Day 25, May 15, 2014

Made it to Vidalia a little wet (100 miles).   We woke up to wet roads and overcast skis, but it wasn't raining, as originally forecast.  About 4 miles after our first rest stop (40 miles) we hit the first rain of the trip.  Fortunately, we encountered only rain and no thunderstorms.  As we passed through the town of Eastman, Ga. we encountered downed trees and power lines from the previous night's storms.  The going was a little disconcerting, between the rain and poor visibility, storm damage littering the road and the moderately traveled two lane highway.  Ultimately we rode in rain more than an hour, but less than 2 hours, so 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours were rain free; much better than forecasted.  Only two hours of rain in 26 days of spring riding is darn lucky (I'm counting tomorrow's ride as rain free, as the forecast is mid 70s with a nice wind at our back blowing us to the Atlantic).  Although the "late loaders" made it to the hotel, without incident, one of the slower riders was asked by a policeman in a town to get off the road.  The rider admits he was riding in a downpour.  Another slower rider rode through a puddle only to discover the puddle was a pothole, causing him to crash and get skinned up. Ultimately, everybody arrived at the hotel in one piece.  One more 104 mile ride.  The Kiwis are antagonizing Jere into a final sprint to the ocean, no doubt Jere will take the bait.  With the flat terrain, tail wind and the horses smelling the barn, I'm afraid the pace will be faster than I'll want to go, but I'll hang on for as long as I can; there is no need to leave anything in the tank, because I won't have to ride Sat., or anytime soon.
  I won't be writing a blog after Fri's ride, but will write an epilog to the trip sometime next week, stay tuned.
   Thanks for following us on our journey.

Day 24, May 14, 2014

Today's ride left Columbus, Ga. on a beautiful warm morning, riding a winding, paved river trail along the Chattahoochee River and curving eastward onto the Ft. Benning Army Base.  We rode through the base and eastward toward I-75.  Our lunch stop was in Montezuma, Ga.  Fortunately, Jere was on to the Aztec's tricks and avoided getting sick.  The closer we got to I-75 the terrain started leveling out and we left the pine forests and lumber industry for flat fields.  We passed a lot of pecan groves heading into Perry, Ga.  Tomorrow we head to Vidalia, Ga., known for their sweet onions (due to the low sulphur content in the soil).  Today was a quick 95 miles; we kept moving in order to get to the hotel before the forecasted afternoon thunderstorms, which we easily avoided.  Tomorrow our luck runs out with rain.  The forecast is rain and thunderstorms all day, the only good news is we may have a tailwind.  Mike, the tour leader told us at our nightly briefing that once we're out on the road, essentially "every man for himself".   They can't be everywhere to rescue riders from thunderstorms and he's not crawling on top of the van to load bikes in thunderstorms.  He instructed us not to be shy and don't be afraid to knock on doors and ask to sit under a porch or carport.  Jere spent some time working on our bikes this evening, putting our fenders back on the bikes.  It appears, he and I will be the only two riders with fenders, which will only keep our backsides dry a little longer than the rest.  Depending on Thursday's morning forecast, Mike may have us on standby and not leave at our normal 7-8 departure.  Ultimately, we'll have to leave so we can ride the 102 miles before sundown.  For the "fast loaders", it'll take us at least 6-7 hours, depending on the wind direction.  Dave, Jere, and I continue to spend time riding and dining with the Kiwis.  Its interesting to hear their perspective  of America, especially our lack of cusine.  From their perspective, Americans eat nothing but fried, fast food.  The other day we got a burger and milk shake at Sonic.  As we're sitting there eating, Nick looked at the line of cars pulled up to the menu boards and came to the realization that Sonic is nothing more than a "feed lot" for people.  Unfortunately, he's right.
  Depending on how tomorrow goes, I may or may not be in the mood to blog when I get into Vidalia.      Jere and I are anticipating the worse (like the ride into Dalhart, Tx), but hoping for the best.

Day 23, May 13, 2014

The good news about today's ride was there were far fewer dogs.  The bad news was the eastern counties of Alabama clearly had fewer highway dollars to spend on roads; the road surfaces were horrible.  Jere stopped several times to let air out of his tires to try and soften the ride.  The weather heated up to the mid nineties, clear skies, slight headwind breeze.  We left the hotel without the Kiwis today and the Pa. Posse rode together and alone at the forefront all day.  As we get closer to the end of the trip, we all hope the rides will get easier, but there is no let up.  We hit some brutal uphill grades with 5 miles left in the day.  After 100 miles, all you want is a downhill into the hotel.  When we finally arrived at the bridge to carry us into Georgia and Columbus, with one mile to the hotel, there was a detour sign at the bridge.  It didn't take long before we decided; "screw that, we're going through".  We crossed the bridge without incident and pulled up to the first outdoor dining area we saw.  After ordering and getting our beer, we realized we were actually at our hotel, we were done; another 114 miles in the log book.

Day 22, May 12, 2014

Today's ride was pretty uneventuful;  rural Alabama.  The "late loaders" (named after the faster riders, therefore, made to load their baggage and start later to give the slower riders a head start in order not to spread out the support too much) rode as a pack for the first 40 miles, to the first SAG stop.  Unfortunately for me, some of the stronger riders (all under 6' and 160 lbs) decided to play.  The pace got quick fast and you could smell an odor of testosterone mixing with the scent of honeysuckle.  Knowing that we have 114 miles, the 3rd hilliest section of the trip and forecast temperatures rising to the humid mid 90s, I was doing my best to hang on and vocally reign in the ring leader, JERE.  To compound matters, I had a slow leak in my back tire.  When we left the hotel, the psi was 100, but by the first SAG stop at 40 miles, the psi barely registered at 25.  I pumped up the tire at lunch (80 miles) and that worked until about 5 miles out.  After running over a particularly bad set of railroad tracks, the tire really went low.  Dave has a mini  hand pump, and twice Dave pumped my tire (I'm not sure why he did the work rather than making me pump my own tire) so I could limp the final miles to the hotel.  At the hotel, Jere changed out the tube and replaced the entire back tire for good measure.  He was asked by the tour leaders if he was my tire bitch, to which he replied; "Yes".  Seems like a fair trade to me since my work is to blog and slander him in prose.
  No rain today, not even wet roads.  Some pretty bad isolated thunderstorms rolled through the Montgomery/Prattville area after we arrived at the hotel, so we dodged another bullet.  Tuesday's forecast is slight breezes out of the south-east (our direction of travel), and warm.  Thunderstorms forecast for late afternoon, hopefully, after we are secure at the hotel.  Today's destination is Columbus, Ga, home of Fort Bragg.  We'll cross into Georgia and the Eastern Time Zone at the very end of the day, another 113 mile today, but 1/3 of yesterday's climbing.

Day 19 & 20, May 9 & 10, 2014.

  On Friday, May 9th we rode 114 miles, leaving Arkansas and spending the night in Senatobia, MS.  The ride was forecasted to be our first opportunity to be really miserable by getting wet.  We woke up to rain puddles and overcast skies, a storm front having passed through the area over night.  Jere and I had our fenders on our bikes and our rain jackets in our back pocket for the inevitable percipitation.  But, our preparation did its job and other than some early morning misting on the eyeglass lenses, the rain held off; I even had a sunburn by the time I got to the hotel.  

  I have now crossed the Mississippi River twice by bicycle, there will not be a third time.  All traffic is funneled  to the few bridges crossing the river.  The roadway is two lane, with virtually no shoulder, and what shoulder there is, is covered in all manner of road debris.  I took a few quick peeks at the river, but mostly concentrated on the roadway, as there was no margin of error to dodge left or right for a pothole or road debris.  After we crossed the river into Mississippi, the roadway for the next 8 miles was cement with expansion joints giving a bumpy ride and no shoulder.  Traffic was heavy and nerve wracking, but the drivers were considerate and either slowed until they could safely pass or gave us a wide berth.  The wind was blowing out of the south-east, our direction of travel, which made the ride through the low country harder than it should have been.  The closer we got to Senatobia the terrain started to undulate and we found ourselves in some small hills.  Outside the town of Crenshaw, Ms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crenshaw,_Mississippi Jere was amused to see a sign by a roadside produce stand advertising "Cold Ice".  If you wanted "warm" ice, all you all would be out of luck.

  Senatobia is an exit off of I-55 with Memphis about an hour north and Jackson, Ms, about 3 hours south.  There is no reason to ever, ever go there.  The Days Inn was our worst accommodations to date, but I saw no cockroaches and to my knowledge haven't encountered budbugs.  

    Sat, May 10th was an epic day for Jere, Dave and I.  We rode 139 miles, our furtherest distance ever, and we rode about 137 of it with the Kiwis.  The course took us on the mostly rural roads and to all our surprises, the backcountry of northern Mississippi is hilly and beautiful.  The weather today was gorgeous; bright blue sunny skies and a light breeze, although often in our face, a head breeze is child's play after the head winds we endured. About 25 miles into the ride we passed a local church setting up bake goods at a corner lot at an intersection.  One of the Kiwis bought brownies for all of us.  Two of the three ladies working the stand were from Pennsylvania, one was from Hellam; small world.

  Sunday has us leaving Mississippi already and spending the night in Tuscaloosa, Al, home of the University of Alabama.  Tomorrow's milage is scheduled to be 117 miles with more rolling hills.  Forecast weather is similar today.  Can we make another 6 days without getting wet?

Slow Internet

Once again, the internet was too slow for Sam to Blog. He will try to catch up tonight. Today's ride is 138 mils to Aberdeen, Ms.

Day 18, May 8, 2014

On paper today was to be an easy day, relatively flat and low mileage (102).  The Kiwis had the bright idea of diverting to Starbucks for a coffee before heading out, and allowing the slower riders a head start.  That was all well and good, but I got shanghaied by a curious patron who bent my ear with his whole life story (in case your interested, his one son works for Homeland Security and the other is on the SWAT team in Minneapolis, blah, blah, blah).  The day was overcast and I felt either a few drops of rain or the sweat from Jere's brow blowing back on me.  About noon, with 50 miles to go, the winds out of the south began to really start blowing and gusting hard.  We were heading east and leaning into the wind.  Farmers were out in the fields plowing and the wind created huge dust storms which enveloped us in the dirt.  With 10 miles to the lunch stop, the course turned due South, right into the teeth of the wind. The effort to slog through the wind, along with the roar in the ears was really demoralizing.  It took us almost an hour to cover the 10 miles.  The last 30 miles were heading easterly again with a side wind.  For whatever reason we kept a quick pace, probably subconsciously trying to get done with the day to avoid the forecasted afternoon thunderstorms.  Ultimately, it never did rain.  We finished with 102 miles (my GPS download shows 99 because I had trouble starting it out of Starbucks)  and my legs are feeling the effects of today's hard effort.  After getting to the hotel and looking at the weather radar, the area we rode through a day ago was getting hammered with rain.  Just a few miles west of Conway, Ak we saw some of the hurricane damage that devastated the area on April 27th.  Tonight Jere put fenders on our bikes because it looks like our luck will run out tomorrow, the forecast is 70% chance of rain showers.  Tomorrow's agenda is to ride 113 miles to Senatobia, MS; we cross the Mississippi River at about the metric century (100 km) mark (62 miles).  We saw a few unleashed dogs today, and tried out a trick we learned to keep them away.  All you need to do is yell in your most stern voice; "get in the truck".  If that doesn't work, you yell again; "get in the Fuc*ing truck!".

Day 17, May 7, 2014

Today we left Ft. Smith, Ar for Conway, Ar, 122 miles.  We are on our final 10 day push to the end, with no more rest stops.  Although we have endured our share of wind, cold and heat, we have yet to get rained upon.  Our fortunes may be changing though, as the forecast for the remainder of the week is calling for scattered thunderstorms.  I'll take the chance of scattered rain as opposed to a hovering low front.  Tomorrow (Thur. May 8th) takes us from Conway to Brinkley, Ar (about halfway between Little Rock and Memphis, Tn.)  Tomorrow's ride is scheduled for an easy 102 miles with very little elevation change.  Today's weather was beautiful, high in the mid 80s with a breeze out of the south-southeast, giving us some headwind, but nothing too unberarable.  Most of the ride was on good, wide shoulders, with very courteous drivers.  We had a few, unleashed dogs make a go at us, but so far were unsuccessful (They can't figure out how to intercept, they run at where you were, rather than where you're going).  We were told by our tour leader, Mike, that the dogs further east (Deep South) are all unleashed and are much smarter, they wait in the middle of the road and attack head on.
  Jere got a laugh at my expense today (actually, he gets a lot of laughs at my expense).  My granddaughter gave me a Guardian Angel pin, which I affix to my cycling jersey everyday (along with wearing my St. Christopher's medal) to keep me safe.  At hotel check-in, in front of Jere and a couple of other riders, the clerk asked me if my pin was Tinker Bell.  I explained to him; "no, its a Guardian Angel" and now I have to ride 900 more miles with the guys calling me, "Tink".
  For some reason or another, I find it intriguing to take pictures of court houses I pass on my bike travels.  My fellow riders are trained to stop for the photo op when passing by a court house.  Today, we passed by 3.  Someday, I may publish a coffee table book of court houses across the USA.
  Jere was feeling much better today, the shot in the ass he got at the clinic in Ft. Smith did its job.  Unfortunately, Frieder (part of the Pa. posse) had to surrender to the van for a few miles before the 1st rest stop.  He made the mistake of putting sunscreen on his forehead and it got into his eyes and he couldn't see.  After he was able to flush out his eyes and recover, he joined us at the rest stop and rode the rest of the day without issues.  We affectionately call Frieder our "Panzer Division", because he can just go and go, but today he created a chink in his own armor.
  At today's hotel I found the first scale since leaving home.  I left home weighing between 195-197lbs, I weighed in at 191.  I haven't seen that weight since the last X-Country in 2009.  Jere left weighing 140 lbs and he put on weight, even after Montezuma's revenge and his other issues.  We are all eating everything we can find, the more sugar the better.

Day 15 & 16, May 4 & 5, 2014

I'm writing this entry the morning of May 6th, our rest day.  May 4th I had no internet access and last night, I enjoyed the opportunity to indulge in adult beverages knowing there would be no riding today; hence no blogging.
  The projected 143 mile today was unexpectedly shortened by about 20 miles.  When we arrived at the first rest stop, bikes were being loaded on the van.  Just outside of town, the bridge we needed to cross was under repair and there was no ability to cross.  So the vans transported us around the detour and deposited us about 20 miles further down the road.  The day was still a long, hot day; we logged about 120 miles.  (Ignore most of the states on the GPS download for the day, because the GPS was still running and logged the mileage and speed of the van too.)
  Due to Jere getting sick in Albuquerque, his immune system was down and his allergies have been causing him some severe problems.   Jere was afraid he was developing bronchitis or walking pneumonia, in which case he might have to abandon the ride.  As soon as we arrived in Ft. Smith yesterday, Jere took a shower and walked to a medical clinic right across the street from the hotel.  Fortunately, his lungs were clear.  They gave him a shot of something in the ass, prescribed him some codeine and nasal steroids and sent him on his way.  Hopefully, he can hold out another 10 days.
  Yesterday's ride was probably one of the flattest rides, but one of the most beautiful.  Eastern Oklahoma is beautiful!  Ft. Smith, Arkansas sits right on the boarder, so we arrived in another state at about the 100 mile point and rode another 5 miles through town to the hotel.  Today will be spent cleaning up the bikes, doing maintenance, rotating our tires, and generally relaxing.  I will upload some pictures today, so check out the photo section of the blog tomorrow.
  Wed. we start the final 10 day push, with no more rest days, to the coast.  We'll ride about 122 miles to Conway, Arkansas (northwest of Little Rock).  So, far we've been rain free.  Forecast for later in the week is isolated thunderstorms, but no threat of major systems.

Day 15 - May 4, 2014

No internet at the Hotel they are staying at. Sam will try to blog tonight after an easy 107 mile day to Ft. Smith, Arkansas.

Day 14, May 3, 2014

  Today's ride started on a somber note, one of our riders passed away in his sleep.  The preliminary cause of death is likely sleep apneia.  The rider was Ray, from Carson City, NV.  Ray was one of the weaker riders and often would catch a ride in the van if things got a little too tough.  He wasn't embarrassed about it and had expressed at our orientation and introductions in Costa Mesa that he wouldn't be afraid to ride the van if  things got uncomfortable on the road.  But yesterday he rode the whole 102 miles, plus some because he got off the route a few times.  He was one of the last riders in last night.  Everybody that had talked with Ray after the ride said, that Ray had expressed he had his best day of cycling ever.  He departed this world loving what he does.  The rest of the ride is being dedicated to Ray's memory and we'll tie black ribbons on our bikes and release them to the ocean in Savanna.
  I just spoke to the three women in my life that I love and they all want me to come home now, which of course I won't.  I'm sure this is my last bike trip of any consequence.  They didn't want me to do this trip, and now after a bike crash that resulted in a broken leg, a bike crash that resulted in severe road rash to the face and now a death, this trip will surely be my last if my wife and daughters have their way.  The Pennsylvania boys are being hyper vigilant and are not taking any mile for granted.
  Today we rode a 122 miles through the very beautiful Oklahoma countryside, mostly on roads no wider than the shoulders on the Texas roads.  Tomorrow is the 143 mile grind to MacAlester, OK.  Depending on what time we get in, eat and how I feel, I may forgo the blog tomorrow.
 

Day 13, May 2, 2014

Today was another good day.  Only a couple miles over a hundred, mid 18 mph range; still saving the legs and stamina for Sunday's 140+ mile ride.  Sunny skies and cool temperatures to start.  Left the hotel with cold weather gear, but by the lunch stop at 65 miles, stripped down to short sleeve jersey and bare legs.  East Texas was more hospitable than west Texas, we saw deciduous trees and green fields.  We also saw a lot of recent oil and gas drilling and fracking operations, a sign that the domestic energy exploration is on the upswing.  Interestingly, as we approached the Texas-Oklahoma border, the landscape in Texas was all oil & gas, but in the Oklahoma distance, the skyline was dotted with giant wind turbines.  We crossed into Oklahoma at about the half-way point.  They say, everything in Texas is big.  That holds true for the road shoulders.  We could easily ride 4 abreast along the two lane highway.  As soon as we crossed into Oklahoma, the shoulder became non-existent.   For virtually 50 miles from the boarder to Elk City, the wind turbines were everywhere.  We were told by a bar tender tonight that the government pays a landowner $8,000.00/month for each turbine on his property.  (I'll leave it to some fact checker to verify the veracity of that statement, I for one call; "Bull Shit").

  No flats in our foursome group, no accidents, no close calls, no angry motorists, no headwind, no precipitation, just a good day to be on a bike exploring new lands.  Jere did get into an argument with a jackass.  We must of scared it and it started braying at us, so Jere had to bray back.

  Tomorrow's run is a 109 mile eastward jaunt to Chickasha, Ok.  At about the 50 mile point, we'll stop for a picture at our 1/2 way point across the U.S.   Weather forecast continues to look good.

Day 12, May 1, 2014

  What a difference a day makes!  If you can't change the wind direction, then change your course.  (Actually, we didn't change the course, it just worked out that way).  The wind blew from our backsides all day, and blew us down the road for about 112 "easy" miles.  Today, we "soft peddled" and cruised, often over 20 mph.  We used today to recover and plan to recover some more tomorrow (winds still forecast out of the west, although lighter, and we're heading due east), because Saturday's ride is the longest of the trip at 143 miles.  Tomorrow we leave Texas and head to Elk City, OK.  I'm a little disappointed with Texas.  Tonight we ate dinner at the Texas Rose Steakhouse.  They didn't have Lone Star beer!  And after one round of Corona (served without a lime), they ran out!  The waitress told us to stock up on beer before entering Oklahoma, because the alcohol content statewide is only 3% (never heard of that; is that Coors Light mixed with half a glass of water?).  Riding a bike makes it hard to stock up on beer, besides, if the Texas Rose can't get any beer, what hope do we have of finding any?
  I didn't take any pictures today, nothing notable.  Soon after we left Dalhart, we began seeing oil well pumps dotting the landscape.  We passed a huge refinery somewhere between Dumass and Borger, TX (Google it).  The air smelled of petroleum for miles (which rivals the offensive smells from yesterday's cattle feed lots outside Dalhart).
  The Pennsylvania boys picked-up the Sheila (Monique) sometime after the 1st SAG/Rest stop and she rode with us for about 75 miles.  She was able to sit at the back and draft off our broad shoulders (not Jere's).  We were rewarded for our gentlemanly behavior by having to stop twice to assist her with fixing two flat tires (the Pennsylvanians were flat free).  So while we speeded up her ride, she slowed our ride, but Pampa, TX was still there when we got to the end of the cue sheet. (That may not hold true once we enter tornado alley).
   The New Zealander, Simon (the one that face planted a few days ago) got on the bike today and rode the last 30 miles.  I think he'll be good to go for the full 102 mile distance tomorrow.
    Off to bed to rest for Day 12.