Final Thoughts and Advice for Tourists

I'm writing this final blog post from home. I'm sitting on my couch, on my computer, eating food from my cabinets and drinking milk from my fridge. It's all of the little things that I've missed the most. I got to see my family today, and it really hit me how much I had missed them.

We woke up this morning and headed to the UPS store. The first one was closed, so we tried a second one. This one was open; great news! We started boxing them up, and while fitting it all in the box was tough, we got it to work. Jason had to go to a bike shop to get his pedals off, but we made it work. I shipped mine for about $114, which was less than I had expected it to be.

We were running pretty late at this point. We got to LAX at about 10:45 with our flight taking off at 11:35. We got though security quickly though and still had time to grab some food. Our flight went well and we got to Baltimore safely. Our second flight was originally delayed an hour, but we took off only about 45 to 50 minutes late. We got into Portland around 11:40 where we met my parents, my sister Sally, Jason's mom, and our good friend Woody. We drove home and it was just incredible. It feels so surreal to be back in my house where life is normal.

I'd like to take a few minutes to give some quick thoughts and advice for anyone who comes across this blog in hopes of doing their own trip.

1) Don't Over-Plan: We did this mostly by accident, as we just didn't have time to put much together. If you try to plan every day, it will only frustrate you.

2) Roll with the Punches: This is pretty similar to the last point. Things will not go how you expect them to (usually.) You have to be able to change your plans on the fly. If you're having a great day, like if you have a tail wind and a cool day in the west, go further than you had planned. Just because you were going to stop at 80 miles doesn't mean that you have to. On that same note, if you're having a terrible day, stop early. The wind will be better tomorrow, or your legs will be more fresh. You've got to learn to adapt to your situation.

3) Carry less: Clothes are heavy. One shirt does weight much, but a bag of them does. Shave weight wherever you can. Our system was to shed weigh as we went, but we could have easily started with way less. If you have to stretch to think of a situation where you need something (with the exception of some tools, which are actually essential) then you probably don't need to bring it.

4) Get paper maps: We used almost solely our phones, and it didn't work out plenty of times. The battery died, or you lose service, and you're done. This would be especially true if you were touring by yourself, or if  your group had the same service provider. Jason and I had different providers (I had AT&T and Jason had Verizon) so we usually could make it work, but we wanted paper maps plenty of times.

5) You WILL ride at night: It doesn't matter that you'd planned not to. Something will go wrong, and you'll have to fix a flat, or you'll get an address wrong. Get a GOOD bike light; a headlamp is not good enough, trust me. On this same note, if you want to ride at night for any part of your trip, try to time it with a full moon. We got lucky and hit the full moon when we were doing huge days and thus riding partially at night. On that same note, riding at night can be a good option since it's cooler and there's usually less wind. Just be prepared. Keep an eye on cars behind you, and assume that they won't see you; riding into oncoming traffic is a good idea since you can see them coming, just be careful on winding roads.

6) You WILL get flats: Practice changing your tire. You don't want the first time to be in the middle of the desert. Carry more tubes than you think you'll need, and carry patches as well. It's not impossible to get two flats in one day. I met one older tourist going from California to DC who had gotten three that day.

7) Carry a lot of water: This is especially true through the desert. Three water bottles are NOT enough for a 70 mile stretch of road through 105 degree weather. You'll want extra to have to throw on yourself to cool down. The most I ever carried was 7 bottles: 3 bottles and 4 Gatorade bottles full of water. Even if you don't use it, it helps mentally knowing that you have it just in case.

8) Talk to locals: They know the roads and the hills. Frequently they can tell you better roads to take, or at least give you new ideas. Be wary of course for they will probably be way off on the mileages that they give you, but they're an important resource nonetheless. Plus, it's fun hearing their stories and meeting interesting people.

9) Carry food: Just like having water, it's important to have snacks. Not all gas stations are open 24/7, and you'll get hungry at strange times. If it's hot, snack even if you don't feel hungry. You're body will be happy that you did.

10) Push yourself: If you're doing a big tour, then you're already doing this, but keep it in mind. Ride through that rainstorm with hail. Camp on the side of the road behind a baseball field where you won't get found. Go further than you think you can. That's what touring is about. Push your limits and you'll feel the reward. Some of my fondest memories are of the hardest and most challenging parts of the trip.

11) Relax and have fun: Take your time and enjoy, after all that's why you're touring. If you've had a terrible day (which you will from time to time) get a hotel and have a hot shower. Sleep in a little late. You're doing this to have fun, so remind yourself of that from time to time.

12) Stealth camp: This is for those trying to save a few bucks. Stealth camping can be really fun. We found that the best places were baseball fields and parks on the outskirts of town. It's harder in the midwest, but when there are forests, use the cover of trees to hide yourself. I read some good advice once that said basically that if you think you're hidden, chances are local kids will know of that spot too. Just be careful and you should be fine. Stealth camping for an entire long tour would be no fun as it's fairly stressful, so try to mix it up with real campgrounds and a hotel once in a while.

That's my list for now... I'm sure I'll think of more, and I'll try to keep this updated as I do.


This tour was the biggest thing I've done in my life. It's changed me more than I had ever imagined it could, and in ways that I didn't expect. I'm proud of what I've done; really and truly proud. I don't feel that way often, if ever, and it feels amazing. I've gotten far more of an education being out on the road for 50 days than I will ever get at any institute of higher education. I'd like to say thanks to my wonderful parent for all of their support, both financial, and much more importantly, emotionally. I could not have done this without them. The phone calls home were what kept me going. Thanks as well to my fantastic sister, Jason's mom, and all of my friends at school and at home. You're all amazing.

So go out and do something amazing. Don't over think it. Just because you haven't done it before doesn't mean that you can't do it. It's terrifying but that's what makes it so damn fun. Stop reading this and go take up your own adventure.

If you'd like to get in touch with me for any reason, to talk about touring or bikes or anything else, you can get in touch with me at gmerritt@colby.edu.

Signing off for the last time until my next adventure,
Greg Merritt

Day Forty Nine

And so the adventure comes to a close. We rode 74 miles from San Bernandino, CA to Venice Beach in Los Angeles, CA.

It was really a spectacular last day. It wasn't too hot or too windy. We had good roads all day through the suburbs of L.A., and we had bike lanes for a goog portion of the day. We rode fast, leaving the motel this morning at about 8am. We got burgers for lunch, but made it quick so we could keep going.

Riding through the city was really cool. Los Angeles seems like a really cool town and I wish I could have seen more of it.

With about 9 miles to go, we stopped for a bathroom break, and to buy paper and champagne. We only found paper. So we stopped again, but this time found only champagne. Finally we found a bathroom about 5 miles from the beach. From there we went at a dead sprint. We started recording, and got a great video.

Highlights of the video include lots of yelling and trying to make red light turn green, Jason's friend Sam (who we're staying with tonight) rolling up alongside of us, and we almost getting hit by a car. At that point nothing could stop us. We rolled onto the beach, ditched the bikes, and ran to the Pacific Ocean. After basking for a minute or two, I took off my shoes and put my camera in safe place. I went for a swim, and enjoyed making it all of the way across the country.

Eventually we went back to the bike and met Sam and her friend. We took tons of pictures and had a blast. We popped champagne and finally got to lift the bikes over our heads in triumph. It was surreal to actually finish the trip. It was an abrupt ending. We basically rode until we ran out of country to ride across.

From the beach we took a ride to a bike shop in hopes of getting boxes. They didn't have any, but the second shop did. After some logistics, we decided to strap the boxes to the roof and ship the bikes early in the morning before our flight.

After a quick ride down Sunset Boulevard, we went back to Sams and showered and snacked. We decided on mexican for dinner, so we headed out to some restaurant. After we ate, we took a long driving tour of the city, which was great. We got to see the Hollywood sign; it wasn't lit up so we couldn't get a picture, but we can still say that we've seen it! We got a bit lost, as Sam only moved here about a month ago, but it was a great time nonetheless.

Tomorrow: Home.

Day Forty Eight

Today went a little more slowly than we would have liked, but it was fine. My computer stopped working about halfway through the day, but according to Google Maps it was 85, so given our wrong turn and other things, I'll say that we rode 87 miles from Twentynine Palms, CA to San Bernardino, CA.

We slept in a bit since we got in so late last night. We were on the road at 11. It was really hot again, but it was either better than the days past, or we're just getting used to it. The kicker today was the wind (again.) It's like going up a hill with no top.

We ate lunch at Subway, which was great since we hadn't had a legitimate meal in a while. After we ate, we had a huge downhill. Jason missed our turn, so we trekked up the hill a bit. Unfortunately, our road was dirt. So, we turned back around and headed to I-10, whether we were allowed to ride on it or not.

The answer was not. As we pulled in to a rest stop to refill water, a cop came up behind us. He was nice, and just said that we couldn't ride on this stretch of freeway. It was fine, and he just said to get off at the next exit. So we did that, and were in a much better situation than we would have been with the dirt road.

From there it got even windier. Actually, there was a wind farm (I think that's what it's called?) right there as well; so many turbines! We made it to Banning at about 8 and found an italian restaurant, which we've been wanting for what seems lime weeks. We checked our milage, and it was exactly 100 miles to the beach. We booked a motel (another Motel 6) about 27 miles away.

Our night ride was awesome. There were great road with bike lanes, and we're back in society so there we street lights for a while. We were on the road at about 9:20, and were at the motel, after stopped to buy breakfast, by midnight. So now we rest for a few hours and do 72 miles as fast as we can.

Tomorrow: Venice Beach, CA, where our adventure comes to a close.

Day Forty Seven

It was another long day. We rode 126 miles from Needles, CA to Twentynine Palms, CA.

We woke up to find that bikes weren't allowed on I-40. We knew they were at some points, so we we trekked as far as we could on backroads, and then there was no sign prohibiting us at that exit.

Jason got a flat, so we fixed that. We passed an exit where we were asked to leave the freeway, but we pretende we didn't see the sign, and kept going.

It was insanely hot today. Like, probably around 110, maybe 105. We climbed 2000 feet until we exited the freeway. We didn't get kicked off by the police, though we almost wanted to so that we could get a ride in an air-conditioned car. We mostly weren't kidding.

After we got off, we sat to take a break. A nice guy stopped (probably because we looked haggard) and gave us some water. He told us he owned the auto shop in the next "town" (population around 10 maybe? His shop was the town,) and that we should stop to get water. So we made it the 11 miles and stopped. We chilled in the shade and drank water and ate snacks and chatted with the old man napping outside. He was nice, and very interesting, just incredibly quiet.

After we left, we trekked the 34 miles to Amboy. It was still hot. but we made it, and sat in the air-conditioning for a while. We drank some drank, filled water bottles, and headed out.

The sun went down, and it cooled down considerably. We climbed a gigantic hill, which, combined with my dehydration (it's literally impossible to stay hydrated) and hunger, made me very unhappy. Near the top, I "realized" that the hotel was 20 miles closer than we'd thought. That turned my mood around, and got me up the rest of the way. We had an epic downhill, which is always nice. At our turn, we realized that the hotel was not in ya new location, but actually in te original location. Bummer.

We rode another 19 miles into town to our Motel 6. We rolled in at about 2:45. Of course, we were on the third floor. No worries though, there was an elevator. Then our key didn't work. I went back down, got a new key, and am now crashed in bed. We've got 140 miles to Los Angeles, and another 15 to the beach.

Tomorrow: Somewhere a few miles east of Los Angeles.

Day Forty Six

Today was long, but we finally made it into California. We rode 126 miles from Seligman, AZ to Needles, CA (my odometer's reading 121 miles but it broke for about 5 miles.)

We woke up and got breakfast and were out of the hotel around 10. We stopped for snacks and bought awesome american flag bandanas. Then we hopped back on I-40.

We were on I-40 for about 70 miles. It was okay. About 5 miles from Kingman, Jason got a flat. We found a shard in the tire, and replaced the tube. Then we stopped and ate dinner at Panda Express. When we came outside, the tire was flat again. Luckily, the Wal-Mart was next door. So we walked over and I stripped the tire off while Jason bought tubes. I found two more shards in the tire. Yeah, they were a great purchase.

Then we left for the rest of our day, which was about 50 more miles. It got dark, so we lulled out lights and reflectors. We had a huge climb through what I can imagine would have been really pretty in the daylight. Then we finally got the decent we'd been waiting days for. We dropped about 3500 feet in about twenty or so miles. It was awesome. We could see the city for nearly the whole decent. I'd say it was my favorite stretch or road thus far.

We crossed into California without much of a welcome sign. We stopped at Jack-In-The-Box for a bite to eat, and checked into the Motel 6 at about 12:10. So now it's time to sleep so we can wake up early and go hard again.

Tomorrow: Twenty-Nine Palms, CA.

Day Forty Five

Today didn't quite go as expected, but it was okay nonetheless. We rode 104 miles from our hotel at the Grand Canyon National Park to Seligman, AZ.

We got up this morning and trekked over to the cafeteria to grab cream cheese. We're probably not supposed to take it, but hey, if it's free when you buy a bagel then it should be free if you don't buy a bagel. We ate in our room, packed up our bags, stopped by the market to buy snacks, and were on the road around 10.

The first 60 miles were okay, just a lot slower than we'd hoped. We thought that the elevation of Williams was lower, but it actually wasn't. That combined with a light headwind, made for some slow going. We got in around 5:30, and got dinner at Jack in the Box, only because we didn't want to waste miles in to town to find a better place. After a pit stop for McDonald's smoothies, we were back on the road at around 6:45.

That left us with about 40 miles to go. We were on I-40 (yes, in Arizona bicycles are allowed on interstates) so we had a good road and good shoulder. After a few miles of a slow climb, we found a "6% Grade Next 6 Miles"'sign, which was awesome. It was about a 10 mile decline, all told. We got a great sunset, and took out reflectors and lights. It's very nearly (or maybe it actually was) a full moon, so we had enough light to ride. There were some big rolling hills, but we made
it to Seligman just shy of 10.

We have one of the nicest $60 hotel rooms I've ever seen. And the town seems really cool too. I wish we had time to explore. It's the "birthplace" of historic route 66, and apparently the movie Cars was based on this town (the tow-truck is parked just across the street.)

Tomorrow: Needles, CA.

Day Forty Four

What an amazing day. We rode a total of 4 miles, which was just down to the post office and grocery store.

We slept in late in our super comfortable beds. We gathered ourselves and headed over to the cafeteria in the lodge to get breakfast. It was really really expensive, but I suppose that's expected at a National Park. The we went to the gift shop to get t-shirts. We tried to look as touristy as possible, but it's hard to compete with the people here.

We went back to the room and I got a shower. We checked our route from here to Los Angeles (exciting!) and made sure we had hotel options. We decided on what we were shipping home, and rode down to the post office. I shipped all of my camping stuff (tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad,) plus my back bag, which also had a handful of stuff in it. So now we're riding super ultra light. I'm down to just two bags with the bare minimum in them. Then we got lunch, went bag to the room to drop the bikes off, and walked down to the canyon's edge to catch a bus that would bring us to the good viewing places.

The canyon truely is, well, grand. I expected it to be amazing, but it still surpassed all of my expectation. It really is a see-it-to-believe-it kind of place. We snapped a ton a amazing pictures.

At one of our first stops, we got to talking with a group of kids. One of them suggested a brilliant picture, so we took that. We found out shortly that this group was actually two group who were just hanging out. We boarded our bus with one of them, our new friend Robert. He plays football at Coastal Carolina, and was in Arizona helping a friend move. He'd decided to take a day at the Grand Canyon, much like we were doing. We spent the rest of the day with Robert, which was great. It's nice to have more than one person to interact with out here.

After all of the stops we went to get dinner before reboarding a bus to watch the sunset. We ended up missing our bus by about one minute. Bummer. We ended up watching it from a different spot, and all was well with the world.

Robert came back to our room for a few minutes so he could borrow Jason's phone charger so that he could call his mom. We hung out for a few minutes longer, and then he left to drive back to Flagstaff to his friends new apartment.

We watched some television and booked our flights home. Wednesday, July 20th at 11:35am we will be on an AirTrans flight home. Now it's back to the road on our final stretch to the Pacific Coast.

Tomorrow: Seligman, AZ.

Day Forty Three

Today was insane. We rode 138 miles from somewhere around 16 mules west of Kayenta to our hotel in Grand Canyon National Park.

It was really a day of accomplishments. First of all, we made it to the Grand Canyon, our biggest destination other than Los Angeles. Second, it was our biggest day of the trip, and that record will probably stand. Thirdly, we hit our 3000 mile mark.

We realized the night before that time in Arizona is strange. Apparently they don't observe daylight savings time. However, we had been on a Navajo Indian reservation since entering Arizona, so we didn't know. So, we somehow managed to pick up an hour, so we're essentially on pacific time now, sort of. So we woke up at 4, and were on the road around 5:15. We rode some fast miles, and were in Tuba City around 10:30. We got lunch and talked to Jason's mom, who had gotten our hotel booked for us. I called my mother to wish her a happy birthday (Happy Birthday!) and were back on the road around noon.

We'd also realized that the Grand Canyon had an elevation of about 6800 feet, where we had thought it was around 2000. That meant it was either flat or uphill, not a big downhill like we had hopes for.

After lunch it got really windy. We rode a very slow 22 miles to Cameron, where we snacked for a minute. Then it was off to do the last leg of the day.

It started with a huge climb. That was followed by another huge climb. All said, I put the total climb at 35 miles, except for about a 2 miles downhill near the middle. By the top it was dark, and we had about 26 miles further to go. So we snacked for a moment, took out lights and jackets, and headed out.

It was rolling hills, some of which were really pretty steep. We could see the canyon from time to time, to out right. it was pretty amazing having your first viewing of this place be by moonlight on a bike ride. While my spirits had gotten pretty low on the hill climb, I was feeling better once to started getting some downhills. We rolled into our hotel at about 11:30, putting our total risky time at about 18 hours and 15 minutes. Wow.

So I'm pumped to sleep in a comfy bed and take a shower and get a good nights sleep.

Tomorrow: The final rest day, taking time to explore the Grand Canyon.

Day Forty Two

Today went pretty well, similar to yesterday, but without the terrible ending. We rode 103 miles from 12 miles west of Shiprock, NM to somewhere 16 miles west of Kayenta, AZ.

We woke up to the same mud that we dealt with last night. We packed up and carried the bikes and all of our bags over to the road (at least 100 yards, probably closer to 200.) We cleaned the bikes as well as we could, and by about 2 hours after we'd woken up we were back in good working shape. We biked down the road a few miles and ate some breakfast.

We hit the Arizona border about 10 miles into our day, which is always great. Only one more left!

We had some fun hills today, but mostly it was just rolling. At the top of one of our bigger hills, there were some folks taking pictures of us. We'd seen their van go by and thought the license plate was "TEAMNBC" so we got excited, but it turns our it was "TEAMBNC" which stood for Team Ball N' Chain. They were just this couple who had gotten married after riding a tandem up a hill to their wedding ceremony, and had gotten jerseys that said the slogan. Oh well. They gave us some drinks (Muscle Milk, which I've wanted to buy all trip but have been too cheap) and some tubes. the tubes were too small, but we figureded they'd work in a bind. Awesome. I wish we got prizes at the top of every hill.

I got a flat tire today, which bring the score up to 6-2, with Jason still in a commanding lead. It turns out it was a staple that did me in. It went right throughy Kevlar tires and into my tube. Don't ever let someone at a bike shop order tires for you. Especially if they're
Panasonic Paselas.

We got to Kayenta and got dinner at Subway. We finally were able to charge our phones. We then rode a fast 16 miles out of town, trying to get as many miles in before dark as possible. We found a nice grassy and somewhat hidden spot off the road, and are calling it home. Tonight should be our last night of camping, if all goes as planned. I'm not going to miss it, at least not for a while.

Tomorrow: Waking up at 5 to do our biggest day yet. Pressing 140 miles all of the way to the Grand Canyon. CAN'T WAIT.

Day Forty One

Today started wonderfully and ended terribly. We rode 97 miles from Carson National Forest, NM to somewhere a few miles west of Shiprock, NM.

We woke up in a national forest, which was just beautiful. We were up early since we had gotten to bed so early. There was almost no wind, so we rode a smooth 50 miles or so to Farmington, NM where we got lunch.

From there the wind picked up a bit, but nothing too bad. Out pace slowed, but we still managed to get to Shiprock around 6. Shiprock is 97 percent Native American, and located on the Navajo Reservation. We got asked for gas money, and for money for food. Apparently we must look wealthy.

We bought dinner at a grocery store and ate at Sonic. From there we headed west, with the intention of just getting as far a we could. That's when the weather took a turn for the worse. We could see the storm approaching, and decided to try to plow through it.

It's a big storm. It started getting dark, so we pulled down the first road we found. We walked our bikes over to a space between some hills in hopes of not being seem by traffic or any others. This was a lot harder than it sounds, since it was all very dense clay-ish mud. It caked on the wheels making it hard to wheel. Jason's bike had fenders, so the caked mud was even worse. I grabbed a few of his bags, and he basically carried the bike over. This was in the middle of an open field, while it was thundering and lightning. It was probably just about the most scarred I've ever been, and probably about the most real danger I've ever been in. But we did what we had to do, and made it through. So now we're trapped in our tents, hoping to wake early and do a big milage day tomorrow. Things are going to look up. They have to from here.

Tomorrow: Somewhere near Tonalea, AZ.

Day Forty

We love New Mexico. My cycling computer seems to have stopped working (it keeps milage, I just can't flip to the right screen) so I'm not sure of the exact miles, but it was around 60.

Update: My computer was working again this morning! We rode 62 miles.

We woke up later than usual, and got on the road around 10. We were originally planning to only ride 27 miles to Dulce, NM, but we were feeling good and ambitious, so we decided to ride more. That being said, since any miles past Dulce were extra, we decided to stop for breakfast. Just outside of the breakfast place in Chama, Jason's front tire went flat, again. Bah. So we got our breakfast, then proceeds to change the tire. We were pretty sure the flats were due to wrinkled tape on the wheel, so we retaped it with electrical tape, and patched the tube. The first patch didn't hold, so off came the tire again. The second patch held, and got us through the day.

So we were on the road at around 12:30. It was a beautiful day to ride. We made it to Dulce and got lunch, then headed out.

I had this image in my mind if New Mexico, but what I'm seeing is not even comparable. It's a bit different than the Colorado Rockies, but beautiful nonetheless. We've had lots of huge downhills today, so we've been able to just enjoy the sights.

We rode through Carson National Forest, and actually we're technically camping in it, just on the far western edge. It amazing, and I recommend it as a vacation destination to all. We found a sign that said camping was permitted within 300 feet of all roadways, so we hunkered down. 

We made it just in time. As soon as we picked our site, raindrops started falling, and by the time time the tent was up it was pouring. We ducked into our tents and experienced the biggest thunderstorm I've ever heard. It was terrifying. But alas, we survived. Now if we can make it through the night without having a battle with a rattlesnake, we'll be in business.

Tomorrow: Shiprock, NM.

Day Thirty Nine

A lot of today was pretty rough, but we managed to end on a high note. We rode 74 miles from Alamosa, CO to Chama, NM.

We had a huge head wind all morning. It's really frustrating, but there's nothing we could do about it. So we plugged along, and made it to Antonito, CO for lunch. We had a crazy waitress, and laughed a little bit too much.

From there we headed west into the mountains. We were told our uphill would start after a bridge, so we were pretty leary of any that we came across.

Jason had a hard time today. Before lunch, he got a flat. Ugh, great tires, but it happens. Then after lunch, another flat. We tried to patch t, but there was a tiny hole in the patch. Great. So we changed a total of three tires today. We're starting to get faster.

It was flat for a or longer than we had expected. But inevitably, we cross a bridge and saw the sign, "La Manga Pass Summit: 5 Miles." The first mile was really steep, but it got better from there. We made it to the top eventually, where we were at 10230 feet. We realized how cold it was and layered up. It was getting pretty late by that point, but we decided to press on.

Aside from maybe a one mile climb, it was a decent all the way to Chama. It got dark, but we had some moonlight, so we rode the 15 or so miles. It was actually pretty amazing. I wish that I could have seen it in the day light. A twelve mile decent is one of the most enjoyable experiences in the world. Jason saw a couple elk, too, but I missed them somehow.

We got to Chama just before 10, and have set up camp at a (real) campground. We're bummed about having to pay, but at least we get hot showers here.

Tomorrow: Dulce, NM, or somewhere west of it.

Day Thirty Eight

Today we finally got to climb some mountains. We rode 78 miles from Walsenburg, CO to Alamosa, CO.

After about 20 miles of a gradual rise, we hit hills. It was just over a 6 mile climb, andfelt pretty good. The summit was about 9500 feet, so we got some pictures with the sign and started the decent.

The wind was far worse today than the hills. We had a very stiff headwind all day except for the last two or three miles of our climb. Going downhill we were averaging about 10-12mph, and that's with pedaling. So that was disappointing.

We made it to the bike ship in Alamosa at about 6:05, and they closed at 6:00. No worries though, they were great. We got our new tires, and did a little maintenance on the bikes (new brake pads, lubes chain, etc.) It feel like we've got new bikes. Hopefully this will mare our climbs tomorrow a little bit easier.

We got dinner at a Mexican buffet which was awesome. Then we got some food for breakfast and headed towards this baseball field/fair grounds. We were going to stay under the bleachers, but someone came and turned the lights on. So now we're just out in a field behind a pile of sand. What a life.

Tomorrow: Chama, NM.

Day Thirty Seven

The Rockies. We found them. We rode 76 miles from La Junta, CO to Walsenburg, CO.

We had a rough start. About two miles down the road, my back tire went flat. Fairly expected, but ugh nonetheless. So we patched the tube, but halfway through pumping it we could still hear another leak. So the tire came off again. We put my front tire and tube on my back wheel, and my back tire and a new tube on the front wheel. That worked, and got me through the day.

The day was a 75 mile stretch of nothing. It was absolutely beautiful, but barren. We'd gotten lunch this morning, knowing it was a bare stretch, which I'm certainly glad we did. Finally we came over a rise and, boom, mountains. Shortly after, we came over anther rise, and we could see what we were about to be up against. It was cloudy, so the view was a bit hazy, but it looked pretty ominous.

We made it to Walsenburg and got mediocre Mexican food for dinner. We sat and listened to New Found Glory and ate our burritos. Then we went to the gas station to stock up on food for another pretty barren stretch tomorrow. It was pretty dark by this point, so we high-tailed it out of town the three miles or so to Lathrop State Park. It's on the way, so it's just three less miles we have to do tomorrow. We've gotten in late enough that I'm pretty sure we're not going to have to pay, which would be stellar.

Tomorrow: Waking up early to trek to Alamosa, CO so that we're there before six to pick up our new tires. It will be our first day of doing legitimate mountains.

Day Thirty Six

Even though today was a pretty short day it was eventful. We rode 58 miles from Lamar, CO to La Junta, CO (pronounced la-ha-na, apparently.)

I woke up before Jason again, and packed up all of my things. As I was about to wake Jason up, a few softball girls came onto the field. So I told him to hurry, and we packed his stuff up quickly and left awkwardly as the team laughed at us.

Jason immediately noticed he had a flat tire, so we had to fix that before we even left. It went pretty smoothly, and we were on our way. About 20 miles down the road, I noticed that mine were low. Upon inspection, I saw that my tires had worn almost all of the way through. We pumped it back up, and kept on our way. It was low again by the time we made it to Las Animas for lunch.

We were hoping for there to be a bike shop in either Las Animas or La Junta, but no dice. No where to buy a tire. The closest shop we found was in Alamosa, which will be our stop in two days. We called and after some frustration with the owner, I ended up talking to the shop mechanic who was very helpful. He told us he could probably order us some tires to be in by Friday afternoon, and that he would stay a bit late if we couldn't get there by 6.

At about two miles to go, my tire finally gave out, and wouldn't hold any air whatsoever. We have a hotel tonight, so Jason rode there to drop his stuff off, while I started the tire repair. The tire had a massive hole and so I patched an older one with a smaller hole. The good news if that the tire looks like it hasn't worn ALL of the way through. So there's still hope. Jason took my bags to avoid putting too much weight on the patch right now, and we rode to the hotel. The patch is holdig thus far. It only had to last about 140-150 more miles. We'll find out.

So we're getting dinner at Sonic now, and are pumped to watch a movie in our room later. It's a good thing that we have a room tonight because it looks like a massive thunder storm is about to roll through.

Tomorrow: Walsenburg, CO.

Day Thirty Five

Well, we're not in Kansas anymore. We rode 82 miles from Lakin, KS to Lamar, CO.

I woke up this morning before Jason, and decided to go look for a bathroom. As I did, I saw a lady drive in, and shortly after, a sheriff car drive in. Uh oh, I thought. So I walked back, and just as I was passed the cop car and thought that I was out of range, I got the, "Excuse me, Sir?" Bah. He asked if we were camping, and I said yeah and that we were getting ready to pack up. He didn't seem upset in the least, and we chatted about the trip for a few minutes. Phew.

So we got up, and had awkward interactions with the lady who had to have called the police. She seemed nice enough though, so it was fine. We were eating breakfast by the road, and were offered cantaloup by some guy and his wife in an RV. Yum! I love cantaloupe.

We crossed the time zone, and passed into mountain time, which was pretty cool. It's nice getting the extra hour, although now it gets dark pretty early. We rode shirtless for most of the way, which was probably a bad decision given the sunburn I have now. Oh well, it'll tab over eventually. We made it to Syracuse and got lunch there. After that we headed to the post office. We intended to send a few items home, but got a little carried away. I ended up sending probably between 15-20 lbs of stuff. I'm down to the bare minimum now, and I could actually feel my bike get lighter. It's the perfect thing to do before tackeling the Rockies.

We crossed into Colorado! Hooray! I'm pretty happy to not be in Kansas anymore. Everything is much more alive here. Apparently it's because Colorado steals all of the water from the Arkansas River before it gets to Kansas. Who knew.

So we're in Lamar now. We called the police department to see if we could sleep in this park. Hey said no, but gave us the location of a park we could sleep in. Score. We went to dinner, and headed back to camp. The place looked a little rough, so we set up camp in a softball field. As long as I get some sleep, I'm happy.

Tomorrow: La Junta, CO.

Day Thirty Four

We had another good day today! We rode 81 miles from Dodge City, KS to Lakin, KS.

We woke up and headed to a gas station after packing our things up. We ate breakfast on the curb as per usual.

We made it to Cimarron, and decided to get lunch since we figured we would find much between there and Garden City. It's a good thing that we did. After our Subway sandwiches we were back on the road.

The next stretch was a little slower than we would have liked. You know when there is construction and the road looks like a cheese grater went over it? Yeah, the road was like that. For about 15-20 miles. Luckily the tires held up, and eventually the road was good again.

We made it to Garden City and scouted the McDonald's to get more smoothies. During our (refreshing and delicious) break, we looked into the Fouth of July celebration in town. It turned out that the fireworks were cancelled due to fire concerns. Bummer. So since we weren't getting a fireworks show there, we decided to keep on going.

On our way, we passed a Mustang on the side of the road, with no one in it. Peculiar, but hey. A few minutes later, the car pulled up beside us as the women in the passenger seat took pictures of us. We chatted for a minute and eventually both pulled over to exchange numbers. Wolf (he goes by his last name) is from Germany and lives in Hollywood. We think he said something about being a writer, but his accent was pretty thick. We exchanged phone numbers and Facebook info and got another picture with his... well, either young wife or daughter, we're not sure. He told us we should call him when we were in LA and we could "make party in Hollywood." He said they wouldn't be back to California until the 25th, so it's not looking promising, but who knows. At least we have an invite in Hollywood.

We're staying at this park/fair grounds/golf course place. We can see fireworks in about three different areas, with a few stragglers off in other directions. I just built a shower out of a hose and a fire-pole on the playground. It was cold, but actually worked better than I had planned.

Tomorrow: About 80-90 miles down Rt. 50, crossing into Colorado and getting another hour!

Day Thirty Three

Today was really rejuvinating. It got me excited to ride again. We rode 118 miles from Arlington, KS to Dodge City, KS.

We started the day with something unheard of: a tailwind. We cruised right along and did our first 35 miles or so to Pratt (where we had wanted to get last night) by about 12:45, and that was with a pretty late start.

We got lunch at Starvin Marvin's BBQ. We're far enough west now that this is real BBQ. We spent a while there reassessing our route. We realized that there is basically no road that runs east-west through New Mexico remotely near where we need it. After extensive discussion, we're back to Colorado. I'm excited, and think that it's a great change of plans.

We headed back out en route to Greensburg. They were wiped out by a tornado about 5 years ago, apparently. Thats when we hit our first real rain. The first storm was big and threatening. There was a lot of thunder and lighting, and hail, which hurts a lot to ride through. After a bit of clear weather, we got the second storm. This was basically the first storm, but worse. At one point, we had got hit by a gust that had to have been close to 90 or 100 mph. I got blown off the road, and Jason was literally blown off of his bike. Ah! But it cleared slowly from there. The positive to this heavy wind was that it was a tail wind (when it was steady.) We rode at about 20mph (which is FAST on our touring bikes) the whole 30 miles, so we made it there in about an hour and a half.

We got Mexican food there, and decided that we'd head to Dodge City, another 44 or so miles. We just couldn't pass up the tailwind, and didn't want to waste some easy miles.

So we headed out to Dodge City. It was a fun ride with the wind at out backs. We expected a third storm that we saw approaching, but we managed to out-run it or something, because it never did hit us. We made it to Dodge City around 8:40, took some pictures in town (it's a really cool western looking town) and got smoothies at McDonald's.

From there we headed to a park. It looked to busy, so we picked another and rode a little ways out of town to it. We're now camping behind a baseball field. Hooray for not paying for campgrounds!

Tomorrow: Somewhere along Rt. 50/400, trying to find a good place to spend the 4th.

Day Thirty Two

Well, we made some mistakes today. We rode 62 miles from Newton, KS to Arlington, KS.

We woke up in the middle of a car show. When I awoke, there was only about 3 cars there, but they started fillig in quickly. We eventually ended up chatting with one of the guys, and he was really very nice.

In the middle of the night I awoke to see another cyclist roll into our park. I'm not sure exactly what time, but it was sometime between 12 and 3 am. This poor guy slept in later than us, and awoke to a ton of cars. Hah. We didn't know whether we should wake him or not, but it all worked out. We talked to him a bit, mostly to see where he stayed the night before. Apparently he'd ridden through the night. I think that he was living further off of the grid than we were. We ran into him again in town, and we got water together and said our goodbyes. We never did get his name, so we refer to him by any number of fictional names.

It was hot again. I won't expand on that. It was really windy again. Such is life. After talking to Arnold, we got the idea that we wanted to ride into the night to avoid the heat. So that was our plan.

Jason apparently had some family in Hutchinson that he'd all but forgotten about. So, when we got there, we got there address and headed over. Jason hadn't seen Trenda since he was three, so we were basically hanging out at a strangers house. We're not even totally sure how they're related, but third cousin is what Jason decided on. She was very nice though, and we were very grateful. We got lunch and did our laundry, and got to have a shower. Then we just sat around in the AC and watched High School Musical. Eventually we headed out.

We stopped in Arlington for dinner, beforeour night ride. We ate at the Crazy Horse Saloon, which was awesome. It was owned by this couple with 8 kids, and they were great. We got excellent Philly cheese steaks.

After dinner, we went next door to buy some fireworks. There were a bunch of kids outside who were pumped about our trip. They ended up giving us 15$. Now, we truly were going to buy fireworks regardless, so we didn't feel too badly about using that money for our purchases. So we strapped the explosives to our bikes and headed off.

We realized within 5 minutes that we had had a terrible plan. Riding at night is hard, and not fun. So after assessing the situation we rode the half mile back into town and stayed at a park. Oh well, we should have known it was a bad plan. We're bummed that we missed miles in the afternoon waiting to ride at night, but life goes on.

Tomorrow: Somewhere down Rt. 54.

Day Thirty One

Today was hot again, but this time far windier. We rode 61 miles from Cottonwood Falls, KS to Newton, KS.

It was pretty close to the same temperature as yesterday. Maybe a little cooler just because of the wind, but not much. And the wind was considerable. It said online 23 mph, and a direct headwind. So it was slow going. We held maybe 7 mph for the first 30 miles or so. We're basically riding on a highway, so the blacktop is hot and there's virtually no shade. We took to stopping at bridges and hanging out in the shade there. Kind if sketchy, but necessary.

We made it to Florence, KS and we found another pool! They had water areobics until 1 (it was 12:30) so we went and got lunch first. We came back after, and paid the 2$ to swim. it was a great way to cool down. We got invited into a game of sharks and minnows, but graciously declined. We chatted with the owner for a while, and bought a couple popsicles! What a way to get out of the heat.

We rode another 10 miles to Peabody, where there was another pool. We were bummed to find that they closed at 5:00, when it was 5:30. Oh well. We rested in the park for a while listening to country music.

It had started to cool down a bit, so we headed out to do out last 18 or so miles. We found a sprinkler and sat there for minute to cool down, and rode fast to Newton. We made it here, got some great Mexican food for dinner, and then rode to the city park where we're staying. They love their fireworks here in Kansas. It was pretty loud earlier, but it's
quieted down now.

Tomorrow: Somewhere on Rt. 50, milage depending on heat and wind.

Day Thirty

Woah, a whole new decade of days on the road. Today we rode 62 miles from Lyndon, KS to Cottonwood Falls, KS.

It was by far the hottest day I've ever experienced. We saw 99 degrees with a "feels like" of 107. Hot. So we rode really slowly and just plugged along. We stopped pretty often and hung out in the shade. When we would stop a bit I'd start to feel light headed, so I'd just sit for a few minutes, drink some water, then do a few more miles.

Eventually we made it to Emporia. We stopped at a gas station and bought some drink (7Up actually, peculiar purchase but it was delicious and refreshing.) We sat inside to drink them, and met a new fried Terrance. He was this older guy, retiredc who was getting coffee at the gas station. We chatted with him for about an hour. He was great, and new a lot about all of the local areas. He had traveled to a lot of exciting places too (especially Alaska, he got me all excited to go there some day. He was an awesome guy, and we were glad to have made our new friend.

We made a great trip to Goodwill too. We found some great t-shirts! Excellent. Then we went to eat at Subway. If you can't tell, we were doing everything we could to stay out of the heat. At that point it was about 6:00 and had started cooling down, so we headed out and did our last 20 miles.

We stayed at this town park THAT HAD A POOL! They were just closing, so we awkwardly went in and swam for a few minutes. We made some conversation with the locals, but it was a pretty quick dip. Then we got dinner at Casey's General Store, and headed to bed.

Tomorrow: Newton, KS.