Oh Canada

Thursday, July 26th: 87 miles from Birch Run to Port Huron, MI. We took off on a foggy, cool morning, with a red, glowing sun coming up over the eastern horizon. Not even the roosters were up yet. We hooked up with "Uncle" Bob until the first sag. Bob kept a blistering pace, so we requested a blood test by the tour organizers. It was denied. We let Bob go, and despite the less-than-blistering we were maintaining, we arrived at the second sag too early for the plate of bologna that was later offered as a snack. Apparently, the following day was the annual Bologna Festival in the town of Yale, MI. We even saw a woman in her driveway, putting the finishing touches on her "Bologna Royalty" float for the festival parade. Instead of waiting around for bologna, we had a snack from a bakery/cafe in town, and then completed the remaining 30 miles of the ride. You know how whenever you wash your car it always rains? Well, Joel cleaned his bike the previous evening, and as a result, we were confronted with a mile of dusty construction on our way into Port Huron. After a quick trip to a bike shop, we lunched with some friends at a great little restaurant with fabulous salad. Joel's came out with bacon on it, as a surprise, but he was too scared to complain, lest the cook's spit on his food the second time around. Eventually, Allison said something, he got a bacon-free salad, and was all smiles. Low on cash, we went to a bowling alley to an ATM, but since it was out of order, we left for Canada with less than $5 in our pockets. Today we have $1.

Friday, July 27th: 79 miles to London, Ontario. At 7:50am sharp, the peleton of 75 riders formed between our two sag vans, and we set off en masse across the bridge to Ontario, which was closed to traffic for our benefit. We hung with the Millers through customs, and one of them (who will not be named) was carrying pepper spray, which we found out was a contraband item. Allison was asked if she had pepper spray or mace, which she could honestly deny. The person who his all not be named, next in line, did not get the same question, and sneaked through with his contraband, smirking. Early on, we had fun drafting behind a truck with 3500 pounds of hay...great draft, not such great smells. And although we were treated to lots of farm smells throughout the United States, it seems that all of Ontario smells like a cow pie. We were hard pressed to find a decent lunch, but did find a good ice cream stop 5 miles later. Nothing else happened of importance.

Saturday, July 28th: 64 miles to Brantford, Ontario. Today we rode with the Miller train/Uncle Bob/Uncle Gary. The train is the only way to fly. They always serve up good company and conversations, and of course, Bernice has ultra-sensitive radar for ice cream and other good things to eat. At the end of the day, we ended up at Scoopy's where they informed us that they took neither American cash nor credit card. Luckily, Uncle Bob bailed us out, and treated us to a couple of milkshakes. Yay Uncle Bob! You da man! As of today, we have completed 3,001 miles, give or take, and the weather has cooperated beautifully. So far, nothing but a few drops of rain, although we've had thunderstorms in the forecast lately. Tomorrow, its back into the U.S. via Niagara Falls, if they let us back in. Monday is our final rest day, and Allison will be leaving the trip. She will also be taking the computer, so this may be our last blog.

Its been fun.
Love,
Allison and Joel

Boy do we stink at updating this thing...

Joel posing as Ben Bikin' at the Elroy-Sparta trailhead; Allison is tired.


Our friend Mark enjoys his ice cream at Beernsten's; the view from the ferry across Lake Michigan


Michigan!

Thursday, July 19th: After back to back centuries, we were looking forward to a short day of only 89 miles. But it wasn't meant to be. At the first sag stop, we were informed that a bridge was out, and we would have to detour 8 miles, bringing our mileage total up to 96. In essence, a third consecutive century. The detour was actually pretty, with long rollers and, at some points, a tail wind. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, but we enjoyed a nice 10 miles stint on a smooth bike path, and a stop and an oasis of a coffee shop with delicious blended mochas and hot-out-of-the-oven scones. Towards the end of the ride, we crossed over the Mississippi and into Wisconsin. We stayed at a Best Western with an indoor water park, and had a blast riding its water slide over and over and over again. Joel got ridiculed for his speedo. Heehee

Friday, July 20th: Today we rode 92 miles to the Wisconsin Dells, 30 of which were on the Elroy-Sparta trail, a rails-to-trails crushed limestone path. It took us through tunnels under three mountains, where we had to get off our bikes and use flashlights to find our way through. The tunnels dripped on our heads, but as far as we know, nobody got attacked by the bats living inside. Along the trails, we stopped at Gina's Pies Are Square, and had hot cherry pie and coffee. Once in the dells, we met and old friend of Joel's, George Reisner, and his cousin, for an Italian dinner. Dessert was at DQ, where Joel dropped his ice cream cone on the ground and cried like a baby. Just kidding. Thankfully, Allison convinced the manager to give him a fresh one. Today also marked our first ride in a car in five weeks. The ride took place in George's new used Lexus, with girly-man wheels, for which we endlessly ridiculed him.

Saturday, July 21st: Another 90+ day. 93 miles to be exact, into Fond du Lac, WI. The trip was uneventful, except, in our approach to town, Allison turned on the jets, in anticipation of Marianne and Nonny's arrival, and pulled some of our travelers for the last 10 miles. We actually beat them into town by an hour, and spent the time wandering through a street fair. The four of us toured lake Winnebago and relaxed at M and N's bed and breakfast. We thought about eating dinner with the group, but when we saw the pathetic buffet, we made a beeline for a nearby restaurant, where we had a lovely dinner. For dessert, we enjoyed the delicious brownies that aunt Robin baked and sent along. Mmmm. We shared them with the group at that night's t-shirt swap, and they disappeared almost instantaneously and with rave reviews. Allison made out like a bandit at the swap, securing a brand new t-shirt from Mt. Rushmore, whereas others got stuck with used shirts that smelled like old man.

Sunday, July 22nd: We said goodbye to Marianne and Nonny after breakfasting at their coach house, and we also said goodbye to the five back-to-back almost centuries. We headed to Manitowoc, 57 miles away, and to Beernsten's, rated one of the top 10 old-fashioned soda fountains in the country by Epicurious.com. The lunch and ice cream was delicious, we spent the evening at a laundromat watching ants crawl all over the laundry folding table and trying not to touch anything. One of the other riders, Jeanette, gave us a lesson in folding short-sleeved shirts, which was actually pretty cool. If you want to learn how, ask us. Tomorrow, we cross the lake into Michigan.

Monday, July 23rd: This was our off day. We loaded at 8:30 am, and many of us went to the wedding between two of our guides, Geoff and Sondra. Before boarding the ferry, we stopped off at Fatzo's, where Joel picked up an 18 inch sub in case he got hungry on the boat. The thing was HUGE. Wonder where the sub shop got its name.. The boat didn't sink, so that was good, and we made it to Ludington, Michigan. After dinner at a brew pub, we had great ice cream at the House of Flavors - the best on this trip by far.

Tuesday, July 24th: We're headed off to Mt. Pleasant, MI - our last century of the trip (115 miles). The day started off propitiously, with Allison's derailleur malfunctioning. The weather was cool and it threatened to rain, but didn't, and aside from Allison's bike issues, it was an easy ride with helping winds.

Wendesday, July 25th: It was a relatively short 75 miler to Birch Run, with not much to see along the way. Allison set a blistering pace early in the day, and by mile 65 or so, we were pooped. The highlight of the day was at dinner. After being served humongous portions of food, our good friend Earnst (aka the Governator), treated entire table to the biggest banana split you have ever seen. 16 1/2 scoops of ice cream with the works.

Please excuse the delay...

We apologize to our loyal readers for the delay in our blog. We know you've been on the edge of your seat waiting for our next post, so here it is.

Saturday, July 14th:
HEADLINE! Allison is sick. Her tonsils were as big as basketballs, covered in oozing white spots. And she used this as an excuse to ride the van. What a wimp!
Joel took off like a bat out of hell, after a late breakfast, and rode the 72 miles into Sioux Falls, SD all by himself. Joel is suffering from some short-term memory problems, and cannot recall any details from this ride Except that he was tired when it was done. Later that afternoon, we took a quick trip to a bike shop 1.5 miles away, a long walk in the blazing heat and humidity. Joel replaced a pair of cycling shorts which, earlier that day, had been bitten by a fire extinguisher box while he was helping to unload luggage. The highlight of today was our discovery of a great restaurant: the Spicy Pickle: http://www.spicypickle.com/ Yummy!!!


Sunday, July 15th: REST!! We spent today in Sioux Falls, SD, doing a whole lot of nothing. We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, watched the Tour de France, took naps, etc. It was lovely.


Monday, July 16th: A 70 miler to Worthington, MN. When we left South Dakota, we noticed that the road condition improved almost immediately. We thought we had in made in the shade, until we reached a detour consisting 6 miles of heavy gravel. This road required our utmost attention at every moment, lest we lose control and come crashing done. Luckily, we made it through unscathed, but not without sucking some dust and enduring the incessant rattling of the road. That night, Joel enjoyed repairing two hotel flats, while Allison enjoyed listening to him complain. After a crappy dinner, we were introduced by DQ afficionados (aka the Millers) to a chocolate-dipped twist ice cream cone. Mmmm. Speaking of enduring life's challenges, we were forced throughout the period of ice cream consumption to listen to Mike Miller squeaking his new rubber chicken toy.


Tuesday, July 17th: 102 miles to Mankato, MN. For those of you concerned that time flies by too rapidly, try riding 102 miles through humid, hot, hilly Minnesota. Time will slow down immeasureably. We felt like we were on the bikes for a week and a half, although we were only in the saddle for 6.25 hours. The shining highlights of the day were a stop at a cute bakery/sandwich shop in Madelia, MN, where we had great paninis and iced coffee for lunch, and then, after being slowed down by a thunderstorm, and our discovery of another oasis 10 miles form our destination. It was a fruit store on the side of the highway, selling freshly-baked strawberry rhubarb pie. Wow.

Wednesday, July 18th: Lucky us. Another 100 miles to Rochester, MN, and the humidity has not improved. The headwinds didn't help either. At 70 miles, we were in the tiny town of West Concord when we decided to stop for lunch. We found a local eatery - Cathy's cafe - where we chatted with the locals, who were all curious about what the hell we're doing. We met one retired farmer, Ronald Hahn, who was very talkative and interesting, and whom Allison described as the world's smallest cowboy. He was wearing a hat almost as tall as he was! Tonight, we're exhausted, and trying to build ourselves up for tomorrow's
89 mile ride, which will put us into Wisconsin.

Food, Glorious Food

July 13th: Allison woke up this morning sick, possibly with strep throat, but completed the 70 mile ride from Chamberlain to Mitchell, SD anyway. She'll most likely be riding the van tomorrow, unless her state of health improves drastically overnight. Luckily, we have a rest day on Sunday in Sioux Falls, which will provide more time to recover.

In other news, Joel thought you might all be interested in hearing about the types and quantities of food that he consumes on a typical day on this trip. So, here goes:

-oatmeal
-two variety pack cereal boxes with whole milk
-scrambled eggs
-sticky bun
-a bowl of mixed, fresh fruit
-large glass of OJ
-1 banana
-1 orange
-2 handfuls of fritos
-2 energy bars
-2 BBQ brisket sandwiches
-a plate of fries
-coleslaw
-1/2 piece of bread pudding with whipped cream
-2 Pepsis
-8 twizzlers
-baked potato with butter
-chicken breast
-large salad
-pickled herring
-dinner roll with honey
-2 large cookies
-bowl of ice cream
-blueberry cobbler
-lemonade

Blech!

Happy Birthday Marianne!

Tuesday, July 10th: Up against the wall, MF. Actually, today we headed to Wall, South Dakota, famous for its iconic Wall Drug, which we had never heard of until this trip. The ride itself was an uneventful 57 miles, 20 miles of which were on the interstate (read: boring). After cleaning up at our hotel in Wall, we headed over to Wall Drug for some lunch. The place was founded in the 1930's, and has metamorphised into a stadium-sized chachtzkie store, selling everything from ice cream to t-shirts to Wall Drug shot glasses to toy cars to meds. Apparently, people come from miles away to shop for this crap. They also have a prehistoric dinosaur bone selling for $2,200. The food was so-so, but the onion rings were to die for. There were thousands of roadside signs advertising Wall Drug, starting hundreds of miles away from the place. One advertised 5 cent cups of coffee, and free donuts for veterans and hunters. So, when we got the front of the line, Joel identified Allison as a veteran, and she received her free cake donut (icing was extra). Wall was celebrating its centennial with bull riding and fireworks that night, but we had better things to do, like sleep.

Wednesday, July 11th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM/MARIANNE!!!!
Today we headed to Pierre (pronounced "peer" by the locals). It was 117 miles of mind-numbingly, insufferably, hellaciously boring road. But it was sunny. We saw a lot of hay. There's not much else to say. A hundred and seventeen miles is a hell of a long way.

Thursday, July 12th. Fueled by the previous night's culinary adventure (also known as the China Super Buffet...a $7 per person special), we stormed out of Pierre and began the 84 miles to Chamberlain, South Dakota, a town nobody had ever heard of. The ride was actually quite pretty, as we rolled along the Missouri River. There were lots of rolling hills and a couple of big climbs at the end, which were fun! Our least favorite parts about the ride were the tough head wind we encountered for the first 48 miles, until we turned to head south, and the atrocious state of the road, whose bumps and holes were a challenge for our rear ends. Once we arrived in Chamberlain, we headed to a coffee shop for lunch, which was actually quite delicious, although our hopes for a good dinner were deflated when we set eyes on the buffet: fried chicken, mystery meat, instant mashed potatoes, and....NO DESSERT. Sigh.

South Dakota! Woohoo!

July 5, 2007: We woke up early!(4:40?) We had a 120 miler from Riverton to Casper, Wy. What can we say- hot, boring desert landscape with lots of nothing except wind. Did we cave and ride the sag in? Noooo! Because we're idiots. But we made it. Enough said.

Friday, July 6: It's a rest day. Whoohoo! We had breakfast together with Rand, who had flown in the night before, then the two of them drove back along our route to 43 miles north of Jackson Hole for Alicia's wedding (Alli and I actually booked this particular X-country trip because we'd be in Wyoming for the wedding). Meanwhile, Joel actually rested, beginning the day with a massage (his best ever- if you ever plan a drive out West and your route takes you within 500 miles of Casper, book a massage with Davina @Bamboo salon and spa), then getting a haircut and beard trim for thirteen bucks at the local barbershop, where there are two chairs and you don't need an appointment. Just walk in, take a seat, and note the people ahead of you; when the last person gets out of the chair, hop in and chat with the verbose barber about anything - bison, politics, or local eating establishments. Later, caught a movie, then did a lot of nothing in anticipation of the next day's ride- 106 miles at 106 degrees. Water bottles were steamy enough to brew tea 5 minutes after being refilled with icy cold water.

Saturday: Joel rode with the train, i.e., the Miller train, consisting of papa Miller (Mike), mama Miller (Bernice), baby Miller (also Mike), and the younger baby (Derek). Gary also tagged along, and Joel mainly played the caboose, where he drafted to his heart's content. The day was again (surprise) HOT. The Millers tend to stop a lot and take a myriad of pictures, so after the second sag when the mercury was bursting out of the top of the thermometer and eggs were seen to be frying on the asphalt, Joel left the train behind to book it into the hotel, which was nice enough to greet us with cold lemonade and freshly baked cookies.

Sunday: A mere 93 miles from Lusk, Wy to Hot Springs, South Dakota. Allison was still on leave (read that as AWOL). Joel decided to ride at his own pace. He maintained a blistering pace and arrived first at the destination with an average pace of 22 mph. NOT! The first half of the ride had an irritating cross wind, but then after we turned east, the wind aided the ride. It was fairly uneventful until we closed in on Hot Springs, where we had some long climbs, and then finished the last 10-15 miles riding through the smoke of a forest fire which took out a significant number of homes and killed one person.

Monday, July 9: Allison's back in the saddle and raring to go after three days of rest. This ride was one of the highlights of the trip thus far. The terrain was rolling and beautiful, through the black hills of South Dakota, and had both good climbs and several screaming descents. At one point, early on in the ride, we had a near run-in with a bison! There were large herds nearby, and as we were descending at 35 miles an hour, a great big ugly one decided to wander out into the middle of the road! Lucky for us, a car coming from the other directions scared it off, and neither of us were impaled. Later in the day, we saw Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore, which were both cool. The 72 miles flew by, and before we knew it, we were in Rapid City, SD, feasting on Quizno's. Mmmm, toasty.

Happy 4th of July!

Many beautiful views of the Tetons!



Allison and Joel at the Snake River; "Uncle Bob" at our fav ice cream shop in Aberdeen, WY.



A new approach to the blog: more pictures and less text, cause we're running out of time to write essays at night when we've got be up up at the crack of dawn every morning!

Highlights of the last few days:

July 2nd, 88 miles into Jackson:
-HUGE headwind the first 2o miles, which was supposed to be the easy part of the ride!
-two big climbs, including one to the top of Teton Pass, which involved several miles of a 10% average grade. We were huffing and puffing, especially due to the altitude, and were at several points doubtful about whether or not we'd make it to the top. With a bit of persistence, we did.
-An awesome descent from Teton Pass. Windy, steep, wide roads, and lots of fun.
-The two of us went out for a great dinner in Jackson on our own, to the Snake River Brewery.
-All in all a very hard day, but the views were great and we felt accomplished at the end!

July 3rd, 88 miles into Dubois:
-We didn't think any ride could top the difficulty of yesterday's, but this ride was a similar challenge. Only one hill to climb, but it was an interminable 15 miles long, concluding at Togwotee Pass (9,000+ feet).
-We got caught in some construction near the top of the pass, and had to be driven up a mile of the climb in a truck bed. We weren't complaining ;)
-After nearly 15 miles of climbing, we were looking forward to the payoff descent down into Dubois. Unfortunately, we were robbed of the opportunity due to a 10 mile stretch of more construction further down the road. We waited on top of the pass for about an hour in the blazing sun for a ride down, and then once we were dropped off, we faced a 20 mile ride into town. It should have been easy, but we again encountered a very gusty head wind, and were pooped by the time of our arrival at the hotel.
-Allison got a taste of small town America at the weekly Wednesday night Dubois square dance. It was fun!

July 4th, 79 miles into Riverton, WY:
-Today was easy compared to the past few days! It was mostly flat or downhill, and the headwinds didn't pick up until later in the day.
-We had a 4th of July bike decorating contest, but after a devastating loss in the scavenger hunt competition earlier in the week, we decided not to participate.
-No fireworks tonight, because we have to rest up for our 120 miler into Casper, WY tomorrow. It's gonna be brutal.....

The rest of Idaho

Friday, June 29: We had a short day of 38-40 miles, so to give us something to do, the staff organized a scavenger hunt calling for us to collect about a dozen items along the way from Twin Falls to Burling. Soon after leaving the hotel, we had a side stop at Shoshone Falls, quite an impressive waterfall in the Snake River. We had a short windy descent down to the lookout, and then had to ascend back to the main road where we began to look for the scavenger items including a piece of broken fan belt, a church key, and a sample of American Repillas tyrus (which we had a heck of a time identifying, even on the internet, but heard through the grapevine was a piece of tire tread shed onto the rode by a passing truck). We elected to collect a sample of each of the items by shooting pictures of them, then making them into a slide show. Allison and the rider we chose to team up with that day for the ride and scavenger hunt (Ralph, from Columbus, Oh) were really adept in organizing the the presentation for the contest which took place at dinner. For example, one item was to identify the governor of the state of Idaho, a man named Butch Otter; we discovered this fact by talking to an older generation, hearing aide-wearing customer of Subway where we dined for lunch. We had earlier in the day taken a picture of Ernst flexing his arm muscles (he's a Swiss who now resides in Loveland, Co and still has a significant accent that resembles Schwartzenegger), and the slide first asked, "who's the governor of Idaho,"then shows Ernst, "the governator;"followed by a slide of the real governor complete with the American flag behind him. Though Allison spent a ton of time on our presentation, the judges didn't see the genious behind it all, and we lost (we was robbed).

Saturday was an 110 mile ride to Blackfoot. Sounds like a lot of miles, but we had a good following wind and took the Miller train- there were seven of us riding together in a line, which makes the riding easier, but that didn't stop us from packing in the calories. The best was stopping in a small town of Aberdeen where we not only got huge portions of great ice cream in waffle cones, but seven of 'em cost eight bucks. Lunch was @100 miles at a 50's style diner where the waiter was also the grill chef and we all had burgers with all the toppings and fries. Dinner was catered and excellent, and breakfast was at a place called the Schilling House, a 120 year old residence converted to a restaurant serving great food; if you ever make it to Blackfoot, Idaho, we heartily recommend it. Today, Sunday, was a 34 mile hop to Idaho Falls, a mormon stronghold where they roll up the streets on sabbath and, after eating an walking around town a bit (and getting our fix again of ice cream), we still had to wait an hour and a half until our rooms were ready. Tomorrow, we have a tough ride over the Tetons into Jackson Hole.