Hard to say goodbye

Aaron and I met lots of incredible people all along the trip that we would like to have spent more time in their company. Inevitablly the two of us had to move on to continue our journey. Those goodbyes we're not always easy but as we departed I always had the pleasure of Aaron's good spirited energy and conversation. Today's departure without him brought home the finality of our cross country adventure. Aaron had offered me a car ride to the Amtrak station. I thought the best medicine for post-adventure blues would be to ride my bike and gear to the train station. It was sad to load the bike one last time with Rick, Steve and Aaron's family and friends there to send me off.  By saying goodbye early it gave me all day on the bike to come to terms with the end of the trip. I got a bit emotional when I saw my 1st Volkswagen "Slug Bug" and couldn't call it out.  The 1st convience store rest stop was sad too. It felt like any moment Aaron would roll and put in his usual chocolate milk and Red Bull request but obviously he never appeared so after I finished my snack and waited for a few cyclists that road by to get far enough ahead (wasn't in the mood to chat with strangers today) I left the store alone.

The dose of exercise, views of the Atlantic Ocean and fresh ocean air did help to uplift the spirits.  I also had the distraction of my rear wheel falling apart. The 1st spoke broke about 5 miles into the ride. I fixed it with a fiber spoke repair kit. Then 25 miles later another spoke popped. I still had 28 miles to go and with a severe wobble wasn't too confident the wheel would make it the rest of the way.  I looked up a local bike shop in Jacksonville Beach and luckily the Trek store was only 2 miles away and right on the route.  After unhooking the rear brake because of the wheel rubbing on the pads, I pedaled gingerly to the store leaning my weight on the front wheel.  The mechanic quickly repaired the wheel when I told him about the train I had to catch.  After 30 minutes the wheel was fixed.  My destination was due West of the shop and I caught a break with a strong tail wind all the way to the station.  I was relieved to arrive without any further mechanical trouble and 90 minutes early.

This overall trip experience was incredible and I'm so greatful for all the kind people we met that helped to support our efforts during the journey.   I'm also overwhelmed by the support of all the family, friends and co-workers back home that encouraged and allowed me to take this dream adventure.  I can't put to words how much this support and caring means to me.

We did it!

3054 miles and we made it to the Atlantic Ocean on schedule with firetruck escort, sirens blaring and cheering all along the ocean front beach road.  Will post pics and summary of the last week once the party is over!

3/7 -3/10 update

We hope the picture captions and location tell part of the story over the last few weeks.  I planned to write up a narrative summary but sleep and talking to all the new people we've been fortunate to meet recently has been a higher priority.

On Monday March 7th we met 2 Nicole and Judy, who are also biking to the east coast, just as we finished our days ride from Franklinton Louisiana to Poplarville Mississippi.  All 4 of us got caught by 2 recent road closure our 1st of the trip.  I was aware of most of the road closures by printing out route changes from the Adventure Cycling website before starting the trip but this road closure happened only a few weeks ago.  We were lucky with the 1st bridge out and we got through but ended up a bit dirty as I helped drag Aaron's bike through dirt fill that ended up being a  deep mud pit!  Feeling emboldened by our success on the 1st road closure we thought nothing of ignoring a 2nd road closure sign 3 miles further down the road.  When we encountered a 10 foot wide stream and only bridge pilons in place their was no choice but to backtrack adding 10 miles to todays ride.

Very early on March 9th a terrible thunderstorm hit.   Around 4am we all woke up to constant loud thunder, bright flashes of lightening, rain pelting the RV metal roof and high winds.  After 2 very close strikes we discussed if we'd get fried if lighting hit the RV.  The hope was that the electric hookup ground would divert a strike.  Still not sure if that would help but at the time made us feel better.  We pulled up the weather channel on our phone and saw a tornado warning for our area.  Contemplated a dash to the brick shower house but decided the tornados rarely hit trailer parks so we took our chances with laying in our warm and dry bunks.  The next day the manger told us the storm set a record number of lightning strikes and a tornado touched down 10 miles north of us. The next morning the small creek 30 feet from our site was roaring with water. 

This major storm forced a rest day on March 9th and gave us an opportunity to drive into Gulfport Mississippi to buy a new rear wheel and fix a broken spoke on the one I borrowed from Rick.   Aaron had about 15 flat tires to my 1 flat but my 3 broken wheels are much more of a bummer.  About 2 weeks ago I broke the hub flange on my wheel.  Aaron lent me a delicate racing wheel that quickly started to wobble.  A few days later Rick brought a 28 spoke wheel.  It was a bit sturdier but busted a spoke after a week.  I went back to using Aaron's wheel after trueing the wobble but after 2 days the wheel bearing went making it unrideable.  Luckily we found a gem of a bike shop called Competition Sports.  Robert Driskell fixed Rick's wheel and sold us a sturdy 32 spoke rear wheel.  Robert also helped me with a Specialized cycling shoe insert that helped with some mild arch pain and toe numbness when riding hard.

After an added day of rest and the bike in working order we heeded the call of the rooster had Lenny's eggs in a hole and departed on Thursday for a planned  92 mile ride with our 2 new companions.  This would be our longest day of the trip (and the longest self supported touring day for Nicole and Judy too).  Weather today was on our side.  We had a 10mph perfect tailwind all day.  After some initial hills we were lucky to have flat riding all the way to the gulf coast town of Bayou La Batre!

New pictures up

New pictures (captions and location tags updated too) from the last 2 weeks have been added to the picasa web album.

Well deserved day off!

Friday March 4th Rest day in St. Francisville LA (3V Tourist Court)

We've been out of touch recently as we've been putting in over time to make up miles on the smaller hills of East Texas and even flatter low lands of Louisiana.  In the last 8 days we have covered 509 miles with a pedaling time of 46 hours.  The 46 hours doesn't include the time when we pull over for rest along the road, go into stores, stop to talk to people along the route, roadside phone/e-mail etc.  The total time from saddling up to arriving at our destination for the last 8 days is 68 hours.  Luckily the weather has been nearly perfect with sunny skies and light winds until the rain hit today on our planned rest day.   We've also had the good fortune of being well fueled by a large shipment of home made goodies from both of our families!

Due to putting in overtime on the road and extremely spotty cell coverage keeping in touch has been difficult and we feel pretty bad about that.  We're planning on updating pictures and doing a more thorough update of the great people we've met and places we've seen very soon.

A Big Texas Welcome

We've had a great time enjoying the company of new and old friends recently so blogging has suffered.  Rick just wrote up a nice overview of the incredible time we had at Camp for All outside of Houston TX.  Here is the link with picture   Camp for All story 

Valentines Day

Monday Feb 14 Langtry to Amistad National Recreation Area (American RV campground)

Around noon we met Bonnie and Orley a couple in a large motor home parked alongside the road taking a break to walk their dog.  Orley is an experienced bicycle tourist from Ticonderoga NY who road cross country a few times in the past.  The couple sold their house a few years back and have been enjoying the nomadic lifestyle escaping the cold snowy North Country winters then traveling back to NY in the spring stopping to see family that are spread out through the country on their way home.  They take their bikes with them and use them to explore along the way.  We happened upon them just as we planned to break out some military rations for lunch.  They invited us to have sandwiches, soda and some chips instead.  We had a nice time meeting them and having a break from the MRE meals!

After the break I was energized to ride briskly to the town of Comstock as I had 2 Valentines Day care packages waiting and I didn't want to chance arriving after it closed...and I couldn't remember if that was 4 or 5pm so I road a time trial pace for the next 10 miles and arrived 10 minutes before 4pm.  I Stuffed my panniers with the package from Dianne and Susan and had a big Christmas morning when your 8 years old grin on my face all the way to camp!  (I did share...see pic)

Bright skies and more friends

Sunday Feb 13th Sanderson to Langtry

The weather has drastically changed for the better as our only worries today were if I covered up with enough sunscreen.  It felt so good to be hot...unfortunately Aaron doesn't agree as he doesn't do as well in the heat so we need to keep enough water on hand so he can dump it on his head to stay cool.

About mid ride we bumped into 3 more really nice cross country cyclists who were heading west a day behind Steve and Luke.  Daniel Young is an artist (painter) from Chicago who has been on the road since September (in picture with Aaron).  Coincidentally Daniel travelled with Big Ring Bob who I had planned to travel with until he had to cut his journey short.  The other two riders were Walter and Sarah both fellow New Yorkers (Catskills) who left from New York riding down the Atlantic coast to St.  Augustine then headed west.  They were all over 3000 miles into their journeys!  It was fun to hear their travel stories about the people and places they have seen down the road.

More kind souls

Friday Feb 11th.  Fort Davis to Marathon

While leaving Fort Davis I stopped in a small shop and finally found the perfect Valentines Day card.  I'd stopped in 4 other stores in the past week with no luck and was getting a bit stressed about not finding the right one.

Saturday Feb 12 Marathon to Sanderson

Today was our earliest arrival to camp (about 3 hours before sunset).  It was nice to have time to ride around town and check out the local businesses.  The 55 miles on route 90 had minimal traffic and was mostly downhill or flat.  We dropped about 1300ft in elevation today and tomorrow we'll lose another 1300 ft as we drop off this plateau that we've been on since our ride to up to Three Way, Arizona on January 28th.  For over 2 weeks we haven't spent any time below 3,500 ft until today (and spent a great deal of the time between 4000-6000ft).  We hope the time and exercise at altitude makes riding easier as we head closer to sea level  

I don't recall seeing more than 2 houses once out of Marathon until we hit the outskirts of Sanderson.  Once in Sanderson we biked a mile from the campground to Cheli's restaurant that had excellent home made pizza and my 1st salad in over a week (with these really tasty hot peppers).  Lenny went to pay for dinner and the owner told him about how her daughter was also paralized in a car accident.  She wished us well on our journey, thanked us for spreading the message of hope for those who are injuried and insisted on buying our dinner.

Outside the restaurant we met Luke and Steve, two really cool adventurous guys from St. Louis Missouri who are riding cross country in the other direction.  We enjoyed their company and would write more about but Luke isn't as far behind with his blog as I am so I'll cheat and just give you his blog address for more details about todays encounter.  http://plantandpedal.blogspot.com   Luke and Steve's blog 

"Baby Wipe Blues"

Thursday Feb 10. Cielo Ranch driveway to Fort Davis

Desolate scenic rt 118 from Kent past the Mc Donald Observatory to the town of Fort Davis is one of the top rides of the trip.  The route is 57 miles long and has just a sprinkling of very large ranches. I could count the number of trucks I saw on one hand (No cars seen today... it seems there are only a hundred or so cars in the whole state of Texas).  The route does make you work for the spectacular views.  Of the 1st 37 miles from Kent to the observatory about 20 were uphill.

We've been dealing with freezing temperatures and lack of running water from burst water pipes at the RV parks as well as frozen water in the RV ever since leaving Las Cruces on Sunday.  So for the last 4 nights we've been singing Brandon's made up song "The Baby Wipe Blues".  Huggies have been our only method of staying clean but tonight we had a real shower.   I now have an appreciation for hot running water in a way I could not have understood before this trip.

Cold weather continues

Wednesday Feb 9th

Interstate 10 exit 159 truck stop to Cielo Ranch driveway 6 miles East of Kent TX

Worked on Aaron's shift and brake cables in the RV with the heat blasting while we waited for the weather to warm up.  Despite waiting til 2pm to start it was still only in the mid 20's and felt colder due to a 20-30mph headwind the 1st 18 miles. 

We welcomed the mostly uphill journey today as it made it bearable trying to stay warm.  About 6 miles into the climb I found a concrete bridge that had a nook isolated from the bitter cold wind and the concrete was soaking up the sun all morning.  It felt like heated mini fort and gave an opportunity to warm up and catch up on blogging as Aaron ground his way up the mountain.

Due to the cold, wind, hills and late start we only managed 24 miles today but we did manage to finish the stretch on Interstate 10 and find quiet roads.  Since we finished in the middle of nowhere we just camped in the RV off the road with no houses in site.  We ran the generator all night with the electric heater blasting to defrost our bodies.

Dust storm

Tue Feb 8th

Quitman Mountains interstate 10 rest stop to Interstate 10 exit 159 truck stop

Based on our start and stop points today we are in fairly desolate country.  The only town of any significant size during our 63 mile ride was Van Horn TX so while in the town we stopped to eat our military rations and for ice cream at the Dairy Queen.

We talked with a few people who wished us well.  Gayla a local from Van Horn was one of them and she kindly bought us ice cream as well as arranged for us to talk with a Larry Simpson a reporter for the Van Horn Advocate newspaper.

On our way out of town I saw my 1st "Dusk devil" (see pic).  That mini twister was the 1st sign of rapidly changing weather.  Initially we liked the weather change as strong winds from our back blew us out of Van Horn making easy to coast along at 20mph with pleasant temperatures around 65.  But about 5 miles from the finish there was a sudden shift and we got a 20-30 mph head wind and the temps dropped instantly 25-30 degrees.  I went from comfortable wearing shorts and a jersey to being cold despite putting on pants, jacket, winter hat and fleece gloves.  I've never experienced such a rapid weather change!

"Coyote" the other kind

Monday Feb 7

El Paso to Malone Mountains (hwy 10 rest area -RV camping)

Riding very close to the Mexican border today.  Weather was warm early today so we got an early start on this relatively flat route.  Today we put in 78 miles our longest of the trip so far. 

Border patrol spotted Lenny with our RV parked for an extended time on a lightly traveled small farm road close to the border.  He had a helicoptor hover near by and border patrol agents stop him as he acted like many of the "coyotes" the term they use for people who pick up illegal Mexicans and drive them to drop off zones.

Rockford Illinois ch 13 story

 Pop Up Video 

See link above for a nicely done story about the trip and interviews from Aaron's family.

Trujillo family kindness continues

Sunday Feb 6th

Las Cruces to El Paso (Roadrunner RV)

The day started with an all star breakfast with Rubin Trujillo's family.  He whipped up pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, home fries and to top it off Lupe's home made salsa.  The salsa was so much better than any I've ever had from a store.  She was kind enough to share her recipe and it seems something I'd even be capable of making. 

Everyone in the family was so kind and they all have a great sense of humor.  After a restful night, refueling and well wishes the spirits were high. We departed Rubin's home under bright skies and warm temperatures (a welcome return to the weather I took for granted the 1st 3 weeks of the trip).  Rubin and Gabe gave us great directions for the scenic route that would relink us to the Adventure Cycling Route.  It took us down a lightly traveled road through dense Pecan Groves.  We cruised down valley roads with a strong wind mercifully at our backs had intermittent views of the growing rocky Franklin Mountains that tower over El Paso.  This was a payback ride and we enjoyed traveling 18-23mph for 2 hours without much effort. 

We had stop in El Paso for an interview with the local Fox Station.  The traffic was heavy but curteous until 4pm.  Unfortunately we we're missing the 1st half of Superbowl Sunday but the benefit was vanishing traffic.  We cleaned up quickly in time to catch the game at end of the 3rd quarter at an enjoyably crowded sports bar.

Las Cruces/El Paso PBS story

 Las Cruces/ El Paso Story You Tube link

Still without a 3G data so we'll catch up on blog posts once we get to Alpine TX the next town of significant size.  The video link was from a story they ran a few days ago when we were interviewed leaving Las Cruces NM

Silver City Daily Press Article on the trip

 * THE SILVER CITY DAILY PRESS LINK*

One correction on the story.  We bought mace after being chased by a vicious dog but haven't had a need to use it.

They took a pretty good pic of us on one of the worst weather days of the trip.

I'm a little behind on Blogging as Roux has been keeping a quick pace on the recently flatter roads.  We road 140 miles in just the last 2 days.  We also lost 3G data in rural west Texas so we can't upload pictures until we get to a bigger town.

Old Man Winter

Tue Feb 1st. Silver City to Deming

We left Bobby's house today late waiting for the temperature to rise but it was still just below freezing with light snow falling around 1pm so we bundled up.  Aaron broke out his balaclava and I taped the bottom of his Gortex Army pants to keep the wind out.  Initial rolling hills and a moderate tailwind the 1st 20 miles made it easier to stay warm. 

We had one 30 minute stretch going through a dark storm front when the wind switched to a headwind and the snow began to fall heavily causing trouble seeing.  As a precaution we put on the rear blinkers.  Aarons tail light is nearly blinding to me at night.  My blinker is pretty good and I put on the florescent yellow coat as an extra precaution.

Once we pushed through the storm front the wind switched back to helping us and we had a nice gradual downhill the last 10 miles or so into Deming.

Wednesday and Thursday the weather hit 25 year historic lows. High temps only hit the low 20's for brief periods of time mid day and they were combined with 20-30mph winds out the East.  This forced us to take 2 extra unplanned rest days but we made the most of it by catching up on well deserved sleep and some serious eating!

Silver City Oasis

After a great nights sleep at Bobby's house we were off to Jose Barrios Elementary School where we were warmly greeted by the principal Michael Corey (a good friend of Bobby), all of the friendly teachers and a polite assembly of about 100 elementary school children.  They had lots of great questions and everyone was so supportive and enthusiastic.  This warm reception continued when we were greated at G.W. Stout Elementary where Bobby teaches.  It was a lot of fun to see all the young enthusiastic students and we appreciate the encouragement they gave us!

After the school event Pete donated some hard to find 650C tires and Bobby's parents Mike and Taffy brought over a huge mexican food feast.

After 2 nights at the "Oasis" in Silver City we were so much more freshed and rejuvenated by the kindness the Trujillo family and Pete showed us.  We can't thank them enough for their kindness and help they provided to support our efforts.

Refueling and recharging

We're dealing with extreme cold and winds in Deming NM so we plan to take today and tomorrow off and catch up on resting and other details that fall to the back burner when we're riding every day.  Some of the links on the right side of the blog have been updated -see Jeff's web album and a new You Tube video. 

The pic above is dessert from the incredible dinner Taffy made (Bobby's mom)