6/23 70 79mi 5:25 VIRGINIA BEACH,VA

For some reason this morning my bike computer decided 'oh well he is almost done dragging me all over the usa and expecting me to work so I guess I should be nice and work on this last day. No idea why it worked today, it just did. Woke up late and sat around. Ate some pasta I found in the cupboard. Read some articles/stories in a notebook left by transam riders. Read one article and cried just a little bit. I think the reality of what I had done finally hit me. They were happy tears though, not sad ones like they usually are. Got on the road around 10 ish and the adventure began. I started off on 17 south and there was absolutely no shoulder and I thought 'oh, f-it I'm not getting killed by a car just so I can say I actually touched the atlantic ocean.' About a quarter mile from where I turned on it widened and there was a shoulder and more stoplights and turn lanes, so I could actually ride with some peace of mind. I was riding in the tiny shoulder over the james river bridge and a policeman pulled up behind me and turned on his lights and said that only cars were allowed on the bridge. He said there was a phone to call the transit people and they would bring a transport vehicle and transport me across. Cool I thought and went in search of the phone. It didn't exist. I flagged down a local biker and he got me a number to the department of transportaion and they knew nothing about it. I saw 2 guys walking out of a restaurant right by the bridge and explained my situationa and asked for a ride. 1 guy said he had to be at a meeting at 1 and he said his buddy was with him. I turned away and muttered a thanks anyway and 1 guy said oh, I'll drive you across. That was pretty cool. He drove me across and I got back on the road. I didn't plan this very well, and I took roads to a tunnel which I obviously couldn't cross and then to a bridge that was under repair and finally, third try is the charm, got across on the military highway road. I got a little love tap from a car by a clueless lady who was talking on her phone. I was riding along and felt a pressure on my rear left side of the bike. She had brushed my rear pannier without even knowing it. It happened very quickly and all I thought was 'o.k. I can't move left, but I'm not being pushed into the gaurdrail, so I'm o.k.' I kind of waved my hand at her, but she had already passed me oblivious. There were a ton of stop lights and I ended up pulling into a bike shop to see if they had a bike box I could use. They did and I pedalled on toward the beach. I could smell the salty air about a half mile away and knew I was getting close. I saw the beach and walked my bike towards the ocean. Stopped and aksed a russian girl to take my picture adn she took a couple of me and the bike and the ocean. I talked to her for a bit and she thought that I was crazy and done some drugs to think up this trip. Rode back to the biek shop blissed out of my mind and got a bike box. I stupidly tried to ride and carry the bike box at the same time. Needless to say I got about 2 pedalstrokes in and fell over on my left side. Scraped up my knee and my pride. 1 of the bike mechanics gave me aride over to the fedex store and I rode my bike over thier to box it up. Took off the wheels, seatpost, handlebars, pedals, skewers adn threw them all in the box along with some other stuff andf tried to pad it as best I could. Put something in my fork so hopefully it won't get damaged and taped the crap out of it. Sent another small box of unneeded stuff home and then just had my drysack filled with stuff and my companion of the last 2 months wating around to get sent back home. Went back to the bike shop and ate at an Italian resaurant. I had been waiting to eat some good Italian food for a while and I ordered a bottle of chianti classico to celebrate. 2 entrees and 1 dessert later I felt satisfied. Talked to the waitress a little and she was impressed by the trip. I'm a little impressed to. I guess I just never sat back and really realized just how massive it really was. Just like with anything I try to look at small little chunks because they seem more manageable than being overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. Asked about some cheap hotels and started waling in that direction. Oh yeah, the food was delicious. Had some ghnocci pasta and it was different from the normal penne thatI usually get but it was good adn the chicken dish that morgan recommended was great. Stoped at a k-mart adn bought a backpack and some more food. I am going to have ahard time not eating everything in sight when I get home because I have ate whatever I wanted for the last 70 days and still lost over 10 pounds. Walked by a busstop and asked bout cheap hotels and the lady there named angel said to follow her. I sat arounda the busstop for about 40 minutes waiting for the bus to come. It finally did and a little while later a transvestite got on and then got in an argument with a guy in the back. They sat and insulted each other for about 5 minutes and then the guy in the back got off at the next stop. It was pretty entertaining. I was one of the few white people on the bus and that was different than I 'm used to up in washington state. Angel and I transferred and my phone had slipped out of my pocket and I didn't realize it. 2 phones lost/broken on the trip. Waited for a couple minutes and got on another bus. Finally pulled up to a stop and angel told me there was a hotel right there. It was about 1:40 a.m. by this time and I ended up paying $45 for a room that I had to leave for checkout in just over 9 hours. I am pretty pissed about my phone, but what can you do? It was an interesting night to say the least. Glad to be done and not have to pedal anywhere tomorrow. Now I just need to figure out how to get to d.c.

I DID IT!

6/22 69 82mi ? yorktrown,VA

Woke up and got going by 6.a.m. That is the earliest start I have had al trip. Didn't eat breakfast and I picked up some chips ahoy at the first store I came to. Ate at a buffet in williamsburg that was really good and talked to an old man who was interested in all my gear and bike. I think he used to ride a bit back in the day. Updated my blog and found a bike shop after riding to 2 that ahd either moved or closed down. I was a little bit aggrevated for some reason adn I don't really know why. Played phone tag trying to get a hold of someone at the curch in yorktown so that I would have a place to sleep when I got there. The colonial parkway was a nice 2 lane highway with trees on both sides and the pavement was pretty worn down so a lot of rocks were uncovered which made for soem bumpy riding. It felt a little like a mini paris-roubaix which wasneat. Got a hold of a guy named john and he opeded up the house, yes house that the church owned and let bikers stay at. He wa also nice enough to do my laundry and gave me a couple of cokes and gatorades. Got a shower and don't know if/how I'll get to virginia beach. Its looks pretty like sketchy riding or a huge detour that will make me backtrack and add like 50 miles. Went down to a pub because yorktown is just a tourist town and only about 200 people actually live there. It was loud and smoky and I was sandwiched in between people who were talking to their friends, so it kind of sucked. I had a burger and a beer and got out of there. Called some people and just sat around waiting to fall asleep.

6/21 68 126mi ? ashland,VA

Woke and the girls cooked everybody breakfast which was awesome. Got a little bit later start than I wanted, but it was nice to sit around and talk to everybody and just chill out in the morning instead of rushing off first thing. Gave shaz my pepper spray becaus eI didn't need it anymore and I don't think you caan mail that stuff. Hope she doesn't need it or accidentally spray her brother. Hope to hear from them when they get to seattle it would be cool to hear about the rest of their trip. Beer and dinner on me guys! Rode through historic charlottesville and stopped at the visitor center to ask about buffets. The lady there wasn't much help, and as I rode away up a hill I asked a couple about buffets and they told me I could use their hose in the back to wash off. I sprayed off some of my sweat and rinsed out my clothes from the day before. The nice thing about ti being so hot is that your clothes dry pretty quickly if you bungee them to the back of your rack. My legs were a bit dead after the town of mineral and I stopped in at a store and ate a pint of ice cream, my first of teh trip. It seemed to do the trick and I drank some coke. I have been drinking a lot of flat coke lately and it seemes to help keep the enrgy up there. Its just sugar water and caffeine after all. Made if to ashland just before 8 and ate at a buffet and then pedaled in the dark to the first curch I saw which was about 4 miles down the road. There was no traffic though, so it was pretty safe. Ended up sleeping on top of a littel slide/swinset playground because I had seen a black 3 foot snake laying in the road earlier in the day adn I kept hearing wierd animal noises coming from the woods behind the church.

6/20 67 120mi ? cookie lady's house afton,VA

My bike computer doesn't even try anymore now. It just tells me what time it is which is what it does in sleeper mode. Don't really care about it that much though. I'm not gonna lie, my legs were a little bit sore this morning after my ridiculous day yesterday. Got going a little after 7 a.m. Stopped in daleville and mailed my tent along with some extra clothes and other randon stuff home. Threw away a lot of garbage that I hadn't really used and didn't need anymore. 15 pounds lighter I headed out. One town I stopped in to refill my bottles had no potable water because their well had gotten contaminated. I was lucky to get stopped before ai filled my bottles and took off. Ate at a buffet in lexington and was on country roads for almost the whole day. Followed a river to vesuvius which was right before the last 'horrible, steep, scary, leg breaking climb' according to the westbounders I had been meeting. That climb was 'long' at 4 miles, but it wasn't super steep and you could even recover for about 10-15 seconds in about 5 places where the grades was only 1-2%. In fairness I do have around 4000+ miles in my legs AND I actually rode before that on a regular basis and I like/love climbing. Finished the climb in about 36 minutes and then was on the blue ridge parkway. I was excited to be on the parkway because I had read an article in bicyclign magazine about it a year or so ago and it sounded like a real nice ride. It didn't dissappoint. Great views, good road surface, low traffic (even on a saturday). I stopped and bought a gtorade and then as I rejoined the parkway saw a rider up ahead on a hill who had sat up and looked behind them a couple of times. I put in a good,hard effort to bridge up to them and as I got closer noticed the rider was wearing a purpleish jersey. All right I thought a female rider is up there, this will be great. As I got closer it turned out to be a dude, but a cool dude. He was from the area and chatted and rode together until the cookie lady's house which is just before afton. He pushed it on the climbs because he had no extra wieght and it was good because it made me push harder also, but it made talking difficult. I overcooked 1 of the corners and went off into the grass, but managed to avoid going tumbling down the ditch. I didn't follow the locals line and when the turn tightened I was already on my exit of it. Its good to do that every once in a while to keep your head screwed on straight. Stopped at the cookie ladies house ( she has been taking in cyclists for around 30 years and is a mainstay on the transam route) and decided to stay since there wasn't anything down the road for awhile. Got my picture taken by her and met 4 other westbounders as I was putting it in one of her many photo albums. There were 6 cyclists staying that night. A brother/sister pair Aaron and Shaz who were headed to seattle and hopefully I can get together with them and hear how their trip went. A coule from Boston Lou and Malory who were headed to san fran and taking the western express. A couple of other guys whose names I forget, but one of whose older brother had done the trip a couple years earlier. Made some dinner for myslef with some assistance from the girls and then we all sat around and talked. Talked to Lou about riding around boston on a fixie and just basically chilled out. A little while later malordy cooked up a second dinner and Lou made some tea and we all ate that too. So much junk food to snack on there and so good. Had a little trouble falling asleep for some reason, maybe it was becaus I couldn't hear cars going by during the night?

6/19 66 143mi ? catawba,VA

Woke upearly and had a hikers secial for $5 at the exxon gas station just outside of town. I got on the road real early at 7:30 and just decided to make some good miles today. Started off with a climb pretty much right off the bat and it wasn't real steep so whatever. Saw a lot of horse trailers on the descent, must be some good equestrian stuff around here. Rode on backcountry farm roads a lot and parralelled the highway a lot. Ran out of water and stopped by a church to see if they had a hose or something. There were 4 cyclists lounging around ther and 1 of the girls, Aaron, gave me some water and I took about half a bottle because I felt bad about running out when I should know better. They told me there was a rider around 10 minutes ahead of me and I thought it might be mike since he had taken a more direct route than me and cut off some miles. I caught up to mike while later and he was in bad shape. He said he was really dragging and just wanted to get to the coast. I think that he needs a day off because he is overtrained, but I don't think he will take one. Beat the darkness and made it to catawba. I gave a little fist pump when I made it into town because I really wanted somewhere decent to sleep. I haven't really been to emotional like that outwardly on the bike. I think I might have given a little fist pump after summitting monarch pass, but I don't know for sure. Found a city park and just after I got there and laid my stuff out apolice officer rolled up, uh oh I thought. He was cool and said to not worry about it. I was al settled down reading my book when he rolled up again and I thought oh no again. He had picked up a couple of thru-hikers and was dropping them off at the park Iwas staying at. I met spoon and hazard, all thru-hikers have trail names, andthey definitely have it harder thatn I do. they were very excited about stuff that I take fr granted on this trip. I rode pretty much all day today, literally. My longest stop was for lunch which was like 30 minures, maybe. snacked on the go and would stop to fill up my bottles. Can't wait to get over the last climb tomorrow, but its going to be another long day.

6/18 65 69mi ? damascus,VA

Woke up early and got going. It was a little chilly in the morning. Didn't stop very much and the climb up hayters gap wasn't that bad. I had to stop once because my tire rear tire was rubbing my frame. When I stopped I noticed the patch was bulging out of the hole. So I took it pretty easy on the descent and prayed that it wouldn't blow on a corner but it was still fun. Saw 2 guys and a girl cyclist just after the descent. About 20 miles later i saw 2 couples riding by. GOt a flat just before meadowview and put a patch on my first tube and out a dollar bill folded 3 times over the hole to try and hold it together. Met a guy right before damascus who had hiked the appalachian trail and was nowriding across teh country! Found the the hostel 'the place' behind the church and dropped off my bags. Took my bike to one of the bike shops and asked them to fix it up for me. Ate a lunch of organic salad and stew at a tiny cafe off main street. It was sooo nice to eat some fresh good food for a change. The stew was really good. walked back to the place and met a father and son. The son, nathan, had been on a boy scout hike with his troop but had stprained his ankle and was waiting for his ride. Got a shower updated my blog and picked up my bike. they threw 3 new spokes on it trued the wheel and put on a new tire since the old one was thrashed. i bought a couple more tubes and got a few extra spokes. Went to fattie's restaurant and ate a burger. They have the fattie challenge and its a 6 pound burger that you get to name if you eat it all. they started out with a 2 poulnd burger and are now up to six. There are some hungry thru-hikers who stop in there. Did some laundry and bought a tall boy of bud to pass the time while I waited for my laundry. Bad idea. Started to burp up a ton of foam as I was drinking the last half and it was pretty gross, worse that normal, not ice cold. Went back to the place and talked to a thru-hiker named hot chocolate for a bit and went to sleep. The creeper trial is here and its a converted railroad grade that is about20 miles long and gravel and cinders. There are a bunch of shops here that will rent you bikes and shuttle you up there and you can pretty much freewheel down. What a bunch of pansies. It started raining as I left to go eat and I saw some people coming down with these ridiculous ponchos and overheard other people complaining about the rain and 'cold'. please, give me a break. It wasn't even cold. I was walking around in a t-shirt and running shorts and sandels and still sweating. Anyway the plac eis awesome for $4.

6/17 64 78mi ? haysi,VA

Woke up to a great breakfast. Had to climb that hill again but I was unloaded this time. Left after chaniging a spoke and putting my spare tire on my rear rim. My steller shwalbe marathon plus finally had to be retired because I was a little scared or riding on it because the liner was showing through the rubber in a lot of places. Broke a spoke pretty early in the day and 1 of the spokes that mike had given me somehow escaped the clutches of my zipties and was long gone, so I just had to roll with it. My bike computer decided to stop playing nice and quit about 2 hours in. No amount of blowing, wiping, hitting or cajolling could get it to work for longer that 3 seconds at a shot. Stopped at a little tiny town and mailed home about 9 lbs 11 ounces of stuff. The lady at the post office was nice and gave me a diet coke, which she gives to all the hiker/bikers coming through town. Broke another spoke sometime later. Met 4 guys who were riding east. 2 of them were doing the western express, pueblo,co->san fran,ca, and the other 2 were doing the transam. Got a spoke from one of them and replaced it right there. Had a really steep climb up 1459 and got a flat on the descent. My spoke had poked through my tire sidewall and caused my to flat. Thankfully I wasn't going into a corner when it happened. I fixed the flat and put a patch over the hoel in the sidewall and kept on going. Almost hit a truck that was taking up the middle of the 1 1/2 lane road. I got by him with about a foot to spare and a couple of inches of pavement on my right side. Got another flat about 5 miles down the road and replaced that one too. Got waved at by a girl before I started some climb which gave me wings for about 90 seconds. The dogs weren't bad at all. I got chased halfheartedly by 5-6, but no huge snarling pit bulls and dobermans like everyone was telling me. There were a couple of rundown little sections, but they were scattered and not the huge 40 mile stretch that everyone had told me about. Everyone I talked to was nice and helpfull even though it was a little hard to decipher through the accent. Finally got into Virginia around 7 or so. A lot later than what I thought. I ate dinner by the high school and waited for the open gym to get over and everyone to leave before I went to the back and slept under an awning. I slept on the ground because I didn't want to set up my wet tent and figured I don't care about snakes anymore! Hope that my rim holds up until damascus which is 60-70 miles away. 3 broken spokes and a blown sidewall with only 1 spare tube is a little scary. Gonna get on the road early and try to get to damascus in the early afternoon. I heard they have a hostel where a lot of the appalachian trail thru-hikers stay which will be pretty cool.

6/16 63 118mi 9:17 hindman,KY

Woke up and the tent and ground were wet. Had a chai tea at a coffeshop where we filled up our bottles and rolled out. Started riding pretty hard from the start. The first 20 miles were fairly flat and weaved through residential/farmland. It was nice. Stopped to eat some peanut butter on crackers and mike said he wanted to stop at a sit down place in the next town. I told him that I wasn't going to stop and he seemed o.k. with it. Got to the next town and he gave me 2 spokes and my book back. we wished each other good luck and off I went. I rode hard for a bit and there were some steep climbs. I just decided to go as hard as I could and see where I ended up. Mike caught up to me, but I was trying to get to hindman which was over 30 miles away and I had around 3 hours of daylight left. I stayed on 80 which cut off 7 miles. I got rained on for about an hour and had to deal with rumble strips on the side of the highway. Got into hindman and asked where the historical society was. Got directions, followed a couple of signs and then a wall rose up in fronst of me. I swear the grade was over 15%. It only lasted for about 100 ft but it was still tough. A couple of cyclists who had gotten there earlier cheered me up the last couple meters of the climb. Got a shower which was nice to wash the road grime from, well everywhere. Ordered pizza and sat around and ate with max and kevin. It was one of thier birthdays and dave,the owner, brought out some cake with a candle in it. Legs were tired, but i wasn't exhausted today. Hope that I won't be sore tomorrow. Went to sleep in a huge coleman tent.

6/15 62 91mi 6:51 berea,KY

Woke up and rolled out around 8:30. Rolling hills for most of the day with some longer hills towards the end. Missed a turn after eating in harrodsburg and went the wrong way for about 4 miles before realizing my mistake. I have been doing that a little recently and it is very aggrevating. Met a guy from germany named chris after I changed a broken spoke. That is the second spoke I have broken on this wheel which is very frustrating. Chris told us to pick up an air horn for the dogs in eastern kentucky. i practiced my hello, see you around and goodbye in german which was kind of neat. Mike and I rolled into berea and gorged at a pizze buffet. We stopped at walmart to pick up some air horns and A guy stopped to talk to us. His name was kevin and he told us about free showers at a truck stop just over the interstate. We got a free shower and as we were leaving I saw a guy on a fixie ( bike with one gear and no brakes, you stop by skidding or not pedaling and braking with your legs). Caught up to him and asked him about camping. He was cool and had actually done a tour fron lawrence to chicago last summer. He told us we could probably get away with camping by the athletic feilds of berea college adn so we did. It was a little difficult to go to sleep because it was still warm and my tent was still soaked from the thunderstorm night.

6/14 61 67mi 5:05 lincoln homestead state park,KY

Woke up and took a shower at the truck stop just up the road. Got a late start. Ran into a dog that ran in front of me. Was going about 12 m.p.h. and went down on my right side. Scraped up my elbew and a little road rash on my right hip. Bike is o.k. I think that I might have broken the dogs ribs. Don't feel bad about it either. Cut off about 10 miles going into baardstown by staying on a highway. Ate at a chili's just when a rainstorm hit. When we had finished eating it had cleared up. Ran into a group of ms riders who are going across the country supported. There was a couple from seattle which was neat. They warned us of the dogs up ahead. Camping under a picnic shelter and had some couscous mixed with chili. It was decent. 2 ong days and I should be out of kentucky.

6/13 60 29mi 2:16 sonora,KY

Woke up and jointly decided to hitchhike to the mammoth caves because we really didn't feel like riding the 80 mile dtour and adding another couple of days to the trip. Got to sonora around 11. We stashed our bikes behind a tree and locked them up. Ate subway for lunch and made a couple of signs. One read mammoth cave and another read south. We stuck our thumbs out for awhile and no takers. Finally after an hour when I was just about ready to give up a couple named jerome and sara in a jeep gave us a lift to cave city which was 9 miles east of mammoth cave. We thanked them for th ride and then started walking holding out our signs. About 15 minutes later Steve from florida was giving us a lift in his truck. He was on a roadtrip himself and was visiting his brother. He dropped us off at the visitor center and wished us good luck. All the longer more exciting tours were all sold out and we ended up geting a guided tour for 45 minutes which was interesting. At least we got to see the caves, so I shouldn't complain. We finished the tour around 5:30 and started walking back towards cave city. A guy named alex picked us up in his bronco and gave us a lift to cave city. He invited us to go camping with him and his family at his buddies pond, which we would have done except that our bikes were locked up 40 miles away from us with all our stuff. We had some subway sandwiches made and prepared for the possibility of maybe walking all night back to our bikes if we couldn't get a ride. Just outside the cave city limits a guy let us ride in the back of his pickup to munfordville. We were still about 20 miles away from sonora. Stopped at a cvs pharmacy to use the restroom and the lady asked if I was a biker. I told her were we were, but we were trying to get back to sonora to our bikes after hitching to mammoth cave. I went outside and sat down toeat my sandwich when One of the ladies popped her head out the door and said that the other cashiers husband was coming to pick her up and would give us a ride to sonora. He showed up about 5 minutes later and we all got into his car and took off. He narrowly avoided a dog that had wandered into the road during the drive back to our bikes. Mike and I thanked them for the ride and celebrated the day of hitchhiking and seeing the mammoth caves with an energy drink (our first of the trip) and subway sandwiches. It was around 11 at night and I thought that I remembered seeing a ballfield/park just west of town. We rode around for about 20 minutes and then turned around and ended up just throwing down our sleeping pad in a grassy field in the middle of town. I woke up with a bad stomachache in the middle of the night which I think was caused by the massive amounts of candy and pop we had consumed during the day. The energy drink to cap it off probably didn't help either. 2 trains went by in the middle of the night which was pretty cool because we were about 30 feet away from the tracks. They were loud though and woke me up. Glad to see the mammoth caves and don't think that people from kentucky see many hitchhikers. The locals certainly don't stop.

6/12 59 97mi 7:27 6mi E of madrid,KY

Got a late start around 9:30 and ran into 3 guys just outside of town. They told us about the double L grocery that had showers and would let you sleep under the awning of the store. It was cool out today with some cloud cover, which was nice to get a little break from the heat. The hills were a little bit longer, but not as steep as we have had the last couple of days. Me and mike seem to ride well together. We are about the same fitness and get along well. I started hamering agin at the end of the day to try and get to the store not too late. We crossed into eastern standard time which now puts me 3 hours ahead of everyone back home. Found the double L grocery and talked to the owners arnold and lucy. They are really nice. They fed us 2 delicious hamburgers each and some green beans from their garden. I am always amazed that people let total strangers into thier homes and lives without knowing a thing about you except that you are riding a bicycle. Talked with them for a bit and then went to sleep outsie on a recliner.

6/11 58 98mi 7:16 sebree,KY

Woke up to a little rain and my cycling clothes being soaked and having mud on them. I guess i'm wearing my other shorts/jersey pair today. Packed up all my wet stuff and headed out. I met up with mike in Elizabethtown and he ended up breaking his chain after he got all his spoke stuff figured out. He is rolling along on a walmart chain now! Met a guy named mack from seattle and he was heading west. Saw an omish guy and some omish girls today. Should have stopped in at thier store, but I wanted to make some miles today. Took a ferry for free into Kentucky across the ohio river and now Mike and I only have Kentucky and Virginia to go. I have ridden by the ohio, little arkansas and mississippi rivers without entering those states. I just think its kind of funny. We had heard about a church in sebree that was like a hostel adn they would feed you dinner for free, so we decided to try and make it there. We were about 20 miles from sebree and I started hammering it. I felt a little bad for mike, but he hung in there cadel evans on a mountain stage. We got absolutely pelted with rain. I mean it was coming down sideways and it stung your skin. A lady in an suv rolled up to us and told us there was a tornado warning until midnight for the county we were in. Me and mike looked at each other shrugged and told her we could make it to the next town which was only about 4-5 miles away. The road was pretty flat and we made really good time like 16-17m.p.h. average for that last little bit. We stopped and downed some coke and pushed on the last 12 miles to sebree. We only got rained on for about 45 minutes and then it stopped. Made it to the church just as it opened up again and were shown around by pastor rob. We each got a shower and then met 3 other cyclist who had just graduated and were going to the west coast. I don't remember their names, but I remember their nicknames poo man, red man, and chicken man. They were all pretty cool and we all ate dinner together at rob and violet's house. It was a lot af food and it was all very good. We finished with dinner and sat round fora bit. Around 11 o' clock i couldn't keep my eyes open any more and went to sleep.

6/10 57 102mi 7:46 10mi W of eddysville,IL

Woke up hungover and tired. I mean really hungover. I thought I was going to vomit and I felt sick for the first hour of riding. Didn't get on the road until 10:15 in the morning. Met a guy who helps run the adventure cycling tours and was switching off driving the support van for the supported (no bags, aka wussy) riders doing the transam. I passed a bunch of them today in the morning and they are mostly older folks. There was one couple who was around my age. Anyway, I took the mississipps river alternate. Once you got off the main highway and away from all the semi-trucks it was awesome. It was flat country roads with absolutely no cars and you could catch glimpses of the river to my right. The rivers out here just kind of flow along, there aren't any big boulders or rapids in them at all. Just a wide lazy flowing river. Great for floating I would imagine. Got off route going into carbondale, but I managed to get back on track without to much trouble. I rode through the crab orchard national refuge and it was awesome. No cars and tree lined roads. I saw a bunck of deer and some other wildlife. It was cool. Rode until it got dark and I almost pulled into a campground but then I thought better of it and continued up the road. I rode until it got dark and I camped by th side of the road next to what I think was an old construction site. I set up my tent with my rainfly and ate some peanut butter and crackers for dinner. I set my bike on its side with the cover over it and my cycling clothes on top of it. Laid down in my tent in my boxers and I was to hot to sleep. It is so humid here that you don't really cool off and you just feel sticky and gross for most of the night if it has been a hot day. 10 minutes later it started raining with thunder and lightning which was awesome. That brought the temperature down and cooled me off a little. I decided to go outside and let the rain wash a little of the days grime off me. I stood outside for about 10 minutes and tried to wipe some of the sweat and road grime off me. Every 5-8 seconds the night would be lit up by a lightning flash. There were only a couple of times when the thunderclap was really close. There were some windgusts that would bend the tent around my body and I would stretch out an arm and leg to make it regain its shape. I didn't stake down the tent because the ground was so hard packed. My rainfly/vestibule collapsed into the sides of the tent because the rocks that were acting as stakes got blown around. I just kind of laughed and figured that its just another part of the adventure. Today was great. After my hangover wore off in the morning it was beautifulThe roads were good with little traffic and the scenery was great. The storm at the end of the day to cap it off was like icing on the cake. It did make it a little difficults to sleep though. I guess I would call this zen day number 2.

6/9 56 81mi 6:41 chester,IL

TOm picked me up around 9:30 and drove me up to festus with all my stuff. There are actually 2 bike shops in festus and I called the emerald city shop and he drove me to the crescent city shop. The guy at the shop didn't have any rims in stock and he called around and no other shops near him did either, He ended up pulling a rim off a biek in the store and selling it to me. Swapped out the cassette and tire and I was ready to go again. I thanked tom and then headed back down to farmington. It was about 30 miles back down to farmington to get back on route with my maps. I wasn't going to go back and reride the 80 miles that I hitchhiked and I am o.k. with missing that little chunk. Stopped in at a ryan's buffet and the manager recognized me from sunday.A nice lady gave me a coupon when I was in line for the buffet and saved me some money. A couple of patrons and waitresses came up and talked to me about my trip because they had over heard me talking about it. I was like a mini-celebrity, it was odd. Took off and was a little ways from the illinios border. The terrain was flat to slightly rolling and I made some good time. I got rained on for about the last hour and a half. Made it there around 6-7 and saw the mississippi river. I walked my bike about halfway across because there was no shoulder and then waited for no cars and pedaled the rest of the way across the bridge. I was wandering around trying to find the eagles club which I heard I could stay at and a guy waved me over to his porch. He was hanging out there with his girlfriend and he asked about my trip. His name was ed and he was a master riverboat captain. He thought that I had warrents in oregon and that was why I was on my trip. He told me not to go to the eagles club because 'it was to political'. He told me to go a bar called the moose further in town. His girlfriend was nice and tried to give me directions to the park and he kept interrupting her. Ed told me that he rode a mtorcycle across the country once, like I was supposed to be impressed of in awe of him or something. Ed was a jackass! Called the eagles club and asked about camping they said it was o.k. and I pulled up a couple minutes later soaked and glad to get a place to stay for the night. I got a shower for $5 and they said I could sleep under the pavillion in th back. I ate a whole fried chicken for dinner for $6 and then had some beers. There was a guy who was watching bowling who bought me a beer which I really appreciated. Actually, I had a lot of beers and closed down the bar at 1a.m. I staggered out to my sleeping pad on a picnic table and fell asleep. happy birthday LIZ!

6/8 55 0mi farmington,MO

Woke up and saw frank roll out. Waited arouind with the guys for the shift change. Walked around town a little bit and tried to find some gifts for the family, but they were all lame or way too big. Went to a restaurant in town and ate 2 appetizers because they me4ssed up my first one and made me my original order for free. Had a couple beers and went back to the firehouse. Guy named jimmy showed up and I went and talked to him a bit while he had dinner. He is getting really late starts and only putting in like 40-50 miles a day. Went to bed and I wasn't nearly as cold as last night. Kind of wanting to get going again and make some miles toward the coast.

6/7 36mi 3:13 +75mi hitchhiking farmington,MO

Woke up and trued my back wheel so it doesn't hit my brake pads any more. It is still wobbly, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. Got an early start around 7-8am. Met some riders who were on an adventure cyclign group tour and talked to some of them for a while. I also got chased by 3 dogs at once which was fine except that 1 of them was in front of me and you don't really know what he is going to do. If the dogs are behind me I don't worry about them and just ignore them for the most part. More rollers and the road is a lot more twisty. Had some bugs escorting me after about an hour of riding which was pretty annoying. They just fly in front of your face and circle around your head buzzing in your ears. My back tire started to wobble pretty bad and I pulled over on an uphill to see what was going on. Cracked rear rim. I think that I overtightened a spoke or something because the nipple is pulled in towards the hub and the area around it is cracked. I didn't want to ride on it and have it explode on a descent. I hit 50m.p.h. on a descent today and I don't want to go down at those speeds. Stuck my thumb out and a lady named tammy (sp) stopped and gave me a ride to ellington which was bout 10 miles away. I sat in ellington for about a half hour before a guy named rafi (sp) picked me up and gave me a ride to farmington which ws 65 miles away. Some people would give me a wave when I had my thumb out which I thought was funny/aggrevating. I saw a lot of boats and it seemed that everyone was floating the river or going boating today. Rafi dropped me off at the firehouse in farmington and they let me stay for the night. I guess they get a lot of cyclists through there and let them stay and use the facilities which is great. They said that the town is turning some little building into a kind of free hostel for bike tourists sometime soon. It sounds really cool. I got a shower and walked to a buffet called ryan's steakhouse which was really good, but I ate way too much and kind of didn't feel good as I wlked back to town. I sat on a bench to let the food settle and who rolls up but frank. I flagged him down and told him where I was staying. He rolled his bike tothe firehouse and them met his best friend who had just randomly seen him on the road and they went off to get some dinner. One of the firemen, Tom, called around and found that the nearest bike shop is in festus which is 40 miles north of here. He said he would give me a ride up there on tuesday morning because the shop is closed on mondays:( I got to ride i the fire truck when they went to lower some mast on a mobile command unit over at the police station. It was pretty neat. I'm going to sleep in the lounge with frank tonight and just hand out in town tomorrow.

6/6 53 104mi 8:20 summersville,MO

Woke up kind of early because the girls wanted to leave early. Gale made us pancakes which was a great way to start the morning. Ate up, got my stuff together and took some pictures and then we all rolled out. Pumped up my tires which was a good thing because my tire pressure was down to around 50 pounds which is about 30 below the normal. About 20 minutes into the ride I met a german couple on a tandem. They were really nice and I learned how to say hello, goodbye and see you around. Actually I forgot how to say goodbye, but I remember the other 2 words. I was making good time and decided to try and make it to summersville. The terrain is hilly with some steep rollers, but its not anything super hard. My back tire is really wobbly and I stopped to tighten some of the spokes at a gas station because some of them had no tension on them at all. There were a couple of idiots in cars, well trucks today. I guy had his hand out the window and flipped me off as he was riding by, another guy honked for about 10 seconds as he was coming up behind me, another passenger yelled something out his window as he went by. oh well, you get people like that anywhere and 98% of the drivers have been nothing short of great so far, so I can't complain. Saw mike in houston and he was opushing his bike around town. He had his mom overnight him some spokes, chain whip, cassette removal tool and wrench because he had busted another spoke, but it wasn't going to get there until monday and he was bore to tears with much of the town closed on saturday and sunday. I gave him 'farewell,my subaru' to read since i had finished and wished him luck as I headed off to summersville. Just outside of houston I felt a little light headed and dizzy. I stopped and ate some granola bars and rested for a couple of minutes and felt better. I thought I had been keeping up on my eating all day, but apparently not. I got into summersville and was pretty beat. Ate an ice cream bar and had a coke to perk me up. Found the 'city park and set up camp. Ate some dinner of couscous and tried to straighten my wheel out with the little bit of daylight I had left. My back rim is so out of shape that aI unhooked my back brake cable to keep the rim from rubbing. Will work on it tomorrow morning and get it sorted out.

6/5 52 73mi 6:11 fair grove,MO

I got a little bit cold last night and put on my pants in the middle of the night. Decided to try and get a hold of the guy in fair grove and stop there instead of continuing on to marshfield. I got in touch with him and had a lunch of peanut butter/jelly stripes on crackers. Went over a bridge that the road signs said was out, but the new bridge was almost complete and the construction workers let me cross without any trouble. Score another one for the cyclists which makes 3. Glad I didn't have to backtrack because it would have been a 20 mile detour or more. Had to go around some construction later in the day and had to go alongside a 2 lane 1-way highway for about a mile. Heading North I had a nice wide shoulder, but heading south I didn't have any shoulder at all and it was kind of scary. Stopped at the library in fair grove to wait for his call and he ended up showing up and gave me directions to his house. He told me the door was unlocked and to make myself at home. I found the house and took a shower and got cleaned up. It is very weird to be in a complete strangers house without them there. Tom showed up a little while later and I started talking to his wife. There was a knock on the door and 3 female touring cyclists had showed up. These were the first female riders I had seen all trip.
They were all really cool. A couple of them started in kentucky and one started in yorktown. We had spaghetti for dinner with some sketchy garlic bread, but it was really good. I contributed a little parmesian cheese to the mix. Tom and gale went out for a tandem bike ride and we all sat around and talked for a bit. I talked to tom about racing a little bit which was pretty cool. Tom gave me a velonews tour de france preview magazine to read and that was cool to catch up on some racing news before falling asleep.

6/4 51 94mi 7:19 golden city,MO

Woke up kind of early and ate some pop-tarts. Got everything all packed up and hit the road. Felt really good and had good legs all day. Really happy to get back on the bike as odd as it may sound. Stopped in a town and updated my blog. Met a young guy named drew who was heading west and another guy who was on his way to florence which I think is in kansas. Met a runner named danny who was riding to the west coast. I had a head/crosiwnd all day from the NW, but it wasn't very strong. Mostly rolling hills today and I don't think that I have used my smal ring since Colorado. I heard that the hills here are pretty steep, but they aren't mountains so they can't be that bad. I had a great day today. It was nice to be back on my bike and not in pain. It was sunny out and a little cloudy so it didn't get ridiculously hot. Was in a real good mood all day today. The only thing missing was some bob marley music in the background and it would have been perfect! I was happy to be making progress toward the coast again and not holed up in a motel room wondering if my trip was over. Passed into Missouri which was sweet, its always nice to be finished with a state. Only IL, KE and VA left.

6/3 50 0mi chanute,KS

Woke up and organized my stuff. Took a prescription pill and the label read drink with plenty of water and avoid prolonged exposure to direst or artificial sunlight. um.... I don't know how that is going to work but o.k. Maybe I'll turn into a vampire or something. Anyways went to the library and then mailed some stuff home including my sleeping bag and bought some stuff at wallmart. Also did all the laundry that I forgot to do yesterday. Went to the santa fe park and ate dinner. After dinner 2 cyclists came up an they were riding from indianapolis to colorado. One of them, eric, was going to participate in a 50 mile mountain bike race. The other had done the transamerica trail back in 1976 and had toured a bunch in other places. We sat around and talked a bit and then I started reading 'in defense of food' which I'm really excited about.

6/2 49 0mi chanute,KS

Mike, Framk and Ralph left early this morning and so now I'm alone here. Did some laundry and asked about a clinic. I walked over there and they let me see a doc. When I showed it to him he said, 'that's impressive.' He cut it and pushed all the fluid out and told me not to ride on it for a day to let it drain out. He also pushed some gauaze in there to keep it open. Had my vitals checked and my resting heart rate is 47 and my weight is 177 pounds, I lost about 10 pounds since I started. Sat around and watched some t.v. and watched the UW womens softball team wih the national chammpionship which was kind of fun. Watched earth 2100 on abc which was very interesting. Could almost fall asleep in a normal position.

6/1 0mi chanute,KS

woke up and had bled/pus all over the sheets. I feel really,really, bad for the roomservice lady. Walked to walmart and bought some fruit,yogurt and stuff to make sandwiches. Sat around all day and took some epson salt baths to try and bring the swelling down and infection out. Heard a knock on our door and frank and ralph greeted us. Ate dinner with them and caught up with frank about how his trip was going. Its tough because I can't sit down normally and have to keep shifting from cheek to cheek and laying on my back for the most part. Swelling went down a bit from last night and it was easier to be comfortable.

5/31 47 70mi 6:09 Chanute,KS

today sucked.Didn't sleep very well at the park. I have lots of insect bites all over me now. I woke up covered in sweat once , that was really sweet. Then a breeze came througha and I got chilled. oh the joys of sleeping in the great outdoors! It was o.k. though. Ate the last of my organic northern california oatmeal. I have been carrying that stuff forever. Its hard to eat oatmeal in the morning when you are sweating standing around in your boxers at 8:30 in the morning. Hot food just isn't really appealing, I don't know why. I never really got comfortable all day. My ass was in agony all freaking day. Stopped in a little town to eat and met a 91yr old man named glen. We talked to him for a bit and then headed on our way. Mike was struggling the last half of the day. I was in pain from my infection, so we didn't talk to much. Had a little bit of confusion trying to find a road but found it right where it was supposed to be. Ran into a guy from holland travelling east. He told us the store that we were planning on stopping at was closed on sundays. We got to the store and found a pump in the back so We could fill our bottles. We dranka bunch and then just sat around for about an hour. It was excrutiating getting back on the bike. I was walking around like a bow legged cowboy and I couldn't get comfortable on the bike. I had been riding all day with as little of my right side on the seat as possible. My knee was sticking out a good 2 inches from normal so that I wouldn't put pressure down there. I smacked my handlebars a couple times out of frustration. We ate at a salad and pizza bar for dinner and I wanted a hotel room, so we split one. Plan to take a rest day tomorrow and hopefully figure out a way to heal up. Don't want to quit. not this 'close' to the end. The hard part is over, just have to finish these last ~1700 miles.

5/30 46 78mi 5:24 Eureka,KS

Woke up and susan,Ray's wife, had made us french toast which was great. A couple of the girls had drawn us some pictures/notes for encouragement and that was really cute. Headed out and felt o.k. Had a tailwind and crossed paths with some charity ride. Met a guy from switzerland named mike who lit up a cigarette when we were talking to him. He was traveling to Oregon and later an older guy fron amsterdam named Gaap showed up. It was fun talking to those 2. Coming into Rosalia I was on my last legs. Stopped and grabbed a couple of gatorades and a mountain dew. Chatted with the owner of the place joe and signed his guestbook. Shawne Camp was there 2 days ahead of us. Learned a little about ranching from joe and a bull will eat 50lbs of hay and drink 35gallons of water a day! Also heard a story from joe about a boy who fell and broke his leg in a pigpen and a pig bit the bone that was sticking out of his leg and started swinging the kid around. He screamed for about 10 seconds before he passed out. Hopefully no one just puked on their computer screen. Anyway mad e it into Eureka and had 2 bison doublecheeseburgers for lunch at a littel drive up joint that were really good. I can't sit down normally anymore and I try to lay down flat on the ground if I can. Camping at the city park and jumped in the pool after everyone left to wash all the grime off our bodies. It rained for a little bit, maybe a half hour and there was some thunder, but it wasn't a full on storm.

5/29 45 82mi 5:48 newton,KS

Woke up and had some swelling down by the right side of my perenium. It took me agood 10-20 minutes to get sort of comfortable on the saddle. My right testicle didn't hurt anymore which was good news. Had a tailwind today and it felt awesome. I was climbing standing a lot more and I felt really fatigued whenever I would get off the bike. I hated to stand around and would sit if I could and lie down whenever possible. I have never felt this level of fatigue the whole trip. Finally made it into newton and ate at an all you can eat buffet. I wasn't walking normally because the pain between my legs was so great. We were going to camp down the road a couple of miles when a guy in a company van stopped and invited us to sleep in his house. His name was Ray and he had a bunch of little grandkids over. He put us upstairs in his huge house and we each got a room to ourselves. His house was old but well maintained and I took a bath in a claw footed tub. I haven't taken a bath like that since, well I don't know when. Read a little bit and then fell asleep. It felt great just to rest my legs and get a shower. It has been really hot lately especially in the middle of the day.

5/28 44 94mi 6:35 30mi W of larned,KS

Woke up and headed out around 9am. Rode with micheal all day, we seem to ride about the same speed. He is from boise,ID and wants to be an RN so he can travel the world. I couldn't get comfortable on my seat all day and every time we would stop my right testicle would hurt for about 10 minutes. Like I had just gotten hit there or something. Stopped in a grocery store in Larned and bought some groceries and had some subway. Heard that the public pool was free for bikers so we headed over because it was so hot out. We were the oldest people there by far. It felt a little bit weird. All of the staff was like 15-16, so it was odd to see bo adult supervision at all. we just stood in the shallow end and talked for a while. The water was pretty cold and we went down the waterslide before we left. Pushed on toward mickerson which was over 50 miles away and rode until it was dark. Camped on a dirt road next to an aminal wildlife preserve and we could hear all sorts of animals all night long.

5/27 43 67mi 4:44 bazine,KS

had the leftovers from last nights dinner and rode out to an overcast day. Stopped to update my blog and came back out to sunshine. Got into bazine around 4p.m. and took my time today. I am staying at elaine's bicycle oasis and I planned my last two days so that I would stay here tonight. Dan is her husband and is a rancher. He told me he bales hay/alfalfa for people. Had ashower which was wonderful and a guy named micheal showed up. He had broken a spoke and walked 3 miles to get to the oasis. I had an extra spoke and changed out his broken one for him. We had 'haystacks' for dinner and then dan made up some popcorn. We sat around and talked and then me and mike slept out on their porch. You can't beat that for $10. It has been a while since I slept in my tent.