Tuesday 6/4/02
Hello to all from Sequim Washington;
Jackie & I just discovered that the e-mail I sent out last Thursday about our cross country bicycle trip NEVER was delivered to anyone. That is really a bummer since I composed it sooooo special, but alas the file is sitting on my home computer so I will have to wing it. I have been messing around with my e-mail changing over from a POP server to web based so maybe that is what caused the problem so I will try again but keep it short until I know this works.
Two things of importance:
1-We have shut down Jackie's e-mail "reams@pacbell.net 2-We are carrying a cell phone, 408-857-6764 if you need to reach us. Of
course we cannot guarantee reception so just leave a voice mail msg and
eventually we will get back to you, but e-mail is a better way to reach us
as I intend to pop into internet cafe's every 7-10 days.
We left San Jose Saturday. Jackie's brother drove us to Neah Bay
Washington,
the most North West point in the US. Our ride will take us across
Washington, the Idaho Pan Handle, than all or parts of Montana, Wyoming,
Minnesota,Wisconson, up and over Lake Michigan, down through Michigan,
Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and into Maryland where we will end the trip
at
my brothers.
In the last two days we have done 105 miles. Tomorrows ride includes a
ferry
trip which should be very cool.
Jackie & I wish all our friends a safe and happy summer. We will be in
touch
every so often.
D&J
Saturday 6/15
Location: Newport Washington Here is a quick update:
We decided to take a rest day after 12 days of riding. We are on the
Washington/Idaho boarder and will be taking off tomorrow morning with our
next large town being Missoula Montana. We should arrive there by
Thursday.
We are both feeling great and the weather has been perfect, better than
expected for NW Washington. The only weather we hit was coming over Rainy
and Washington Pass. Sun turned to fog, fog to rain, rain to snow, snow to
slush. It was 33 degrees at the top (5344ft.). We changed into ALL the dry
clothes we owned and came down the 20+ freezing miles. We had our friend
David Hill riding with us until today and he got into the hotel before us
and when we finally got down from the top of the pass and into the cabin
it
was warm and toasty from the fire Dave stared. You are a good man Dave.
Our other high point was meeting a great family. While shopping we got
into
a route discussion with a local from Tonasket. George is an avid cyclist
and
he turned us onto some alternate routes that were traffic free and
beautiful. He & his family also took us in for the night. If my memory
serves me correctly George, his wife Patty and son Peter have 80 wooded
acres at about 2600 ft. A beautiful piece of property. We had a dinner of
trout, rice, very fresh home baked bread and fresh greens from their
garden
and than watched a movie. George roasted some fresh coffee beans for
breakfast coffee, YUM!!! It was the highlight of the ride so far. They
just
took us in as their own. George; Dave, Jackie and I really thank your
family
for the hospitality.
Well that's about it. Next update as soon as possible.
Take care everybody.
D&J
Thursday June 20, 2002 We're still at it and having a wonderful time. The freedom of touring day
in and out is fantastic. We had good weather and road traveling through
Idaho as we followed the Pend Oreille River and Lake to a small town
called
Clark Fork. We're loving these little, one horse towns consisting of a
1950
vintage motel, bar/cafe, and saddle shop. The wife of our bartender that
night spent the evening going back and forth between smoking as she stared
into space and a Free Cell game. Her ambition, once she has the time is
to
travel to Oregon to (see the coast, we're thinking... no) play the slots
in
the Indian casinos.
Our weather has been spectacular except that one morning we awoke to
threatening skies in Thompson Falls. Our 70+ mile day turned into 35
miles
as we ducked into a junk shop to get out of the downpour. As soon as it
let
up, we road another 20 miles to Quinns which happened to be our good
fortune. Quinns has tapped into hot springs and had a wonderful pool,
tavern, restaurant, and beautiful new lodge set on the river - a one stop
shop.
Leaving Idaho, we continued to follow the Clark Fork River valley all the
way to Missoula where we are laying over simply because this is a gorgeous
spot. The town is beautiful and has maintained its old west buildings.
It's big enough to have all the services we need but small enough to walk
everywhere. The restaurants are so inviting and there are so many it's
difficult to choose. We've settled on pasta tonight and will eat with a
couple we've been seeing on and off for a few days traveling on a tandem
from Arcadia, Ca.
Signing off for now.
D&J
Thursday June 27th Total Miles: 1,218 Route since last e-mail: Missoula-Avando-Elliston-Townsand-White Sulphur
Springs-Harlowton-Billings.
We arrived in Billings yesterday on our longest day yet. We are driven by
distances between motels so yesterday's choice was either going 24 miles
out
of our way in order to get a hotel (riding 70 miles to Roundup and then 50
to Billings) or coming a more direct route into Billings in one day. We
chose the 95 miles into Billings and the temperature was the same as the
mileage, really hot. We had great tail winds the first 45 miles heading
East
and then turned due South and had some cross winds. In retrospect the
winds
helped keep us cool for every time we stopped it was really hot. We got in
at 5:30 and finally had a good pasta dinner. We were getting tired of
burgers. (I should say I as Jackie never tires of hamburgers and fries.)
Tonight it is to the movies to see "Sum of All Fears" and hopefully
another
good dinner before a night's rest and off we go.I guess I will turn it
over
to Jackie, as she types a way lot faster than I. (David)
So, what's not to like about burgers and fries in Montana ranch country?
As
one lady put it when I commented on the one horse towns around here...
"They're more like one person, many horses towns." We talked to a realtor
over coffee this AM whose territory includes Eastern Montana and down into
Wyoming. It has to be big because the population of Montana is less than
San Jose. We're finding Eastern Montana to be our least favorite area so
far. We are in dryer, flatter land and you can see ten miles ahead on a
road straight as an arrow. Thank heaven this is a drinking state or we'd
be
in trouble for watering holes without the local bars. How small are these
towns? One night over burgers at the only watering hole in Elliston,
Donna
and Keith were having their wedding reception. We bought them a round...
In Ovando, posted on the bulletin board of our (the only) hotel was an
invitation (to everyone) to Linda's wedding shower to be held in the
school
gymnasium... Great place to visit but... Tomorrow, we head for Crow
Agency
to see the Big Horn National Monument, then Devil's Tower where we hope to
have a close encounter, and then on to a new state, Wyoming.
D&J
Wednesday July, 10 2002 Total Miles: 1,807.3 Hi all;
Long time since our last update. Since that update from Billings Montana
we
have made the following progress: Billings MT-(cross into Wyoming)Crow
Agency-Ranchester-Leiter-Gillette-Heulett (cross into South Dakota)
Spearfish-Hill City-Custer-Rapid City.
We are taking a layover day in Rapid City at Bob & Elaine Burns home. Bob
&
Elaine used to live in SJ.
We spent a few days sightseeing this last segment and have not made as
much
headway East as we would like. That all changes tomorrow. We head out due
East across the Badlands. This portion of the trip should be very
challenging. Lots of flat miles, long distances and they expect some
really
hot weather to move in this weekend. Jackie & I will try to get out very
early in the morning but we are not very good at doing that. We like our
coffee and relaxation in the morning, we will do our best. Our distances
are
determined by the next available motel, so we can't just bag the day if we
get tired.
This last segment we spent some time at three interesting places. 1)
Little
Big Horn National Monument where we learned all about General Custer and
his
demise, 2) Devils Tower, where we failed to have a close encounter, and
3)Mount Rushmore, all really cool places. Jackie thought it fitting to
take
me on a 57 mile 5,000ft climb up and around Mt. Rushmore. This ride almost
put a (1) in the arguments column. It was grueling and we should have
taken
the day off and rested in an air conditioned sightseeing bus. We agreed
the
goal is Maryland and we need to save our strength and recover as much as
possible with that in mind. That evening we took an off road jeep tour of
the park and saw heards of Deer, Antelope and hundreds of Buffalo just
wandering around the open car well within easy reach. The tour ended with
a
chuck wagon steak dinner, country music and all the silly stuff that goes
along with that.
We really have had some tough riding days. The main culprit is Wind, Wind,
Wind, all of it HEAD.. We had to take a sixty mile day down to two 30
miles
days because of wind and yesterday it took us three hours to go 19 miles,
just grueling. I hope we have better luck across the badlands. We expect
to
reach the boarder of Minn and SD in about 7 days.
Well so far we both agree that this has been a great trip, we are meeting
lots of neat people and hearing great stories. One night we ended up in a
hunting lodge. When we entered the great room there were at least 80
mounted
trophy heads hanging on the walls, really surreal. Kids from Brooklyn such
as I are not used to seeing that stuff.
Well that's about it for now. We most probably will not have an
opportunity
to get out another update till we reach Minnesota. Until than, be safe and
happy. Have a good summer.
D&J
Date: July 18 Total Miles: 2,270.6 NOTE: When we sent our e-mail from Tracy we omitted our progress from
Rapid
City, South Dakota to Tracy Minn. For those of you tracking us (like my
niece and nephew) our progress during that time was as follows:
Depart Rapid City Friday 7/12. Rapid City-Kadoka-Murdo-Ft. Thompson-Woon
Socket-Madison (cross into Minn)-Pipestone-Tracy.
Greetings from the land of many lakes. We crossed over into Minnesota
yesterday with a big cheer, mainly because we were leaving South Dakota.
Except for the Black Hills and the Badlands, there is little reason to
visit
the rest of the state. We had day after day of hot, windy weather with
roads you could see for miles and miles ahead. There were rolling hills
with long grinds up and little reward down.
Finally, we arrived in our
last
town, Madison where we were anticipating leaving the state the next day.
While waiting for a haircut in the town barber shop (both of us) the
editor
of the town's newspaper spotted us and sent over a reporter to get our
story
and take our pictures. Suddenly, the state didn't seem so bad as we told
him about our adventures. Today, Minnesota was hoping for a long awaited
rain storm. Their corn crop is in jeopardy if they don't get some rain
soon. The weather tried to cooperate as we awoke to overcast skies. We
were forced inside several times to wait for menacing clouds to pass us
by,
and they usually did.
We thank all of you for sending your good wishes and thoughts and enjoy
hearing about what you're doing too. We're sorry we aren't able to answer
each email personally because we are using public libraries and are
limited
to 30-60 minutes each time.
That's all for now. Take care and hope all of you are having a great
summer.
D&J
July 29, 2002 total Miles: 2,783.2 Hi all, it has been a while since our last e-mail from Tracy Minnesota.
Since that date, 7/18 we have come as follows: (in Minn.) Tracy-New
Ulm-Faribault-Wabasha (cross into Wisconsin)Trempealeau-Black River
Falls-Plover-Appleton-Manitowoc.
We spent this past weekend in Appleton, WI where our friends Marty and
Janet
Evans,who live outside Chicago joined us for the weekend. It was really
nice
to see some friends. We had dinner at Vince Lombardies steak house, this
is
afterall Wisconsin and Appleton is only about 50 miles from Green Bay. The
weekend included a movie and some miniature golf, just plain old fun
catching up with friends.
We crossed Minn and Wisconsin on a fairly fast schedule as the weather
turned cooler, the roads flatter, and the winds have been mostly out of
the
south, so worst case has been a side wind. We are very excited about today
as we take the ferry across Lake Michigan into Michigan. This will finnaly
put us on Eastern time, a very exciting milestone for us. We have four
more
states to touch until we arrive in Maryland and we are starting to really
believe we will do this. I am a bit concerned about the change in
geography
in the eastern portion of the country, I hope we do not lose that openess
in
the country as we have been experiencing. We really like the smallness of
the towns out west and the vast open lands.
We are both feeling well although a bit weary. This will be our second day
off in three days and it is a well earned rest. Our goal is to arrive in
Maryland by the end of August and barring an abundance of bad weather I
think we will make that date. It is amazing how we get up every morning
and
for the most part look forward to getting on the bikes. My bike is
starting
to make some drivetrain noise which I believe is just worn down parts, but
I
think I will live with them until we get home. Jackie's bike continues to
run just great.
Well that's about all from here. We hope you all have a great second half
of
summer. Jackie & I have already started thinking about being in Mexico
this
winter and planning for our next summer vaction which will include a week
long horseback trek through the Canadian Rockies. Who knows what else we
will come up with.
Love, D&J
August 6, 2002 Total Miles:3,285 Since our last e-mail from Manatowoc Wisconsin we took the ferry across
lake
Michigan to Ludington Mich. From Ludington we rode to the following: (In
Michigan) Ludington-Norton Shores-Allegan-Marshall (cross the boarder into
Ohio) Montpelier-Ottawa-Kenton-Mt. Vernon-Millersburg.
I will turn the keyboard over to Jackie.
We were getting "weary" last time we wrote. We're wearier now. We are
experiencing "horse-to-barn" syndrome as we see Rockville, MD., our final
destination, lurking just a couple weeks away. The flat farmlands of the
midwestern states have been easier riding. We're staying mainly on state
highways just to get the miles in with fewer twists and turns.
We were
experiencing many off-leash dogs on the county roads so find we feel safer
out with the occasional semi-truck as long as the shoulder holds out.
We're
now traveling through a scenic part of Ohio where we are beginning to see
the Amish horse-drawn buggies and the arts and crafts they offer. All in
all, this part of the country is not nearly so exciting as the western
states so I guess we'll be coming home. We find the roads crowded with
generally poor shoulders. The towns are typical with traffic, noise, fast
foods - not much to inspire a re-visit. How we long for the days of the
one-horse towns. Dave Hill saw the best part of this trip with us...
David
has been annoyed with a noise coming from his bike for the past weeks and
it
has been gradually getting louder and louder. We finally found a great
bike
shop in Marian, Ohio (next to the Whirlpool factory). The owner, Rocky
Rhodes, (that's really his name...) was kind enough to tighten his bottom
bracket and the noise is gone, much to David's (and my) relief. Nice guy
-
no charge!
That's about it for now. Next e-mail might be from Harvey's
computer in Maryland!
D&J
Total Miles:626
Total Elevation:34,000 ft.
Total Flats:0
Total Arguments:0
Total Arguments (W/L):0
Missoula Montana.
Total Miles: 849
Total Elevation 41,700 ft
Total Flats: 1 (bummer, caused by my Mr. Tuffy rubbing on the tube. What
is
wrong with this? I am going to sue Mr. Tuffy when I get home. Most
probably
lose, he is so tough.
Total Arguments: 0
Total Arguments (W/L)N/A
Billings Montana
Total Elevation: 54,300ft
Total Flats:2 (both caused by the Mr. Tuffy we USED to have)
Total Arguments:0
Total Arguments (W/L) N/A
Rapid City, South Dakota
Total Elevation: 81,100ft
Total Flats: 2
Total broken spokes: 1
Total Arguments:0
Total Arguments (w/l)NA
Tracy Minnesota
Total Elevation: 93,400 feet
Total Flats: 2
Total Broken Spokes: 1
Total Arguments: 0
Total Arguments W/L: N/A
Manitowoc Wisconsin
total elevation: 104,100ft
total flats:3
total broken spokes:1
total tire replacements:1
total arguments:0
total arguments (w/l):N/A
Millersburg Ohio
Total EL:114,100
Total Flats:5
Total Broken Spokes:1
Total Arguments:0
Total Arguments (W/L):N/A