We made it!

We made it! wooo. can't believe it is over and i had such great people to journey with and see the US with.

Thanks for following me can't wait to see all my friends and fam in the rest of my journeys this summer!

one more day... wow. can't believe we aree almost there. We are staying stone mountain state park about 57 miles from winston salem...

Recap...applachian mountains were hard. We took the creeper trail from damacus to whitetop gap.

The night before stayed at a bike hostel and met some people from alaska! crazy!

This trip has been an eye opening experience can't wait to to tell everyone more details when i see you all!

Hanging out at the settlement school in our chairs in hindman.

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Welcome to virginia!

1000 miles

1000 miles the big hills and virginia!

1000 miles and the big hills. We crossed one of the steepest sections of the mountains today (according to the map). We pedaled through little valleys and it was really nice.

We kept leap frogging wendy and sam(a couple from PA we have been traveling near). After an afternoon deluge we decided that the mom's idea to stay at the breaks motel was great.

We sat out some storms at the local barbeque pit yum and are now sitting at the laundromat. We are in virginia now!

Not good enough service to post pictures....will update tomorrow!

Free Camping...woo!

Made it to hindman KY. There were a few really long steep climbs at the beginning of the day today, but they were really beautiful.

We then rode on this really awful big road with no shade. The last 12 miles were mostly shaded and down hill.

We had heard the guy in the historic society would let you camp in his yard...but also heard he was crazy! so the mom found the best freee spot at the settlement school. We are hanging out in the shade under a huge tree ...it eveb protected us from the afternoon rainfall. Tomorrow we will ride out of KY into virginia! wooo breaks interstate park.

Mountains...day 1

i survived the first day of the hills. Despite all my nervousness today we had a beautiful 70 mile ride to buckhorn KY. It is hard to believe it is almost over.

I am about to hit my 1000 miles mark as katy nears in on almost 4000. I feel kinda lame, but ot has still been awesome....

I took pictures on the real camera but forgot the phone ones for the blog. sorry!

ahhh mountains!

Arrived in Berea after a crazy night of 4th of July camping. Went for a swim, showered, ate an awesome lunch at this little cafe, explored the town...cute, and hit up walmart. Endured a small rain storm sitting in the car and did laundry.

A successful day....tomorrow..the appalachians!

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Katy doing the disco in the pavillion!

Katy with the centerpiece on her head...happy 4th!

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Catching up part 1.

Oh man! well it has been a rough couple of days for cellphone service. On the 3rd we had a quick ride to bardstown. Where we stayed at the days in, did laundry, ate at mammy's place (yum), and got ice cream.

The fourth of july was not so patriotic for us. We had dreams of riding through parades and attending barbeque, but all failed. Instead we fixed dollar store flags to our bicycles and pedaled to a campground 4 miles past burgin, KY.

The mom had our tents all set up. We showered and headed for the restuarant. That is where we discovered berry fried pie. sooooooo delicious.

We played cribbage and hung out under the pavillon in the shade. Then headed for bed. As soon as it got dark the people next to the campground were setting off fireworks in their backyard. The mom was concerned about the sparks falling on our tent and I could not sleep because the dog was barking for at least an hour. We marched to the front, the mom demanded we move our tents. We moved our tent & slept.

can't write a long blog...bad cell service. Near harrodsburg or ville KY. happy 4th! will post epic photos tomorrow.

Camp chairs and new car mats!

Old picture forgot to post...fully loaded day 1 with panniers.

POOL!

Apparently there was a lot of activity last night after I entered my benedryl coma. There was blaring johnny cash and lots of goofing around in the other tent which was only and ear shot away in case the creatures of the night came for me.

I woke up after a glorious night sleep...katy and the mom..not so much. As katy and I started pedaling toward hodgedenville we found the terrian was perfect for quick pedaling. We quickly passed many cyclists a total of 11 for the day and heard from the mom that there was a pool next to where we camping. I immediately jumped on the front of the train and pedaled as quickly as you can on a touring bike with no functional big ring toward the POOL. randomly throughout the ride we would remember the pool and scrream POOL and pedal faster. We arrived a quick 57 miles later at a nice city park.

We hung out in the pool, found some showers and I learned to play cribbage and won two games woo. Tomorrow a quick ride to bardstown. We got american flags!

Kentucky fried chicken...crazy dogs.

After our amazing stay at the bike hostel. We took off for an anticipated 80 miles to the rough river state park. The mom took off to try and fight the fourth of july campers for a spot and do some shopping for us and we pedaled onward.

The mom arrived to a full campground and explained to the old man in the booth our situation. Determined to help us out the man made us a nice spot right near the entrance to the park.

It was a rather uneventful day minus two dog attacks. One took a pretty severe nip towards my heel and the other katy and I nearly ran over on our bikes.

As katy and i were sitting in these awesome chairs in front of the grocery store....Camping chairs. We immediately called the mom and she picked us up some camp chairs....AWESOME. Tomorrow a shorter day then a hotel for the 3rd , glorious!

Katy on the ferry across the ohio river :)

The town of Dixon..haha

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Kentucky...woo!

We awoke to another awesome morning at the cave in rock state park. Despite my imaginary raccoon nightmares and waking up katy in the middle of the night we had a good night sleep.

We crossed the ferry this morning and heard an interesting story about a cylist that swam across the ohio river because he was determined to do it on his own. Riding this morning was awesome :) Nice rolling hills as we entered kentucky. We powered through a pretty quick day passing through the town called Dixon...woo.

We ended up staying at this biker hostel in sebree KY at the first baptist church. AMAZING! There were showers, laundry, matresses, this awesome hang out area, and more! To top it all off the pastor and his wife invited us over to their home for dinner. In the words of katy and her mom...glorious! The mom made it here just in time for dinner with the sag wagon...so much excitement for one day I am sure I forgot something.

Looking out of the cave.

Down by the banks

Apple by the Ohio river.

Raccoons and Caves.

Last night i was awoken by the very unpleasant sound of a raccoon breaking into our baby wipes. I immediately woke katy who decided it was nothing to worry about. I tried to scare the coon away with a head lamp. Next thing you know he was patrolling our panniers....so annoying. Finally fell back asleep and woke up to another glorious day.

Began pedaling out of goreville toward cave in rock. The climbs were long but not soo steep that I was in agony. All in all it was an awesome ride to cave in rock. We hit a few steep climbs as we were arriving into town, but after all the things I have biked up what is one more?

We found that the park had a restuarant and a cave. We set up our tent and headed for food. The food was delcious all the while I was icing my heat rash suggeststed by Dr. K (Alexis' dad). We hiked down to the cave and found some awesome views of the river.

Maggie 1st pic is for you..remember all that talk fresh. year about squiggles? they do exsist in rare mini marts.

Apple on the road... a little finger in the picture. Oh well.

Another successful 70 miles.

Woke up after a glorious night sleep at the best western and headed out of chester (home of popeye). Had a quick flat 25 miles or so and arrived in murphysbourgh just before 11.

We were extremally disappointed to find out that this town of 10,000 did not have a place to get breakfast. So we went to walgreens grabbed some snacks and headed out of town.

We hit some rolling hills and the heat picked up. Just outside of our final destination when we were hungry hot and tired we hit some HUGE rollers. Up and down we went all the way to goreville.

Talking to some locals at the market we got some advice on a good place to eat in town.We arrived at the restaurant and were not dissappointed . I chowed down half a rack of ribs, mashed potatoes and baked beans. Then katy and i finished off spliting a bluberry cobbler and a delcious piece of chocolate cake, yum. Stomachs full we very slowly pedaled the 2 miles into our campsite . Happily restin now. Tomorrow ...cave in rock.

POPEYE!

We were kept up a large portion of the night by thunderstorms or worry of thunderstorms. We decided to stay in a hotel tonight to avoid any chance of storms and air out our things.

This morning we got a late start (around 1030) because we had to wait for a storm to pass. Heading out on the tail of the storm. We immediately hit a huge hill coming out of the park.

We journeyed through some rolling hills (not as big a yesterday) and rushed to get to chester fearing other storms would pop up.

We came into a flat area and found ourselves mashing on the pedals into chester IL ...home of popeye! We r relaxing in our hotel watching hoarders. My heat rash has not gotten any worse ....thanks for the tips gram!

BEE STING

my bee sting from two days ago...huge!

Panniers!

Panniers are heavy! Today was a long day for me. As we went up and down the ozaraks I learned what katy and her mom have been doing for 2700 miles and I am continually amazed.

We arrived into the st francois state park just as a thunderstorm was rolling in. Trying to find a solution to my non itchy heat rash. I immediately called gram to get the nursing perspective on the situation. As the storm began to rage outside we realized the tent was about to be in a river and had to flee to higher ground.

Hopefully we wont see any more storms tonight and the weather will hold off until we nestled in a hotel bed tomorrow afternoon

A suspicious thump

Nice relaxing 50 mile day...I have a confession to make, there is blood on my hands. I killed a squirel today. We were descending and all the sudden a Russel and a thump later bye bye squirely! I was screaming for about a mile then laughing for another.

Decided to stay in the super8 and thank goodness it was hailing. We will see what tomorrow brings! Onward toward st. Francis state park.

Donuts! Part 2.

we traveled on through troy and wright city. When were 5 miles from marthasville we recevied a troubling call from the sag car that there might not be somewhere to stay in marthasville and we have to pedal on 8 more miles to washington. Arriving at the katy trail i found a brochure that said there was camping and water here. I promptly ran across the street to ask at the deli and was pleasantly informed we could camp almost exacly where our bikes were.

The car arrived and we chowed down on black bean borritos yum. Took a water bottle shower which was pleasantly refreshing. We hung out in the goofing around tent and will now be lulled to sleep by the sounds a the concert across the park. A very long and trying day for me but well worth it. Tomorrow only 50 miles to a state park near sullivan!

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Donuts! part 1.

This morning I started out nice a fresh after a great night sleep at the river edge motel along the mississippi river. Nora had been up from her boot camp alarm and had already located a donut shop in town. The three of us took off into town and quickly purchased a dozen donuts. We consumed as many donuts as we could and packed the rest for the road.

We got into the rolling hills of missouri and found some of the most amazing riding that I have ever done. We quickly started chipping away at our set. After the newbie (me) firgured out a secure bungee system.

40 miles and a few bridges under construction later we arrived at the state park where noras car was park. The mom decided she was done...(see katys blog for coming details) and she decided we should continue on to marthasville . Side note the mom is awesome and could probably kick my butt on a bike. She will be returning to sag us toward the end of our trip.

As katy and I rode on we peddled up and down the hills..

I did get a little sunburned. I apolgize if this is confusing. To clarify...nora and christine are jumping the car in front of us and riding backwards to meet us everyday.

Tomorrow we are headed farther south to possibly another hotel. There is apparently no camping in the town we may end up in.

For more details...read katy and the mom's blog at http://twosurlysagirlyandamom@blogspot.com not sure if those slashes are in the right direction.

Until tomorrow!

8.7 sets

So today I realized that 15 years of swimming really has played a role on how I exercise. 90 miles is really just 9 sets of 10! Today we left from hamilton, IL and headed for missouri.

We started out with a few road closures from landslides that we could go through. We were supposed to cross into missouri after the 5th set or so...but there was apparently no road on the other side. So instead we happily stayed on the IL side of the river where it was nice and flat.

When we finally reached the bridge to cross over the mississippi nora was standing there saying "I am not going over that bridge" It was a small bridge and since katy and the mom had done some much scarier bridges. We flagged down a car to follow us and go slow to protect us from the other cars behind.

Just over the bridge we found the rivers edge motel our final destination for the day. We found a hotel room with 3 double beds so we are all enjoying our own beds.

We made spaghetti with awesome sauce our porch.

The fire...day one

Day 1

I survived riding day 1! We made it to hamilton, IL today. About 72 miles from where we stayed last night. All day katy and jayne were raving about the lack of panniers. It made me a little nervous about what is to come. It was a long but comfortable day with rain on and off.

Towards the end of the day we rode through a huge bunch of may flies for about 3 miles by the mississippi river.

For dinner, nora made us true brats! The food has been amazing. After what felt like hours of work trying to get a fire going katy and i had given up hope to sit and watch it smoke. All of the sudden, it caught! So thanks to the little dry wood nora brought us we defeated the wet wood and got the fire going.

Tomorrow we will try and push ahead between 80 and 90 miles. We are trying to get a lot of miles in before we loose the car and have to carry our panniers.

We found them!

made it to iowa! we will be car camping and not carrying gear for the next five days! Thank you aunt nora! pancakes for breakfast were amazing. Our final destination...is winston salem NC! First day first state line. 74 miles is the plan crossing into IL.

Here we go!

Well, all minor catastrophies aside...aka a small piece of my bike breaking last night. I made it to the airport. I really hope my bike makes it on the plane. Because I am really to tired to deal with lost baggage. ;) Meeting nora upon arrival then making the 5 to 6 hour drive to somewhere in Iowa. here we go

This is the green machine