Day 19 June 13, 2009

Woke up at 5a.m. and biked to Marion and met Brian there. Biked 40 miles by 9a.m. averaging just under 20 miles an hour. Trip to be continued at earliest convenience.

Day 18 June 12, 2009

Left the fire station early and we were able to make good time because the mountains and hills had flattened out into the Midwestern terrain. We stopped for lunch at a church which had a basement dedicated to bikers. They gave us sack lunches to take with us. We crossed the Ohio river into Illinois by about four in the afternoon. We forgot to find a place ahead of time to stay, so we biked to the nearest town which was Shawneetown. They happened to be having their town fair this weekend and the local fire station was having a BBQ. We were able to camp in the parking lot behind the Baptist church which was easy walking distance to the fair and library. We are being picked up tomorrow by Brian (Sam and Jay's Dad) to drop our bikes off in Carbondale and then drive to Chicago to visit our Grandfather and to get Ben some medical attention for a rash he has aquired.

Day 17 June 11, 2009

We stayed for breakfast at the gas station. We each consumed four sausage biscuits with homemade jam. Then Lucy came over to the store and cooked us eggs and toast. We were reluctant to go but we left around nine because we would gain an hour crossing over into the central time zone. We biked to the Utica volunteer fire station where we had the place to ourselves. We enjoyed a small dinner then settled down in front of their television to watch game 1 of the NBA finals. Days mileage = 70

Day 16 June 10, 2009

We got up thirty minutes before sunrise so we could be on the road at sunlight. By lunch we had done 55 miles so we rewarded ourselves by going to a restaurant then going and taking a nap at the library. After lunch we biked for another twenty miles and took another break. At the end of this break three bikers pulled up behind us and introduced themselves as transam bikers. We biked with them for another twenty miles until we reached Double LL gas station which we all stopped to enjoy a popsicle. We stayed the night at Double LL which was one of the best decisions of the trip. Arnie the owner of Double LL offered us a shower and laundry which we could not turn down. Then his wife Lucy asked if we would eat dinner with them! We had pot roast and green beans and bread and home grown veggies. After dinner Arnie took us in his jeep to show us the farms and crops that we were so ignorant about. (We couldn't identify corn before this trip) We slept on the porch of the store. There was a massive rain storm that knocked the power out of the street lights several times. Total mileage of the day, 93!

Day 15 June 9, 2009

Woke up and biked out of Berea. Not a very eventful day. We are closing in on the end of the mountains. Stopped and got a cold drink from Ronnie who owns a small restaurant at the top of one of our hills. We camped at the Lincoln Homestead state park. After pulling in we saw three bikers loaded down with panniers rolling past and invited them to camp with us for the night. They were three college graduates that had met each other on a biking advertisement one of them had put out and decided to do this trip. At about nine o'clock a man on a recumbent bike came to our campsite. Mileage = 72 miles.

Day 14 June 8, 2009

We woke up at the crack of dawn and set out towards Berea. It was a hilly day and not very attractive scenery. We got to Berea by lunchtime and found a delicious Italian restaurant called Papa Leno's. We tossed our sleeping bags in the small garden behind a church on the Berea college campus. After dinner (again at Papa Leno's) we decided to check out the college library where we preceded to entertain ourselves until closing time. The days mileage= 55.5.

Day 13 June 7, 2009

After eating a very nice breakfast at the hotel we (3 normal bikers + Brian) biked until lunch at which point Brian and Amy left to head back to Brentwood. We took a very long lunch break and pulled into the Presbyterian church around 6 p.m. There we met up with the Brits who were very talkative and friendly as always. We slept in the parking lot behind the building to avoid the dew. Total mileage 50.5.

Day 12 June 6, 2009

We pulled out of our motel room early and biked 25 miles where our Amy and Brian (Sam and Jay's parents) met us and Brian biked the day with us. We stayed a nice hotel in Hazard, KY. We biked 77.5 miles today with Brian biking 52.5 of those miles with us.

Day 11 June 5, 2009

WE CROSSED INTO KENTUCKY TODAY!!! but we only biked 30 miles to Elk Horn City, KY and stayed in a motel.

Day 10 June 4, 2009

We left the hostel as early as possible to get away from the hikers and get a start on our mountains that were waiting for us in the morning. We were about 10 miles away from council (our final destination) when we started this steep climb. We thought we were lost because it was supposed to be all downhill but it turns out Jay forgot to mention and overlooked our biggest climb of the day. We dragged into Council's city park and collapsed under a pavilion. It promptly started pouring rain but we didn't care because we were dry and done biking for the day. 51.5 miles on the day.

Day 9 June 3, 2009

Woke up and biked out of Wytheville on a highway with heavy traffic. We biked to Damascus where we stayed the night in a church run hostel called "the place". The hostel was predominantly occupied by stoned/drunk Appalachian trail hikers who screamed and fought with each other all night. It was a very unpleasant place to stay, it was not worth the 60 miles we biked to get there.

Day 8 June 2, 2009

Woke up early and ate some biscuits from the gas station and biked to Wytheville where we stayed in the city park next to the police station. We biked 83 miles.

Day 7 June 1, 2009

We slept in at our motel and rolled out around 9a.m. We biked to a small town called Catabwa and stayed in our second weight room of the trip behind a gas station. We met Dave who is currently hiking the Appalachian trail. He was from the tri-city area of TN. We biked 66 miles.

Day 6 May 31,2009

We left Vesuvius after we attended a church service at a small Methodist church within walking distance of Gerties. The church comprised of roughly 20 people who were all very kind and ended up donating 80 dollars to our trip fund. We arrived in Lexington around two p.m. and decided we didn't feel like biking any further so we got a room and a motel that was in bankruptcy for a good price. We had an awful day as far as distance only 20.5 miles on the bike.

Day 5 May 30, 2009

Charlottesville to Vesuvius. 60 miles. Longest climbing day yet. We spent 25 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway which consisted of steep inclines and declines. It took about two hours to bike to our peak and twenty minutes to coast down. We camped behind Gerties country store.

Sleeping Arrangements

Many of our readers have written asking about our sleeping arrangements. For example, Barbara H. from Winnetka, IL writes: "Hey guys! Sure have enjoyed following your travels. Thanks for keeping us all posted with such an informative and insightful blog! I have been wondering though, where do you guys spend your nights? Do you carry a tent, or stay in motels, or a combination?"

Well, Barbara, great question. Many of our favorite moments so far have come when we aren't on the bikes at all -- and often it's because we've found ourselves sleeping in such interesting places! We do carry a tent, but we only pitch it about 50% of our nights on the trail. Even when we do pitch it, a three-man tent doesn't fit three 6'4"-6'6" males particularly comfortably, so we often lay our sleeping pads out on the grass until a thunderstorm forces us into more cramped confines. Here's a quick run down of where we've spent our nights:

• Next to the playground of the Mechanicsville Presbyterian Church, after asking the office secretary, out of the blue, if there was some spare grass to pitch a tent on. (Mechanicsville, VA)
• In the weight room of a volunteer fire station, which allows TransAmerica cyclists room, board, and kitchen use! (Mineral, VA)
• In the backyard of a general store in a town of 400. Cheerfully owned and operated by a couple who fly confederate flags from the roof and declare Robert E. Lee to be "our hero!" (Vesuvius, VA)
• In a single room in a bankrupt hotel, owned and operated by a friendly Indian couple who cheerfully put-up with my smattering of Hindi. (Lexington, VA)
• In the weight room (yes, the second weight room of the trip) of the garage of a general store in a small Appalacian town. (Catawba, VA)
• On the ampitheatre stage in a town park in western Virginia, where we encountered an octagenerian member of the local fire department who spent the gloaming hunting pidgeons in the park with a .22 rifle. (Whytheville, VA)
• In a single room in Moore's Motel, the lone motel for a sixty mile stretch of eastern Kentucky. (Elk Horn City, KT)
• In a luxurious GuestHouse Inn, in the company of a certain pair of Brentwoodians who, coincidentally, comprise roughly 40% of our readership.

In short, finding a place to spend the night is just another part of the adventure! We'll keep you posted on where we end up down the road.

Ben.

A Typical (7,000 Calorie) Day

Internet access has been limited, but we've found ourselves with a quick chance to hop on a computer at the Hayter's Gap public library, where we've stopped for a quick break before beginning a steep climb culminating in lunch. So in lieu of a full summary of our past few days of Appalachian travel, I thought our readership (recently estimated at 8 but growing fast we're told) would be interested in what a typical day's menu looks like. The amount of calories that our bodies ask for on a daily basis has surprised even us!

Using yesterday, a 64 mile not-too-challenging day, as example, here is what our food intake looks like:

7AM: Wake-up and shovel down a fair amount of granola and chocolate chips. Multi-vitamin (pro-biotic optional).
8AM: Begin biking.
9AM: First break. Eat a BumbleBar (300 calorie energy bar), peanuts, and a granola bar.
10AM: Second break. Pull into a local diner and order an ommelette, biscuits, hashbrowns and toast.
11AM: Third break. Raisins, more granola, chocolate chips, and peanuts.
12PM: Lunch. Essentially a glorified snack break where we stuff more granola down, along with a gatorade from a local gas station, before collapsing onto our sleeping pads for a 1-hour reading session (typically a two day old Wall Street Journal) and nap.
2PM: Back on the bikes.
3PM: Pull into a McDonald's. Consume a milk shake, fries, and (in Sam's case) a double quarter pounder with cheese.
5PM: Arrive at camp. Heat some water on our stove, and cook ramen. Two packets each.
7PM: Head to a local restaurant for our final meal of the day. Last night we took in two 16" pizzas at a local parlour. Two nights ago we enjoyed the local BBQ.
10PM: Sound asleep. Sam imitating a chain saw.

So that's a typical day!
Ben.