If the Lightening Don't Get You Than the Airplane Will!

Or the truckers, or the floods, or the national guard, or the constant headwinds...

It's been an interesting bit of riding since I last wrote. We have exited eastern Montana and are currently holed up in a cheap hotel in Harvey, ND waiting out a thunder and hailstorm. We just passed the 1500 mile mark and hope to be in Fargo in a couple of days taking a well-earned rest day.

While the roads and scenery have been generally good, we have been fighting a light-to-moderate headwind for the last eight days! It hasn't kept us from riding the distances we need, but does make us very tired at the end of each day.

The trucks in eastern Montana were awful. Due to an oil boom and the increase in road travel since the trains stopped running due to flooded tracks, riding has become noisier and a little more dangerous. A number of truckers have had to take evasive manuevers to avoid hitting us or have driven too close because they didn't move over soon enough. The way they lay on their air horns and the occasional overheard comments ("oh good, hippies on bicycles") we get the sense that they see us as a nuisance.

The flooding in the Minot area caused some delays due to detours (water still in the road) and store closings (we had a difficult time finding an open bike shop). At one shop (that was still closed) the owner fished out some spare tires for us and then pointed to a military Humvee that was coming in our direction. He indicated that we were probably going to be fined for being in a restricted zone (after circling around us for 15 minutes, they left).

During a recent thunderstorm (our first real rainy ride), we were watching the lightening as it slowly approached us. We were then surprised when the flash of light and clap of thunder happened simultaneously! We headed for the only house within miles and scared the poor woman inside by asking if we could hang out on her porch until the weather improved. She would have agreed to anything as long as she didn't have to open the door. After locking the door I think she was wondering whether she should call 911 or make us a cup of tea. She must have done neither as we left 20 minutes later without incident (or tea).

Then, when heading toward Minot on a nicely paved county road, we spotted a plane in the distance. We assumed that it was sitting in a field and that the road we were on would wind around it. Nope. We soon realized that it was heading straight for us! It's wingspan exceeded the width of the road and it was speeding up. At a distance of no more than 75' its wheels finally left the road, clearing over Jake's head by 10'. I get the sense that the FAA doesn't come out this way very often.

We're still surprised by the lack of eastbound cyclists. We met a nice guy named Dave pedaling solo from Michigan to Washington state and a Norwegian who was 2/3 of the way across from Maine to Washington - but haven't seen anyone heading east in over two weeks. We're slow enough that folks should be passing us with some regularity. Is there something you're all not telling us???

Hope you are all well and enjoying your summer. Special shout outs to Danielle and Brian, two great Special Ed teachers I work with who have weddings this June and July. And happy birthday to my sister Meg whose birthday is today.

Take care,

Rob & Jake

Getting Through Eastern Montana

Not a whole lot to report on the riding front, so I’ll give you the quick version.

This basically describes the last three days:

Wake up around 6:30. Moan and groan for about 20 minutes about having to get out of the sleeping bags (Jake moans for an additional 10 minutes). Spend next 45 minutes doing everything we can to delay getting on the trikes. Quick breakfast of granola and warm milk. Ride for 15 to 20 miles through a desolate landscape, either flat into a headwind – or uphill into a headwind (there are no downhills as you head into the wind in eastern Montana). Take a very short break because it’s really hot and the bugs are too bad for a longer break. Resist going into the café/bar 50 feet away in an attempt to not spend money by eating a second breakfast. Ride another 15 to 20 miles (same uphill – same headwind). Stop for another short break – same heat, same bugs. This time we don’t take refuge in the café/bar 50 feet away because it closed 10 years ago (but has not been taken off of the maps or road signs that advertise it as the only place to eat in 20 miles). Repeat twice more before calling it quits for the day and camping for the night. Repeat for two more days. 

That’s our life, at present. 

By the way, the person who claimed that the wind always blows out of the west in the United States is a BIG FAT LIAR! Maybe at the jet stream level – but not where all of the real people are.

Still wouldn’t trade it for anything else (except maybe a tailwind). Will be In North Dakota sometime on Tuesday.

Have a Happy Fourth!

Take care,

Rob & Jake

The gods don't like Perfect Days

Hey all:

Again, if this is your first time with this Blog, please read the first one - so you have some sense of what we are doing.

So, the gods don't like perfect days. On balance, we are having an amazing time, The weather is good, the people very friendly, the riding conditions ok. But the powers that be want us to remain humble. Take today for instance: It dawned a blue-skyed, warm sunshine, perfect temperature day. We were staying a in a town park for free that had showers that we could use. We had plans to start biking early and get in a 80+ mile day. Right.

I get up around 6:15 and head into the shower. The plan was to wake Jake upon my return so he could take a shower while I packed up the stuff. I return to find that he had moved the tent and was spreading all of our stuff across tables and sidewalks. A very nice woman who we had met the evening before assured us that she would contact the groundskeeper and let him know to de-activate the automatic sprinklers that come on every morning. Either she forgot, couldn't reach him, or they were across the street having a good laugh at our expense. While I was in the shower, the sprinklers came on full-force, sending a jet of water into the door that I had exited (not zipping the rain fly on that side of the tent as there was nary a cloud in the sky) right into Jake's sleeping face! Everything in the tent was soaked instantly. We waited about 2 1/2 hours for most of the stuff to dry before we finally got on the road. True to form, the rest of the day went very well, with good roads and a steady tailwind (we were averaging over 15 mph over 50 miles). Then, within sight of where we were going to have lunch, Jake has his ninth flat! We fix it and then find out that the only place to buy food within 30 miles in either direction closed just before we cycled into the town. There is always a yin to every yang (yan?).

Backing up a few days: We had a great one-day ride through Blackfoot country. Everyone we met was very friendly and inquisitive about our trip. We met members of the Hot Shots, a Blackfeet group who fight fires wherever they are needed (they had just returned from Alaska and were on their way to Arizona. One of them did warn us about bears, indicating that they have a preference for eating white people. I almost replied that I thought they preferred red meat, but discretion won out.

We also met an interesting guy whose Anglo name was Jimmy. We spent over an hour learning from him about tribal customs and laws and his involvement in implementing a Blackfeet curriculum in the tribal schools. He indicated that he may be next in line to be tribal chief. All-in-all, crossing the Reservation was a much more pleasant experience than we had expected.

Stayed in some nice town parks. In one town we were just able to secure a spot in a pavilion before the skies opened up with a pretty wild storm. Riding has generally been easier than in the western part of the state. As a matter of fact, we have to amend our Road Scholar award for Montana's roads, to just the roads west of East Glacier. Other than that, they've been pretty good. We have also started to have some winds out of the west for the first time. Yeah!

I need to give a big shout out to a wonderful woman we met in Gildford, Mt. Laura, her husband and two boys, run a small store where Jake and I stopped for breakfast. She was unable to cook anything for us as they had yet to hook up their kitchen equipment, so she made us the most enormous sandwiches you have ever seen. Once she heard about our fundraising, she told us about her best friend in California who has a son with autism who exhibits severe aggression and self-injurious behaviors. She and her family provided for this woman what every family needs who have a child with challenging behaviors - they remained their friends. She and her boys would visit often - taking the hits and kicks that the son would dole out. She taught her kids to ignore his often bizarre behaviors and to treat him with respect and dignity. She indicated that she may make a directed donation through Giving Back, Inc. annonymously, as her friend would not take anything from her directly. Thank you, Laura for your compassion and generous nature.

We head through a couple of more reservations as we head through the eastern part of the state - and should be in North Dakota soon. Between the floods and a mini-oil boom, it may be hard to find a pace to stay. Wish us luck.

Enough for now. Take care - Rob

Road Scholars

Hey all:

I should mention in each of the blogs that if this is your first time with us, you might want to read the very first blog - as that explains what we are doing and why. I will try and repeat this message at the beginning of each blog from now on so folks can get caught up.

Jake and I have decided to give out Road Scholar Awards to individuals, companies, and states for various road-related issues. For instance, there was the waitress in Washington who was not exactly sure how to give us directions out of town on the one main road that ran through it, the map company who printed a number of errors that almost got us really lost, and the entire state of Montana for having the worst roads for riding a trike (the shoulders are either un-rideable or non-existent, and the road edges are so filled with potholes that we are at risk of having every screw rattle loose or breaking an axle). In their defense, they are in the process of re-paving a section of Highway 2 through Glacier Park, but that has only earned a number of road crew more Road Scholar awards for not knowing what to do with a bike in construction zones.

Look for more Road Scholar awards as we head into eastern Montana.

Anyway, the ride out of Idaho around the Lake and into Montana was beautiful! The prettiest stretch of road I think I have ever been on is the first twenty miles after you have left Rte 200 heading north on 56 from Bull River to Bull Lake in western Montana. You are riding by a river most of the way (which is really high due to snow melt and rain) and have the cabinet mountains on your right, as well.

With the exception of the condition of the road riding into town, we really enjoyed the town of Whitefish, MT. We had a great breakfast and got some much needed help with fixing the rack on Jake's bike (after the screws holding it on fell off due to the bumpy roads). Special thanks to Tony at a ski shop for giving us directions and giving us a detailed description of the new technology in powder skis and describing the virtues of Whitefish over Boulder, Colorado.

Had a nice ride into West Glacier, but were disappointed that we could not ride the Going to the Sun road over Logan pass. We had to settle for the lower Marias Pass (for which our legs were secretly grateful). This road skirts the edge of the National Park and misses many of the views we would have otherwise gotten, but was still beautiful. At one point, and eagle took flight next to us on the road and settled into a tree so we could get a better look at him.

Stayed last night in East Glacier, the first town heading east into the Blackfoot Reservation. We have had a lot of folks warn us about crossing through here. We are hoping that the hostility and crime they have reported to us has been exaggerated and is borne of long-standing stereotypes that have existed here for some time. We shall see.

The People Section:

We have been leap-frogging with a nice guy named Jim from Georgia who is riding the same route that we are taking who is riding for autism and asperger's (he has a son with asperger's). He has some time to kill before meeting up with some family members so is heading up to Canada. I'm sad that we may not meet up with him again. Good luck on your journey Jim.

There was Jean, a woman from Barre, VT who nicely gave up her room with two beds at the Circle R hotel, where we stayed last night, so Jake and I could have some space. She is an avid cyclist who has racked up some impressive miles over the years. She is soon heading to Alaska with her husband and three dogs. Have fun.

There was the young guy who was doing his laundry who is in the middle of hiking the 2500+ mile Continental Divide trail, after already hiking both the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails (slouch!).

We had dinner last at a Mexican restaurant next to a table consisting of a mom and daughter from Rutland, VT (Sarah is actually working in the Park this summer) and a couple (Diana and Zach) from Portland, OR, who are on a two-week trip, hiking in the Park. Nice folks all.

We head into flatter lands today. It looks as if we will be in Montana forever! We are hoping that Ted Tuner or Robert Redford will invite us to stay on their ranches as we ride through. I heard that Bob makes a great Buffalo burger.

Thanks to those of you who have left comments on the Blog or sent us an e-mail of encouragement (rdbehaviorself@yahoo.com). It's nice to know we haven't been forgotten - yet!

Take care,

Rob & Jake

Our Own Private Idaho

Well, we made it to Idaho. All in all, Washington was a mixed bag. It was beautiful and rugged, and populated with very friendly people. It was also filled with high mountain passes, cold rainy weather, and multpile mechanical problems.

We made it up and down a number of passes with varying heights and degree of steepness. One constant over them all, is that recumbent tricycles don't like steep hills. Gravity is not your friend when you are pedaling up an 8% grade with an over-sized load hanging out on the back of your trike. No matter how much momentum you get on the downhill side, it all dissipates with the first 10% of the next uphill grade and then pulls heavily at you as you grind toward the top. I equate it to jumping on that recumbent trike at your local health club, setting it to a very high level (making it hard to do more than thirty revolutions per minute), start pushing, and don't stop for five hours. Welcome to our world.

Following the Pend Oreille River, we witnessed a lot of flooding due to snow melt. Many local events have been canceled due to the high waters. We saw a large heard of bison wading through fields that were most likely dry a week before. Folks are nervous that the warm weather of the last couple of days are going to increase the volume of water flowing into the lakes and rivers.

A couple of shout-outs to folks we met along the way so far:

o There was the group of seven kids and two adults who are riding to York, Maine in support of disabled vetrans. We met them on a long uphill (of course) out of Colville where the roads were in the process of being oiled, coating Jake and I in a fine splatter the whole way up.

o There was the sweet woman who worked at Boo Boo's cafe in Usk, who fed us breakfast burritos and then gave us huckleberry pastries for the road (which then flew off of the back of Jake's bike). Boo Boo took this picture.

o There was the very nice couple, Chuck and Janet, who we met in a campground at Round Lake, who have a sweet grandson named Sebastion.

o And then there was Greg, the master mechanic at Sports Plus in Sandpoint who spent over three hours working on our trikes (especially Jake's) hopefully ending the frequent problems with tires and tubes that has been slowing us down for the last week (Jake had gone through four tires and seven tubes due to an alignment problem with his front wheels). Thanks again Greg!!

Sandpont, Id, where we are tonight, is an interesting town on the border with eastern Washington. It has the largest lake in Idaho, which is also the fifth deepest in the US. The lake has a decent beach, where we saw a number of kids and adults swimming today, but is ringed by snow-capped peaks.

We took a needed rest day today and will head into Montana tomorrow (where we will spend the next 10 days or so). There we will cross the Continental Divide at Logan Pass (in about a week).

The trip continues to be difficult and wonderful!

Into the Wild (and up a big f***ing hill)

Hey all:

The ferry from Sidney to Anacortes was delightful and free of most of the hassles of our previous ferry trip.

We then had a few mishaps, my boom twisted 90 degrees trying to disembark from the ferry, Jake's chain immediately fell off, and he then had a punctured tube and a tire that went bald in two days. Do you know how hard it is to get a 20" tube with a Presta valve in rural northwest Washington? We won't even talk about finding Ethyl alcohol for our stove. Then I thought I dropped the camera off the trike. Walked back more than a mile, against heavy traffic, on a narrow bridge, uphill, into the wind (you get the idea) with no success - only to find that it had lodged itself in the lower bars of the trike (oops). Jake went off to look for some bread for dinner and was sold 4 slices of bread from a deli for $4.50.

Nice State Park camping that night and a good start in the morning. Easy flat riding for our first full day. Overcast, but no rain until we got to the campground that late afternoon. Jake spotted an eagle during our lunch break. Camped in the rain by the Sagit River. Late start then pretty flat riding for first half of day. Once we entered the North Cascade Wilderness area, the road got rather steep. Jake kept up a litany of complaints and a running monologue on the benefits of backpacking over bike riding. Rode along a nice river, though, and had snow capped peaks on both sides of us most of the way.

Camped by Lake Diablo. Slept 11 hours. Out at @ 8:30. We then spent the next 7 hours pedaling over 32 miles up to the top of Washington Pass. I couldn't get my trike into its lowest gears, so it was not a fun ride. At least the rain held off. Freezing cold at top. Due to a heavy snowfall in late winter, and a series of avalanches, they had the second latest Pass opening on record this spring. The descent was very fast, a bit slippery, and a little scary as there were few guardrails and a precipitous drop on one side.

Made good time downhill to an Inn in Mazama, where we ate too much and soaked in their outdoor hot tub. We face a series of additional passes as we continue east through Washington. I expect the tone of the blog will be more upbeat once we get out of the mountains.

We'll blog again when we next have wireless service.

And So It Begins...

Hey all:

Jake and I took off from Bradley Airport early on Friday morning for an uneventful flight to Newark. From there it was a long and cramped flight to Seattle (one advantage of biking over 4000 miles back is not having to sit in the middle seat  of an overheated aircraft for 5 hours again).

Rented a car in Seattle to drive down to Olympia so Jake could visit Evergreen College. Arrived in the middle of graduation. Might be a good fit for Jake. Nice place- too far away for his mother's taste.

Spent some time in Olympia the next morning They were in the middle of a three day bike event. Lot of folks in tight colorful clothing,  $8,000 5lb bicycles, and Darth Vader helmets. Exactly as we were equipped for our ride.

Met some nice folks in a cafe where we were watching the racers, whose words of encouragement and excitement were able to drown out the "oh f***, what are we doing?" feelings that both Jake and I were experiencing at that time.

Back to Seattle to take a small plane to Port Angeles where we were going to pick up the trikes and  start the trip. Great flight (Thanks Scott & Nile - pilots). We were then offered a ride into town from a very nice woman who had lost her luggage in transit from Atlanta (or should I say the airline lost her luggage - good job Continental!), but got it back in time for the graduation she was supposed to be attending (Thanks GiGi and Tanya).

After checking into a great hotel (with a bad reputation), we went straight to the bike shop where our trikes had been shipped. Finally met Vicki, the owner of the shop) who had done so much for us with the trikes and our gear. The beginning of the trip would have been much more difficult without her help.

Spent the night in our spacious waterfront room trashing the place with all of our gear. We realized that we could not possibly carry all of that crap on our trikes, so we boxed up a bunch and sent it back to Vermont (Thanks again Vicki).

We woke to brilliant blue skies and discovered that our other view was of a beautiful snow-capped mountain ridge that had previously been hidden by low clouds. Breakfasted on pure sugar at the Cockle-Doodle-Do Donut shop, whose owner was as sweet as the confections - really.  Drew lots of attention on the sidewalk outside the hotel as we loaded our gear on to the trikes. John and his wife (from Kansas) took the photo below - the first official shot with all of our stuff. You may notice the helmeted wombat sitting astride my packs. That's Wilson. He decided to come along for the ride. Look for him in future photos (sort of a "Where's Wilson?" thing). I can hear Jake groaning already at the thought.

Then on to the ferry where we met Forest, a 79 year-old gentleman with far more experience on his loaded trike than we had on ours. In addition to regaling us with stories of his adventures, he was able to guide us through the treacherous process of boarding and exiting a ferry meant for skinny passengers - not unwieldy overloaded trikes.

With just a few minor mishaps, some lifting, shoving, and light swearing, we managed to get them on board. There we met Ben, who may be the most experienced bike tourer under 30 I have ever met. He is from New Zealand, now living in British Columbia, but has traveled by bike all over the world. He has created the enviable lifestyle of working 6 months out of the year and bike touring in exotic locales for the rest of the year. (Note the not insignificant trace of envy in my writing?). He was also the first person to make a donation while on the trip. To further gild the lily, I need to add that he often bikes for charitable causes and designed and built a special vehicle that converts his brothers wheelchair into a three wheeled trike that can be ridden using just one leg and one arm.

After stumbling off the ferry in Victoria (if anything a more difficult and embarrassing process than getting on the ship) we had to ride through a city crowded with Sunday revelers there for a multi-day bike event that included BMX trick riders on a barge and polo on bikes. We have never ridden our trikes in traffic and it was not a fun first experience to do it in the narrow busy streets of a capital city during a festival. More than once we had to quickly jump onto sidewalks to avoid the inevitable meeting of car and trike (ok, it was more that I was lost and couldn't see over the cars - but that isn't nearly as exciting as a near-death experience).

Once across the Blue Johnson bridge, we were instructed to take the Galloping Goose Trail to the Lochside Trail, a bike and pedestrian-only trail that goes from Victoria to Sidney. This proved to be a wonderful first ride of 18 miles, mostly on paved paths where we were able to chat with fellow riders who were interested in our odd looking and over-loaded trikes. After riding with Lisa and John for a bit, and telling them of our plans for a 70-day plan for crossing the US, she informed me that she and a relay team had crossed Canada in 19 days. I immediately stopped liking her at this point and hoped that John beat her in their upcoming tennis game.

Dinner at a Thai restaurant in Sidney and sleep at a nice waterfront hotel last night has completed the luxury portion of our trip. We head by ferry to Anacortes, WA at noon today (yes, another battle with the evil gangways and custom officers). We hope to be 20 or 30 miles east of Anacortes by nightfall and to camp for the first time. From there it will be all tents and sleeping bags, stove cooking, bugs, much used clothing, sponge baths in gas station restrooms, and polite smiles from strangers who wisely keep their distance when we pass by. Anyone want to join us?

Still not able to deposit donations or take them on this site, so either mail us a check that you don't mind us holding for a while or hold on to your donation until we get the tax exempt stuff worked out. Thanks to all who helped make this trip possible. We truly are having a great time.

Take care, be well, and keep checking back for more blogs.

Rob & Jake