This is the end for us of the dream we only thought about. I feel so grateful for all the people we met and America we saw and the time I had with my husband.
I will start with New Waterford - Washington only 62 miles
This was the day God decided to pour on us. It didn't start to rain till we came out of mass that we just happened on. Father had just blessed our trip and bike and the skies opened up. I don't know if that was a sign but we definitely felt his presence. We got to camp absolutely soaked and only had 2 small awnings to stand under. It was a little depressing because we knew this was going to be a wet night. Didn't sleep . Oh the joys of camping.
Washington -Confluence 88 miles We enjoyed this day because we had a wonderful trail to ride on with a river on our left and a beautiful forest thick with maples and oaks on our right. There was rafters to watch as we rode along. Lunch was provided by a past big rider. What a treat!
Confluence - Bedford 81 miles This was a very hard day and we thought if this is hard what will tomorrow bring. We will say Pennslyvania is beautiful , with huge hills and stairstep hills that get steeper with each turn and longer. We are working harder than we have ever on the tandem . Thank God for granny gear or we would be left behind . We finally arrive in camp and there is free icecream. Life is good.
Bedford - Getttysburg The day of reckoning. This is the day that we have heard is the hardest the whole trip. Can we do it? Ok I was so nervous I woke up at 4 am worrying. Greg is saying no problem. This day is like none of the others .It was going to be hot and the hills steep. Well it lived up to its reputation. The heat was over 100,the miles over 100 , and the humidity close to 100. That is pretty good odds to being hard. The day began challenging with a flat in the first 10 miles. We both were on edge and the climbing was hard and we faltered at one point with each other. WE had to regroup and remember why we were at this and stay on course. WE ride for my Mom and we did. WE didn't really look at the scenery but stayed the course and concentrated on the hill after hill and slowly it began to be a reality that we were almost done.
With only 26 or so miles to go we started to see the beautiful farms and the fields and with one more huge hill to conquer we knew we were going to make it. It was a gradual hill and over we went and down for 10miles . The reality of what we had done started to sink in. We began to hoop and holler as the end was near. Thank you God for this amazing experience. Thank you for r all the people who have made this possible. Thank you for my family who have hung in there in the most difficult time ever. We have only 2 short days and we are home.
Gettysburg-Clarksburg-Washington D.C. We have come the end of our journey and I can't really explain the emotions I have but I am so grateful to be here and know I did this journey with my husband and our beautiful tandem. Would I do this again probably not. Would I do another trip with my husband on a tandem in a heartbeat. Life is good and God is good.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Friday, August 3, 2007
Only 7 days to go!!
We just powered out our last group of 4 and now left 5 and than 2. This is the famous 5 that we have heard rumors are the most difficult. I might add there have been some very difficult days so we will have to see. This is our layover day and low and behold the computer is working. We have ridden 2,780 miles so far. That seems incredible to us both. We keep on pedaling .
We ended our last rest day in Valparaiso,Il.
Valparaiso- Kendallville. 88miles July 30th
This day was supposed to be only 106 only it ended up being 117. Greg had put on 2 new chain rings and a new chain. We started out feeling good about the bike and ready for the day. We put our stuff on the truck parked the bike on a bike rack and proceeded to go get coffee. Someone yelled "hey Dimmitt's your bike fell". I didn't think too much about it . By the time We got to the bike we knew it wasn't good. The front had twisted in the bike rack and broke and twisted and bent the rim. It was cracked in two places. Because we have 36 spoke rim we knew we were in trouble. It was Monday no way to get a rim and we thought we were toast. David's father and grandfather were there to ride with him, three generations of men in his family that have ridden across America. Danny , his father at the last minute had put their tandem in their truck. He walked over to us and handed us his front wheel. We were overwhelmed and so grateful to him. Not only did he give us his wheel to ride, he continued to another city and had a new wheel built and brought to us by the last water stop. He was then able to ride with David. This was another example of the generosity of the people we have encountered. Thank you so much. We will never forget that. The last 20 miles of this ride were through the Amish or Menonite farms. We rode along side a girl on a bicycle in her dress and bonnet. We just smiled at us. I wondered what she thought of my get up. This day was a doozy grateful it was over .
Kendallville- Napoleon 70 miles yippee. Wonderful, great shoulders. rolling gentle hills, ended in flat, finished early , rode with Jodee, cold beer and bridgemix. Life is good.
Napoleon-Sandusky 87 miles Day 38 Aug 1. This is another good day . We have been on the best roads and through beautiful little towns . I imagine life is sweet where things are slower. This is home of the biggest roller coaster. We didn't go but a bunch did. Heard it was great fun. We walked around camp and found we were close to Lake Erie.
Dandusky to Burton 92 miles only it was closer to 100. Aug 2 We followed along Lake Erie. The homes that are all along are the most amazing houses I have ever seen. Mansions after mansions that I said oh this is my favorite and another would surpass it. We arrived into Cleveland. The skyscrapers were huge and we are right in the heart of town with buses, cars, people and lights. Downtown riding is stressful. We had people yelling at us. There is turnarounds we had to maneuver. People aren't as tolerant in town. I think this will be the rest of our ride.
Burton now we have a very relaxing day off. Breakfast , snack Lunch , Snack, more snacks and bed. Sounds good to me. I am looking forward to going home. This will be great. I am tired and ready to be done even though this has been an amazing journey. Count down. I plan to enjoy every minute.
We ended our last rest day in Valparaiso,Il.
Valparaiso- Kendallville. 88miles July 30th
This day was supposed to be only 106 only it ended up being 117. Greg had put on 2 new chain rings and a new chain. We started out feeling good about the bike and ready for the day. We put our stuff on the truck parked the bike on a bike rack and proceeded to go get coffee. Someone yelled "hey Dimmitt's your bike fell". I didn't think too much about it . By the time We got to the bike we knew it wasn't good. The front had twisted in the bike rack and broke and twisted and bent the rim. It was cracked in two places. Because we have 36 spoke rim we knew we were in trouble. It was Monday no way to get a rim and we thought we were toast. David's father and grandfather were there to ride with him, three generations of men in his family that have ridden across America. Danny , his father at the last minute had put their tandem in their truck. He walked over to us and handed us his front wheel. We were overwhelmed and so grateful to him. Not only did he give us his wheel to ride, he continued to another city and had a new wheel built and brought to us by the last water stop. He was then able to ride with David. This was another example of the generosity of the people we have encountered. Thank you so much. We will never forget that. The last 20 miles of this ride were through the Amish or Menonite farms. We rode along side a girl on a bicycle in her dress and bonnet. We just smiled at us. I wondered what she thought of my get up. This day was a doozy grateful it was over .
Kendallville- Napoleon 70 miles yippee. Wonderful, great shoulders. rolling gentle hills, ended in flat, finished early , rode with Jodee, cold beer and bridgemix. Life is good.
Napoleon-Sandusky 87 miles Day 38 Aug 1. This is another good day . We have been on the best roads and through beautiful little towns . I imagine life is sweet where things are slower. This is home of the biggest roller coaster. We didn't go but a bunch did. Heard it was great fun. We walked around camp and found we were close to Lake Erie.
Dandusky to Burton 92 miles only it was closer to 100. Aug 2 We followed along Lake Erie. The homes that are all along are the most amazing houses I have ever seen. Mansions after mansions that I said oh this is my favorite and another would surpass it. We arrived into Cleveland. The skyscrapers were huge and we are right in the heart of town with buses, cars, people and lights. Downtown riding is stressful. We had people yelling at us. There is turnarounds we had to maneuver. People aren't as tolerant in town. I think this will be the rest of our ride.
Burton now we have a very relaxing day off. Breakfast , snack Lunch , Snack, more snacks and bed. Sounds good to me. I am looking forward to going home. This will be great. I am tired and ready to be done even though this has been an amazing journey. Count down. I plan to enjoy every minute.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Confusing blog and I wrote it!!
I hope you read the 7 days first and follow with I hate the computer. It won't make any sense. But I think I am sending it all in and part was missing.
Belvidere - Coal City July 27Th was such a good day even for riding 103 miles. We had Evan to look forward too. He is the only person we know that we have seen on the ride. We have been envious but happy for all the people who have family and friends visit. We had a blast talking with him. He is getting married in 2 weeks and we couldn't be happier for he and Katie. Only sad note is we won't be there to enjoy it. We will be there in spirit. Best wishes to you both and all our love.
Also being able to wear Brack's jersey's was a huge honor. His shirt was soaked by the weather but it warmed up after the humidity kicked in. David rode with us this day and it was fun visiting with him and singing along in the rain. We had interesting camping neighbors who kept us awake late into the night and the police had to come and quiet them down. Not a good way to start the seventh day.
Coal City- Valparaso 82 Boy I am glad to be here . Not our finest moments. WE were both cranky and tired. I called it our no talking day. We have finished 2,440 miles I think we deserve to be a little tired. Oh we are in Indiana . Day off I can't wait.
Valpo!! We went to the church here on the campus. The most beautiful church , It reminded us of the church at the Air force Academy. Greg worked on the bike most of the afternoon. We had to put 2 new chain rings on and a new chain. We are hard on our bike. Its getting close to bedtime and tomorrow 106. I'll write again when I can .
Belvidere - Coal City July 27Th was such a good day even for riding 103 miles. We had Evan to look forward too. He is the only person we know that we have seen on the ride. We have been envious but happy for all the people who have family and friends visit. We had a blast talking with him. He is getting married in 2 weeks and we couldn't be happier for he and Katie. Only sad note is we won't be there to enjoy it. We will be there in spirit. Best wishes to you both and all our love.
Also being able to wear Brack's jersey's was a huge honor. His shirt was soaked by the weather but it warmed up after the humidity kicked in. David rode with us this day and it was fun visiting with him and singing along in the rain. We had interesting camping neighbors who kept us awake late into the night and the police had to come and quiet them down. Not a good way to start the seventh day.
Coal City- Valparaso 82 Boy I am glad to be here . Not our finest moments. WE were both cranky and tired. I called it our no talking day. We have finished 2,440 miles I think we deserve to be a little tired. Oh we are in Indiana . Day off I can't wait.
Valpo!! We went to the church here on the campus. The most beautiful church , It reminded us of the church at the Air force Academy. Greg worked on the bike most of the afternoon. We had to put 2 new chain rings on and a new chain. We are hard on our bike. Its getting close to bedtime and tomorrow 106. I'll write again when I can .
I hate computers I am trying this again. I am still on July 23rd. We got to stay at another college dorm Winona State College. Before dinner we walked downtown to see the Great Mississippi River. Tomorrow only 69!
Winona- Viroqua 66 miles July 24th. this is a big day for us we have ridden 2,000 miles. Its still hard to comprehend how far we have come and we are starting to wind down. We followed the Mississippi river for a long ways. We saw the largest 6 pack of beer when we entered Wisconsin. OK They have some hills here. Thinking again only 66 miles piece of cake. Well there are hills and there are hills. the first big one we encountered we couldn't get into granny gear. SO we snaked our way back and forth slowly up the hill. We are now in the area of Amish farms. We saw the black carriages. It was so pretty.
Viroqua- Madison 100 miles July 25th. This is the day for Dan's family and Bob's family to come. The first 50miles are beautiful farms, rolling hills which are a blast on a tandem, and some steep hills. The beauty of the terraced corn fields was spectacular. It is so hard to describe just the gift of seeing this area. I was wishing Dad and Warren were here to see it. The last 50 or so miles were kind of a grind. My arms are aching and butt is aching and no relief. The reward at the end was the 2 families cooked WI braats and beer and salad and fruit and ice cream. It was so yummy and so appreciated. News on Mom not good but she sounds great on the phone. Love You.
Madison -Belvidere 82 miles Day 32 July 26th.
We had promised ourselves one think we would do is sample pancakes across America. Well this is the first time we actually stopped and had them. They were soo good. Rolling hills and small towns and back roads of rows of corn and sow are the central theme. The farms are so clean and orderly . Did I say corn? Well after all the corn we have seen do you think we have had any. No. You can smell them and oh how I want some. We were rained on some and heard thunder but a very long distance away thankfully. We are tired now 5 days down and 2 to go. Tomorrow we get to see Evan I can hardly stand it. We got to sleep under open patio with a roof. Yippee.
Belvidere - Coal City 103 July 27th Day 33 Evan's Day
Today was so poignant for a lot of reasons. We are honored to wear Brack's and Jean Annie's cycling jersey so he is close to us in spirit and body. I wore his hat backwards because I couldn't use my mirror if it was on straight. We left about 6:30am wanting to get in about 2:30 in time to see Evan. The skies looked ominous 40% chance of rain . At 7;30am the skies opened up and wow did we get wet. It was raining sideways. We both took our glasses off because they were useless.
Winona- Viroqua 66 miles July 24th. this is a big day for us we have ridden 2,000 miles. Its still hard to comprehend how far we have come and we are starting to wind down. We followed the Mississippi river for a long ways. We saw the largest 6 pack of beer when we entered Wisconsin. OK They have some hills here. Thinking again only 66 miles piece of cake. Well there are hills and there are hills. the first big one we encountered we couldn't get into granny gear. SO we snaked our way back and forth slowly up the hill. We are now in the area of Amish farms. We saw the black carriages. It was so pretty.
Viroqua- Madison 100 miles July 25th. This is the day for Dan's family and Bob's family to come. The first 50miles are beautiful farms, rolling hills which are a blast on a tandem, and some steep hills. The beauty of the terraced corn fields was spectacular. It is so hard to describe just the gift of seeing this area. I was wishing Dad and Warren were here to see it. The last 50 or so miles were kind of a grind. My arms are aching and butt is aching and no relief. The reward at the end was the 2 families cooked WI braats and beer and salad and fruit and ice cream. It was so yummy and so appreciated. News on Mom not good but she sounds great on the phone. Love You.
Madison -Belvidere 82 miles Day 32 July 26th.
We had promised ourselves one think we would do is sample pancakes across America. Well this is the first time we actually stopped and had them. They were soo good. Rolling hills and small towns and back roads of rows of corn and sow are the central theme. The farms are so clean and orderly . Did I say corn? Well after all the corn we have seen do you think we have had any. No. You can smell them and oh how I want some. We were rained on some and heard thunder but a very long distance away thankfully. We are tired now 5 days down and 2 to go. Tomorrow we get to see Evan I can hardly stand it. We got to sleep under open patio with a roof. Yippee.
Belvidere - Coal City 103 July 27th Day 33 Evan's Day
Today was so poignant for a lot of reasons. We are honored to wear Brack's and Jean Annie's cycling jersey so he is close to us in spirit and body. I wore his hat backwards because I couldn't use my mirror if it was on straight. We left about 6:30am wanting to get in about 2:30 in time to see Evan. The skies looked ominous 40% chance of rain . At 7;30am the skies opened up and wow did we get wet. It was raining sideways. We both took our glasses off because they were useless.
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