Monday, August 11, 2008
Well, we made it, Finally
Well, we made it, Finally. We arrived in San Diego, CA August 8th in the evening after an entire day of meandering aimlessly throughout the city/cities. More picture and a follow-up will come soon but for now i just thought that I would let everyone know (we know you have been on the edge of your seats) that we made it to the Pacific. Actually we made it to the real Pacific on the 9th. We made it to the harbor on the 8th- we were too exhausted to ride all the way to mission beach once we arrived at the harbor that night being that we had no place to stay or food in our bellies. Now Mims prepares to head home and Billy and I (now, a couple of the last Mohicans) will head north to LA and San Fran for some more adventures. Unfortunately neither of us has a camera so we will only have words to add from here on out for the most part. Hopefully Mims will get the chance to throw up some pictures and reflect a bit... stay tuned
Saturday, August 2, 2008
From Prescott - The Desert's Fringe
We've bought extra water tanks, we're about to get extra batteries, we've got rid of some of the more useless gear, and we're about to embark on some night journey's through the beautiful and grotesque deep south west. Somewhere in virignia a lady from Arizona told us that being here is like blowing a hot hair dryer into your face, and thats about the reality of it. We didn't get too many pictures from this section despite the sublime beauty of it because as hot as the wind in your face is while riding, stopping is twice as bad. In the last few days we've been through a few amazing places and met some really cool folks.
The Grand Canyon was pretty impressive but we all agree that you probably really need to explore the canyon for a while to have a realistic appreciation for how incredible it is. We went from there to Flagstaff by way of hitch hiking with a bunch very different types of friendlies, so that we could get a few bikes fixed that weren't going to make it much further otherwise. Thanks Jessica, Levi, & Grand Canyon Mike for the rides and great company.
Grand Canyon Mike - a real Grand Canyon mule trip runner slugged beers faster than we could order them, ate sushi with us, and told us why Budweiser is the Tyrant of all beers (amongst other great stories).
Jessica- good luck in the rest of your travels around the country.
Levi- congrats to you and Lisa on your marriage, thanks for breakfast, great conversation, and getting the Juno soundtrack stuck in our heads--oh yeah, and introducing us to the dude who made Freddy Kruger's gloves. Lisa, we feel like we know you even though we haven't met, and our ladies assured us that you are a lucky gal to have caught levi. We're sure they're right.
In Flagstaff we also met Tim the EMT - who has the privledge of being flown through the Grand Canyon in a Helicopter so he can save the dehydrated and banged up canyon venturers. Good work man.
We stayed with Joel Olson , professor at Northern Arizona State, who kindly put up with us coming back from the bars in no small stupor, and entertained us with some good conversation. Thanks a lot Joel and Family.
From Flagstaff we headed through the red rocks of Sedona, and the beautiful Ponderosa pines of Fry Canyon. Thanks to the owner of Mountain Bike Heaven in Sedona for fixing Aaron's spoke for free.
From Sedona to Prescott (pronounced Prescuit) was a pretty warm ride...fun I guess. But once we got to Prescott, got some great Mexican food, Ice cream, watched some Appalachian bluegrass things started looking up. Then we got offered a place to stay by Mike who also led us to a really cool coffee shop that had two acoustic sets and some real interesting folks. Thanks a lot of the hospitality.
Into the Desert! Soon to be in California, wish us luck. Thanks yall...until we write again - Congrats Walker and Stephen on your arrival--Jonathan, Colleen, Anne, Zoe, Chuck, you are all missed.
- Billy, Shawn, Aaron (the last of the Mohicans)
The Grand Canyon was pretty impressive but we all agree that you probably really need to explore the canyon for a while to have a realistic appreciation for how incredible it is. We went from there to Flagstaff by way of hitch hiking with a bunch very different types of friendlies, so that we could get a few bikes fixed that weren't going to make it much further otherwise. Thanks Jessica, Levi, & Grand Canyon Mike for the rides and great company.
Grand Canyon Mike - a real Grand Canyon mule trip runner slugged beers faster than we could order them, ate sushi with us, and told us why Budweiser is the Tyrant of all beers (amongst other great stories).
Jessica- good luck in the rest of your travels around the country.
Levi- congrats to you and Lisa on your marriage, thanks for breakfast, great conversation, and getting the Juno soundtrack stuck in our heads--oh yeah, and introducing us to the dude who made Freddy Kruger's gloves. Lisa, we feel like we know you even though we haven't met, and our ladies assured us that you are a lucky gal to have caught levi. We're sure they're right.
In Flagstaff we also met Tim the EMT - who has the privledge of being flown through the Grand Canyon in a Helicopter so he can save the dehydrated and banged up canyon venturers. Good work man.
We stayed with Joel Olson , professor at Northern Arizona State, who kindly put up with us coming back from the bars in no small stupor, and entertained us with some good conversation. Thanks a lot Joel and Family.
From Flagstaff we headed through the red rocks of Sedona, and the beautiful Ponderosa pines of Fry Canyon. Thanks to the owner of Mountain Bike Heaven in Sedona for fixing Aaron's spoke for free.
From Sedona to Prescott (pronounced Prescuit) was a pretty warm ride...fun I guess. But once we got to Prescott, got some great Mexican food, Ice cream, watched some Appalachian bluegrass things started looking up. Then we got offered a place to stay by Mike who also led us to a really cool coffee shop that had two acoustic sets and some real interesting folks. Thanks a lot of the hospitality.
Into the Desert! Soon to be in California, wish us luck. Thanks yall...until we write again - Congrats Walker and Stephen on your arrival--Jonathan, Colleen, Anne, Zoe, Chuck, you are all missed.
- Billy, Shawn, Aaron (the last of the Mohicans)
Friday, July 25, 2008
It's been a while (yet again) but we're almost to the desert now
So, we just made our way through the incredible Rocky Mountains putting to shame just about anything else that we had seen yet. Much has happened since our last blog: people have graced us with their hospitality, new friends have been made, way too much time has been spent, mountains have been conquered, and sadly, as of now we are down to only three people from the original group- Aaron, Shawn, and Billy. Here is a recap:
Jonathan- The night before heading into Colorado, Jonathan got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and hit a metal beam sticking out leaving him with a gash on his forehead and all the way down his nose. He eventually had to be sent to an out-of-town hospital for surgery accompanied by Shawn and Helen. (Luckily they were camping next to a hospital at the time) Realizing that we had to get him home we had to cheat and get a ride from Kansas to Colorado Springs, CO. (thanks so much to Big John for helping us out by giving us the 200 mile ride.) After finally meeting up with everyone, we had to see off Jonathan. I must say, saying goodbye was extremely tough, I found myself actually fighting back a bit. To spend that much time with someone on this type of new journey, things were really put into perspective on how far we had really come. We were in Colorado. We left from Maryland, the East Coast, the Atlantic Ocean by bicycle. People don't even associate with the East Coast just as we Marylanders/NC'ers don't associate with California. Each state we have had to get more and more general in our description of where we were riding from. By then we didn't say any towns or anything, only east coast, Maryland. That is how far we had come, and to see someone not be able to continue on was very grounding after such a journey. We enjoyed your company Jonathan, and look forward to touring again in the future. Miss you man.
Ah, now I am realizing that this post is taking far longer than expected and computer time is limited. I'll try to update with more info later (although i don't know how accessible the internet is in the desert.) Just want to say thanks and bye to some more people real quick, but more to come:
Steven- thanks for hangin with us and your patience in helping out with our un-bike knowledge. Have a safe journey on to San Francisco, look forward to catching your stories on your blog.
Walker- good times man, sad to see you move on, but it was awesome, enjoy the meeting of the ocean and Denmark next semester.
Patty and Jeremy- Wow, thanks for the incredible hospitality/food/help in welcoming complete strangers into your home. Congratulations on getting married!
Daudi, Tania, and Reuben- Also, thanks so much for letting us into your home, you made Durango one of our favorite places so far. Look forward to visiting again.... no but seriously. Thanks so much for the food, raft, car, ripsticks, and time with you all.
The Dutch family- thanks for the ride through Mesa Verde.
Pics...
Sad day, so long Jonathan
Jonathan- The night before heading into Colorado, Jonathan got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and hit a metal beam sticking out leaving him with a gash on his forehead and all the way down his nose. He eventually had to be sent to an out-of-town hospital for surgery accompanied by Shawn and Helen. (Luckily they were camping next to a hospital at the time) Realizing that we had to get him home we had to cheat and get a ride from Kansas to Colorado Springs, CO. (thanks so much to Big John for helping us out by giving us the 200 mile ride.) After finally meeting up with everyone, we had to see off Jonathan. I must say, saying goodbye was extremely tough, I found myself actually fighting back a bit. To spend that much time with someone on this type of new journey, things were really put into perspective on how far we had really come. We were in Colorado. We left from Maryland, the East Coast, the Atlantic Ocean by bicycle. People don't even associate with the East Coast just as we Marylanders/NC'ers don't associate with California. Each state we have had to get more and more general in our description of where we were riding from. By then we didn't say any towns or anything, only east coast, Maryland. That is how far we had come, and to see someone not be able to continue on was very grounding after such a journey. We enjoyed your company Jonathan, and look forward to touring again in the future. Miss you man.
Ah, now I am realizing that this post is taking far longer than expected and computer time is limited. I'll try to update with more info later (although i don't know how accessible the internet is in the desert.) Just want to say thanks and bye to some more people real quick, but more to come:
Steven- thanks for hangin with us and your patience in helping out with our un-bike knowledge. Have a safe journey on to San Francisco, look forward to catching your stories on your blog.
Walker- good times man, sad to see you move on, but it was awesome, enjoy the meeting of the ocean and Denmark next semester.
Patty and Jeremy- Wow, thanks for the incredible hospitality/food/help in welcoming complete strangers into your home. Congratulations on getting married!
Daudi, Tania, and Reuben- Also, thanks so much for letting us into your home, you made Durango one of our favorite places so far. Look forward to visiting again.... no but seriously. Thanks so much for the food, raft, car, ripsticks, and time with you all.
The Dutch family- thanks for the ride through Mesa Verde.
Pics...
Sad day, so long Jonathan
Garden of the Gods, awesome campsite in the bush the night before
What a badass
Headed down to Johnson Village, 13 mile downhill, can't beat it. Although, Monarch Pass followed it
Cerca de Mesa Verde
Bill and I saw some snow and decided that climbing to 11,312 feet on bike wasn't enough so we climbed to 12,000 to build a snowman
Bridge in Durango. Walker actually had just slipped off the Guard rail and is now trying to re-straighten himself before hitting the water. Also: movie fact- this is where the Sun Dance Kid jumped off the rocks in Butch Cassady and the Sun Dance Kid
Daudi, Tania, and Reuben at their home in Durango
Heading to Ouray up towards Red Mountain Pass and Silverton- probably the most beautiful part of the whole trip
At the top of Molas Pass, ~10,900 feet
Our highest climb
Action Shot
Jonathan in the hospitalMonday, July 7, 2008
Kansas....(its not flat by the way)
Dave and Cookie on their way to church, nicest couple in the world, found us in town after 100 mile day and let us crash in their yard, shower, use the internet, and cooked us oat-filled pancakes for breakfast, amazing by the way, thanks yall!
Guard chicken outside a convenient store
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Random PHoters by Steven
I figured I'd put my two cents in since we've got a rest day today. A few of me favorite pics.
Shawn destroyed in a library in Lexington VA.
Fields in good ol VA.
Walker, after being brutally sack-tapped by a stray dog that REALLY did not want us to leave. It chased us down the road for about a mile after we freed ourself from it's grasp. Poor pup.
Cooking time. It looks like this every night.
Crazy sunset in Carbondale.
Way back when. Bourbon capital of the world town.
Carbondale again. Unreal looking sunset/thunderstorm/ corporation strip combo.
Amish country.
Shawn destroyed in a library in Lexington VA. Fields in good ol VA. Walker, after being brutally sack-tapped by a stray dog that REALLY did not want us to leave. It chased us down the road for about a mile after we freed ourself from it's grasp. Poor pup. Cooking time. It looks like this every night. Crazy sunset in Carbondale. Way back when. Bourbon capital of the world town. Carbondale again. Unreal looking sunset/thunderstorm/ corporation strip combo.Amish country.
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