Day 31
Dustin: After waking up from a 15 hour sleep we decided that the eastward winds were not going to stop. So, we woke up and hit the road. Not having a good breakfast this morning really made me suffer throughout the day. Battling ferocious headwinds all day was another task that we had to over come. During our 50 mile ride we saw our first prairie dogs, jack rabbits, and past the Welcome to Colorado sign!!!! Only 56 miles for today but with the wind 56 miles feels like a great accomplishment. Its tough to find internet in these small towns but your emails keep us pedaling!

To my little cousin Sammy-
Hey bud,
Hope that you are having an awesome summer. I have now gone through 6 states and only a few more to go. Tell the family I said hello and maybe we can come to Pa when I get back home!

Day 30
Jimmy: Mile 1,935

As Taz said pedaling through the crazy heat and head-winds of Kansas began to get discouraging, so we spent a relaxing day at the Dighton pool, hanging out with our trail friend Meghan from Wales and napping in the shade under a pavilion. Around 3 AM this morning we jumped on our bikes with headlamps strapped to our helmets and hit the road in the dark. We crossed into our second new time zone and pushed on to Tribune, our last Kansas town before we will cross the CO border. We wanted to reach CO today but as other bikers on the trail have admitted Kansas, though flat, is not as easy as you may think. So with over 50 miles to the next town and just short of the CO line we will catch up on some rest and continue with our ‘headlamp’ adventures!

We are excited to cross the emptiness of eastern CO and see the Rocky Mountains. To us, it means cooler temperatures, hills that will get our sore behinds up off the saddle, and yet more of our country's landscape and people to experience.


PS. We saw a US map in a gas station this morning...MAN we have covered some ground!

Day 29
Taz: Today we are spending the day in Dighton, KS. We rode 32 miles this morning in hard, hot winds. We are going to try something new today. If it works we'll tell you all about it in the next blog.
The 105 degree heat and the wind has slowed our progress getting to Colorado, but we are still chipping away at it. Someone told us that we are going to run into 60 degree highs next week in the mtns. We are looking forward to seeing some new wildlife too. Yesterday we saw a couple of badgers, the hawks are getting bigger, and today we are pretty sure we saw a mule deer out in this thicket on the plains.
Yesterday we met a woman that we've been "chasing" since before the trip started. The "Princess of Whales", Meagan. She is very interesting and we enjoyed talking to her. We chatted while sipping on milkshakes in Ness City, KS yesterday.
Our buddy Preacher Bill is now a couple days behind us but still hanging in there. We check on him almost nightly and give him the scoop on what's ahead for him.
The other guy we met back at the KY/VA border, Ian is still on the trail as far as we know. We've heard from him once or twice on email. We left some signs to him cheering him on. Since we left the truck it's been harder to do. We left one for Bill and Ian the other day in the middle of a 40 mile stretch of nothing. Bill said he saw it. We have each other for moral support. These guys are all alone doing this trip. Now, THAT takes guts.
Well, we are going to hit the pool for a few hours---stay tuned for more adventures.

Day 26
From All of Us: Killer heat, mega long straights and not a dang thing to look at----Go Kansas! The people are cool though. Everyone is very interested in where we are from and where we are going.
Bad breakfast at the 54 Truck Stop Diner this morning shortened today's ride to 80 miles. We are still hopeful to finish this state in the next three days.
We've experienced yet another act of generosity as tonight we are staying at the Newton Fire Station. Inside out of the heat. We heard about these guys from a eastbound cyclist. They are awesome. A paid fire dept. Showers with their clean towels, a room all to ourselves, and pads to sleep on.
We went through the Flint "Hills" today. We wouldn't have know that's where we were except for the sign. The hills weren't much. Today we went 20 miles and only saw 3 cars. We are stating to hit 40 and 50 mile stretches with no access to food or water.
If you don't hear from us for a few days it's because we have our heads down pedaling through this vast nothingness immense heat!

Day 25

Mile 1,579
Jimmy: After a sleepless night in 95 degree Kansas humidity, we pedaled 120 miles to Eureka and got our very first hotel room. A day off in Pittsburg on the eastern border and talking with some East bound bikers that are finishing their bout with Kansas convinced us to get on the road tomorrow before daybreak to beat the heat and pedal through this flat state in the next 4 days.

Traveling East to West, we’ll climb 4,000 vertical feet before we hit the Colorado border. We’re counting down the miles to our stop in Breckenridge for some much needed playtime, bike maintenance, and relaxation in weather below triple digits.

Corey (alias, Forest Gump)--Keep running!
Marcel--Don’t bother, you’re too slow!

PRAY FOR THOSE TAIL WINDS!

Day 23
Taz:
Hmmmm . . . so much has happened in the past couple of days. The biggest news is that we crossed over into Kansas today! We're in Pittsburg, a town of 19,000 for tonight and tomorrow. We are catching up on laundry and maintenance and such.

Okay, now let me back up a little. We woke in Marshfield, MO yesterday morning to heavy rain and storms. We were dry though under a city park pavilion sleeping on tables because we knew it was coming. We waited for it to pass but it wasn't going to happen. We went to breakfast and the library to kill time and wait for it to ease up. Finally, it did seem to ease up so we took off and tried to make it to Walnut Grove Post Office before it closed to pick up a package. On the way, the sky opened up on us again. Right on top of us. Lightening so close it scared us big time. One strike was 30 to 50 feet away. All I could think about was the last thing Jim said to me - "keep my boys safe." There was nothing around and nowhere to go but on. We ended up riding out of the storm safely.

Walnut Grove was 40 miles into our 60 mile day. We busted butt to get to the post office figuring the earliest it would close would be 4 PM. NOT! They closed at 3:30 and we got there at 3:40. Well, everything happens for a reason. After much debate we ended up seeing if we could camp for the night (this town was not shown on the map as one to camp in). The town of 500 rolled out the red carpet and let us stay indoors at a church fellowship hall. It had a great shower. I think it was the quietest night's rest yet!

Then one thing led to another. While Jimmy was dealing with the Campmor package arrival, we ran into a local that told us a bridge was out on our route and the detour would add 20 miles to our ride. Coupled with the late start of the day we had no intentions of doing a 100 mile day. Don't forget we've got those plastic bags on our bikes now! Jim (our S.A.G. man), where are you?! Just kidding. The reroute had us going 70 miles through somewhat flatter country, enroute to the much flatter Missouri/Kansas border.

But, wait! What about our buddy, Preacher Bill? He's a town behind us and needs to know about the detour! Spending all the time we did in Walnut Grove, we ended up getting to be buddies with the policeman on duty. We told him about Bill and he said he would track him down and give him directions. Not only did he do that but he came out west of town and told us he had found Bill! As of tonight, Bill is still a town behind us but says he's going to do a short day tomorrow and then hang here with us tomorrow night.

We've got 1442 miles under our belts now. We are still laughing and having a great time. Sometimes Jimmy and Dusty get to laughing so hard they can't ride and have to stop riding to hold their bellies. They like to have these insane races up the rollers (hills) shouting crazy speeds they are trying to hold as they go up. They also like to sing a lot but only know half the words to most of the songs, and laugh more when they realize this.

Our first week without the truck and we don't think we've lost any weight which was one of our biggest fears - being hungry. I think we've settled into a routine finding a big meal as soon as we hit our evening town and snacking later. Water hasn't been an issue until today when it got a lot hotter. With our tools we were able to turn the water on at a church. We are getting there! WE ARE IN KANSAS!

Day 21
Dustin:
We survived going through the "bad" part of Missouri, but it didn't seem as "bad" as we had been told. Taz, Bill, Jimmy and I pedaled our way through with no problems at all. Once we got to Ellington, the people were extremely nice. While sitting at an intersection looking at the map to find camp, about a dozen people waved at us. One gave us directions to the park and one of the other guys said come camp in his back yard. Hall's buffet was delicious even though the regulars didn't care for the bike attire. With such a good dinner waking up early the next morning wasn't really part of mine and Jimmy's plan, but finally we were up and ready to go. Leaving town also meant leaving Bill. The hills ahead were too big for him to go the pace we were doing. With our final goodbyes said, we pulled away and another new day had begun. It's awesome to talk to the east bounders along the way. Sharing random stories and finding out the "good" places to stay is usually the highlight of our conversation. Today (7/9) I saw and caught my very first armadillo! With Taz and Jimmy chanting for me to pick it up, I finally got enough nerve to do so. Scared to death (yeah, both me and the armadillo), I grabbed it by the tail just long enough for the picture and then put it back on the ground. It then retreated to the log which was its home.

Sitting down at the dinner table at a local restaurant in Marshfield, MO, talking to the people who were drilling us with questions about the trip, I noticed two people walking in and sitting down at the booth behind us. They did not look at us but I was staring at them for some reason. Finished off the conversation with the people, I see the people in the booth behind us ordering the best desserts and just sitting there and talking. When they were done, they got up and left. We didn't think anything of it. Then when we went to pay the waitress, she told us that us that the people behind us paid for our food. We just couldn't get over the fact that they were that kind. They didn't even know what we had ordered or how much it cost and they generously paid for our meal. I guess that is what you call a random act of kindness and we'll surely be able to pass that on down the line.

Jimmy
Watching Dad drive away was harder than any of us imagined. It wasn’t the loss of the truck, the loss of nutritious meals or bluegrass music in the evenings; we lost a member of our journey, we lost #4; we lost a friend, a guide, a source of endless jokes and laughter; we lost Jim . . . my Dad!

He became more a part of our journey than we could have possibly imagined, but as we watched him pull off in the red truck one final time, our feelings of sadness and confusion were replaced with excitement as the next part of our adventure began.

We turned to our task of squeezing all we need to live for 2 months onto our 2-wheeled touring bikes. As we pedaled our first day through Missouri with a fellow “76 Trail” rider, Bill, we swerved, laughed, bumped into each other, resituated, retightened straps, and learned how to ride all over again. It really wasn’t too bad, but we had more than a few giggles as we rode into our first stop in Missouri where a Farmington Little League team invited us to their cookout and free entry into a division D semi-pro baseball game.

Tomorrow we enter the Missouri territory we’ve been warned about by others on the trail, locals, and bike shop owners. We survived the mountains of Virginia, the wild dogs of Kentucky, and we look forward to the beautiful scenery the Ozarks of Missouri will bring.

With the things we carry, our 2-wheel pedaling machines, and the continued generosity of strangers, we now aim for Kansas . . . 300 miles away it is the last state that stands between us and our westward dreams.

We can’t thank our S.A.G. driver enough for the jump start on the adventure and everlasting memories. We miss you already and you remain with us in spirit!

Day 17
Taz: Here we are in Chester, IL at the Mississippi River. The last day with our S.A.G. man, Jim. It's 7 AM central time. Dustin and Jimmy are fast asleep in their tents enjoying a day off after two very long mileage days in very hot, humid conditions. Jim has taken two east-bound Aussies (Australians) to the nearest bike shop, which is about 30 miles away. They are in their 60s and are having mechanical problems. They need new parts. Jim will be back, I'm sure, before the boys wake to fix breakfast as he has the whole trip thus far. Those fresh cooked egg sandwiches and pancakes will be sorely missed!

Today, we must put new chains and tires on the bikes, lube wheel bearings, and look for any other potential problems the bikes could have. We've also got to divide and pack our spare parts and tools, decide which camera to take, which lights (for camp use), and fine tune our packs, etc.

A whole new ride begins tomorrow. The SAGless ride. Missouri is different terrain too. East-bound riders tell us it is very rolly with steep but short climbs. With this in mind, we plan to do only 50 miles our first day with bags in tow. Morale is good with hitting so many milestones this week and we want to try to keep it that way as our ride becomes more challenging. What were the milestones you say? In the past couple of days, we got out of Kentucky and got into Illinois and to the Mississippi River, which puts us in Missouri as soon we cross the bridge (We set our sights on getting to the Mississippi River about a week and half ago. We wanted to do it for Jim as much as for ourselves.) We hit 1,000 total miles and did two different 100 mile days and we crossed into the next time zone. That's big stuff for me and even bigger for Dusty and Jimmy! Plus, there are cute lifeguards at this park's pool. They stayed open late yesterday evening for us to get showers as we pulled into town. The guys are looking forward to seeing them again today!

Day 13
Facts: We've ridden 12 of the 13 days. We've covered Virginia and have one partial day left in Kentucky. We have covered 849 miles including 110.6 miles today with our first flat tire of the trip at 102 miles. This was Jimmy and Dusty's first 100 miler ever, also known as the century ride by cyclists. We did it in less than eight hours not even trying hard. Oh yeah, the miles didn't bother us, but the heat was a killer being in the mid-90s and humid. We've been chased by 30+ dogs in the state of Kentucky. We crossed into the next time zone today as well.

Last night we stayed in Hodgenville at the county park for free, and tonight in the Utica Fire Station with a roof over our heads and air conditioning. They just leave the building open and bikers come and go as needed. Tomorrow is a "rest day" with a short 25 miler to Sebree, KY to do laundry and maintenance to the bikes. Next, we have our sites set on crossing the Ohio River into Illinois and reaching the Mississippi River where we lose "S.A.G." SUPPORT AND GEAR - not just support and gear but meals, unlimited water and a sigh of relief when we see the guy in the red truck in the distance. We know that we have snacks and drinks waiting on us. We are extremely lucky to have such a professional S.A.G. Even though Jim has never done anything like this before, he has done everything like a pro. From turning around for a flat tire when we thought he was long gone, to having peanut butter sandwiches waiting for us when we arrived at one of our many stops during the day. He is also an expert water locater and very good at keeping us hydrated. We can't thank Jim enough for getting off work and leaving his family and friends and joining us on our awesome adventure (sorry about the 4th of July bash he missed at home!).

The article about our trip came out this week in the Massanutten Villager for those of you who are close enough to grab a copy.

Note: We have had almost NO Internet service so we've been calling in our blogs and dictating to family members. When we get Internet service, we will send pictures as well as the blogs.