Level 2...Clear!

Early this afternoon, we finished weaving our way through the southern reaches of Chicago, and arrived at Adam's place in Hyde Park, Chicago.

We managed to follow a paved bike path for most of the way, then had to navigate city streets the last 10 miles or so. There were fun milestones along the way - passing into Illinois, first view of the lake, first view of the skyline...big stuff. Made me think of the TransAmerica route, which is the popular cross-country route I've mentioned before. The route makes it a point not to pass through major cities. They advertise as a feature that the largest town they go through is 30,000 people (or something like that). I think they're missing out on the fun of also going through all the different major cities that are along the way. I suppose that anyone following the route could take their own detour into a city, but I'd bet that most just follow it the whole way. And I think they miss out. Needless to say, I'm happy to be in Chicago.

A sneak peak of Level 3. I think I am going to take tomorrow off. It would probably be good for me, and tomorrow is supposed to be 97 degrees here, so that's as good an excuse as any to not be out on the bike. When I get going, I'm going to follow the Illinois River for a few days (and hope to see Asian Carp) before cutting south towards St. Louis, then following the Missouri River to Kansas City. From there, I think I'm stuck heading due west across Kansas and on to Denver. The other option is to continue along the Missouri up to Omaha, then follow the Platte River towards Colorado. If anyone has any opinions on which route may be more enjoyable (scenery? population? large balls of twine?) I'd love to hear them.

Lastly - everyone in northwest Indiana is a Cubs fan. The White Sox might as well not exist.

Chicago!

My first glimpse.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=41.77389892,-87.56676207

Illinois!

Long stretch of Indiana is complete, second objective (Chicago) is close!

No state sign here.  I think they'd prefer you to think that this particular area is still Indiana.  Yuck...

A big day, and thought on the upcoming plains

First off, we did 89 miles today!  That's the longest day I've done with Adam, and the longest that didn't make me feel sick at the end of the day (I did 99 on day 3, but wished I hadn't).

There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day, and with the lack of trees we more or less in direct sun for over 6 hours today.  It wasn't so hot, but I have that feeling you get after a long day at the beach...I'll call it pleasant exhaustion.

And...the plains.  Today was my first taste if what's to come.  If anything, I'm worried about the extreme monotony of the landscape.  Crops as far as the eye can see.  The occasional farm house or silo.  And a town every 15 miles, with no promise of any sort of store or restaurant in the town.  You see a water tower or line of trees that seem right up ahead, and it takes forever to reach them.

But I'm not concerned.  I'll bring headphones and listen to music and when necessary, sing to myself while I roll along.  The worst stretch should only be from Kansas City to Denver...I'll have to recheck my math but I think that will only be a week or so.  I'll just put my head down and power through.

Included are a couple pictures of the windfarm, and a shot of my big 2000th mile.  Hooray milestone!

Corn math

So we are going to pass about 50 non-stop miles of corn today.  

The stalks are planted about 6 inches apart, and the row spacing is 2 feet.  The fields go back really far from the road, but for arguments sake, let's say one mile (on each side of us)

If each stalk produces only 5 ears of corn, we will pass about 12.5 BILLION ears of corn today.

Northern Indiana

It looks like Kansas out here.

The lack of anything but a road and crops is really shocking.  I think I'll pick up some headphones soon.

Campfire cooking

A nice picture of the biking / campfire / cooking / sunset experience.

Rock out in Rockville

Significant highway sign

This is significant because it's the first sign I've seen for somewhere West of the Mississippi River.

Indiana Wildflowers

Flat and full of corn

And this is just Indiana!  Better get used to it now.

Caloric self-destruction

The final tallies of calories eaten at the Red Lobster across from the motel in Bloomington, Indiana.  The meals consisted of:
Soup
Salad
Entree
Dessert
Beer
Biscuits

Adam wins by a slim margin, but this did not include the biscuit I shoved in my face after the final scores were in (biscuits are a shocking 150 calories each).

Indiana!

I really don't know what to expect from Indiana in either terrain or cities.  Surprise me, Hoosiers!

Louisville

I've been here about 10 minutes but so far this seems like an awesome city.

Day 24 summary

Every few days I am struck by either the enormity or ridiculousness of what I'm doing.  It's usually a pleasant feeling, actually.  I had one today....I've been doing this for 24 consecutive days!  And I've got another 60 to go!  And how the hell did I manage to push this silly machine to Kentucky?  These are good things, trust me.

We left Lexington early and made the tour at the distillery.  I was oddly disappointed by the overall distilling process.  It seems like, in the end, whiskey is basically watered-down, wood-flavored grain alcohol.  Not to say that the final product isn't delicious...but I find the beer brewing or wine making process somehow more satisfying.  Hard to explain.

We passed through Frankfort, which is a tiny little town that just happens to be the state capital.  I ate a hotdog in its honor.  Get it?

Turned out there was about 15 miles of fairly strenuous climbing west of Frankfort.  There was also quite a headwind, but the worst was how unexpected the uphill was.  Somehow we got through it and in to Shelbyville.

Since it was another 20 miles to the next real town we decided to stay the night here.  The decision was instantly rewarded when we found out that the county fair was going on this week!  We went out to our hotel, cleaned up, and biked back to the fair (without bags...so fast).  We ate corn dogs, walked the midway, watched a horse show and caught the end of the rodeo.  Who could ask for more from Shelbyville, Kentucky?

We'll get to Louisville tomorrow for lunch and see the sights for a couple hours (Churchill Downs, etc).  Then we'll head a few hours into Indiana and call it a night.  Woo new state!  I did some quick math...I should end up hitting 21 or 22 states this summer.  Craziness.

We've been in motels the past several nights, and may continue to do so for the next couple nights.  Part of Adam's recovery from his terrible poison ivy is to keep as clean as he can, and sleeping on the ground, unshowered, in his contaminated sleeping bag does not qualify as "keeping clean".  It's perfect for me - I get to sleep in a warm bed without blaming myself for going soft on my sleeping arrangements.  And I'll never say no to a free continental breakfast.

Shelbyville

I've come to take back my lemon tree.

Woodford Reserve

Made it in time for the noon tour of the Woodford Reserve bourbon distillery.  I've toured breweries and wineries, after this my booze trifecta will be complete!

Guest blog, part 2

More from Adam:

Adam from Lexington, Kentucky

This is my first post since Asheville, mostly because I can't type on the tiny keyboard on Dave's smart phone.  Can you imagine what a Luddite I will be decades from now?

The trip has been great so far.  We went up and over the Great Smoky Mountains and the hills of Tennessee before getting into much flatter biking terrain in Kentucky.  Today's ride went through a bunch of rolling hills and horse farms on our way into Lexington.  Tomorrow we will bike through more horse farms on our way to the Woodford Reserve distillary  - where we will take a tour and drink some bourbon :)

I've tried to stop by any colleges or universities that we pass near.  It is part of the angst of graduate school- trying to convince myself that life would still be good at the University of Kentucky.  We saw a really nice school in Berea, Kentucky called Berea College.  I've never heard of it, but it had a nice campus and apparently all 1,500 students are on full scholarships - pretty cool.

We've got about 350 miles to go until Hyde Park.  Probably just 6 days of biking given the flatter ground and my legs getting used to biking all day.

Hope everyone is doing well!

-adam

Hello from Lexington!

The next couple days are going to be less about forward progress, and more about enjoying the two fun-looking cities of Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky.

We made a quick 45 miles here from Berea, and did a quick spin around the University of Kentucky.  We then found a pizza place and put down some sandwiches, including a couple delicious drinks.  This is significant because so far we've only been in DRY counties in Kentucky - unbelievable, considering how much booze is made in this state.  Drinking in the sun, we decided to stay the night in Lexington, then ride out to tour the Woodford Reserve distillery in nearby Versailles (pronounced "Ver-sales".  Awesome.)  Looking for lodging, we thought to see if we could stay in a UK dorm, which is right in town.  Oddly, neither Adam or myself can remember who thought of this idea.  I can swear it was me, though. Beer and biking can be a fun combination.

So, here we are in Blanding Tower, paying $34 for the night and about to head out for the best Lexington has to offer.  Should be a fun time.

I know that some of you out there have some Lexington experience. If you have any recommendations I'll have my phone on me all night.

Bike on a ferry

Our route this morning took us to a river that was only passable by ferry.  And it was a free ferry!

This is extra important because Alicia made me an adventure Bingo board to fill out during my trip, and this was one of the squares.  I'll post the Bingo board once I find a decent app to allow me to fill in the completed squares.

And 500 more!

Not even The Proclaimers know what to do at this point*

*last reference I will make to this song**

**probably

Daniel Boone

Get me a coon-skin cap!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.75645487,-82.17662039

Highway on-ramp milestones

We've been parallel to I-75 for a few days, and every on ramp says "North to Lexington, South to Knoxville".  It's a fun milestone to pass Lexington and see the Northbound sign change to Cincinnati, or Indianapolis, or whatever major city will come next.

Pizza Buffet

In Jellico, TN.  I am going to put a hurt on this place.

Brother's little helper

Unable to keep up with the rigors of daily bicycle travel, Adam resorts to dangerous steroid use.

Actually, he's got an awful case of poison ivy that has begun consuming his entire body.  Let's hope this does the trick!

The Glorious Sunsphere

From the Knoxville World's Fair.  I never would have guessed that this thing actually exists!

(to avoid confusion - an episode of the Simpsons takes place here)

Into the valley

Mountains behind me, corn all around me.

Or, Chicago to the left, mountains to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with corn.

Out of the Smokies!

From Bryson City we had two choices - either up and over Great Smoky Mountain NP, or around it to the west.  Problem with the western route was it goes through a windy stretch called the "Tail of the Dragon", and sport bikes like to fly through the turns and kill cyclists.  So, over the mountain we went.  We camped just inside the park near Cherokee, NC (actually the Cherokee reservation).

This morning we had our first real rain problems.  I heard thunder at 4:30 AM, so we set up the tent fly.  I woke up this morning to pouring rain.  We ate breakfast in the tent, but were stuck there and didn't get on the road until 11:30.  It rained again a few hours later, but we continued on through it.  We even passed a tree that had fallen down.  It was blocking traffic, which was actually quite pleasant (for us).

We reached the top, which is also the Tennessee border.  Also the last time I will dance with the Appalachian Trail...I wish the best to my bearded, travelling brethren.

Of course we sped down into Gatlinburg at 30 mph.  Turns out this is an almost comically touristy area.  Regardless, we are about to enjoy our first real food of the day, then figure our where to end our abbreviated day.  (our diet today has been peanut butter, anchovies, trail mix and a grapefruit).  A chicken sandwich will be welcomed.

Best fake race ever!

For those that don't know, a "fake race" is when you are biking next to a stranger, and you both keep trying to stay ahead of the other, and before you know it, you're pushing each other faster and faster until someone gives up or has to turn.

So, this afternoon I had a fake race....against a train.  I was going along next to a river, and the touristy Great Smokey Mountain Railway was rumbling along at 15-20 mph.  I pulled ahead, fell behind, caught up...people on the train were taking pictures and waving, I had to give them a show! 

Finally, the iron horse won out as I slowed up a hill and ran out of steam.  But I gave it a good run for a few miles!

Ice cream in the rain

More rain to get through today.  

It was a dry morning, but now the forecast looks rainy for the next few hours.  We're currently under shelter at a grocery store in picturesque Sylva, NC, tucked away at the base of the Great Smokey Mountains. It's a good place to be stuck because we have shopping to do anyway.

Still hoping to make Bryson City, then a bit past it for a campsite.  We'll see how the weather treats us.

Boiled peanuts

A new culinary experience.  Turns out they're really good!  Even ones from the gas station!

And on the Seven(teenth) day, Dave rested

Well, rested is a relative term.  We (we!) did still bike 27 miles.

I would have been willing to take the entire day off, but settled for a relaxing day.  This was ok, because Adam had already spent a few days waiting for me.  We woke up at 8:30, hung out drinking coffee and eating breakfast, and slowly got packed up as noon approached.  We finally were ready to go, and left Asheville at the late hour of 1:30.

First, we stopped at a sporting goods store on the way.  I had wanted to get a dry bag for my sleeping bag.  I got one but I'm not very happy with it...it's sort of a weird shape.  Oh well.

The destination was a campsite just outside Waynesville, NC.  We got here around 6:00, went for a swim in the stream, took showers, made dinner and set up camp.  Compared to the trip so far, this was a day of rest indeed.  And much needed!

Tomorrow we're heading for the Great Smokey Mountains.  In about 2 days we should be near Knoxville.  It's interesting for me to have a whole new set of cities to aim for.  The last two weeks had a certain few all lined up - Lancaster, Front Royal, Roanoke, Asheville.  Now it's all new - Knoxville, Lexington, Louisville, Chicago.  An exciting new world, just from heading in a new direction!

Map with path

So, my map setup remains unable to show my actual path, in addition to my location. But, I can pull out that information and show it in a static map. Here it is so far (ignore the blip into Connecticut):

A change of direction, a change of shirt

The astute reader will have noticed that I've worn the same orange shirt every day so far. I have done what I could to keep it as clean as I can, but I see no point in dragging around multiple disgusting shirts when I can limit myself to just one disgusting shirt.

Now having done a full load of laundry, I will be appearing from Asheville to Chicago in a blue shirt. Get excited! I will be taking bets on which shirt I will wear from Chicago to Denver:

Orange
Blue
Green
Red
Black

Guest Blogger!

Now that I've been joined by my brother, I'm proud to bring you a guest blog entry!

Adam in Asheville

Dave is here! I got to Asheville a couple days before Dave and have spent the time wandering around town and reading. I found a book about the history of bicycle touring - a narrative of people who biked around the world in the 1890s on primitive bikes. They would sometimes wait for months in rural parts of Asia while replacement parts were sent from London. The book got me excited for the trip, and also put it nicely into perspective in terms of the NC-Chicago ride not being so long.

Asheville ended up being a great place to hang out for a couple of days. Good food, lots of art galleries, book stores, coffee shops, and live music. It has a bit of a 'hippy-yuppy-artsy' feel to it. It reminds me a bit of Boulder, CO.

The hostel I've been staying in, Sweet Peas, is right down town and amazingly clean and friendly. They have a kitchen we can use, and Dave and I just finished a homemade breakfast of eggs, french bread, and blueberries (grocery shopping at whole foods down the street).

I think we'll be heading out of Asheville later this afternoon. Hopefully a short 30 mile ride to a camp site at the base of the Smoky Mountains. It will give Dave a little time to rest, and time for me to get used to biking again. Then, it will be up and over (or through a gap) in the mountains and on to Tennessee the next day. I'm excited to start biking!

Mount Mitchell

An epic climb!  First took rt 80 out of Marion.  I knew it was steep because the average opinion was "I don't even like going up there in my car".  But I was able to make it up - this took me from 1600 feet up to 3300.  

Next was a 12 mile stretch along the BRP, from 3300 to 5100 feet.  I met an older lady who was climbing with an unloaded bike...turns out my extra 50 pounds evens me out with 60 year old women.  Anyway, eventually got up to the Mt. Mitchell summit road at 5100 feet.

The summit road was tough but only a bit worse than what I had done.  In 5 miles I went up to 6684 feet, and I was there!

Funny story.  Since there is an auto road, of course there is a parking lot on top.  The lot was 100 yards short of the summit, and there was a walking path up.  NOT ONLY was I surrounded by people who had driven to the top, but there was even a golf cart shuttle that many people had taken up the short walking path.  I felt I deserved the view more than them.

After coming down, it turned out I had 10 miles of more up and down before I finally got to enjoy a 15 mile (!!!) descent into Asheville.  Found my brother, enjoyed the city for the night (very very nice city!) and tomorrow we'll we on our way!

These are some pictures of the way up.

Target is in sight

Up to the parkway

Finished my climb up rt 80 from Marion to the BRP.  I'm pretty sure it's the steepest grade I have to do today, and it wasn't terrible.  Hooray for touring gears!  (note - I did not use my lowest fear yet today.  This is a good sign)

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.75645487,-82.17662039

Get pumped

Somewhere up there my enemy awaits.

A rainy ending

Don't worry, I'm not still sitting at the gas station.

I called some hotels in the area, and rooms were limited.  I also found a campground that was up the hill a ways, about 16 miles from me.  Since it was already 7:30, I figured it was time to hit the road.  And hard! 

So I headed out into the rain.  It wasn't pleasant, but I made it into Marion.  I have been fairly conservative with sunset times, so a 8:45-9:00 arrival worried me.  Passing through town I saw a church with people inside.  Long story short, I am camping in their back yard.

Tomorrow I climb just about a vertical mile to the top of Mt Mitchell.  I am not afraid of this climb.  But I also shouldn't mock it or it may get angry at me.

Well this sucks

I've made it about 8 miles in the past 2 hours due to rain delays.  I'm currently I'm sandals and the bags are as waterproof as they're getting, so I could push on.  Right now I'm destroying some peanut butter sandwiches while I wait for some legitimate lightning and thunder to pass.  Once it settles down a bit ill head out again.

Rain coming

Might be pouring on me in about 20 minutes.  What to do?  I'm so close!

Getting close!

I'm officially within my daily average of Asheville!  That doesn't include my detour up the mountain, but nice to know I'm getting close.  For a while in Virginia I would look at the map every day and I never seemed any closer to Asheville.  Good to know that all that biking did eventually get me in the right direction.

Nevermore

I would bike 500 miles

And I would bike 500 more.

North Wilkesboro

Made it!  I'm just killing it in the afternoon the past couple days!

The end of my mini parkway adventure

Got to do a nice 14 mile stretch from Galax to rt 21, but someone up there doesn't want me going over Stone Mountain.  Probably NCDOT.

Like a Helicoptah!

Sorry, inside joke.

Where is this?

This...is...SPARTA!

Galax lunch

Excellent food at the Galax Smokehouse (see pictures).  I must admit I'm very disappointed...not a single "galaxy" pun to be found.  We have to put up with Maine-ly Sewing, but a Galaxy Diner is too much to ask?  For shame...

New River bike trail

Off I go!  

Also trying a different location thing...link below should be where I actually am, not a nearby business.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.01736869,-80.72870112

The New River

New River in lovely Radford, VA.  I'll be following this baby the rest of the day.

Curb-side lunch

Yes, they will bring my Double Dude burger out to me on my bike.