Aug 9 Lewisport, KY
Cleaned cat poop. Kitten slowed us down so we played "ding dong kitten" leaving it on a random front porch and riding away. Sad. Ate Ci Ci's. Met Adam, sat by the Ohio river, ate, talked, had a good time. 2 crazy girls came by- wanted our numbers- I told them I would only give them my number for a box of fruit snacks and Chad said he would give them his # for a pre-paid phone lol. They said deal, left but never came back with the goods.






The girls we met at Cici's pizza.





Dinner was provided by Adam tonight, which consisted of chicken and cinnamon rolls! It was great to see someone from home and gave us the extra boost to get to the coast.

Aug 10 Elizabethtown, KY
Said bye to Adam. Thanks for cooking for us! Biked, ate, slept.

Aug 11 Danville, KY
Got yelled at by park Nazi for sleeping there. 60th straight day in 90's for KY. Heat advisory- like the 4th in a row. Biked anyway. Ran from storms. Laundry. Movie.











Aug 12 Barbourville, KY
Rode bikes. Flat trouble. Showered in river.






My front tire blow up and i had to buy a over size tire at walmart and had to ride with no front brakes for about 60 miles.


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Another catch up attempt

July 31 Great Bend, KS
Amazing breakfast by Thes! Chaz got me a powered 0 with no calories made with fake sugar when I said I wanted a Gatorade. I was furious. Got invited to Debbie and Paul Marshalls house for dinner. So good! Great, fun family. Thank you so much to them. Ended up staying the night and watched a movie.



Me passed out in the library.



Picture did not turn out the best...but this was a amazing family!

Aug 1 Marion, KS
Very hot. Heat advisory. Bike anyway. Slept in a park during hot part of the day. Marion is a crazy town, people just drive up and down the road at night. Interviewed for news paper. Look it up, just google our names and it will come up.



Aug 2 Waverly, KS
Entered Flint hills of Kansas. Pizza buffet. 110 heat index. Rode anyway. Swam in a guys awesome pond!

Aug 3 Adrian, MO
Me and Jarod Ate 12 Popsicles each. Swam in a city pool all afternoon. Met 2 girls biking opposite direction. Very cool girls. One had an Australian accent- it was sweet- made me want an Australian girl friend lol. We've been practicing our accent since then.



Me and Chad fed a horse on the side of the rode while Jarod fixed a flat.
Aug 4 Sedalia, MO
Hottest day for area in 3 years. Heat advisory. Rode all day anyway. Started Katy trail. Flat troubles. Swam in city pool for a shower.




Aug 5 Jefferson City, MO
Continental breakfast. Ate at Roscoes for dinner. Never go through MO without eating there. So good. We got a discount and free hats!



Riding the Katy Trail!



Eating at Roscoe's after a long day of riding.


This was home for the night.
Aug 6 Defiance, MO
Scenic ride on Katy trail. Slept at a bar in there pavilion. Made for a very interesting night.
Aug 7 Marrisa, IL
Made cheesy poses and animal noises as we passed people on the trail. So funny! It's what happens when your in the wilderness for too long. Lady gave us 23 bucks to eat! Thank you to her! Rode through St Louis. Gateway arch. Crossed Mississippi river.
Aug 8 El Dorado, IL
Tons of donuts and milk = got sick = laying in store for too long. Jumped off a bridge in to a lake. Boats found this amusing. Found a kitten, so we decided to keep it. Put it in the handlebar bag and took it to our destination. Ate at KFC while the girls that worked there watched our new cat. Slept at a church camp.






The cat loved peanut butter bars.


By sheer accident we found out the cat loved icing.






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Someone turn down the heat! - July 30

Well it was a good morning for we did not get hit by sprinklers, and the temperature was still below 80. We rode all morning to the town of Ness City, Kansas for a water fill up and to escape the heat for a bit. My watch read about 12:30 when we left the town and it was 101 degrees. We made it 13 more miles and realized that we made a huge mistake, it's over 101 degrees and we are biking. We walked into a building, had no idea what it was, and just died on the floor in front of the air conditioner. Finally someone came out of the shop and asked us if we were ok, someone made a noise and they said if we need water to just ask. We met a pretty crazy guy in the store who was also biking across country, but going west. We talked about the things we would see and passed back out on the floor for a good hour or so. We decided it cooled down enough to ride again, you would be surprise how much of a difference 105 degrees to 98 degrees really is. We biked about 8 miles and stopped at a rest stop just soaked head to toe with sweat. Well we had to make up miles so we got back on and kept on keeping on. A storm was rolling across the plains to our left and was pretty sweet to watch until it started to roll our way. We found shelter in a farmers barn not to far off the road. When we knocked on the door to the house no one answered so we figured they were not home or did not care. After sitting in the barn and watching two storms pass over a tractor neared us. The farmer, Richard, was returning from the fields and did not mind us in his barn at all, in fact he was a cool guy and talked to us for about 20 min. He gave us permission to sleep in his barn and left. He says he got home and felt guilty in a home while we were in a barn, so he came back and took us with him. We met his family, Thes (wife) and Mathew (son). We showered and ate an amazing meal cooked by Thes. Amazing family! Thank you so much to them!




Above: the three of us looking at a kansas map trying to figure out if we were going to stay on the transamerica trail or make our own route though Kansas.


Above:


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Location:Farmers barn, Kansas

Free burgers and tilt-a-whrils - July 29

Late night horseshoe games make for early mornings, but I beat Jarod so it was worth it. Slowly one by one we rolled out of the hammocks and packed up and met at the local gas station. 50 some miles left of colorful Colorado, bring it on Kansas! We finally made it to the boarder and it really sank in that we are almost home. We made it to a little town and bought lunch at the local grouchy store, a package of baloney a piece and two loafs of bread. Jarod asked the checkout lady how long baloney would keep if we did noteat it all for lunch. She just looked at him and said I would not eat it, which met we had a few hours before it started to go bad. When we left the small town of Tribune Chad noticed the bank sign read 95 degrees, and it was only noon. A few miles passed by and we came to the next town and decided to take a break at a gas station before we passed out from the heat. Someone informed us that the county fair was starting tonight and they hand out free burgers to all fair goers. Well that settled that, we headed to to the pool and cooled off for about an hour, did some sweet tricks off the diving board and got kids in trouble for going down the slide the wrong way.

We were not the first in line, but very close to the front. Well it's so hard to pass up free food so we went though again and got another burger. So after two burgers, bake beans, chips and pop we hopped on to the tilt-a-whirl. With out going in to much detail I puked after I got off the ride. It was amazing, just another thing i can check off my bucket list, puck after riding a fair ride. Well all fun must come to an end, we rode on to tonights destination of Scott City. We rode in to Scott City with amazing sunset behind us and the end to a great day ahead. We found a nice little park with a with a sprinkler running, shower time! Set up the hammocks and me a Chad rode to the gas station to get a slushy only to find out that the machine was broke. As a substitute we got 44 oz of orange fanta and headed back to the park to go to bed.











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Location:Scott City, Kansas

We need a slushy! - July 28

Alarm goes off.(did not want to get up) Rolled out of bed. Pack up...ate a bagel. Head winds make for a very depressing morning. We all meet up at the truck stop to use the bathroom and fill water bottles before our 62 mile trek to Eads, CO. We all grabbed our butt butter (helps prevent rashes) and headed to the bathroom to apply. I soon noticed that my tube was empty and found the contents in the bottom of my pannier. Chad and Jarod found this very funny and were amused for a good half hour. A couple miles into the ride something happened, no more mountains, hills, or trees. It was so flat we thought we could Virginia, possible one of the most challenging days yet. A train sat next to the road and blocked most of the wind for about 33 miles. Now what are three boys to do while riding next to a train you ask, climb to the top of course. We stopped got some cool pictures and looked out at the vast grass lands of Colorado. We crested a hill and saw a town we would go though about 16 miles away yet, all we could do was just watch it get closer and closer. Took a break from the wind and the sun at a small gas station and decided we would go to the next town in the middle of the afternoon, only 97 degrees. We pressed on and to our surprise the winds died down enough that biking was bearable again. Pulled into town and grabbed a slushy or two and enjoyed them in the shade. We enjoyed our first city pool of the trip and it was amazing to float for a good two hours and cool off. After two hours of swimming we decided to use the $20 we got and go out to eat at a local cafe. Set up the hammocks in the local park to nap and moved at night so we would not have any late night surprises with sprinklers blasting us while sleeping. As funny as Chad and Jarod find it that I get wet every time we get hit by the dumb things, we decided it would just be better not to chance it. Hammocks up. Stars out. Just another day on the road.









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Location:Eads, Colorado

What the heck prevailing winds? - July 27

We awoke quickly to the sounds of sprinklers going off all around the play ground. We watched as they came just a few feet from our hammocks. After a few minutes the sprinklers shut off, but quickly turned on to our right. At this moment no one was alarmed until Jarod started to get to hit by the sprinklers. A quick move across the playground and all was quiet again in the park as we looked up into the stars and fell asleep.




Morning came and brought the heat with it as we quickly packed up camp. I rode over to the post office to pick up my package my parents sent me as Chad and Jarod found breakfast. Quick stop at the bike shop and Pueblo quickly became just a memory. A quick glance in the mirror and the Rockies still pieced the sky as we rode into the upper dessert of Colorado. The wind, like the past week was blowing from the north east and made for a great head wind. So to entertain ourselves we grabbed sunflowers from the side of the road and through them at each other. Water was not a problem for the towns were spaced out about every 20 miles. We finally came to the town of Ordway, CO and what better way to cool down then a slushy. I ran in only to find the machine out of order and and had to break the news to Chad and Jarod. While sitting outside the gas station an older couple asked us where we were heading. After telling them of all our adventures they gave us $20 to go out to eat. We thanked them beyond measure and headed over to the library to update the blog. Upon arrival we found it closed on Tuesdays for a summer reading party. They let us in anyway to escape the heat, very nice Librarians. We played guitar hero and some board games with the kids and even got free food! Jarod was informed of a hostel that we could stay at in town that had showers and was completely free.

After a nice shower we met another rider that was going west to yellowstone, she was from Mansfield, OH! We talked for a bit and told each other of the road ahead then went to bed early to try to beat the heat in the morning, 5:30 comes quick.

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Location:Ordway, Colorado