I get emotional even writing this, but the trip is wrapping up quickly and so is our opportunity to raise money for our cause. With that said, we'd like to thank our donors!
(More thank you's to come as well as blog posts!)
I get emotional even writing this, but the trip is wrapping up quickly and so is our opportunity to raise money for our cause. With that said, we'd like to thank our donors! (More thank you's to come as well as blog posts!)
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Day 9 We wake up before the sun at about 4am. Headlamps strapped on, Em takes care of the tent, I make breakfast. Coffee and oatmeal with coconut oil, raw honey, cinnamon, and blueberries. We chug water mixed with "green juice" packets. I also make some chia seed pudding for us to eat on the road. We've got our nutrition down hard and aren't messing around. Each morning we envision a quick get away, like we do this morning, but something happens- we still can't figure out what- and suddenly 2 hours pass before we hit our first pedal stroke. By 6am we are watching the sun come up as we listen to music and ride down a long country road outlined by beef cows and grain headed towards the highway we will take 83 miles into Dubois, WY. There is no wind, we are well rested, and we dance on our bikes a little in excitement. Around 10 miles in we stop to drink, snack, snap photos, chat and then are quickly back on the bikes. A mile later I hear Emily yell for me to stop and turn around. She is about 800 feet behind me on the opposite side of the road crouched down over something. I really want to keep moving forward and consider "not hearing" her, but that's just not how we do. I shimmy over and see something many others may be shocked by, but not me, not with Em. She has spotted a freshly dead owl, a beautiful one that has no sign of injury or distress, and is (her quote, not mine) "extracting the feathers to give to friends." Emily works on the owl for about 15 minutes as I rapid fire video recordings to friends and family documenting what is happening. My Dad responds immediately saying, "it seems you've both pedaled enough- time to come home." What he doesn't realize at the time is that it is his Leatherman is what Emily is using as her main surgical tool. Thanks Pa. A few miles down the road we take advantage of a local general store in Fort Washakie on the Wind River Indian Reservation. While waiting for breakfast burritos, Emily consults with a local about the morality behind her "extraction". He ensures her that it is a moral act and they discuss possible causes of death. I head to the produce section for more avocados. We get back on the road and smile through the miles and miles enjoying dramatic landscape changes, beautiful weather, and nature- just lots and lots of beauty in nature. We stop midway at a gas station in Crowheart to eat and almost immediately fall on respective benches in front of the gas pumps. For about 30 seconds I feel too aware of passerbyers to fall asleep, but 45 minutes later I wake myself up snoring. I wake Emily- it's close to 3:30 and we still have 40ish miles to ride. We are all packed when Emily begins having trouble with the air in her tire. Two handpumps, 4 men from Texas, a cash donation to our Open School fund, and 45 minutes later, we are back on the road again. The headwinds are present again now making each hill feel steeper than it looks and our bodies are working at max capacity. By around the 65 mile mark I feel myself getting hungry and losing energy almost every 20 minutes. About 3/4 of the way through the ride (20 miles to go), we spot a river running along side the road. Sweating with achey muscles, we drop our bikes, strip down, and jump right in. 10 minutes is all it takes and we are rejuvenated. Back on the road. Later with only 10 miles to go, we have now seen the sun rise and set on our bikes. We are so close, but still consider pulling up to a home we see on the side of the road and asking for water and their backyard to camp in. Somehow we press through and finally enter Dubois at about 8pm and in the dark. Our bodies are logging off quickly, and to make matters worse I have burning eyes that I can't see out of and what feels like a sinus cold from getting suntan lotion in my eyes during our river swim. The bugs are out in a big way too, I've eaten at least 7 and Emily pulls three out of her eyeball. We pull over and spot a local bar. We decide to get a beer and chat with the locals about where we could camp the night. We barely get back on our bike seats when a man pulls up and asks if we are on the TransAm Trail. Yes, yes we are. I look like I'm crying hysterically from teary burny eyes due to to the lotion, but the man doesn't seem to think I'm too bizarre because he then asks if we need a backyard to camp in. We are again given the exact gift that we need in the exact moment we need it. The man- Steven- gives us directions to his place and we arrange to meet after our drink. We head to the bar where a cowboy asks me why I'm crying and who broke my heart, and the bartender gives me Visine, Sudafed, and a Guiness. We make our way to Stevens, set up our tent, and shower. "Don't mind the dirt in the shower," he says, "I was washing off some mushrooms I hunted earlier." We then hang in his living room where there are two hikers from the Continental Divide trail that are camping in Steven's backyear for the night as well. In Steven's living room, there are mostly two things- vinyls and mushrooms. Tons and tons of vinyls and mushrooms. Porcini's, portabellas, morels, shitakes- the whole gang is there. He makes a living "hunting" them while hiking through the mountains and then sells them in Jackson Hole to chefs. We stay up listening to music and hanging as long as we can until our bodies officially shut down and we head for the tent. Not sure what tomorrow will bring after a record breaking ride for us, but thankful to be showered, fed, and feeling safe in our portable home. We wake up early, pack up our site, and dress ready to ride. One stop at the bike shop to pamper our babies and we are off for a 40 mile ride to Crowheart, WY. We find the bike shop and barrel in, barely even hopping off our bikes as we loudly announce our arrival and knock over hanging merchandise and Cliff Bars in our wake. We reach the back of the shop where we meet Ed and Jeff and all but hug and embrace them as if long lost friends. There is a quick moment where we pause to realize that we have come in a little too strong, but Jeff and Ed welcome us with open arms and we set off in pairs to mount the bikes and begin the diagnosises. Jeff replaces Emily's 27 inch tube with a correct fitting 26 inch tube (she had been riding with a too large tube given to her by another biker(hi Anika!) back in Muddy Banks when she realized that the spare that she was carrying had the wrong size valve stem), adjusts her brakes, and calculates her bike computer. Ed and I consult about the kink in my chain and possible front tire leak, which there is, and he then goes on to find that the breaks need tightening, the front wheel is loose. one gear has been pushed over and the handlebars are mounted off center. The loose front wheel is haunting, but we all made an unspoken promise not to talk about it. Our "quick visit" turns into a 3 hour session and we are soon talking about our bike trip and taking a look at the rest of our route on a map. Ed gives us great advice on a different route to end our trip that will still allow us time in the Tetons but will cut out some less than ideal riding in Yellowstone which includes a steep inclined road with no shoulder and a ton of traffic. By this time the morning is obviously long gone and the anxious fear of headwinds starts to set in. The guys suggest that instead of doing 40 miles today to Crowheart and 43 miles the next day to our goal of Dubois, we stay the night in Lander and wake up early the next day to do the whole 83 miles in one shot. We are sceptic as our longest ride so far has been about 65 miles, but a few hours later we are back in the bike shop sharing thank you beers with the guys for their generous help with our bikes. Ed and Jeff tell us more about Lander and even show us two beautiful spots right outside of town- a protected trout pond that lies below expansive cliffs and a cascading river that has dug itself into a pool and natural cave. We have been met with nothing but kindness from strangers along the route, but Ed and Jeff definitely deserve a special thank you for taking care of, not only our two wheeled babies, but for taking care of us and showing us the beauty of Lander Wyoming. Jetting away from the church and out of Jeffery City at 5am teaches us one of the best lessons that we learn during the trip- early starts provide a sunrise view and guarantee no headwinds for the first few hours. Our goal for the day is Lander, WY which is 60 miles away and a drop from about 6800' elevation to 5800'. We stop to rest midway at Sweetwater Station, population 10ish?, and providing bathrooms, water, and a covered rest area. We also get some great pictures of a farmhouse selling fresh eggs and books, unfortunately neither will do anything for us on the trip. Back on the road for the final 30 miles to Lander. Unless we find a hidden place along the road to camp, we only have Lander as an option for sleep plus it has the bike shop we have both needed for the past 100 miles. Lander or bust, we power through and enjoy the landscape as it changes from flat and tan to mountainous and green. 8/6/15 We wake up and prep to take off. Our biking goal is Sweetwater Station, WY, 41 miles away at about 6500' elevation. Coffee drank, water filled, one last life story from a biker passing through and we are on our way kicking off with a nice steep hill straight out of the gas station. I take off without looking back and reach the top waiting for Emily to video her arrival. 5, 10, 15 minutes pass by and Emily is nowhere to be found. For .5 seconds I'm not so happy that I have to go down and possibly back up the hill again, but then I start to panic. Down to the bottom of the hill, Emily is still at the gas station with a family and another tour biker all working together to help her fix a flat. The tour biker's name is Anika and I think she's around our age. She's peaceful, beautiful, and a total inspiration-biking from California to Georgia by herself. Soon enough we take off. From the moment we take off we are experiencing our first encounter with strong headwinds. Combined with hills, a road with a tiny shoulder, and the wind pushing us as trucks whizz by, Emily describes our ride as "like trying to run in mud alongside the ocean." We usually average 10 miles per hour, this ride takes us 3.5 hours to ride 20 miles. We make it to the halfway point, Jeffrey City, population 47. There is a church, a pottery shop, a "motel" (motor home) and a bar/cafe. We fall into the bar for food and rest and the hope of recouping to face the winds another 19 miles to Sweetwater. We meet Dusty, who refuses a photo with a blushing smile, and, after leaning back and putting his feet up on the bar, tells us about grizzly bears ("the grizz") and drops knowledge such as "Round here they will only give you one hard thing to deal with at a time (referring to weather) ". We have a huge and satisfying lunch and spend some time with our maps. We meet 2 different and amazingly kind couples and share stories. One demands to pay for our lunch, the other joins in on our mapping and essentially plans the rest of our route for us in a far more efficient way than we could have ourselves. We also meet Andre, another tour biker, who rolls in off his bike smiling, cheerful, and glowing- he's spent the day riding east with the tailwinds. We are jealous, but Andre is awesome and gives us great tips on where to stay and what to look out for on the route ahead. He gets us really excited for Lander which is coming soon- it has over 7,000 people and a bike shop that we so desperately need. A few hours quickly pass by and our bodies are not changing their tune, we will stay in Jeffrey City for the night. Dusty directs us to the church where bikers are welcomed to stay. We approach and find a sign on the opened back door specifically inviting bikers in and to help themselves. We find a full kitchen, water, bathrooms, shower, electric outlets. We couldn't be happier. Yes the church is a little bit creepy, but it doesn't matter. Until it does. We enter the church to see a huge open room. Emily goes back outside as I unpack my bike. I start to hear footsteps down the hall, then in the ceiling, and finally I watch the hall door on the other side of the room open and close by itself. I was prepared for the possibility of sketchy humans on the trip (hence whistle and mace keychain) but not this. Em escorts me the rest of the night- to the bathroom, shower, kitchen, all of it. We finally get into our tents in the backyard and close our eyes. Minutes later an unidentifiable sound begins- like something is throwing pebbles at our tent plus crunching and a rustling of plastic. It's one thing for me to feel a little nervous and grab my mace, but when Emily appears worried and grabs it, I'm completely spooked. We manage a few restless hours of sleep and ae awake and on the road by 5am the next morning. End of Day 4- Day 5 Day 4, Tuesday 8/4 Our bus pulls into Rawlins, Wyoming at about 5pm and we are itching to run off, get our bikes, and put them together to hopefully get a few more miles in to make up for what we lost. We feel confident as we have had to self teach how to take them apart and put them back together way too many times now, but Emily is having issues with her breaks, I have 2 knots in my chain and can't get my front rack (to hold my bags) back on. After an hour of problem solving, Emily has fixed her brakes, but I am not making any progress. I go to the gas station nearby and inquire about a bike shop. The response- "Well, Walmart is at the next exit and they sell bikes..." I find out that the nearest bike shop is over 100 miles away. Back outside to the bikes. Three hours, 2 YouTube videos, and 4 hands black with grease later, we have dismantled my chain, taken out the knots, and put the chain back together. HUGE moment. However it's now 8:30 at night, it's dark, we are starving and exhausted and still have to figure out my front rack. I explain to Emily that we will not be camping tonight, we will be taking advantage of the oh so beautiful America's Best Inn next door, and beeline there to beg for a room. Success. On the walk back, 3 guys sitting on the curb let me know that they are mechanics and have been watching us the whole time to make sure we are ok. Thanks guys, thank you SO much. We wheel our bikes into our room, wash our faces, and bike 5 minutes to County 6, the only place- we are told- that we can find a beer. This hidden gem is not quiet on a Tuesday night and we are quickly and warmly welcomed by all sorts of locals to a game of dice. I lost, and I lost bad, but I got a lot of fantastic life stories, as well as compliments on my teeth. Unfortunately, we are both over served, and need to exit laughing the whole way home on our bikes. Day 5, Wednesday 8/5 We wake up to hurricane of tools, bikes, and snacks surrounding us. The saw piece of our pocket knife has remnants of avocado on it and we are immediately ashamed that we got into our snacks at the end of last night. Also, I notice that a cut on my arm has become even more infected and start to worry. Within 2 hours, we have packed up the bikes, reveled in showers, mapped our route, and are headed to the local pharmacy where my unnamed, most amazing friend, had called in a prescription for me for antibiotics. We are soon on our way from Rawlins with the goal of riding 44 miles to Muddy Gap, Wyoming. Our map tells us that there is a stop halfway in Lamont where we can find a cafe. 33 miles later, we land in Lamont. There is one building to be found- the Anna Lope Cafe- and it is boarded up and closed down. We are out of water and 11 miles from our destination. Within minutes, a truck pulling a trailer stops. Emily bikes over and finds Mike, 3 chocolate chip cookies in one hand and a caffeine free Coke in the other. "Looks like wind from here on out huh?" Mike says. Emily responds by asking for water. We hang with Mike, he gives us plenty of water and 2 gatorades, and shares some great life stories. Anecdotes about the local terrain, the story of how the love of his life recently passed, his recent venture helping a friend and working on trains. He is a great guy to meet in the middle of nowhere and we are so grateful for him. We take off and reach Muddy Gap which consists of one gas station. $10 gives us a muddy piece of land to set up camp behind the gas station and access to the convenience store bathroom, wifi, and electrical outlets. We stretch, set up our tent, and clean ourselves up. We find a seat in front of the gas station where we intend to watch the sunset, but find a nonstop flush of motorcyclers stopping for gas and chatting with us. Our evening ends, yet again, on a high note as we meet even more fantastic people- Shack Cycles- if you figure out how to get on this blog and read it- you were my favorite. August 4, 2015 Day 4 Steven makes us breakfast - homemade plum jam, homemade bread, eggs with tomato and avocado. I say something like "anyone who adds avocado to a dish is a friend of mine" and Steven responds that he decided to add it after hearing the story we told about an avocado the night before...After finding out that our layover in Denver will be 16 hours instead of 4, we are sitting in the bus station parking lot, our bikes and bags surrounding us like a pile of ruble, and we wait and hope to get a phone call back from one of the Warm Showers hosts that we called. We split open an avocado that's sitting on the top of my bag and indulge. I even have tiny tapatios packets from the restaurant back in Grandby. A bus station employee walks by and does a double take- she must want us to gather all of our stuff and move (please no), but nope- she just needs to verify that what she's seeing is really happening. "Are you girls... just eating an avocado?" "Yep, nothing to see here." Breakfast is fantastic - perfectly executed (strong) french press coffee- and we are joined by Lynn and Steven's son Callen (sorry Callen if you're reading this and I'm butchering the spelling). We chat about our story and Emily and Callen hit it off with a mutual excitement over mixing paint colors. Callen piles our bikes and bags onto his bike rack and into his car, we hug Steven goodbye and get ready to take off back to the bus station. I sit in the front seat and feel something behind me- it's an avocado. Back to the Greyhound Bus Station. We plug in our speakers and take our bikes apart even further to put into boxes for under bus transport. What initially felt like a ton of time before scheduled departure inevitably turns into a mad dash including a 1 mile sprint to a local hardware store to buy a wrench we need and don't have. I don't mind, Lynn's homemade bread was thick. We surprise ourselves again and make it on the bus. Our driver (and frankly most everyone around us) is a character- I'll add a video of her below. We are on the bus now- will enter Rawlins at about 4:30 or 5pm CO time. Do we surrender a 2nd day of riding or attempt a bit of night riding? August 3, 2015 Who knew the grass on a baseball field could be so comfortable? That layered with Emily's mattress pad and my "pool float" (don't believe the Amazon reviews every time- I thought I was getting the equivalent of a self inflating therma-rest) provide a bed that I just don't want to get out of. I'm shocked by this comfort in the best way possible. We leave our tent to dry off the morning dew and ride into town for breakfast and coffee. We load up on a big meal and start planning the next 3 days of our route. Second cups of coffee are filled, 2 hours go by, and one thing leads to another- we have decided to cut out a portion of our route with a bus in order to have more time in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. This seems simple enough to execute, but with locations that we hope to get to having populations ranging from 47 to 0, we are hard pressed to find public transportation. I think I say the first syllable of the word Uber and immediately see in Emily's eyes that the ignorant comment (although I'm kind of half serious) would not be worth experimenting with. The struggle "ends" as we find a bus to take us to Rawlins, CO. This cuts out about 170 miles of the route that we have been warned is desolate and repetitive, and drops us right back on the TransAmerica trail that we have been following, about 258 miles from the Grand Tetons, 280 miles from Yellowstone, and 680 miles from our destination- Missoula, MT. One catch here- the bus has a stopover in, wait for it... Denver. We decide to take the bus, show up early to get on, are told "no you can't get on your bikes won't fit", we quickly pull out our tools, pop off some tires, and are on the bus back to where our route began. Cut to arrival in Denver. 9pm waiting for our 12am bus to Rawlins. We find out that there are, for real this time, no seats for us on the bus. We must wait until the following day at noon. We take advantage of www.warmshowers.org and are sent the gift of Steven and Lynn. They are a retired couple about to go on the journey we are on in a few weeks. They have traveled the world by foot, bike, boat, and I'm sure much more, but my favorite anecdote about them is the story of how they pulled their children out of school for a year, when they were 10 and 12, to travel the world. Note taken. After a great chat and cup of tea (they offer us to sit in their living room but we are way to dirty and ask to sit at the wooden table), they bring us downstairs where we have our own room, bathroom, and washer and dryer. It almost feels like we are getting it way to good for being only 3 days in, but we are practically table dancing on the washer in excitement. We also have a solid wifi connect- what NEEDS to be on our spotify playlists? No pressure. Day 2, Sunday 8/2 Completed day 1 with a quick 29 miles from Silverthorne to Heeney, CO where we stumbled on a campsite on the Green Mountain Reservoir. Set up camp next to a small creek perfect for cleaning the wounds we both, of course, already have, and were immediately offered kindness from strangers in the forms of a gallon of water, fire, tips/notes on the trail ahead, and a campfire rager with glow sticks (we opted for tea and an 8pm bedtime). Kicked off Day 2 and got all but 4 miles before we hit a stretch of gravel and dust from road construction. Thanks to our English friend from the night before, we knew it was coming and parked the bikes to hitch. 1 rigged up pickup truck and 6 miles later, we arrived in Kremmling and headed 17 miles climbing elevation from 7,400' to 8,000', riding along rivers and through canyons. Hot Sulphur Springs was a bust in that the springs are man made not natural, but we achieve 2 more friends, ginger beer, and a quick nap in the park. Funfact, this new set of friends was a couple celebrating their 33rd anniversary by riding 3300 miles on a tandem bike. On to Granby- 9.5 more miles and climbing elevation to 8,200' through some tough wind and rain. On arrival in Granby, Emily says lets try another 11 miles to camp in Denver Creek, but unfortunately for her I already spotted Brickhouse Restaurant and wine bar. We eat, drink, clean ourselves up and set up camp at the local baseball park. Day 1- How many miles can we pull off today? $1 a mile- show us what you think with some support on our Go Fund Me page http://www.gofundme.com/openroadopenschool New kickoff is in Silverthorne, CO. Our route plan has done a complete 180 as we realized what treasures CO, WY, and MT could provide us (sorry Central America). Yellowstone, Hot Springs, Grand Tetons, and microbreweries galore. Our new goal is Missoula, MT- approximately 1,052 miles from our kickoff. Thanks to the one and only Lauren Oakley, we are well rested, stocked up with Colorado's finest goodies, and well informed about the production and taste of Stranahan's whiskey. |
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