My Final photo album to D.C. to Westby

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2174381&id=73405078&l=4a47a3bc95

This is the link to my final photo album.

select and copy it. hold command and 'C' and then paste it in your address box up above holding command and 'V'. Enjoy!

Thanks to all those who followed along. I hope that you enjoyed and were moved or inspired to follow something you are passionate about and maybe make a difference on others lives while you do yours. This was a great dream of mine and God took it and developed it into something much different than I originally envisioned.

I'm very grateful for all the support I've received from my family, Churches and "random" strangers along the path. I made connections and friends along the road that I'll have forever.

grace and peace ><>

Joseph C. Iverson

Cycling into D.C. and ending my ride at the Lincoln Memorial

I woke up and looked outside and I imediatly realized that it was a mistake yesterday to quit early to catch the Packers and vikings games.  Rain was on the forcast today and it looked to be a certainty.  I got on the road before eight o'clock in hopes of beating the rain.  I had to cross a bridge that they would shuddle me across but not before they robbed me for it.  It costs 30 bucks to get a ride across.  Luckily before I got to the bridge I stopped at a gas station to get a bit of food for lunch, but then I saw something better than lunch, a truck with a guy getting ready to go.  I asked him if he was going to be crossing the bridge on 50 going towards D.C.  When he said that he was and seemed like a nice enough fella I asked "You wouldn't mind being a taxi for a cyclist looking to cross the bridge as they are not aloud."  He said "Sure! I don't see why not."  Yess!! I was in luck.  I think that there are reasons why we meet certain people sometimes and after talking with this guy for very long it was pretty easy to figure out why we crossed paths.  As we were talking I told him a bit about my story and the cancer and he told me that his mother had the same type.  Usually when I tell people I have brain cancer they leave it at that and do not go on to ask what kind.  But it turns out that his mom fended off my kind of cancer until her 80's before she died.   Some survivors don't want to talk about cancer stuff but I don't mind.  

Cycling into D.C. the traffic was insane. but I had a pretty good shoulder most of the time but crossing the exiting lanes seemed a bit dangerous, but I was just careful when I had to cross them.  When I arived at the "Welcome to Washington D.C." I just felt a great rush of acomplishment, not as much as when I hit the Atlantic coast at VA beach, but here is where I end my ride.  I cycled to the mall and was guided there by the Washington monument.  I saw it from blocks away and once I got there I cycled around it taking a few picures.  The reflective pond was a disapointment as it was drained for cleaning but oh well.  I cycled to the Lincoln monument and took a few pictures.  I've really enjoyed all of the lincoln spots along the tour from the birthplace, to some things in IL to this memorial to the exibit I caught on my way home in Chicago.  There was a group of cyclists that were local riders for some cause there when I got there.  I told one of them a bit of my story then I went to visit the memorial up close.  I came back to my bike and road by those cyclists and they all started clapping and cheering me.  It was a very welcome conclusion to a very very long epic journey.  I smiled and waved as I cycled past.  I cycled to the road and was picked up by friends. to get me ready to catch the train home.  It was a wonderful conclusion to my story.  Now the next adventure will be to document this entire journey from front to back with the cancer battle in the middle in my book.  It's one heck of a true story and all I had to do is pay attention and take notes.

Almost in DC/Dogs/Flats/Hills?

So this morning I got going and I realized I had a flat.  This is never a good way to start out the day.  Then I realized that I used my spare that I had in my pack and didn't replace it.  This is bad because it is a lot of work to pack all my gear into the big bag and then the tent stuff that goes into a bag that sits on top of the bob bag.  I bungee those all down and get both of my flags situated...Its the least favorite part of touring and I did it twice this morning since I had to undue it all to get down to the very bottom where the spares are.  Only 2 left so I hop its not a thorn in my tire that I've missed.  I felt around where the whole would have came through the tire and couldn't feel anything.  The tire was being very difficult this morning but 40 min later I had the tire changed and everything bungeed up again.

I went to Mc Donalds which I do for breakfast sometimes.  I sat down to eat and realized they messed my order up.  I got bacon sandwiches instead of sausage, oh well, I didn't want to go stand in line again as Mc D's was a popular place this morning.  I ate and got on the road by 10AM, much later than I had wanted to get cycling.  I hit it hard and put music in today.  It was a Barenaked ladies and Dave Matthews day.  They kept me moving fast along with my cliff bars.  I was so happy there was less wind today than yesterday.  Yesterday I just gave up at about 3:30.  I just couldn't hack cycling into the wind anymore.  It had been all day.

I had dogs chase me today.  Some Rin tin tin looking dog and a pit bull.  I was in no mood to be chased.  I got off my bike and yelled at them.  THey growled at me.  I got my camera stick that works well for a dog waker.  They backed up a bit.  I got on the bike and started going and they ran right up to my bike.  I got off with my stick and just chucked it at the pit bull.  He ran away  the other one I guess saw that I didn't really want to be chased and went away too.  I think I was more patient with dogs be fore one grabbed my jacket on my trailer and ripped it a few weeks ago.

Now I'm camped outside a Catholic church in the country that was built in 1765 named st Josephs off of 404 and church ln.  I might go worship here tomorrow...but maybe not...Catholics have funny communion rules.  I might find a different church to drop in on.

Anyways.  I'm tired so I'm hitting the sack.

I'm sure my next journal will be in DC.

Later,

J

Ocean city

Well I took 4 days and cycled up to Ocean city.  I didn't get to cycle on the island with the wild horses.  I guess everything is a mess out here due to that hurricane.  I guess they do tend to mess things up where ever they go.  I was going to go home from ocean city, but renting a car has got a lot more expensive, or is just more expensive out here.  I don't know how they are still in business.  They wanted more than 700 dollars to rent a regular mid size car for 2 days.  Man, if I pay that much for a car for 2 days it better at least be luxury or a sports car...nope! A ford.  So I'm finding other means home.  I ruled out planes due to all my gear.  I've ruled out cars because they are insane, so I guess the only thing left to do is to go by train...at least according to John Candy.

I'm going to cycle to Washington D.C. because the train doesn't do bikes or checked luggage from out here and I have both.  So three more days of cycling! again!  I thought about ending in VA beach, which I forgot if I wrote about or not, but there were no cars anywhere because they were talking evacuation of the whole area, the very area I was cycling towards and yes I questioned the sanity of that move.  So everyone rented all the cars and got out of dodge.  Then it turned out they didn't get it quite as bad as they thought.  It's still a crazy mess with flooding and trees down everywhere and electricity problems....I guess that usually goes with the trees down everywhere part, but it wasn't Armageddon.

Off to D.C!  Now wishing I would have went there from the beach in the first place.

Joe

Week to Virginia beach in Pictures!!

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I hope you like the album.  There might be one more as I'm cycling to Ocean city, but this is the finishing of my Coast to Coast adventure.
Joe ><>

After much thought my decision was made for me

11/16/09

So I originially I wanted to cycle to Washington D.C.  After cycling through 30 miles of heavy traffic to get to Virginia Beach I decided that I'll drive through D.C. On my way home.  The Cross country Journey part ended with the ceremonial dipping of the front tire on VA Beach.  Since I was supposed to be here a few days ago but was delayed by a huricane or "Nor'Easter," I thought I might just rent a car from the beach area and drive back, but here's the deal, since all the crazzzy weather just came through here not a single car at any of the rentacar places is left...not even one....hmmm ok, that option was crossed off for me, I guess I'll just cycle up the coast a ways to Ocean city which should take three days ride and there is supposed to be three days of sunny weather, so that sounded good to me, cause I'm really sick of riding in crazy weather and rains and G-force winds.

I found a cheaper hotel, for 50 bucks that had a much better view of the coast.  It was on atlantic and 33rd street.  They put me on the 3rd floor in room 33.  It was a very trinitarian spot : ) and very beautiful.  I got up the next morning to try and catch the sun rise as I really really wanted to see the sunrise on the eastern sea board.  And I did.  Just as I thought there it might me a little cloudy on the horizion as it was hard to tell, there it was, just a little speck of sun.  for the next 3 min. I didn't care weather or not looking at the sun was bad for your eyes.  I just watched almost memorized by the majestic sight.  I looked down the beach and every hundred yards or so I saw someone else just standing looking, being the first ones in the country to see the sun today.  And with this experience, my trip was complete.  The main goal was to cycle across North America but the bonus would be catching a sunset in the west and a sunrise in the East.

I Made it!!! Pacific Ocean to Atlantic Ocean ride Complete!!!!

I sit in my hotel room on the fourth floor.  I opened the sliding door to my deck so I can hear the Atlantic waves crashing against the Eastern shore here on Virginia Beach.  Today was a little bit of a hectic ride finding my way through all the busy roads out to the coast, but it was worth it. 

I started out today not suited up in my rain gear because it was just supposed to be cloudy.  Unfortunately for me  it was cloudy with a side of drizzle most of the day.  I passed many yards that were under water due to all the flooding that came with the hurricane.  The storybook ending would have finished in sun shine with birds singing along the way, but with everything that has happened in this story, this is a fitting ending.  After all, what kind of stories to you get when things go perfectly.  You get a story when you finish in a hurricane. 

Once I got to the city of Virginia Beach I took a picture at the sign, but it was on the other side of the four lanes of traffic., and even if I crossed, there was no one to take my picture.  I told myself, “ah, who cares, the beach is where you want the pictures.”  But I did want a picture at that sign and just as I was getting back on my bike a mini van pulled over and people jumped out with cameras.  I thought, they might be a bit of a traffic hazard but who cares, I scurried quickly across the four lanes so I could catch them before they took their pictures.  It turns out  these two parents and their young boy, who was adorned with at least 24 burger king hats on his head and arms were on a scavenger hunt.  I said to them “I’ll take your picture if you take mine.”  Then they replied, “No, we want you in our picture.  We get more points for finding strangers.”  I just thought that was a great coincidence that as I pulled into my final City on the way to the East Coast that someone else pulled over to take a picture too.  I forgot to take a picture of them with my camera, but then I bumped into them again a few miles down the road taking a picture of a fake dolphin.  I chased them down to get a picture of them, so I’d  remember them for the book.  My pictures are how I remember stories, so I was glad I saw them again.  As I left she said maybe we’ll see you at the beach.”  It would be about an hour I replied.  It’s just 15 miles she said….People that are not cyclists are goofy.  They have no concept of how long it may take on a bike while pulling a trailer.  15 miles is at least an hour, probably an hour and 10 min pulling this rig.

I was following the directions on my GPS as I had to abandon my paper directions when a bridge on the route didn’t work out.  I didn’t go all the way up to the bridge because I heard it was a tunnel and those don’t fare well for cyclists, so I ended up finding another way across.  That has been a big frustration several times on my ride.  I try to google whether the bridges are passable on bike and I just can’t find the info.  I just got lucky with the james river bridge. 

I thought about how I might react when I arrived at the coast and I wasn’t sure.  When I got about 2.5 miles out and I saw the water on my GPS, I got a little emotional.  I wondered if I might just cry when I finally got there.  It has been such a long journey on so many different levels since I started this thing and through the Cancer I knew I had to come back and finish this ride and here I am.  When I got to a half mile out I couldn’t tell if it was water or clouds in the distance as they blended together on this windy overcast day.  At least the drizzle had stopped.  As I saw that beautiful coast, I didn’t shed tears but it was emotional.  I was so happy to have made it.  I thought about all the experiences I’ve gotten from this tour.  All the people, places and different terrains from the oceans to the desserts, from the plains to the different mountain ranges.  Scenes just flashed through my mind and here I had arrived.  I cycled down the handicap ramp right into the sand, unclipped and with a leg on each side just pressed forward pushing my heavy bike through the sand.  Usually you avoid sand as a cyclist, but I didn’t care right now, I was at the Atlantic ocean.  I pushed my bike right up into the water for the cerimonial tire tipping.  Most cross country cyclist dip their rear tire in the pacific and their front in the Atlantic.    Well I got hit by a pretty good wave when I dipped in thePacific and I dipped my whole bike (tires) in the Atlantic. 

Then I went to the waters edge with my canister of water, water that had traveled thousands of miles  I opened the little jar and poured it into the Atlantic.  And I took another container, a ride Virginia bike bottle, that was given to me by the ELCA Lutherans I met at a Presbyterian church and I filled it with Atlantic Ocean water.  I walked around the beach picking up Sea Shells and putting them in this bottle and I will put it on a shelf at home in Wisconsin to commemorate my dream I chased down.

I might not of had anyone to celebrate with but as usual there was someone there and this guy who took my picture was so excited for my.  “Gosh Man, That’s Awesome”  He Shook my hand, just amazed at my journeys end.  He took a few pictures.  He had a little boy with him named Noah.  He was 2 and liked to run off into the water so we had to keep a close eye on him, so playful.  I talked a little more to Robert (the guy who took my pic)  and in just another burst of  excitement for me he gives me a big hug and just enthusiastically says congratulations!  So I did get to share my excitement with a stranger God provided for me : )  And I guess the very first thing I did do when I got to the beach before I pushed my bike in and before I collected water, rocks and shells was to thank God for making it here.  I thanked Him for my recovery and all the blessings along the journey as I know he had my back on this long solo trip.

Since the Huricane made cycling a little slower than planned, I think I will call my journey good at Ocean to Ocean.  I was thinking about cycling up and Ending in D.C. but this trip wasn’t about that.  It was the trip of the beaches, Laguna beach to Frisco to Virginia beach.  Now if only I had my surf board.

 

James "River" Bridge- Yorktown to Churchtown

11/13/09 Friday the 13^th.  Yorktown to Chesapeake super 8

How strange it is to look at the final stretch of 26 miles.  I’ve came thousands of miles over great stretches of desert and over many mountain passes and tomorrow is it.

Today started out kinda fun and different.  I got to know cole a bit more.  He is a pretty cool guy who is the head sheff at the Duke hotel in Yorktown.  The power was out all morning and it was pretty blustery outside.  They call this a Nor-Easter and it did a heck of of a lot of damage, just as much as a hurricane might have.  Cole and I went to 7-11 and got some breakfast.  Everyone comes together a lot more when the electricity is down.  Life really revolves around electricity.  I only had 10% left on my computer so I looked up directions on google and quickly wrote them down as I modified them off of hwy 17 as much as I could. 

The wind wasn’t as bad today as it was yesterday but I enjoyed reading the newspapers about all the damage that was done yesterday.   I biked through it and it almost blew me over a few times.  I also learned today that when I set out on 17 from Yorktown yesterday, that I went the wrong way, so It was a good thing that I decided to go back to town and stay there.

The highlight of today was going over the james river bridge.  I don’t know why they call it a river because it is clearly a bay.  It was about 5 miles long.  Leading up to it I wondered how it was going to be, if there was going to be a path on the side for bikes.  Going up to it there was a sidewalk but then the sidewalk disappeared, I continued, annoyed but then I saw that the bridge was still closed.  I don’t know why the bridge was still closed as the water doesn’t come up.  I thought about turning around, but then I had no Idea how I would get across as there ar no ferries and I just didn’t want to deal with the mess that would come with trying to figure out a different way across, plus, the road is closed which means no traffic!  Sweet!  Not to mention I had a Nor-Easter to my back.  I decided to go over it.  I saw a car  go a ways a head of me with white flashing lights.  I figured I would get busted as I’m sure plenty of people saw me, but I cycled 25mph over it and figured if I just did it really fast that that single patrol car might not circle back in time.  Luckily I was right.  About 2 miles after the bridge I saw a patrol car going the other direction.  I’m betting he got a call about a cyclist on the bridge, but he didn’t catch me on it so I was home free.

The Rain Hit me pretty good for a while in the late afternoon and I did get caught in the dark but at least I had some pretty bright LEDs working for me, and an Orange reflective bike.  Eventually I did end up at a Super 8, so it’s nice to be dry.  Oh how I long for those days that I wasn’t constantly biking in rain and I would just find a shelter verses a hotel room.  I’m glad that people supported me on my ride more than I needed cause I’ve been using it lately.

"Historic" storm surges??? I almost got blown to Oz today...I thought it was almost done???

11/12/09

I’m in my hotel room in Yorktown and my computer is the only light in the room now as the power has blown out.  I’m about100 feet from the ocean as it has come up the beach.  My entire wall is a window.  This is pretty sweet room for 50 bucks.  They docked the price pretty good for me.  I probably just looked so pathetic when I came in absolutely drenched asking about their rates.  I figured it may be well over a hundred dollars so fifty was a pleasant surprise.  I set out from Williamsburg today and I had everything well prepped and ready to ride in some crazy weather.   I didn’t think it would get as crazy as it did though.  The rain cam at you so fast it would sting my face as it came crossways as I road.  The wind blowing so strong that I would lean sideways up against it as I road at times and at times when it really gusted I thought “what the hell am I doing out here”  there were a few times when I got a bit scared thinking that this wind would blow me right off my bicycle off the road.  I tried to take a few pictures today but I was really trying to get to Yorktown as fast as I could because then I knew I could start going inland a bit as I had been just cycling along the bay ocean front.  Most XC cyclists stop here but I want to go to the very ocean coast, on Virginia beach, which is now having “Historic” 8 foot surges off the ocean according to the lady on the news.  I was looking at the storm cell and it just seems to be sitting over south east Virginia right now….right where I am.  As I was  getting closer to Yorktown I saw the trees leaning towards the road bent over a bit from all the wind they have endured over the years, but then I thought of that analogy that those trees that have endured winds and storms have deep roots and don’t get blown over easily and thought it was a good metaphor for me on this journey.  Some folks I talk to say they would have packed up and went home with the first big obstacle, the bike getting stolen.   If only that had been the biggest thing that went wrong.  I was talking to someone yesterday in the hotel who was coming back from Yorktown and finishing his ride.  I told him a bit about my story and they said that they had heard about me on the road from someone, so I thought that was kind of funny.

So now I’m here wishing that the electricity would come back on, but I suppose I wouldn’t have written this down had I kept my power.  I was happily eating my Pizza that I had delivered and watching Becker paying no attention to the craziness outside my window.  People are still driving on the road witch is covered with water.  It’s been raining up to a half inch every hour  and is pretty flooded.  Salt water can’t possibly be good for your car.

Hurricane remnants delay finish

Ok, So here's the thing.  I looked out my window this morning from my Day's Inn room where I was happily warm and dry and it was raining pretty good.  It had been raining all night.  My power went out and it wasn't light outside yet so I grabbed my headlamp and got around and went to my continental breakfast.  It wasn't a very good one but I had three bagels and a banana.  I went back to my room and the power was back so I could charge up my computer and cameras.  I looked out my window and thought to myself, "I don't have any more gigs, my D.C. one isn't going to work out, so I'm just going to stay in my williamsburg room today."  It was very nice.  I was able to contemplate my route. print off some paper directions, and take several naps.  I ordered a pizza and it continued to rain and blow all day long.  I depressingly looked up the weather for the next couple of days and it only looks like it might get worse tomorrow, but I'm going to lay out my outfit tonight along with the heavy rain gear, shoe booties and plastic baggies to line the inside of them and I will just set out in the weather because I'm rested and I don't have that much money so even though this room isn't that expensive I'm not just going to sit around tomorrow.  I wish it would have been nice out today so I could have explored williamsburg a bit which is one of our nations first cities.  I won't make the 75 miles tomorrow through urban area in the the wind gusts and rain tomorrow, but I'll make it to another hotel or hostel so I can dry out what will inevitably be my soaking wet rain gear despite my best efforts to stay dry.

The good news is that though it will rain tomorrow and the next day, I'll camp on the coast and the next morning this storm will have passed and I will be able to see the sun rise on the Eastern Seaboard which is the thing I want to do on the coast, besides splash around in celebration of my long journey.

I remember the beautiful sunsets on the west coast over the Pacific Ocean, so I'll be looking forward to the equally beautiful sunrises of the East.  

Peace be the journey,

Joe

Tomorrow I finish it

So today was a good day.  The weather was supposed to get me wet but it held out until I got to Williamsburg, VA.  Tomorrow it is supposed to rain too, so I just might check this big adventure of lifes to do list in the rain.  Either way, I'm going to cycle up to the ocean, dip my wheel and jump in the water and splash around in celebration.  I'll get some random bystander to take a picture or two.  It would be better if I had someone to celebrate the accomplishment but it will feel good just to know that I didn't just talk about my dreams, that even though there were crazy things that went wrong in the process.  My trailer broke down, My bike was stolen, thieves stole my video equipment, I had to ditch my trailer when it proved to be insufficient, and of coarse worst of all was diagnosed with Cancer.  But every time something bad happened God would bless me with some blessing.  I got a new trailer and two days later a stranger would give me money that covered the cost, I was given a new bike and I came back after surviving brain cancer.  So there has been many stories that have come about since I started this journey which will make for a good book that I will start putting together outlines and plans as soon as I get home.  The greatest Irony is that I started this ride, riding for cancer and was diagnosed after having to quit the ride in the geographical center of the country when I fell ill.

So Tomorrow is Virginia Beach.  The ride started in Orange counties Laguna Beach going up to San Francisco, Then going across to Great Bend (went home to deal with illness) came back right after Chemo going from Great Bend to Virginia Beach and then I'll ride up to D.C. before I go home.

It's been my greatest adventure and the project of turning it into a book will be the good next challenge.  I hope to have made good progress before I go to Norway, which is my next thing that I've always wanted to do that I've never had time to do.  I'd like to ski the Birkie over there but I have a feeling that tickets will be hard to come by.

Anyways, have a good night.  Tomorrow, I finish it.  Coast to Coast.

Joe

Civil war areas around Mechanicsville, VA

So I left the Haars this morning  and went down a pretty steep hill.  They thought I'd crash if I attempted this hill so of coarse I had to give it a try.  I didn't crash but there was a brief moment where I thought I'd have too much speed and hit there fence across the driveway, but I handled it (without hitting the fence).

Food was good today.  I was spoiled with waffles and scrambled eggs with cheese and peppers this morning.  I found a little family run hoagie joint that had some great sandwiches.  But tonight I'm just going to have some Chocolate milk and candy bars.

There were a lot of battle fields that I cycled by today from the civil war which I learned people down south don't refer to it as the 'civil' war.  They might call it the 'war of northern oppression.'  I'm sure african americans would have said they were even more oppressed by the south.

I was going to camp behind a baptist church but then I saw there was a cyclist camping spot at a church up the road.  Since it's always better to camp legally, I pressed on for the 60 mile day.  In my conversation with God earlier today I said it would be nice to find somewhere warm, inside with electricity and internet...which is usually a stretch.  But once I get to the camping spot there was even better than a shelter.  There was a building with electricity, tv, fridge, and internet!  So that worked out pretty well.  Since I didn't call ahead I lucked out because there was a meeting tonight so someone let me in, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten to be inside.

Ok, That's all I feel like blogging about tonight.  

Joe

Short but good day

So I woke up this morning behind the Episcopal church where I camped out last night and got going.  It's sunday and I have no gig planned anywhere so I just look for a church to attend randomly when that is the case.  I found one church but they were not starting for an hour and a half so I pressed on.  Then I found a church where people where walking in which is always a good sign.  I met a guy whose name is George with is mom Heriot.  She was in her 90's.  They invited me in to sit with them.  This Church was established in the early colonial days and even more importantly to me right now is that it was starting in five minutes which is what I was looking for.  So I went in with george and heriot.  After Church there was a guy who invited me to his house.  His name is Jack Haar.  We had Lunch and it turns out that he cycled this route last year and him and I were on the same route for a while so that was a cool coincidence.  The next coincidence was that him and his wife are not really episcopalian but ELCA Lutherans, which was kind of funny.  And even more was that He had a Medical student (he's a professor) doing his doctorate work on Brain Cancer medicine.  I forget exactly how he explained it because...yeah, I don't do medicine, I take it.

We had a lot of different stuff to talk about and we did as he took me around in his Model A Ford which was a nice convertible and it was ride on a pleasantly warm day, a ride that didn't ware down my quads any more : ) .  I was going to go and stay in the town 9 miles up the road, but he talked about having cyclists stay at his home and I asked if I might be able just to stake out here for the night and get some blogging and picture down loading done, so here I am blogging and down loading pictures.  I hope you like them.

This house was built in 1790 which makes my 1890 house I grew up in look pretty new.

I should have maybe road a bit more today but this is nice.  I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow : /

Peace,

Joe

Pictures for week 7 in review

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Anna Lake

HELLO!

Great day of cycling today!  It started out bitter cold and by bitter I mean like 35 degrees so not that bitter.  I packed up my stuff from behind the church where I was staked out. and went back to the place general store where I had such a good dinner of mashed potato, gravy and chicken legs last night and this morning started out with sausage biscuits and gravy and then went back for seconds and got the breakfast mess which was more biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon and hash.  I ate it all but the hash which I didn't really care for.  They were all impressed that I could eat so much.  I was just glad that I found such a great place to get such good food!

It was such a nice sunny autumn day today.  Leaves are constantly falling as I cycle by the oak trees.  I started thinking about my tree back home.  It's a pine tree and I hope no one ever cuts it down or at least not for a good 100 years.  I planted it in 3rd grade and it was the first tree I got to grow.  The previous earth day trees always would die.  I really should plant more trees.  It's something that I like doing and I love watching them grow knowing I planted them.

I had lunch by a guys driveway and he came out to see if I needed anything.  I didn't really but I went inside to fill up my water.  I was greeted by his two dogs that alerted him to my presence and they were two tiny tiny dogs called yosha teriers or something like that.  They had little faces like walkees or the ewalks from star wars...you can tell I'm not much of a star wars buff.  :)

I got to the tent indicating a camping site on my map and there was no store...then I remembered a boarded up store I passed a few miles back and thought...hmmm, I bet that was it and it never got taken off the cycling maps.  So I pressed on until I found another church.  I had the amazing backpacker strawberry chocolate dessert I've been saving since Carl and I climbed our 14er and didn't eat it.  So, thanks Carl, it was good.

Now I"m going to eat a snickers to send my hunger to Germany and go to bed.  once again.  I'll post pictures later once I find a good place to plug in.

Happy Trails!

Joe

oh and why I named this post Anna lake is because I passed a really cool lake called Anna lake, So Mom, there is a lake out here waiting for ya with your name on it!

Charlottesville, Blue parkway ridge

Sorry, I"m getting behind.  I'm getting close the the coast.  five more day's and this dream that I've been in the process of chasing down since june of 2008 will finally be accomplished.  There have been many more obstacles than I ever could have imagined but now all over come, I'm very close.

I'm in Charlottesville which is where one of my most favorite musicians in the whole wide world came out of, Dave Matthews.  The pastor took me around to the thomas jefferson sites and then to millers where Dave got started.  (was a little more excited about millers : )  

Last night the concert went very well.  THere were a lot of people there so that was fun.  We had a lot of pizza before hand which didn't do wonders for my singing voice, but oh well.  It was a very looooong day getting to the gig.  I'm not as strong as I was last year, still building to get back to that point so 60 miles pulling my cart was a long day.  And I cycled the rest of Blue ridge Parkway, though I got the worst climb out of the way the evening before.  Someone said it was the worst climb on the tour.  I'm not sure but it was definently top 5.  I climbed for 55 minutes between 2 and 3 mph and that was as fast as I could go.   Sometimes I do those climbs in a lot of short bursts, but I conqured this mountain without getting off the bike, so that was pretty good.  I had one more little scare that I thought I was going to crash the rig but I regained control of the bike, somehow.  I was looking down to see what was making some noise.  I forgot that I probably should have been watching the road and I veared off, hit the breaks and sort of fish tailed or jack knifed my bike and trailer back and forth a few times before I regained control  Wheeew,  it was close.   I camped up on top of the blue ridge parkway at 3200 feet.  It was in the 20's that night, but I was all good in my 20 degree bag,  but I did have to close up the face hole on the mummy bag, which I don't usually have to do.

I'm tired but I'll get a few miles in today.  primarily a rest day today.

pictures later.

peace.

PICTURES for week 6 in review

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2169896&id=73405078&l=5d3bfff73d

AGAIN, take this and copy it and paste it up above in address bar (instructions for old people : )  )

HOPE YOU LIKE the PICTURES!

11/2eccentric cyclist and hitchhiking backpackers

November 2

Today was a great sunny day on my way to Lexington VA!  I met some interesting folks along the path as well which always makes the trek a little bit more fun.  I was well rested after my hotel stay and watching the packer viking game yesterday, sad for the pack but great for Favre.  I thought I was done with the mountains but as it turns out I have one really REALLY big climb today.  The cyclist I met along the path said it was the worst on the whole route, but we'll see about that.  This route has had some pretty insane climbs.  

I came across a couple of backpackers today.  They had two sets of names, trail names and real names.  Their were nina and chuck a.k.a 'something fire' as I can't make out the word on the video and bug man I told them my name and that I didn't have an interesting trail name.  I was skeletor on halloween, but I wouldn't pick that as my alias.   They were hiking the appalachian trail so I was eager to learn a little bit about their travels as I think I might put that adventure on the bucket list.  They were trying to hitchhike a ride to get to a post office where they mailed food and supplies but having little luck when we crossed paths.

My other interesting encounter today as I briefly mentioned earlier was with a cyclist who was a little crazy.  I was off the transamerica cycling route and I intentionally did this so I could go see the Natural rock bridge.  The road was just a little bit busier and a little hillier.  I met him coming the other way (a local cyclist, not a touring) and he tours around and looks at me wide eyed saying, your off the trail, I said I know but I wanted to come this way "No, you want to be on the trail, the route is much better"  I showed him that I had the maps and this slight deviation was intentional.  "You should get on up ahead" and he starts giving me directions...and I'm just a few miles from town.  He went on about did I know about this and that and the other thing.  I like talking to people and I like learning things but this guy was really annoying and I don't meet to many people cycling I consider that annoying.  I've cycled over 3000 miles on the route, so I know about it.  I just let him talk for a while and then said I had to make it to my gig, so we parted with me thinking "Good grief!"

11/3

So this morning I got into my Blue dog cycling outfit witch used to be a bit tight, but now fits pretty well.  That makes me happy.  I've lost about a good 12 lbs, maybe 15 on the tour (and yes mom, I'm eating enough : P ) so that's cool.  On that note I'm going to go have my free continental breakfast!  

Packer Viking day Nov 1

So todays objective was to get to Buchanan, VA and get to my hotel so I could watch the packer viking game.  I've been looking forward to this game since before the season began.  I wasn't sure how I was going to react to favre coming back in Purple to play in Green Bay.  And the verdict was that I'd much rather him be dressed in green and gold but since he was cast out, I was glad that he came back and kicked Green Bay.  I hope his release goes down as the largest botch of Thomson and McCarthy's Career.  Favre is my favorite athlete ever and though I am a huge packer fan, because of how things played out I'm an even bigger fan of what ever team Favre is running as long as he wants to play.  It was a good game.  Green Bay didn't even hardly show up to play until the second half and by then it was too late.

Halloween! Haunted House random joining

Hey Hey!

So this Halloween turned out to  be a lot more fun than I was anticipating.  I always loved this holiday growing up so a few weeks ago when I found a cape and a mask for a dollar each I jumped at the buy.  Today those purchases were put to good use.  I have a lot of dialog with God while I'm on my bike....well, I don't really hear him back, but I talk and I was hoping that I would find some place to have some halloween fun and when I arived in my town I stopped at a store.  I almost went by it but I figured I could use a drink.  So I just stopped at this general store and it turned out they were having a haunted house, so I figured I might come back later.  Then they said I could stay in the building after the haunted house, so that was cool so I hung around, took a nap, but then got back into my skeletor looking costume and participated with the staff in scaring people in the house.  I had some good ones too.  This is a pretty good haunted house, I mean it is really decked out.

Cycling today was fun.  I did a good portion of the ride in my sceletor digs.  my cape was just flapping in the wind, I was decked out in my black riding stuff and my mask and hood fit under my helmet.  I was dressed like a skeleton riding on hwy 666 to christiansburg on halloween; I thought that was kind funny.  It was supposed to rain today but it didn't really.  Just a few sprinkles fell.  

The crew that I ended up scaring people with were pretty cool.  We'd freek people out as they came past and then we'd just chat for 10 minutes or so till we heard the next group coming through.  I teamed up with Freddy Krugger.  No one ever saw us coming until we were jumping out.  It was a pretty sweet day and just another adventure that I had that wasn't planned on.  I was a little bummed that I didn't have any friends to do anything with when I was thinking earlier today, but I made some in this little town.  afterwards we shut it all down and sat around for a beer and then went home.  So Halloween this year ended up being a very memorable one.  The different people would come up to me and ask me how i was associated with the store and before long I had just gained the name, the biker guy by all the folks.  one lady looked at my shoes and said nice shoes (before she knew I was the cyclist) which I thought was pretty good that she recognized them as cycling shoes.  Anyway.  Good day.  Good weather.  Happy Halloween!  Wha ha ha ha.

10/28 Road to Damascus/Appalachian trail

Damascus Virginia that is.

10/28/09

I got going in the morning from Mt. Carmel church.  I had expected to run into pastor Jim in the morning but he must have taken the day off or been busy with something else so I never got to meet him.  Today was the road to Damascus. As you will be able to note from one of the photos.  The road to Damascus was a nice road, most of it, and had very few cars beaming by me.  I had a nice few of the mountain range and once I got into Damascus it was a little harder than I thought it would be to find the actual bike shop.  There are rental bike shops in town since the creeper trail is so popular.  I wonder why they named it that?  If I wanted people to come checkout miy beautiful trail the last thing I would name it would be the creeper trail, but that’s what they called it.  I found the shop as it was decked out with all kinds of phsycadelic colors. And I was able to take care of almost everything I needed to.  I got a new computer being as the rain fried my last one.  They had a handle bar bag with a clear map holder on top.  I’d been looking for one of those for hundreds of miles, but just didn’t want it bad enough to order it.  I got an additional bag that sat on my back rack. And most importantly, BIKE OIL.  My chain has been squeaking for 350 miles and few of these towns have shops in them.   Actually, most importantly I got my breaks taken care of.  These mountains are hard on them and especially in the rain I miss the first bike that I had before ‘Make Shift’.  Those disc brakes would have some in handy.

Before a left town I had a big bowl of taco salad and a blueberry shake which was stellar good.

I got going on the creeper trail which is kind of like the Sparta Elroy trail except a little rougher.  Which slowed me down a few mph.  It crossed the river many times and also crossed the Appalachian trail which was really cool because I have never seen the trail but I’ve heard a lot about it and will probably hike it someday. 

So out on the Creeper trail I cam across a perfect camping spot.  I was going to go about 6 more miles, but it was quiet here right on the bike trail with a rushing river next to it, so I couldn’t pass it up.  It even had a fire pit.  Now I probably should have sat down and wrote journals or did something productive but the eagle scout in me saw a fire ring.  It had rained pretty hard 2 nights ago and rained a bit the prievious night so it was going to be a challenge.  And I’m not quite sure if I’ve ever worked so hard to make a little fire but with a lot of effort, pine needles and trying really hard to find anything remotely dry I eventually got a nice little fire going which was nice to sit next to as my brain unwound from the day.  

9/27/09 Full day in VA-Miserable rainy/ Mt. Descent crash/pleasant end

9/27/09 Full day in VA-Miserable MT Descent/wipeout/pleasant end

I set off this morning after talking to Ike, the guy who let me stay under the shelter.  He was talken to me. “yeh, I wouldn’t camp out hea wit out no gun.  If a bear stuck his head in my tent, he’d see my 45 and he’d be leaving.”  It’s ok that Ike and I have different perspectives on camping, he was a good guy.  The rain started coming down even though I got out early, but it was just light. And I was still in pleasant spirits as there was a lot of climbing and the rain kept me cool.  I thought about gearing up but I didn’t want to get hot so today I just opted to get wet.  But then it picked up and once I got to a summit I knew I’d freeze on the way down so I put my gortex coat on over the other one.  I was good for a while but then the rain broke my defenses on my feet.  I hate soaking wet feet!  I got on a mountain that I must have climbed for 3 or4 miles and the rain had picked up and the spirits were not doing so well anymore.  I had had it with being soaking wet so  I did something at the top that I had yet to have done, and that was change outfits.  I had a dry rain coat, the gortex one.  I had dry base lair shirts and a long sleeve so I made up my mind to change as quick as I could.  So while stopping and taking my gear off, people keep on stopping as they drive by and wanting to talk about where I’m from and where I’m going….and I’m like,  HELLO, I’m freezing my ass off and am trying to get changed! But I didn’t say that, cause they were just caring, not to intuitive, people inquiring.  Some drove by and just looked and I wondered what they were thinking.  I left my tights on cause I just wanted to get my core dry.  So I did it as quick as I could.  One guy thought there was something wrong and stopped to ask and I said no, just fine (in a rush as I try to make my change trying to keep what is dry, dry.  Are you sure nothings wrong.  And mind you now, my mood is not good.  The first thing that popped into my head was “Nothings wrong besides no one leaving me alone so I can do this!”  I was in a real hurry to try to get to my intended town (which didn’t happen)  But anyway, I got changed with two new undershirts then my new jersey and put my gortex on and it felt so good to be dry and warm.  I loaded up and headed down a rainy, misty mountain.  I soon realize that my breaks have decided that they are no longer going to function very well.  I was on them as hard as my hands could squeeze and that was just enough to keep me at a moderately slow pace.  I didn’t want to let go for very long because if I got my speed up and then  squeezed, it wouldn’t slow very fast at all.  My hand muscles were getting so sore from squeezing I just wished the down hill would end, but it was several miles long (something that is usually good)  at one of the switchbacks the road got real steep for a little bit, too much for my breaks to slow me and I got going to fast to make the corner.  It wasn’t a sharp drop off like some, so I had room to crash the bike off the road and that’s what I did.  The car right behind asks if I’m alright and I was and I said that he could go on.  Now I really wasn’t too happy but I was glad that I didn’t hurt myself or the bike after giving it a little look over.  I continue down the steep rainy mountain on the breaks 100 percent as hard as I could squeeze them and when my hands hurt too much I just stopped to give them a break vs. letting go for a second and picking up speed.  Some of those ledges, if I let the  bike go, I’d be shopping for a new bike, not to mention everything else.  I also noticed that my odometer was finally shot.  It has a little rubber missing and I’m assuming it got too wet.  I make it down the mountain and soon realize that I’m not going to make it to Demascus where I know there is a nice dry motel waiting for me.  So much of my gear is soaked.  I prayed that I’d just find something or someone like a couple nights ago.  It was getting dark and I see a hey shelter but keep going, keeping that in the back of my mind.  Then I saw a church with a shelter.  YES!  That will work.  I pull in and there were cars in the lot.  So I figure I’d just go in and ask.  Churches on this route see us all the time and are used to cyclists staying in shelters.  They said I could stay there.  They were just about ready to start Bible study.  So I said, Oh, I’ll join you.   I think they were surprised to have a 20 something guy want to join them.  Then they actually let me stay in the church, which was sweet because right now all my wet gear is drying over the heat vent on an elaborate close line I constructed with coat hangers and parachute chord.

It sure is nice to be inside, warm and dry.  Prayer answered.  I was miserable for the last hour and a half and this is much better than I even expected.  I would have settled for the shelter outside and thought that was great just to have a roof over my head.  Every night the last five nights, something nice has come along just when I needed it.  Well it’s time for bed now, nice, dry and warm.

Mon 10/26 The heart of Appalachia and Crossing into Virginia.

Monday 10/26  The heart of Appalachia  and Crossing into Virginia.

Well now I’m in the heart of the Appalachian mountains and today was the hardest day I’ve had on the tour thus far.  I climbed mountains for hours today at grades that make the bluff climbs look like sissy workouts.  Some of these passes I would go not 5 miles an hour up but 2 to 3 mph.  I love burning down the backside of the mountain, but you know that takes all of about 2 minutes and then I’m climbing again for the next 45.  Surprisingly I’m not that sore.  We’ll see if I can repeat that statement tomorrow.  I think the fall colors have reached their peak.  I catch all the beauty as I paper boy it up these climbs. Traffic is very low so sometimes I cross back and forth through the whole road when the grade gets to steep.  I took a pic of one of those signs at the top of the hill where they show a truck going  down a steep grade.  Out west, they tell you what the grade is.  Here there is no % mark.  I guess you just assume it’s going to be insanely steep.  At one point today I caught the cars on the descent and they were making me hit my breaks more than I wanted to.  On the way down I’m very focused because hitting just a little rock on a corner at 30mph could be very detrimental.  I swerved around on big whole in the road which would have trashed my bike had I been looking at the trees around me, but like I said, I’m pretty focused on the way down.

Breaks Interstate Park on the border of KY and VA was stellar sweet.  The Colorful trees just going forever.  The pictures don’t do it justice as they never do.  At this point when you are on top of the world, you completely forget the entire last 40 minutes of climbing at a gruelingly slow pace and you just stand in awe of such a creation.  I had 5 or 6 big climbs today and the last 8 miles were flat and small climbs which was a good end to the day. 

At the end of the day I was in a subway and overheard a couple talking about someone with stitches in their head and how they had a tumor removed.  The lady saw me paying close attention to their conversation and so I chimed in that I was just interested because I was a recent brain cancer survivor.  The individual had been without a tumor for 10 years and I couldn’t help but just think how much that sucks that  even though I survived the battle, the War might still not be over.  I left the subway and this just motivated me.  I set a pace much faster than I usually do, at it was the end of a 65 mile day.  I was just thinking about how people train for events.  I will continue to train and stay in top shape and stay healthy and strong, just incase it ever comes back and rears it’s ugly face in my life again, so I can beat it again.. 

I was cycling and my breakneck pace and it was starting to get darker out so I was looking for a place to camp and I passed a big grassy field with a shelter.  And it had spots that looked like greens.  I saw people playing golf and they waved.  So I pulled in and talked with them.  It was a father out playing with his son who is apparently a pretty good golfer.  I told him about how Andy and I were golfers in highschool.  The guys name was Ike and he said sure I could sleep under the shelter, but I’ll have to watch out for the bears.  There are black bears in the area, but black bears are seldomly looking for trouble.  There was a fridge that I tucked all my food into and I’ll be fine sleeping outside….and if I’m not, well you’ll hear about in in tomorrows entry : ).

Sunday 10/25 Appalachia- Lucky day and stay with Susan & Donnie

Sunday 10/25  Appalachia- Lucky day and stay with  Susan & Donnie

so my lucky day started this morning when I went to the college cafeteria and they were closed,  but the guy comes to the door and he lets me in to get a bowl of cerial and juice.  Walking around the cafeteria reminded me of my college years.  The campus was a really cool campus which is apparently a “working campus” meaning all the students work 10 hrs/week and graduate with very little debt or debt free.   I set out on the road around 11am when I saw the windows on the cars in the lot were becoming a little defrosted as it was a chilly night.  I knew that I was going to have a few mountains to get over today, so that would keep me warm.

The colors were sweet as always here in the mountains.  The climbs were challenging but I’ve heard so much talk about the steepness of these mountains for the last umpthousand miles that I’ve worked them up in my head steeper than they could possibly be.  I just stick the bike in the granny gear and make my way up the mountain for 40 min at 3.5 miles per hour.  Today I had my new compass mounted to my bike…and by mounted I mean strapped on with electrical tape.

So I was going to try to find the Viking game somewhere today but there are no bars in these small towns.  I ask people where there might be a sports bar and they look at me like ‘what’s a sports bar?”.   In Wisconsin you’d be hard pressed to find a town without a bar or grill to catch the game at.  I didn’t catch it and that’s ok cause they lost.  I knew the odds of Favre running the table was small, but how cool would that have been.

When the sun went down and I was trying to figure out where I should lay my head down tonight I wasn’t having a lot of luck finding churches.  I like camping behind them because you are not bothered, usually the church doesn’t mind.  I got off the main road I was on thinking about how I lucked out last night and got to be inside.  I said to God, “hey how about someplace to stay up here pretty soon” and about a half mile later I saw a church.  I got closer and realized it was a barn that looked like a church that had a steeple.  Disappointed I passed waving to the guy coming out of it.  Then I thought, I should turn around and ask him if I could stay in his yard.  Nah, I don’t want to bother him, but then I did turn around.  And he wasn’t outside and I wasn’t going to bother him in his barn.  So I turn around again and there he is standing there behind his trailer much closer than before.  I asked him if there was anywhere up ahead I could camp.  “not for 9 miles and over the big hill “ I told him I probably wouldn’t go that far as it was getting dark.  “Well, you can set up anywhere around here if you want”  So I was in luck.  The he asked if I had dinner and invited me in.  His wife fixed me a wonderful plate of potatoes, beans and meat loaf and buns.  We got to talking.  Susan, his wife, is addicted to Facebook which I thought was funny since she is my moms age and my mom can barely do email on the computer.  After dinner we played with their 1 year old dog, Dixie who loves her red ball and will run all over the house after it.  I laughed a lot.  We continued to play with Dixie as we were watching Sunday night football and it was just a lot of fun that wasn’t expected tonight.  Susan showed me her pictures of her and the Osmonds which she loves to death which was also humorous, especially since she married her husband who’s name is Donnie.  They were both very nice and now tonight I have another place indoors to stay.  I love the unexpected friends that I make on the road that were not planned, by me anyway.

sat10/24-Random Church basement stay/beautiful Appalachia

room from night before

10/24/09  Hazard to Pippa Passes 40mi day

Today just felt like a lazy day.  Pastor from Hazard put me up in a nice hotel last night which I thought was very nice of him considering that I didn’t make it to his church to do the gig, but he was very nonchalant about it which was nice.  He was very understanding about the delays from the bridge detour, which I was probably more upset about than anyone, but I don’t want to think about that right now or I’ll get upset again.  Since I was in a plush place this morning I just took it easy.  I had breakfast and then I posted some stuff, then I had second breakfast and that’s another thing; I was hungry all day.  It didn’t really matter how much I ate.  I got out of Hazard at 11 but found a wal-mart and knew that they would have the compass that I’ve been wanting on the road for the last 400 miles that I just keep forgetting to get.  I walked back out to my bike and there was Wesley, the pastor’s son from Hazard.  He was like “ I saw the Orange bike and told my uncle Joes here!”  Yeah, the orange reflector material is unique and a pretty dead giveaway that I’m somewhere in the vicinity.  It’s funny, I’m still paranoid that someone’s going to steel my bike even though it’s not worth anything, just cause I’d me so up the creek if anyone did take it and I doubt I’d find another bike shop to just give me another one.

So setting off it was drizzling and I figured that it was going to be a rainy day.  I didn’t even wait for the hard stuff to gear my feet up.  I hate having soggy feet more than anything and my second pair of booties are not working out that  great either, but what does work is when I take the first pair that didn’t work and layer them with plastic shopping bags over my shoes.  Spend all kinds of money on gear and the best thing are bags you get for free, even if you don’t want them.  I once bought a bag and they put it in a bag…
I wanted to call the day after 20 miles, I was just tired or more mentally lazy today,  but once I hit 30 at Hindman and found exactly what I was hoping to find, grilled roast beef cheese sandwich and soup, I was a happy camper.  I called ahead to a hostel but she said she doesn’t do that anymore but there was a church that is not being used that the ladies across the street have keys to, so that sounded good to me.  I love how I stay at all kind of cycling places that I don’t even find out about through adventure cycling or any organization, it just comes to you down the grapevine when you are on the road.

So I got to the church and then called the lady who used to have the hostel to ask where the two ladies live that have the keys.  And as I’m talking to her on the phone a lady walks out on the balcony and waves and I figured I had found her.  So they both came down and unlocked the church and got me all set up.  I was just fine camping out tonight, but it looked as if it could rain so I’m glad to be indoors. 

And Just now as I was journaling there was a knock at the door.  I tried a few different doors before I got the right one and it was a lady I had talked to earlier here when I was trying to find the church.  She works at the college, as I cycled through a college campus which looks like a really neat little private college.  It’s all set up and looks like  village with old buildings of brick and…well anyways, she just walked over because she had put together a little bage of goodies for me which was very sweet.  It came at a good time because I was kinda hungery but I’m in now and don’t want to venture out.  She said you are brave, I’m afraid of the spiders down there, then recalling I did smush one spider, but I didn’t know that there were like spiders plural down here.  I don’t have arachnophobia or anything but I don’t like them cralling on me in my sleep and biting me.  I had that enough in my home growing up.  I thought, maybe I’ll find a room in the basement and close the doors and kill all of the spiders in the room….then looking around I found that would never work, but then I’m like duh, I have a mesh tent.  So I set my tent up, happily now that I have snacks and a solution to a problem that I worried about since she brought it up.  Ok.  Time for bed.