Gift Cycle /// blog

DAY 48: ROCKY MOUNTAINS

Hello from very high up! We are four days into the Rocky mountains. They are like nothing we've ever seen before. We are completely surrounded by unbelieveable natural beauty. Here goes the attempt to collage together a day-by-day since we last wrote:

DAYS 39 + 40 /// TUESDAY + WEDNESDAY... We decided to stay on Gillian's farm (which was recovering from a devastating fire) to help with some house-painting and tree-planting. It was really nice to be in one spot for a few nights. We did lots of laundry and cooking, not to mention lots of sweating. Wednesday it was 110 degrees in the shade! Hottest day I've ever lived through. We also met up with an artist in Kim, Colorado and did a gift exchange with her.

DAY 41 /// THURSDAY... Left Gillians REALLY early; got up at 3:30 and biked into Pueblo by noon. It felt so good to beat the heat! We made friends with Luke + Danielle, a couple our age-ish who took us in for the night. Thanks Luke + Danielle! It was great. We played music, ate pizza and slept in the most comfortable sofa bed on the planet.

DAY 42 /// FRIDAY... We biked along the river in Pueblo, home of the largest mural in the world. We stopped mid-day at a natural hot spring, where we were really well taken care of by Tanya. She made us sandwiches and treated us to a swim. It was just heavenly. We found ourselves restored and raring to bike another 30 miles, but then in Canon City we got stuck in an impressive storm and got a motel room. You win some, you lose some.

DAY 43 /// SATURDAY... Left Canon City EARLY to begin our climb into the Rockies! We knew we were heading to Guffey that night, where our girl Julia was going to meet us. To keep ourselves motivated, we bellowed "JUUULLLIAAAAAAAAAAA" into the mountains all day. She was the most beautiful thing we'd ever seen! Julia, thank you thank you thank you for driving so far just to hang with us for a night. We needed you! We stayed up late giggling with J and then woke up and had a surprise art-gathering with the Guffey locals. They were great!

There are a few more days to write about, but I'm in my last minute on a library computer in Kremmling Colorado. There are children behind me lining up for their turn. Gotta go!

We are happy and enjoying the most spectacular scenery yet. We miss and love our friends and family.

xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxooxox x a million,

m + s + j

DAY 38: COLORADO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just biked to Colorado, that's all! No big deal. Started out in the east, now we are definitely in the west. It is so different here. We are not in Kansas anymore.

I know it's been a long time since we posted; it's because western Kansas and eastern Colorado are the complete middle of nowhere, and we've been sleeping in city parks, sans internet. Kansas treated us right, though. Our favorite state to bike through so far! Here goes an attempt to recap the past week:

DAY 31 /// MONDAY...We left Lawrence with a real bike gang! Nanda and Travis and our new friend Jack all biked us out of town, which was so fun. Thanks Nanda and Travis for having us at your place! You know how to treat a couple of bikers right! We miss you.

DAY 32 /// TUESDAY ...We biked to Tampa, KS where the mayor kindly let us sleep in the city park. The next morning he and a whole gang of local towns people treated us to a delicious breakfast. Thank you to "the other Tampa." You're a first-rate Tampa in our book!

DAY 33 // WEDNESDAY...The Swedish town of Lindsborg treated us with some traditional Swedish tunes in the streets. We celebrated the local culture with some sweet Mexican food for lunch. Well Mexican + Italian...they cover their burritos in Ragu spaghetti sauce. Tasty fiesta mama mia. Geneseo, KS was our last stop of the day. We were treated right at the local watering hole, "It'll Do Saloon." It more than did. 

DAY 34 /// THURSDAY...Ah sweet summer time at the local pool in Hoisington. Finished the night off in Lacrosse, KS in a sweet sweet motel with laundry. We stuffed our little engines with tortilla chips and MSG con queso.

DAY 35 /// FRIDAY ...There's a reason most folks go west to east. It's called a tail-wind. There wasn't a single element that wasn't in our favor this day. Sweet winds behind us, 75 degrees, roads flatter than our bellies that we later stuffed with chocolate soft-serve. We went 93 miles ... a record distance. Scott City's retirement home provided individual handicapped-style showers for each of us! And some sweet 13-year-olds made out hard in the local park. They don't mess around out there. And Lauren, it was great catching up. Miss your face.

DAY 36 /// SATURDAY ... Winds came back at us but our home for the evening made up for it. People are trusting out here. A motel in Tribune left the keys outside and you just go for it. We had a potluck dinner at a local youth center. The town streets blared the sweet sounds of Phil Collins and Rod Stuart ... a suiting soundtrack for a dead town without a soul in sight. Our night was classic western KS. A full yellow moon, mud-crusted pick-up trucks, tractors, drunk neighbors blaring music while the little girl runs wild trying on our biking outfits left to dry, a flapping american flag lit by neon lights and a flashing sign inviting all to the "Part-o-BBQ."

DAY 37 /// SUNDAY ...One of the worst. Crossed into Colorado, land of scorched earth and desolation. It was just SO FLIPPIN HOT. We biked 60 miles in over 100-degree heat through "towns" whose gas stations don't open on Sundays. All the water we had was disgusting and instantly boiling hot, and we went a little crazy. Ended in Eads, CO.

DAY 38 /// MONDAY (today!) ...We had a much better day than yesterday and finished 60 miles by 3:00, which has to be some kind of record for us. We are used to biking into the night, so to find ourselves in a house with all afternoon to relax is a true luxury.  We heard from a few fellow bikers along the way about a woman named Jillian who opens her home to bikers in Ordway, Colorado. She apparently is just a saint who has done a lot of traveling and knows how it feels to really want a bed/shower/kitchen along your journey. So here we are hanging out in her beautiful home all afternoon.

We're steadily heading towards the Rockies; hope they have chocolate soft-serve there.

We miss you!
xoxoxoxoxo

m + s (+ j, our new friend who is still biking with us!)

DAY 30

Hello from Lawrence, Kansas!

We had our event here last night; it went GREAT. So many artists came out and their work was just beautiful. We're having a lot of fun here. (There is a really good ice cream joint downtown. I mean REALLY good. They even make their own cones!)

This past week we had the pleasure of Mr. Sandman's company. He joined us for three days, two of which we rode the beautiful and peaceful Katy Trail through Missouri. It was so nice to have him with us. John/Dad, thank you for riding with us! Throwing a third person into the mix for a bit really helped us out, especially one so kind and funny. We loved having you with us.

Day 27 (Thursday) was one of the worst days we've had yet. Definitely in the top 3. After riding the Katy Trail for two days, which was mostly flat, completely shady and had water stops and restrooms every 10-ish miles, this was a rude awakening. As soon as we got off the trail there were just hills, as far as the eye could see. We rode 45 miles without reaching a restroom or a town or a business. Just hills and sunshine, that's all there was. We filled our water bottles in people's houses and peed in bushes to break up the day with some different activities, because biking up hills in that heat can get old fast.

Kansas has been good to us so far. More cows than cars, which is fine with us. Our favorite thing about biking past farms is that all the horses and cows watch us and sometimes walk in their fences with us as we pass. So far it's still been hilly. We learned last night that the Colorado border is a mile higher in elevation than here, which means... slight incline the entire way! We really are biking this country in the wrong direction. Oh well, live and learn.

There's no place like home,
m + s

RECAP: INDIANA

Indiana is for the birds. Seriously, Indiana, what have you done for me lately?

We are in St. Louis, which is wonderful. I'm with my girl Jese, which is like being home, and Sarah is at home with her family, which is like being home. So we're really happy to be here. This week provided some pretty serious mental challenges. We have come one-third of the way across the country (no turning back now!) so we pretty much know what it's like. We know what biking day after day feels like and we know what camping feels like and we know we can do it and we just have to wake up every day and do it.

Reasons to never bike through Indiana:

+ Good luck finding a meal you're excited about. It's like, all you want is a spinach salad, and all Indiana has to offer you is a deep-fried grilled cheese. And you're just really flippin hungry so you'll eat the hell outta that deep-fried grilled cheese and then since you're already disgusting, you'll have some french fries while you're at it please. (Okay okay, I'm not being totally fair. We did have the most perfect chocolate soft-serve at Dairy Master. They are not even bragging! They are totally the Master of Dairy!)

+ Their roads don't have shoulders. This is the most troubling part of Indiana as a biker. There are all these roads with these white lines on them indicating the edge of the road, and the road just ends right there at the white line, and then just inches further to the right are all the fixins for a messy death. Huge cliffs with sharp rocks and vultures just waiting for you. So if you're on your bike, you are sharing the lane with all the millions of cars and truckers that are racing through this awful state. And you can't blame them for going fast, because all you want to do is get out of Indiana, so you sympathize with their hurry, but you're on a bike so it's going to take you a lot longer than them so you just wish they could take the 20 seconds out of their day to slow down as they pass you. Sometimes Indiana goes ahead and makes a "shoulder" but in that case they make it grooved pavement so if a trucker drives off the road he or she will wake up, and they also cover it in a generous coating of rocks and glass, rendering it un-bikeable.

+ Indiana is actually really hilly! Who knew? We went through the southern half of the state, and it offered us the longest hill yet! We climbed a hill that was steep for over a mile long. SHEESH.

Indiana is in the rear view now, though. NEVER have to do that again. NOT EVER!

Happier now,
m + s

DAY 21 // THREE WEEKS // ST. LOUIS

We're HERE!
It's so beautiful.
We're not biking for three days!

More to come soon.
xoxoxoxoxox
m + s