Orangerockscycles

My Final photo album to D.C. to Westby

2009-12-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-27T15:41:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-11-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

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,

Ocean city

2009-11-20T00:46:00.000-08:00

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!!

2009-11-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

Share this album with anyone by sending them this public link:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2171257&id=73405078&l=b40e52c9ae

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

2009-11-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

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!!!!

2009-11-14T18:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-13T17:56:00.000-08:00

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???

2009-11-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-10T17:51:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-08T15:17:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

Share this album with anyone by sending them this public link:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2170447&id=73405078&l=3c54eda2da

Anna Lake

2009-11-07T15:16:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T06:23:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T04:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-31T19:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-29T10:28:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-27T20:23:00.002-07:00

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.

2009-10-27T20:00:00.002-07:00

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

2009-10-25T20:19:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

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.

10/23 Rain, big hills and amazing country

2009-10-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

Me....upsidedown. Nice colors eh?

10/23 morn

My muscles are quite sore from the climbs and the speed at which I was attacking them, until I realized I wasn’t going to make the gig. When you get that realization it just breaks your spirit to climb these hills, so then you just stick it in granny gear and go 3.5 mph up some of these hills

I set out from Booneville and I made it to a country store where some guys asked me if I stayed behind a church last night at the cyclist shelter. I said yes, I did. And it turns out he’s the Presbyterian pastor of that church. He asked if there were anymore coming. I didn’t know, so I just shrugged and said, probably not as it’s getting late in the season. People were thinking I was going to be so cold out here nearing the end of October but this is perfect. I can’t imagine climbing these hills in the summer heat. I burn up even in the cooler weather and it’s been reasonably warm. I started out today in the rain, which, and I must be sick, but actually enjoy, at least for a while. The effect of this is cool and I get to get all ‘raingeared up’ wears off after about an hour. But the fall colors were so pretty I completely forget that I’m getting wet and am climbing monstrous hills. I enjoy looking at all the different farms. They all do some decoration on their barn. Many of them have some quilt like design adorning the front which I enjoy stoping to take pictures, sometimes so much that I never get anywhere. This is why my old fellow backpack guides at Rainbow trail called me the Japanese tourist….yeah, I admit it. There is this one plant I’ve seen that grows like a vine all over trees with it’s green leaves that looks really cool.

So my worst hill of the day was after Buckhorn. I mean, this was like climbing a mountain. I climbed for a few miles and then went down a bit only to shortly begin climbing some more. Hazard was only 45 or 50 miles away. But I’m a slow touring cyclist. I like to take it all in and I’m fascinated by all the colorful hills that just pop up all over the place, even moreso if I can bike around them v.s. over them. The pastor didn’t think I could keep my 10.5 mph pace through these hills, but when you get to descend at 37 mph, it makes up for the 4mph that you spent climbing for 45 min. I love just sailing down these rolling hills. Especially after Buckhorn which I thought that climb was never going to end.

I got to Hazard and met the pastor and his family. We ran around town to find a place to eat that wasn’t booked solid (It’s a homecoming and a Friday night) We found a nice buffet place and now I’m stuffed. Catfish and shrimp and mashed potatoes and gravy. I definetly made up for calories burned today. The church put me up in this nice hotel and with a discount upgraded me to a sweet, so it’s pretty plush. And here I am burning all my time catching up blogs and emails : P

The next gig isn’t booked for 10 days, so it will be nice to just put down some miles and not feel rushed to be anywhere by a certain time. I love it, but now it will be a little like last year for a bit, where I’ll make it as far as I make it. All I need are 50 mile days and I’ll be in Lexington Virginia on Nov. 2

cycle shelter, beautiful colors, and glasses in toilet

2009-10-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

10/22

Today was a beautiful let down

I am still behind from the detour. I’m a day behind so I relooked at all my stops and moved some dates around. My next gig is on the 2 of Nov so I don’t have to worry. I’ll make that one. Today I randomly stopped at the top of a very large hill at a guys house to use his phone because I didn’t kthink I was going to make it to hazard and my phone was dead. He ended up directing me to a biker shelter behind a church here in Booneville. Eastern KY is a Maze. I get lead down some crazy road and some really nice roads with little traffic. I got to boone ville and the very first thing I do at the biker shelter is go to the bathroom in the portipotty. I bend over, and my glasses fall off my shirt into the toilet. I don’t panic, I just think hmmm….then I wonder how much poop is down there….then I start thinking of solutions to my problem. There is a dollar store that I figured could help me out. I went and got gloves and ammonia…. I opened the gloves in the stor and the long cuff is not long enough. SO I bought some tall plastic kitchen bags and that did the trick….. I got my glasses back and washed them with the ammonia and rinced them off. I spent most the evening mooching off the electricity of the public library outside here and the internet catching up my blog. There is just always more to do. A couple parked in the lot here, but a cop just pulled in so the car started up and left…funny. I’m tired of map work and writing. My stuff is charged and it’s time for bed.

Pictures for week 4 in review

2009-10-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2168260&id=73405078&l=a0d16da525

Enjoy these pictures from Week 4!

10/17 E-town and President Lincoln's home birth town memorial

2009-10-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey, I’m back blogging again. You know, Eastern Kentucky isn’t exactly a metropolis out here! I just started getting into Appalachia and the leaves are in full bloom and it is absolutely mind bogglingly, is that a word?, geogeous out here. There have been some very good experiences and some not so good ones as always. E-town, or Elizabeth town was a very cool place. I didn’t do a regular program as it was just a Sunday morning deal but they really liked the stories. I sang in the choir and there was a nice 9^th grade girl showing me the measures and how to read the music. I didn’t teller her I spent 5 years studying this till later, otherwise she might expect me to be good. They put me up in a hotel the first night but the second night I stayed with a neat fella named Dallas. He’s about as kind of a person as you are likely to run into. He cept on offering to buy me shoes if I didn’t have good ones or socks. I had to show him my bag of socks before he’d stop offering, but it was kind of him. He had a garden he loved, fish and deer on the wall and stories to go with them and a picture of a 12 foot sunflower, which he was very proud of. They put it in the paper.

The one thing I was looking forward to was going to President Lincoln’s birth town where they have memorials and allegedly, his birth cabin. I saw the Bible that president obama used during his inauguration. I enjoyed the whole experience, even though the main memorial was closed and I couldn’t see the cabin. I watched a film and saw a display of what it might have looked like while they lived in that little one room deal. I bought some souvenears which I don’t usually do, but I was looking forward to this more than anything this whole half…besides completing the tour.. The tree that was in his yard was 28 years old when he was born and they showed different accomplishments through the rings of the tree. You can catch me taking the pic in the reflection.

10/16 Surprises and rain

2009-10-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Publish Post

10/16 Owensboro to Rough river Elise and Colby hotel surprise

So I had a day of cycling in the rain and cold. It was in the fourties all day. I could see my breath most the day as I pedeled along. But on the good side, the colors are beautiful and the shades that I wear make the colors that much more aluminating. The yellows and reds are even brighter. I was going to camp and I could have done that, but when I got near my destination I found an Inn and it was 50 bucks, so that was the majic number and so I got a room. I constructed a few cloths lines out of parachute rope and bunge chords. I turned up the fan to blow on everything and got changed. I was just going to have a candy bar and maybe a banana as I hadn’t had dinner yet and I surely wasn’t going to go back outside. I had missed a phone call earlier. I called Dad cause I thought it was him. But then pam called from the next church so I took that call. Elise called while I was talking to pam but I didn’t inturuped my conversation with pam and then I lost the signal and then there was a knock at the door which I assumed to be hotel people and I’m like “ahhh, I can’t talk to everyone at once!” as I was trying to talk to these people on the phone and I didn’t really want to be inturupted by hotel people. I wanted to call either try to call pam back or get a hold of Elise. I opended the door to a surprise. It was Elise and Colby (my last host) I thought maybe I had left something but they tracked me down because Colby had went to play polker with the VFW guys and he had decided before he started that he would send the money to me to support me and my tour if he won. Though he hadn’t won anything for some time, he did tonight and handed me 5 20’s. I chuckled a bit telling him he didn’t need to do that. He just said that he wanted to. I invited them in to chat and then they asked if I had eaten any food. I told them about my planned snicker bar and banana lunch since I didn’t want to cycle out in the cold and wet. They asked if I wanted to go get some food and if you’ve read before, you’ve learned that I have a firm policy : ) I never turn down food. So we went out for a bite and got a good bowl of chilly and Grilled cheese which wasn’t on the menu but they made it for us….didn’t figure it would be too hard. It was a very pleasant surprise to see them again. The sad part of the tour is to get to know so many great people and have to part so quickly.

10/15 Host built airplane/Owensboro, KY gig

2009-10-15T18:27:00.001-07:00

Today was pretty laid back. I took care of computer stuff this morning which is never fun but I like keeping Y'all, as they'd say down here, updated, so I hope someone reads this stuff. I just picked up my computer which was off but the computer was hot, which is wierd and can not possibly be a good thing.

This morning Colby, my host, took me to his airplane hanger to show me the airplane that he built in his garage. It wasn't a life long aspiration or anything. He just had a friend that was a pilot and he went flying and decided to build himself a plane. How cool is that! He built it right in his garage. He told me about how he made it from the plans and if it was nicer he'd take me flying, so that was a bummer that it's just been crappy weather outside. We went to the church where my bike was and cycled to his house which gets me closer to my destination tomorrow. It was a really fun 15 mile ride and we really went. we were between 15 and 20 mph most of the time, so I was pretty impressed. One hill I decided I was going to jet right up because I don't like going slow on hills...just good to get them over quick sometimes. I stood up and went right at it and I get near the top and he pulls up right beside me. I don't think I could have climbed it any faster so Colby is one tough old guy. He said he rides about 250 miles a week during the summer which was much better than I and is phenomenal shape for someone in their mid to late sixties (I didn't ask : )

Later we went back to the church for the gig. They were really were really fun to play for and talk to. I can easily feel the energy level from up front if people are diggin it or not, which usually isn't a problem but it's always good when they're into the stories. It helps that this experience has given me more than enough material go on. Liberty (the pastor, yes that's her name) was really nice to talk with. She is in her second call, the first solo call and everyone likes her a lot. She used to be in the La Crosse synod and she remembered me from the crazy 2007 assembly when I decked the kids out in Orange shirts before they got up and sang. Anyways, she would have been a good person to get to know back home as I always enjoyed talking to pastors in their first call, since I'd been thinking of going that direction for sometime. At the program there was one cancer survivor who had also been through three heart attacks!...yes three. He was in the front and after I finished the song I wrote he exclaimed "Yeah!" in his whispery voice. He had the biggest smile, and a good reason too, as I'm sure he takes nothing forgranted in life. He is the guy above in the picture getting ready to go after the concert.

Faith Lutheran was a lot of fun to visit. Someone said they'd have to be good because they'd end up on this blog, so whoever said that, no worries, it was all good here in Owensboro! : )

Rock on In Christ,

Joe ><>

Week #3 in review Pictures-Crossing the Mississippi/Popeye's Home/Dad on tour

2009-10-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

Click on this link or copy and paste it up above in your address bar to see picture album.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2167481&id=73405078&l=aa3e95ff7b

10/14 Evading the rain and finding Tobacco.

2009-10-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

Sebree KY to Owensboro

I left Sebree first Baptist church pretty late. I slept in and I lounged around until about 11AM before getting ready to go which meant a 12 o’ clock start. I didn’t have to go very far today and I didn’t have a concert so I was in no big hurry. It looked like rain all morning but it wasn’t raining yet so I got out the door hoping that it didn’t start to rain on me and make me regret my late start. Somehow I evaded the rain all day long. It was raining in front of me as the roads were all wet and the town folks would say how it was pouring earlier. This made me feel better about getting going late.

I passed a tobacco shed, actually a few of them and it was chalk full of tobacco hanging there to cure, getting ready for some individual to sit in a room and pull the thousands of leaves off all of the stalks. Sounds fun right? When I was riding with those three riders we passed a tractor in the road pulling it, I could smell it even before it got there. Then I told her what it was and what they were going to do to it next. She asked how you sell it. So I gave her the whole rundown of how one raises tobacco. My families (homestead) farm paid the taxes for a lot of years off of tobacco money.

But passing the tobbaco shed, I was actually excited to pass one, so I took pictures. And it’s just amazing the good feelings that you can get from a tobacco shed. I mean, it’s terrible for you, but I grew up from little on raising it. But that’s the other funny thing. At no point did I actually enjoy raising it. But here I see it and I have fond memories. I guess we are all a little bit like that. The good feeling, a bit nostalgic, doesn’t come from working the fields, or pulling thousands of leaves off of plants but that’s good time spent with your family, the good conversations were had with those who are much older now and you realize they are not going to be around for ever so you just cherish the memories, even if it’s doing something as painstakingly tedious as stripping tobacco, or at least to a 10 year old who’s on Christmas break : )

10/13 Joining my three new friends for a day of cycling in KY

2009-10-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Well all went well for another day of cycling in KY. I got out early this morning, partly because the three cyclists I camped with in the park were getting going early, but I also wanted to because rain was on the forcast and it would be glorious if I could beat the rain. The three cyclists I had joined are connected by one individual they lost who was special to all of them. He died tragically in a Kayaking accident. So they decided to ride for kayak safety in the "Tour de Hunter" in honor of Drew Hunter. Their website can be found at www.tourdehunter.com. I talked a lot with Jenna today as she was the slower one of the group and since they were all on road bikes with light loads, my mountain bike and heavy load keeps my legs moving a bit slower. Jenna talked about how Drew wouldn't have wanted to see her sit around and quit living life, but it's still so hard, as his passing was just last June. You search for answers to questions that people have thought about since forever and just find none. Is this part of some plan? what's the plan? Why him? Was it fate or just the choice? Who's to blame? I couldn't imagine loosing a love like that or a best friend. I'd take cancer any day over loosing my best friend or my fiancé. I didn't really have any answers for her, but I knew she wasn't looking for answers from me, but just someone to listen and I was happy to do so. Jenna had never been much of a cyclist or gone on any long distance ride before in her life. but Drews best friend, Brendan, planned this thing with her in five days. I was impressed with her endurance, but I imagine the thought of Drew and doing this for him keeps her going. She keeps a picture of him on a bag in front of her handlebars at all times and it's as if he's encouraging her along this long road.

Sometimes when hard times happen it is easy to think that of the people around, you are the only one going through hard times, as with my life derailed for a little while and with Cancer. I returned last fall with out a job only to be diagnosed, and then the girl friend decided I wasn't such a good choice, but I met so many others who have me support and love and I think I met so many people who were kind to me because most of them had gone through or are going through something hard in their own lives. I suppose some would say that you don't know the good with out the bad, but had I the choice, I'd probably cut out the bad just the same.

So Jenna, Jermy, Brendan and I had some food here at the church. Jermy and Brendan got hear early and they caught the youth minister just as he was leaving. I was glad they got hear early. "I think we just saved your butt" says Jermy, a retired airline pilot, originally from England, in his 50's (Drew's Dad) who came to America and 'married a Texan.' He was a good guy to chat with a bit too, they all were, so I was very glad I had a few gigs not work out so I could stay on the trail and meet them.

10/12 Into KY, and the 3 cyclists.

2009-10-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Today I just crossed over into Kentucky. I stopped by the sign to take an appropreiate picture with a piece of grassing hanging out of my mouth. I had a great start to the morning as the Pastor's wife made me a great breakfast consisting of pancakes, eggs and bacon and even strawberries! Pastor must have not been feeling well as he stayed in bed until I left at 12:30. I took my time today because the three dates that I was going to have to drop south for all fell through or I didn't hear back from them, so that means I have 3 days to do a 2 day ride. after 43 miles of riding in beautiful weather (unlike wisconsin weather I hear) I get to Marion and I was going to stay at a B&B but I couldn't find anyone around so I end up giving in to my senses telling me to go camp in the park. On my way there I met up with three cyclist who were going to have dinner, so I ate with them and we swapped stories. There were 3 of them and they were riding for one young man. One of them was his father, the other was his bride to be and the other was his best friend. He died in a Kayaking accendent. apparently he was someone who really did live life to the fullest and he lived the dreams that he talked about living. He sounds like a neat fella that I would have gotten along well with. So these three are riding in honor of this young man. I'll put up pictures later.

Beautiful Day to Simpson, IL, but where's Pastor Pancake's church?

2009-10-11T06:52:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey!

Chester ended up being a great spot and I'll write more about that later today.

So I had a beautiful day cycling. It was one of those days that I made really bad time just because I had to hop off my bike and take so many pictures, which I will upload later. and I need to do a week 3 in review album, but I'm sitting in my tent right now and I'm pretty hungry and I'd like to find a church to go to, since Pastor pancake's is now where to be found. I have called and emailed and left messages because I wanted to play there last night originally. I never heard from him, so I decided that I'm just going to go set up camp on the church lawn, get up and go to church their in the morning. But when I got here(simpson) I couldn't find it. There was no one here. It was getting dark and I actually prayed that I'd run into someone out side (the town was that small) and not much later a 4 wheeler came busing up the road and we both met at his home. He'd never heard of a methodist church. but he drove me around to where google thought it was and there was nothin. So He offered to let me camp in his yard. Turns out he's a barge worker. He works 30 days on the barge and gets off 12 days. He was a nice guy.

I have more to write about yesterday and pictures to put up of a very large bull, butterflies and an eagle, but I need to get going.

Riding the storm out,

Joe

Front Page of La Crosse Tribune (for upcoming churches who want to read it)

2009-10-09T05:45:00.000-07:00

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_10d66c20-a4d5-11de-a837-001cc4c0

3286.html

Lost in Translation story/Mississippi Crossing!!/Pouring Rain All Day!!!!

2009-10-09T03:49:00.000-07:00

10/8/09

So the morning didn't start out that great and that pretty much set up the cycling day. One thing about me is that I really don't like being rushed. I was getting around to packing and it was 10:30. Dad and I had gone out to breakfast, so I was getting a later start. I had till 11:00 to pack and checkout. There was a knock at the door. It was the Indian guy, not native american, but Indian who had a pretty thick accent and we had a conversation that went something like this "5 minute check out." "what did you say?" I replied. "You Stay?" "No, we're checking out today." "Ok, I check you out today." "No No No, Not stay, To-Day and it's not time." "5 minute check out." "It's 10:30" I replied fairly disgusted. And the conversation wasn't as clear as it sounds as I type it either. I had to listed very attentively to try to make out what he was saying, so this went on for a little while and eventually I just said ok ok ok and he left. Dad was getting out of the shower. and I told him that this guy said we needed to be checked out in 5 min. So I packed in a hurry grumbling a bit as we were the only ones in this big roachmotel, so you'd think they could take a chill pill. Dad went to check us out as I'm hurrying grabbing my stuff and packing it away and getting my bike gear on. I didn't want Dad to get charged with another day, so I ended up standing outside in my bare feet as I had an extra pare of socks in the car. I'm standing there holding my helmet outside waiting for dad to come back from the lobby and then I hear the door open behind me. It's the Indian guy I can't really understand, but he has this phrase down, "2 dollar tip for house keeping." I'm not sure what the expression on my face said but I'm sure it went something like "you've got to be out of your mind." I consider myself a generous tipper, but as I'm standing there in my bare feet rushed out of my room as it's starting to rain. I replied " you'd have a much better shot at getting a tip if you didn't rush us out of our room before check out." Then I pointed to my spandex cycling shorts, "besides, does it look like I have any money back here?" I wanted to be much ruder to him as I was not in a good mood. but he waited for dad to come back. He hadn't quite figured out that curiousness helps him get a tip. Dad gave him a dollar and he went away. Had he been nice I wouldn't have minded giving him several dollars, but I didn't like him this morning. It started to rain and I stood out there getting my socks on under the overhang getting my socks and shoes on as Dad waited in the car just wanting to get out of the parking lot cause these hotel people seemed just a little slick hoping his card didn't get charged more. I'm pretty frustrated cause I needed to get my rain gear on but I left with my yellow jacket which is "rain resistant" and we got out of the hotel. After Dad left to go up a couple of towns ahead I stopped under a shed as my jacket was soaked through by then and I got a dry shirt out and put my hardcore rain gear on.

With no gig to go to, I called my day 30 miles short at Chester, IL. I was a funny sight as I haven't been able to fine a helmet rain cover, but what Mom was given for me when she was with me was a shower cap that looked like it was 15 years old, still unused, with little frills around it, definitely used for an old lady, as the lady was in her 70's that gave us the cap (and she was a very nice funny old lady that we had stayed with) and you know what? It worked splendidly. It fit over my whole helmet. My gear managed to keep me pretty dry the whole day as it would down pour for a while, then it would just rain, then it would pour and it repeated this most the day until we stopped, then it was just a drizzle. The only gear that turned out to falter were my little shoe booties. The got soaked and then soaked my shoes. So I'm going to go online and buy these other ones I was looking at. It always is a bummer when gear doesn't work out because it usually is expensive, but even though my feet were wet, they were warm, so it wasn't that bad.

Before we crossed into Chester, IL I got to cross the mississippi and this was a very exciting thing for me because the Mississippi is just one of those land marks you know? We have it right up near home, and I was looking forward to crossing it on my ride. This bridge pails in comparison to our two bridges in La Crosse. There is just enough room for two lanes. No walking is aloud and cycling it is a bit dangerous. one guy honked at me and I hate that they do that...not a nice, "you go!" honk but a "you're in the way" honk. I don't always respond very politely to these idiots. Like what am I supposed to do? Move over and fall in the river? But I didn't let that guy ruin my crossing. I took a few pictures as I was cycling cause this is a very momentous moment in my trip and I might put those pictures in my book so I don't care if it costs some driver 3 seconds of his day. I cycled over 3000 miles to get to this point and I'm going to take it in.

After a few more pictures at the Illinois sign we were in Chester, apparently the "Home of Popeye," you know, the sailor man? ie ie ie ie. We went to the museum since it just seemed like the only logical thing to do in the home town of Popeye, but alas, it was closed.

You should see the hotel room. I did laundry and am hang things to dry and everything is used around the room, so it looks like my bob trailer back just exploded and stuff is everywhere.

Dad comes down to MO/Civil War show down/ stop in Ozora

2009-10-08T03:52:00.000-07:00

I got all packed up an ready to leave Pastor's house by 10:00AM which is pretty typical. We had a good breakfast and I had soft boiled eggs for the first time. I really wasn't too sure about this. Before I knew we were having them like that I was asked "how many eggs you want?" I replied, "3 sounds good." Then I saw her putting them in a boiling pot....I began to think that I should have said 1, but they weren't that bad. I just like eggs cooked cause I worry about bacteria. I should have said something, but I'm fine so it didn't matter too much. My immune system is still down pretty low from the chemo, so I have to be careful.

Pastor's wife wanted to give me a tour and take me to Iron knob before I left, but I was already getting going late, so we just took a little tour around town. I could tell she really wanted to show me more but sun goes down at 6:30 and had to be going. I got off by 11:00 and I cycled by fort davidson and started reading the Civil war stuff they had around on the battle field. That lead me to their main building where I figured I might as well go inside. I was very intrigued so I ended up watching the 20 min video after all. The Battle was at Iron knob. The Confederates took the fort the Union was protecting to make sure they didn't take the railroad.

I eventually got going. The roads were nice and the colors in the trees are starting to turn. The day was in the 50's and sunny so it was perfect weather out for cycling. I met dad in Farmington and he drove a head as I cycled to Ozora, MO where I'm sitting now, catching you up.

I found a 6 food box of crayons on my ride which made me think of the sign off of a youth director I met uses

God has better Crayons,

Joe

off to IRONTON gig (the whole 15 miles)

2009-10-08T03:20:00.000-07:00

10/6/09

So like the last blog said, I got going in the morning....actually I didn't really leave until the afternoon because only then did the weather dry out. Come to think of it, I should really unpack my tent....anyway, I had brunch at the sports bar where this lady wasn't anywhere near as nice as the guys the previous night, but that happens. The weather was cool and it looked as if rain could be in the near future again, but I wasn't too concerned as I only had 15 miles to bike until Ironton. I know I know big day right, but it was supposed to be my rest day.

As I neared town I saw some confederate flags flying in peoples yards, which wasn't much of a surprise as I had seen a number of them in MO here. I arrived at St Pauls Lutheran and I tried to call the pastor but no luck. So I sat and waited. this man with bumper stickers plastered all over his truck gabbed on and on at me about how the 60's was the last great time where the people influenced the government and yadayadayada. he was a little annoying as I was trying to work on my computer, but he was a good guy. previously we were walking about how he was fixing up the youth building since he didn't have a job as he lost his a number of weeks ago. Which I thought was pretty cool. Eventually he left and I was able to call and connect with the pastor so he was coming in 20 min. Then this guy came back because he had lost his 10 TV dinners and he seemed quite distressed about his TV dinners. People have been pretty generous with me along this ride and though I don't have lots of money I gave him 20 bucks so he could go get some good food. I just thought he was a real good guy for fixing up this youth ministry building. He was building a stage and it sounded like it was volunteer work. He said " you're a sweet guy" and I replied "well, your doing a very good thing."

Pastor came and so we went to his house. We had some BLT's before the gig, which we hadn't talked about too much so I was glad to hear there was going to me one. We got to the church and I was greeted very warmly by these two older ladies. One was about 4'10'' but had a heart that made up for any lack of height and the other was just as warm and excited to see me. There were about 7 people that came and the pastor figured this wasn't too bad considering they usually get 30 for church. They really enjoyed the stories and music that I played. I play the smaller ones just like the larger ones, just maybe a bit more intimately with not as much energy up front. It seems less like you need to capture their attention, unlike when you have 20 middle schoolers.

Thunder Storm Camping 10/6

2009-10-07T04:35:00.000-07:00

Night of the 5th- 12 miles west of Ironton on N

So after the Packer Viking Game I walked out to my tent, not really expecting what I was in for. I awoke at about 2AM to Thunder and Lightning. It wasn't raining to hard...yet. I got out of my tent and did the extra measures securing my rainfly to the frame. I grabbed my rain suit from my saddle bags so I could have it in my tent just incase I needed to make a run for it. I packed all my gadgets away in plastic bags along with the chargers and put them in my computer bag. The wind picked up and the rains came down. There were a few pretty good lightning strikes but it was nothing like the storm I camped in last year in Kansas that practically did blow me to OZ. It began to blow over, so got back in the bag and went back to bed, almost thinking "all that effort for nothing." but then "how crazy am I to sit here and think, geeze I wish there would of been a greater storm since I went through all the preparations for it." But I'm glad it wasn't.

The next morning it just rained and rained and rained, so I just ate breakfast and since I was playing at 7pm and had all day to go just 12 or 13 miles, I went back to bed. I wasn't going to ride in rain if I didn't have too, besides the roads are dangerous since they don't have shoulders on them. I should start a movement within the adventure cycling website to write these governments that the national trail runs through to put in shoulders for cyclists. The motorists would be happy as we'd be out of their way and we'd be happy because we wouldn't worry so much about getting killed by some inattentive teen texting their bff.

Hunt for the Packer Game in the Ozarks

2009-10-07T03:59:00.000-07:00

I woke up the morning of the 5th in Ellington. I had stayed at Wayne's house from warmshowers.org. It turns out he is an adventure racer and a 4 time Ironman. He was in Madison for the last Ironman, so that was a good topic to chat about. He told me about how people with stories about overcoming disabilities or medical challenges in their life can sometimes get into the Hawaii Ironman, which is really hard to do otherwise. So who knows, I might try that if I can learn to swim (long distance)

As I was getting around that morning I thought, "How cool would it be to just come across a sports bar where I knew the Packer Viking game would be on? That would be nice." I took this day off from any programs just so I could watch this game of monumental proportions, especially since Favre is now suiting up in Purple. I never thought I'd see that day. It was such an obscure thought that it never even crossed my mind as a possibility. I wanted to stop in Centerville, ditch my stuff at a motel and find somewhere to watch the game. I got to centerville only to find out it was far to small and had nowhere to stay or watch the game. I met an old man at the top of a hill, cyclist, and he said I could camp there. I was hoping that he'd say he was a foot ball fan and I could watch it at his house, since he was a friendly guy and we had good conversation. nope. oh well. I just kept on going. I met two cyclists headed for the west coast. And people think I'm late. They are way late and are going to freeze their royal tushes off in the rockies. I hope they've got warm bags. One of them told me about how rude drivers had been in the Ozarks. They shout as they pass F&$* You! And I said, that was funny cause I hadn't got that. I kid you not, 30 seconds later someone passes yelling that out their window. "It just must be some vibe you give off" I told him.

I continued onward on my mission to find the game thinking I'd have to go 40 more miles to Ironton. I went about 25 and the hills were good but not as insane as the previous couple of days with all the false summits. Those are what really get to you, when you think you've arrived at the top and you wiped out and you see 2 more hills to climb, so you do it and you see another little one still to go up. The hills and I have exchanged some words....or...just kind of a one sided conversation I suppose.

I was crossing the county line and I looked to the left and there was a campsite. I looked on the end of it and as if it was put there just for me, just for this night of the most anticipated monday night game ever, a sports bar AND Grill! I was in luck cause I was was starving. I walked in just to make sure they were playing the game and I was met by an overtly friendly campground manager and he was like "well baseball is over, so yeah, we'll have the game on." Had I gotten there only to hear him say, no we're watching base ball....I'm not even sure what I would have said, but I was in luck. I wasn't sure how I was going to react to this game until I watched it.

I watched the pregame and they were lovin on Favre which is nice concidering there have been so many favre haters since he switched or can't make up his mind...cut him some slack, he's getting old. I wasn't happy at all with Ted Thompson or Mike for not letting him come back. He was the face of the packers franchise (they didn't like that) you let him come back. So for the first time in my entire life I found myself rooting for the team opposing the packers. I still hopped the packers did well cause they are a great team. But Favre is my favorite athlete who has ever played any sport, so as long as he's manning a ship I'll be on his crew. He's one of the greatest competitors to ever play the game, no matter what color he's wearing. He had an amazing game too! as did Rogers, but I was glad to see Favre come out on top. It was an action packed high scoring game, so it even kept the Missouri watchers intrigued. They had their southern accent and some of them were drunk on top of that. These two guys sounded like Boomhower on King of The Hill. You couldn't hardly understand a single word they said. There's no way that was english. Favre said it wasn't that much sweeter than anyother victory, but he was playing the good sport cause there's no way it wasn't so sweet to get back at the team you served for so long that rejected you in the end. That had to feel good. He put up career high numbers for his last game in his 30's. That guy is amazing. Go Brett Favre!!

Springfield, MO (added blog about it)

2009-10-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

I didn't really cover springfield all that well. So this is going to be an additional post about it.

There was a cool youth group, part the confirmation that came to watch. They had a youth director with a Bright Yellow office. I mean, it was pretty crazy. Her name was Kate, there by making her Crazy Kate. I really liked their pastor who had a lot of energy and was just very welcoming. We had half a day to look around so we went to the Bass Pro Shop. We had food and looked at all the gear and all the fish. I wanted to use some of the gear so I could catch one of those big fishes, but I with held myself.

The other Springfield gig turned out alright too. I wasn't so sure about it. since we were waiting and about 15 minutes before the show there was still no one around...anywhere. We just sat there. I said to her, " think this is our first bust." She thought so too. But then at about 10 minutes before it was to start, people started trickling in, and they were a really great group to play for. I finally played my new song correctly, so that was nice. They seemed to really enjoy the stories. I closed with the piano story, which I've been meaning to do but had been forgetting and I think it made for a good closing followed by the the old time favorite "Lord I lift." It's usually a sure bet that everyone knows that song.

Now, it's late and I'm tired.

Peace,

Joe

Pictures for Week 2 in Review/ journal for MO and Ozarks

2009-10-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

This picture is my camping site that I only remembered to take a pic when everything was tore down. Oh well, this is where I camped.

Copy this long address and paste it in the address bar on top.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2166420&id=73405078&l=bda02078a5

Check out these pictures. The Ozarks have been a bit crazy to bike through. These are as hard as the rockies...it's just that in the rockies, there are more of them in larger proportions.

I stayed in Houston, MO with a retired pastor who was a really neat fella to talk to. His name was Jay Frost. We had a really good meal that night and then the next morning a great breakfast. He didn't think I could eat an omelet, hash browns, and a full order of biscuits and gravy. No prob. From Houston I cycled almost to Eminence but I was so tired that day. The traffic was really rude as well. It's hilly country and I think some of them expect that I should get off the road just to save them a few seconds and that's not going to happen. If I got off the road for all the cars, I'd never get anywhere. besides, it wasn't that busy and I was riding the edge of the white line, so I don't know what their problem is. I called the day 6 miles short of my originally planned destination when I found a wildlife conservatory forest area. I cycled in back a ways and just popped my tent up. I got to bed at like 8:30PM which was amazing. It was so quiet. I awoke in the morning only to the light, but pleasent bird songs. My 20 degree bag kept me more than warm throughout the cool night.

today 10/4- I cycled from there to Ellington, MO. I've hardly ever struggled with hills like this in my life. These hills were are hard as any I have cycled on this whole ride, starting from OC, CA. I showed up at Waynes house. I got his place from warmshowers.org. So I have a nice bed tonight. I'm pretty pumped about the packer viking game tomorrow. I just need to figure out where I'm going to watch it, which will be top priority tomorrow. I planned a day with no program just so I could make sure I saw it!

Well I hope you liked the facebook album.

God has better crayons,

Joe

Springfield to Hartville

2009-10-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of cool places to play in springfield though getting around that town was not a lot of fun at all. The street 'Roanoke' was on the map but it disappeared. I just figured it was trying to emulate the early colonial town. While in Springfield I got to check out the first Bass Pro Shop and they had every peace of outdoor equipment one could ever hope for, not to mention tanks with trout that had to be two and a half feet long!

My second concert at Prince of peace was a ton of fun! I met with their confirmation group and they liked my stories, which was good because with middle schoolers it's always a gamble. The music went well and there was quite a crowd. Mom and I had fun hanging out with crazy kate their youth director. And we had most excelent host's to stay with! Liz and John were cool cats and had a lot of outdoor tails of their own. They had quite the creatively decorated home. I'll put pictures up later.

Today we got out of springfield "early." This means that I am on the bike by 9:30. It took about 10 miles just to get out of town and on to county road D. The weather was chasing us the whole time. I had wind to my back, side and front. I am completely zonked so it's amazing that I'm actually putting in an entry because this isn't like Kansas 65 miles which isn't to shabby. This is getting into Ozark country which is nice but it's up down up down up down. I ended with the steepest climb yet. Tomorrow is only a 40 something mile day so that will be nice.

I'm already looking forward to Monday night football on the 5th. Who's with me? Favre going to Green Bay in purple. Who would have thought we would have seen this day coming? Good grief. I'll be quite confused as I am rooting for both teams : ) should be fun.

Trains, Dogs and Roosters! Oh My!

2009-09-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first camping night in Ash Grove, Missouri. There was a nice little shelter in the park to pop the tent up. The Sherif gave the ok, so that's always a good thing.

As soon as the sun went down dogs started barking and there were a lot of them! Every house around the park seemed to have a coon dog in the back yard. If all dogs go to heaven I was just about ready to send them there! (not really, but these thoughts do cross ones mind)

Then we heard trains going by. They were a few blocks away but they were crazy loud. and it wasn't just a warning blow. It seemed like they'd blow that whistle a mile coming into town, through town and after the town just for fun. Then Roosters! I was like "What the **** is a rooster doing crowing NOW for?!?!?

I had my ipod so Dave Matthews and the Counting Crows kept me from hearing the racket, but I had them cranked up pretty good so I wouldn't hear the train that seemed to pass every 5 minutes. It made me think of the Blues brothers when John asks dan "how often will the train pass?" Responding dan say "So often you won't even notice."

Now I'm heading off to springfield after I get directions here at the local library. Two more programs are set up there which should be fun, and it's a large enough city that I'll be able to get a few extra things I need.

Joe ><>

Week in review #1 Great Bend, KS- Golden City Missouri

2009-09-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

Gigs

1-Great Bend Presbyterian Church

2-Hutchinson Emanuel Lutheran Church

3&4 Wichita, KS Christ Lutheran and Lord of Life

5 Eureka Christ Lutheran

6 Chanute St. John's Lutheran

7 Pittsburg Lutheran

I don't think I will have a week this full again in my entire tour. So much has happened and it seems like it started a forever ago. Right now I'm sitting at a hotel in Golden City, MO doing some journaling and internet catch up. I'm going to post the week in review pictures and write more in the review tomorrow. Here is the album link for Facebook. Copy and paste this in the address box above and you should get to check out the pics!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2165581&id=73405078&l=6809bc9431

Tom and Crazy Dogs attacking

2009-09-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

It's always kind of funny when you meet people just because of happen stance or something goes wrong. Well, that's how I met Tom. Mom and I finished a little lunch on the road and then I started on the bike and she took off. We were on a back dirt road and I can take it, I mean, I am a Mt. Biker after all. As she drove away I noticed my ride was rougher that it should be....YUP, FLAT! I wave in the air for her to turn around. I jump up and down. I take my bright orange bike and wave it across the air but to no avail. I started to walk the bike when I thought, I'll just just walk up to this ranch style house. I was greeted by a dog, which didn’t look to threatening. I knocked on the door. And a rancher looking fella named Tom came out of the garage. He was pleasant to speak too, asking if I’d like some water and guided me to the phone while he went back into his shop I could see from the garage, which looked like some kind of wood or leather carving shop. After I called mom and got her to turn around. I walked into the shop and there was a beautiful looking saddle he was making with very detailed designs somewhat resembling the Norwegian artform of rosemalding. His father did it until the age of 90 and now Tom has taken over for him.

It turns out he does some sort of Horse ranching ministry. If he checks this he can comment and clairify. His wife called and asked if we wanted to have dinner. As I always say, I have a firm policy never to turn down food. So we have a nice lunch/dinner together, I fixed my tire. He even gave me a beautiful 9x9 piece of leather with the design on it. He put a cross on it and I'm going to frame it when I get home. He even put a cross on my leather bound journal I've been writing in, so that was pretty sweet. I'll put up pictures in a few days. No time right now.

ATTACKING DOGS

I cycled by a house and they bused out of their little dog houses and I thought they were going to catch me. These were 3 butch dogs and had no business not being roped up. I didnt think they would be able to hold the speed for as long as they did, but we were flying. As one got close I swerved to the other side of the road. We had probably topped out at 24 or 25 mph before I finally shook them off my tale. Today I bought dog mase and now I have 20 shots worth for future incidences. I love dogs but those were not nice animals.

Life's a Journey; keep riding,

Joe

Crazy schedules/new friends

2009-09-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

I'm going to combine the last few days into one blog.

So yesterday I was scheduled to play in Wichita. The pastor pulls in the parking lot from my first Wichita gig and says "we've got a problem" "you're scheduled to be in Eureka tonight" I said, no I'm scheduled to play again in Wichita. We went in and realized that I had accidentally double booked. My afternoon officially was nuts from there on out. I was calling both churches trying to finagle how I could do both of them (and they are an hour apart) I worked out that I would play in Wichita while they were eating and then leave early and just miss the meal part in in Eureka and show up as fast as possible. I was pretty stressed out. We get to the first gig and they were so nice. I really wished that I could have stayed there for a while longer. They really enjoyed the stories and music and there was just a really strong energy in the room and as luck would have it, the stoves were not working so the didn't start eating until after I left anyways. The church is called Lord of Life and Pastor Gary was so nice to work with. There was a good crowd including a good number of youth. one 17 year old girl had her birthday so I started happy birthday for her (I'm sure she liked that)

After Lord of Life Mom and I jumped in the car and raced to Eureka. Christ Lutheran was also a nice church to play at and as it turned out since I was 40 min late, they started singing and had so much fun that they are going to try to do that once a month as a fellowship Idea! SOOOOOO, after all my stress and anxiety about this situation and short changing both churches, it turned out pretty good after all. UFF-DA! It was kind of funny, that when I pulled up someone had the door open and yelled "He's here!" I walked into a very enthusiastic clapping congregation of ranchers as well as some youth. I apologized and started right up. This was my day. I'll write about today, tomorrow, cause I'm tired and I need sleep.

Peace!

Joe

Wichita! Twister and OZ come to mind

2009-09-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

***Journal from Sept. 22***

Actually I do have experience with the Gale force winds Kansas can produce. I'm not sure how a state with such friendly people ended up with such crazy weather. But so far these first two days have both started out raining and then ended up with the sun shining and the wind at my back.

Yesterday started out nice as Emmanuel Lutheran put me up in a hotel. I got to church to see that I had a flat tire. I should have taken a picture of the little bugger that worked his way into my tire. I hadn't seen 'Goat heads' since Nevada! A little worried about future incidents I made my way over to the bike shop and bought extra thick tubes, 5x! I have done many different activities in a church before but changing a inner tube was a first. In the picture you notice me struggling a bit and Jesus in the upper left watching me....probably saying, "I'd cycle with ya to but trek was still coming along in my day. I tried to get Thomas on it but he didn't believe me when I said it was a good idea." (blogger cut the pic off at Jesus' neck)

So I got on my way and it was a nice day, much to my dismay the rain went away and I said Yay!

It was a a good and fast ride to Wichita. I dodged many miles of fuzzy wuzzies and even made a movie of one, but for the time being it won't upload.

Other events of the day consisted of buying ice cream from an ice cream truck playing Green Day. Hate is a strong word but I really really really don't like ice cream truck music. So when I found them playing Green day I felt very compelled to walk up and purchase something from them. And I saw my good luck charm up close which is a monarch butterfly. There is a lot of symolism connecting the monarch to my journey and they always seem to pop up in the right places.

The concert went very well. There were a lot of people tonight. Last night there were only 10 so it was unplugged, but tonight there were 50 people which was the largest crowd thus far. I messed up a new song I was doing but I'll have it for tonight. The host family is really great. Paul and Freyja were very hospitable. We had delicious food and these grandparents have foose ball, pool, pingpong and air hockey downstairs, all full size but sadly I have no one to play with : ( Next time one of you will have to cycle through Wichita with me!

well that's all for now. Today was a good second day of riding! I'm still feeling strong so that's good as I haven't done back to back 60+mi Days since last year.

Life's a journey, Keep on ride'n!

Joe

First Day Back On Tour!!! Great Bend to Hutchinson 66mi

2009-09-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. I thought it was going to rain on me all day making me very thankful I purchased the extra rain cycling gear, but it quit after the morning. I had some miles on bad roads and I had some miles on worse roads, but still had some good roads. But Sand roads are new for me. It didn't take me long to turn around and find another route.

Thorn today- Sand roads after jarring unfinished paved roads.

Rose today- In Ellinwood KS there are underground tunnels where there used to be many soloons and brothels. It took an hour so it put me a bit behind but it was a really cool tour.

Baths, 15 cents for clean water, and 5 cents for used. (put your self in a cowboy's shoes in the 1800's)

extra highlight- Dinner with the Pastor who is a Cancer survivor himself and is going in for his scan tomorrow. Then he put me up in a hotel. Sweet!

Old friends to new ones, Great Bend Kansas

2009-09-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey!

Today was a pretty good day. I stayed overnight with the lady who gave me a ride last year when I was broken down. I got up early and they were getting ready to make a breakfast which was deliciously scrumptious! Bacon, eggs and pancakes! Yum yum! I had a pretty good conversation with Charley, Jackies husband who is a very giving person, like Jacky. We shared some stories, ate and then headed for Great Bend!

We went to church at 1st presbyterian, where I would be playing later. After church, I was invited to a lasagna dinner at a couples house from the congregation, Howard and Phyllis'.

After dinner it was time to go and put a few final touches on the program before it started at 3pm. I was a little nervous since it was the first one this year and I didn't know what to expect. It was a small crowd of about 20 members of the congregation. I was surprised that only 2 were cancer survivors.

The program went very well. They asked questions throughout the concert and my nerves were calmed as I got a few laughs and I could tell it was going well. I met many very nice people.

After the program I went with Pastor Scott to go sight in his muzzle loader. He is quite the hunter.

Last night our host was a cat person and tonight they are dog people. There are 3 crazy dogs. One is about as big as a gofer, one is a golden lab and one just farted near me and it smells pretty bad. Uff-Da.

Driving to Kansas

2009-09-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

You really have to love just driving across the country. Well, at least I don't have to drive through Nebraska. There really isn't anything too eventful to write about but I've been updated by friends that the story made the front page of the La Crosse Tribune today so that is really cool.
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_10d66c20-a4d5-11de-a837-001cc4c0

3286.html

But today is also a very sad day as a very very dear friend of the family died yesterday just after we left. Joanne Dunnum was just about the best human I know. I know people always say that in these times but this woman was very special. She was a light to everyone who knew her. She struggled with Lupus since she was 26, but she was the brightest most positive woman in the world. The craziest Joanne story I think I have is that she was coming to my highschool graduation and she was making the buns at her house. She fell and broke her wrists and she showed up with a smile on her face delivering the buns..... on the way to the hospital!! We were all like, no you should have forgot the buns and just went to the hospital, but that was Joanne.

Introduction

2009-09-17T04:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Westby, La Crosse, Family and Sugar Creek people,

Some of you know about my yahoo adventure but here is a little intro for those that don't.

The name's Joe Iverson. I've always wanted to bike from one coast to the other. Ok, maybe not 'always' but when I was 11 or 12 I told my mom that I was going to do that. She didn't let me do it quite then. but in 2008 I took a plane to Southern California's Orange County. I packed a big duffle of gear I'd need along the way and a credit card to find a bike and a trailer. After a week of hanging on the beach, and doing a bit of surfing I started up the coast to San Francisco...with my surf board. I hit cisco and hung a right and made my way across a route over a lot of mountains. I was riding for Hunger and Cancer. Just because I think those are the two most important causes to me. People asked why Cancer and I said, no reason, I don't have it or anything, just a good cause.

I had a different bike by then though as the one I bought, a Trek Portland (very nice bike) was stolen in L.A. while I was trying to take care of my broken down trailer...yeah, it was a bad day. And for the cyclists out there, Kriptonite is indeed a breakable lock. (note to self)

things go down but then they go back up. A homeless man came along and fixed my trailer and L.A.'s Bike Kitchen fixed up an old bike for me to use. and I made a B-line for Santa Monica back on the Coast. Hollywood sucks.

Enough story for the first post, but once I got to Kansas' Great Bend I felt seizures start to attack quite frequently. they were not the real full blown ones as I had experienced before I left and in CO but I wasn't going to wait for those to come. I got home and saw some doctors, had an MRI and they found a brain tumor and it ended up being Cancerous. It was a little Ironic I thought that Cancer had taken me off my ride when that was the cause even before I knew about my own.

I've been through Brain Surgery, Chemo and Radiation and now a year later, almost exactly, I'm back on the bike, this time as a survivor and this time, though not physically, a bit stronger.

I have a few new stories, a few new songs and I have 40 gigs at churches from Great Bend to Washington D.C. as I finish my ride which I've dreamed of doing for so long.

OrangeRocks,

Joe ><>