48 Down

Tomorrow marks the day I reenter Nebraska for the last couple days of my ride.  My mom came and rode saturday and sunday with me.  She made 90 miles the first day from Columbia to Kirksville and then we both did about 40 the next day.  The winds were strong the second day and one of the roads was pretty rough and draining.  I was unsure if I would quit but decided it would be most beneficial to go ahead and ride a few miles to get me back on schedule to finish and allow my mom and grandpa to get back to Nebraska.  It was a good thing I did because at the edge of town there was a 50 mile detour that would have taken me into a headwind for half of it.  

Upon entering Illinois I found my tire tread was peeling off the tire, much like a retreaded car tire does.  I swapped out with a spare set and noticed my rear rim was once again cracked.  This perplexed me since I dropped a lot of gear and have ridden nicer roads and trails since Ithaca.   I also had only gone a couple thousand miles.  I decided to ride to Missouri, where I would meet my mom and have her bring a spare bike for me to finish out the last week of the trip without risking too much on the rim.  When I left St Louis to meet her, I decided to check out a bike shop that was en route - Wheel Sports.  

They were setting up shop as I pulled up and greeted me with warm smiles and much encouragement.  We talked about my trip a bit and I informed them of my rim dilemma.  I had trouble reaching Trek, so I decided to take care of the rim myself if possible.  The shop didn't have a rim for me but called another nearby shop, which had one in stock.  The owner, Kim, drove me over to the shop.   That shop gave me the rim at cost, saving me about 50% of the cost.  We went back to the Wheel Sports shop and got the bike going with the new rim and tuning up everything else.  Steve, the manager/mechanic and I hit it off and worked on my bike together and swapped stories of life on bikes and life in general.  Before I knew it, I had spent 5 hours in the shop.  I needed to get going so I could meet my mom and grandpa in Columbia so we could make Kirksville the next day.

The bike worked great and Steve and Kim were great and very encouraging in my ride.  It was yet another Godwink and encouragement to why I am on this trip and to keep my morale strong to finish.  

Tomorrow I get to my uncle's place in Omaha, then an aunt's in Lincoln, then home.  It should be around 200 miles left.  I'm anxious to have the opportunity to have a break where I won't have to get on the road within a couple of days.  

I hope to update a couple more times before the end of the trip.  I promise to update the map, some photos, and a wind up entry after the trip is over, so keep checking back for a while after the trip is over to find stat updates and a few more surprises.  

Fire, Fire

The map is updated again, except for a town or two I couldn't remember off hand.  I now have less than a week to go.  My final ride day is set for Thursday, where I will be riding up to Paddock Lane Elementary, greeted by the kids, who will then host a Q&A.  I am excited for the end and can't believe it is so close. 

Today I completed what may be my last century ride for the trip.  I went 105 miles.  It was a fairly level ride and about a third of it was on trails, which made it nice.  The ride could've been shorter had I not take the trails, but then I would have been on busier St Louis area highways.  I rode a portion of the Lewis and Clark trail again, as well as the Missouri River Trail.  I crossed into Missouri where the two Great Rivers converge.  I then shortly had a flat due to road debris, which was highly prevalent on the Missouri side at the beginning.  It slowly went away the further into the state I rode.  

Yesterday I rode about 95 miles to Carlyle Lake, the biggest lake in Illinois.  I rode there from Red Hills State Park, the highest point between St Louis and Cincinnati - 900ft.  The night at Red Hills ended up being free because the camp host was never on duty when I went there.  I even waited for over an hour one time.  

Tonight I tried to wash my clothes.  I put them in the washer and then went to do other things.  I came back a half hour later and found the washing machine smoking and not spinning.  I wrung my clothes out and threw them in the dryer.  They appeared to be rinsed, just not spun dry.  I then waited for a half hour for the washer to stop smoking and borrowed a fan to air out the place.  The people running the place were no help.  Oh well, nothing burned down and my clothes seem to be clean enough.  

MI2

I am now down to three states!  Less than 1,000 miles!  In two days I will be in Illinois!  This is crazy to think about.  

The last few days have been rewarding but challenging.  The hills finally started to die down today.  They were quite numerous and challenging.  My energy has been low, but my morale has been high, except when completely drained of energy.  The weather has been quite hot, but occasionally I have had drops of rain.  Last night while camping I sweated until about 4 in the morning it was so hot.  It was even supposed to rain during the night, but only occasional showers came.  

The last couple of days seemed to be move-in day for a few universities.  I rode through a couple of towns that had some backed up streets due to college traffic.  It was quite amusing to see how many of them were on their phones while driving.  

The Final K

I will be camping along the Virginia/West Virginia border tomorrow night if all goes well.  Yesterday I crossed over skyline drive and made it to Shenandoah Valley.  The ride wasn't too bad though I rode a little harder than I probably should have.  The climb over skyline drive was about five miles long, though not too challenging at this point in my ride.  The more challenging one was the four mile climb on the other side of the drive that I wasn't expecting.  The ride today was a bit harder and more taxing on me.  I had a hard time riding and that coupled with the 10-15 mph headwind, I got drained early.  Hopefully I can recuperate tonight and be able to make all the climbs across West Virginia.  

I am excited to be so close to the finish but am having a hard time making sure I don't push myself too hard and exhaust all the energy I need to be able to finish strong.  Today I had to remind myself to slow down and not get stressed that I couldn't make it further than I did.  I am still on schedule to finish before labor day, even with today's shorter ride.  

While in the DC area I received a handlebar bag I had ordered.  I was able to switch that out and rotate my tires, making my bike ready for the final stretch.  My pedals are on the way out and while in Delaware I had one repacked, though the bushing is pretty worn still.  I'm hoping they will last till the end of the trip.  Everything else seems to be holding out and working good, for the most part.  

48 is Looking Great

I am now to state 41 and will be in 42 this evening.  Currently it is storming outside, but I am hoping it will clear in another hour or two so I can make the full ride without assistance today.  I am planning on getting to a suburb of DC to stay with my friend Bill.  He and a couple other friends of our family just finished a coast-to-coast tour a couple of weeks ago.  

After leaving Atlantic City I had a nice ride over to the coast and along the shore for quite a ways.  I went through Ocean City, which was very beautiful and bicycle friendly.  The day had started out foggy in places and I had to ride through some patches with low visibility, but it made parts of the ride more beautiful as I could see hills enshrouded in a mist.  It had a serene yet eery feeling.  I then proceeded to cut across southern New Jersey to Cape May.  I was hoping to get to the ferry for the 1pm ferry so I wouldn't have to wait till 2:30.  It was a 1 1/2 hr ferry ride and then I needed to find a place to stay.  I arrived to the entrance at about 10 minutes till, but needed a picture of the Welcome to NJ sign.  I stopped and took that and then talked to a guy in a truck who has done some touring.  I then proceeded to the ticket line and purchased a ticket.  I got there just in time, went outside, and boarded.  I was let on right as I stepped over to the line and then they started loading cars.  I tied up my bike, went to the middle deck, found a bench outside, and we were off.  It was a very smooth ride and I could rarely tell I was on a boat.  I researched where I could stay for the evening and got some results.  Once I was off I proceeded towards Georgetown to stay for the evening.

I left the next day for northern Delaware and my warmshowers hosts of Pat and Karen.  I got in mid-afternoon and Pat and I began sharing stories of the road and continued to all night long.  We eventually went to bed after deciding when I would leave tomorrow.  

Pat, his daughter, and her friend, all decided to join me on my way off and showed me the backroads out of town.  They rode about 10 miles with me and then turned back and I was on my way.  I was now in Maryland and proceeded to head towards Baltimore.  There is only one place on the east side of Maryland a bicyclist can cross the bay and the Susquehanna river.  I headed that way and then turned south east to highway 40 into Baltimore.  Once in Baltimore I made my to some bike trails and over towards the airport.  After a dead end on the google route and a detour I eventually made my place to stay.  In downtown Baltimore I was greeted by a guy who seemed a little crazy and was yelling at me as he crossed the street.  I couldn't make out what he was saying at first, but then I realized the voice sounded threatening, but the words were telling me to push it and keep going.  As I got closer he asked if I was touring, which took me off guard because he did not act or look like he would know what that was.  I said yes and he said "obscenity yeah man, looking good."  This gave me a chuckle as I continued to climb past him.

A Night in the Life of a Horror Film

Riding into New York for a second time the other day I was greeted by a scene straight out of a Hollywood horror film.  I rode by the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Facility which was closed down, had vines growing all over it, and was the typical uninviting brick buildings.  A mile down the road I found a mom and pop motel that I pulled into for the day.  There was a man sitting at a picnic table out front who said he would get the manager for me.  He immediately went calling for Chuckie.  What a name to have near a psychiatric ward.  Chuckie turned out to be a nice guy, but it just played in so well.  Later that night I lost power in my room.  Shortly thereafter a storm blew in with thunder and lightning immediately outside.  I couldn't help but laugh at all the similarities between here and the horror films.

Needless to say, I survived the night and left in good humor the next day.  That day I rode about a third or so of the day on bike trails all the way in to just north of Harlem.  I then crossed the George Washington bridge into New Jersey and rode to Newark to find a place to say.  I was greeted on the bridge by the New York skyline, a place I had lived near a couple years earlier.  The ride that day was quite normal, except that I lost one of my wonderful Reef sandals with the internal pockets.  This put a damper on the day.  

I then headed down to central New Jersey and ended up staying at a campground for two nights because I had such trouble finding a place to stay.  I got the last site in the grounds and I couldn't find a motel room in the area.  This proved to be a great endeavor as I had a group of four families for neighbors who were quite friendly.  Joe and his wife, my closest neighbors even gave me breakfast and dinner on saturday.  I hung out with the gang and shared stories around the campfire that night and it made the ridiculous cost of the campsite seem less bad.  

Today I rode some beautiful roads, used mostly by bikers and cyclists, most of the way to Atlantic City.  The back roads of New Jersey have been a pleasant experience and a good break from the stresses of the big city on the north.  Tomorrow I get to ride a ferry over to Delaware and meet state number 40 in my tour.  

Ups and Downs

As I swooped down into Rhode Island yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by how much it had to offer.  I was not surprised to see that it had no welcome sign on the highway I rode in on, however.  As I gently rode along the many hills and river lined roads and trails I was placed into a state of contentment and enjoyment that is very necessary at this stage in my journey.  As I near the end of my trip it becomes more difficult to focus on each day as it comes and not desire to press on to the end.  

As I left Rhode Island I was greeted by numerous more hills that rolled through the state of Connecticut.  I was warned of this by some cyclists in the Boston area as I left.  While the hills are not always tortuous like they once were, they are a constant workout.  I was pleased to find a rail-trail I was able to use for about 15 miles.  While I did have one long, gradual climb over the last half of the trail, it took out the numerous hills I would've had had I stayed on the highways.  It was a crushed gravel trail, but well maintained and easy to ride.  I just had to keep an eye out for washouts.  The trail caused me to not even realize I was near population centers and blotted out the sounds of the passing cars, giving me an even more relaxing ride.  It then spat me out on a highway, not far from a tri-city area.  The trouble with this was it was 4:30 and the beginning of rush hour.  I rode the sidewalk a lot more than usual and came to a bridge at the perfect time to need to take the sidewalk so as not to make too many drivers mad and to keep my calmness during riding.

I made it through town and took a back highway to another nearby town.  Once out of the tri-city suburbs I was greeted by a narrow, winding, two lane road with hardly any traffic, just off the freeway but enshrouded by so many trees I barely heard the occasional semi roll by.  I then made it into town and had to find a motel since campgrounds are barely existent, poorly maintained, and often overpriced out here.  With a coupon I was able to get a high quality room for half price and relax in a night of luxury, wheeling my bike through their elegant, business guest tailored decor.  I then relaxed for the evening and caught up on the journaling I have recently been neglecting.  

Rhode Island

After a wonderful, refreshing, and relaxing week in Branson, MO, I am back on the road. The time in Missouri was great and the perfect mixture of rest, relaxation, and physicality to give me rest, yet allow me to fall back into riding with no problems. I rode 80 miles into a headwind and along some hills. When I got back to Boston I was debating packing right up and leaving that afternoon and trying to get a few miles down. After thinking it over I decided that wouldn't help enough to justify doing it, so I stuck around. Bob and Emily, the people I was staying with, invited me to go sailing in their boat in the harbor. I decided to take them up on it and it was a great way to finish my breather break. We went to the harbor, hopped on, and set sail. They even allowed me to man the helm for a bit as we circumnavigated an island. The wind was perfect and we were able to average about 6 knots.

I then headed out this morning and used mostly bike paths and a few back roads to get myself into Rhode Island. This is the 49th state I have ever been to in my life and the last one other than Alaska I needed to get to before this trip started. The ride was very scenic and I could tell the break was a good thing. My energy is back and the enjoyment of just hopping on a bike and going were back. I actually rode through the Providence, RI area and got a good view of the downtown skyline on a bridge I crossed. A lot of the day was spent on trails, many of which were in this area. The trails were fairly well maintained and relatively unused. I decided I didn't need to push myself as hard as I wanted to my first day back and so rode until I was out of the metropolis and called it a day.

The tree covered trails and occasionally rivers and streams made for a very relaxing ride through a part of the country I continue to be nervous about due to the population density. If this continues to be the case, I could enjoy this portion a lot more than I thought, except for the expensive camp grounds and motels.