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

Trying to find every excuse to stay in Canon City - July 26

We slept in at Loren and Amanda's house - for we have not slept inside since we can remember. Woke up and began to get ready. Amanda made us pancakes before we hit the road which tasted great! We said our goodbye's and thank you's and headed out. Amazing family!!! Thank you so much to them!! We began texting Stacy who told us that she would open up Cold Stone early for us if we wanted to stop by and get ice cream for the third time. Sure enough we did. We arrived and found that Stacy came in on her day off to open up Cold Stone a half hour early!! She got us our ice cream and then ate with us for an hour or so. We had a great time, said our goodbyes and she left - then we realized we should have gotten our picture with her so she could be on the blog... but it was too late. We went outside and then began talked with 2 girls sitting on the patio. They told us that we should stay in Canon City another day so that we could get tubes and float down the Arkansas River. We decided over lunch which was 2 lbs 8 oz of ravioli apiece. As much as we wanted to stay another day, we decided that it would probably be smartest to make progress towards Virginia. We headed out of Canon City and immediately, the head wind started - and then the flats started. We fought our way through wind, flats and heat to make it to Pueblo at a decent time. Rode through town, along a river, until we came to a place with 89 cent slushies!! We sat and drank slushies for probably 2 hours until we found ambition to ride to the park. We got there, got out our stoves and began cooking when a group of picknickers came over and gave us all of their extra food!! Like 13 hot dogs, a bag of chips and smores. Its always a great day when you get free food. We sat up our hammocks, showered in the sprinklers and went to bed.

Day of Cold Stone

(Written by Jarod)
So we woke up from a great nights sleep in our hammocks in the city park. Crawled out, packed up and headed to a hotel for some continental breakfast. We went in, started eating, called some churches and found service times. We had time to kill before church so we went for a dip in the hot tubs. They felt amazing! Got out, got ready and headed to church. Within 48 seconds of walking through the front door, and without saying anything at all, the church offered us a place to sleep, showers, and a whole cake!! What an amazing church! We found a seat and the service started. It really was a great service. Once over, all kinds of people found us and talked to us. Eventually we talked to a guy named Loren. He asked if we had a place to stay and opened up his home to us! We accepted, got directions, talked a bit and then headed out. We stopped at taco bell before going to Lorens house, where we got the BIG BOX MEAL, which we devoured. We finally arrived at Lorens house and met his whole family. His wife Amanda and their three daughters - Hope-age 6, Bella-age 3 and Ava-age 6 months. (I think I got all the ages and spellings right) But they are an amazing family! Already having their hands full with 3 young children and to still take in 3 strangers, do their laundry, feed them and let them crash in your home. We wanted to go to Wal Mart and Cold stone (for we got 4 free coupons through the church) so Loren and Amanda offered us their car to drive their rather than bike! So off we went, got some goods from Wal Mart and headed to cold stone. At cold stone we all ordered, talked with the employees for a bit (they were at the same church we were at), ate, then went back up and gave Stacy (an employee at cold stone) our phone number and asked if they wanted to hang out tonight. We laughed, talked, but had to leave in a hurry, for we were going to small groups with Loren and Amanda and were running late. Soon as we left cold stone we realized we forgot to do the only thing Loren and Amanda asked of us - which was to get some cleaning supplies from Wal Mart. So we had to stop back by Wal Mart then on to their house. We followed them to small groups, for their van was full. We met all kinds of great people at small groups - chatted, played with their kids, ate, and small grouped (yes that's a word) for a while before heading out. We left and headed back to cold stone for the second time to use our 4th coupon. Talked with the employees again and ate then rented a movie and went back to the house to watch it. Stacy began to text us -first making us aware that chad left his wallet, so chad had to go back to cold stone a third time LOL - BUT- she gave us a lame excuse that she cannot hang out because she had a pool party to go to - so we spent the night watching "The book of Eli" (great movie), eating animal cookies and icing, and then talking with Loren and Amanda til late. Great Times!!

Hoosier Daddy

Woke up to Chaz getting blasted by a sprinkler... again. Very funny way to wake up, for Chad and I at least. Since we were already awake, Chaz and I went and got a pancake breakfast while Chad slept in. We grouped back up and decided our plans for the day. We decided to ride rather than play. Big thanks to Jeff and Trisha for offering showers but we were only going to get sweaty again, so we passed up the shower and headed out. We began to climb immediately. Climbed and climbed for 16 miles where we arrived at the summit of Hoosier Pass. Ate lunch, took stickers from the sign, met a crazy biker and headed down. Dropped a ways and headed up our last rocky mountain pass. It was again 16 miles but we made it! We dropped from 11500 feet to 5000 feet throughout the day. Although it's sad leaving the Rockies, it feels good to be warm again and have an abundance of oxygen. We rode 100 miles to Canon City and celebrated by eating Mcdonalds. Tasted great! Found a park and called it a night.


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Location:Canon City

Frisky in Frisco

We got sprinklered again last night at 11:45. Being as used to them as we are, we recognized the noise and were able to pack up our hammocks and get out of the way immediately. After patiently waiting on them to shut off, we located the switch box, used a trash can for protection from the sprinkler as the other blocked the stream with a mop. We ended up shutting them off, strung our hammocks back up from the rafters and went back to sleep. Woke around 7:30 and made our way back across the street to subway. The lady who owned the subway was so nice! We talked with her forever and then she gave us all extra food. Nice lady. We hit the road, quickly became irritated of how close cars were squeezing to us, so I put a stick with an orange flag off the side of my bike. It did the trick. It may have made cars more angry but made us feel much safer. Chad's tire got much worse on the way to town! The rubber was now pulling away on both sides about a foot long. All we could do is just ride and hope we made it to a bike shop. Sure enough we made it. Chad went to a bike shop as Chaz and I went to the Columbia outlet store. Chad called specialized (the maker of his tire) and they replaced it for free! We all met back up at pizza hut to get the buffet! We had a waiter named James who must have told us his name 12 times in a 30 second span. Quote: "hi, my names James. If you need anything just call for me, names James. Can I start you with a drink? When you know what you would like just call for me, James. But once again the names James and I'll be your server. No joke, it was great. He talked so loud too! And he had to go on delivery so he told every table individually that he was leaving, but by the time he would get to your table, you've already heard him a dozen times! We bloated ourselves, left and rode to breckenridge. It's a cool town. Huge mountain bike tourist town. We might rent mountain bikes tomorrow and ride if prices fit our budget. We explored town, searched for a place to stay, found a school and set up our hammocks. At camp we met a family, Jeff, Trisha, and there 2 kids. We talked to them about our trip for a good while, and they then invited us to there condo to shower in the morning. We must have stunk lol. What great people!


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Bike, eat, sleep... What a life. July 22

It was a routine morning. Crawled out of the tent, packed up camp and hit the road. We had to set up the tent for the first time in several days due to Colorado evening storms. We rode 35 miles and crossed the continental divide, 8859 feet. From there it was another 27 miles to Kremling, mostly down hill. We got in 62 miles by lunch which is a great feeling! We stopped at a grocery store, ate our lunch which consisted of ravioli, corn and ego's. We discussed maybe riding to the next town which would make it a 120 mile day. Due to being ahead of schedule, we found it more appealing to take it easy and enjoy the town. We rode to a local park, set up our hammocks in a pavilion and slept for 3 hours. I don't know if you've ever seen 3 guys sleeping in hammocks in the middle of town, but its a funny sight. We woke up around 6 and stumbled across the street to subway, where we all got a footlong. Afterwards we decided that we wanted dessert, so we went back to the grocery store to price some cookies. We ended up finding that all the baked goods were marked down for quick sale. Chad and I bought more fried food than any person could eat for total 3 bucks! Chaz bought a whole cake! We all shared and ate ourselves in to a food coma. We walked out as the check out girl commented on how much time we spent in the store eating, its great having nothing better to do. We rode back to the park and are laying in our hammocks again waiting for it to get dark so we can go back to sleep.


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Attempt to get caught up round 2

July 9 mammoth hot springs yellowstone
Split happened. Very sad day. Exchanged a list of ten to do items across country = very funny. And then there was 3 . Road construction sucks in yellowstone! Fed chipmunks. Saved 2 people off the face of a cliff with our bear hanging rope! It was crazy! More sweet hot springs. Ate a mystery mix for dinner that we found in a bear box. Added PB and J to make it taste good.




July 10 tower fall yellowstone
Saw our first bears! Climbed trees for a long time. Rode out lamar valley to a ranger institute. Met a guy from Dover, Ohio who knew our dad! He gave us tacos! Rode back. Saw more bears and much more wild life.




This was the view of the mountain from camp. If you look closely you can see a elk on the ridge of the hill.

July 11 canyon city yellowstone
Climbed mount washburn. 10,243 feet Got hailed on at the top= painful. Biked up pass. Ate at a 1 pass buffet where they were going to charge us 2 plates for stacking too high. We argued and got our way. Random people took pictures of us and our huge plates. Ate till we were sick, snuck out the rest for lunch. Crashed in the visitor center for hours watching free yellowstone movies and letting our food settle.



Chad sliding down the side of the hill.



This coyote walked right by us on top of the hill.



July 12 bridge bay yellowstone
Spent morning seeing grand canyon of yellowstone and falls. Went on a 7 mile hike around canyon.















July 13 colter bay tetons
Heavy cross wind! Heavy traffic! Road construction! We made it. Tetons are incredible! Met a father and mother taking there young children on a bike tour on tandems= hardcore. Watched over Jackson lake as the sun set over the tetons with a forest fire in Idaho. Made for a sky of every color you can imagine! Amazing
July 14 Jenny lake tetons
Rode to Jenny lake. Got trail info and a bear canister and began our 22 mile, 2 day, backpack journey. Hiked through cascade canyon to lake solitude (look them up).incredible. Saw 2 bull moose and 2 black bear. Set up camp in a snow field, middle of Tetons, next to lake solitude. Possibly the coolest place ever camped.

July 15 Jenny lake Tetons
Hiked on. Great views. Go over paint brush divide to the north face. Covered in snow making trail impassible with no snow gear.... To the normal person. Side of a mountain, very steep, covered in snow and ice= us trying a move learned from the man himself, bear grylls. We put our packs in front and jumped. Before we even had time to think we were sliding out of control a million miles an hour down a mountain. We were at bottom in no time. Most fun 30 seconds of my life. Better than any roller coaster or water slide. Hiked rest of way out back to town.

July 16 lander Wyoming
Left Tetons. Rode 143 miles to lander. Rolled in late, went to mcdonalds and ate 4 doubles covered in ranch with sweet tea=heaven after biking 143 miles. Camped in park.

 July 17 lander
Went to bike shop. Bought hammocks which have replaced our tent. Met a very cool girl named Andrea with a very cool boyfriend named mike who had a very cool friend named Chris. They lived in their cars! Andrea let Chad and I borrow their mountain bikes as Chaz went to the library.it was sweet. I fell on a cactus though which was painful. Got back and went to the pool with Andrea which had a climbing wall and ball hoop. All ate ranch burritos together. Slept in hammocks. Sprinklers turned on. Got wet. Moved hammocks to bleachers.

July 18 lander
Andrea and Chris took us rock climbing at wild iris! It was such a sweet place to climb. Climbed all day. Chaz got to do his first climb ever! Headed back to camp.
Ate. All of us went to get ice cream and visited. Said goodbyes and passed out in hammocks.

Chad,Jarod,Chris,Andrea,Chaz

July 19 rawlins Wyoming
Biked 126 miles to rawlins. Saw a rattle snake. Horrible winds. Made it. Groceries. Camped in park.

July 20 riverside Wyoming
Ate a hotel continental breakfast! Might have snuck in, but it was so good! Kind of just a straight day of riding. Got to riverside. Camped, ate, showered in a sprinkler.

July 21 walden Colorado
Short day. Climbed Colorado welcome sign. Lunch, library, laid on hammocks in a playground all evening. Frito Chile pie for dinner.

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