The Last Hurrah and Meandering Musings!

4725 MILES AND 110,000 VERTICAL FT. RAIN, THUNDER, FLOODS, 121 DEGREE DAYS, HEAD WIND…. and YES, I WOULD DO IT AGAIN

I am HOME! there’s no place like home… unfortunately I was not able to click my bike shoes together and appear but rather, spent the day on the airplane…. must admit, it was odd to fly across the country in 6.5 hours after riding the same route in 50 days.  Believe it or not, I prefer the latter.  Now that I am back, somewhat rested, I find myself wishing I were still riding… .seriously, I thought I might never look at a bike again.. but I miss it… oh, and there is that little problem that I am consuming 10000 calories per day and I am not riding.. ay yi yi… I resemble an oompa loompa ( a little taller, but the r..as soon my bike arrives I will be back in the saddle– lets hope it still fits!

this last blog is late… my apologies–I have been procrastinating, mainly because I have been overwhelmed with 2 months of mail, and 2 months of a neglected garden and vineyard but also because one would hope I would end this journey with a deep transformational insight.. Hmmm…. Where DID I put that thought?  Actually, don’t be too disappointed but it wasn’t a major life changing event… just a long meandering adventure…

but first– the last day to the beach… It was thrilling, actually.  We were escorted by the police and all rode the last 5 miles to the water as a group.   Terry, the eldest rider (74) led us in… many folks had friends and family at the gateway out cheering in the rain..we all descended upon the beach in a rainy downpour but it didn’t matter.. pretty exciting actually… there are water spots all over the pics, but I shall admit, it was exhilarating…. the reality of the accomplishment finally sunk in.  I thought about dipping my bike wheel in the Pacific in a rainy drizzle and then 50 days (some great, some not as great) later, in the Atlantic…. goodness gracious.. what was I thinking? (smile).

The last evening in Portsmouth was my 2nd best of the trip (the first being at home with my family in Jackson).  The evening was warm, clear, and Portsmouth is charming.  I wandered downtown with 2 friends to help them shop for presents for their families.  That went well, but then uh oh.. we see an Irish Pub… so what you say? … well unbeknownst to me it is apparently required that you enter.  Damian (the Irishman you may recall from his expression about his sore “arse”) was thrilled because apparently this was a REAL Irish Pub with REAL Irish Guinness… previously I hadn’t realized that other Irish Bars weren’t truly authentic…. but the guys proceeded to demonstrate how to properly drink a Guinness, what the foam is supposed to do, etc…. I did not partake (no surprise) but it did not take long before I was unable to get them to leave to join the group for a lobster dinner.  Being such the bar fly gal that I am, I had no idea it is impossible to leave an Irish Pub.  Lesson learned– do not go into an Irish Pub with an Irishman and an Aussie….(and that is tripled when they are celebrating the fact that they rode their bikes across the states) ay yi yi– makes for a long night

Meandering musings

The ride was A GRAND ADVENTURE…WHAHOO!!!  just exactly what I thrive on…with my missed turns, a few detours, and one day of a major navigation error, I ended up totaling  4725 miles and (ready for this-thank goodness I didn’t know this prior to leaving) 110,000.00 vertical feet of climbing… Ay carumba!!  as an extra bonus, I now am an expert in the various types of road paving; the odd ways States spend redevelopment $$ (for example Idaho has ALL brand NEW road signs for all roads highways and little streets, but they neglected to fix the roads);  the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of the convenience store bathrooms; the price of a small bottle of OJ in every state; the collective friendliness index of the people in various areas, the farming techniques employed to grow corn; the varying architecture of barns and silos.

Buried in there somewhere must be some DEEP meaning?  Sorry to disappoint you but not really… no transformation… I am the same Leslie, just a lot stronger and my clothes are tight around my thighs..Oddly  I still don’t have any CALVES…. what the heck? How is that possible 110,000.00 feet of climbing and no calves.. I give up!  I probably look weathered (as you may recall that was my friend’s reaction when I mentioned I was riding across the country).. but who cares — I would do it again!

The country is beautiful… ALL OF IT.. there are stunning vistas everywhere… difficult to find in some spots but they are there… there are wild flowers all the way across, and there is green everywhere (but California)..There are kind, considerate folks all the way across… some states seem to foster them more than others, but there is a kind heart within most of us… but I already knew that…. the new awareness and cause for concern was the FOOD (or lack thereof) crisis.  Can you believe that I (Ms. chocolate is the #1 food group) am daring to comment about the poor quality of food across the US.  The food from the Oregon border to the New Hampshire border was pretty much crap!  Yes, the organization I went with fed us junk and spent as few $$ as possible, but it seemed as if everyone across the country just eats fast (fake) food.  The healthiest option across the entire continent was Subway (seriously)… there are hundreds of ALL YOU CAN EAT  buffets packed full of families out dining.  White bread, pizza, soda POP, chips are the standard American fare.  There are no healthy options anywhere.  A salad consists of iceberg lettuce and some ranch dressing.  All that farm land and they don’t have tomatoes or any thing in their salads– if they even have salads.  Really weird and worrisome.

the other worry was the economy… it’s seriously hurting… yes, in our bubble of the world everyone has lost half a million on their house, but in real life people are desperate…entire towns in farm areas (all the way to NH) are pretty much wiped out. Empty streets, boarded buildings, isolated, desolate… notably there is always a surviving tattoo parlor and generally a bar or 2 but Norman Rockwell’s heartland Main Street America is no longer.  In New York, there are huge, old, stately farmsteads completely run-down, broken windows, neglected everything and people still living in them.. really really sad.

SO WHAT NOW??? fortunately, you are forced to find a more interesting reality show to follow and I need to focus on my manners and learn how to eat again… in addition to consuming 8-10000 calories per day, I no longer know how to chew.  Basically, I just inhale.  I can’t be seen in a restaurant these days.. it is like eating at the table with your dog!  As I practice sitting at a table, tapering down my intake, and learning to chew, I am considering where I may ride next.  Most likely its going to be Turkey…. anyone care to join me?

thank you thank you thank you for your support of the Boys and Girl’s Club

xoxoxoxooxo leslie

verMOUNT

Ay yi yi… who knew that there were MOUNTAINS… steep ones on the East Coast… 6000 feet of climbing today. I had forgotten.  I always wondered how the Maher brothers were such good skiers without the Rockies to train… but whadda you know… there are some steep climbs here.

Have reached Vermont the home of 2 of my very favorite guys.. Ben and Jerry!!! (smile) and contrary to the belief of every single person who knows me, I have yet to find them and have some ice cream.   Too busy CLIMBING mountains!

FINALLY after 45 days, one can get REAL FOOD in Vermont…they actually eat something other than pizza and white bread here… veggies, fancy schmancy sauces… and of course, Ice Cream (but still haven’t had any- how ironic is that?)

Crossed Vermont in 1 day and then into New Hampshire

New Hampshire was lovely…. Like a giant park… Tall trees, everywhere.

It’s like riding through a forest and every so often you come upon a quaint New England town….. the houses (built-in the mid 1700’s) are close to the road with high front doors…Why?  Did they come up in their carriage and just jump across?? Seriously. Some folks have built steps leading up to the door, but often they don’t appear as if they are used.. just sitting there up in the air.  Almost all of the houses are restored and the barns are connected to the square house with a long breeze-way.  Stunning yards.  The last week rolling through NY along the canal, then climbing in Vermont and New Hampshire has been delightful.  It has rained most days, but the clouds keep the temperature  pleasant and I love the smell and feel of the approaching thunderstorms and all the green.

Picturesque little villages pop out of the trees from time to time..and they have REAL FOOD.  I had my first sandwich with home-made bread, home-made chicken salad and cranberry (sounds New Englandish aye? Wasn’t even thanksgiving) but seriously, lettuce other than iceberg and bread with grains in it.

Hmmm- perhaps there are happy cows in NH as well as CA? (see pic above) I was happy in Manchester as well- another highlight.  My dear friend, Drew, picked me up in his  Lotus with the top down (despite the drizzly weather) and whisked me away (kidnapped as he put it) for a few hours.

What a delightful change.  I felt like Cinderella.  Other than a big SAG van with 11 others at a time, I had not been in a car in 7 weeks… and oh, how I LOVE convertibles.  I am thinking that riding in his car may have been a better way to travel cross-country… let’s see…. 18 MPH vs. 100… actually, I prefer the bike but I loved being taken for a spin and spending a delightful afternoon with his dear family.  We literally ate

“desert first” as we munched on a selection of cheesecake and choc.  Ah, life is grand.  Would have loved to relax and enjoy for a few days, but…. That night was our group’s official “last supper”!  (which was good and bad)… Good because I am so very sick of this HORRIFIC buffet food and unfortunate as it was the last formal night of the ride.  Everyone got up and talked about what the ride had meant to them.  Many had overcome a number of obstacles/illnesses to make their goal.  A rather emotional evening, with the exception of me, who basically maintained my Dora the Explorer mode and just thought of this as a grand adventure as opposed to some BIG goal…. I am actually sorry tomorrow is the final day….

the Good, the Bad and the ERIE

I am getting close!! whahoo…. (the red dots denote rest days… note how few there are (4)- agh)

New York has had its ups and downs (literally the hills are back)…. we have crossed most of NY along the Erie Canal….. pretty neat bit of history- 363 miles long 40 ft wide and only 4 ft deep… (there are a few sections which have since been deepened)… as you may recall (or may not have any idea-or care for that matter… smile) it was completed in 1825 and was dug (mostly by the Irish) to open up trade routes from the east to the midwest…there are a series of 83 locks as there is a rise of 568 ft over the distance (surprisingly, I remember stuff from us history but can’t recall what I want out of the refrigerator??) The only water traffic these days is recreational… and there are lovely homes and tiny little villages or burrows or towns along the way.  

The best part is there is a bike path on and off for a majority of the canal…. beautiful parks and little scenic stops every so often… wild life preserves…. (I was excited about my first stop in one until I arrived and then realized that “wild life” on the east coast refers to ducks…not sure what I was thinking-ha)

the Fingerlakes district (as they refer to it) is nice…. I like all the green and most especially the wild flowers…. 2 of which are purple… and everywhere…. I have since learned that my favorite, Purple Loosestrife, is invasive…. too bad it is a water lover, would love for it to invade California!

 

a less attractive parts of NY, is the economic strife– there are many dilapidated barns and old farm houses… they look as if they were once majestic.. huge…. most likely dairy farms of which there are apparently NONE remaining in NY… odd as there are ice cream stands everywhere.  Also, some of the canal path was recently “improved” with fresh gravel… that is NOT good on a carbon bike… what a difficult mess that made… lots of flats that day for the group -although I came through unscathed, just filthy… it rained most of that day as well, which made for quite the mess on the path and lack of photos for you to view.  The drivers here are (not surprising) very rude and maniacs… I think they are trying to hit us for points…. I had more close calls in one day than the whole trip– almost was taken out by a car deciding to enter a highway making a right turn in front of me once he was already past his exit ramp…. a group of kids at church camp spending the morning riding the path on the wrong side as they were not paying attention and 2 little old ladies both of whom prefer to whip into the far lane, headed the wrong direction to pick up their mail – whipping quickly across the center line and facing the wrong direction on the  is apparently easier than walking across the street to get it…. ay yi yi…. According to our group director,  the majority of the accidents on his trips occur in NY.

The towns/villages/ Burroughs, etc… are getting smaller and closer together…. buildings date from the mid 1700’s and there are historical signs every so often denoting this or that building and its important part of the revolution… cool.  The ride from Little Falls, NY to Latham (just outside Albany-tri cities area) was great.   The route was changed to climb a hill so we could see the view of the Mohawk Valley- rumor has it that it is stunning, but guess what.. there was sooo much fog at 6 am I could not see 50 feet in front of me, let alone a valley…. but always nice to have a steep climb first thing in the am… NOT!

But yet again– a beautiful bike path… followed it for nearly 60 miles today.  I am terribly impressed with both the midwest and the east and their reclaimed railroads (or in this case old trail for horses to pull barges up the canal) and converting them to bike paths… California doesn’t do that at all….. probably 1. no $$; 2. a bureaucratic mess to determine whose land it is: 3. some special frog or worm lives near the trail and there needs to be a 50 year study to determine if its near extinction…. the path today was nicely paved and covered with trees.

just a lovely day!  We have had the benefit of afternoon thunder storms the last few days, which makes riding in the early am, cool and pleasant… I love the smell of the approaching rain.

H2O in Vegas??

coming across the farm lands of Canada was peaceful- corn and still more corn but wait–ShaZAM… look ahead it’s VEGAS rising out of the corn!! ay yi yi… I thought I had made a wrong turn and reached Nevada… but no, Niagara Falls (on the Canadian side is a skyscraper zoo with carnival streets…. when you get through that touristy tacky mess down along the river and falls, its beautiful…. LOTS of FLOWERS… and LOTS OF PEOPLE… (kind of like Disneyland.. immaculate landscaping and people everywhere) When viewing the river and falls you note thousands of people in BLUE clambering around on small boats under the spray of the falls…. and just as many people in YELLOW climbing wooden platforms under the falls.. it looked like a river of Smurfs and  Tellie Tubbies… ay yi yi… what a nightmare. (note smurfs below)

I had planned on spending the afternoon on the Canadian side, but the large crowds got the better of me and I decided to get the heck out of dodge and head to the hotel on the US side hoping it would be less crowded….. had to walk my bike in the traffic across the bridge as if I were a car because they wouldn’t let bikes in the pedestrian walkway… odd..  (note tellie

tubies (left).  The bridge linking the countries is the Peace Bridge… don’t recall being at war with Canada? hmm?  On the US side, its similarly tacky but very different… there are no sky scrapers.. just old hotels about 4 stories high.. most of them dilapidated and hopefully coming down in the near future… but oddly, there is an Indian Buffet (several claiming to be the best in the US) on every single corner and mid block…. Indian Buffet trailers everywhere blasting Bollywood music and all of them empty– coupled with trashy, dilapidated souvenir stores–really weird. I seriously considered passing through and just riding another 100 miles to the next town.. but fortunately I didn’t…  buried in all the buffet clutter there IS a place worth visiting.  Lucky for me, my arrival night happened to be the night they have a light show and fireworks over the falls….

 

I had to stay up past 9:00 (a first for the trip-ha)… but Cinderella made it…. there was a very warm breeze blowing off the falls and although crowded, the light show made for interesting photo trials and the fireworks were spectacular….

 

the following day, I wandered around Niagara State Park which is all around the river front and the falls on the American side… it is actually very nice.  Goat Island, an island in the middle of what’s referred to as the American Falls and the Horeshoe Falls on the Canadian side, is quite lovely and a little more peaceful–it is all a park with interesting views of the falls as well as another fall, Bridal Falls.  I even donned a

blue plastic sack and joined the Smurfs for the Maid of the Mist boat tour.. which was really worthwhile.  I have always loved journeying to remote waterfalls and swimming under them so they pound on my head… this was similar albeit with 200 of my closest friends all in matching blue plastic ponchos… I climbed the steps next to the Falls (still in my fancy schmancy blue rain gear) and got absolutely pounded with water… made Yosemite’s mist trail seem like a ‘faucet with a drip’.  Really fun.  All in all it was a worthwhile visit…. I am pleased to see that despite the fact it is run down and somewhat empty on the American side, the US seems to be getting it right this time by not replacing the old hotels with skyscrapers and is increasing the park surrounding the waterfront.  They have put hanging flower baskets lining the streets despite the shabby old buildings.. many of which had broken windows, etc.. but it is a step in the right direction.  Riding out of town, I noticed that the entire town of Niagara and actually much of western NY is very run down….. this economy has been hit harder than the others we have ridden through… lots of barns and farm properties were vacant and in need of serious upkeep…. doesn’t look a bit like Minnesooooota

Phoney Baloney

I neglected to mention one other surprise in Michigan… the lovely wild flowers (actually weeds- but pretty) that line the road… seems that tiger lillys grow wild, as do Sweet Peas, and some other purple thistle plant… they were all along the roads for 2 days… lovely….folks in Michigan also love yard ART (?)… not the little ducks with outfits one might find in Indiana, but rather, large plastic deer.  Sometimes there is just one, but more often there are 3, a family.. a doe, mama and daddy….it seems to be quite the “thing” whether or not you live on a farm or in the small towns…. hmmm?  I shall spare you a picture.

Came into a little town of Yale yesterday…not of University fame, but rather… guess what? Main street was all set up for a parade… the bleachers were out and the grand stand was up…. unfortunately the parade is this weekend, which is tres unfortunate as it is the annual…. ta da… Baloney Parade!!! how exciting is that.. (First a parade in SD where they skin a white settler and now Baloney- what next?) Apparently, Yale is the founding city of Baloney… what a feat… what IS in baloney anyway?  I couldn’t find the factory but did find an elaborately decorated window display of a Baloney king and queen … makes me want to see the parade even more… I wonder if Baloney King is a grand honor? do you think he rides in the back of a convertible and does the homecoming wave… and what outfit will he wear? what a bummer to miss that…. much to the chagrin of anyone who passed me during the day… I spent all day singing, “My baloney has a first name…..” was stuck in my head, hence it was good to move into the next town….. Pt. Huron…(note.. I just googled the Baloney parade and apparently it draws 20,000 Michiganians to see the king and queen crowned- makes you wonder?)

Pt. Huron has a Lakeshore drive and much like Lakeshore Drive in Tahoe is lined with grand houses with big yards and long driveways… some of them were spectacular… oddly, there doesn’t seem to be anything in the town itself other than the bridge to Canada.. which I guess is “the thing” as there are photos of the bridge in the restaurants, hotels, etc… as if it is quite the masterpiece.. hmmm.. not even orange.  But, of note, Pt. Huron is the childhood home of Thomas Edison.

Riding out of Pt. Huron across the bridge to Canada was quite exciting… bikes are not permitted to cross, so they closed the bridge and had us all ride en masse… pretty cool to be on a big bridge with no traffic… the expansion joints were quite large… had to stop get off the bikes and lift them over while jumping… too wide to even walk across… on the Canadian side.. you will never guess… more Corn… when will this end? who is eating all this corn? there can’t possibly be this many hungry cattle, or people or ethanol…. but the Canadians take such pride in their yards and flowers it was a delightful ride… they line their corn fields with flowers (seriously note below)and their house may need paint, or a new roof but their yards are immaculate.  The flowers coupled with a little tail wind (note this is the 3rd tail wind out of 40 days.. what is wrong with this average?) made for a lovely day.

For about 15 miles today, I passed farms with immaculate yards and damaged barn roofs (hence the comment above).. I thought perhaps it is windy here often .. but I  just discovered that the storm that hit us a few days ago (that closed the chicago airport) was a tornado here and all of those barns just lost their roofs last week.. (difficult to see, but there is a destroyed roof in the barn to the left).. bummer

and there are tractors in the air!  In addition to the normal corn and soybeans, the Canadians at least have some variety with their fields… today I rode through fields of asparagus, carrots, potatoes, tobacco and most interestingly, ginseng.  The latter, is apparently a shade plant as there were acres and acres covered with tarp to shade the plants.. (kind of like the lemon trees in Italy- well sort of (smile)).  It takes 4 years to harvest.. no wonder it is expensive

the yard Art in Canada is not the deer family but rather some sort of artistic display of flowers or shrubs all centered around the Canadian Flag.  Every one proudly hangs the maple leaf and paints their barns red and white- the country colors…. such patriotism!  I am currently in the town of Brantford.  Certainly you have heard of it, it is the home of 1. Wayne Gretzky; 2. Jay Silverton (better known as Tonto) and apparently Alexander Graham Bell who made his first call from here.  WOW…. what a town!!!! ha… there are banners celebrating these heroes down the main avenue, but nothing else… nothing in this town at all… most of the old town is deserted.   All day, I passed lovely immaculate farms.. with huge beautiful homes, impeccably landscaped with flowers everywhere.. but I have no idea where these people work.  There was an effort at revamping the deserted town center and they have the fountains that come out of the street that the kids play in…. nice to see them running and giggling in the water, it was a small taste of normal summer fun.

Tomorrow back in the US of A and Niagara Falls… really looking forward to it.. have never been there believe it or not.

Life’s little pleasant surprises

A statute of the “unhappy cow” of Wisc. (smile)… actually it is the sign for an ice creamery.  The remainder of Wisconsin got to be repetitive… corn, corn and more corn.  It has reached  a point where I am studying the silo architecture to see if I can determine the difference, if any, between a Swedish, German, or other silo and corn cribs? Have had a little reprieve from the heat…only in the 90s now… Funny how 94 is now pleasant–It’s all relative…

Coming through the corn fields one day, I happened upon a truck with a large sign “Support Athletes Going to Atlantic”  a little play on the word “SAG” which is what one calls the support stops with food and water for cyclists… it really stands for ‘support and gear’ or ‘shit and go’ as one of the riders refers to it… anyhow, this SAG truck was a bunch of folks who knew one of the riders and had driven up from Chicago to cheer us on… What a great surprise and change for the day… they were all cheering and had cold water, home-made cookies and little bags of nuts.  Most importantly they had lots of enthusiasm which was greatly appreciated… just a few minutes of celebratory joy–made my day… a wonderful surprise in the corn field!

The next wonderful surprise was eastern Michigan… it’s lovely–who would have known? We crossed Lake Michigan from Manitowoc, WI to Ludington, MI on the Badger (a large ferry) it took most of the day… my, that Lake is huge.. there were 3.5 hours on the water where you couldn’t see any land.  The temperature was much cooler.. less humidity… pleasant, actually.

On the Michigan side we were welcomed by the sign, “Pure Michigan” which has had me wondering for days whether there is an “impure Michigan”? or whether it used to be “impure”?  Perplexed, I asked another rider from Michigan who said it is part of their ‘come to Michigan campaign which started a couple years ago’… not really helpful as it still begs the question.  Perhaps they need a new marketing agency?

But Eastern Michigan was a wonderful surprise… not at all like I expected from previous trips.  The eastern coast has large sand dunes and the corn fields have large pools of water with cat tails amongst them.  There are duck blinds in the corn fields and little streams to put in your canoe.  Then you enter a spectacular shaded forest, the Manistee   National Forest.  It is entirely covered with trees… elm, sycamore, maple and some pines. Rode for about 35 miles through this forest… every so often there was a small lake with a number of little cottages all the way around the perimeter… very quaint.  Lots of trees, lakes, rivers– With the exception of a few areas that were surrounded with an extremely high fence and signs which indicated that they were private hunting grounds.. (Agh!) and the testosterone guys in BIG trucks that would zoom around me, try to run me off the road, and impress me with their noisy carburetors – its a hidden paradise.  Pure Michigan indeed.

After the forest, Michigan evolved into more of what I expected… you can guess…. ta da… more corn… but broken up with wheat fields.  Notably, these fields are very very dry and need water.. didn’t see any irrigation and the heat wave coupled with the lack of rain… they are hurting.  Interestingly, each farm is separated by large blocks of pine trees and the barns are completely different here.  Spent my first night in Mt. Pleasant, which is a misnomer as there was no mountain and it was NOT pleasant… most likely those Michigan marketing guys again!

Today,  yet again another wonderful surprise in the corn field… Today was a long flat day… there once was a time when a flat day was heaven, but believe it or not, with all this corn, a rolling hill, or a turn breaks up the day.  Our SAG stop today was at a farm and I was greeted by 2 little boys jumping up and down who had their grandmother’s choc chip cookies out as a treat…. need I say more?

Queen Anne’s Lace and a Buggy Face…

what a WONDERFUL HEAVENLY DAY TODAY…. Cloud cover and temps in the mere mid 80’s… whahoo…  everything about today’s ride was splendid…. one of my favorites thus far.  Definitely the highlight of the last 2 weeks!!  Pure Joy!

Coming out of Rochester, Minnesooooota… it is hilly and there are a lot of trees.. very unlike the previous days… horses, hills, valleys, the corn was planted not in straight rows but with curves alternated with hay…. major change… still spotless, clean and tidy.  Little miss ‘neat nick’ likes it here.  The first 30 miles were like riding a roller coaster.  Fortunately, with no wind (finally) you could get enough speed to go down the hill without peddling and up a part of the uphill…. lovely scenery… I even saw a new road “warning” sign…. I am bummed I didn’t stop for a picture but was in the midst of enjoying a downhill….it was a person with a canoe on his head… I assume we are to be forewarned that people in that ‘dangerous spot’ wear canoe’s as hats!  and/or perhaps they cross the street.  Was unable to find the river which made the sign even more interesting.

we came across a circuit of bike paths today… there is an entire state-wide bike path system (some of the rails to trails) obviously made over the old railroad tracks… it is paved and wonderfully pleasant… there are many and you can come and stay in one town and ride in a different direction every day and visit little Amish towns and shops…. I rode 10 miles of the Root River Trail…. it was covered with big, old black walnut trees… the walnuts were all over the path… most of it was so shaded it was like a tunnel and would wind around following a river and then every so often you would need to cross a wooden bridge… there were wild flowers along all 10 miles.  my pics don’t do it justice.  Queen Anne’s lace is everywhere–scattered along the path, bordering all the roads.  I just LOVED it.

The path ended in a tiny little town with a great smoothie shop… PERFECT…..  My bag is too heavy and I had packaged some stuff to send home and left it in the SAG trailer so I could mail it from this town as I never have time when we arrive in the late afternoon…. thinking I was so clever to set aside a box to mail in the SAG van, I retrieved my package from the van, ordered a smoothie and set out on foot to find the post office.  Found it… but alas, THE postal worker was on her lunch break.. ha…. post office closed… so now I have to continue to carry this box around for another day or so.

the last 35 miles of today were just as pleasant… climbed a steep hill (over 10%) for over a mile with a headwind… but funny how relative things become… it wasn’t deathly hot and there were new things to look at (other than corn).. it was a slate mountain… much like the quarries in KY and IN… anyhow, once on top, I got to follow a ridge for 10 miles…. kind of like being on a plateau above the Mississippi…. cool.. then a great down hill into Wisconsin and across the mighty river….  a day of flowers and beautiful vistas, nice riding, the only downside to all this pleasantry is that there are tons of little black knats here and perhaps half of them smashed into my face- I probably look polka-dot! oh well….

dear sweet Karen and her father in law, Chuck, arrived this evening (LaCrosse, Wisconsin)… a river town on the Wisconsin side of the river.  they drove 4.5 hours to meet me and join in the ride tomorrow.  Karen brought tons of RAW food bars and YES, she did, in fact, bring home-made choc chip cookies. HURRAY!  Karen and I are going to ride the route tomorrow while Chuck drives to the end of the trail and rides back to meet us.

We enjoyed a glorious day…. there was a horrific thunderstorm looming and many folks chose to stay at the hotel to wait it out.. we tried to beat it and ended up riding on the north edge of it for several hours… we were wet but didn’t care.. it was not a downpour and made for an interesting sky…. (it was a “Toto we are not in Kansas anymore-black”) after the first couple hours we were out of it… (Word has it that farther south, the storm was soooo bad that they closed the Chicago airport-so we were even luckier than I realized)…We were able to get on the official, original Rails to Trails system in the town of Sparta, Wisconsin.  They advertise that they are the bicycling capital of America- hmmm.. never heard of Sparta- wonder what that is based on??  Regardless, the trail system is wonderful–they have cute little towns aligning the path and have fixed up the old train stations as visitor/food drink info stations along the way…. rode 34 miles of crushed limestone path…. would have been far more appropriate for mountain bikes.. or actually any bike other than a carbon frame with little racing tires but oh, well.. made for an interesting ride… because it had rained, the dust was down a bit… but talk about dirty grimy chains and derailleurs… was quite a bit of work to clean at end of day… but I digress…

The trail was lovely, almost entirely covered with trees the whole 34 miles… every so often we passed through an old train tunnel and had to get off and walk the bikes down the middle.  You had to be careful to stay in the center as it was pitch black and water was streaming down as well as dripping on your head as it seeped through the limestone. Flashlights were crucial mine purchased just for these tunnels didn’t provide much light which, for me, added to the excitement.  Fun!  there were 3 tunnels, and they had big doors like you were entering a castle in Camelot…. one was 3/4 of a mile the others were 1/2 mile- you couldn’t see at all.. but you could hear voices carrying from far on the other end.  as I came out of the first tunnel and saw the great Camelot gates I said to Karen, ‘all we need is Sir Lancelot’ which in retrospect was correct as when I got back on the bike I had a flat tire… ay yi yi….. Now I know this is difficult to believe as I am 50 years old but I am (yet again) apparently a princess as I have never changed a tire…. uh oh…. finally someone came through the tunnel (a laid-back 67 year old Lancelot?) and helped me… as much as he was able… we were quite the team-Laurel and Hardy changing a tire… fortunately, about 20 minutes later another guy came through who was able to get the tire with the new tube back on the wheel…it was about a half hour delay…. hmm the leader of this trip can change a tire in 48 seconds so I have a ways to go.

a little geology lesson (compliments of Chuck)… this limestone slate.. is called Niagara slate and it will be present all the way to Niagara Falls…. it was crushed on the path but the path walls were lined with it.. as if we were in a quarry…. the next town, the Wisconsin Dells is known for its huge limestone lake.  It is the only part of this northern part of this limestone path of  states that was not influenced by glaciers and is therefore, has rugged edges surrounding the lake.  They draw quite a few tourists to come take a boat tour… but…BEWARE–. the town is a nightmare–“Vegas for Kids”… to attract visitors (or perhaps in my case to scare them into never coming again) they have an entire strip of silly things to do and not do…. it is a  down scaled amusement park… actually more like a glorified state fair …. there are rides, wax museums, candy stores everywhere.. and every single hotel (of which there are many) has a theme.. it is overdone and silly.  Despite the mayhem, and tacky tourist mecca.. we were able to locate a wonderful restaurant and I (for the 2nd night in a row did not have to join the group for yet another wonderful dinner at some blah spot.. in this case Denny’s-agh)- and yes, they advertise they have a ‘nutrionist’ organizing the meals and SAGS (NOT)…. anyhow, we had a great great dinner and I had the best choc ice cream I have ever had (other than gelato)… as far as ice cream goes it was the best ever… so Wisconsin Dells does go down in history on a positive note!

It was truly wonderful to have Karen come so far to support my adventure– a dear friend.  What an enjoyable day… made my week… gave me something to look forward to and get through some of those grueling days… today I was lonely… boo hoo…

Alphabet Soup!!–

Ride through Wisconsin was nice… rolling hills, and we moved into dairy country.  More hay than corn (finally).. but there is still corn… who is eating all this corn? (5 full days worth)  Actually most is for feed for the cows.. but there really aren’t that many cows… I think our California Cheese ads are correct… all the Wisconsin dairy cows have headed to warmer weather and cuter cow babes!  they wish to be ‘happy cows” I found a few and took a photo just to ensure that there are still some cows remaining in Wisconsin making their name, Cheeseheads, appropriate- but note below–they do look ‘unhappy’

Oddly, the roads in Wisconsin were named by Big Bird.  They are ALL letters… seriously, no county road 20 or 40.. but rather, “A” “B” “C”  seriously, one would think with only 26 letters there would not be enough road names, but no, then they move to double letters… “AA” “OO”  there are even funny ones like “XX” “DC” “BO” “BM” “DC”… our route sheet is quite entertaining-it reads like an eye chart.  They also, (much to my chagrin) have genetically engineered crops and just about every few feet there is an alphabet sign setting forth the type of seed- again, all letters…. it’s a mystery why there are no numbers in this state.  I wonder if kids here learn to read at a younger age? and no one does any math? On a sad note, I spoke with a gentleman who rode with us out-of-town from Fond du Lac this morning…asked him about the economy, how they were attempting to revive the dying town center, etc… he mentioned that the large dairy farms milk 400 cattle per day, but now there were several ‘industrial farms’ – one of which milks 6800 cows per day… apparently the cows have to stand on a carousel conveyor belt and just go round and up and get milked by machines twice per day…. that is horrible… no wonder the cows here are unhappy… they want to go stand out in a field near Pt. Reyes..

 

PU

Have made it to Rochester, Minnesooota.  Famous home of the Mayo clinic. Fortunately I don’t need to visit, but considered it (smile).  MN is in the midst of a HEAT WAVE…. thrill…. record temps, word has it a highway in Minneapolis buckled from the heat today…. it was 121 with the heat index which (I looked it up) takes into account how one actually feels with the humidity…. AAAAAGGGHH. Are humans actually capable of living in this air?  We start riding at 6:00 to try and beat the heat, from 6-7 its about 85 but thick thick air…. by 10:00 you are doomed… In fact, today, I bonked, or got heat stroke or something …. hit the wall around 11:00 am…. broke out in chills despite the 106 degrees and got a headache… most likely low electrolytes (didn’t eat enough)  or somehow messed up my system by holding my nose the first 3 hours of the ride due to the killer pig and chicken manure smell.  Seriously it is difficult to breathe in Minnesooooota.  In addition to the pig and chicken farms there are smelly chemicals sprayed on the corn, note to self… do not eat anything grown or raised in Minnesota.

Speaking of, the reason there are boring pics and mundane commentary  is that all there is for miles here is corn and soybeans– today all 100 miles corn and soybeans…. boring… but, hey if I can ride in it and not see anything else day after day, you can spend 3 minutes being bored reading this (smile) the big excitement of the day is when the soybeans switch from the left side of the road to the right side (trade fields with the corn) or sometimes the same plant is on both sides.. whahoo- SAD.. everyone is out enjoying the summer, farmer’s markets, listening to music in the park, water skiing, and I am excited if the corn and soybeans fields vary even a bit.soybeans on the left, corn on the right… mile after mile after mile… and the road (much like the roads for the last few weeks has cracks about every 20 feet)  apparently underneath the tar (and sometimes no tar) there are giant cement squares… and between them is a gap… so every few seconds for thousands of miles your bike jerks and you go cha dunk cha dunk down the highway which is really hard on your body–wears you down fast.

In addition to being smelly, the farms here are huge… expansive acreage that is extremely well maintained…. lots of grain elevators, silos, and big green yards… different world than neighboring, South Dakota…the landscape changed immediately at the state line.  I think Minnesoota is the Cleanest State in the Union… there is no trash, no dirt piles anywhere, not one… farm or house in the entire state (2 days thus far) that is not immaculately maintained.  Must be the Scandinavian influence… really stellar.. everything perfectly in place and tip-top shape…. and the people are very nice.. ironic it is so smelly

the bar tender this afternoon, (no, I am not drinking alcohol, I begged him to make me a choc milk shake which he did rather well) taught me how to pronounce things correctly here… words are pronounced with a long “o”…. (interestingly even some words that don’t have an “o” in them, for example, “Yep” correctly pronounced “Yop”…. but careful not to make the “o” too long or people will think you are from Fargo and that is apparently an insult.

another day today of record-breaking heat-thrill… and to that we added some hill climbs and major head wind.  Seriously thinking that a better way to ride across the country is simply to get up every morning and go which ever way you have a tail wind.  How is it possible that we get more uphills than down hills and lots of head winds, cross winds or perhaps no wind.. but very few tail winds? one of those fascinating facts about this great land of ours…hmm!

Great great news … one of my dearest friends (who hiked Patagonia with me and now lives in Iowa much to the chagrin of everyone in the Bay Area) Karen, has called and is driving half a day on thursday to join me riding on friday .. WHAHOOO… she asked if I needed anything and I asked her to look for RAW food bars as I am not getting anything healthy to eat.  Today, I called her back and said what I really wanted was: “1. for her to come and 2.  home-made choc chip cookies”…. she responded, “of course, they are already on my list, I knew you didn’t want RAW food bars”… ha…. see why I love her.

so tomorrow I depart the land of 10,000 lakes only having ridden by 3 (where are they all?)

Cornycopia and Pea Soup

Goodness… just when you think you have seen everything.. just around the corner…. a big SURPRISE!!… yes, today (no corners but actually one long straight boring road, with periods of showers but no complaints from me as there was no wind)…..

I arrived in Mitchell, SD.. and you will never guess what is here…. da ta da…. drum roll please….. the World’s Only Corn Palace!!! ha…. seriously… it is a giant palace hall made entirely of corn murals.  Per the brochure, early settlers displayed their agricultural bounty on the building’s exterior to prove the fertility of the soil and attract immigrant farmers… hehe.. well apparently they attracted some type of farmer folk (?) as 111 years later it is still going strong.  each year they pick a different theme, strip the outside of the palace and redecorate with new grains and corn… 3000 bushels of rye, oat heads, and sour dock are tied, bundled and attached along with roughly 275 thousand ears of different ears of corn.  Inside the building there are more corn murals and you can purchase corn dogs, pop corn, Carmel corn and more things with corn than I can remember or you could make up…. really over the top… Now who would have known??

Today, is our last day of this segment whahoo… tired of South Dakota.  I hesitate to complain as I am turning into a whiney puss, but it is SOOOOOOO  Hot and HUMID  here it is difficult to breathe.  Seriously, this morning at departure 6:30 am, it was 89 degrees without the humidity– and so much thick humid air that it looked like SF in the fog…. couldn’t see through my glasses…. kind like in the steam room in a spa… why that might be nice as you transition to a cold pool.. try riding 90 miles in it… ay yi yi….

Have arrived in Sioux Falls –ride here was pretty… looked like Indiana.. lots of corn, but large water holes which gave it some variety. Hot, windy.. what else is new?  … well yet another surprise for the day…. stopped in a little town for a SAG stop and viola, they were having a children’s tractor pull… seriously… the surprises in South Dakota just keep coming… I watched the girls under 6 division… they had to ride their tricycle while pulling some sort of farm equipment.. ha..the picture is little Ashley giving it a go.  I departed too early as later on they let my roommate participate in the women’s division… she is a marathon runner, very strong and she said she could barely pull the thing… (disappointed to have missed that).

Sioux falls is the largest town we have stopped in–so time for all the necessities-Have had my hair chopped off (not all the way but quite a bit) and a pedicure… quite fancy for my daily outfit — black bike shorts.. but I am at least cleaned up a bit.  There is only 1 yoga studio in this town with no class tomorrow.. apparently yoga isn’t the hot ticket here.. so I shall sleep in, practice in the room and then have a massage.  … It is rumored there are nice falls here (hence the name) I shall go find them tomorrow.  The quote of the week goes to my hairdresser, Erica, from Minneesooooota (as she pronounces it- she says her town is the “armpit of the universe”- great since we go there on monday) but when I mentioned the troublesome wind and weather in SD… she said, “The Seasons in South Dakota are: just before winter, winter, just after winter, and construction” ha….

BAD lands (aka bad weather, bad wind, bad roads, and bad mood

sorry for the delay in posting but poor connection and difficult days have caused a long delay–the title says it all.. but a 4 letter word (of your choice) sums up the last 3 miserable days- if I ever have amnesia and suggest that I ride through South Dakota- talk me out of it.. or make me go east to west.

arose very early to depart Wall, only to find that the cook at the proscribed restaurant had decided not to come in that morning.. so they had 30 hungry, eager riders pacing around at 5:15 am wanting food…. many folks got frustrated and departed, I just waited since I have become a huge pig…. someone finally came in and made us some eggs.  (I have not mentioned the food in this blog as I did not wish to seem negative) but suffice it to say, the food has been CRAP.. really really bad.. everything at the SAG stops is processed crackers, cookies- there is a fruit and a banana … same thing every 30 miles- similarly the food at the buffet restaurants is processed blah)  but I digress….so after breakfast, I depart for a short 50 mile ride  (supposedly a break day) NOT… the wind.. blowing straight in our faces was over  20 mph…. it was push push push all day… it was nearly impossible to reach 10mph… horrific day- so expecting headwind again for our next day of 117 miles, again, we departed early… this day had stronger winds for most of the day and a special bonus… pouring rain.  Not much worse than coming out of your hotel room, observing the rain and thinking oh super, I think I will just ride 117 miles with the wind and rain in my face.  (Problem with this type of organized trip is the hotels are pre-booked and they have us on a rigid schedule so we are not able to say.. I don’t want to ride 117 miles in this storm).  When I first departed, there were horrendous headwinds and misty rain….I sang Zipeedee dooda to keep my spirits up… didn’t work- an hour later (by 7:00 am) it was POURING… didn’t realize this before but when you ride in pouring rain with a headwind.. 1. you don’t go very fast and 2. the rain feels like someone is throwing tacks at you -or more like a cartoon where an evil villan has a giant wind machine that impales you with tacks all of which hit you pointy side to the skin… ay yi yi…. it was difficult to see, difficult to ride, slowing helped and so did getting behind another rider (sort of) the problem with drafting off someone else’s wheel was 1. it was dangerous and 2. the front bike shot off a stream/fan of water much like the wake about 5 feet behind a boat.  My jacket, shoes, clothes, everything was so drenched at the 60 mile rest stop I decided to invade the van and find dry clothes…. Note, the van was carrying 60 bags.. all about 35 lbs each… moving them around, whilst dripping wet and shaking from hypothermia was quite pleasant (smile)… so I donned my thicker rain jacket, put neoprene booties over my soaking wet shoes, put on gortex pants and set out again.  I neglected to mention that while I was changing, I STRONGLY considered just staying in the van.  was thinking… “I don’t have to ride every mile.. this is a vacation… I actually paid for this?”  but after changing and adding a black plastic trash sack over my attire and a thick gortex slip over my helmet (what I thought was appropriately dressed and might I mention-quite styln) I set out again.  WRONG!! within 5 minutes the gortex pants were completely soaked through and added considerable weight to the ride.  It felt like swimming in wet jeans… the trash sack worked wonders, but doesn’t breathe.. so 60 additional miles to go… agh!… the rain did let up the last 30 miles and I shedded the trash bag and helmet cover so I could breathe.. but the wind was relentless…. I was on the bike over 11 hours.  Can honestly say it was the worst riding day ever.  My shifter broke mid day and I was unable to shift to certain gears so I had to go see the mechanic upon arrival.  I was so late getting in I almost missed it… no time for stretching, shower, dinner anything… made for a late night….

an interesting side note… we crossed the Missouri river at the end of the ride into Chamberlain, SD.  The RIVER IS WIDE… (in places double its normal size) this is the first of many small towns along the river that have serious concerns about the snow melt and flooding.. the entire town is sandbagged…. to go into a store, hotel or fast food restaurant, you have to go over the sand bags.. they are about 4 feet high and covered in plastic.. the entire town is that way… there is debris everywhere on the road from earlier days when the water was higher, parks are under water, roads are under water… I even saw a dead fish on the highway overpass walkway about 1/3 the way up.

No one was happy last night… and guess what… since everyone had a rough day and was on their bikes for 10-12 hours- wet, tired and miserable.. they gave us today off… NO… we got up early again.. for a short (ha) 88 mile ride… it never stops… this is crazy!  So rather than lament in detail about today… suffice it to say, no rain, head WIND WIND WIND, and scorching HOT and muggy by 10 am.  Yuck… Oh, California how I miss you… no wonder no one lives in South Dakota and California is packed.  Today was hilly and at 100 degrees not counting the humidity with the addition of a blow dryer at full speed in your face…. needless to say, I have some serious raw/sore/rash issues going on… imagine riding 11 hours in a wet bathing suit and then crunching down the following day to battle the wind.  pretty serious.. I am hoping I don’t have to sit out a couple days

on a good note.. today I passed the 1/2 mark… whahoo….. while I was most likely supposed to think…wow, I have ridden half of the country. I am embarrassed to say, I thought, I am 1/2 done with this yucky food… and even considered… well, this wind really stinks, I have come half way, the scenery is somewhat boring, time to go home….

the other good point of today was winding down (up and down) the Missouri river…. the SD hills are extremely green at the moment and the Missouri is double its normal width and looks like a sea… a lot of the vistas today looked like Tamales Bay  even had the wind.. perfect!!

so 3 days of absolute (       )… have you imagined your 4 letter word?… How about EPIC… (smile)  certainly there are new discoveries and adventures around the next windy hill… so I shall keep plugging away so long as I can sit on the saddle tomorrow.  As I am having difficulty sitting to type this blog.. not looking very positive…  3 more days till a day off… ay yi yi!