At HOME in Tabernash, CO: 0 miles (hee hee!)
Well, we made it home safely! Nissa and Bill picked us up at the airport and we had a lovely first night back home. How fun to sleep in our own bed! How great to be able to wear some different clothes! We may have a ceremonial burning of some of the clothes from our trip--they have been worn and washed so many times, and quite a few will never be the same...
Here are some trip stats for those who need data:
# Dollars Raised to date for Bikes not Bombs: $2,561 (you can still donate if you want to)
# of Miles Ridden: 3,612
# of Hours on the Bikes: About 300
# of Pedal Revolutions: Almost 1.3 Million!
# of days on the road: 66
# of day off (while on the trip): 6
# of days our butts hurt: 60 (you do the math)
# of pounds lost (Traci): About 11 (don't know how much muscle I built but that's how it shook out on the scale)
# of pounds gained (David): About 3 (and in spite of the daily ice cream, it was all muscle!)
# of sag support days (when we rode without our gear): 1 (Day 1--thanks, Maggie and Jim!)
# of Host Families: 9 (Maggie & Jim; Larry and Dawn; James & Patrice; Dirk & Jan; John Beltman & Terry O'Brien (and Jenny B. and Amy); Cathy & Glen Snider; Delaine from the Poplar Hotel; Cindy & Randy Elcan; Cliff and Jane Ives & Bonnie Marden (and Mindy & Russell))
# of Hills: Innumerable
# of Good Downhills: About 10
# of Headwind/Crosswind days: About 18
# of Tailwind Days: About 10
# of Days with negligable wind: About 38
# Rainy Days: About 12
# Days Camping: About 15
# Flats: About 16
# Cushy Nights in Great hotels: 5
# Life Threatening Storms missed: 1
# of Bike Paths Available and Used: 5
My main take-away from this trip was something I saw on a sign outside a church along the way: "GOD'S GIFTS COME WRAPPED IN PEOPLE."
Wow! How true! I think I saw this about 2 weeks before our trip ended, but it really summed up my feelings about people that came out during this trip. We met so many wonderful people, and were supported by so many wonderful people, and it was just a fantastic gift all the way around! Here are some of God's Gifts that I'm thankful for today:
* Raising money for a good cause while having fun (and please remember to donate if you wanted to and didn't yet: the link is http://www.active.com/donate/BNB_Membership/tomsride
* Having a safe journey
* So many friendly questions and interest from others at almost every place we stopped
* So many wishes for "safe travel" from everyone we came in contact with--whether it was in a store or restaurant or one of our good friends or family
* Trying to make a small difference, and receiving gifts a thousand-fold in return
* Getting a different perspective
* Experiencing the world slowly for a change
* Spending about 70 days one-on-one with your spouse--and learning things about each other even after 17 3/4 years of marriage!
* Still liking and loving (and even admiring) your spouse after spending about 70 days together!
* Having my own personal bike mechanic along for the trip
* Having Jeremy Meador as our fantastic house-sitter and knowing that we didn't have to worry one moment about the home front
* Having Karen Conger as our business sitter and knowing things were in capable hands
* Having Judy Free and Jen Maddox taking care of the work front with almost no help from me (makes you think twice about whether you're indispensable)
* Being able to make it even after the broken leg and lack of training! Maybe that's due in part to my stubborn-ness!
* Journaling--something I haven't done very much of before, and something I want to keep up because it's helpful both in validating what's going on and reflecting and learning. Try it!
* The prospect of a massage and haircut this week!
* Being able to make a difference in people's lives--and letting them make a difference in ours
* Challenging peoples' thinking about who can do this kind of thing--and what they might want to do that's a stretch
Although this was quite an adventure for us, please consider what kind of adventure you want to have. It could be something like cycling across America, or it could be something like learning a new language or making a career change. You get to define it--but it's important to take some steps toward achieving it! What is the adventure for you? Tell someone today and get started!
And finally, some thoughts about making a difference. Bikes Not Bombs is about promoting peace and social justice through a slightly unusual avenue--alternative transportation. This really hits home for me and David at a time when the USA is not perceived as doing well in either of these areas. Having worked for the defense of our nation for years, we totally support being strong. But we do not support being bullies--and believe that being a "superpower" and a "superbully" are two very different things. We hope our efforts may in some small way help support healthy dialogue and bolstering those in need, and especially working out our differences peacefully rather than aggressively.
Please consider how you might make a difference that is important to YOU. Whether that is in your grocery store parking lot, at the soccer field, at work, or on the world stage--you have power to change the world for the better.
So get on your figurative bikes and ride--and much success to you in reaching your goals! Thanks for being part of our journey!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
WE DID IT!!!!!
Day 66: Portland, ME to East End Beach (in Portland)--5 miles
We MADE IT!!!!! And Here's to Tom Maddox, our inspiration and brother!
We spent a little time in the morning at the Ives home, saying good-bye to Mindy, Russell, and Bonnie, and getting organized. David even managed to help Cliff put up a gutter at the house! But I was getting pretty anxious to be on the road, so we left at about 8:30 in the morning.
We got on those bikes, and I felt like I could have ridden up a cliff to get to the Atlantic. Fortunately, the ride was mostly downhill or flat, and was very easy! I had a hard time wiping the smile off my face during our ride, and probably swallowed a few bugs while I was whooping and hollering in celebration every few minutes on the way. We were both a bit in shock that this would actually be the end of our ride--and really excited that we were really getting it done!
We got to the bridge where we caught the bike path and there it was--the Atlantic! It just had that unmistakeable smell of salt water, and I was really happy to recognize it because we hadn't smelled the ocean since May 23rd. We went along the trail, basking in our ride and of course, sweating like pigs because the humidity and heat were already on the rise! We stopped a couple of times to take some pictures on the Eastern Promenade--just beautiful! And then we came upon the East End Beach. There was a group of kayaking students there practicing paddle strokes on land, and some trucks bringing in more sand (evidently they had a bad storm in April that washed away some of the beach and the bike path). Of course, I didn't immediately see the path to the beach, so David had to direct me! He focused right in on that and I had to hurry to catch up with him!
We dragged our bikes through the sand--luckily, not more than about 50 yards to the water. David stopped short of dipping his tire, and tried to get his camera set up or to find someone to take the picture. I waited a few minutes while he looked around, and then suggested that MAYBE we could dip our tires and then re-enact the picture when the people wandering the beach got up to us??? Thankfully, he agreed (I was nearly bursting to dip that tire) and we simultaneously dipped our front tires in the Atlantic and then had a cheer for ourselves (and a high five and a smooch). The two men walking up the beach finally reached us and took our picture, and we just stood there for a few minutes. It was hard to believe we had run out of easterly road--and that we were really DONE!
In a bit of shock, we pushed the bikes back up to the picnic area, and just sat there for a few minutes feeling a bit emotional. The feelings were coming from all over--pride, excitement, sadness that it was over and Tom wasn't physically there with us, thankfulness for all the blessings we received on this trip, and some confusion of what to do next. So we did the best thing we could think of--started calling people to tell them where we were! We kept the cell phones hot for about 30 minutes calling folks.
After we called our family members, we decided it was time to make a move--after all, David hadn't eaten for almost 2 hours! We rode up into the Old Port area and had a coffee/chai break with some granola, and then did all the errands associated with coming home. We took a very expensive trip to the UPS store to ship the bikes and much of our gear. Then we took just the gear we would need for the night and started walking around Portland. We found a great place for a lobster (yes again--how often are we in Maine?) lunch and spent some time just looking through the journal and talking about the trip.
On the way to lunch, we saw a group of demonstrators from the Congo who were protesting the genocide that is happening there. They were all refugees from the Congo who had escaped maiming or murder. As we were talking about this, we both were feeling pretty emotional about the whole situation--injustice and treating other humans without respect. And we were once again reminded of Tom Maddox, who traveled the entire world from Mongolia to Europe, and managed to make friends everywhere without confrontation. He looked for the best in others, and that is part of his great legacy. And he wasn't afraid to speak his mind and demonstrate when he didn't agree with what was happening in the world or in our country. In my opinion, that's what made him a great American--he took advantage of his right to listen and his right to speak out. Both are important. And he didn't let one day pass without learning something and trying to gain new perspectives on life.
Although we will have a follow-up blog with thoughts, I think it's important to capture part of Tom's legacy here. It's not the 3,600 miles of cycling that we have just completed--it's the adventure we have been on every day for the last 66 days (and more). The value of the adventure is to give ourselves new perspective, and that's a big part of Tom Maddox's legacy to us all--to remind us to explore, learn, and make our own informed opinions based on what we see and experience in this wonderful world.
Thanks to every one of you reading this--you have been so supportive. So many of you have prayed for our safety and success that we felt blessed every single day. And every comment on the blog and on my email has bolstered us and made us feel like we could really accomplish our goal. Never underestimate the power of good thoughts and well wishes. They made a difference for us! Finally, each of you who made a donation to Bikes Not Bombs for Tom's Ride has made a personal difference in the life of an underprivileged person who will get a bicycle to ride and will learn to maintain it.
Our love to you all, and check back for trip stats and final thoughts!
We MADE IT!!!!! And Here's to Tom Maddox, our inspiration and brother!
We spent a little time in the morning at the Ives home, saying good-bye to Mindy, Russell, and Bonnie, and getting organized. David even managed to help Cliff put up a gutter at the house! But I was getting pretty anxious to be on the road, so we left at about 8:30 in the morning.
We got on those bikes, and I felt like I could have ridden up a cliff to get to the Atlantic. Fortunately, the ride was mostly downhill or flat, and was very easy! I had a hard time wiping the smile off my face during our ride, and probably swallowed a few bugs while I was whooping and hollering in celebration every few minutes on the way. We were both a bit in shock that this would actually be the end of our ride--and really excited that we were really getting it done!
We got to the bridge where we caught the bike path and there it was--the Atlantic! It just had that unmistakeable smell of salt water, and I was really happy to recognize it because we hadn't smelled the ocean since May 23rd. We went along the trail, basking in our ride and of course, sweating like pigs because the humidity and heat were already on the rise! We stopped a couple of times to take some pictures on the Eastern Promenade--just beautiful! And then we came upon the East End Beach. There was a group of kayaking students there practicing paddle strokes on land, and some trucks bringing in more sand (evidently they had a bad storm in April that washed away some of the beach and the bike path). Of course, I didn't immediately see the path to the beach, so David had to direct me! He focused right in on that and I had to hurry to catch up with him!
We dragged our bikes through the sand--luckily, not more than about 50 yards to the water. David stopped short of dipping his tire, and tried to get his camera set up or to find someone to take the picture. I waited a few minutes while he looked around, and then suggested that MAYBE we could dip our tires and then re-enact the picture when the people wandering the beach got up to us??? Thankfully, he agreed (I was nearly bursting to dip that tire) and we simultaneously dipped our front tires in the Atlantic and then had a cheer for ourselves (and a high five and a smooch). The two men walking up the beach finally reached us and took our picture, and we just stood there for a few minutes. It was hard to believe we had run out of easterly road--and that we were really DONE!
In a bit of shock, we pushed the bikes back up to the picnic area, and just sat there for a few minutes feeling a bit emotional. The feelings were coming from all over--pride, excitement, sadness that it was over and Tom wasn't physically there with us, thankfulness for all the blessings we received on this trip, and some confusion of what to do next. So we did the best thing we could think of--started calling people to tell them where we were! We kept the cell phones hot for about 30 minutes calling folks.
After we called our family members, we decided it was time to make a move--after all, David hadn't eaten for almost 2 hours! We rode up into the Old Port area and had a coffee/chai break with some granola, and then did all the errands associated with coming home. We took a very expensive trip to the UPS store to ship the bikes and much of our gear. Then we took just the gear we would need for the night and started walking around Portland. We found a great place for a lobster (yes again--how often are we in Maine?) lunch and spent some time just looking through the journal and talking about the trip.
On the way to lunch, we saw a group of demonstrators from the Congo who were protesting the genocide that is happening there. They were all refugees from the Congo who had escaped maiming or murder. As we were talking about this, we both were feeling pretty emotional about the whole situation--injustice and treating other humans without respect. And we were once again reminded of Tom Maddox, who traveled the entire world from Mongolia to Europe, and managed to make friends everywhere without confrontation. He looked for the best in others, and that is part of his great legacy. And he wasn't afraid to speak his mind and demonstrate when he didn't agree with what was happening in the world or in our country. In my opinion, that's what made him a great American--he took advantage of his right to listen and his right to speak out. Both are important. And he didn't let one day pass without learning something and trying to gain new perspectives on life.
Although we will have a follow-up blog with thoughts, I think it's important to capture part of Tom's legacy here. It's not the 3,600 miles of cycling that we have just completed--it's the adventure we have been on every day for the last 66 days (and more). The value of the adventure is to give ourselves new perspective, and that's a big part of Tom Maddox's legacy to us all--to remind us to explore, learn, and make our own informed opinions based on what we see and experience in this wonderful world.
Thanks to every one of you reading this--you have been so supportive. So many of you have prayed for our safety and success that we felt blessed every single day. And every comment on the blog and on my email has bolstered us and made us feel like we could really accomplish our goal. Never underestimate the power of good thoughts and well wishes. They made a difference for us! Finally, each of you who made a donation to Bikes Not Bombs for Tom's Ride has made a personal difference in the life of an underprivileged person who will get a bicycle to ride and will learn to maintain it.
Our love to you all, and check back for trip stats and final thoughts!
Will These Hills Ever Stop???
Day 65: N. Conway, NH to Portland, ME--63 miles
Not yet! We stopped just a few miles short of our goal.
We were planning to meet our friend Mindy, her little boy Russell, and her friend Bonnie this afternoon, so we tried to get an early start from N. Conway, NH. We also knew it was going to be another HOT day, so we wanted to get as far as possible in the morning.
So we left our hotel and started through the town. As we rode, a cyclist came up behind me--apparently someone out for an early morning ride. He asked me about our trip, and I said we were just getting ready for the last leg into Portland. He then asked about how we might get home when we were done with the ride. I told him we were thinking of taking the train since we live in Colorado and it comes within 4 miles of our house. He said "Oh, where in Colorado do you live?" and I told him. He asked if Winter Park is near Granby and I said "yes." Then, unbelievably, he asked "Do you know Tim and Tina?" I immediately knew that he was talking about our good friends Tim Carter and Tina Wilson! How funny and amazing! His name is Paul Degliangelo and he knew Tim & Tina when they lived in NH! They used to ride and ski together. Paul was a great guy and is also the road engineer for N. Conway. So he gave us some great directions to avoid traffic on the way into Maine. How random to meet him--and if we had left even 5 minutes later, I'm sure our paths would never have crossed!
So we took those backroads and climbed our way out of New Hampshire. It was not as extreme as the day before, but we sure did a lot of climbing! We celebrated at the state line of Maine by taking a few pictures and having a high-five and a smooch! That's why it's so fun to travel with your sweetie...
Anyway, Paul had told us we would know when we hit the state line because we would be able to tell an immediate difference in the road conditions. Boy, was he right! He obviously does a fantastic job in NH because the roads and shoulders there were very good. As soon as we crossed into Maine, however, the situation changed. There were times when the only place to ride was the middle of the road! They evidently have a big problem with frost heaves in Maine, and the roads really reflect that.
Somehow, we naively expected that once we did all that climbing into Maine, our path would become slightly downhill. After all, weren't we heading toward the Atlantic Ocean? Well, once again, we were wrong about that. David figured we may have gotten as much vertical today as we did yesterday on the BIG hills. But today, we went up about 200 or 300 feet at a time, and then back down. The downhills were a bit more than the uphills, but David said that if you do 100 hills at 300 feet, you're still gaining 3,000 feet of vertical! True. So the massive sweating continued (I probably have the cleanest pores on earth) and we climbed and descended our way toward the ocean.
We made it to Gorham by lunch time, and since it's getting pretty close to the water, decided to search out some lobster for lunch! At first all we saw were pizza and Italian places. We love those, but had our hearts set on lobstah! Finally, outside Gorham, we found a little restaurant called the Ocean's Garden Restaurant, which had big lobsters displayed all over the outside, This gave us a clue as to their menu! In we went, and as soon as the waitress saw us, she just put a pitcher of water on our table because we looked so miserable! This particular waitress was just wonderful, and gave us great directions for the rest of our day's trip. In addition, we had great lobster rolls for lunch! If you're ever in this part of Maine, go to this restaurant because you could get THREE lobsters for $24.95! That's the best price we saw--and usually the price you pay for ONE lobster. So find this place and eat up!
After we left the restaurant, we followed the directions to Bonnie's parents' house in Portland--on the north end of town, but still in the right city. You can only imagine our excitement when we hit the Portland city limits! The road flattened out a little bit (about time) and we were relatively fast in getting to the Ives' house in the early afternoon. And with perfect timing, Mindy and Bonnie drove into the driveway as we were riding down the street.
At the Ives' house, we were treated like royalty! Mindy was quite concerned for our sweatiness and tried to rehydrate us with lots of water. David met Russell for the first time, and they immediately had a great male bonding session--perfect for David to get a little toddler time because we have been missing our grandsons! And Bonnie and her parents were just fantastic. We couldn't have asked for better hosts!
Cliff and Jane Ives have lived in Portland for awhile and you can tell how much they like their home city. Cliff was very knowledgeable about the history and how to get around, and advised us about the best route to the bike path that would take us to the Atlantic Ocean the next morning. We took showers and tried to stop sweating in the humidity, and then I made the mistake of trying to handle the logistics of our trip home. After about 45 minutes (seemed like hours) on the phone with Amtrak, I determined that it was almost impossible to get home--the best they could do was for us to leave on Saturday evening and arrive home on TUESDAY! The person from Amtrak informed me that the trains are not REALLY designed for long distance travel! That could be a whole different blog, in my opinion. So, although in our imagination the train trip sounded fun, we decided that we didn't want to sleep sitting up for three nights! So I called our trusty friend Anna at Winter Park Travel and as usual, she found us the best available airline tickets to get us home on Saturday. Yeah for Anna--she's a real gem!
We headed into the Old Port area to have dinner and check out our options for things like shipping our bikes and to ensure we understood the route Cliff had suggested for our final ride the next day. If you haven't been to Portland, it is also a must-see! We just loved walking around the city--lots of fun shops and places to eat, and it's just gorgeous sitting right there on the water. We had lobster for dinner (what else?) and really had a fun time just hanging out with Mindy and Bonnie and Russell. It was just great to have Mindy there to celebrate our trip's ending! She really worked hard to get there at the right time, and we loved having our friends there to cheer us on! Her timing was much better than when I tried to be in MD for Russell's birth (was too early by 3 days)! Ha!
Mindy's final present was a bottle of champagne which we shared when we returned home to the Ives house. What a fun night, and a great way to spend our last evening on the route!
Not yet! We stopped just a few miles short of our goal.
We were planning to meet our friend Mindy, her little boy Russell, and her friend Bonnie this afternoon, so we tried to get an early start from N. Conway, NH. We also knew it was going to be another HOT day, so we wanted to get as far as possible in the morning.
So we left our hotel and started through the town. As we rode, a cyclist came up behind me--apparently someone out for an early morning ride. He asked me about our trip, and I said we were just getting ready for the last leg into Portland. He then asked about how we might get home when we were done with the ride. I told him we were thinking of taking the train since we live in Colorado and it comes within 4 miles of our house. He said "Oh, where in Colorado do you live?" and I told him. He asked if Winter Park is near Granby and I said "yes." Then, unbelievably, he asked "Do you know Tim and Tina?" I immediately knew that he was talking about our good friends Tim Carter and Tina Wilson! How funny and amazing! His name is Paul Degliangelo and he knew Tim & Tina when they lived in NH! They used to ride and ski together. Paul was a great guy and is also the road engineer for N. Conway. So he gave us some great directions to avoid traffic on the way into Maine. How random to meet him--and if we had left even 5 minutes later, I'm sure our paths would never have crossed!
So we took those backroads and climbed our way out of New Hampshire. It was not as extreme as the day before, but we sure did a lot of climbing! We celebrated at the state line of Maine by taking a few pictures and having a high-five and a smooch! That's why it's so fun to travel with your sweetie...
Anyway, Paul had told us we would know when we hit the state line because we would be able to tell an immediate difference in the road conditions. Boy, was he right! He obviously does a fantastic job in NH because the roads and shoulders there were very good. As soon as we crossed into Maine, however, the situation changed. There were times when the only place to ride was the middle of the road! They evidently have a big problem with frost heaves in Maine, and the roads really reflect that.
Somehow, we naively expected that once we did all that climbing into Maine, our path would become slightly downhill. After all, weren't we heading toward the Atlantic Ocean? Well, once again, we were wrong about that. David figured we may have gotten as much vertical today as we did yesterday on the BIG hills. But today, we went up about 200 or 300 feet at a time, and then back down. The downhills were a bit more than the uphills, but David said that if you do 100 hills at 300 feet, you're still gaining 3,000 feet of vertical! True. So the massive sweating continued (I probably have the cleanest pores on earth) and we climbed and descended our way toward the ocean.
We made it to Gorham by lunch time, and since it's getting pretty close to the water, decided to search out some lobster for lunch! At first all we saw were pizza and Italian places. We love those, but had our hearts set on lobstah! Finally, outside Gorham, we found a little restaurant called the Ocean's Garden Restaurant, which had big lobsters displayed all over the outside, This gave us a clue as to their menu! In we went, and as soon as the waitress saw us, she just put a pitcher of water on our table because we looked so miserable! This particular waitress was just wonderful, and gave us great directions for the rest of our day's trip. In addition, we had great lobster rolls for lunch! If you're ever in this part of Maine, go to this restaurant because you could get THREE lobsters for $24.95! That's the best price we saw--and usually the price you pay for ONE lobster. So find this place and eat up!
After we left the restaurant, we followed the directions to Bonnie's parents' house in Portland--on the north end of town, but still in the right city. You can only imagine our excitement when we hit the Portland city limits! The road flattened out a little bit (about time) and we were relatively fast in getting to the Ives' house in the early afternoon. And with perfect timing, Mindy and Bonnie drove into the driveway as we were riding down the street.
At the Ives' house, we were treated like royalty! Mindy was quite concerned for our sweatiness and tried to rehydrate us with lots of water. David met Russell for the first time, and they immediately had a great male bonding session--perfect for David to get a little toddler time because we have been missing our grandsons! And Bonnie and her parents were just fantastic. We couldn't have asked for better hosts!
Cliff and Jane Ives have lived in Portland for awhile and you can tell how much they like their home city. Cliff was very knowledgeable about the history and how to get around, and advised us about the best route to the bike path that would take us to the Atlantic Ocean the next morning. We took showers and tried to stop sweating in the humidity, and then I made the mistake of trying to handle the logistics of our trip home. After about 45 minutes (seemed like hours) on the phone with Amtrak, I determined that it was almost impossible to get home--the best they could do was for us to leave on Saturday evening and arrive home on TUESDAY! The person from Amtrak informed me that the trains are not REALLY designed for long distance travel! That could be a whole different blog, in my opinion. So, although in our imagination the train trip sounded fun, we decided that we didn't want to sleep sitting up for three nights! So I called our trusty friend Anna at Winter Park Travel and as usual, she found us the best available airline tickets to get us home on Saturday. Yeah for Anna--she's a real gem!
We headed into the Old Port area to have dinner and check out our options for things like shipping our bikes and to ensure we understood the route Cliff had suggested for our final ride the next day. If you haven't been to Portland, it is also a must-see! We just loved walking around the city--lots of fun shops and places to eat, and it's just gorgeous sitting right there on the water. We had lobster for dinner (what else?) and really had a fun time just hanging out with Mindy and Bonnie and Russell. It was just great to have Mindy there to celebrate our trip's ending! She really worked hard to get there at the right time, and we loved having our friends there to cheer us on! Her timing was much better than when I tried to be in MD for Russell's birth (was too early by 3 days)! Ha!
Mindy's final present was a bottle of champagne which we shared when we returned home to the Ives house. What a fun night, and a great way to spend our last evening on the route!
Through the Notch
Day 64: St. Johnsbury, VT to N. Conway, NH--71 miles
Today, we found one more word that means "REALLY big hill" and that is NOTCH. It's a term I've only heard in the Northeast. This term was demonstrated ALL MORNING from 9:00 until 2:00 when we actually went through the Crawford Notch on our way through the White Mountains.
The day started with a good breakfast at the Surf & Sirloin in St. J (as the locals call it). As soon as we hit the road, though, the granny gears were going strong because we climbed right up and out of town--and then just kept on climbing! I got to spend a lot of time thinking on these climbs because I was going VERY slowly--the slowest I have been since Montana. Here are some of those thoughts: Will my heart explode out of my chest soon? Don't I have another gear? Will my kneecaps pop off? Where is that other gear? Why is David so far ahead of me? WHY DON'T I HAVE ANOTHER GEAR??? And so on...
We did an early lunch stop in Littleton, NH. We had done a very steep climb coming into town and had sweat BUCKETS! Since we were expecting a lot more of the same until we reached the notch, we fueled up.
Once we climbed to the town of Twin Mountain, the scenery became truly spectacular! If you haven't ever been to New Hampshire, it is a MUST SEE. We rode along the base of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast. We passed the Bretton Woods ski area and the spectacular Mt. Washington Hotel. We knew the notch was coming, so we were expecting another huge hill. Imagine our surprise when it didn't happen! The last push was almost anti-climactic, and we spent a little time at the top looking at the Appalachian Mountain Club's quarters and talking with some hikers (thinking about our next vacation???).
Then came the awesome 13% downhill! That scoundrel David told me to be really careful on such a steep downhill with all our gear on the bikes--and then he blew past me like I was standing still! I had to chase him the rest of the way down, and it was such a nice change from the hot uphills of the day.
The last 20 miles were much faster because we got back much of the altitude we gained in the morning. We rolled into N. Conway at about 5:15 and found a room near a good restaurant called Delaneys. We had sushi (of all things in the mountains) and it was our first of the trip. Tomorrow--Portland!
Today, we found one more word that means "REALLY big hill" and that is NOTCH. It's a term I've only heard in the Northeast. This term was demonstrated ALL MORNING from 9:00 until 2:00 when we actually went through the Crawford Notch on our way through the White Mountains.
The day started with a good breakfast at the Surf & Sirloin in St. J (as the locals call it). As soon as we hit the road, though, the granny gears were going strong because we climbed right up and out of town--and then just kept on climbing! I got to spend a lot of time thinking on these climbs because I was going VERY slowly--the slowest I have been since Montana. Here are some of those thoughts: Will my heart explode out of my chest soon? Don't I have another gear? Will my kneecaps pop off? Where is that other gear? Why is David so far ahead of me? WHY DON'T I HAVE ANOTHER GEAR??? And so on...
We did an early lunch stop in Littleton, NH. We had done a very steep climb coming into town and had sweat BUCKETS! Since we were expecting a lot more of the same until we reached the notch, we fueled up.
Once we climbed to the town of Twin Mountain, the scenery became truly spectacular! If you haven't ever been to New Hampshire, it is a MUST SEE. We rode along the base of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast. We passed the Bretton Woods ski area and the spectacular Mt. Washington Hotel. We knew the notch was coming, so we were expecting another huge hill. Imagine our surprise when it didn't happen! The last push was almost anti-climactic, and we spent a little time at the top looking at the Appalachian Mountain Club's quarters and talking with some hikers (thinking about our next vacation???).
Then came the awesome 13% downhill! That scoundrel David told me to be really careful on such a steep downhill with all our gear on the bikes--and then he blew past me like I was standing still! I had to chase him the rest of the way down, and it was such a nice change from the hot uphills of the day.
The last 20 miles were much faster because we got back much of the altitude we gained in the morning. We rolled into N. Conway at about 5:15 and found a room near a good restaurant called Delaneys. We had sushi (of all things in the mountains) and it was our first of the trip. Tomorrow--Portland!
Granny Gear
Day 63: So. Burlington, VT to St. Johnsbury, VT--78 miles
The good news is that we reached 3,400 miles today--our estimate for how far we would travel during this trip. The bad news is that we were NOT at the Atlantic Ocean yet!
This was one of the most difficult days of riding so far. And you would think it would be easy after so many days... The Green Mountains are green, gorgeous, and they ARE mountains! When they built a lot of the towns in the 1700's in New England, they weren't thinking much about road grading for cars and especially for bicycles! So the hills are relatively short and steep--and we had a lot of them!
We started this morning from the Elcan home after a great visit and headed uphill to Rt. 2. It was sunny and humid, and we were sweating like mojos after only a few minutes! Wait! Is that alcohol we're sweating out of our pores? Why, yes it is! We drank almost like we were in college last night with my college buddies, and after 2 beers and 1/2 bottle of wine, I felt a bit sluggish this morning!
We climbed out of Burlington and then had a great 10% downhill that dumped us into the middle of the Green Mountains. There was farmland all around, and beautiful gardens everywhere. The views all around us were stunning! We had decent shoulders for most of the day, and a few places where the road was bad. The new roads in VT have beautiful 6-foot shoulders! (And P.S. Carmel, you would LOVE riding on a Bike Vermont tour--we have done it.)
Today, we saw a new kind of wildlife--a camel! It was a very odd sight right here in the middle of Vermont, and unfortunately it ran into its barn before David could get his camera out. I guess IT thought WE were unusual, not the other way around!
Our slow morning with the hills got us to Waterbury for lunch. A neat town I would like to visit again when I'm not so focused on finishing the bike ride. I had a light lunch and some iced tea, which perked me up considerably. The next 12 miles into Montpelier (VT's Capitol) were FAST--we flew! We stopped for the obligatory coffee/chai break and wished we could stay longer to explore. This would be a great area to spend a week just wandering through all the beautiful towns (and shopping).
We rode pretty fast for about 10 miles out of Monpelier, fueled by caffeine. And then the hills started. It wasn't too serious until Marshfield, which I climbed into at about 4 mph. Then we had long, steep hills all the way into Danville. Each time we thought we were at the top, yet another steep hill would appear! It was a nightmare in the heat.
But we got some of that altitude back in the last 5 miles into St. Johnsbury. Of course, once we got into town, we had to climb back up a ways, but we were able to make it to the Holiday Motel, where the manager let me use her laptop to blog! How nice of Ginny to help us out like that!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Serendipity
Day 62: Rouse's Point, NY to So. Burlington, VT--53 miles
We woke up a little tired from our long ride the day before, but were anxious to get on the road. We're getting so close to the end of the ride! After a nice breakfast at the Old Tyme Cafe, we headed across the bridge into Vermont.
Our ride in Vermont was really fabulous. We crossed over Lake Champlain onto the islands that are in the middle of the lake. It's a lovely trip south over North Hero Island, the Grand Isle, and South Hero Island. What fun! We saw some fantastic houses and the little towns were so charming. Yet another place we need to return to...
We had a little trouble finding lunch in South Hero, but managed to find a grilled chicken sandwich and then headed over the causeway into the main part of Vermont. We hadn't totally planned our route in this part of Vermont because I was trying to reach my friend Cindy Elcan to see if she lived close enough to visit. The problem was--I didn't have her phone number!
We stopped at Chimney Corner and found a phone book, and it turned out that the Elcans live only about 10 miles away! And they were available, so we decided to stop there for the night. We headed toward So. Burlington, and as we were climbing a big hill, we saw a cyclist coming the other way. We waved as we usually do and kept grinding up that hill. The next thing I knew, this guy was behind me. He said "I met you in Montana. I'm Garth, and we were riding west." It was they guys from Wheels for Change! Garth had finished his ride about 3 weeks ago, and was already back home. How fun that he saw us on the road! We stopped and chatted for awhile, and he offered us a place to stay for the night. But we already had plans...
We found Cindy and Amanda Elcan as planned and they led us to their house. Amanda is getting ready to go to college at WVU, so I was excited to hear about her plans for Freshman year. Their place is just gorgeous--right on the river with a beautiful lot and a nice garden that Randy is growing. The Elcans, with about 2 hours notice, were the hosts with the most! Cindy set us up with showers and laundry, and when Randy got home from work, he brought GOOD BEER! Ha! So we had some beers and then David and Randy went to get some fresh corn on the cob from the local market. They came back with much more beer and some wine for dinner! Oh, my. We put quite a dent in that while Randy cooked up some awesome steaks.
We had a fantastic meal and some fun conversation, and I even got to play the piano while Amanda sang! It was almost like being at home again. Randy then put a fun bonfire together and we chatted out there until almost midnight. Then reality set in and we all decided we should go to bed because they both had to work the next morning!
So off we went to bed in the downstairs--a lot of room to ourselves and a great night with friends! Thanks so much to the Elcans for their wonderful hospitality! I'm glad we were able to connect with such luck!
We woke up a little tired from our long ride the day before, but were anxious to get on the road. We're getting so close to the end of the ride! After a nice breakfast at the Old Tyme Cafe, we headed across the bridge into Vermont.
Our ride in Vermont was really fabulous. We crossed over Lake Champlain onto the islands that are in the middle of the lake. It's a lovely trip south over North Hero Island, the Grand Isle, and South Hero Island. What fun! We saw some fantastic houses and the little towns were so charming. Yet another place we need to return to...
We had a little trouble finding lunch in South Hero, but managed to find a grilled chicken sandwich and then headed over the causeway into the main part of Vermont. We hadn't totally planned our route in this part of Vermont because I was trying to reach my friend Cindy Elcan to see if she lived close enough to visit. The problem was--I didn't have her phone number!
We stopped at Chimney Corner and found a phone book, and it turned out that the Elcans live only about 10 miles away! And they were available, so we decided to stop there for the night. We headed toward So. Burlington, and as we were climbing a big hill, we saw a cyclist coming the other way. We waved as we usually do and kept grinding up that hill. The next thing I knew, this guy was behind me. He said "I met you in Montana. I'm Garth, and we were riding west." It was they guys from Wheels for Change! Garth had finished his ride about 3 weeks ago, and was already back home. How fun that he saw us on the road! We stopped and chatted for awhile, and he offered us a place to stay for the night. But we already had plans...
We found Cindy and Amanda Elcan as planned and they led us to their house. Amanda is getting ready to go to college at WVU, so I was excited to hear about her plans for Freshman year. Their place is just gorgeous--right on the river with a beautiful lot and a nice garden that Randy is growing. The Elcans, with about 2 hours notice, were the hosts with the most! Cindy set us up with showers and laundry, and when Randy got home from work, he brought GOOD BEER! Ha! So we had some beers and then David and Randy went to get some fresh corn on the cob from the local market. They came back with much more beer and some wine for dinner! Oh, my. We put quite a dent in that while Randy cooked up some awesome steaks.
We had a fantastic meal and some fun conversation, and I even got to play the piano while Amanda sang! It was almost like being at home again. Randy then put a fun bonfire together and we chatted out there until almost midnight. Then reality set in and we all decided we should go to bed because they both had to work the next morning!
So off we went to bed in the downstairs--a lot of room to ourselves and a great night with friends! Thanks so much to the Elcans for their wonderful hospitality! I'm glad we were able to connect with such luck!
We're Back in NY...But not in Civilization
Day 61: Robert Moses State Park to Rouse's Point, NY--95 miles
So far, NY wins the road competition hands down! The roads are great and we had great shoulders all the way through. There were lots of "share the road" and "bicycle trail" signs. We felt very safe and the drivers seemed to be conscious of us. Heath Maddox would be proud!
The second thing we noticed is that the people up here are a bit different than those we left behind in Canada. Some are very nice. You have no idea how the others are because they won't acknowledge your existence! It seemed we were nearly invisible in NY in our blaze-colored clothing and huge bicycles! A very weird feeling after all the friendliness we have experienced. Maybe they suspected our pictures of the border...
After about 10 miles of flat riding, we started seeing a lot of rolling hills--not really steep yet, but a taste of things to come in Vermont and New Hampshire. And then we climbed mostly to Chateaugay which was about 50 miles into the day's ride.
A unique thing we noticed about this area is that there were lots of houses and people, but no real evidence of industry other than the small farms. There were very few restaurants or other services, and all the farm equipment sales places were showing off equipment that looked miniature compared to the things we saw in Montana.
We rode across the Mohawk reservation, which was a little desolate and depressing. It seems they are in some kind of fight with NY State, but we didn't get the gist of it. We had lunch right after leaving the reservation at a deli--we were famished and stopped at the first available place. It ended up being a good stop and the sandwich was great.
In Chateaugay, we stopped for David's daily ice cream and I decided to have one too. I ordered a small, and it was HUGE! David's medium was much larger, so we were pretty full when we left there. It was Sunday afternoon, and the place was packed--but nobody acknowledged our presence. Very different from the usual questions we get about our trip...
After leaving Chateaugay, the "fun" began. We were going to try and stop in Ellenburg at about 65 miles. But the only motel was closed until 6:30 p.m. We didn't want to risk not getting a room after waiting for 2 hours, so we moved east. But every town we came to didn't have any hotel or restaurant services! So it was 10 more miles to Ellenburg Depot, 10 more miles to Mooers, 8 more miles to Champlain, etc. Finally, at 95 miles into the trip, we found the first available hotel in Rouse's Point--just on the eastern border of NY State.
We stayed at the Anchorage Inn and ate a great dinner there too. It was a really nice little hotel and Rouse's Point was a charming town. The people were friendly too! What a nice end to our stay in NY!
So far, NY wins the road competition hands down! The roads are great and we had great shoulders all the way through. There were lots of "share the road" and "bicycle trail" signs. We felt very safe and the drivers seemed to be conscious of us. Heath Maddox would be proud!
The second thing we noticed is that the people up here are a bit different than those we left behind in Canada. Some are very nice. You have no idea how the others are because they won't acknowledge your existence! It seemed we were nearly invisible in NY in our blaze-colored clothing and huge bicycles! A very weird feeling after all the friendliness we have experienced. Maybe they suspected our pictures of the border...
After about 10 miles of flat riding, we started seeing a lot of rolling hills--not really steep yet, but a taste of things to come in Vermont and New Hampshire. And then we climbed mostly to Chateaugay which was about 50 miles into the day's ride.
A unique thing we noticed about this area is that there were lots of houses and people, but no real evidence of industry other than the small farms. There were very few restaurants or other services, and all the farm equipment sales places were showing off equipment that looked miniature compared to the things we saw in Montana.
We rode across the Mohawk reservation, which was a little desolate and depressing. It seems they are in some kind of fight with NY State, but we didn't get the gist of it. We had lunch right after leaving the reservation at a deli--we were famished and stopped at the first available place. It ended up being a good stop and the sandwich was great.
In Chateaugay, we stopped for David's daily ice cream and I decided to have one too. I ordered a small, and it was HUGE! David's medium was much larger, so we were pretty full when we left there. It was Sunday afternoon, and the place was packed--but nobody acknowledged our presence. Very different from the usual questions we get about our trip...
After leaving Chateaugay, the "fun" began. We were going to try and stop in Ellenburg at about 65 miles. But the only motel was closed until 6:30 p.m. We didn't want to risk not getting a room after waiting for 2 hours, so we moved east. But every town we came to didn't have any hotel or restaurant services! So it was 10 more miles to Ellenburg Depot, 10 more miles to Mooers, 8 more miles to Champlain, etc. Finally, at 95 miles into the trip, we found the first available hotel in Rouse's Point--just on the eastern border of NY State.
We stayed at the Anchorage Inn and ate a great dinner there too. It was a really nice little hotel and Rouse's Point was a charming town. The people were friendly too! What a nice end to our stay in NY!
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