Bike for Achievement First Bridgeport Academy

Thank You

2010-06-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'd like to thank everyone who helped with this adventure.

Thanks to all the supporters of the Achievement First Bridgeport Academy. This school is making a real difference in lives of many young people. Your generosity is making it possible. Between the website and checks you've sent in, we've raised about $30,000.

Thanks to the scholars at the Bridgeport Academy. You guys really inspired me when I visited. I thought of you often during the ride and hope to see you all again soon.

Thanks to everyone who has read the blog and commented or sent emails. It's nice to know someone is out there reading. It also was one of my few connections to my "real" life and friends.

Thanks to Steven, for inventing the hairy challenge and being so generous. Here's the final pic:

The beard actually came in much better than expected. I last tried this in grad school, and the results were truly pitiful. I guess I've gone through puberty since then.

Thanks to all my fellow tourers and the staff at Crossroads. You are truly an exceptional group of people. I hope to see you all at a reunion. Stay safe and keep riding.

Thanks most of all to my wife, Peggy, for letting me do various crazy things, including this trip. This one's out of my system now but I've been thinking about....

Hello Atlantic Ocean!!!

2010-06-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

Here I am at Revere (pronounced locally as Ra-vee-ah) Beach just north of Boston. It's all over. 3481 miles, 42 days of riding, lots of new friends and countless memories. I'm feeling lost right now. Getting up in the morning and heading east on the bike is what I do. My fellow tourers are a closeknit team. You get to know people pretty well when you ride with them for several hours a day, share meals, stay at the same hotels and work towards a common goal.

Here's the whole gang.

Congratulations to everyone. There were about 15 of us who went coast-to-coast, with some others doing segments, and about six who are "EFI" riders, riding Every Inch of the way (some took the SAG occasionally). I am younger and a more serious cyclist than most in this group. For some, it showed incredible determination and mental strength to make it. Of course, Roy is a whole story on his own. The story will be told in his commitment papers.

There was some confusion at the beach.

Here's Roy, Stu, me, Greg and Sandy. When Stu got to the beach, he thought it was a triathlon and started swimming to London. A local fisherman found him and returned him to Revere.

I'm honestly in a bit of a state of shock. A way of life has come to an end. I'll put up another post tomorrow, once I've had a chance to reflect some. Maybe I can pretend to have deep insights on life.

AND... THE FINAL PHOTO OF THE HAIRY CHALLENGE.

We can smell the Atlantic...

2010-06-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in Burlington, MA, a mere 18 miles from Revere beach, where we will ride to tomorrow. It's hard to believe we've come this far.

AND ROY MADE IT!

Today's 92 mile ride took us through three states and lots of classic New England terrain. There was also lots of steep climbing on old New England roads, with grades as high as 12%. However, we could smell the barn at the end of the road. Greg and I powered through the route, our determination evidenced by no stops for coffee or pastry. Since we were in tourist country much of the day, the temptations were many, but we persevered. We also passed on homemade ice cream, "mile high" apple pie and numerous other forms of cardiovascular stimulants.

The quick ones among you already figured this out - since we were in three states, there were two state line crossings today.

New Hampshire is still sticking with their classic "Live Free or Die" motto. Most people assume that this goes back to the revolutionary war. Actually, it wasn't adopted as the state motto until 1945, although it is a quote from a toast in 1809 written by General John Stark, a hero of the battle of Bennington. So it's some fairly recent new Hampshirans who thought this was a good way to promote their state. Don't hire them for your own marketing campaign.

Massachusetts wins the award for plainest sign. No imagination whatsoever. Even the font screams "we're boring".

I have a suggestion for the Massachusetts government. Add the following motto - "Live free but die if you try to ride a bike here". The roads are narrow, the pavement poor, and the drivers clearly consider cyclist endangerment a sport. It was "interesting" getting to Burlington. Maybe it was appropriate for our last big day.

Please refer to blogs from the Midwestern states to understand the difference between folks here and there. Simply insert a negative and apply it to the drivers of Massachusetts.

This makes a total of 15 states visited on our tour. 35 left to visit by bike some other time.

Here are a few shots of typical New England scenes. This is from Brattleboro, VT last night.

And this is from Ashuelot, NH today.

We also pedaled through Concord and Lexington today. We made sure to point out to the Brits on tour how badly they got their butts kicked. I think we don't appreciate what's nearby, opting instead to go to Italy or France to cycle. There's lots to see right here in New England, and it's different when you see it by bike. Having said that, I hear that Montenegro is a great place to cycle...

Wretched Excess

2010-06-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Since we're approaching the end of the tour and should be in great shape by now, it shouldn't surprise you that Greg and I set not one, but TWO personal bests today. We consumed FIVE pastries and made THREE separate stops during the ride for coffee.

The pastry extravaganza started with a Dunkin Donuts doughnut at the first SAG (accompanied by coffee, of course). Seven miles down the road we passed Crazy Russian Girls Bakery.

They had a sign out front saying "free coffee for cyclists", so we had to stop. I had a cinnamon raisin scone. This place was indeed run by crazy Russian girls, although they really were part Russian, part Swiss. Crazy Swiss Girls would only confuse people, I guess. Crazy Swiss girls is definitely an oxymoron.

At our second SAG, we were greeted by Vera, the Strudel Queen. I kid you not. That's her license plate. She's a friend of fellow tourers Sandy and Stu, and lives nearby. Her strudel is to die for:

Apple rhubarb raisin strudel, homemade by Vera with the fruit grown on her property. Unbelievable. Note also the chocolate chip cookies at the upper left, supplied by Janie's sister. That brings our total to four, counting cookies as pastry.

Finally, after a tasty sandwich in Brattleboro, Greg and I stopped in Mocha Joe's for a latte. I couldn't resist the coffee cake, bringing us to FIVE. I believe we have set the bar high for a standard of wretched excess.

We also had a fine selection of critters today, including crawfish

and a few strangely painted moose.

When we weren't eating or drinking, we did manage to take in some of the best scenery of the tour.

The Green Mountains in Vermont match anything we saw in the west, although in a more subtle way. This is great biking territory. We had a lot of climbing today (6000 ft. in 80 miles), including one sustained climb of 1600 ft. out of Bennington, but we stopped and enjoyed the scenery, the pastry and the coffee. One of the top days of the entire tour.

We only have one more serious day of cycling. It's hard to believe.

A Hotel With Extras

2010-06-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

Three cracked ribs weren't enough to keep Roy down today. Here he is heading off on today's 71 mile ride.

He took it slower than usual, but still finished at a decent time. Way to go Roy!

Our hotel last night in Little Falls, the Knights Inn, came with some unanticipated extras. The hallway to my room smelled heavily of cigarette smoke, but my room smelled more like old, damp rags. The hallway smell made the room smell good. Very clever and much appreciated.

It was clear that they had been saving this room for me for quite some time. Also appreciated. They didn't make a big deal out of it, but the secret slipped out when I spotted a large spider web spanning the headboard to the bed spread, complete with large spider.

Maybe best of all was the view.

That's a train rumbling by. They did their homework, obviously reading this blog and knowing how much I enjoyed riding along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe in the southwest. Did you know that freight trains run all night and are capable of shaking teeth right out of your jaw?

The riding today was mostly through the Mohawk River valley.

This was quite scenic, but the real reason to include the photo is to show off my bike jersey. Peg brought three fresh jerseys when she visited. This is my favorite jersey in my extensive collection. I was the envy of the entire tour. Note that it's an overcast day, appropriate for a sun absorbing black jersey. Points for style and function today.

We're definitely back on the East Coast. Here's a shot just outside Schenectady.

Everything has become older. Also, riding along the Mohawk River, we saw lots of old mill towns that have seen much better days. There were plenty of run down towns in the west, but not with the same old feel like these.

I must be getting close to home...

The Heart of a Lion

2010-06-21T17:09:00.000-07:00

My buddy Roy took a fall today. It happened 12 miles into a 78 mile ride. He was taken to the hospital to get checked out, but seemed in pretty good shape. When he left the hospital, he was taken back to the point where he fell, and continued the ride. As of right now, he's out there determined to complete every inch of our cross country adventure. As I've said before, he's an incredible person. His courage and determination are an inspiration.

GO ROY!

I'm still in shock from the surprise Fathers Day visit yesterday from Peg and Michael. I'm even more impressed that Michael got up this morning at 6 a.m. this morning to have breakfast with me and see me off. What a great kid!

The visit limited my blogging yesterday, so I'll catch up on two days riding here. Yesterday, we rode by a few of the finger lakes and had a beautiful day for riding. Along the way, we saw the following sign, hearing gun shots as passed by. Notice that the sign has several bullet holes in it. At first I was confused, since gunshots and a wildlife refuge don't seem to go together. However, it all make perfect sense. This is the Clara M. Stevenson Wildlife Refuge Memorial. It's NOT the Clara M. Stevens Memorial Wildlife Refuge. Just read the sign. This means it is a memorial to a wildlife refuge, hence the gunshots and bullet holes. It's not a memorial to Clara. Not knowing if homo spandexus was in season, we quickly left the area.

This memorial was near the famous Erie Canal. Here's the canal. Kind of pathetic, huh? You have to use your imagination to think of this as a major thoroughfare.

Today, we had 79 miles of fairly flat riding through more of scenic upstate New York, ending in Little Falls. A short walk from our hotel is a lock on the New York State Canal System. This system replaced the Erie Canal.
This engineering marvel lifts boats 40 feet, allowing them to navigate around the not so little falls on the Mohawk River in Little Falls. I didn't realize canals like this were still used. The operator of this lock explained that the canal system is like a highway, with exits along the way to various bodies of water.

This morning at the hotel, we all got excited when we spotted this:

We thought this was the food for our SAG stop, but that would have been udderly ridiculous.

However, it did provide inspiration for Greg and I. During the ride we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts and had coffee and glazed apple fritters.

Note that the fritter is about the size of Greg's head. It was also quite dense, like my head. The Dunkin Donuts website claims these mutants are only 400 calories, but I find that hard to believe.

About 3 miles down the road we caught up with a few of our fellow tourers. They invited us to stop for lunch with them at a pizza place. So, about 20 minutes after coffee and fritter, I ate a giant slice of garlic pizza and a 20 oz. pepsi. It all seemed to make sense at the time.

The Best Fathers Day EVER

2010-06-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

Guess who showed up and surprised me at lunch today in Syracuse. Peg and Michael! This is my best Fathers Day ever.

Beating the storm

2010-06-19T14:25:00.001-07:00

Today marked another milestone - 3000 miles cycled to date. Here's the proof:
3000 miles feels like a big deal. Much more than 1000 or 2000. I think we all know we can complete the trip, assuming no catastrophes.

Peg asked me an interesting question last night - How much further do you think you could go? Mentally, I'm looking forward to being done, back with family and off the bike for a spell. Physically, I could do this forever. I asked the question of a group of fellow tourers and they all agree - physically, our daily mileage is normal. It's what we do. It's not a strain on the system. I wondered before the trip if the high mileage would wear the body down over time, but that hasn't been the case.

However, I'm not feeling like Forrest Gump after he ran across the county a few times and said "I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going." I aspire to be Forrest Gump, but haven't quite gotten there.

We had a 95 mile ride today with rolling terrain almost all day. It might have been a hard day, but we found two coffee stops to keep us charged up. I faced a moral dilemna about 80 miles into the ride. I was riding with Roy most of the day, and had gotten a little ahead of him at this point. I figured I'd stop and wait for him, and turned around to see where he was. There was Roy, and right behind him was a line of dark black clouds.

I thought a good friend would wait and hope we could outrun the storm together. On the other hand, I've only known Roy six weeks, and while him getting electrocuted in a thunderstorm would be a bit sad, I'd be no worse off than I was six weeks ago. Also, he had a bottle of fine Kosta Browne pinot waiting at the hotel. That would be a good way to toast Roy's demise, and with Roy not there, there would be more for me.

It turned out not to be a difficult decision, and I bolted off at max speed, arriving at the hotel just ahead of the deluge.
Roy was not so fortunate, but did arrive safe but soaked. The wine was still good, although another glass would have been nice.

I Love New York

2010-06-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

We crossed the border into New York today. Here I am with Roy and Greg for our 11th state line photo op. I can ride my bike from home to NY in about 2 hours, so I ought to be able to ride home from here in about 2 hours, right? Even if that logic doesn't quite work, it feels like we're almost there. We've ridden from California to New York, which sounds like riding coast to coast to most people.

We left Erie, Pa with a police escort this morning. An anonymous tour member named Roy ate breakfast early down the street from the hotel. He chatted with a motorcycle cop there and we ended up with the escort. This is the same anonymous tour member named Roy who talks strangers into lending him their Cadillacs. I am in awe of his talents.

We lined up two abreast for the four mile ride out of the city. The two motorcycle cops stopped traffic at all the lights and waved us through. That's the way to travel by bike.

Almost the entire 80 miles today was along the shore of Lake Erie.

Not a bad spot for a home, huh? That's a grape vine in the foreground at the right. We passed thousands of acres of grapes. Wine making along the shore is a big industry.

The weather today was perfect - not a cloud to be seen, mid-70's and no wind. A great day to enjoy the views of the lakeshore and grapevines. There was no reason to hurry, so we rode really fast for parts of the ride.

Dinner tonight was at Dennys. Sandy commented that there were a lot of strange looking people in the restaurant. Sandy just rejoined the tour, having left in Albuquerque. Those of us going the full distance thought the people tonight looked perfectly normal. Perspectives change. For more information on this topic please consult peopleofwalmart.com.

I thought this was a clever idea.

However, after pedaling a few blocks and extracting the drink, I noticed that the foam from the latte had sprayed up and onto the seat tube of the bike. I licked it off the frame, but the mix of foam, dirt and road oil probably won't make the menu at Starbucks.

Bared fangs and foaming at the mouth...

2010-06-17T05:21:00.000-07:00

I did something for the first time in my life - call 911. It was a bizarre experience.

Roy and I were having a very pleasant ride on a nice backroad when we spotted a man and two dogs on the road ahead. We slowed and could hear the man screaming in our direction. As we got closer, we realized he was screaming expletives that I won't repeat. We had absolutely no clue what he was worked up about. At this point, he was holding a beautiful Saint Bernard by the collar. The dog wasn't excited at all. I think it just wanted to play.

I asked the man what he wanted us to do, and he just kept the expletives coming. If you removed those words, I think he was upset that we were riding on the road and getting his dogs excited. His face was purple and swollen in a rage. The dogs weren't the ones getting excited. We still had no idea what he wanted us to do.

We rolled slowly forward to where the second dog and a woman were standing. I asked why the man was so upset, and she flew into a similar rage using similar language. Her dog was another Saint Bernard, and wasn't the least bit threatening. Her shade was more of a crimson. The couple threatened to send their dogs after us, which may have resulted in a severe licking, so we rolled down the road a bit.

There were about 15 riders a few miles behind us. This seemed like a dangerous situation, so I called 911. The woman basically told me to go away. We called some of the Crossroads staff to alert them of the situation, but the crazy people and dogs were gone by the time the next group arrived. Roy and I speculated that they may have been drunk or on drugs. We thought they might bring out guns when the next cyclists came by. It was completely weird.

Luckily, there was an old fashioned root beer stand, the White Turkey Drive-In, a few miles ahead in Conneaut, Ohio. I highly recommend a lunch of a turkey sandwich (real turkey roasted and shredded), french fries and a root beer float. It was the perfect cure for human insanity.

Here's a shot of Roy's float.

He asked for the smallest, because he's not a manly man. Isn't the face on it adorable? As it melted the candy eyes melted and it was crying. Aaaawwww.

This was our 10th state line crossing, entering Pennsylvania.

This is the new winner for most pathetic state line sign. Also, there were a bunch of other ugly signs near it, making sure the views were spoiled in all directions.

We're in Erie, Pennsylvania for a rest day today. Time to do laundry, buy a few needed items at a bike shop, and sightsee. We just completed seven straight days and 630 miles of riding. That seems like a lot, but I guess we're all getting used to this. We have 8 more days of riding, so we can smell the finish line. I'm anxious to be done, but still enjoying every moment of this journey.

Susan got my goat

2010-06-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

The highlight of the day was actually meeting Susan, the winner of the "name that critter" contest. Check out the comments from yesterday's post. Susan not only won, but earned extra credit with her identification and description of the fairly rare Toggenburg goat. It turns out that Susan is the sister-in-law of my fellow tourer Sam, and lives not far from here in Ohio. She and some others were at our SAG stop to see Sam. I was honored to meet such an authority on goats/critters.

We saw some other interesting creatures today, all alive this time. Here's what I'm guessing is an alpaca. And here are the mini-ponies (that's the latin term) that shared the same grazing area.

And last, here's the species homo spandexus gawking at the above creatures.

Our ride today was one of transition. It began with more farmland, but with an increasing population density. It transitioned to more industrial as we went through the Akron/Canton area and to tonight's destination near Youngstown. We knew the world had changed when we passed "U.A.W. Local XXX Ballfields". Most folks in the U.A.W. probably have a lot of time to play ball these days.

Interestingly, the roads deteriorated as we got to the more urban areas. On second thought, that's not very interesting at all, so I'll call it quits for today.

Disturbing images

2010-06-14T14:03:00.001-07:00

I found this disturbing. The marker on the side of the road looks like a memorial to someone. Someone needs to explain the possum skins on top. Some sort of weird Ohio custom to honor loved ones? Disturbing...

What made it more disturbing was the setting. Here's what you saw when looked past the marker.

Really beautiful. Lots of birds out on the water and pretty farms beyond. But those possum skins were creepy.

I also found this disturbing.

This mural was on the wall of a Mexican restaurant. A cowboy and a Mexican hombre are stepping on the toes of a little Chinese guy. Their cigars are poised to light his hat on fire. Disturbing...

All of this came during a very nice 98 mile ride. The weather cooperated once again, with storms around us but never on top of us.

We rode through more Amish country today. Here's a home with the buggy out front. There's a cute kid in the front yard running around the wash, but he's tough to see. I played a bit of peekaboo with him.

The couple below make what I'm doing look like nothing. They're from England, and started their journey in South America in January. They biked around there for a few months, then flew to L.A. and headed towards New York.

As you can see, they are carrying their own luggage, and are camping on the trip. No wimpy luggage vans and hotels for them. I'm feeling inadequate, but felt pretty smart after the hot shower and latte today. These folks are heading to Australia next, then to Asia. It's a year-long adventure. Very cool, but they don't have a blog. I guess they stay at campgrounds with no wi-fi.
How primitive.

Susan pointed out that the critters in yesterday's post were goats. I'll give her only partial credit. They may be goats, but they're not the normal sort of goat you see at state fairs. They must be some kind of fancy goat, or Amish goat. Check out the white markings, and lack of any goat beards. I'll send her my next set of neck hair trimmings, but not the full beard shave, so the contest is still open.

A, O, Way to go Ohio

2010-06-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

We rode through 105 miles of beautiful farmland today, crossing the Ohio border just 2 miles into the ride. I can't figure out what Chrissie Hynde was singing about when she said "the farms of Ohio had been replaced by shopping malls and muzak filled the air." Not only were we in farmland all day, but I listened hard for muzak and didn't hear any. We asked these folks where we could find muzak, but they also were at a loss.

Actually, it was really cool to see a few Amish families headed for church. The buggies are works of art. I'm told they're not crazy about having their pictures taken, so I didn't go for the closeup.

If you want to learn more about Amish culture, I recommend seeing the movie "Kingpin", with Randy Quaid playing an Amish bowler.
We didn't spot any bowling alleys, but I'm sure there were lots of them.

We did see several barns with quilt patterns on the sides.

The countryside here is very picturesque. Although it is mostly farmland, it has a very different look and feel than the huge farms of Kansas. The population density is much higher, and the terrain is way more interesting.

EXCITING CONTEST!

I spotted the critters below on today's ride, and have absolutely no clue what they are.

If you are the first to identify these cuties, I'll send you the clippings from my beard when I shave it at the end of the trip. I know that's very generous of me, but that's the kind guy I am.

Karma

2010-06-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

Today marked the first day of riding in the rain. Considering that we've been riding for five weeks, that's remarkable. Also, it was a nice rain to ride in - not too heavy, no wind, no lightning and warm temps. However, this meant that my camera spent the day in a ziploc bag, so only one photo.

We rode through Amish country today. I was expecting to get some nice pictures of horse-drawn carts, but didn't see a single one. Amish have more sense than cyclists, and stay inside when it rains. However, I did see an Amish dude riding a foot powered scooter. I guess that's an acceptable form of transportation.

To make up for the lack of Amish photos, I'll tell an Amish joke, as related to me by Rick. I bet most of you have never heard an Amish joke. Here goes:

Olga, a proper Amish woman, takes her horse-drawn buggy into town. On the way out she gets stopped by a highway patrolman.

The patrolman says "Your rear reflector is loose. You should have your husband take a look at that when you get home".

"Why thank you, kind sir. I'll let my husband know when I get home" Olga responds.

"You also may want to have your husband take a look at the reins. One is wrapped around the horse's penis."

"Why thank you, kind sir. I'll let my husband know when I get home".

Olga returns home and tells her husband "A nice patrolman stopped me and pointed out that the rear reflector is loose. He suggested you take a look at it. He also thought you should look at the emergency brake".

Have I been on the road too long? Maybe.

Riding in a light rain means that all the dirt on the road flys up and sticks to you and the bike. The rain wasn't hard enough to wash any of that dirt off. Here's a shot of part of my bike where you can see where the crud accumulated.

Of course, I gave the bike a thorough cleaning, probably more thorough than I gave myself. Keeping the bicycle happy is key on this trip.

Here's a Google Earth shot of our progress on this trip so far. Geoff, one of my fellow tourers, put it together. Pretty cool, huh? Looks like we're almost home. Actually, after today we have less than 1000 miles remaining. Piece of cake.

Now to the title of today's post - karma. If you've been reading this blog regularly, you know that Roy and I have stopped at every espresso bar we passed. Today, wanting to keep going in the rain, we passed a Starbucks and didn't go in. Bad karma. Roy had two flats in the next few miles. Now we know better. As the population density increases in the East, this probably means we will suffer caffeine poisoning, but that's the plan.

I stayed with Roy after the first flat, and helped him fix it. After the second, we spotted a support van. I abandoned him and left him with the staff. I guess I'm a one flat only kind of friend.

Major Taylor Velodrome

2010-06-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

Today we visited the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis. This was one of the highlights of the trip, for a few reasons. For the non-bike geeks, a velodrome is an oval track with highly banked turns that is used for bicycle racing. I couldn't get the whole track in one picture. It's pretty big. The ancient Greeks had hippodromes for horse and chariot racing. Hippodrome is derived from the Greek hippos (horse) and dromos (course). The velodrome is the modern version, with velo coming from velocipede, an alternate word for a bicycle. This replaced the hippodrome because bicycles are easier to clean up after.

I took several laps around the track. The banking of the turns is meant to match the centrifugal force generated by a track cyclist in a race, so it's quite steep. If you're leisurely circling the track, you feel like you might just slide down to the bottom. You can't touch the brakes or change gears on the turns, or you might lose traction and actually slide down. (Track bikes don't have gears or brakes. That makes track cyclists macho.) Serious track cylclists are odd looking humans. They have enormous quadriceps to generate maximum power for short periods of time. And like all cyclists, no upper body. If you get in a fight with one, just don't let him kick you.

Riding the track was a trip highlight, but another was visiting the track named after Indianapolis native Marshall "Major" Taylor.

As the plaque says, Taylor was a cycling world champion. He won the world championship in 1899. As an African-American, he had to overcome incredible discrimination to get there. He had to move to Connecticut to enter races, because he wasn't allowed to compete in the South. Even in the North, people threw things at him during races, including nails in front of his tires. You can read more about him here. He led an interesting life, so take a look.

Today also marked another two major milestones. Roy ate his first hamburger in 10 years. Not only a hamburger, but a double bacon cheeseburger. Much to my surprise, his heart didn't stop. I was ready with the camera just in case.
The burger was at Five Guys. They claim to use better ingredients than other chains, so that's probably why Roy is alive.

The other milestone was TWO Starbucks stops during the ride. We're definitely back in civilization and definitely well caffeinated. Life is good. And visit Indianapolis sometime. It's a very nice city containing things other than the Indianapolis Colts.

Hoosier Land

2010-06-10T13:56:00.001-07:00

More milestones today - our 8th state line crossing into Indiana and our fourth time zone, moving to Eastern time. I grew up in Illinois, and we had Hoosier jokes in the same way that Texans have aggie jokes. After having a latte and cinnamon roll at Kuppa Koffee in Covington, Indiana, I may have told my last Hoosier joke. Not only was the coffee and pastry first rate, but we had a nice chat with Tonya (shown below) and the rest of the crowd at Kuppa Koffee. Tonya spoke with almost religious fervor about the rolls at the Beef House , a local steak restaurant with what some believe are the best rolls in the country.

Hoosiers also have some of the best town line signs:
I sometimes think Westport has the opposite ratio.

Today was "Dress Like an Idiot Day" on the tour. Maybe they didn't call it that, but we were all supposed to decorate out helmets in festive ways.

I don't think that's exactly what the day was called, but I'm just glad we weren't riding by the mental hospital we saw a few days ago.

I chose a more tasteful outfit. As you hockey fans know, my Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last night. This is a big deal, since the last time they won I was 4 years old. I put some Blackhawk stickers on my helmet, a penant on my bike and a personal first - face stickers with a Blackhawk theme.

I purchased all this before the Blackhawks won, being an optimist about Chicago sports teams. Remember, Cub fans have been either optimists or fools for the last 102 years. The next time you see me with stickers on my face will be when the Cubs wint the World Series. I expect that will be next year.

We're staying tonight along the interstate in Crawsfordsville, Indiana. The downtown is supposed to be one of the top 100 small towns in America, but we're a few miles from there. However, we have a Holiday Inn Express, Quality Inn, Ramada, Motel 6, Super 8, Hampton Inn, Comfort Inn, Burger King, McDonalds, Subway and four gas stations with mini-marts all within 1/4 mile. All the essentials for life in America.

A very nice side trip

2010-06-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

Today's ride was another in depth view of corn farming. Lots of different tractors with weird attachments. I didn't take many pictures, and rode pretty hard today because I had a goal. We ended in Champaign, IL, which is only a 3 hour drive from my parents in Chicago. I rented a car and made it up to Chicago in time for dinner.

Here's my dad, Uncle Sy, Aunt Beverly and my mom.

If you've been reading this blog, you may remember a recurring theme that Midwest people are NICE. My mom and dad are the nicest people in the Midwest, which is saying a lot.

I'm spending the night in Chicago, then rejoining the gang in Champaign in time for Thursday's ride. I love the cycling gang, but it's great to be able to come up here and see the family.

I blitzed through the ride today and didn't visit anything or meet any people that blow up small mammals. So, I'll answer a question I've received from a few people - What do I eat while doing all this cycling? The simple answer is everything. My bike computer says I burned 6200 calories on yesterday's ride. I think that number is high, but the real number is big anyway. Here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast

1 big bowl raisin bran

1 large glass orange juice

2 cups coffee - necessary for life

1 container yogurt
1 bagel
1 sweet roll

On the bike, first leg

22 oz. gatorade

22 oz. water w/ electrolytes

1 Clif bar

First SAG stop

1 banana

1 brownie

A bunch of goldfish

12 oz. gatorade

On the bike, second leg

22 oz. gatorade

22 oz. water

1 Clif bar

1 nut bar

Second SAG stop

1 banana

12 oz. water

A bunch of triscuits

small box of raisins

On the bike, last leg

22 oz. gatorade

12 oz. water

1 Clif bar

Lunch

1 Starbucks grande latte (actually before lunch)

1 Denver omelet

2 slices toast

Heap of hash browns

Iced tea

Dinner

2 cocktail egg rolls

A heap of carrots

10 slices Pizza Hut pizza (small slices, but it really was 10)

1 cup beer

1 cup pepsi

1 double nut fudge brownie sundae

In other words, I eat everything.

Lincoln is somewhere around here

2010-06-07T18:13:00.001-07:00

A short post today after a long ride - 110 miles. The ride included stops at Starbucks and a leisurely lunch, so we didn't get in until 4:15. That's by far my latest arrival yet.

We're theoretically in Springfield, Illinois, the state capital. This is only a theory, because we're on the outskirts and didn't even come within sight of the capitol building or any of the historic sites based on Lincoln. That's too bad, since this is my home turf.

Instead, we saw a lot of this today: As well as many very neat rows like these:

Farming is big business here, and there seemed to be a lot of seeding machines and fertilizer machines running around the fields and the roads. I hope we didn't get sprayed with agent orange or its cousin.

We've been eating a lot of Applebees, Ponderosa, Pizza Hut (tonight) and the like. I think my standards in food have deteriorated. Today while riding I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a Clif Bar. The flavor was spiced pumpkin! I was really excited, since that's my favorite, and savored every bite. This is disturbing.

Land of Lincoln... and Kamins

2010-06-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

A few milestones today - we passed the 2000 mile mark, we crossed the mighty Mississippi and we entered the Land of Lincoln, Illinois, the state of my birth as well as Abe. It was our 7th state line crossing.

1000 miles didn't mean much to me, but 2000 feels like much more of a big deal. The folks in Starbucks thought it was a big deal and made to perfection Roy's double shot tall cappuccino mostly dry with a half pack of honey. I couldn't work at Starbucks. I'd laugh too hard.

As you can see from the background of the picture, today was a perfect day. Blue sky, tail wind, moderate temperatures and low humidity. You can see all that, right?

The 75 miles felt almost effortless. Everyone had big smiles at the finish.

This sign was on the east bank of the Mississippi.

I was looking at photos of a previous Crossroads rider, and the bottom line of the same sign read "Rod Blagojevich, Governor". I guess the people of Illinois decided not to brag about their governors. Good idea.

As some of you know, Peg and I are looking to downsize and buy a smaller home. I think I found the perfect place:

The realtor's listing says it is a quaint cottage with fresh country breezes, room for a guest suite in an antique pickup, space for a pool and loads of extras!

Best of all, it's just down the road from a high-end bike shop:

Eastcoasters are snobs. There's just no getting around it.

I mentioned yesterday I wished I had a photo of the black wall of clouds that closed in on us. One of my tour mates caught this shot:

You feel a bit exposed on a bike watching this approach.

Tonight we're in Quincy, Illinois on the banks of the Mississippi. We cruised into town on a beautiful street lined with mansions like the one on the right. The homes were impressive and perfectly maintained. One section on the street was named one of the 10 most architecturally significant corners in the United States. This town has a lot going for it.

There was one mansion for sale. However, I have my heart set on the quaint cottage above.

Weather or Not

2010-06-05T14:41:00.001-07:00

We've been REALLY lucky on this tour with the weather. I mean REALLY, REALLY lucky. It looked like today would break our streak.

I woke up, called up weather.com on my computer, and saw there might be some trouble. This proved I'm a hopeless geek with no common sense. If I would have opened my curtain, I would have seen an impressive midwestern thunderstorm. But that would be low tech.

We ate breakfast, watched the storm blow over, delayed only 15 minutes, then headed out. There were black clouds in several directions, but no lightning. We rode the first 25 miles while watching a black wall to the north. I've never seen clouds quite like those. I wish I had a photo, but the wall overtook us just as we got to a convenience store where we could take cover. We hung out for a while, then Tracy gave the okay to head out again. That's Tracy talking to Greg below: Tracy is the owner of Crossroads (this tour company) and the keeper of all touring knowledge. There is only one thing you need to know to be successful on this tour - always listen to Tracy. It makes life simple, and she is always right. In the picture above, Tracy is evaluating those black clouds ahead of us and deciding whether or not to let us go on. She let us continue, and once again she was right - the weather was fine for cycling. A few sprinkles, but no lightning strikes to turn us into crispy critters.

Speaking of critters, Missouri so far wins the award for most road kill. We could turn this into a self supporting tour by buying the Road Kill Cookbook, and simply eating what we find. Very large turtles, snakes, deer, racoons and other curry creatures make for a fine variety of cuisine.

Back to the weather. Every small river and creek we crossed looked like this:
They are all overflowing their banks, with loads of branches and debris being swept along. There has been a ton of rain here lately, but we continue to be lucky and have mostly danced around it. I realize I've doomed us now.

Today was a ride dubbed "the 158 hill ride". Some poor soul on a previous Crossroads trip counted the hills. I think his name was Rain Man. The hills just kept coming, and lots of them had short, steep grades. I think our elevation stayed mostly between 700 and 1000 feet, so it was just constant rolling. It would be the perfect route to do some intense interval training, but that would be stupid on this trip. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

Tonight we're in Kirksville, Missouri. Our hotel is on the outskirts, so we haven't seen much. For all I know there are no inskirts in this town, but there are two universities - Truman State and A.T. Still. Harry Truman is from Missouri and one of my favorite presidents, so I'm glad we're near his university.

A very tough day

2010-06-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

We passed the monument below in Lock Springs, Missouri: The monument honors Jerry Litton, a congressman born in Lock Springs who died along with his family in a private plane crash. He had just won the senatorial primary, and was flying to the victory celebration. The saying on the monument seemed somewhat appropriate to our journey.

As I left my hotel room this morning, I saw the couple below down the hall.

The woman ran down the hall to me and asked if she could give me a hug. I agreed, not really having a clue what was going on. They just thought the trip we were doing was very cool, and had done some one week bike tours in Europe. The hug was a great way to start the day. As we progress east, it sounds more impressive when we say we've been biking from Los Angeles. I'm hoping for a hug and a kiss on the cheek a few hundred miles down the road.

Stupid people take pictures of stupid things while biking.

My friend Greg discussed "hotel bingo" on his blog a few days ago. We never know what we're going to get. The name doesn't tell the story. Our nicest hotel was a Super 8 - brand new with huge rooms and nice appointments. Some better names have been dumps. Today was supposed to be a Best Western, but I think they lost their credentials, and now are the "Best Inn". I turned on the shower and got sprayed directly in the face. I reached up to adjust the head, and the fixture pulled right out of the wall.

"Best Inn"? Try again. Actually, the folks running the tour do a great job scouting out hotels in some places that just don't have much to choose from. Every hotel has been clean and comfortable. The little surprises just add to the adventure.

Today was a very tough day. 88 miles of rolling hills, combined with high heat and humidity. I joke about some of the rides, but this tour is a serious physical and mental challenge. On the 108 mile ride into Topeka two days ago, less than half the group rode the full distance. We had our third crash yesterday. The rider sat out today, but hopes to ride part of the day tomorrow. He's not sure what happened, but it was at the end of the ride when we were all tired and just trying to get to the hotel. Unfortunately, the rider who crashed the third day of the tour is headed home. A bad scrape on his arm got infected. He went to a hospital, had it drained, and was taking antibiotics. The antibiotics messed up his digestive system, and he went to a hospital in St. Joseph yesterday with severe dehydration. Hopefully, he'll recuperate at home, then rejoin us down the road. I hope I'm not insulting anyone, but the crashes have been more mental lapses than anything else. It's hard to stay focused for this long.

I think the toughest part of this tour is the cumulative toll of riding so many miles. I've never ridden a bike nine straight days until now, and certainly never ridden such high mileage on consecutive days. Cyclists build "recovery days" into their training, giving the body time to rest and rebuild itself. The Tour de France is incredible not because of what an athlete does on one day, but because he does it repeatedly for over three weeks. Also, even the Tour de France has a few rest days in the schedule. We're not doing the Tour de France, but we're all pushing ourselves beyond anything we've done before.

Best of all, we're having a wonderful time doing it.

Missouri - The Show Me State

2010-06-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

We crossed the Missouri River today, departing Kansas and entering Missouri. The welcome sign was pathetic, definitely ranking last of the five state lines crossed so far. For the "Show Me State", they didn't show us much. Plus, I had to stand in waist high grass to get this pic. It was like they didn't know we were coming.

We were in Kansas for a long time. Here are some stats on our stay there:

7 nights (including a rest day)
480 miles of riding
93 grain elevators sighted (estimate)
Great pie
No hill in sight for the first 320 miles
Talented prairie dog hunters

For all you East Coasters, I hope this is sufficient proof that Kansas not only exists, but it is a really big state.

We're in St. Joseph, Missouri tonight.

The ride into town was really scenic, including a pretty good climb up some switchbacks on the Southwest Parkway. It's not what I'd expect inside a town.

After the ride and some lunch, I decided to take a nap. However, just as I drifted away there was a knock on the door. I jumped up and opened the door. The maid handed me a bible, explaining that there wasn't one in my room. Yes, we are in the Midwest.

It's all about the pie

2010-06-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

First, take a look at the mileage tally to the right. Notice something?

THE DISTANCE REMAINING IS LESS THAN THE MILES RIDDEN. WE PASSED THE HALFWAY POINT TODAY!

However, the real news of the day is pie. Not just any pie, but the best pie in America as declared on Good Morning America. Check out the video from the show. Note that Norma beat out Michelle's Pies of Norwalk. This was 91 miles into a 108 mile ride, which made it even better.
You're looking at coconut cream pie, chocolate cream pie and mixed berry pie. The coconut cream was the winner of national honors, but all were delicious. The Philly cheese steak I had as an appetizer was also very tasty.

All of this was served up at the Sommerset Hall Cafe in Dover, Kansas.

The pie was made by Norma for many years. She just retired at the age of 90, but they assured us that the recipe and technique has been passed down to the younger generation. It sure tasted that way.

We departed the flatlands of Western Kansas and rode into some nice rolling hills.

The riding was great, the scenery was great and the pie was our incentive. Roy, Greg and I rode a paceline most of the way, fighting some headwinds but really enjoying ourselves. We worked, but didn't push too hard. It was one of those days where we finished exhilarated.

If you're a bike geek, you may mistake the scene below for the famous cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix (a classic race, for you non bike geeks). However, White City, Kansas will never be mistaken for Paris, Roubaix, or any point between.

I'm writing this while sitting in the local Starbucks. My coffee buddy Roy just walked in with Aril, the owner of our hotel. For the third time on the trip, Roy has talked the owner of a hotel into chauffering him around town. They just came from CVS. Roy is still my hero.

Hairy Challenge Update III

2010-06-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Full disclosure: There's a lesson here. No one should ever publish a closeup of oneself like this.

However, the attempted beard has some benefits:

ENTOMOLOGY - A patchy beard coated with sunscreen turns out to be the perfect surface on which to collect species of local bugs. After cycling 80 miles in a day, I think I have enough for a thorough study. Since this is a cross-country trip, it could probably be used to document the change in local bug life as one travels from west to east.

SUPPORTING MY TEAM - My Chicago Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup finals. They last won it when I was 4 years old, so this is a big thing. No one on the team is shaving until after the playoffs, so I'm feeling simpatico with them. I'm sure they feel the same about me. However, since they are manly men, their beards really look like beards.

WEIRD TAN LINES - Someone on the trip pointed out that I will have a very strange tan line on my face when I shave. However, bikers are known for weird tan lines, and are strangely quite proud of them. Here's a shot of my hand:

Note the usual lines at the wrist and the second joint on the fingers. These are the typical glove tan lines that cyclists like to show off at cocktail parties. I'm going to be the hit of the Westport social scene, due the semicircle of dots behind and above my thumb.

At first, I thought I had some weird skin disease. Then I tried to remember if someone or something bit me (on both hands). Not recalling a bite, I investigated further.

These are tan dots from the small holes in my gloves. I've been riding so much, with my hands in exactly the same position and my gloves in exactly the same place, that I've got a perfect dot pattern. Maybe I should open up a tanning salon specializing in dots.

The hairy challenge update comes on our rest day in Abilene, Kansas.

Abilene is best known as the place where Dwight Eisenhower grew up, and is now the home of the Eisenhower museum and library. The town has built a tourist business around the Eisenhower complex, including the national greyhound hall of fame. It's dogs, not buses, in the hall of fame.

The Eisenhower complex is worth a visit. The museum is very well done, and had a special exhibit "Eisenhower and the Righteous Cause: The Liberation of Europe". We were all pleasantly surprised by the quality of the presentations. East coasters - if you ever decide to drive to your Aspen chalet, you'll pass within 10 minutes of here on I-70.

Once again, we were shown that Midwesterners are REALLY nice. An older gentleman with a minibus picked us up at our hotel and drove us 2.5 miles to the Eisenhower site. He asked $2 per person for the trip there, and $1 for the return, giving us his cell phone number for when we wanted the return. When we walked out of the library, he happened to be driving by and gave us a lift to our restaurant downtown, and refused payment for it. 10 minutes later, he came into the restaurant carrying my hotel keycard, which I had dropped on the bus. As we travel East, I'm going to study the changes in behavior. I have a feeling there's a very steep gradient just before we hit the coast.

Still in Kansas

2010-05-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today was our most complicated route in several days. You had to watch the cue sheet like a hawk to make sure you didn't go astray. Here's the output from my bike computer, showing all the complexities:

I'm serious about this being our most complex route in days. Most days, we haven't had to make a single turn. You could fit the entire directions for all of Kansas on about six lines. In addition to the complex route, we had a range of scenery to marvel at, spanning from this:

To this:

One can take only so much amber waves of grain where the deer and antelope play. Even if it's Memorial Day.

Actually, today's ride was lots of fun. 63 miles, with a good paceline most of the way. We had a headwind the first 22 miles, but managed to make the big left turn of the day, and then cruised into Abilene. Tomorrow is a rest day, which everyone is looking forward to after nine straight days of riding. We're also looking forward to being tourists in Abilene. It's a very nice town, and is Dwight Eisenhower's birthplace. The Eisenhower library and museum are here, as well as something called the "Sports Hall of Fame". The hall of fame must be incredible, since the title implies it covers all sports globally for all time. I can't wait.

We had some very good pizza and calzones downtown at Breadeaux (get it?). In another act of Midwest hospitality, the folks at Breadoux called ahead to the only open coffee shop in town to alert them to our arrival. They did this with no bribe and no kickback. That doesn't happen in the East. The coffee shop was closing at 1pm today, and we were cutting it close, but got there in time for me to have a delicious cafe mocha. All in all, a fine day of bike riding.

Folks in the Midwest are NICE

2010-05-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

A few hundred miles ago, we talked to a couple who were also travelling, but by car. They were very interested in our journey, and it turned out we'd be riding about 20 miles from their home near Great Bend, KS. Yesterday, when we were in Great Bend, they delivered a huge basket of homemade cookies to us at the hotel. We ate them at the SAG stop today. They were fantastic, especially after biking 30 miles before the stop.

The ride today was more typical Kansas. The antique farm equipment in the foreground here is the most interesting thing we saw on the road today.
That's an oil pump in the background. Lots of oil wells in this part of Kansas.

Here's a shot from outside our hotel this morning. I think it's a great summary of mid-America - a giant U.S. flag with a Perkins in the background. We ate lunch yesterday and breakfast today at this Perkins, just like real Americans. We had dinner at Applebee's, so maybe even Sarah Palin would consider us real Americans.

We couldn't figure out if the flag was at half mast for Memorial Day, or because Dennis Hopper died yesterday. He was from nearby Dodge City. I think it was Peter Fonda, not Hopper, who wore the American flag leathers in Easy Rider, so maybe this was for Memorial Day.

We're in McPherson, Kansas tonight. Downtown McPherson is really nice, including an opera house and TWO promising coffee shops - Java Johns and Cake Lady, but everything was closed on Sunday. The interstate and our hotel are about 3 miles from downtown. No opera houses or quaint shops out here, but I can see a Walmart, Taco Bell, Arby's, Walgreens, McDonalds, Subway, Applebee's and four other hotels. I wonder how many hotel guests get off the highway, eat the fast food, stay the night, and get directly back on the highway, never seeing any of this very nice town. I'll betcha it's over 90%.

Blowing up varmints

2010-05-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

Meet Woody and Leon - prairie dog hunters. These guys are from Missouri, but drove about 400 miles to help a farmer rid his land of prairie dogs. They do it for sport, not getting paid by the farmer. They also shoot the critters from as much as 200 yards away. A prairie dog is about the size of a groundhog, so hitting one from 200 yards is really impressive. Woody showed me dozens of photos of blown up prairie dogs. They didn't just have holes in them. They were blown into pieces. Woody pointed out in one photo "here's most of him, there's another piece and there's the rest of him". I wish I had a way to show you his photos. Quite amazing. On the one hand, the varmints are kinda cute. On the other, I can see why their hole digging is a nuisance. I think I have to watch Caddyshack tonight.

I met Woody and Leon at the center of the country, as shown below:

I supppose midway between New York and San Francisco is as good a way to define the center as anything else. Woody, Leon and I were enjoying the Sod House and Museum here. They had to put the sod house inside a building because cows were eating it.

Sod houses were the original homes on the plains. There were no trees, so it was a clever way to build a home until lumber started getting delivered from elsewhere. There was plenty of sod. The settlers built special tools to cut out brick size chunks of sod. Very practical, but it must have been tough to bolt on the sattelite dish.

We also visited Pawnee Rock.

The rock only stands about 50 feet above the ground around it, but it was the most recognizable feature of the land for many miles. Wagon trains used it as a kind of navigation beacon to keep them on track. One wagon train traveler wrote that he saw buffalo as far as the eye could see from the top of Pawnee Rock. That must have been incredible. Now you see lots of wheat, with a few grain elevators to break up the view.

We did a very mellow 88 miles of riding today. Still traversing very flat farmland. On the one hand, the flats are pretty easy riding. However, we're doing so much of it that it's tough on the body. You're constantly doing exactly the same pedalling, with no variations in effort or position on the bike. We have a few more days of it, then have rolling terrain for the rest of the trip. I'm looking forward to a change. Then I can complain about the hills.

Git outta Dodge City, or else

2010-05-28T14:56:00.001-07:00

I'd be proud to have the same words on my tombstone as Edward Hurley. Eddie is one of the colorful cast of characters buried on Boot Hill, here in Dodge City. The cemetery, jail, old saloon and other stores have been turned into a cheesy tourist spot, but it was still loads of fun to visit. We got there on our bikes just as the noon gunfight was ending. Lots of guys got shot, then signed autographs. I'm not sure why anyone wants the autograph of someone who stands there in old cowboy clothes, then pretends he's dead, but people were lined up for it.

The entry fee into the Boot Hill attraction was $9.39. Why? With tax, it was $10.22. I have a feeling it was $10 even including tax, then Kansas raised the sales tax and nobody could figure out what to do. That was really bugging me.

We also visited the Dalton gang hideout in Meade, KS, about 40 miles southwest of Dodge City. The Dalton gang were a famous group of train and bank robbers in the late 1800's, led by three Dalton brothers. In 1892, they tried to rob two banks at once in Coffeyville, KS in broad daylight, but were recognized before they entered the banks. The townspeople went and got guns, some from the nearby hardware store. When the Daltons came out all hell broke loose snd most of the gang was shot dead, along with three townspeople. Their family story is really interesting. You can read more about it on wikipedia.

Today was one of the best bike rides yet. 83 miles through the land of outlaws.
The boys were in a playful mood today, with some healthy attacking and chasing down of riders ahead. I spotted Greg and Ty about a mile up the road with about 15 miles to go. They also spotted me, and tried to stay ahead, but I caught them as we neared town. That was the hardest I've ridden the whole tour, and I'll definitely pay for it tomorrow, but as of now my ego is staying inflated.

Experts recommend that after a hard effort like mine today, one should consume a "recovery drink", usually meaning something like Recoverite, Muscle Milk, or other commercial products made expressly for this purpose. If one drink is good, two is better, so I had two natural recovery drinks - beer and coffee.

Roy and I discovered the best coffee shop of the tour so far - Cup of Jo-nes.

Next time you're robbing a bank in Dodge City, don't miss Cup of Jo-nes. Above is a homemade cinammon roll that we split. They added the fresh fruit. Roy likes a version of capuccino that would require an entire blog post to describe. They made it three times before perfecting it, smiling the entire time. It's going to be hard to top this place, but we'll keep trying.

Roy is a remarkable human being. Besides being an amazing cyclist for someone 66 years old and only biking for three years, he has many other talents. Today marks the second time he has talked the hotel receptionist into lending him her car. This was a minivan, but the last one was the owner's Cadillac. I got to drive it. It's the only time I've ever driven a Cadillac. Stick close to Roy and incredible things happen.

Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!

2010-05-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

This IS Kansas, Dorothy. In fact, we're in Liberal, Kansas, home of the Wizard of Oz museum and Dorothy's house. The road we came in on is officially the yellow brick road. However, we chose to visit the nation's 7th largest aviation museum, right here in Liberal. It was really cool, with about 80 different aircraft in a huge space. Who would have thought all this was in Liberal.

On our way to Liberal, we passed through Hooker, Oklahoma. Here is the chamber of commerce building.

They sell every imaginable play on the name on t-shirts, coffee cups, etc. One of the women on the tour was wearing a t-shirt tonight that said "support your local hooker". I thought about taking a picture with her and posting it here, but thought Peg might misunderstand during our fifty day separation. Guess what the high school team name is - the Horny Toads. You gotta love it.

We only rode 40 miles today. Winds were favorable and road was flat (again). I'm hoping this allowed some recovery for the tough four days ahead.

Here's a really boring video from yesterday, but it gives you a good idea of the land we've been riding through for the past few days.

As Ty, a native of West Texas, pointed out, if you stand on your helmet you can see for 20 miles.

Oklahoma is OK

2010-05-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

I really liked the "Oklahoma is OK" on the old license plates here. However, the new ones say "Oklahoma - Native America" with a picture of an Indian shooting an arrow. Call me politically incorrect, but I don't get it. Why is Oklahoma more native than, say, Delaware? Or even Connecticut, since our CT Indians make the most money from their casinos. I think that makes us more native.

One has lots of time to ponder such things when following our extremely complex route of the past few days. We've ridden 168 miles on U.S. 54 in a dead straight line to the Northeast. To make it more exciting, today was the flattest 72 miles I've ever seen - only 350 feet of elevation gain. In Steamboat, I do more climbing going back and forth to Walmart on my bike.

We thought today was going to be a recovery of ride of sorts. We've ridden 354 miles over the past 4 days, with 5 straight days of riding ahead. It seemed sensible to take it easy on a nice, flat ride. However, mother nature had different plans. We had a stiff headwind the last 30 miles, which Greg appropriately described as a "flat hill". It took a toll, and my legs are really tired. Hopefully, the winds will be favorable tomorrow.

This was the highlight today.

Now that's a Texan.

I found the following interesting. This was a about a mile down the road from the next pic.

An interesting mix of the old and the new. That first thing is an oil pump, for all you liberal hippy Easterners.

Deep in the heart of Texas

2010-05-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

We've had an eventful 2 days of riding. Yesterday, we had steady 30mph winds all day. The route curved in various directions, so we had to fight crosswinds, and occasionally a head wind. That made the day as much of a mental challenge as a physical one, because you always had to be focused on handling the bike and not getting blown off the road. 109 miles of that was tough, even though the wind helped more often than not.

Today we had 96 miles of riding with almost no wind most of the day. Very pleasant. Two milestones - we left New Mexico and crossed into Texas, and we entered the Central time zone. I think it's cool that we traversed an entire time zone by bicycle. 20 miles after the Texas border, we passed two enormous cattle feed lots. The first was 1.5 miles long and stretched back from the road at least 1/2 mile. Every inch had cattle on it. Then we passed this Cargill facility.
It's tough to see, but all those dark spots behind the railroad track are cattle. Zillions of them. I don't think I want to know what goes on in the buildings in the background. The smell was interesting. I ate a Cliff bar while riding past, just to see if I could do it without vomiting. I was successful. Another major accomplishment on this trip.

A few miles after the cattle lots, we entered Dalhart, Texas, our home for the night. Rick, one of our support crew and a native Texan, probably put it best. He said if God gave Texas an enema, he would insert the hose in Dalhart. If I lived here, I would be like other Texans and buy a gun. However, I would only use it to shoot myself. This is one nasty town.

Here I am with Greg, Ty and Roy.
We would know this was the welcome to Texas sign even if it didn't say so, and even if it wasn't shaped like Texas. The chunks missing from the sign are because people shoot at it. If they don't have a gun, they throw beer bottles at it, as evidenced by all the brown broken glass at the base. Yee ha! Ty (in red) is a native Texan, so it didn't bother him to be sitting on broken glass.

There was another milestone yesterday. We descended the Canadian Escarpment.

After spending most of the past two weeks at elevations between 5000 and 7500 feet, we descended the escarpment to about 4000 feet elevation. That marks our departure from the high Western lands. We're now flatlanders for the duration. The basin we're riding in now was once a sea. The top of the escarpment was the shore.

My good friend Bonnie left a really nice comment on my last post, and asked how many women were on the trip. There are six in the current group, and three in the group going all the way across the country. Bonnie and others have been very encouraging and complementary about how they are impressed by me doing this trip. Don't be. The folks you should be impressed by are some of my fellow riders. Colin is 70 and Jan turned 66 a few days ago. Janie and LaVern are grandparents doing the trip on a tandem. In fact, of the group going all the way, I'm the third youngest. Roy the Rocket, my coffee and riding partner, hammered out the first 30 miles with me a few days ago at an average speed of 22.8mph. He's 66. Those folks are my heroes.

Viva Las Vegas!

2010-05-23T15:30:00.001-07:00

No, not that Las Vegas. We're in Las Vegas, New Mexico tonight. I took a detour through the "historic" central plaza on the way in. It was depressing. 2/3 of the storefornts were boarded up, with some for sale signs on other places. However, a sign on the way into town boasted of 35 restaurants and 14 hotels. Good competition for the other Las Vegas.

Today marked a few milestones. We passed 1000 miles of biking, and crossed Glorietta Pass, the high point of the trip at 7550 feet elevation. Theoretically, I guess we can coast to Boston if we eliminate friction. No problem. Today's 75 mile ride was the first of nine straight days, with tomorrow at 108 miles and Tuesday 96. I surprised myself and behaved sensibly today, not pushing hard at all. There was a lot of climbing today, but I just spun up the hills at low effort. It looks like tomorrow will be really hard.

I took a short detour today with my pals Greg, Stu and Geoff to the Pecos National Historical Park. Most of the ride today was on the Santa Fe Trail, which was a trade route long before the Spaniards arrived. At the park, there are several layers of civilization to observe. The area has been occupied for at least 7500 years. In the park, Native Americans started building permanent structures around 800 A.D. Shown below are the remains of a church built by the Spaniards in 1717. It's immediately adjacent to pueblos dating from several hundred years earlier.

The Spaniards had another church there 100 years earlier, but the locals got together and tore it down. The second one would still be intact if it hadn't built of adobe that dissolves a bit each time it rains.

It has been a wet spring around here, so the land is green and some cactus is blooming.

It all makes for a very pleasant day on a bike. Dinner tonight is at K-Bob's. I'm scared.

Hairy Challenge update II

2010-05-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize that growing a beard could be hazardous to bike riding. As you can see here, when I'm riding in the drops, the beard is now long enough to get caught in the spokes, with very unpleasant consequences. I'm giving the beard credit for the following incident:

I got carded! That's definitely a highlight of the trip. Never mind that the facial hair has a lot of gray in it, and that the waiter is legally blind.

Here's a current shot. Let the ridicule begin. Steven gave me official permission to shave my neck without voiding the terms of the deal. Thank you. I'm much more comfortable, although I think it kills the Hells Angels look.

Tomorrow begins a stretch of nine straight days of riding with no rest days. We will cover almost 700 miles, including the highest point of the trip. We're all a bit worried about the toll this will take. The key is going to be to not push too hard, although when you're out there with the gang sometimes you just gotta go for it.

I cleaned, degreased, lubed and talked nicely to my bike today to prepare for the next stretch. It talked back. Really.

Do you know the way to Santa Fe?

2010-05-21T17:06:00.001-07:00

It turns out that it's really easy to go from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Turn left on Central, then ride your bike for 68 miles through some really great scenery. The world turned greener today. Less of the red sandstone we've seen for the last several days, and more bushes and trees. The route had a lot of climbing, but it was well worth it.

Along the way we passed through the town of Madrid, pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, and a hard "a", as in mad. It's a cool little hippy town with lots of art galleries, and one very fine coffee shop - Java Junction. If you've ever been to Bolinas north of San Francisco, Madrid has the same vibe. It's a spot to return to sometime.

Madrid has a few claims to fame. The movie "Wild Hogs", starring John Travolta and Tim Allen was filmed here. Also, last year's dream house on HGTV was built here. Looking at the locals, I can't imagine they're too proud of either of those things. Some of our bikers were excited to take pictures of the spots from "Wild Hogs". I never saw it, but it sounds kinda dumb.

We arrived in Santa Fe on a busy road with lots of chain stores, but the setting is really amazing.

Tomorrow is a rest day. There's a group of us who already have reservations at two really good restaurants. Many thanks to Adrienne for sending along her favorite spots in Santa Fe. She's much nicer than her husband.

Albuquerque is a fine place to hang out

2010-05-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Albuquerque, NM today. Above is a shot taken just before our descent into the city. Trust me - there is a city down there. It's tough to see because the downtown buildings are dwarfed by mother nature.

This is the biggest city we've need in since L.A., which isn't saying much after spending nights in the likes of Holbrook, AZ and Grants, NM. The best thing about being in a real city is we got some real food. Lunch was at the Range Cafe, which I highly recommend the next time you're in Albuquerque. Very cool decor.

And really tasty food.To top it off, we found Satellite Coffee, and had Mexican lattes, which seemed appropriate in this part of the world.

Oh yeah - we also rode our bikes today. 77 miles through more spectacular Southwestern terrain. It's really incredible how everyone's perspective changes. 77 miles just seemed like a normal day (which it is). The whole group is getting stronger each day we ride.

Here's the proof that this is an incredibly fun trip - Two guys were supposed to only be here through today, but they have signed on to continue on to Boston. This is truly a unique experience.

More songs about buildings and food

2010-05-19T16:04:00.001-07:00

I hope this is just the result of a restauranteur in Gallup, NM with a sense of humor.

Today we crossed the continental divide, so in a sense we are halfway there. The continental divide is the place where a drop of rain on one side ends up in the Pacific, and on the other side in the Atlantic. It was a bit anticlimactic, since it was fairly flat around there. It just happens to slope away slightly to the east and west. Of course, there was a souvenir shop there where you could get mugs, plaques, etc. showing you crossed the divide, as well as a large variety of fireworks to celebrate the occasion.
We walked our bikes for a stretch on the interstate today. Lots of fun. The smell of fresh tar and asphalt, our bike tires picking up all sorts of stuff from the soft road, and a long walk in bike shoes. Not exactly a tour highlight.
Most of the ride today was on route 66. The railroad parallels the road for at least a few hundred miles. I can see the appeal of being a railroad engineer out here. The scenery can't be beat. The engineers will usually sound their horns if we signal them on our bikes. It's like being a little kid again.

Eat to ride, ride to eat

2010-05-18T14:49:00.001-07:00

Today we entered the lands of the Navajo nation. I'm surprised there haven't been any Navajo Tour de France champions, since they produce the perfect cycling food - Navajo fry bread. I stopped at a roadside shack where they fried the bread to order, and added a little honey on top. Perfection (with a cup of coffee, of course). Carbs, some sugar, and healthy dose of grease. Add in the caffeine, and this is all you need to sustain a long ride. I told the proprietors I was going to recommend them as the dieticians for Team Radio Shack in the tour this year. They've never been to France, so thought it was a good idea.

I think this fully explains why today was my fastest ride so far. The 30mph tailwind might also have had something to do with it, but it was mostly the bread. For the bike geeks out there, this was an 89 mile ride at an average speed of 22.3mph, and an average heartrate of only 117bpm. We also net gained 1200 feet elevation on the day, so the wind was truly unbelievable. For the non-bike geeks, this was a REALLY fast ride, with only a moderate effort.

We crossed into New Mexico today. You have to love a state with chili peppers on the welcome sign.
This was also a big psychological boost for the group. Crossing one state line was no big deal, and California is kind of a skinny state. Crossing a second one, and transitting the big state of Arizona, makes it seem like we've really accomplished something. As a parting shot, an Arizonan threw an orange at two of our riders while on the interstate. At 75mph, that could have caused a serious crash. One of the two was Michel, our French-Canadian friend, so maybe the orange toss was mandatory under the new Arizona immigration laws.

Shown below is Fort Courage, which is a really big deal for anyone raised watching F Troop. It's actually a replica of the fort built as the set for the TV show. The thought that someone would build a replica of a set of one of the stupidest TV shows in history frightens me. Maybe more frightening is that this is a popular tourist attraction. Go figure.

Get your kicks on Route 66

2010-05-17T17:26:00.001-07:00

Such a fine sight to see. There's even a mural with a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me. At this corner there are not one, but two shops where you can buy all the Eagles souvenirs you can imagine, along with route 66 memorabilia. The one coffee shop was closed, making this a poorly caffeinated leg of the journey.

Today really wasn't such a fine sight to see. 94 miles, most of it down I-40, which is the modern replacement for what is now known as "Historic Route 66". There was a 20-30mph crosswind, just to make interstate biking more interesting.

Along with the road being replaced, the old diners and motels on Route 66 have been replaced by McDonalds and Comfort Inns right on the interstate. Most of the old buildings still exist, and many are even open, like the Wigwam Motel:
Each wigwam is a room, complete with a/c and cable TV. Not sure about high speed internet. We're not staying there. We're at the Holiday Inn Express on the interstate, with the group dinner scheduled at Pizza hut.

I rode my bike about 3 inches from the head of a rattlesnake today. I thought it was just road debris until I was next to it. It didn't seem to mind. I also tamed a giant jackrabbit.
Are you impressed?

Hairy Challenge update

2010-05-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Today is a day of rest for the legs, but the facial hair growth knows no rest. Here's the new look. I like it so much that I've sold the bike and bought a different kind of bike. I fit in much better with this group:

After all, we've evolved for millions of years to become smart enough NOT to have to use our legs to move us along. Add a motor to the bike - brilliant!

Today is a rest day in Flagstaff. I'll be looking for a tatoo parlor to continue the transformation.

Pyramids, crystals and the vortex

2010-05-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine a more beautiful ride than today's. We rode from Cottonwood to Flagstaff via Sedona. If you've never been to Sedona, or never heard of it, it is the center of the universe for new agers. There's something called the vortex there that focuses cosmic energy. Crystals, pyramids and other powerful objects get even more potent there. I understand why people believe in this stuff. The scenery anywhere you look in town is too spectacular to explain by normal means.
We exited Sedona via Oak Creek Canyon, culminated by a climb up a series of switchbacks. You can see a few of them here.

Anyone who has ever ridden a bike with me knows that the primary mission on a ride is to find the best coffee. Luckily, I have a kindred soul on this trip. Roy Messer is my partner in coffee. Today, we found Pink Java in Sedona, where the lattes are packed with cosmic energy, and the views can't be beat. We followed this up with a Starbucks in Flagstaff.

47 miles of caffeinated enjoyment today.

2010-05-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

Today was a day to "smell the roses" or whatever other flowers were in bloom in this high arid environment. The scheduled route was only 43 miles, but detours to some sights made the total 50 miles. Still quite a modest day. We climbed up Mingus Mountain, with the pass shown below.

From Mingus Mountain we descended to the old copper mining town of Jerome City. It bills itself as a ghost town, given that the copper mine was abandoned, but it's full of tourists and t-shirt shops. However, the burger at The Haunted Burger hit the spot. The town is cut right into the side of a mountain, so the workers could be close to the mine. It looks out over the red rocks of Sedona. There are 118 turns in the 3500 foot descent to the valley. Quite a rush on a bike.

I detoured a few miles to a state historic site at the old mine. However, it was closed due to budget cuts. As usual, these Arizonans take their security seriously. Instead of a closed gate, there was a fence with barbed wire blocking the entrance.

Just below Jerome are the Tuzigoot Indian Ruins, a national historice monument. The Tuzigoots occupied this site from 1000 to 1400 A.D. Their ridge top community is remarkably well preserved, as shown below:

Nobody knows why the Tuzigoots disappeared. They left no written records. I met a really nice ranger who explained various theories. We might have chatted more, but I discovered he was from Chicago and a White Sox fan. That ended things.

We're staying tonight in Cottonwood, AZ. This is a very cycling friendly town, as shown by this sign:

Climbing out of the desert

2010-05-13T16:37:00.001-07:00

Today we left the desert and climbed up to Prescott, Arizona, transitting the Prescott National Forest along the way. Only 60 miles of riding, but about 7500 vertical feet of climbing. It was nice to have some variation in the terrain, and a change of vegetation. I could feel the effects of all the miles the past four days, plodding up the long climbs.

Prescott is a really nice town. We passed all sorts of interesting looking restaurants on the way in, including Indian, Thai, lots of Mexican, and a wine bar/brick oven pizza place. Very civilized. We even stopped at the local Starbucks, the true indicator of civilization. I also met a local bike rider when I was in the national forest, who was born in Massachusetts, but swears he will never leave here. Paradise. The elevation makes it a lot more comfortable in the summer than most of Arizona.

In the morning, before the ride, I spotted a peacock at the hotel.
This seemed odd, but then I realized that he was just looking to hang out with some of his own kind:

Hail Britannia!

2 Days, 2 Centuries

2010-05-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

For those who don't speak bike geek, a century is a ride of 100 miles or more. We rode 102 miles yesterday, and 117 today. All of it through the desert, and a lot of it on Interstate 10. Usually, bikes aren't allowed on the interstate, but I-10 is the only road through this area, so we're legal. Lucky us. Your sense of distance changes in the desert. At one point, we could see a small town in the distance, so thought we'd be there soon. It was 23 miles away.

We crossed the border from California into Arizona today. As you can see above, they have a lovely welcome sign. We all felt like Arizona really wanted us to visit. We also felt quite secure, as you can see below.

What could be better than tanks and armored vehicles to make you feel safe and welcome. We understand the armor at the border is to protect against invasion by "furners". These are people who talk funny, which really worried the French Canadian in our group. Even the French think he talks funny.

Actually, the armor was outside the General George Patton Museum in California. Here's a shot of George:The museum is in the middle of nowhere. It's in the desert, just off the highway, with only a convenience store sharing the space off the exit. You might think that this was his birthplace, but he was born in Massachusetts. The people in the convenience store had no idea why the museum was there. We were too afraid of the tanks to go in the museum and ask.

We also visited the town of Hope, Arizona. Here's their version of the "You are now leaving Springfield" sign:Just because you live in the desert doesn't mean you lose your sense of humor. However, they may want to work on their grammar.

Today was the longest ride of the trip, and these past two days are by far the longest pair. However, it was fairly flat, and there's not much to stop and see, so you might as well charge right through it. We're in Wickenberg, Arizona, tonight, which is a really nice little town. If you're ever here, stop for homemade ice cream at the corner of Tegner and Rte. 60. When we explained our journey, they gave us extra scoops. It doesn't get any better.

Clean energy, and a boost for cyclists

2010-05-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

If this picture were video, you would see the blades of the windmills spinning away. Winds were about 30 mph out of the west, and luckily we were travelling east. There are hundreds of windmills in this area of California (just west of Palm Springs), and if every day is like today, it's a great place to put them.

I've never moved as fast on a bicycle on level ground. At times, we were going 35mph without turning the pedals. It was loads of fun. One guy in the group tried to snap a picture while flying along, hit a drift pile of sand, and crashed. He seems to be okay, although he needed new wheels and a new helmet. To the scholars at Bridgeport Academy: Remember what you call a cyclist without a helmet - STUPID! If this guy didn't have a helmet on, the result likely would have been tragic.

Tomorrow we ride 105 miles through the desert. Yikes! We're all trying to drink as much as possible today, to be fully hydrated before joining the snakes and scorpions. They prefer their victims juicy.

From the Pacific to ...

2010-05-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

The journey began today with the ceremonial wheel dipping in the Pacific. Being the excitable sort, I ran down the beach with my bike into ankle deep water, then turned around to have my picture taken. Being the Pacific, and not Long Island sound, there are things called waves. One arrived about 10 seconds later, soaking my bike shorts and the bottom half of my bicycle. I understand that salt water is good for mechanical parts, and a layer of salt in bike shorts makes them more comfortable. Lucky me.

Today was a very flat 79 mile ride. About 60 of those miles were urban Los Angeles. This is the definition of urban sprawl. Stopping at over 100 traffic lights allowed us to really enjoy the variety of fast food, tanning salons and auto repair shops. We've finally reached an area that might be suburban, which we can tell by the presence of Starbucks. The weather was perfect, which can easily be explained by the presence of a priest in our tour group.

I'm riding with a great group of people. We just met, but here we are pretending to be best friends:

The group spans the country - comng from Boston, Florida, California, Washington and points between. We also have a French Canadian and four from the U.K. However, they won't be us for long, since they are sure to be deported as soon as we cross the Arizona border.

79 miles ridden. 3336 miles to go. We're almost there.

The (hairy) challenge begins

2010-05-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

The ride starts tomorrow, but the last use of a razor was Thursday.

Not one, but three generous people took up Steven on his matching offer, so I didn't even think about packing a razor. As dictated in the terms of the deal, I will regularly post photos of my pathetic attempt at growing a beard.

The trip began on an interesting note. My bike box was too big to fit through the security screening machine, so the TSA employees had to open it up and manually inspect it. I offered to help, since the packing of a bike is fairly complex, and my venture is completely dependent on having an intact bike at the start. I was firmly told to go away. I offered to just show how to open it, since they were puzzled by the six latches. I was firmly told to go away. I then tried to explain that there were three layers of parts in the box, so that they wouldn't just spill everything out. One TSA employee yelled out "security!" having deemed me a threat to the nation. I ran away, then circled around to a point where I could at least see what they were doing. I once again heard the shout of "security!" and ran to the gate.

The bike arrived just fine, but I'm probably on a Homeland Security watch list now. I'm worried that I'll be deported while transitting Arizona.

A REALLY smart group of kids

2010-04-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Today I visited the Achievement First Bridgport Academy. What an inspiration! These kids are incredible.

I met for an hour with the 7th grade. Keeping the attention of 80 7th graders seemed like a daunting task. However, my worries were baseless. They started asking questions almost before I could start. The level of intellectual curiosity in the room was really impressive. When I asked what slowed down a bike, and kept it from perpetually moving forward, one budding physicist quoted Newton's second law. When I asked why it was important to eat some protein, another scholar correctly pointed out the need for protein in the muscles. These kids are only in 7th grade. Wow!

However, what really got to me was the following:
"You're riding to support us. What can we do to support you?"
Smart and incredibly thoughtful.

Visiting this school is a glimpse into the future. Great things will result.

To the 7th graders at Bridgeport Academy - You guys rock! Send me some news while I'm on the road.

A Hairy Challenge

2010-04-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know my good friend Steven Southworth, this won't surprise you.

Steven is generous, creative and slightly evil. He has generously offered to donate $50 per day of riding. The trip is 50 days, with a few rest days, assuming I make it the whole way. Do the math. He has offered to double the donation to $100 per day if someone else donates $50 per day.

However, there's a catch. (This is the creative and slightly evil aspect.) I can't shave for the entire 50 days of the trip, and I have to post pictures of myself periodically on this blog. I have a very light beard. It is also extremely patchy. Hence, I look like a diseased cat with only patchs of fur when I let my beard grow. Also, since it grows slowly, the itchy phase stretches on for weeks. However, I will endure the look and feel if someone takes Steven up on his offer.

Here's your chance to double your impact at the school and cause me grief. What could be better?

15 Nanoseconds of Fame

2010-04-22T07:37:00.001-07:00

Check out this video from the online version of the Westport Minuteman newspaper. The Minuteman also ran a story on the front page today.

Many thanks to the Minuteman's star reporter, Bonnie Adler, for making this happen.

Posted using ShareThis

I'm Biking Across the Country!

2010-04-12T18:16:00.001-07:00

Hi. I’m Harold Kamins. On May 8, 2010, I’ll get on my bike in Los Angeles. Hopefully, on June 26, I’ll arrive in Boston, having ridden the route you see above. 3415 miles, or about 1,200,000 revolutions of the pedals. One major reason to do this is to support the Achievement First Bridgeport Academy Middle School – a charter school in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

If you know me, you know that quality education for children is something I’ve invested a lot of time and effort in, including work with:

A Better Chance of Westport
The Charter Oak Challenge Foundation
Staples Tuition Grants
Connecticut Association for the Gifted

The Achievement First Bridgeport Academy Middle School is making a real difference in the lives of its students, giving them access to an education otherwise unavailable. Take a few minutes and read about the school, Achievement First, and the sad state of education for underserved kids in Connecticut. Please consider helping out with a contribution. Just click on the link at the right to pay through PayPal, or click the link on the right with instructions on sending checks. Thanks!