo Hot Springs where we relaxed in the pool and natural hot springs for about 2 hours, and then continued on to Missoula.  We finally made it to town at about 7pm that night and where welcomed by Joe and Meredith.  After setting up tents, we took showers and then headed into downtown where we had a few drinks at Charlie B’s.  Meredith bar tends there and we actually ran into a few other bikers that we have been seeing on and off during our trip.  Today we woke up and took a rest day to get a few things finished with our bicycles and try to stay off of our butts an extra day. Joe took us on a tour of Big Sky Brewery where he works and we got to see how they make their beer.  Bobby also needed a new tent so we asked Joe for directions to a sports store, but Joe is the man and instead of giving us directions he gave Bobby a brand new tent.  For free! Tomorrow we will start moving south towards Wyoming and will be in Yellowstone in 6 days.