Totally bendacious

We have officially quit riding the bike (a few days ago). In fact, it's been carefully stuffed in a cardboard box along with several smelly riding clothes for days. While Monty, the bike, enjoyed a well earned box coma we enjoyed a few beers......at no less than eight Bend breweries.

Before Bend we last updated you all from "lovely" Gooding, Idaho. In Gooding we went to Food World, the local market, to pick up a vegetable to add to dinner but instead found ourselves eating a Marie Calendar frozen chocolate pie accompanied by a six pack of beer... Mmmm. Maybe.
From Gooding we rode through more desert and wind than one could ever desire, but we made it to Mountain Home, Id. Along the way we passed through a sleepy town on the Snake River, Glens Ferry. Here we met a man who was lone touring to the Continental Divide. Apparently too much time alone was not a good thing, too much time in ones own head gets weird I guess.
We didn't know it yet, but we had arrived on a popular cross country touring route, the transamerica, and mr. Crazy-pants was clue #1. In Mountain Home we slept in the front yard of an RV in a permanent/long term stay RV park. Very cheap, but very nice. We awoke and went to McDonalds to grab some coffee after shoveling down some cold pizza from the night before. As always we met someone very interested in our trip and bike so enjoyed an extra long cup of coffee and some good conversation with the outside world.
Clue #2 came on the way to Boise from Mt Home. We bumbled sloppily down a sandy railroad service road thinking it would be shorter, haha. We popped out in the middle of nowhere on a paved rd that went our to the interstate, but not too far down this rd, much before I-84, we saw a teensy mom and pop produce stand, an oasis in the sea of desert. Beach boys were blaring out of the speakers on the ramada, some kids came running up from a house to the stand. We walked in and a very friendly man told us that only a few weeks ago another gaggle of cyclists had come upon this magic place. He told us how he lent them his truck and they went to Boise, ran some errands, went swimming, and came back to have dinner with him and his family. This was clue #2.
Later on this miraculous day, we met up with a good friend of mine, Paris, at brewforia, for lunch. Brewforia is basically a beer store/bar. They carry over 700 varieties of beer in bottles, and a few on tap. They also have food. After riding fifty miles since breakfast and only eating a banana between one beer was more than plenty. After lunch and after Paris was off, we were still feeling a little too good to ride, so we walked next door to grab some ice cream and sit it off on some chairs with backs. Eventually we made it to our destination, Caldwell, a suburb of Boise about thirty miles down the road.
Clue #3: The Brit. We arrived at camp, which appeared to be an old KOA, Casey went to shower and I was greeted about twenty minutes later by a cheery guy with a thick Brittish accent.
He introduced himself and told me he had already met Casey, and that we had been on the road the same amount of time, except he had begun in NYC. Turns out we had taken almost identical routes since Nebraska. He wasn't taking the transamerican route in particular but had ended up on it by chance as well. This was the first time we had been informed of this ....thing. We stayed up late talking and wished each other good luck in the morning.
From Caldwell we headed off to Oregon. We made it as far as Brogan. We arrived in the afternoon to a trailer park with camping and headed up to a red double wide with a sign hanging on the door that read "office". Sublime was blasting out of the windows, we rang the doorbell, we knocked, knocked harder, and yet harder. No answer. We found a nice spot and then went back to try again. We knocked and a bigger man, with squinty eyes answer the door and registered us verrrrrry slowly. He pointed to the camping area, very vague, and said anywhere over there was good. We changed and headed over to the only store and grabbed cold drinks since it was over 100 degrees out. In the store we saw another overheated tourer, clue #4. Clue #5 came right after, we walked back to camp and some trailer residents told us they had had lots of cyclists coming through. By morning we had figured it out, the gold miners and farmers gathering at the store in the AM asked us "which way?" instead of seeming completely taken away by the idea. We ate breakfast with a not-so-shy rooster, I fed him some turkey then felt like I just assisted in cannibalism. Oops. The farmers also kept telling us about "brogan hill" and told us that after that we would have an easy day....liars.
We started up brogan hill expecting just that, a hill. About an hour later, we reached the top, Brogan Summit 3900'. So much for a "hill". We descended a bit into a high desert valley. We cruised the valley with ease, then began a second climb for the morning, up to El Dorado Summit, 4100'. We coasted about seven miles down into Unity for lunch, it was beautiful. We were then on our way up another set of mountains and into a national forest. This time we climbed through Blue mountain pass, 5100'. Then yet another lovely long coasting session just to go up one more pass, This one at 5200', then we coasted for ten steep miles back into a valley, into Prarie City where we settled for the night. It was beautiful! We also realized that our tire was not so beautiful. We were riding on the puncture protection where the rubber had rubbed away. The next day we rode downhill to John Day in hopes of finding a new tire. we tried the bicycle cooperative, only found 27" tires, tried a discount store, same deal, tried a drugstore, same deal. Apparently they weren't unaware that size hasn't been used in about twenty years.
Hoping the tire would make it, we rolled onward. Up another very gradual pass, we saw some beautiful views. Eventually we hit the top of Keyes pass, after meeting an elderly woman doing the transamerican who warned us about the pass at 4600'. From the top we became aware of how much less gradual the other side was, very steep. We flew down to the bottom and into Mitchell. Mitchell is a one street town where about everything but the one store and bar were closed down. The city park had free camping and a very nice camping area. There we met two fellows on the transamerica with whom we conversed with for a bit. Turns out that there are guides for this trail with places to stay and stop and such. I think I liked the way we did it more, more adventure, and we met several people taken back by the fact that anyone would ride a bike outside of their Own town....
From Mitchell we rode straight up a long steep grade for twenty miles to the the top of another pass, these were becoming a regular in Oregon. From there it was a gradual thirty mile downhill to Prineville through another National Forest. In Prineville we stopped for a snack and then pushed out the final thirty miles to Bend, with especially aching butts.
We made it!!! We enjoyed some beer filled days in Bend working on the Ale Trail, this consists of drinking a beer at eight breweries, we included several sample trays.
Now we are on our way to San Francisco via the most opposite transportation from our bike as possible, a bright red, brand new, rental mustang.
Thanks for following folks! And even more, thank you all for the support to make it possible!

Location:NW Galveston Ave,Bend,United States

Pictures of Jackson and such

Wind river


View of the Tetons from togwotee pass




Hidden falls in Teton national park



Top of Teton pass



Another view of the Tetons




Love this sign




Here we are now just we'll be in Oregon tomorrow

Location:W 6th S,Mountain Home,United States

Famous Potatoes...

Fun fact: Although Idaho is known for it's famous potatoes, Maine, a state one-third of Idaho's size, produces more.

Now down to business.  Last time ya'll were updated we were in Casper resting up. What a rest day that turned out to be.... we walked ALL over town running errands, but it was a nice change up from pedaling. We rode from Casper to Hiland, Wyoming, population 10. Hiland is home of "The Bright Spot", a bar/restaraunt/gas station/store/motel, the only building in town, it is also the owner's home. We arrived there after pedaling three hours through the rain in 50-something weather....brrrrrr. We went inside to get coffee to warm up and ended up having dinner as well. During dinner, the owner's son, a gangly 15 year old, was betting a drunken truck driver $100 on arm wrestling. Lucky us, we got a free show with dinner. Since the kid was betting his mom's money she lowered the wager to $50. He won, she should have left it a $100. After dinner and a show and some lively conversation from the drunks in the bar we asked where we could camp. The owner told us, "anywhere you guys want to put a tent down!" We curled up in the tent and got warm then fell asleep. We awoke to a chilly morning and for compensation for the free camping, we bought breakfast from "The Bright Spot", which included the best bacon I've ever had....and I'm not generally a big bacon fan..... With a good hearty breakfast we rode smoothly into Riverton to visit an aunt I haven't seen in 15 years, Aunt Carol, and I met Uncle Charlie for the first time. They were awesome hosts, we were welcomed with cold beer and showers, and we had walleye they caught for dinner. YUM. We stayed in their RV trailer which was luxery in comparison to the tent. After some mapping help from them we were on the way the next morning planning a fifty mile ride to Crowheart. We got to Crowheart early and continued on our way to Dubois. That was some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever encountered! It was everything you think of when you think of the West all rolled into one! Amazing!
     After Dubois we had Togwatee pass, 9600 or so ft ahead of us. It was another beautiful day on the bike, and they had just redone the road so the slope up was so gradual it was hard to believe we climbed so much. We took a quick lunch break at the top and admired the first of many views of the Tetons. We began to descend and ran into traffic....and construction. There was a pilot line to get down the mountain, in line we were informed that we would not be allowed to ride down, but instead would have to ride down in the pilot car. We loaded the bike into the back and hopped in the cab with a very cheery man from Dubois. Once we began going through the mayhem I understood why. There was blasting going on, GIANT dump trucks everywhere, and apparently a consistent momma grizzly visitor. It was like being in another world. We got dropped off at the bottom, right next to a ranger station, and agian, we arrived early. We decdied to just coast the extra twenty miles into Grand Teton National Park.
     After paying an outrageous entrance fee, we went to find camping, to find that it was all full. We laid the bike down and sat on the ground to try and figure out a nearby camping area. I found one, I called a ranger and asked if there was water at that campground and she did not know, all she knew was that it was about twenty miles up a dirt road, the opposite direction than we would be heading. So we sat around and tryed to figure something else out. A ranger in a car passed us sitting on the side of the road about five times and never stopped. We finally gave up and called my parents in hopes they could use their super internet to find another option. Turns out my dad must have been in a great mood, because instead of simply assisting us in our search for a campground, he booked a cabin. After a roundabout the park we arrived. Tired and still steaming about the lack of help from the park service I was very  happy to get into bed and go to sleep.
     While in Teton Park we went for a hike around Jenny Lake and saw some waterfalls, and a momma moose and her baby along the way. The hike was a nice a break from the all the tourists in giant vehicles that were too lazy to get out and hike into the beauty.  Most people were just pulling over every five feet and taking pictures, I'm very releived we made it through the park in one peice. We had enough of the craziness, never go to a big park on a saturday, and high tailed it out of there and down to Jackson. We arrived in Jackson and tried to squeeze between the heinous traffic and parked cars, we gave up quickly. We locked our bike to the closest thing we could find and set off to Hannah's place of business. (Hannah is good friend of mine from NAU, a native to Jackson.) We walked by it right as she was leaving work, perfect timing! We went to Snake River Brewery and enjoyed a beer and some tasties before heading to my mom's cousin's house for the night. Chris, my mom's cousin, was singing at a wedding so we didn't meet her til the next morning. We met Chris as we came down the stairs from waking up, a strange way to meet someone for the first time, but fun nonetheless. We had breakfast and then went for a hike with her. The hike was beautiful, it was on the pass and up to a glacial lake. Wildflowers were everywhere! We had a picnic lunch of sandwiches that we picked up in Jackson, Chris' treat. mmm.
We quickly returned to town, chris had to get to work.  Before she left though she cooked us a fine meal of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and an interesting almost asian flavored coleslaw.  She then left off to sing at the stage coach.  We waited a little while and had our friend Hanah pick us up and haul us over to "the coach".  At the stage coach we listened to some fun good old fashioned coutry music.  Chris palyed the bass and sang beautifully.  We were in the back listing, watching the dancing, and enjoying the beer, popcorn, and fries.  After listening for about an hour and a half we moved on to downtown jackson.  Here we got some frozen yogurt that was delicious.  Next we got some candy (I know sugar overload).  After that we explored jackson's city parks.  And man do they have some parks.  We played on a couple of playgrounds and went to their bouldering wall.  A city with its own bouldering wall with actual routes on it.  What a place.  They also had a memorial to those lost to the mountains.  This city has some mountaineering heritage.  The next morning we went out to breakfast with Chris at Norah's.  Hana had said this was the place to go if you have a hang over.  Well we weren't hung over but a big breakfast before Teton pass was in order.  It was Chris's treat because she wanted to "play parent" agian.  After breakfast we got a few supplies around town with Chris and said bye to Hanah. 
Now it was time for Teton pass.  Teton pass is a 10% grade road leading out of jackson into Idaho over an 8000 foot break in the Tetons. We headed out under clowdy skies hoping to aviod rain.  No such luck about half way up the pass it began to dump and thunder.  Well i'm not one to complain about a forced break from a killer hill.  So we hid out in a canyon and waited for the storm to pass.  It didn't take long until the sky's were blue again and we were able to slog over the last bit of the pass.  From here it is a ripping decent into Idaho.  10% up means 10% down and with a rig weighing in at over 400 pounds with us on it we gained speed fast.  Luckily enough we have a drag brake and were able to avoid break neck speeds through the mountains.  We popped out of the tetons into a beautiful valley in Idaho.  This little valley in the rockys still has views and access to the tetons but a LOT LESS people.  How awesome is that.  If i was going to move to the area it would definely be on the Idaho side. 
We found a camp spot in the town of Tetonia for olnly 10 bucks.  Sweet!  The next day we started across Idaho.  We got our typical start at about 10 am.  This was a bad call.  We road for 2 hours and then the winds began.  Idaho has to be the windiest place i've ever been.  It was a 20 mph head wind and it did not let up.  We went on and got to a place with a charming name of mud lake.  We beded down determined to get out earlier to beat the wind.  That didn't work as planned. We got across Idaho national labratory aka atomic city just in time for the winds to begin.  If your not familiar with INL it was the first place to produce nuclear power in the world it is also closely gaurded and has loads of radioactive waste that are aparently spilling into the ground water.  Mmmmm...  Anywho we trudged through the wind only making about 35 miles in 7 hours of riding.  We finally made it to our camp spot, craters of the moon national monument, and made dinner in the best camp spot int the house.  Site number 13 in tucked in to an alcove in the lava rocks.  It is walled all the way around by at least 4 foot high rocks except for a small opening to get in.  We again went to bed early determined to get up before the wind. 
This time we got up at 530 am.  We made it out by 830.  This gave us the start we needed.  We made it 50 miles by lunch and 75 to our destination at 3 with a long lunch break at a little dinner.  Now we are in Gooding, ID in the local library surounded by children.  From here we are moving on through Idaho and we hope to be in Bend, OR in less than a week!  Bend has become our new destination (plans change).   

Wyoming

Well it's been a little while since our last post and a lot has happened. From the Koa we stayed at we flew with the help of a tailwind into the badlands national park for the fourth of July. The bad lands are awesome. After breaking off the frontage road we descended down the "wall" into the badlands. It is a several hundred foot wall of steep gray mud hills that are devoid of vegetation. We rolled into our camp ground and set up camp. Then we went a few miles into interior SD. There we rolled through the town of 67 people to the local store. We picked up some supplies and a six pack of bud to celebrate America's birthday. Back at camp we watched the fireworks at the interior rodeo from afar. The next day we rolled through the bad lands. A great ride with steep hills going from the lower and upper prairie separated by the " wall".
We were now on our way from bad lands to wall SD. Wall is a little stop over on the way to Mt. Rushmore for most people. It is also the home of wall drug. Wall drug once a little drug store is now a huge tourist trap with delicious donuts and pie. We got sucked in and also wound up buying books. What can I say I'm a sucker for a tourist trap. Leaving with a little less money we rolled on to the little of new underwood and a night in the city park.
Upon our exit from the badlands and entrance to the black hills, we saw more and more and even more chincy propaganda concerning Mt Rushmore and crazy horse and the attractions began to seem more like Disneyland than a majestic peice of art carved onto a beautiful slab of granite. This made Custer State parks scenery of natural beauty much more appealing. We decided to dodge the playground and find some tranquility in a little mountain campground in the park.... Or so we thought.... And for a premium. The park was everything we've hoped for, gorgeous, but the camping was a reminder that we were in tourist country. There were more cabins and rv hookups, not to mention RVs than tent sites. On a Wednesday we snagged the last open spot. We were treated to a neighboring camping family's campfire jamboree, definately Willie nelson fans. And next to our humble bike camp parked the largest rv trailer I've ever seen. I never did see them leave that thing. Anywho, the next day may have been primarily climbing, but extremely beautiful! We climbed into custer sd, then up into the hills, then through jewel cave national park to an amazing overlook. After all that climbing we were rewarded. We coasted all the way into wyoming and into Newcastle. Camped out at middle school, we mentally prepared ourselves for the next days trek. The next day we rode 70 hot and windy miles across thunder basin national grassland...aka..nothing....except for the continents largest surface coal mine!!! Wow, all I have to say. I had never been so happy to see a town as I was that night. The next day was more nothing, but prettier nothing. To a town of 400 with one police officer. We attempted to call this officer to find out where would be ok to set up camp, no answer, so we went to a rec center and asked them if they knew of a spot, lucky us, the woman we spoke to was his wife! She called him and we were set up with a football field. Today we are in Casper resting out some body aches at a days inn...aw a bed.

Location:East E Street,Casper,United States

Little bike on the Prarie

Howdy folks!

We have finally made it out of the great state of Nebraska! Sad to leave behind the best and most abundant camping yet, but excited to enter "the west". Actually we crossed the hundreth meridian in Nebraska but then went to south Dakota along it. We stopped at a state park/national scenic river: the niobrara. Since it wavers on where the east meets the west it apparently is home to the most numerous species in the US. It was quite scenic as the name implies, and pictures of it and the waterfall we camped near shall be posted at the end of the trip. The day we left the park we rode onto the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south Dakota. We were greeted by the obligatory reservation casino, where we would have stopped if we had known better, apparently there was a major pow wow being held for the fourth weekend. But of course, we were informed of this party twenty miles later. We arrived in Mission, a bustling town of 700-something, to find we were in a typical run down rez town, with no camping to be found. After speaking with the police we were directed to what appeared to be a campground sandwiched between the trailer park and the highway. There was another group of folks setting up as well, some Sioux folk whom with we made friends, and we got to camp for free, not so bad, except for the incessant firework show from the preschoolers in the trailer park. It finally did stop so we could sleep thanks to a late night thunderstorm- the first time I was happy for one. The area we are in is absolutely beautiful and there is no end in sight. Never thought I would like the plains so much. Big grassy knolls covered in wildflowers, vast valleys with little rivers and creeks bordered with cottonwoods, and plenty of cows to moo at. Currently we are in belvedere sd and should reach the entrance to the badlands tomorrow night.

Location:Nebraska-South Dakota

Howdy from Nebraska

Since our last update we've made it further into Nebraska.  We are now in the sand hills.  With a tail wind we have been able to fly from town to town at a blazing 17 miles an hour.  This has allowed us a little time to explore.  We have found that many a town in this state happen to have city campgrounds.  What a relief to roll into town and find a 5 dollar camp site with showers.  Our last stop in Neligh was quite nice.  We got in early enough to stroll around town a bit and explore the old mill, the river, and a quaint little downtown.  We have also visited Nebraska's irish capital O'neil.  Turns out that town wasn't very exciting but it did have the worlds largest shamrock in its main intersection.  Last night we stayed in Atkinson.  Atkinson it turns out just bought the state recreation area outside of town where we camped.  Turns out the state of Nebraska is broke like everybody else.  After finding our campsite we went to the local pool and cooled off.  It quite the relief to get into the water, go down the water slide, and shower. Besides that it has been pretty standard out here lots of cows and grass and endless land in a word pretty.  On another note heading west I'm beginning to notice the land drying out a good bit.  We are now in ground water pumping territory.  That means we don't have to worry about dew on the tent anymore and our things actually dry!  How great is that. Now we are on our way to the Niabrara river.  Just a couple more days in nebraska and we'll be in South Dakota. Thats all for now.

Well howdy folks, we are back on the road after a hiccup, but now we are living the good life!



We left Leavenworth on a gusty day into a headwind but with a smaller milage goal it wasn't so bad. We made it to Hiawatha that night and slept near a lake. Since it was Casey's birthday we went into town that night and ate some mediocre food at the towns best restaurant..... Hiawatha's no foodie haven. We were on our way to Nebraska the next day, but not before a stop at McDonalds for some coffee and the local senior citizen crowd's barrage of questions, which is generally the highlight of my day. We stopped in Nemaha for lunch, a tiny, but very friendly little town where a man informed us, "it isn't the end of the world, but you can see it from here." that night we made it to Tecumseh Nebraska. Home of ? We slept through some thunder and lightning behind a baseball field, awoke, looked for the library, met the mayor, found the library, and headed off to Omaha. About twenty miles from town we hit Syracuse and finally cell phone reception. With a helpful tailwind we rode 45 miles in about 2.5 hours. We cruised along just as well for the next ten until we hit the city.... SCARY. We rode on a sidewalk til it ended then finally found a back road the last five miles. Aunty Jeanne greeted us with Popsicles, boy does she know the way to my heart. We hung out with Sammie the dog on the porch, got cleaned up and had a delicious dinner. It was nice to see Jeanne and we watched a special on tornadoes which turned out to be fitting for the next day. Aunty Jeanne made us some tasty coffee cake and packed us some sandwiches for lunch...mmmm. We were off later that afternoon and pulled into Fremont around five thirty. We ate dinner and watched the locals play soccer. Then we were properly greeted by dark skies and a tornado siren, we made a run for WalMart where they had us join everyone in the back. Luckily there was no twister, just a nasty electrical storm. Wally world isn't a bad place to wait one out. We bought some cake and explored the aisles. Slept in the city park and woke up just before summer camp began. We received some strange looks fromeveryone as we cooked breakfast in our fire on the table stove, but all was well. We found a brownie specialty store and some coffee, of course, never without the senior breakfast club and questions. :) Tonight we grabbed a beer at the only watering hole in Pilger nebraska, a town of 300-something. We were lucky enlugh to enjoy the drunken gossip of the farmers, quite the easedropping experience. Tata for now. We are busy enjoying the aroma of stockyard USA.



Strange clouds post crazy storm in Fremont.