Anna and Ray's Adventures

2010-05-10T18:05:00.001-07:00

Well, were still at the beach.

At least until tomorrow morning when we start the last of our travels to get back to Alajuela for the night before we fly back to the states. Yesterday we took at a boat away from Bahia Drake, up the river to Sierpe. We had a great time in Bahia Drake -- diving, relaxing, going to the beach, chatting with one of the managers who gave us lots of tips on places and things to check out in the twin cities, conversing with the only other guest at the hotel, a swiss lady who was a bit more high maintenance than we were. From Sierpe we made it back to Domenical via Palmar Norte.

As we could tell from our first night here, a little over a week ago, Domenical is a pretty small town that mostly caters to tourists and surfers. The roads are muddy and full of puddles and its a laid back place where you can get patacones or pizza without too much trouble. Overall, the town seems kind of empty, probably because it is the low season for tourists, or maybe because we have been getting up early and going to bed before everyone is out at the bars.

The beach here is pretty with lots of waves for surfing and plenty of sand for hanging out. Yesterday we decided to learn how to surf (well, Ray has surfed before but he needed more practice). So we took a beginner surfing lesson with Bob, formerly from Southern California. We practiced paddling and popping and hopping on the beach before we headed out into the waves. He led us through many attempts and some successes at surfing the small and breaking waves into the beach. It was fun, a good challenge. I never realized what good exercise surfing is!

First I struggle to make it out past all the tiny waves and the current that I feel like I can barely move through and then there's jumping onto the board, paddling, popping up with arm strength, hopping up with the legs, and using core muscles to balance. I always thought surfing just required balance, but it seems like its probably a good way to get into really good shape. After a while my arms stopped being able to push me up, which made me realize how tired I was. We also got really really thirsty. The water temperature is nearly 80 and I think the air is about the same or warmer. I was pretty much sweating while surfing and the water did nothing to cool me off.

Its fun to try to catch a wave and then to also be able to get up on the board and ride along the wave while balancing. We were able to borrow the boards today, too, so we got lots more practice in. We haven't been doing much else in Domenical except drinking cold drinks such as the delicious batidos which are fruit blended with water or milk, a lovely treat, and pipa which is a young coconut cut open so you can drink the water inside.

I keep thinking that in a few days we'll think back to this week along Costa Rica's Pacific coast and find it hard to believe that we were even here. Its been so wonderful to have a chance to travel and explore and have these adventures. We're both covered with bug bites, bruises, blisters, surf-board-burns and the occasional rash, small temporary scars of our time here. These marks will soon fade (and we are looking forward to being less sweaty and bug-bitten soon), but of course our time and adventures here will not be quickly forgotten.

I guess that's all from Costa Rica, we'll share more stories and pictures when we see you. Love,

Anna and Ray

Life at the Beach

2010-05-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Let's see, where did we leave off....Ah yes, we left Mastatal last Friday and got on a bus that took us to El Cruce de Santa Rosa, just a simple cross roads. From there, we walked a kilometer uphill and waited for the bus to Quepos. From Quepos we decided to go to Domenical and ended up stopping there for the day. The buses are a slow way to get from place to place in this small country. Most of them ramble and wind up and down dirt roads and speed along pavement when they can, stopping to pick up and drop people off everywhere along the way. Its pretty crazy the roads that these full sized buses lumber along.

In Domenical we checked out the beach, watched a huge rainstorm, had dinner and set the alarm to get up at 3.50 am. We got to the bus stop around 4.15 to wait for the 4.30 bus to Palmar Norte. The bus didn't arrive as scheduled, and the night watchman at a nearby restaurant/hotel asked if we wanted to wait inside. It was then that we discovered that our alarm clock was an hour early (I guess some of the buttons must have gotten pushed in my bag!) So we waited there until it was actually 4.30 and got on the bus as planned. From Palmar Norte we got a bus to Puerto Jimenez and arrived by mid-day at which point we finalized our reservations to stay in Parque Nacional Corcovado, found a hostel for the night, and other important details for the next few days. Puerto Jimenez is a small to medium sized town not too touristy, but lots of people travel through there to get to Corcovado.

In the morning we caught a collectivo (this one was a truck with seats in the back) to Carate – a two hour drive over bumpy unpaved roads and through small streams. When we got to Carate we saw our first scarlet macaws (the beautiful red, yellow and blue parrots that were flying all over that area) and started our walk into the park. Corcovado is a large area of preserved land that can only be reached on foot, by boat or by plane. You can take day trips from some of the lodges on the Osa peninsula, or you can hike the 18-20 kilometers in and stay at the Sirena ranger station. The first part of the hike was along the beach which is beautiful, empty and expansive. Then we arrived at La Leona, the station at the entrance to the park. From there we walked along a flat path through the edge of the rainforest and along the beach. The beach was inhabited by hermit crabs of all sizes, cute and funny little buggers. Also crabs that were barely visible until you stepped near one and it would crab walk quickly away. In the forest, at first, there were tons of purple, red and yellow crabs that would pop back into their holes as we came near.

We spotted our first mammals soon after starting on the trail – a pack of coatis, which look vaguely like raccoons with long, bushy, ringed tails that stood straight up and long thin snouts for sniffing and finding food. Without a guide leading us, or a book for reference we had no idea what they were, so I called them nifflers. They squeaked a bit and barely seemed to notice that we were there as they walked and climbed around a grove of banana trees. We also saw monkeys – the first ones we saw were swinging through the trees right above our heads using their tails like another hand to hold onto the branches. I think we saw three different kinds of monkeys while in the park and heard lots of howler monkeys as they moved around the forest.

The hike to La Sirena was about 7 hours. It was very flat, so it was not difficult, just long, and we had to keep the tide in mind for crossing some parts of the trail. Towards the end of the hike we had to cross a river where we had been told that bull sharks hung out when the tide was high. We did not know where to cross, so we forded at the mouth of the river where it was waist deep and the current was strong. We couldn't see the bottom, it was tricky. I slipped once and dunked our small camera in the water, but we made it across. Turns out that the bull sharks are in a different river so we needn't have worried about them. The next day we found out where we were supposed to cross – an easy walk through ankle or knee deep water. Happily, our camera dried out and is working again.

We spent two nights at Sirena so we had a day to explore some of the trails that went deeper into the rainforest. Since we didn't have a guide we probably missed some details, but we did a good amount of exploring on our own. We were eating our lunch (mainly snickers bars and crackers since we had to carry in our food, except breakfast, to the park and didn't want to bring heavy packs) under a tree when I spotted some monkeys also eating their lunch above us. Its not to hard to spot the little climbers, either by seeing half eaten fruit or seed pods falling from a tree or by limbs shaking as the monkeys move around. They also make little squeaking noises, kind of like a squirrel. As we sat there they really started squeaking sounds of alarm. I wondered what they were freaking out about. When I looked into the forest I saw something tan and tawny and realized it was a puma. It was probably about 15 or 20 feet from us and it moved along quickly, but it was amazing to witness animals so close by in their natural environment.

Corcovado is, apparently one of the most biodiverse places on earth and one of the most unspoiled places in Costa Rica. We didn't get to see any tapir, though they are pretty common in the park, but we did see a heard of peccaries (wild pigs) and another puma as we were leaving the park. It was a pretty amazing hike and though we didn't get to tour the canopy or take a zip line as you can in other places, it was a unique way to experience the rain forest.

The ride back to Carate was gruelingly bumpy but we made it, had showers and some delicious pizza in Puerto Jimenez where we stayed for the night. Yesterday we took two more buses first to La Palma, where we waited for a couple of hours to get the bus to Bahia Drake. This bus ride was really up and down and we went through some small rivers, too. I guess once you get farther into the rainy season you can't take that road to get over here. Drake is a tiny town on the edge of a number of lodges and hotels ranging from cabinas to high end lodges. We are staying at a beautiful, simple hotel right on a rocky beach, overlooking the water. Its really nice and relaxing, our meals are included, it seems quite luxurious to me (they just fixed the hot water for the showers, too!). Its fun to stay someplace a little bit nicer and this area is truly so beautiful. The sound of the ocean is always nearby and the deck outside our room has the perfect view of the bay.

Our main purpose for coming here is to scuba dive. Today we went out to Isla Del Cano, about 45 minutes away by very fast motor boat. On the way there we watch dolphins jump and dive in the water. I took a resort diving class, learning the basics in the morning and joining Ray and another diver in the afternoon. On their morning dive they saw sharks and turtles. This afternoon we saw an eel and a ray. There are fish and coral as well. The water is not crystal clear like it is in the Carribean or other places but there is still a lot to see. I am still getting used to breathing underwater and the other skills and details of scuba diving, but its a fun thing to try. We will go out again tomorrow and Ray will do a third day of diving as well.

We've reached the point in our trip when we will be home in less than a week. We have a couple more days of bus riding and maybe some surfing ahead of us. Its been great to have so much time in Costa Rica – time to learn, work and meet people and time to travel and see more of the country. We're savoring the rest of our time and looking forward to catching up with everyone when we get back. I finally got some post cards, but haven't made it to the post office yet, I will try to send them before we leave, but we might reach you before they do. Love,

Anna and ray

2010-04-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

We set out on the road this morning. Three interesting bus rides and we have made it to Domenical, a surfing town on the southern pacific coast. We are relaxing here this afternoon/evening and then we will head to Puerto Jiminez tomorrow early. So far our travel plans are working out and its a lot of fun to be exploring more of the country. More later!!

Anna

2010-04-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

We've reached the end of our stay at Rancho Mastatal. We will soon be heading for adventures elsewhere in Costa Rica. As I write this the rain is pounding down on the roof. Clearly we are getting farther into the rainy season as we get more and more precipitation every day. Hopefully we won't get completely soaked on our travels (well, we definitely will when we go scuba diving)!

Last weekend we went on an outing to another town, about 50 minutes away by cattle truck. We joined many soccer players from Mastatal on the ride to La Vasconia for their football match and a chance to see more of Costa Rican culture. The ride there was filled with beautiful views of mountains and valleys and at one point we caught a glimpse of the pacific ocean. The truck we rode in the back of was barely up to the task of getting us there, but we made it nonetheless.

We spent the day watching soccer matches. Mastatal has a men's and women's team, with a mix of ages and including regular players from the ranch as well as those who happen to be here when there is a game. Ray and I did not play, but we watched a couple of games. At the same time, there was a horse event going on on the other side of the road. All day trucks pulling trailers with horses in them arrived. We watched a little bit of the horse evens, mainly when they were showing off the stallions. I'm not sure if it is in all of Latin America, but in Costa Rica many of the horses are trained in the Spanish style of riding which means the horses are fitted with bits that cause them to really arch their neck and they are trained to step high, so it looks like they are dancing a little bit. It also, often, looks like they are in pain as they move along this way, but I can't say for sure. In Mastatal we see people riding through on horses which they use for whatever work they are doing, but these horses are not trained as formally.

It was interesting to be in a really rural area where so many people had come for the festivities and nearly everyone was carefully dressed. In the states most people probably don't wear high heals and other nice clothes to walk on dirt roads and in muddy fields, but in the states people aren't usually as concerned about being well dressed in public. There were lots of people in cowboy-ish clothes, too, for the horse show. It was a fun day and I'm glad we got to see something new and different while we are here.

Time has really been flying by in the past week or so. I'm not sure if its the lack of clocks around that makes me loose track of time or if things are speeding up since we are have gotten used to the routine here. As I was taking my very quick, semi-warm shower this evening, I was thinking about all the little things we have gotten used to in four weeks here. Very few cars on the road, and being in a tiny little town, the showers, the meals, the projects that we work on every day simply for the sake of contributing to the work here and doing something that interests us, the people that we have met, the sounds of the insects at night and more. Of course we haven't been here for that long so it won't be difficult to adjust when we go someplace else in a few days, or when we get back home. Still, I think we have managed to really settle in to this place for this brief time. I have definitely enjoyed being at Rancho Mastatal and I am glad that we have had this much time here. I could imagine staying longer, but I am also excited to take some of what we have learned and start doing it on our own.

We'll see you all in a couple of weeks and I'll try to update you on our travels if I have a chance!!

Love,

Anna and ray

2010-04-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

Things are continuing to go well for us in Costa Rica. We are pretty much entrenched in the daily routine with exceptions here and there. On Tuesday, Ray took a trip to Puriscal, one of the biggest towns nearby. On Thursday I am helped with baking day. We made six loaves of sourdough and about 4 dozen bagels. Making the dough was pretty simple, but baking them in the earth oven was a lot more challenging. At first it was hot, we burned some things, but then the baking worked out okay. It took all day to do the baking. I still have a lot to learn about sourdough and baking in a wood fired oven!

Our work on the biodigestor has been successful so far. Ray and I finished framing the walls, we put in the wattle (bamboo framework, over which we will daub) and also attached two big mosaics to two of the walls. We've started daubing these walls and its cool to see the whole thing come together, although there is still a lot more to do. With any luck we might see/help with putting a sink in and finishing a couple of the walls. I want to put in the stairs, but I need help with that and I'm not sure if it will happen.

Most of the buildings here are quite amazing and they have been built using some of the techniques that we have learned in the process of building the biodigestor toilet. I don't really realize it until I think about it, but due to the open-ness of all buildings we spend most of our time here outside. Often that is under the roof that surrounds the main house. Under that huge span of roof is the porch (really more of a room with no windows or walls) where we cook in the kitchen, eat at the long table, bake in the earth oven, and hang out in hammocks and rocking chairs. Insects fly in and out around and toads hop over sometimes. We sleep in a regular building with screens on the windows, but some of the other dwellings are a series of open rooms with roofs and walls that keep out the rain but are free to let in all of the breezes. Its hard to really explain, but maybe you will get to see some pictures! Although we've only seen this one small project its impressive to see all of the careful craftsmanship that must be involved in building them from the floor to the walls to the roofs and stairs.

Also, pretty much all of the furniture is made here and it is really beautiful as well. Most everything is build using joinery which is really interesting and gorgeous. Its impressive to see what people have made and intriguing to learn more about.

The other morning we visited La Iguana Chocolate, a very small chocolate farm about a kilometer from here. We had a tour and learned about the process of making chocolate. First, it grows on a cacao tree which produces large pod-like fruits which are harvested. Inside the fruits are large beans covered in a fibrous, soft membrane which looks a bit like the white stuff around an orange but tastes incredibly sweet. The beans are violet colored and bitter tasting. After they have been harvested, the beans are fermented in some of the pulp (for lack of a better word) and then dried. Then they are roasted (at La Iguana they roast them over a fire), the outer skin on the bean is removed and they are ground. These nibs are pressed to remove a lot of the cocoa butter.

I suspect that this part of the process varies in other operations and I imagine that most chocolate makers process the beans or the nibs themselves once they come from the chocolate farm. But, at La Iguana, they remove most of the cocoa butter so they can make cocoa powder. The chocolates they make there are made from finely ground nibs with some sugar and other flavorings. The consistency is more like a soft truffle, not like tempered chocolate in a bar. We tasted chocolate and cocoa beans at various stages, it was interesting to see the process and learn more about where it comes from and how it is grown.

There are other interesting fruits here, too. Of course the lovely pineapple, but also the ice cream bean (I might have mentioned it before) which is another fruit with a sweet membrane surrounding the beans, custard apple which is also very sweet and gelatinous, and the twinkie fruit. This isn't the real name of it, but people at Rancho Mastatal have named this tiny berry (it looks like a small cherry, but doesn't have a pit) because it really does taste like burnt sugar or a slightly caramelized baked good. Its the strangest thing to eat a little red fruit that tastes like something sweet and bready. Its fun to encounter new and exotic tastes and plants. There are lots of trees that don't produce edible fruit but they make odd and interesting seed pods. One makes light spiky little balls, another makes fruit that looks like apples the size of bowling balls. They are actually more like gourds which can be carved into bowls and things. Yesterday I noticed a tree that has little pods that look like maple seeds, but with three wings – then I saw that they turn into another sort of round pod covered with little pointy triangles. They all kind of remind me off life on a strange planet or something from a Dr. Suess book.

Not too much else to report here, unfortunately I haven't been speaking Spanish very much. I practice on the kids at the elementary school when I am there to help teach them some English. I've learned a few new words, but I haven't been able to improve very much. In about a week we will set off to see some other parts of the country. Right now we are planning to go the Osa Peninsula, to Puerto Jiminez, Parque Nacional Corcovado, and Bahia Drake, and then a couple of days at the beach before we fly home. We'll see let you know how things go. Love,

Anna and Ray

2010-04-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

We've been in Costa Rica for about two weeks now. We've pretty much settled into life at Rancho Mastatal. Every morning I wake up around 6 and go down to the classroom for a bit of yoga. At 7 breakfast is ready – usually pancakes, eggs, fuit, kefir, granola, and pinto (rice and beans). At all of the meals we help ourselves and then can take seconds once everyone has gotten firsts. After breakfast and clean up, we have a morning meeting where we choose which projects we will work on. Some of the things we have helped with so far: making kim chi, making ginger beer, making glasses from bottles, digging up vetiver* for planting elsewhere, turning piles of tierra fermentada (compost that has a lot ofsubsoil added, making light fixtures for one of the houses, planting, working on building the walls for the biodigestor, and probably some other things.

After the meeting we start our morning projects and work until around noon when the sound of the conch being blown lets us know that lunch is ready. The food here is great – during the week a couple of local women do most of the cooking with help from whoever is signed up to help with lunch or dinner. On the weekends, three volunteers/interns etc cook. The food is pretty much all vegetarian, whole foods, as much local as possible. The gardens here are still being started so not a lot of the food is grown on site, but some certainly comes from nearby. While I'm on the topic of food, I must say that every time I eat a piece of pineapple here, I can't believe how deliciously sweet it is. So good!

After lunch we usually take some time to relax/read/nap or hang out in a hammock. Then, back to working on projects. Ray and I are now working on framing the interior walls for the biodigestor toilet. We are using large pieces of bamboo for the posts. Bamboo here grows to the diameter of small trees and it is used a lot in building the frame work of buildings as well as for walls and so many other things as it is really versatile and I think, also, quite strong. I don't really know a lot about building walls or anything, this is a good chance to learn and also to experiment a little bit since there is some room for error and practice. Ray and I are getting lots of ideas for future projects, such as finally building an earth oven, some carpentry (maybe joinery?) projects, and maybe some day using natural building to make ourselves a house. There are plenty of opportunities to learn here.

We usually work until 4 or 5 and then maybe take a shower, perhaps hand wash some laundry, and read/write/hang out until the conch is blown for dinner. At dinner we all gather around the table and people have a chance to say things that they are thankful for. After dinner usually more reading, hanging out, relaxing. By the time dinner is over, it often seems quite late since it consistently gets dark at 6. We are usually reading in bed by 8.30 or 9 and asleep soon after that.

Although we are in a small town without the noise of highways or airplanes, the air is filled with the sounds of frogs, tree frogs, and insects at night. In the morning the birds start again. The rainy season is beginning here. Apparently, this area gets about 12 feet of rain yearly! Lately, most afternoons have clouded over and thunder circulates in the distance. By late afternoon or early evening we have a huge downpour, probably the most torrential I have ever experienced. It doesn't downpour every day, but as the rainy season progresses there will be more and more.

There are so many insects here! I think every day I see an insect that I have never seen before. You have to watch out for the ants. Even the tiny ones bite with a sting that itches after you have pulled them off and squished them. The army ants are amazing to watch. Yesterday we saw a huge number of them scatter, fan out and then re-form into a seemingly endless line. Other insects scattered quickly to get out of their path, but we saw them devour a scorpion that wasn't so fortunate to escape. I haven't come across many scorpions, but the ones I have seen are so strange looking, they seem more like crabs than insects. There are lots of frogs – little black and green poison dart frogs, big (but not ginormous) cane toads, and the frogs that live in the swales and sing loudly at night.

We are slightly disconnected from typical Costa Rican life, but we interact with more people when we get out of the Rancho. I have been teaching Ray to order in spanish at the soda and have been chatting with people here and there. Even so, it is good to be here in a place where we can learn a lot about things that we are interested in and also experience another country, climate, and culture. This trip seems almost the opposite of our bike trip when we were moving on every single day, just the two of us, traveling just to see it all. Here we have a daily routine in one small place, we are around lots of other people doing similar things, and we are putting in a lot of effort to improve and build this place that we are not part of for very long. Sometimes, though, its best to just experience and try to take in as much as we can without trying to figure out what it all means. We are having a really good time, learning a lot and working pretty hard. We've also been having fun with trips to the river, a day of sports and games, and getting to know our fellow volunteers. We hope you all are doing well and we'll continue to let you know how things go! Love,

Anna and Ray

*Vetiver is a grass with roots that can go many feet deep and is great for erosion control which is important here.

first Days at the Ranch

2010-04-08T15:09:00.000-07:00

Hello All! I must first apologize for the lack of postcards and emails. We are in Mastatal until April 30 and this town of about 150 people doesn't have a post office. There is an internet place but it will be easiest for me to report back to you by writing to everyone on this blog.

On Saturday we were picked up at our hotel by Fernando who took us on the two hour drive to Rancho Mastatal. The ride went over hills and mountains, and then into valleys and up over more mountains. The views were beautiful and we went through small towns and along very winding roads. The road got narrower as we got farther from Alejuela and beyond Puriscal until it finally became entirely gravel. Eventually we turned off and soon arrived at Rancho Mastatal at 8.30 on Saturday morning.

We were surprised to hear many many voices and see a full table of people eating breakfast. We were welcomed and joined the table for the meal. We spent most of the day hanging out and getting our bearings a bit, eventually getting a tour of the Rancho. The place consists of a main house where everyone share breakfast, lunch and dinner (there is also a library and some rooms where people stay as well as a porch around the whole place for reading and hanging out), several houses where people sleep. Some of the buildings were already there when the land was purchased, but many of them were built since they have been here. These buildings were all made using natural building techniques, combining bamboo, wood, wattle and daub and other ways of creating unique and beautiful dwellings full of light and air. There are also a couple of houses a little bit farther away which belong to friends of the ranch and are also part of the the whole thing. Right now we are staying at “Jeannie's”, where most of the volunteers stay, which is right next to the only hot showers (passive solar) as well as a plant nursery, laundry lines and the classroom building which is where I have been practicing yoga every morning.

The first two days that we were here were not work days and we joined in some of the r and r, such as sushi night (with costumes) and a walk through the rain forest to a waterfall for swimming. We have gotten a sense of how things work around mostly from other interns and volunteers. Starting on Monday we joined in with every one else for the morning meeting after breakfast. At that time we go through all the tasks that will be worked on that day and who will work on it. The first day I helped plant and work on some new swales and then joined in working on a new structure for a toilet that is being built. This project was started by a class to build a two seater toilet which supplies a biodigestor which supplies methane for one of the gas stoves in the kitchen. The structure has been built and now the walls are being made with a natural building technique called wattle and daub. The wattle is a framework of bamboo and it is covered with daub, which is a mixture of sand, clay, manure, straw and water that is best mixed by several feet stomping on it until it forms a good building material. It is carefully plastered on to the wattle to form a wall. It is a very time consuming, very hands on way of building which can yield some amazing shapes and forms. I've been working on that a lot, but today I spent some time at the local elementary school working with the kids.

Ray helped make a foot washing station (using his tiling knowledge), he's also helped daubing and working on another house nearby. Its taken a few days, but we are gradually becoming some part of the group and hopefully in the next few weeks we will be able to learn more and contribute more to the projects here. We have also had a chance to explore some of Mastatal. We are pretty much in the center of town which is quite small and consists of a cantina, a soda (a little store/restaurant), the secondary school, elementary school, internet place, a church (used only for major holidays apparently), and a pulperia (a tiny convenience store). There are other farms nearby, including a chocolate farm which we plan to visit.

I haven't seen any really exotic wildlife yet, but a lot of interesting plants. Lizards in various sizes, ants (army, leafcutter, and the kind that bites), some frogs and toads... We have had some serious afternoon/evening downpours which means that you have to shout to be heard and will get completely soaked if you have to go from one building to another. The weather is hot and humid and we sweat a lot. We have met lots of interesting and friendly people. Some have been here for months, some just arrived, some are leaving soon. We are having a really good time so far! I hope everyone is doing well and check back for more from us sometime in the next week!

-Anna and Ray

Arrival

2010-04-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were wondering, we're in Costa Rica! Sitting in a courtyard surrounded by fruit trees: avocado, mango, papaya and some others that I'm not familiar with. After a long day of flights and airports we waiting in a long line to go through immigration and customs and made it through the airport into a place that is totally new to both of us.

After quick taxi ride to where we are staying, we threw our bags into our room and went in search of some dinner. We were quickly reminded that due to Semana Santa, the Easter week holidays, everything is closed. Everything except pizza hut, mcdonalds, and the supermercado. So we walked past the almost all closed store fronts, past the cathedral and across from the Parque Central to the grocery store which was quite busy, perhaps with people picking up things for the holiday weekend. With only a little trouble we got what we wanted and made it through the check out, learning in the process that we were supposed to weigh the produce before we got to the check out. Fortunately the woman who was ringing us up didn't mind keeping everyone waiting while I ran back and got the weight for the bananas. I could understand what she was saying mas o menos, but my espanol definitely needs a lot more practice.

I'm not used to it being so hot and yet being dark by 6.30 pm. So it seemed a lot later than it was when we fell asleep at 8, after watching some of Star Wars in espanol and some of House with spanish subtitles. We slept for about 12 hours and then had the Costa Rican breakfast that was provided with our hotel stay. Definitely better than the waffle bar at Super 8, which was an occasional meal on our bike trip!

Today has been a zero day as Ray calls it. We've mostly been hanging out, reading, resting, taking a few walks and a swim. Getting acclimatized before we head out to Mastatal tomorrow morning. We plan to be there for a month and will report from there when we can. Obviously, not much has happened yet, but I just wanted to write a little bit while I had the chance.

-Anna

Off To Costa Rica!

2010-03-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since we've been here, but since our bike trip ended we haven't been blogging about the small adventures (and some bigger!) that we've had. Spending the past month packing up our apartment and getting ready for something new, I have realized that we just keep making big plans. Last year was our wedding and now this year we will be moving to the mid-west, but first we have some traveling to do. We spent last week in San Francisco where Ray was attending a conference. It was a chance for us to get our travel footing a little bit since tomorrow we are flying to Costa Rica.

It will be Ray's first time in a country other than the USA, and my first time out of the country in a while. For some reason it seems like staying in one country, state, or town would be very confining, but I am sure that most of us don't notice that we haven't traveled in a while. Then, of course, its time to get ready and while its easy to gather clothes and supplies to pack into my back pack, I never feel quite prepared for whatever we will find out there. We have a guidebook and plans to spend most of our six weeks in Costa Rica at Rancho Mastatal where we will be volunteering and living. I'm not quite sure what we will be doing -- maybe some gardening, cooking, natural building or helping with whatever they need us to do. I hope we will learn a lot and, of course, get to explore another country, climate and language.

While I am looking forward to a month and a half without cell phones or much computer time, I do love sharing my stories of travel so I hope to be able to update this blog a few times while we are in Costa Rica. We will probably have plenty of stories to share when we get back, too!

2008-08-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been back for a month now. Readjusting, starting new things, getting settled in. Finally we have all of our pictures online so you can see what we saw and some of the images that go along with all the stories. Just click on the slide show. I guess this is the last element and final post to this blog. I'm sure we'll go on another bike trip some day and we'll be back here to tell the story. Until then, enjoy the pictures and if anyone is looking for more information or ideas about bicycling across the country, feel free to get in touch with us. Enjoy and Take care!

The End.

2008-08-04T06:45:00.001-07:00

For those of you who weren't there, we rode into Portland, Maine on a sunny afternoon last Wednesday. We were greeted by a crowd of friends and family and had a fun celebratory dinner afterward. Now we are settling back into life in Maine. Ray got a part time job at a bike shop until he goes back to full time work at the TV station, I am looking into what I will do next.

We ended up riding something over 4300 miles to get from Anacortes, Washington back to Maine. Now that we're back it seems like we were gone for such a short time, even though for us the journey across seemed pretty substantial and full of so many sights and memories. Though I am glad to not be sleeping in a tent every night, I miss the gentle rhythm of daily travel by bicycle. It was strange to start driving and find ourselves moving along really fast and yet not feel the wind blowing over us. At first I really noticed the terrain, too, the slight uphills and bumps that can quickly go unnoticed when driving. I'm still not quite up to full speed in the car. As soon as I make some repairs to my bicycle I hope to ride it around as much as I can.

Its funny how when travels end and you return to where you were before it almost seems like it never happened. All that's left are the memories and it reminds you that the days slip by and it is so important to notice each moment even when you are not traveling. I think we both felt a sense of accomplishment and happiness at reaching our goal on this trip, but I hope everyone realizes that it wasn't exactly a struggle or an impossible task. I guess that's another good lesson from these travels -- that often it just takes some determination and the desire to do something or get somewhere. Anyway, we had a fabulous time and I know we will always remember our cross country adventures. We hope to have our pictures sorted out soon so that if anyone wants to see the rest of them they can. Again, thanks for joining us on this trip, it really meant a lot.

2008-07-30T06:15:00.001-07:00

We are back, almost

Through the Mountains, one day left.

2008-07-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

Now it really is all downhill. We climbed over the last pass this morning. We are in Conway looking up our route back to Portland. We could get home today, but instead we'll hang out and relax for the afternoon and then spend tomorrow getting back to Portland.

Vermont was beautiful, of course. We spent a leisurely afternoon in Middlebury and left, of course, as the clouds were gathering. The possibility of a storm chased us to East Middlebury where we set up camp in a corner of a park. It pretty much rained all night. In the morning the sky still seemed dark and heavy. We left around 6.30 and began to climb Breadloaf, or the Middlebury Gap (I'm not sure what it officially called). At first it was really steep and I hoped that the next several miles wouldn't be. The route over the hill alternated between going up steeply and more level sections and a bit of gradual downhill. Overall, it wasn't a bad climb although it was quite steep at the end. On our way up we passed the Breadloaf Campus of Middlebury College where they have that famous writer's conference started by Robert Frost. The campus is a collection of huge old inn-type buildings of varying shapes and sizes.

Going down the hills were covered in mist that gradually began to lift as the sun shone through the clouds and more and more blue sky began to appear. Unfortunately, our camera is not in great shape (probably due to a long and bumpy ride) but in a way its good because it kept me from stopping every mile to take a picture. I did take some, though. We coasted down the other side of the gap past farms and streams, fields and hillsides to Rochester where we saw three familiar touring bicycles leaned up against the porch of the Rochester Cafe. It was the three guys from Wisconsin, Pat, Dave and Bill. We stopped in to say hello and had a delicious breakfast, as well. They were headed to Orford, New Hampshire that evening. We had planned to go as far as East Thetford, Vermont but decided that we would aim for Orford as well and maybe share a campsite with them again.

From Rochester we rode along the White River which started out as a perfectly clear brook and gradually got wider and deeper. There were a few hills but mostly we were riding along at a good pace through beautiful scenery, winding around the mountains rather than over them. It had turned into a perfectly beautiful day. We had two more big climbs for the day, which were pretty steep but by this time I had gotten back into climbing mode so it wasn't too bad. By the time we got to East Thetford we needed to get groceries and there were no stores that could help us with that. So we rode north to Fairlee, Vt which was right across the Connecticut River from Orford and got what we needed there. We found the Pastures Campground after we crossed into our 12th state, New Hampshire, and found the three travelers who were happy to share a site and even happier when Ray shared his beer.

The next morning we left Orford knowing that there were a couple of climbs to do before we got to Lincoln. We went through a few small towns along a ridge with wonderful views of the Connecticut River Valley (?) and then turned east toward the White Mountains. The first section had some steep hills but then it was quite level. Once we got onto a larger road it was a gradual hill until about 2 miles before the top when it became somewhat steeper and definitely slower to ride up. It was also getting hot out so we were covered in sweat once we got to the top, near where our Norther Tier Route crossed the Appalachain Trail. We stopped there so Ray could do a dance and such and then coasted down into Lincoln, NH.

Unfortunately just before we got to Lincoln I fell when I stupidly failed to angle my bike enough as I went over the railroad tracks. While that's not really a noteworthy event it is worth mentioning because somehow when I fell it bent the crank on my bike so now my right foot wobbles a little when I pedal. We tried to get it fixed but now we only have one more day until we are home and after riding today I don't really notice it anymore. Lincoln seemed kind of busy and crowded. We ate our lunch and got food for dinner and rode up to the first National Forest Campsite outside of town.

This morning we left by 7 to begin riding over the Kancamangus Highway. I have driven over this road a few times and definitely remembered it as steep and winding. I wasn't really looking forward to the climb but it turned out to be not bad at all. Most of the way was steadily up hill but not at a strenuous grade. When we were a couple of miles from the top it was steeper but still not that bad. The views of the mountains and sky were really nice. This was the last of the passes and compared to the ones out west it was just a big hill. The rest of the way down was mostly through the White Mountain National Forest until we hit the busy main street of Conway.

Even though we have been looking forward to our arrival in Portland (and such delights as sleeping in a bed and of course seeing everyone again) it seems a bit strange that our trip is almost over. It has been great, though, I've really loved traveling this way. I'll miss covering miles and miles on my bicycle every day, but fortunately I'll be able to do it again even if its just for a day or a few. I'm sure there's a lot that I have meant to write or describe but I've left it out. We saw so much, some of it up close, some of it just passing by. Thanks for reading and following along. We'll probably put the rest of our pictures on line soon so you can fill in some of the details I left out!

2008-07-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Only a few people will understand this. To those people enjoy

From the Erie Canal to New England

2008-07-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

We kept a pretty slow pace for our two full days on the canal, stopping at all the little towns and enjoying the ease of travel. So, it was kind of a shock when we left the canal and began to go over hill after hill. It seems like most of our travel since then has been up and down with very few flat areas.

From the canal we rode north to Lake Ontario. The first town we saw on the lake, Pultneyville, was full of history and historic buildings from the war of 1812 and the underground railroad. It was very quaint. Then we went to Sodus Point and checked out a lighthouse as well as the town which was full of marinas and pretty touristy. The areas that we rode through around the lake were farmland -- mostly orchards and fruit growing. After riding past so many orchards and seeing trees laden with bright red cherries I had to stop at a farm stand and get some cherries and other fresh veggies for dinner. That night we camped on a lake in Fulton, NY.

While riding along the canal and in the following days we were caught in a few downpours and chased by clouds. On wednesday it was cloudy all day but we managed to miss nearly all of the rain. By the afternoon we were getting into the Adirondack area and had some bigger climbs to get up into the hills. That night we got to West Lydon which was at the top of a big hill, only to find that the place we had planned to camp was no longer there. Luckily we called the police and they said we could stay at a town park. Fortunately we were camped under a pavilion because it was raining steadily when we woke up. It stopped long enough for us to get going but the whole way to Boonville the sky was dark and we got rained on.

We got rained on all morning actually, as we rode along the Moose River in a long procession of hills and descents. It did stop sometime shortly before noon when we got onto a bigger state road which made the hills longer and more gradual. As we were riding along we came to Thendera and a train station with some of the old Adirondack railraod cars. We decided that after seeing so many trains we had to ride on this one. Unfortunately it was merely a scenic route down a track for about 40 minutes and back (no ride to the next town). But it was fun to stand in the baggage car and look at the rivers and forest as we went by. When the train turned around we opted to sit in the passenger car, bask in the luxury of being transported without exurting ourselves, and took a short nap.

In the afternoon we passed through Old Forge and rode around a lake through forest lined roads. There were little signs all along the roads for people's camps and cabins with names such as "Adirondack Gem" and "Loon-a-tic Camp." We raced along the second half of this road, trying to beat the dark forboding clouds that were chasing us. We got to the little town of Inlet, which seemed to be mostly open for summer people, and stayed there until the rain passed. Then we rode another 20 miles to Blue Mountain Lake, which was not a town, but a hamlet, according to the sign. We camped out the in back yard of the Blue Mountain Lake Inn, just across the street from the beautiful lake and surrounding mountains.

First thing the next morning we rode over Blue Mountain (well, probably not over it, but there was a pretty long climb to get past it) and continued through the ups and downs of the Adirondacks. The day was clear and warm, but not too hot. We attached out wet clothes to our rear racks to dry. It was a lovely ride through sweet smelling forests, past lakes and streams, and with views of mountains. There were a few small towns, but mostly just forest with occaisional camps and houses. Although there were a few long climbs the down hill mostly balanced out the uphill.

We had planned to go all the way to Ticonderoga until we met three cyclists from Wisconsin who pointed out that there was no camping there. We ended up sharing a campsite with them at Paradox Lake and shared many stories of each of our adventures. This morning we got up early and rode quickly to Ticonderoga (well, I rode quickly because I realized after a mile that I had left my raincoat at the campsite so I was trying not to get too far behind Ray). We took the seven minute ferry ride, on a surprisingly small ferry over to Vermont.

The ride to Middlebury was, of course, hilly and through lots of farmland unlike the forested areas we were in before this. It was incredibly beautiful with mountains to the west and east. So far today the weather has been good -- hazy and hot, but no rain yet. We arrived in Middlebury to a bustling town full or tourists and people out enjoying saturday in a fun and interesting place. We had lunch with Jess, Jeremy, Cadien and Rowen -- the first familiar people we have seen on our trip. We probably won't go much farther today, but tomorrow we will begin the first of our big climbs to get over the Green and White Mountains, all that's keeping us from getting to Maine. While I'm not really looking forward to long uphills, now that we've crossed almost the whole country it doesn't seem like that big a deal. I'll let you know how it goes and we'll see you really soon!

2008-07-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

Leaving new york on the ferry

Buffalo to the Erie Canal

2008-07-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

We've been taking it easier in the past few days and seeing lots of interesting sights. On our way to Buffalo we went a few miles out of the way to the Pedaling History Museum of bicycles. The museum is full of all kinds of old and odd bicycles and bicycle related things as well as a lot of related historical information. I didn't really know much about the history of bicycles so it was interesting to learn that while cars now dominate, paved roads were originally initiated by cyclists who wanted to be able to ride farther and more easily than they could on dirt roads. It was also interesting to learn that the machinery and technology developed for bicycles led the way to the machinery used for cars. Its sad that bicycles have now been pushed off to the side in this country.

We stayed in a hostel in Buffalo on Friday night. It was a nice hostel (except for the very loud snorer in the bunk room who kept me awake for most of the night). We were right on Main Street which seemed very empty with most of the store fronts for rent. There was some sort of street car system running along that street and some theaters and restaurants which were open. We went to a rooftop bar on a side street which was full of people.

On Saturday morning, about half an hour before we planned to leave the hostel, Ray realized that he had sent his passport back home with his handlebar bag (which he wasn't using any more). Our route to Niagara Falls was supposed to go from Buffalo into Ontario Canada for about 20 miles. Sigh. With the new "Homeland Security" rules you have to have a passport or a license and birth certificate to get across the border. While we probably could have gotten into Canada without it, I didn't really want to leave Ray there when he couldn't get back into the U.S. Funny how I bugged Ray for months to get his passport before this trip and we didn't go to Canada anyway.

We ended up following the "Seaway Trail," one of the scenic driving routes around the lakes. We were able to ride on a bike path for a lot of it and the road wasn't bad until we got to the town of Niagara Falls. We entered on some back roads near lots of factories where the pavement was broken, cracked and full of small craters. But, we made it to the falls. We got there before it was extremely croweded with tourists and stood by the giant waterfall. I think my favorite view was walking toward it from the river above and seeing the water just end with nothing beyond it. It was pretty looking at it from the from the more traditional view as well. We weren't able to go underneath the falls (you can only do that on the Canadian side!) so we decided to take a ride on the Maid of the Mist.

We piled on the boat with hundreds of people speaking many different languages and taking many pictures. Most everyone donned the plastic "souvenir rain cover" that they give you, but it was such a hot day, I used mine as a rain cover for the camera. We got really wet, but it was fun. We joked about keeping the rain jackets and wearing them while riding in the rain. We should have because shortly after we left the falls it began to storm. We took shelter at a large power dam which had a little exhibit about electricity and Niagara falls. It was interesting to learn that most of the water flow is diverted from the falls to be used for generating electricity, except during the tourist season. It seems sort of odd to realize that the falls are put up for the tourists, but its also neat to think of Niagara falls as being one of the first really big tourist attractions in this country. Supposedly they are one of the seven wonders of the natural world, but I am sure there are better waterfalls out there.

Yesterday we woke up to thunder storms so we slept late and explored the town of Lockport. It is right on the Erie Canal and has two locks so we watches some boats go through them up the canal. Yesterday and today we are riding on a trail along the canal. Its nice to be away from traffic for a bit, the canal is very calm and peaceful with little towns every several miles. We had some torrential down pours yesterday which made the gravel path pretty soft and slow going. Today it seems more solid but its supposed to rain off and on for a few days. Things are pretty damp, but we're really in the home stretch so I guess its okay if we arrive home covered in mildew (hopefully not, though!). We're having fun, I hope you are too!

Cleveland to somewhere in New York

2008-07-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

We've been riding along Lake Erie ever since we got to Huron, Ohio. So, for the past few days we have been in mostly suburban and urban areas. The real estate seems to alternate from hotels, cabins, campgrounds and touristy areas, to suburbs -- some with normal houses some with big (orHuge) fancy houses, and some more rural areas. Mostly it has been pretty developed though, which has not been the case for most of the roads on this trip.

The night before we got to Cleveland we stayed at the only campground nearby which was one of the worst we have stayed at. We stopped at a diner for breakfast where the hostess asked about our trip. When we told her where we were staying in Cleveland she became very serious and told us we should not go to that area it was a really bad place to be. She even went so far as to send over another customer, an older man, to warn us as well. He said that he did construction in that area and practically had to carry a gun to get anything done. All of this seemed unlikely to us, that our maps would mention a hotel if it were in a really dangerous place so we figured we would get there and if it was really terrible we would go elsewhere.

It was kind of startling to ride through the shady suburbs and suddenly emerge to a view of tall buildings, lots of concrete and glass. Not something we have seen much of since Seattle. It was kind of pretty, this view of Cleveland next to Lake Erie. We rode on a bike path through a park and then right into the city. As we rode to where we thought the hotel was that downtown area got farther and farther behind us. Finally we found the right street and rode through a few miles of the horrible chaos of a construction area. Even so, we were near a university and it seemed like a perfectly fine part of town. We rode still farther, past the construction to an area that was not so nice, but I didn't feel like I was unsafe or needed to carry a gun. Just as I was beginning to feel really disappointed that we had come all this way into Cleveland and we were too far away to see any of it, I realized that the street numbers were way higher than the one we were looking for and they kept going up. We were looking for 1800. I hadn't been able to see many numbers because most of the buildings weren't labeled and Ray accidentally thought 18000. We were at something like 12546 when we turned around and rode several miles all the way back to the down town area where we found the Comfort Inn at 1800 Euclid Avenue. As far as we could tell it was in a perfectly nice part of town and it was a nice place to stay.

The street it was on had been recently redone (hence all the construction farther down) so that there was a bike lane on one side, a car lane, and a bus lane on the other side in both directions. Apparently they were going to have hybird buses as well. I think this revitalization was still in process because most of the sidewalks and the street was pretty empty. After relaxing in the hotel for a while we walked further downtown to see what was there. It did seem empty of pedestrians and cars, but I still don't know much about the city and where people work, live or hang out. We found a great spot, though -- East 4th street, which was more like an alley and blocked off to cars. It was lined with resturants that had outdoor seating and music and little lights strung across the street. We stopped for a drink and returned later for dinner after looking at the outside of the science museum and rock and roll hall of fame which were both closed when we got there. Despite our initial misdirection and long trip out of the way, we ended up having a nice time in Cleveland.

We left the next day and had to ride a long way through the rest of the city and suburbs which was hot and unpleasant. Eventually we got out of that and into more trees, fields and houses. We stayed that evening at Geneva State Park. It was hot and humid and all of the "non-electric" camp sites were in a big field with no shade and not near any water sources (if you paid the $9 extra for an electric site you could camp in more wooded area near bathrooms and showers). But we went for a swim in Lake Erie which was such a nice place to be in the hot afternoon. That night we met the two other non-electric campers who were also non-motorized-vehicle like us. One man was bicycling from Washington D.C. to Columbus, OH and the other was paddling a kayak from Chicago to New York City for prostate cancer. Its amazing how many people are zipping around the country via alternate modes of transportation and raising money or awareness or just having fun. We met another guy back in Minnesota who was riding from southern California to Florida to Maine to the West Coast back to southern California. He was doing 12,000 miles in 120 for cancer awareness.

Yesterday we crossed two state lines. From Geneva on the Lake ("Ohio's first resort town", which was pretty much asleep when we passed through) we went through Ashtabula where we had to take a detour because the bridge was totally out then to Conneaut (we asked to mailman how to pronounce the name of this town: konni-ought) and a few miles later we were in Pennsylvania. It did starte to get a little hillier once we left Ohio. After we passed through Erie we were in an area with lots of vineyards to the east and Lake Erie still to the west. It was around 90 degrees and humid but pedaling along made for a cool breeze. Later in the afternoon we crossed into New York. Now we are in a state which is familiar (although not this part of it) and seems a lot closer to home. We are pretty much back on the east coast which makes it kind of amazing to think how far we have come.

We've been riding a long the lake today and just reached a part where you can look ahead and see the land curving around. Its pretty hazy out, but there are houses, factories and wind turbines in the distance. We are staying in a hostel in Buffalo tonight and then tomorrow we will be at Niagra falls. In case you haven't heard, we plan to arrive in Portland, Maine on July 30. We decided not to follow the part of the route that goes up to Bar Harbor because we would rather arrive home without taking a detour up there (although it would be beautiful). So we are looking forward to this last week and half and also looking forward to getting home. We'll probably write and put up more pictured before then. See you soon!

2008-07-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

2008-07-17T07:29:00.001-07:00

2008-07-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

The rest of Indiana was fairly uneventful. Lots more fields of corn, wheat and soy beans. We camped at Fletcher's Lake, which was a tiny lake, barely on the map. A cluster of little houses were snuggled up to the lake. We weren't sure where to camp until the man who lived across from the campground (a bunch of old campers that their owners used on weekends) pointed it out to us and showed us where we could pitch our tent. He and his wife had seen and met a lot of cyclists passing through so we shared stories with them until the sky was on the verge of a very heavy downpour.

The next day we got off to an early start to do 90 miles to Monroeville. At least we thought we left early but when we stopped for lunch I noticed that all the clocks were an hour ahead of the clock on my odometer. The day before I had noticed that Ray's phone was an hour ahead, too, but we thought that the time changed (from central to eastern standard time) when we got to Ohio. I'm still not sure where the time change occurs. It didn't really matter, but it was funny to realize that we lost an hour somewhere along the way.

Monroeville is a very special town. Its at the end of the map that started in Muscatine, Iowa and after 400 miles of riding through corn fields bicyclists have a place to stay in the Monroeville Community Building. Ever since 1976 (the year that the Transamerica bicycle route was starte, I believe) they have let cyclists stay in the building which has a kitchen, a shower and free laundry machines. They also have a log book with over 1000 cyclists who have stayed there and various other things related to the Northern Tier and Great Lakes cycling routes which both go through there. It was really nice to sleep in a cool air conditioned room on a hot humid night and to use the facilities. We ate dinner at a nice little resturant in town and of course visited the Whippy Dip for ice cream. Its quite amazing how helpful and generous people are to cyclists, we
have encountered so many of them and this place to stay was an especially nice gesture from complete strangers.

The next day we got off to a lazy start and entered Ohio amid sprinkles of rain. We stopped in Defiance for some bike repairs and another movie (I cannot get Ray to ride any further when he decides he wants to go to the cinema). Then rode through Independence and Florida before we came to a nice city park in Napoleon where we stayed for the night. Ohio is a great state for bicycling because it is SO flat and the wind has been blowing us gently eastward since we got here. We have been riding through lots more fields but the areas around here are a bit more residential where development has encroached on farmland. We've been passing more farm stands and a lot of bigger towns.

Yesterday, after a large can of Campbell's Soup, we visited the little town of Grand Rapids which was quaint to the point of making me wonder if people actually live there. They were having an antique car show and a little farmer's marked. Then we went stopped in Bowling Green to find a book store. We spent yesterday afternoon and evening at a state park outside of Gibonsburg (at least I think that is what the town was called, some names have started to blur).

Today we have had our first glimpses of Lake Erie. We are apparently on Ohio's north coast. I'm not sure if they have any other coasts and I didn't even know they had this one until today. But what I have seen of the lake does seem great and big and I guess it is kind of like a coast. Not quite the same as the one I am used to, but it does seem really pretty and the lake is quite sparkley and blue green. We will see a lot more of it this week as we ride along it all the way into New York.

We are going to spend some time in Cleveland tomorrow, the first (and probably only) really big city that we go through. My time is running out on this computer so I will let you know more soon!

2008-07-13T05:20:00.000-07:00

Anna and i get really hungry

2008-07-12T06:50:00.001-07:00

One more down

2008-07-10T06:57:00.001-07:00

We're now in Indiana, past our 3000th mile. I think we have about 1100 miles left. Illinois turned out to be pretty nice to ride through, once the wind stopped blowing so hard against us. For two of the nights we spent there we just asked the police or someone from the town if we could stay in their park and they were quite welcoming. Its nice to be able to find a place to camp so easily. Many of the roads we were on were small back roads with very few cars. We could ride along side by side which was fun and broke up the monotony of the landscape. I really enjoyed these roads.

We took a side trip to Streator because Ray really wanted to see a movie. So he figured out where we could go. We had a few hours to explore the town, but we didn't really find much. It seemed to be a classic example of a downtown deserted, perhaps by development elsewhere but we didn't see that either. Most of the stores that were actually open were thrift shops or pawn shops, though there were a few other things as well. We ate lunch at the Country Cupboard where the friendly waitress told us that there used to be a bike shop and there used to be a bookstore. Funny, too, because we saw a mural commemorating the man from Streator who discovered the planet Pluto. Well, what used to be a planet. There was a little movie theater called the Majestic and we sat up in the balcony to watch Hancock which we both enjoyed.

Our side trip left us traveling a bit later in the day and of course we got caught in a storm. So we stopped in the town of Cornell and they let us stay in their city park. Fortunately the storm cleared up a lot of the humidity. As usual on the days we planned to go far, we went fewer miles and yesterday when we were going to go shorter we ended up doing over 100 miles. That's the nice thing about traveling so flexibly.

Yesterday's ride was much the same. We made an unusual discovery in the town of Kempton. We came across a place called Adventures Unlimited which seemed to be a bookstore. When we went inside in search of reading material we discovered that it was also a publishing house and specialized in books on paranormal, occult, conspiracies, future predictions and mostly things of an off beat nature. It was a surprise to find this in such a tiny town -- they do most of their business by mail order. They also had some regular travel books and a lot of science fiction. Ray really enjoyed it and picked up a copy of A Brief History of Time. The place left me wondering if Aliens were going to come out of the cornfields.

We crossed into Indiana with little fanfare, it seems pretty much the same as Illinois so far. Soon we'll be in Ohio! I hope everyone is doing well and that at least a few people are still reading this! Love lots!

2008-07-09T16:30:00.001-07:00

3000 Miles down

Wandering out on the hills of Iowa

2008-07-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

If there are parts of Iowa that aren't hilly, and I'm sure there are, we didn't see them. On our first morning there we began the day with a climb up Pleasant Ridge Road. The ridge was very pleasant once we got to the top, but of course it was a steep climb to get there. Up along the ridges it was so pretty with all the little farms (they probably just looked little from far away) and hills and trees. Being up there offered a pretty far view of the surrounding area. Mostly planted with corn, there were farms with cows every so often. I guess it was just typical farmland, but I thought it was quite lovely, though the climbs were somewhat grueling.

The route seemed to weave back and forth from ridges to valleys. We passed through towns, mostly small at regular intervals. One of the more intriguing towns we went through was Elkader. Some other travelers recommended that we check it out and at first it didn't seem like much but then we got down the hill into the center of town. To get to what might have been called Main Street we crossed and old stone bridge -- I can't remember the exact reason that it was so remarkable (besides being very pretty) but I believe it was the largest keystone arch bridge in some region. This bridge along we 3 or 4 other sites in town are on the national register of historic places (the courthouse, a big limestone church, a mirror house with both sides built exactly the same for two brothers...). The downtown seemed like a classic midwestern town, built mostly in the late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century. But the nice thing was that it still seemed to be occupied by businesses and shoppers.

Another unusual thing about Elkader is that it was named after the George Washington of Algeria -- the man who led them to freedom. Apparently the founders of the town appreciated his morals and character and decided to commemorate that in the town's name. The Algerian owner of Schera's restaurant told us this. Schera's was a nice place that served Algerian and American food. On July 5 the town was going to host the Algerian ambassador who was visiting for Algerian independence day. You never know what you will find when you visit a small town.

In Elkader we also began to see more evidence of flood damage. We sat by the river while eating lunch. It was shallow and muddy but just weeks before it had been up to where we sat, probably twenty feet above. A lot of the fields in lower areas were partially flooded and we crossed one small bridge that was closed to cars because it was broken when the water covered it. I guess most of the really bad flooding was farther south and west but people living in the areas we went through also experienced the ill effects of too much rain.

These days we usually keep up a nice pace -- we can cover 70 miles or more in a day and have enough time to stop and look around or stop and get ice cream which we probably do equally often. After a couple more stops we ended July in Dyersville, Iowa where we headed for the city park to find camping. It turns out that Dyersvile has its independence day festivities on July 3 in the city park. So we paid a $3 admission fee and found a place to camp past the gathering crowds. Dyersville has about 4,000 people but apparently almost 10,000 people came to hang out, play games, eat, drink and watch the fire works. Once it got dark we settled in among the crowd to watch the display. There were fireworks going off high up in the air that people outside the park could see but in the outfield of the baseball diamond they had another display timed to cheesy music. This included "great balls of fire" which were like fireballs that burst quickly into mini mushroom clouds. It was fun and entertaining.

We were tired so after the fireworks we quickly went back to our tent to sleep. I didn't think that the revelers would continue celebrating and playing music in the park for a couple more hours. The next morning the clean up crew arrived early, interrupting our plans to sleep in. We had decided to take the 4th off since we hadn't had a day without riding in weeks. We explored the town a bit and met some people who were having their Fourth of July picnic in the pavilion where we were camped. They told us that Dyersville is the home of the baseball field in the corn field where they filmed Field of Dreams. Its a big tourist attraction, but we didn't go see it. Instead we spent the afternoon at the city pool, right next to the park. It was a wonderful city pool with two water slides and some fountains. It was packed on this hot afternoon, but for ten minutes of every hour it was "adult swim" so the kids all sat somewhat quietly on the edge of the pool waiting until they could jump back in. It was a really nice afternoon and a great day off.

The next day we rode 85 miles to Muscatine through hills and headwinds to complete another section of our trip. We stayed at the Super 8 motel which was a really nice break from our tent. It was extremely tempting to not leave the motel the next day, but we had to check out by 11. We crossed the Mississippi for the last time (good, because I'm tired of spelling it) into Illinois. Last night we stayed in Orion, which we thought was like the constellation, but they pronounce it OR-ee-un. Today was another windy day riding through corn, corn, corn, soy beans, corn, corn. So far, Illinois kind of reminds me of North Dakota. We are in a pretty rural part and sometimes all you see is corn and a few farms. We went through an area with lots of wind turbines and now we are in Henry, next to the Illinois river. I'm sure I would enjoy the scenery (corn) a bit more if I wasn't struggling to push my bicycle in all the wind. Hopefully we'll have some tailwinds again soon. While we were in Iowa it was hot but not too humid -- yesterday and today have been really humid with storms hovering here and there. I guess that's all the news for now. Probably forgetting lots of things, but I hope you all are well. Lots of love!

2008-07-06T09:46:00.001-07:00

2008-07-05T09:57:00.001-07:00

2008-07-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

2008-07-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

Our new stove in action

2008-07-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

What is left of our of our stove after my amazing cooking skills

State #6

2008-07-02T12:56:00.001-07:00

We made it to Iowa -- crossed the state line this morning. The rest of Minnesota was pleasant and only involved one detour up a HUGE hill (which led to amazing views of the Mississippi and surrounding cities and much cooler air up on the ridge) and one out of the way trip to a bike shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It has been storming off and on all day so we are taking refuge in a library in Harper's Ferry, Iowa. My brother, Stuart, has uploaded some of our pictures for us so check them out in the slide show (just click on it to see them larger). These are mostly from Montana and North Dakota, we'll fill the rest in at some point. Have a fabulous July 4th!! Love to everyone!

Grand Rapids to Stillwater and beyond....

2008-06-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

I hope you all are being entertained by our various mishaps. Just this morning Ray was saying, "Well, at least this will make a good story for our blog." My response was, "Why can't we just meet nice people and see lovely things?" Of course we have been doing lots of that, so we need a few odd occurences to make things more interesting I guess.

First there were the mosquitoes. As if they weren't bad enough in Grand Rapids, that night we got to Palisade and camped in their city park which was right on the Mississippi and infested with the little buggers. Ray nearly went crazy several times and after we cooked our dinner we quickly retreated to our tent. While we were there a couple of guys pulled up in a canoe. They were going to go the whole length of the Mississippi from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. I recently learned that this is one of the things Ray dreams of doing. It sounds like it would be a pretty amazing trip -- the more we travel along, the more ideas we have for future travel. We've discussed road trips to national parks, train trips, canoing and of course lots of kayaking, but before we come close to any of that we have to finish this one.

In the morning we hurried out of Palisade as soon as everything was packed, fleeing from the mosquitoes. We had planned to do a pretty long day but on our way to the next town, Aitkin, we were bothered by some headwinds and decided to hang out in the town for a while. We had lunch and got groceries and then in the early afternoon left, planning to camp somewhere on Mille Lacs Lake. We rode about 15 miles and stopped to call a couple of places to see if we could camp. There was a huge mass of dark dark gray clouds behind us so we hoped we could get to the next little town before the storm hit.

We pedaled along as quickly as possible and the clouds followed. After about 3 miles a police car slowed down and pulled up next to us. I thought the officer was going to warn us about whatever weather was coming our way, but he rolled down the window and asked "Are you from Maine?" We said yes and he asked if one of us had left our wallet at the grocery store in Aitkin. Until that moment I didn't realize that I had left my wallet, but I told him "Yes, I guess I did!" He said that they had been trying to catch us before we left town but someone could bring it to us at the little store down the road in about an hour. I was so surprised that 1. I had left my wallet 2. Someone had turned it in 3. They managed to find us 4. They saved us a huge hassel trying to get it back. It was amazing! We have a tendency to leave our bikes leaned up against stores without great concern that they bikes or anything on them will disappear. It was really nice to learn that people can be so helpful, friendly and honest. Thanks so much to everyone who helped get it back to me!!*

We made it to Malmo and a little store with an overhanging porch just before buckets of rain began pouring from the sky. There was so much water coming down it was stunning. We waited a while until another police officer came with my wallet and then decided to try to find a place to stay for the night. Of course it was a Friday night in June on a lake that is very popular for fishing. Most places were full or out of our price range. The rain had mostly stopped but it looked like there might be more on the way. Finally we found a place nearby and decided to call it a day -- we had already had enough unplanned complications it didn't seem wise to go much further. We camped at a marina on the lake and the lady gave us a discount when she found out that we had bicycled all the way from Washington.

Another storm passed over, we just stayed in the tent and emerged briefly to watch the sunset. Sometime in the middle of the night we both awoke to a tent that was about half its normal size -- the wind was blowing so hard that it was pushing the south side of the tent with an extreme force. It was pouring rain again and the thunder and lightening were very close. As we sat in the tent we realized that water was beginning to pool under the tent where Ray's feet were so his sleeping bag was getting wet. What a ridiculous day! The storm did pass and it was calm for a while but then the wind starting up again and continued to blow incredibly strongly all night. In the morning I stood up to get out of the tent and the wind took it right up off the ground with me.

With all these mishaps, there is a lot to tell you about, so I'll keep going: Once we got away from the lake in the morning the wind died down and we rode along among forests and various campsites, resorts and ice fishing shack storage. My favorite part of that day was in the afternoon when the wind was finally behind us and we were riding through fields, farms and tree farms along small roads with gentle hills. We stopped in some of the little towns but our destination for that day was the Wild River State Park. About 6 miles off our route, it was our only option for camping on Saturday night. It is a park with golden prarie surrounded by woods along the St. Croix River. We walked down to look at the river but the mosquitoes didn't allow us to linger. The campground was full but the sites were somewhat secluded and it was just a really pretty park.

The next day we continued on route 95, which was not part of the route on our map but since we had already gone out of our way it seemed like it would be more direct to continue on it. It was actually longer, but the ride was really pretty. We went through some nice little towns on the St. Croix and crossed over into Wisconsin where we rode on small back road lined with farms -- some big with fields of corn and cows, some small with market gardens. All of the farms around here are so perfectly picturesque each with some silos and almost always a beautiful barn painted in that classic red. I have to stop myself from taking pictures of all of them, so I photograph maybe every 20th one that I see.

After Wisconsin we crossed back into Stillwater, Minnesota, over a trafficy bridge that brought us suddenly into a vibrant and touristy town on the river. It was sunday so everyone was out in the summer sun and the town was bustling. We ate lunch on a restaurant deck outside and watched the river complete with some old-fashioned river boats. It was a really pretty town and lately almost all the towns around here have been quite pretty and quaint. They seem to have actualy downtown areas with stores that are open and old buildings that are still being used.

After an afternoon in Stillwater we braved many more hills to go 20 miles to the St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park. We got a campsite and I went swimming in the St. Croix which was really refreshing. With a bundle of wood and some newspaper borrowed from other campers we cookd veggie burgers and had a nice fire. The campsite host warned us that they had had some trouble with people coming into the campground and taking things so we locked our bikes to a tree and packed things up. We wanted to sleep without the fly on our tent so we left our bags out and Ray said he would wake up if someone was in our campsite. Some hours later, I woke up and nudged him saying that I heard something rummaging in our bags. I grabbed my headlamp and we chased a raccoon away from my bags where I had some food stored. The beast had managed to unzip two of my panniers and take out 7 granola bars (I had just bought a new box of them in Stillwater), two apples and two bananas. I didn't find any granola bars left only wrappers and banana peels. I know its bad to feed wild animals and I am mad that it took my food, but slightly dumfounded that it could unzip and unwrap.

I kept waking up for the rest of the night and did scare a raccoon away a couple more times, but the damage was done. Alas. Since this morning things have gone smoothly. We rode through some more very hilly parts of Wisconsin and had lunch back in Red Wing, Minnesota. We decided to take the less hilly route 61 to Wabasha (where we are now). It was a quick ride along the Mississippi and Lake Pepin which is a really wide part of the river. We went through Lake City which is apparently the birthplace of water skiing. It was really nice to ride along the lake. Although the hills are annoying at times, the last severaly days in Minnesota has been really beautiful (minus the mosquitoes and raccoons!).

It is interesting to think back to the other places we have been which were so different from here and I'm sure we have a lot more to see. I wish I could give you even more details and descriptions, there are so many things I have left out, but I don't really have enough time at each library computer. I'm sure you will here more details from us when you see us, but as you know I will continue my updates while we are still traveling. I hope you are well!

*While I am at it I would also like to thank everyone who has given us directions to various places (we ask people all the time when we are in towns) and all the helpful and friendly people we have met along the way!

Fargo to Grand Rapids

2008-06-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine, when traveling by bicycle there are some very big differences than when on a car trip. You've probably read about many of them right here. One thing that poses a problem when cycling (especially in the summer, I guess) is road construction. We've already traversed various stages of unpaved, paving and paved roads. We've had the joy (?) of feeling the bumps on these different terrains. The day we left Fargo and began riding in Minnesota we encountered the uncertainty of a "Road Closed. Detour." sign. Of course we have faced many small challenges along the way, so this wasn't really a big deal. But when you see a sign like this in a car, you simply follow the detour for the miles it takes you out of the way and then get back on route without any trouble.

The road past the sign which said it was closed looked perfectly normal so we decided to proceed rather than go miles out of our way (and there was no way of knowing how far out of the way we had to go). For the next four miles past the sign all we saw were big trucks hauling rocks or sand or something but the road seemed fine. Then, of course, the pavement ended and we were on soft gravel which was really annoying to ride on. As I said, it wasn't a huge problem just a minor annoyance which we pushed through for 4 or 5 miles until a pick up truck stopped and offered us a ride for the last couple of miles. Then it was over. Just one of those things that is a little bit more difficult on a bike. But of course we didn't decide to ride our bicycles across the country because it would be easy.

We got to Callaway, MN that night and it sort of seemed like we hadn't left North Dakota. It was like having a birthday and everyone asks, how does it feel to be older. It felt the same to be in this part of Minnesota, but it was a tiny bit different because we knew we had reached a new state. After a few miles of riding the next day, though, we left the straight roads through fields of wheat, corn, soy beans and sugar beets and found ourselves in much more forested lands. The road was curvier and there were gently ups and downs. Now it seems that houses in these rural areas are scattered at random intervals along the road instead of huddled in small towns around a water tower and grain elevator. We have seen a lot more lakes and rode through a National Wildlife Refuge. It is a very nice change from the plains to be surrounded by trees, sometimes large fields, and to get off the long long straight stretches (although most of those were back in Montana).

We've been going through areas somewhat like rural Maine with scattered houses, small general stores and lots of trails for snowmobiling and four-wheeling. The landscape isn't truly remarkable but its quite pleasant to ride on forested roads with sweet smelling trees and grass. The weather has gotten very hot and it has been very sunny. On Tuesday we rode to Itasca State Park where there were a number of lakes. We swam in Lake Itasca which is where the Mississippi begins. Explorers once sought to find this spot where the great river starts flowing. Now tourists and travelers (even by bicycle) can reach it easily and wade across the river just to say that they walked across the Mississippi, like we did.

We camped and the park and ended up at a site across from our friends Bobbie and Glen who had gone a different route in the past week and are now headed north across the Upper Peninsual of Michigan. The park was really pretty and it was nice to swim in the lake, hear the loons, have a campfire and make smores. Yesterday morning we left early to ride the last 105 miles to Grand Rapids (this is the end of the fifth map).

We crossed the Mississippi several times and it grew from a stream to a creek to a small river which flows into and out of several of the lakes in this area. Grand Rapids is as far east as we will be going for a while. From here we will go south all the way to Muscatine, Iowa. I'm not sure how much more we will see the Mississippi as we go south, but we will cross it going from Iowa to Illinois where it is much much larger and right now probably overflowing. We are still planning to follow the route through Iowa, but if we find that it is still too wet or chaotic we might go another way. It seems like it should be fine, though.

I hope we find lots of lakes to jump in as we go because we have definitely reached summer weather. While riding I don't always notice how hot it is because there is usually a breeze as I pedal along. When we stop, though, it makes me realize why I have been feeling a bit sluggish and tired. Because of the cool spring in Montana and North Dakota we missed the mosquito infestations there (in one Montana town they said they have "buffalo gnats"). But of course we couldn't avoid them forever. This morning we woke up to at least 100 mosquitoes perched on the outside of our tent and the fly. It has definitely been buggy here. Everything is still going well, though. Happy summer to everyone and stay cool, if you can!

More adventures in North Dakota

2008-06-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

We are in Fargo, North Dakota and in the next hour or so we will cross the Red River into Moorehead, Minnesota. We stayed in Fargo last night and we have been taking in all that this city of 90,000 or so has to offer. Actually, not all of it, but I was excited to find hummus and tofu at the grocery store and yesterday we went to a huge sporting goods store that had a ferris wheel in it. Fargo is home to the North Dakota State University and seems quite sprawling, but there is a nice downtown area. We found the first fully equipped bike shop that we have seen since Whitefish, MT. There are lots of people bicycling around town and there are good bike lanes and routes.

Before we proceed into our fifth state and start our fifth map (we're nearing 2,000 miles and we are probably somewhere near the half way point of this trip) let me tell you about the rest of our adventures in North Dakota.

It starts back in Minot. We planned to leave around noon, and after a very productive time there, doing errands and such, we left closer to two. The town quickly faded into flat fields and another straight stretch of road. About twenty miles from our planned destination, the sky filled with clouds and it began to thunder. As the wind picked up and the storm was approaching we decided to stop and Granville, a small town that we were near. We got to an overhanging porch on the main street just and the rain started pelting. The downpour lasted for maybe half an hour and then let up, but the sky was still dark and it was pouring off and on. We wandered around a bit, checking out the two bars which seemed to be the only places to go. Finally after about an hour the sky to the west looked like it was clearing so we decided to continue on.

We were riding toward a completely dark sky, but it didn't look like anything was following us. After a couple of miles, though, the wind changed direction and we were pushing into a strong headwind. I stopped to ask Ray if it was worth it to try to ride into this for twenty miles. Then I noticed that the storm that had blown to the north was now coming back toward us, with the change of wind. It was coming fast with lots of rain and lightening. We quickly turned around and raced the couple of miles back to Granville. As we rode into town someone pointed us to the Memorial Diner, the restaurant in town where we could take shelter. We left our bikes on the porch and got inside just as rain and hail and wind filled the streets and the air.

We ate dinner at the Memorial Diner whose menu featured freedom fries, as well as every other possible kind of fried potato. They also had a range of bison burgers and hamburgers. I think their patriotism may have fallen short by putting swiss cheese on the American burger, but then again the Swiss are neutral, so I suppose they, unlike the French, can stay on the menu. Anyway, the owner was very friendly and of course it was a pleasant experience. We spent some time at one of the bars and set up camp in the city park once the storm had passed.

The next morning we awoke to clear weather and set off early to make it to Minnewauken on Devil's Lake, about 100 miles away. We stopped first in Towner ("The Cattle Capitol of North Dakota") for some breakfast food and then in Rugby to get groceries and enjoy being in the geographic center of North America. Then we headed south through gently rolling hills and fields of cows, bison, horses, wheat and corn. It was a hot day and shade was difficult to come by -- there are definitely more trees in North Dakota than we saw in Montana but at first they were mostly planted around houses and farms to shade them and protect them from the constant winds of the plains. It was kind of a long day, but eventually we arrived in Minnewauken to find a nice city park and a couple of cyclists from Omaha, Nebraska. They were a father and his 11 year old son who were doing a tour from Williston to Fargo, ND. We swapped stories about touring and some of the differenced between the east coast and the mid west. We also had a delicious feast of corn on the cob, strawberries and quesadillas. Little did we know it would be our last meal on that MSR stove.

The next day was going to be a shorter day so we didn't leave particularly early. We rode away from the lake for a while and for the most part had a good wind behind us. In the Spirit Lake Sioux Reservation the road went along Devil's lake which was an amazing change of scene from the flat, straight field-lined roads that we were used to. It was lovely to be near some water for a while. We stopped and sat by the lake next to a large casino resort. There weren't any towns along the route that day, but we did ride a mile off the route to the town of Tokio and bought a box of mac and cheese for dinner. The ride was gloriously easy since the wind was almost always behind us. We cruised into Pekin, another small town with a bar, a few streets of well kept houses and two city parks, one of which was for camping. We lazed about in the park, enjoying reading our books for a couple of hours, then stopped in at the bar where we saw our friends from the night before as well as another couple of older gentlemen riding the Syracuse, NY.

After socializing for a while we went back to the park to cook our dinner. The water was taking forever to boil, it seemed like the stove needed cleaning and after ten or fifteen minuted without a boil, our campmates offered to let us use their stove. Ray turned off our stove and then started to tinker with the fuel line. At the instant he realized this was a bad idea, the stove burst into flame, catching a bit of his hand on fire. He dove away into a classic stop, drop and roll, preventing further injury. Meanwhile we got the stove onto the ground so it wouldn't burn the picnic table, although it was close to one of the beams holding up the pavilion. The flames grew higher as we all watched in horror. Ray ran to get a hose which was nearby just as the plastic fuel pump part melted and the fuel bottle rocketed toward our camp mates' tent. Luckily it stopped before hitting the flammable nylon. In the end the fire was quickly put out and no one and nothing was hurt. The saddest part of the story is that when we finally cooked the mac and cheese on our friends' stove it was the worst tasting pasta I have ever eaten. As Ray said, the cardboard probably would have been better.

The next day, we got up early to do another 100 mile day to Arthur, which would put us about 30 miles from Fargo, so we could do a short ride on Sunday. It was a really hot day, but we made good time which allowed us to stop at every small town along the way. First was Binford, were we checked out the cafe and found the tastiest cinnamon rolls that we have had on this trip. We even bought two more for the road (or the trip across the street to our bikes). Then we stopped in Cooperstown for groceries. The next town was Hope where we ate our lunch and then visited the ice cream shop next to the park. With 20 miles left we stopped in Paige for a rest in the shade. Finally we made it to Arthur and camped in the city park. Lacking a stove we went to the local cafe for another grilled cheese dinner.

We're excited to get out of the plains and into the land o' lakes! As I write Ray is putting new tires on our bikes. He's already worn through one of his, mine have gotten worn down a lot, too, but this new set should last really well. Just for the record, he's had 3 flats so far, I've had four. Not sure what other statistics to relate, but a few people have asked if we've lost wait -- as you might have noticed in this post we are eating plenty so I don't think anything has changed there. Other than a few sunburns we are healthy and happy and not sick of each other yet. Quite the opposite really. Things are great! I hope you all are doing well, too. Keep in touch! Lots of love to you all!

2008-06-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Geographic center of north america

2008-06-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

We have a phone again

A Teepee, a century, and a pair of bike shorts.

2008-06-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

I'll try to make this quick. We are in a bagel shop in Minot, North Dakota. Nice to find a place like this in the midst of a sprawl of chain stores. I'm going to attempt the quick version of the past few days:

On Monday morning we arrived at the bike shop to wait for Ray's phone to arrive via DHL sometime during business hours. We waited and waited and read and paced. While we were waiting Ray hung his wet bike shorts out to dry on a sign in the sun. We met a few other cyclists headed east: Romano, his son Nico (who were on a tandem) and their friend Jim. Ray took our camera to have our photos put on a cd (I will send the cd home today and hopefully someone can get our pictures online for us.)

At about 2 p.m. we saw the DHL truck across the street so Ray ran over to get his package. Sadly, the driver told him that the plane had been late and he didn't have the packages for that day. We would have to pick it up in Minot. So we pretty much wasted the whole day and wouldn't be able to get to New Town which was about 75 miles away. Meanwhile, Ray's shorts had disappeared. Who would steal a pair of bike shorts, we wondered? What kind of town was this where people set fires in the city park bathrooms and stole bike shorts?

We set off, deciding that we would go as far as we could that afternoon. We were met with huge hills going out of Williston. Once we made the initial climb we could see the road going straight in front of us with hill after hill after hill. We climbed and coasted again and again. After a while the road began to curve around some hills and we could see Lake Sakakawea in the distance. It was a really beautiful area with hills and small canyons and other interesting land formations (sorry I don't know all the technical terms). The grass was a pale green and there were more trees around here than we had seen in a lot of Montana.

Due to all the hills, it became apparent that we weren't going to make it very far and it didn't seem like there were many options for camping. We stopped at a place called Lund's Landing to assess the situation. There was a little cafe with a nice porch and lots of hanging baskets of flowers. The place was closed but we sat on the porch to decide what to do. Just as we were going to look for a possible camping spot, Jim, one of the owners appeared and told us there was free camping nearby or for $8. each we could stay in a teepee and use their showers. We jumped at the chance to stay in the teepee. There were two of them, both up on platforms over looking a dried up river that used to flow into Lake Sakakawea. Apparently there hasn't been water in that part for about 10 years because of drought in Montana and less water flowing into that area.

The place was lovely with tons of birds and rabbits and flowers around, really well kept. The cafe would serve juneberry pancakes for breakfast the next day and we were excited for that, too. After we took showers we found Romano and Nico on the porch. We chatted with them for a bit and Ray casually mentioned that he had lost his bike shorts, among other disappointments in Williston. Romano said that he and Jim had found a pair of bike shorts hanging on the very sign that Ray had left his on. They thought it was random that they were there and Jim picked them up and carried them along, but then they thought, what would they do with another pair of shorts? So they left them on the ground some distance from the sign. When Jim pulled up the the porch we let him in on this strange coincidence. Everyone had a good laugh and Jim tried to give Ray a pair of his shorts. Maybe this isn't funny to anyone else, but to all of us, it was a totally odd, funny, and annoying happening.

After a lovely evening (the moon rose beautifully and we stayed up until 11 or so not even knowing it was that late because it wasn't totally dark by that time), a good sleep in the teepee and some yummy pancakes we left, planning to go along the lake to Makoti. As we were riding Ray concocted a plan to cut off 20 or 30 miles to Minot so he could get a pair of bike shorts and ride in comfort sooner. So we cut over to route 2 and ended up riding about 100 miles yesterday, all for the sake of the shorts. There was a pretty good cross wind and an abundance of big hills so it really wasn't easy, but we made it to Minot last night. We were mostly riding through farmland but it seems that houses, towns and trees are a lot more frequent around here than they were in certain parts of Montana.

Of course my story wasn't that short, but I just want to keep you all updated. Today we will go about 40 miles on route 2 to Towner. Tomorrow we will go through the geographic center of North America (I'll let you know how it is, don't worry :). Fargo is our final destination in North Dakota and we'll be there in a few days with plenty of adventures in between. Glad you are enjoying reading about this trip and its great to hear from everyone! By the way, the weather has been great in the past few days. Its cloudy today but warm and kind of humid. Let's hope for more amazing tail winds! Lots of love to you all!

North Dakota here we are!

2008-06-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

We crossed into our fourth state today! We are now in central time. Its about 9.45 pm and the sun is just setting. We woke up early this morning to the sun, as well. The weather seems to be steadily improving and its supposed to be hot in a few days. We are still hoping dearly for headwinds (we've been quite lucky lately -- yesterday we went 90 miles in about 6 hours thanks to a good wind!). We're only about 20 miles into North Dakota so its not drastically different from Montana. I have noticed some oil drills? pumps? not sure what they are called but they are those big hammer like things. Its been pretty hilly, too. To get here we wnet up lots of long hills and then down and then up and then down. We are staying here tonight so we can get Ray's new phone tomorrow. Sadly the city park had no water or bathrooms, but happily we found a Super 8 motel with a pool and breakfast! We have continued to see Glen and Bobbie, the travelers we met earlier this week so we are all sharing the hotel room to save some money. Check out their travel blog for another perspective on this route. Williston seems like a city of sprawl -- we haven't found any sort of downtown away from all the big stores and parking lots, but we won't be here for long.

I guess I don't really have too much else to report in the past few days, though I do want to say a few words of appreciation for all the city parks we have stayed in lately. It has been so nice because so many of the little towns we pass through have well kept parks with picnic tables, little shelters, sometimes various playground equipment. These communities welcome people (often cyclists) to camp there. Its been so nice for us. Too bad more cities and towns don't have this available.

Its really interesting to see these different towns that we travel through, varying in size, layout, and amenities. I feel just as intrigued by what its like to live in North Dakota or Montana or wherever as I was curious about people's lives in Tanzania. The difference is not quite so drastic, but its still interesting.

Love from, Me.

Still in Montana

2008-06-13T13:36:00.001-07:00

I hope you're all still out there reading. We are now in Glasgow, MT. We've recently passed through various other towns with borrowed names like Inverness, Zurich, and Malta. We've had a few battles with the weather lately, but it seems like more sun is on the way.

After we left Havre on Tuesday we rode for 20 miles into a headwind. It was such slow going and so frustrating. We stopped when we got to Chinook and set up camp in the city park there. It was to rainy and windy to use our stove so Ray got a pizza and we ate it in our tent. When we woke up the next morning it was sunny, but we heard rumors of snow in Great Falls and Bozeman. I guess it has been unseasonably cold around here and apparently all this rain was desperately needed. The lady at the pizza shop told Ray that they hadn't had rain since last july or something. Despite the sun on wednesday, we were again riding into a solid headwind. It took us a few hours to go another 20 miles. After stopping in Harlem, we decided to continue. It was another 50 miles to Malta and then another 18 miles or so to our destination.

We were really discouraged by the headwind until a storm passed over and gradually the wind began to shift. We rode through the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and managed to make some of those miles in good time. It felt amazing to pedal along and not fight the wind. We stopped in Dodson, a small town at the beginning of a stretch of unpaved road. I guess they are repaving it but we rode for 5 miles on dirt. To make a long story short, we fought another headwind, rode through more rain, Ray fixed his first flat, we stopped in Malta for groceries and then finished a LONG 18 miles to Sleeping Buffalo Hotsprings.

An odd and pretty run down place, the hot springs are contained in a large swimming pool and a small hotter pool. It is also a hotel, cafe, and grocery store on a small scale. Despite its apparent sketchy-ness, we spent the night and the whole next day there quite pleasantly. When we woke up in the morning the wind was howling and blowing incredibly hard and it was, of course, raining. We had planned to take a day off anyway so we mostly hung out in the motel lobby, went in the hot tub, read, played cards, and discovered that we could catch up on all the episodes of Top Chef that we had missed. All in all we had a lovely time there. We met some other cyclists from Wisconsin who were headed west and made friends with the lady at the desk who was very excited that we are going to get married.

Luckily this morning we awoke to find clear skies, sun and a breeze gently blowing to the east. Along our way we came across another couple of cyclists riding Surlys who are also headed to Maine, we swapped stories with them for a while and then set off through the plains. I was pretty disenchanted with this flat sprawling land but after taking a break, its been a beautiful day so far. We plan to get to Williston, North Dakota on Sunday or Monday. Ray's phone got wet and died so we should be picking up another one there (if you are trying to get in touch, you probably won't hear from us before monday, and he lost all the numbers in his phone). I hope you all are well, its always great to hear from you, have a lovely weekend!

Glacier and beyond

2008-06-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

By now you have all seen that we made it over the Rockies. Our ride along the southern part of the park couldn't have happened in much worse weather (well, it wasn't snowing until we got to the top of the pass). We rode on windey roads between hills covered in fir trees. As the road opened up we had glimpses of higher, rockier peaks covered in snow, but we really couldn't see much of the mountains because they were shrouded in clouds and rain. The day before we got to the park we met some mountain bikers who told us that the going to the sun road wouldn't be open until early july and they gave us a hot tip about an inn along the way where we could stop for a peice of pie. So, through the soaking rain and cold we coaxed ourselves along with visions of pie and perhaps a fire to sit by.

After about 27 miles we arrived at the Izak Walton Inn, which originally housed workers for the great northern railroad but then it was made into an inn where train travelers (and others) can stop. We had grilled cheese and mud pie and huckleberry cobbler and there was a fire place so we were able to warm up somewhat before heading back out into the rain. From the Inn, it was 17 miles to the top of Marias Pass. The climb wasn't difficult -- it was very gradual until the last five miles when it was steeper, but not nearly as bad as the other passes we have done. When we reached the top I realized that the water falling from the sky was definitely snow and not rain. The clouds still covered the higher peaks of the nearby mountains and offered only teasing glimpses of what must have been there.

We paused for a few minutes to take some pictures and then hurried to start down the pass to our hostel whose warmth was beckoning. By now my fingers had turned to icicles and while I observed the sudden change in landscape from the east to west side (we were out of the forest and into fields almost immediately) and noticed the streams flowing eastward, I was mostly miserably cold and ready to get to our destination.

We spent the night in a hostel in East Glacier and left late the next morning (after quickly fixing my second flat tire). It was a slightly clearer day and as we rode east, descending toward the plains, we could finally see what the Rockies really look like. The landscape was of rolling hills, grasslands, cows and horses. The sky was big and behind us the jagged mountains rose up suddenly. The farther away we got, the farther the Rockies stretched across the horizon. It was a beautiful sight to turn around and see them change and grow and stretch across my field of view.

We continued on the sloping plains, realizing that because of the gentle rise and fall of the hills and the flat, straight road we could move along very quickly. I still have no hope of keeping up with Ray, but can go quite a bit faster in this terrain. We arrived in Cut Bank without getting rained on very much and found our campsite at yet another RV park. It was very windy and on the edge of a small canyon overlooking and even smaller river. The town itself didn't have too much to offer, and as we left yesterday we passed a sign that said "Welcome to Cut Bank Montana, the coldest town in the nation." It wasn't warm, but it was definitely windy.

Monday was finally sunny! We picked up a couple of letters waiting at the post office (thanks Jess and Car!) got a few other provisions and continued on route 2, straight through the plains. Now the sky was REALLY big. In the morning it was almost entirely clear, except for small gatherings of clouds near the horizon. We had some of our last glimpses of the Rockies -- much smaller and reaching farther along the horizon. Its so different to be able to see so far and so much as we ride along. Well, there's not that much to see. Empty prarie and lots of wheat fields, a few mountains in the distance, the landscape does change subtly as you move along the road. For some of yesterday's ride it was just so empty. The road wasn't very busy and it was pretty quiet out there. Just some birds and tons of dead prarie dogs lying at intervals along the shoulder.

Our route, Route 2 (aka the Hi Line) roughly parallels the train tracks so we often see frieght trains (or hear them at night near our camp site) speeding their way east or west. Sometimes we see the Amtrack, too. The train's rumble and whistle is almost as frequent as the birdsong along the highway, I wonder if people around here even hear it. I must say, I think Ray has fallen in love with the trains. Yesterday we were sitting at the Cruise Inn in Shelby (a place where drivers can pull up and a girl coms out and takes their order) and Ray nearly swooned when he saw the Amtrack go by with some passengers standing on an old fashioned car at the back. It's all I can do to keep him from taking the train to North Dakota instead of pedaling.

We decided we had to make it to Hingham last night so that we could make it to Havre relatively early this morning to get to the bike shop in time to have some work done. To Hingham was about a 90 mile ride. I made it 88 miles and then discovered that my rear tire was again flat. Ray was ahead in the distance, but I had no way of catching his attention. I walked my bike about a mile and a half -- the tiny town of Hingham gradual rose up on the horizon, and finally do did my knight on shining bicycle. We couldn't really fix the flat there on the road (we would have had to find the hole in the tube and patch it) so we walked along for another half mile until we were able to flag down a pickup truck to give us a lift for the last mile to Hingham.

We camped in their nice little town park. We got there kind of late so we didn't really see anyone in the town. Hingham only has a few hundred people, the town sits just to the north of route 2. It only has dirt roads and the train passes right through it, next the the grain elevators. We went past a number of towns like this yesterday each several miles from the other with nothing but wheat fields in between.

We got up early this morning and made it to the bike shop in Havre. The people here are nice, as is the library, but other than that I don't have too much good to say about the town. And, its supposed to rain for the next three days. We've been lucky and avoided getting rained on a lot, but it does get a little tiresome. Oh well, we've gone almost 1000 miles and things are still going well. Thanks for reading and I hope you are doing well too! Love lots!

2008-06-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

Following the front

2008-06-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

It is all down hill from here

Montana!

2008-06-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

We rolled into Montana on June 3, coincidentally the day of the last two democratic primaries one of which was in this state. Funny, though, the only national campaign signs I have seen since we have been pedaling are for Ron Paul. Well, the primary wasn't particularly important for us either (although I have been following it somewhat over the months and it is interesting to finally see a resolution). Okay, enough about politics. We are in Montana and we will be here for probably another week and a half. Our first day in the state was sunny and beautiful. Our route took us through the Cabinet Mountains, which are east of the Rockies. It was nice smooth riding over gentle hills past more farms and lovely little valleys. We went from a wilderness area, to more populated lands and at the end of the day turned on to Route 2 which we will be returning to for the whole trip through the eastern part of the state. We arrived that night in Libby, and camped in a little park that was "conveniently" located next to the grocery store.

We've had an interesting variety of campsites already. Some towns let people camp in their parks (sometimes for free), we've also stayed at a number of RV parks. Why have I never noticed RV parks before? They are everywhere out here, but I don't know of all that many in the Northeast. It seems like no body uses tents anymore, they just bring their homes on wheels. When we got to the RV park last evening the woman seemed shocked that we wanted a tent site because it was supposed to rain.

Yes, it has been raining more this week than last. On Wednesday we left Libby and followed the Kootenai river to Libby dam which creates lake Koocanusa. We spent the whole day navigating along one side of the lake, which very pretty at some points, but at others quite boring. But it was an important day because this boredom helped me to realize, finally, what we are doing this summer. Everyone's been so excited for us and I've been excited, too, but I knew that until sometime in Montana I wouldn't really know that this trip was real. Riding around that lake, up and down hills for miles helped me to realize that we are on a long and big adventure and we will be doing this for a couple months more. Even though we are only seeing the narrow corridor along the route we follow, it is more than enough to prove the vastness of this country and the world. By now we have gone well over 600 miles, but we laugh when we look at where we are on the map of the USA.

As we ride along I find myself reviewing the places we have been in the past two weeks, sometimes all the hills, trees, valleys, skies and roads blur together a bit, but of course there are many moments that stand out. Already I have a little montage in my head of what I have seen in the western part of this country. The fun part of traveling this way is that I never really know what is around the next corner. Our maps give us a sense of what to expect, but they barely hint at what we will see. I actually prefer the winding roads so that I can't see the big hill until I curve around and know that I have to start climbing. Its amazing to start out each day, following the road, pretty much at the mercy of whatever it will bring. After we spent all day riding around lake Koocanusa we rode up some hills into Eureka, MT and were suddenly greeted by a view of the Rockies, stretching as far north and south as I could see. The sudden presentation of something so stunning that I had never seen before made the day's journey all worth it.

Not only do we not know what is around each curve of the road, we usually don't plan more than a day or two in advance. At the start of each day we know where we will end up, and about half way through the day we decide where we will camp, but we never know too much beyond that. This was especially true in the first week and a half when we didn't always get as far as we thought we would. I think we are starting to get a better sense of that, but mainly I mention this because it is so different from my regular day to day life. Especially in the past several months when I was working multiple jobs I would always know what I was doing each day and often find myself thinking several days ahead. So this way of traveling one day at a time is refreshing and exciting.

On Wednesday night, after riding around the lake we stayed in the Riverside park in Eureka. The park was not equipped with water for campers, but at about 4.30 in the morning we were awakened by the lawn sprinklers around our tent turning on. Fortunately the fly kept us dry. Yesterday we rode, mostly along route 93 south, to Whitefish. Its a nice little town near lakes and mountains for skiing. It seems to be a thriving community and we managed to find a fun bar for dinner, an art walk, a movie theater where we caught Indiana Jones, a fun and hopping coffee shop, a nice library and of course an RV park with an unfriendly staff but showers and laundry available.

This afternoon we are headed to West Glacier. Unfortunately we will miss most of the park because of the snow, but we should still have a beautiful ride. It seems like most of our sightseeing will happen as we pedal along and though we might not catch many of the main attractions we will be seeing A LOT and all the little towns and odd spots in between. The weather today is what I would call partly rainy with spots of sun, it would be nice to have purely sunny day and some warmer weather, but I'm sure I'll be complaining about the heat later on. Mostly we just hope for tailwinds in eastern Montana and North Dakota, but that's still a little while away. Thanks for reading and commenting. I hope everyone is well! Lots of love.

2008-06-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

Anna awoke this morning to find she had her first flat tire

Our adventures continue

2008-06-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

Let's see, we left off in Kettle Falls ("a town of 155o friendly people and one grouch" -- they actually have a yearly competition to be the Kettle Fall's grouch, small towns are so quirky and interesting). We spent two nights in Happy Dell Park (they let people camp in their town park) and got a lot of reading (and some laundry) done.

We left there on Saturday morning and rode on a nice flat stretch of farms and fields to Colville where we came across our first Wal-Mart and the accompanying sprawl. We stopped at their tiny farmers market and then began a bit more climbing out of town. It was a lovely day and the uphill wasn't too bad and we went through more valleys of fields and cows and little farm houses. I've been chased by a couple of dogs so far. Fortunately none have caught me, but when Ray goes by they get all excited and then when I pass they start running after me. Yesterday we actually walked by a house to avoid a mean-looking one.

A while out of Colville we were in National Forest land with occasional houses but mostly woods. Around lunch time we found a lake with a number of cabins and camping areas around it and ate our sandwiches by the water. Eventually we had another long downhill toward the Pend Oreille river. Ray was searching for a copy of The Amber Spyglass so we went into the town of Ione. There was definitely no bookstore in this town of a few hundred people. On the other hand, they permitted off road vehicles to drive on the roads so the streets were oddly lined with four-wheelers. It seemed like maybe they were having a parade, but we'll never know because we didn't stay long. It made me think, though, that if I were Bill Bryson I might have researched this history of the place, or stopped in at a local bar to find out more about the town. But we just passed through. On the other hand, I don't think Bill Bryson would have ridden the 350 or so miles to get there, he would have slept in the car like a giant fly or something.

Anyway, after Ione we crossed the Pend Oreille and followed that for 15 miles or so to the Panhandle Campground where we stayed for the night. It was right on the bank of the river which was cold and had a very strong current. The site was really pretty but a threatening rain cloud and an abundance of mosquitoes drove us into our tent. The rain held off until early the next morning when it welcomed us into our first rainy day.

It rained steadily all day and we stopped in Usk for a late and warm breakfast. Another tiny town, the Usk Grill was a friendly but sort of ramshackle place. While it was nice to stop, it made it that much harder and colder to keep going when we did. For the rest of the day we didn't take many breaks, but by the time we got close to Sandpoint it seemed to be clearing.

We crossed our first state line yesterday (into Idaho) and we'll cross into Montana later today or tomorrow morning (we will also be in a new time zone, then). Sandpoint is one of the biggest towns we've been in since Seattle, its right on Lake Pend Oreille (apparently one of the deepest lakes in the country or something...). To get into the town we rode on a bike path across a long bride over the lake. The town caters to skiers and other out door tourists as well as people who own some of the fancier real estate in the area and normal people, too.

We have started to meet some more long distance cyclists. Yesterday we crossed paths with someone headed west, then south, then east to do about 10,000 miles in 8 months ending in Key West. We also met a couple of ladies doing roughly the same route we are and today I met another woman going east. We've spent most of the day in Sandpoint (picked up a copy of the Amber Spyglass, too) and we'll head to somewhere near Clark Forks tonight.

We will be reaching Glacier National Park this week, but according to what Ray just found out, the "going to the sun road" which cuts through the park and goes over the continental divide is still covered in a lot of snow so we will probably be taking the alternate route, but hopefully we will still get to explore the park a bit. I guess the snow isn't usually gone until late June or early July and its been a really late winter here. Its kind of chilly right now, and just a few days ago we were in the hot and desert-y area around Tonasket.

Ray says he's too lazy to write anything, we haven't been able to put any more pictures up yet, but I'll keep writing as we go. Hope everyone's doing well and keep posting cause its great to hear from you!

Twisp to Kettle Falls, surprisingly fast.

2008-05-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

We are now in Kettle Falls, Wa. If you look at the map, you might be impressed by how quickly we got here. Well, that was mostly thanks to some kind and helpful strangers who gave us a lift over the last two big passes in Washington.

We spent a restful day in the strange fake western town of Winthrop and cycled to Twisp that night. Most of our riding that day was through the Methow Valley which was so beautiful. Farms, ranches and houses with little gardens and aromatic lilac bushes. There are a lot of trails for mountain biking and hiking and we found a couple of nice little stores serving organic and local items. It was really nice.

On wednesday morning we left Twisp and soon began to ascend the 7 mile Loup Loup (or Loop de Loop as Ray called it) pass. It was nothing compared to Washington Pass, but a long continuous uphill is not easy. Luckily it was a pretty quiet road with a few campgrounds and such along the way. When we made it to the top, we were of course rewarded with a speedy descent. Amazingly as we went down (Ray way way ahead of me) we were in what seemed like another climate. Much drier, I guess basically a desert. It was sunny and hot. We passed through some apple orchards, unlike any orchards I have seen. Each tree was pruned to just a few branches, I guess so they could produce perfect fruit. It was interesting to see. I guess this area isn't the big orchard lands of Washington, but we went by quite a few.

We stopped for lunch at a park in Okanogan, which was really nice and shady, but the sprinklers were going constantly and it was hard to avoid getting sprayed. I found it odd that almost every field and lawn we saw in this area had sprinklers going on them, even though the climate was so dry. Someone told me today that there are big lakes and resevoirs further north which water the valley. We also followed roads along the Okanogan river.

After Okanogan we stopped quickly in Omak for a cold drink and found it to be a pretty down and out town, the shell station was hopping, though. It was a hot ride through more desert to get to Tonasket where we spent the night.

This morning we began to route to Wauconda Pass but decided to turn back and take an easy day because of knee pain. We eventually found someone to give us a lift five miles out of town and started riding again. After a while we found another person to give us a lift up the rest of the climb to Wauconda (pronounced wah-kon-duh). We were at a small diner/gas station which seemed to be the town. There really wasn't much of a town, but at the station they sold t-shirts which said things like "Wauconda Town is this?" and "Just Wauconderin' around." Ray struck up a conversation with a couple who had a pick up truck, but they were headed the other way. Just before they left they changed their mind and agreed to take us all the way to the top of Sherman pass (the highest pass we would go over in WA). They were really nice and we chatted thw whole way there. It was a pretty easy glide down the pass and after crossing the Franklin Roosevelt Lake/Columbia River we were soon in Kettle Falls.

We didn't really want to skip ahead, but we already crossed two of the passes (including the hardest one) and they're not all that much fun. Anyway, skipping 50 miles doesn't really detract from the grand scheme of 4000 miles or so. Sorry we don't have more pictures. I have been taking some, but its Ray's job to get them online.

I hope everyone is well and lots of love.

2008-05-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

We've made it to Winthrop. Four days into our trip. Things are going fabulously so far. Of course we are glad to have an easy day today after a lot of climbing yesterday...

I'll backtrack a bit to tell you more about what we have done so far. After a lovely few days in Seattle (most of which we spent getting ready to leave, but also had a lot of fun with Mom, John, Carrie and Dustin) we left from the ferry terminal in Anacortes. It took us both a little while to get over the shock of how heavy our bikes are, but eventually we got to a nice little bike path and pedaled along idyllically. On our first day we made our way around a bay (I don't know what it was called) and then headed east away from the coast. We came to a huge valley with lots of famr land and long straight roads. All around we could see hills and mountains. Some totally covered in snow, some with just patches of white. It was very beautiful and different from anything we have in Maine, at least. Eventually our route was on the South Skagit highway, right along the Skagit River. It was a long winding road, pretty flat with the river on one side and a steep green hill- (or mountain-) side on the other with lots of huge trees and ferns, very lush. Even though cycling is much slower, we still covered enough miles to wind around hills and see the landscape and views change a lot. We stayed in Concrete that night (you have already seen our tent set up there). It was an odd little town, very down and out seeming. The main street was tiny and only a liquor store and hotel were open. Luckily we found a grovery store and learned our first lesson in the importance of planning (at least a little bit).

The next day, we set off along SR 20, passing through Rockport and Marblemount. Tiny towns, but even the Shell station had a full espresso bar. People in Washington love their coffee! After Marblemount we headed toward the North Cascades wilderness area. We were along a river and surrounded by bigger and bigger mountains. One beautiful sight was that of a waterfall way up a mountainside, sparkling in the sun. I saw bigfoots print's across one part of the road, too.

We passed through New Halem, a town that was built for employees of the seattle electric company, but there were lots of tourist there (in their cars, going three or fours days of our travel in mere hours). The road was busier here and we began the first of our climbs which was very challenging and steep for us. We went across bridges and through a dark and scary tunnel. Finally we got to go on a long downhill to Diablo Lake where we camped for the night. There was no water at the campground, which was good because it was free to camp but bad because we needed more water for drinking and cooking. So we approached some friendly looking campers and they ended up sharing two gallons of water with us. It was really helpful. I went for a really cold dip in the lake and we met Dave, a veteran cross country cyclist, who gave us some advice about going over Washington Pass and beyond.

We woke up early on Monday to get an early start on climbing. The first half (mileage wise) wasn't too bad. The second half was so difficult that we had to stop every half mile or so. But it was amazingly beautiful. We got up into the mountains which were covered in tall fir trees (sorry I don't know what kind). The views were beautiful -- so many snow covered peaks. It was a struggle to get up to Rainy pass, first, but then we got a break going downhill. After that we had three miles to the highest point, Washington Pass. Anyway, we finally made it! I think we were up around 5000 feet (Diablo Lake was around 1000 feet). The reward was about 20 miles downhill with amazing views of more mountainsides. Its hard to really describe everything. So we went down in about an hour, while going up took about 8!

The descent took us into Mazama, a tiny cute little spot in a climate which is more like hihg desert. Lots of pine trees and wildflowers. We were eager for showers so we decided to stay in one of the inns there. We had a nice night and took an easy ride to Winthrop this morning. This is a funny little town, it seems very touristy -- all the store fronts are in the style of those old western towns. I'm not sure if the buildings are old, or just styled that way.

Well, things are going really well. We're having a great time so far, we have a few more days of climbing ahead of us, but its a lot of fun to be out here and seeing so much and travelling together. I wish I could describe things more, it sort of blurs together even though we see so much. Its nice to travel on smaller roads through small towns, fields and forests. I hope everyone is doing well and we'll be in touch soon!!

175 miles and a real long climb...

2008-05-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

So we are taking a short day today. We have a 175 miles under our belts and the second largest climb of the trip (and supposedly the hardest) behind us. Our legs our sore and both our bikes need a little going over by the local shop here, but other than that we are doing extremely well.

The scenery around here is amazing, truly breath taking. Right now we are relaxing in a little town in Washington called Winthrop and we plan on staying in Twisp tonight granted everything goes smoothly at the bike shop. I am sure Anna will have a lot more to say, and will say it in a much more eloquent way, so I will leave the details to her.

Hope everyone is having as good a time as we are.

-ray

2008-05-24T19:51:00.001-07:00

The first day is behind us. We are in Concrete washington about 60 miles along.

2008-05-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

Anna is so beautiful

(Anna: what about the skyline of the city? and the rest of the park which you can't see, but it was very green, and had really cool old rusty former gas works. Apparently you could see the house from sleepless in seattle, too, which carrie was very excited about. Anyway, we had a fun time!!!)

We are in Seattle.

2008-05-22T16:30:00.001-07:00

We are in Seattle.

We are engaged.

We are excited.

We are starting soon...

Only a few days left.

2008-05-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

Every day for the past week or so we have been saying, only .... days until we leave. Most of our things are packed, we've said many (temporary) good byes. We keep waking up early with the bright morning light, full of anticipation of everything that has to get done before we go and everything that is to come after that. I can't wait to know what it will really be like and to be immersed in the steady progress, mile after mile, that will make up our days. After all this rushing around, planning, working long days, some time traveling slowly seems quite welcome.

Anyway, we are flying out in two days, and then the real adventure begins! We'll let you know how it goes.

P.S. As of tomorrow at 10 pm (west coast time) we will actually be where the little bicyclist on the map says we are. Well, we'll be in Seattle and then in Anacortes on Saturday. Funny how we reach our farthest destination and then immediately start heading back!

Ready or not

2008-04-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

This count down has been going on for at least 8 months. Its been overshadowed by the everyday things that do make up so much of life and hasn't always been at the forefront of our weekly pursuits. But this trip has been in the works, on our minds and shared (as an idea) with everyone we know for quite some time. Now there is only one calendar page left, just a few weekends and less than three weeks left.

We haven't really been planning the whole time. Just moving toward May 21 knowing that we'll be traveling on our bikes for the summer. We've gathered most of our gear and supplies, I taped up some long lists of things to do and things we need before we go. I may have only checked off two things, but I think we're definitely ready.

Ready to see new places and be outside all day. Ready to be done with 50-70 hours of work each week. Ready to be done with school. Ready to move out of our cluttered room and crowded apartment. Ready for summer. Ready for ankles to heal, coughs to cease and to only be tired from riding a bike all day. Ready to see the reality of this dream unfold.

So, yeah, I'm ready for this adventure; even if I don't feel prepared. Everything else will fall into place.

P.S. I know you are getting bored reading all these posts of anticipation, but we really are leaving, really soon, and we (or at least I) really will try to keep this blog updated so you can be part of the adventure, too.

Ray and Anna's Economic Stimulus Package

2008-04-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

It seems these days that the economy is big news. Despite the fact that overall most of us are better off than ever before, and some of us have way more than we need, there are still reasons to worry. The government, wall street, all kinds of people are trying to avoid a recession, and I am pleased to tell you that this summer Ray and I will be doing our part, too. In mid-May I will be giving up my job so that someone else can become employed as a barista and gelato scooper. Ray will be taking a sabbatical from his job. He will train an intern in all kinds of useful and marketable skills to take his place until the fall. That's two less people on the unemployment count!

Not only are we providing jobs, but we will also be spreading money all the way across the country. From Washington to Maine we will be buying food, paying for lodging (sometimes), and probably supporting many a struggling bike shop. We also hope to frequent farm stands or farmer's markets whenever we can, thus spending money in local communities, buying directly from producers, and supporting small organic farms (hopefully). Since we won't be speeding along major high ways, hopefully we will be able to check out various local spots rather than annoying large chains. We won't be feasting on asphalt, but I like the idea.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. The third component of our economic plan deals with the very serious matter of fossil fuel consumption. Fuel prices just keep rising. Well, we're going to make sure that everyone else gets a little more gas this summer. Once we arrive at Anacortes, we will won't be (directly) using fossil fuels to power our travels. You all can have our share, and we'll let you in on a little secret: just stop driving and you won't have to pay for gas!

So, there you have it folks, our three part plan to help the economy. One side note about the fossil fuel part, it really makes me think about how much everything is connected and how hard it is to avoid using oil. Obviously not driving does a lot, but we will be flying out to Seattle which isn't so great for the environment. We can offset the carbon emissions from our flight, but what about clothing, panniers, bike parts and other things which use materials derived from fossil fuels? Its overwhelming to consider all of this. Worthwhile to think about, but we did not decide to take this trip as any sort of statement, just an adventure. So, as usual, I guess, we will do what we can, trying to make small positive choices as we pedal along.

Getting Ready

2008-03-18T14:50:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we rode about 40 miles (from Portland to Hollis and back) stopping for a pancake breakfast and some warmth by the fire. It was a great ride, but kind of strange to look out at the familiar landscape and sights rolling by and see everything covered in snow. Normally when I am out cycling the ground is at least brownish green, but the flurries around us weren't too troublesome (much nicer than pouring rain). The first day of spring (later this week) marks two months until we fly to Seattle to begin our trip. Its getting overwhelming. We don't have a lot to prepare (of course we are only bringing what we can carry on our bicycles), but while our trip seems far away, like a dream, I think we are both realizing how fast it is approaching.

I think I have already had some of those dreams I get about trying to leave and being continually delayed and sidetracked so it seems like I can never get there. I'm sure there will be more nights of imagined misadventures before we depart. In reality there are a lot of obstacles between now and when we leave: work, planning gardens for someone else to plant, making a bridesmaid dress, brewing beer, sewing bags, making books and other projects. But we also need this time to get as ready as we'll ever be. While I am working as much as I can to save money for our trip, I am also trying to get in shape for the hills, headwinds and so many days in the saddle. Its probably not possible (for me) to prepare for all of this, but I'm going to ride as much as I can in the time I have.

I've probably said this before but I can't really even imagine what this trip is going to be like.

I guess I am treating it like a looming epic journey and I imagine you are hanging on to every word as I give you the background for the story.* Well, we'll see. I was looking at the website of another pair of cross country cyclists who were raising money for the WWF as part of their ride. A few people have asked if we are using our ride as a fundraiser for anything. I think its a great idea, but really I just want to go on this trip because I want to, because its there to try, and because I can. I've flown across the country but never seen most of what is in between one side and the other, so I'm excited for that. While we don't have an added noble cause, we will be traveling by our own power, so that will be a pretty amazing (and challenging way to travel).

Whether this is an epic journey or not, as many of you know, I love to share my travels via letters, postcards, email, and now a blog. I will continue to do so on this one, of course. Let's hope that spring begins to show herself soon, so we can have some soft breezes on our long training rides. Ha Ha. Its supposed to snow tomorrow.

By the way, I've been so chatty you haven't heard much from Ray. He's the one who has been making this site look nice and he made the lovely map which will show our progress along the way. We hope to get some more pictures up here soon, too. Happy (almost) Spring!

*Actually right now we only have one faithful reader, thanks Brita! Sometime in the next month we'll let everyone else in on this.

We'll see...

2008-02-20T17:22:00.000-08:00

Three months from tomorrow we will be getting on a plane, bikes in tow (or something like that) and flying to Seattle. A new city, a new state, the beginning of this journey which I still can't really imagine doing, but I can't wait to try. I guess our journey has already started. We have bikes, plane tickets, some bags and gear, maps, a frying pan, water bottles. One of us has bike shoes, one of us has a passport, but eventually we will both be fully prepared, at least as prepared as we can be.

I've never done anything like this before. I've traveled to a few places in the world, but never by moving myself and everything I am taking with me. Ray hiked the AT two years ago, so he's not really into looking at our maps and reading up on where we are going. Obviously we won't be on the Appalachain Trail, he just knows that no matter where you go, there you are. I know that too, but I am excited to investigate where we are going and what we might want to see along the way. We will be riding from Anacortes, Washington back to Maine via the Northern Tier Route. I could possibly say more about that, but right now it is all speculation and pages of maps, ideas, imagination and dreams.

However, I have encountered a lot of people who are eager with questions when I tell them my plans for this summer. So, I here is a little pre-trip interview to which I will refer all my questioners from now on.

Questioner: How long do you plan to take?

Anna: About three months, we have to be back by September

Q: What will your average daily mileage be?

A: 4,295 miles divided by 90 days?

Q:Will you be camping, staying in hotels or what?

A: Mostly camping in our little Hubba Hubba tent.

Q: Are you carrying all of your gear and food and everything?!

A: Yes, we will stop and get food in towns and such along the way, but its just us and our bikes carrying everything.

Q: Have you been training? Shouldn't you be out cycling right this instant?

A: Well, no. The weather is cold and icy, I plan to ride a lot more once it gets a bit better. In the mean time I am working so I can save money for the trip and I go to a spinning class sometimes.

Q:What will you do about danger or broken bikes?

A: I'm going to stop this interview right now because I don't feel like answering any more questions. I know you are going to follow along as we take this trip and send you updates via this blog. So, I'll just say, "You'll see...."

And so will we.

Let me say something!

2007-12-06T05:55:00.000-08:00

The way I remember it is something like this: we were biking back to my house, I think it was early august, night, on congress street coming around the corner by the fed ex box which marks my street. Maybe it wasn't exactly there, we've rounded that corner many times, often cutting across the parking lot of the Maine Networks building, and that's where I remember Ray asking me if I wanted to bike across country sometime. I am sure we talked about this idea before this moment, but never as in do you want to ride bikes across country with me sometime in the tangible future.

I think my answer was a definite maybe. For a long time I have wanted to do this in the abstract, but after Ray asked me I started thinking about it more and more. It became a definite yes, but probably not the next summer. Then, for some reason, Ray gave me a deadline to let him know when we would be doing this. I think I had two weeks. I don't remember how long it took me to decide, but I also remember eating dinner on a very hot summer night and telling him, Yes, lets go cycle across country next summer, if not now, when?

So, we decided to plan our bike trip for the summer of 2008. As you can see we have bikes and some bags to carry our stuff in. There is still more planning and preparing to do, but we a scheduled to leave in late May. We'll see how the adventure goes....

-Anna

2007-11-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

Our bikes on our first trip. Well my bike at least. Sorry Anna.

-ray

2007-11-15T05:51:00.000-08:00

anna is so cute

This message was sent using my cell phone. We will be able to do the same thing while on our trip, so their will be no need to get to a computer to keep people updated about how we are doing.

-ray

Hello World

2007-11-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

Between ecology papers, book making, fixing bikes, and treating herpes patients of the world (well maybe not) Anna and I have found time to create this blog ("What's a blog Anna asks).

This is where we will keep friends, family, house pets, and complete strangers up to date on our wacky idea of cycling cross country.

So far, we have a route picked, the Northern Tier. We also have bikes, a tent, some bike bags, and new pair of bike shoes (Anna insisted on this as the old ones smelled like rotting flesh).

Well anyway, we'll write more later.

-ray