eLIFELIST.com Bike Trip

Day 19 July 18th.  

July 18th was pretty uneventful except for the sweat and heat.  Brent and I both agree that this was the hottest day we'd encountered and we couldn't recall ever sweating that much.  We wish there was some way to measure the amount of sweat we have everyday, it would be staggering. 

Ok, and Southern Illinois is definitely hilly, we ran into some monstrous hills that we weren't prepared for at all.   

We were on the road for about 10 miles and Brent had a flat and another broken spoke, we are becoming expert bike mechanics.  We fixed it and were back on the road in 30 minutes.  

Breakdown Tally:
6 Regular Tire Flats
2 Trailer Flats
1 Torn Tire
4 Broken Spokes
2 Chains

We arrived in Goreville, Illinois to eat at "Delaney's on Broadway" which was a great place.  We talked a little bit with the owner Sarah and her son Caulin.  It was great for us to cool down a little bit from the ridiculous humidity.  We took an extra long break in Goreville and that made it tough to get back on the bikes to finish out the 25 miles we had left to get to Carbondale.  We huffed it in to Carbondale, along the way we saw some bulls with full horns which was pretty amazing to see.  We rode through a beautiful forest right before Carbondale and came upon a lake called "The Devil's Kitchen Lake" and the breeze off the lake felt great.  

We arrived in Carbondale around 6:30, got seltted into our room at the Days Inn and then hopped on the bikes again to get some dinner at BW3's.  Wings, Ribs, Chicken Tenders, Fries and Beer hit the spot.  We were happy to be in Carbondale and looking forward to enjoying our day off on the 19th.  

Sebree Kentucky to Elizabethtown, IL.  July 17th

We had a great ride into Illinois, it was hot as could be with about a billion % humidity.  Coming out of Sebree we ran into an Australian family, the Smithwicks who were biking across the country together.  They started in LA and were riding to Manhattan.  They flew over from Australia to do the trip as a family.  The father was riding on a tandem bike with his 8 year old pedaling on the back and their 15 year old son was riding also.  Talk about testing your family bond!  They seemed pretty ready to get to New York.  We always as anyone we see coming from the west what we should be looking for, how were the Ozarks etc.  Everyone's response is different, the Australian family said the Ozarks were no problem, easy, but we ran into Jim earlier in the day riding from Oregon to Virginia with his wife and two daughters trailing him in a van and he said "The Ozarks are going to kick you guys butt."  

Not too long after we arrived in Marion Kentucky which was a really cool little town, we devoured a few sandwiches at the local Marion cafe and put a serious dent in the establishments water supply.  Afterwards we stuck around the town for a bit to greet some troops as they were returning from Iraq on a 15 month tour, a big group turned out from the town to cheer them in.  

From Marion we had about 13 mile ride to the Ohio river where we would take a ferry across into Illinois.  The ferry was great and lasted only about 5 minutes.  We rode on the ferry with Stefan who rides his motorcycle to work from Kentucky into Illinois everyday.  Stefan was in Iraq in the 90's for 3 years, he was a really nice guy and I quoted him as saying "Southern Illinois is known as the flatlands for us bikers."  Stefan was a nice guy and we enjoyed chatting with him but man the hills in Southern Illinois really surprised us.  

Once in Illinois we went to Cave-In Rock which is a small cave that looks right out at the Ohio River.  From there we booked it to Elizabethtown, IL because there looked to be a huge thunderstorm rolling in.  We got caught in the rain and were soaked for the last 5 miles.  Riding in the rain is really great actually, as long as there's no lightening or thunder rain riding is really refreshing and cool you off from the insane heat.  

We stayed at the River Rose Inn, which is a hot spot for cyclists to stay in Elizabethtown.  We were greet by Bruce who runs the place with his wife.  Elizabethtown was like going back in time, it was the most charming little river town you'll ever see.  The hotel was on main street and later that night there was rehearsal for the annual performance of the town's history.  They blocked off main street with two cars and rehearsed right in the middle of the street outside the River Rose Inn.  Bruce was all excited because "this year I get to play the bad guy, I get to kidnap someone!"

That night we ate dinner on the E-Town Fish shack which was a floating restaurant in the Ohio river.  Our waitress looked at us like we were crazy.  I had a cheeseburger, catfish sandwich, hush puppies and potato wedgies, it was the best meal we'd had in a while, so filling.  

Elizabethtown was a really beautiful place right on the river with so much charm and personality and we had a great time chatting with Bruce. 

July 16th – Day 17

Bob and Violet!

From the start of the trip up until today, we had been doing our own thing. There is no established route for this type of thing from there so we never saw a soul on an overstuffed bike pedaling the opposite direction with the goal of going from ocean to ocean. Now that we're on the Transamerica Route we ran into our first fellow cross country bikers at the first gas station we had a chance to fuel up at. Irv(67) and Barb(64) were headed Westbound as well going to Denver for her sister’s 70th birthday party. Now that is getting there in style. If it were up to me for that, I would have probably just sprung for a plane ticket, but kudos to them for having more energy than us to make it way out West on bikes.

Not too many miles later we ran into another fellow West bounder, Mike. Mike is an Englishman who is a teacher in Boston and has to be in San Francisco by Sept. 3 at the latest. If not, Mike will be looking for a new teaching job…

After talking with these fellow bikers who had spoken with other fellow bikers, we got some ‘intel’ that there was a biker’s hostel at our destination for the day, Sebree, KY. What we did not know was the type of treatment that we would receive there. Bob and Violet run the First Baptist Church in Sebree and give bikers a place to stay(indoors with mattresses), do their laundry, and give them a large home cooked meal EVERY night. That type of hospitality is really amazing when you understand how many people come through. They do not take a vacation until the biking season is over since they pretty much always have to be there and always prepare them a huge meal. For us it turned out to be lots of tacos and warm apple pie, with ice cream…  We really do appreciate all of their hospitality and everything they do for us bikers.

With this many bikers coming through with their own unique stories and backgrounds, they told us some very interesting stories. One that I am still in awe of is a fellow who came through a few weeks before us heading east. After he finished the US, he was flying to the UK, biking across there, then continuing on through Russia AND China. Not only that, but on $10 a day too. Really amazing. We will stick to just the US…for now.

-Brent

Here's the video of us on the Winston-Salem WXII news on July 4th. 

Elizabethtown, KY to Falls of Rough, KY

Leaving Elizabethtown, KY we were both pretty tired and Brent had a flat right off the bat.  After filling up at Wafllehouse we road out of town and ran into George on his bike and he really lifted our spirits.  George rode with us for about 15 miles and it was great to chat with him and hear about the local bike organizations.  Thanks to George for riding with us for a bit.  

Right outside of Elizabethtown, KY we got on the "Transamerica Bike Route."  The Transamerica Bike Route is a route that was established by the Adventure Cycling Association in 1976.  The route starts in Virginia and goes all the way to Oregon.  A large number of people bike it a year and it is the most established route across the country.  We will be on the Transamerica until we are west of Denver, Colorado.  The roads improved significantly once we got on on the Transamerica.  No more dodging gravel and friendly drivers used to cyclists, not only that but the scenery really stepped up a notch.  Pretty serious farm country.  

We had a good day in Falls of Rough, KY camping out.  We got there pretty early in the afternoon which was a very welcomed change.  Our average arrival time has been about 5PM, we got to Falls of Rough around 2:30PM.  We set up camp, cooked some Mac and Cheese for a late lunch, dried out our sweaty clothes in the hot hot sun.  A big storm moved in later in the afternoon, but it was a great night after that.  We played a game of horseshoes, (I killed Brent) before our instant mash potato and spaghetti dinner, which was really awesome by the way.  There was a big party/gathering around a group of RV's, playing banjo, singing, dancing and playing cornhole, pretty neat.  RV camping really is a culture in itself.  That night we were not in our tents 5 minutes when we were visited by Rocky Raccoon.  He got into one of Brent's bags and had a sample of some sport beans.  He cleared out after we sealed every last thing in our dry bags.  Overall, it was a really great ride to Falls of Rough, Kentucky. 

Day 15 – July 15, 2007

The bike gods frowned on us today! (which we think we found in a gas station along the way, see picture...)

After two and a half days of rest, relaxation, time with friends(and spouses), the dream had to come to an end and we HAD to get back on the bikes. Not too comforting knowing that we really don’t know a soul until we hit Colorado. We stumbled around the house and put together all of our belongings back into the yellow anvils called our trailers and did not actually leave from Lexington until 10 AM. Not a good start to a day that we ambitiously routed 86 miles of biking in.

Anyway, after two hours of biking and coming to a point where we need a break for the day, Lee conveniently has a flat. Once we access the damage, we also realize Lee has a broken spoke on the rear wheel as well. This wouldn’t be as much of a problem unless you had the proper tools(chain whip tool) which we had told ourselves we would buy at the next bike shop, but never did. An hour later, we bend a spoke in and fix the spoke the best we can and replace the tube. On a bright note, we a guy introduced himself while we were fixing the tire and spoke with him for a bit. After turning down his offer to camp at his house, he wanted to support us somehow and gave us some cash.

So by 1:30 PM, we had not eaten lunch yet, had about 55 more miles to go, AND had a stiff headwind the whole morning, which didn’t seem to want to go away. Several hours, 55 more miles, and many exhausting climbs later, we pull into the campsite at 7:45 PM with 15 minutes to spare before he closed up. We set up camp, got back on the bikes in search of food. Arby’s found us and I think we ordered one of everything off the menu.

Once returning to the campsite, we met our neighbors in their permanent trailer next door who wanted to chat. I think I am little glad that it was dark by this point. After a minute or two of talking with the two women who stay with the one guy in their trailer, one of them confesses or mumbles that she was "meaner than darnit right now", which we had quickly distinguished ourselves after she said one word, but understand that to be a Kentucky phrase for, "I’ve been drinking heavily for six hours and don’t know where I am". I also believe that this same one may have had a thing for both of us. I sensed this when with my keen awareness when she offered me her "gravity boots" to hang upside down on the swing set next door to their trailer. Plus she said “uuurrrrrr preeettttyyyy”…

All in all it was a very long day, got to sleep on the ground again after several days of a bed, and the Kansas flatlands are really starting to look appealing now…

-Brent