Wait... its OCTOBER!?!?!

It has been one heckuva (<--- thats a real word where I'm from) whirlwind since we last blogged! After we checked out some of South Dakota's sites and drove across the barren prairie of Nebraska, we finally made our way down to Denver, CO where we still magically had a couple days left to explore before my interview. We spent most of it driving around neighborhoods trying to get a feel for where we would like to live once we move out there, and driving around through the Rockies between Golden and Boulder, CO. At first we both kept having flashbacks of living in Phoenix, AZ (we aren't used to the warm, dry air and TONS of sunshine), but since the sunshine is why we are moving out there, we quickly adapted to the fact that our long-forgotten tans are probably here to stay for a while. Seriously, SPF100 on the bicycle ride and there is a DISTINCT line where my normal skin tone begins and where my shorts ended... lol.

So ANYWAYS, I had my interview that Wednesday and that night we had a ton of fun going out for "Geeks who Drink" trivia at a local brewpub with friends from back in CA, Toshia & Jorge Chavez, where we successfully assisted in defending their title of 'almost 3rd place!' The next day we started making the drive back to the Hatten's in St. Louis -- this time through scenic Kansas, lol. We were really torn on what we wanted to do next, and since we've never really had a solid plan of where this bike ride was heading, it took a lot of back and forth debating to finally decide on what our next move was going to be. At the end of the day, we just weren't that excited about any of our directional choices when it came to biking. I mean, once we reached Missourri, we were looking at having to head through either Nebraska, Kansas or Oklahoma... all of which we've both driven through and none of which were particularly interesting to us as far as biking went. Plus, moving into October most of the campgrounds were now closed for the season, and places to stay were few and far between.

So based on all that and a lot of other factors, we decided to just head back to CT to pick up our junk and move out to Denver now! Boy am I glad that was our decision because just a couple days ago the company I interviewed with called and offered me the job -- woot! I'm glad I found out about it while I'm here getting ready to move, and not while riding my bicycle through Oklahoma! LOL.

So now we are here in CT packing up and saying 'see ya later' to Jeff's family and some old friends. We pick up our trailers tomorrow and will be heading out of town early Sunday morning on our way out to Colorado. We will of course be stopping in at the Hatten's in St. Louis to grab our bicycles and talk about Ninjas, Chuck Norris and Terra Nova -- can't wait to see them again!

Anyways, when I do these blogs not everything always comes out the way I am thinking about them, and this time is no different. I wish I could explain better how crazily the stars aligned from leaving our jobs at Unilever to biking, to finding out I got a face-to-face interview while staying with the Hattens, to coming back to CT only to find out I got the job, to finding out where I'm working has a sister plant in Germany where Michelle lives! It's crazy and this isn't even close to showing all the crazy coincidences. Did I mention I didn't even apply for this job? I applied for a different one... on my birthday... lol.

OK, enough about that. Its been real, its been fun... and it has been real fun! Can't wait to keep bicycling out in Colorado and continuing to live the dream! Now, time for some good 'ol fashioned Geocaching!




~Styx & Bones

We teleported to South Dakota... there, I said it!

So last we left off we were in rural Illinois blogging about rain and dogs chasing us... and less than 7 days later I'm in South Dakota and my awesome friend Stephanie Fei is yelling at me on Facebook that we haven't blogged in over a week! Yipes! So how is it humanly possible that in 7 days we got from the east side of IL to South Dakota/Nebraska? Easy... we drove here!

OK, so since we last blogged we have become the luckiest people in the world. First, a friend from CT (Adam McCaherty) hooked us up with places to stay with his family in both Sherman and Carlinville, IL. While we were in Sherman, I found out my old Air Force friends Regina & Chris Hatten were just down the road by St. Louis, MO, so we took somewhat of a detour and rode down to their place to hang out - man, was that awesome! It was so cool to catch up with them and Jeff & I had such a great time! Once this bike ride is over I am going to swing back by their house and steal their Pomeranian Charlie and his underdog sidekick, JoJo... seriously, I am.

Ok, so back to how the heck we got to South Dakota. Well, on the way down to Chris & Gina's, I had a phone interview scheduled with a potential job in the Denver, CO area where Jeff & I are relocating to after this bicycle ride is over. We were a little over halfway to the Hatten's when I received the phone call from the potential job, and although I had planned to be at a place where I could properly take a phone call, it had begun to rain on us about 10 miles before my scheduled call time and we just didnt make it. So where did I take the call? Standing under just enough roof attached to a sign that had a bike trail map on it that was literally able to keep just my head and phone dry while the rain continued to pour down on me. OH, and the whole time I was on the call Jeff was wandering around aimlessly in the rain waiting for me to be done. I must have done OK though, because I advanced to the next round of 'face-to-face' interviews in Denver, CO and will be taking care of that on Wed.

Thankfully with the potential job, all the stars managed to align and we were able to stash our bikes at the Hatten's and head out in a rental car towards Denver. What was that? South Dakota isn't on the way to Denver from Illinois? Lol... yeah, you're right, but I've seriously wanted to see Mt. Rushmore since I was BORN, so we headed up a little north of our destination and checked The Badlands & Mt. Rushmore off of our list of cool places to see in this lifetime. Now we are settled in at Scottsbluff, NE for the night and headed into Denver to look for apartments and catch up with Toshia & Jorge Chavez tomorrow night -- can't wait to show Jeff Colorado and introduce him to some folks from back home!!!

And that... is the story of how we ended up in South Dakota... as told by my flaky memory and sporadic mind...




~Styx & Bones

Sophie's Choice...

AKA: A dilemma offering at least two possibilities, neither of which is practically acceptable. I spent a lot of time riding the last few days thinking about some of the decisions we are faced with on this trip and the consequences and comedy that go with them.

For instance, when we reached Ft. Wayne, IN, Jeff and I were sitting at a diner near our hotel (and the 5 gentlemen's clubs around it) and Jeff suddenly looked up and said "Holy Smokes! We are in Ft. Wayne! I only planned up to Ft. Wayne!" Decision faced with: where to next? While the answer to this question literally changes every day, we have realized over the past few days of rain, wind, and brrrrrrrr 'cold' temps, we are not going to be able to tackle the 'Northern Tier' cycling route we had originally wanted to travel. That route would have had us going through South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and some other cool states we haven't been to but would like to see. Decision made: take an improvised route in a south-westerly fashion until we run out of gas or hit the Pacific Ocean... or Colorado... or wherever we decide is the finish. We've tried to get a little better at planning ahead, but even today we were supposed to end up in one city... and here we sit in a completely different city and will not even end up going through the original one we planned to be in. Weird!

So back to Sophie's choice. The first and foremost is: Highways vs. Backroads. Often when we ride we are able to decide between taking country roads and riding along highways. The obvious downfall to riding along a highway is riding down a road with cars going 60+ MPH and hoping all of them notice that you are there. Another downfall is... that its actually kinda boring. The great part about riding along highways is that the roads are always pretty good (hence, we go faster) and there are NO DOGS! :0) Riding on backroads is more enjoyable because Jeff and I can ride closer to each other and chit-chat without worrying too much about getting mowed down by a car. HOWEVER, when we are travelling on a backroad, we are traveling in the land of crazy wolf-dogs... dogs with the power to smell you from 5 miles away and somehow magically teleport itself to within 6" of you... sometime without you even noticing!

My first flat

So its like... "Highway or Backroad?" Well, I'm a little bored with the highway, so lets do backroad. 5 seconds later... BAM! There are two wolf-dogs and their little mangy friend chasing you down the road. The weirdest part for me is Jeff's reaction to getting chased by dogs! Yesterday we were chased by no less than one million dogs, and Jeff was like "this is like a video game! The dogs come out of nowhere and I'm, like, on them!" I swear... I'm on the brink of a meltdown, and Jeff is having the best time ever getting chased down the road by random and huge dogs! What a weirdo! Luckily, we now have a method for how to deal with dogs when they chase us --- I ride like hell and Jeff rides up on the dogs and yells at them to "stop it!" So far its been working like a charm. Yesterday, one GIANT black lab LITERALLY came out of NOWHERE and ran up on my left side. I dont think I've ever heard myself shriek in terror so loud in my LIFE! Immediately I started pedaling like mad and Jeff rode over towards the dog. Almost instantly the dog started galloping and I could tell he was most likely not going to rip my face off at this point. Jeff looks over at me and goes "I said sit. I dont know why I said that, but the dog looked confused and then started running like he was playing." Lol.

Didn't clip out of my pedals fast enough

So... Sophie's Choice for today? Ride in the rain to a free place to stay, or hunker down at the motel and try to make it where we need to go tomorrow? When weighing the options, its easy to see the benefits of both. If we stay in the motel and wait out the storm we get to be warm, dry, and can relax all day without a care in the world. At the same time, staying put in the motel causes us to lose a day of riding... and pay for another night of shelter. If we venture out in the rain and can actually make it to our destination, the payoff could be a free night at a new friends home with a home-cooked dinner and breakfast. Plus, we're now 70 miles further down the road. Since the weatherman seems to have been on vacation lately (the forecasts are more wrong than I've ever seen!), we decided to roll the dice and hope for the rain to let up. This... unfortunately... did... not... happen. 40 miles of riding in the rain and we're now hunkered down at a different shady motel in a totally different town than we planned on being in. Hey, you win some and you LOSE some!


Its not even 5pm yet, and I'm pretty sure I'll be asleep in the next hour. I'm so tiiiiiiiiiiiired.

Dog Day, then Cat Day... OMG!

Our first few days back on the road have been ROUGH (or should I say Ruff?) to say the least!
 

This is where the dog latched onto my rear pannier

Dog day was Tuesday - our first day back on the road. We dropped our rental car off in Bowling Green, OH and were on the road about 2pm. We had a short day planned, and literally nothing of note happened... well... nothing at first. We were out in the country riding along - Jeff was a ways ahead of me and I was bee-boppin along to my handlebar stereo system when I saw this house on the left with their door open about a foot. I figured someone was about to walk outside and presumed I'd wave at them like I always do when we see people out and about and we are cycling by. To my suprise, a person did not come out of the house. It took a second to register in my brain that the streak of fur and saliva speeding towards me was a pitbull, and in the course of about 5 more seconds, about a bajillion thoughts went through my mind. "Should I slow down? Should I speed up? Is speeding up going to piss this dog off even more? Do I yell at it? Should I grab my mace? Oh no, my shoes are clipped into my pedals... if this thing jumps for me I'm going to eat pavement hard"... among many others.

While this was all going on I hesitated and slowed down for a second thinking maybe this dog wanted to be my friend, but that seemed to make the dog's greased-lightning-like-speed go even faster. Suddenly the dog was ahead of me! I yelled at it, but apparently all that did was make it even MORE mad, as it lunged at my front tire and snarled in hate at me. I screamed to Jeff and pedaled as fast as I could. The dog fell behind for a second and then I felt my bike being pulled to the side, then lunged forward. I saw the dog hesitate for a second, screamed to Jeff again (this time he heard me), and the dog ran off. A couple miles up the road we stopped so I could freak out and calm down for a second. Thats when we noticed the strap on my rear left pannier that the dog had grabbed with its saliva soaked teeth --- there was a mark on it where it had grabbed on for dear life... then thankfully slipped off and thudded to the pavement.

Dog day scared me. Hard. Jeff rides a lot closer to me now. Oh, and a couple miles after our little break, Jeff was chased by a ferocious Boston Terrier. Haha.

Cat Day was Wednesday.

One of many roadblocks for the day

I just looked at how much I wrote about Dog Day, and Cat day just seemed worse, so I'll just hit the highlights here. It started out with our directions to tell us to follow a 4-lane divided highway for like 30 miles, but that seemed crazy, so we went an improvised "alternate route" where during the course of the day TWO black cats crossed our paths... and TWO jet black squirrels also crossed our paths... lol. This route took us to 3 different places where the road was under construction, blocked, and gated off... adding multiple more miles to the already 60+ mile planned day. For a lot of the day we were way out in the boonies driving past a lot of Amish farms and being chased by Amish dogs. Our directions kept telling us to go down various dirt roads... which was not a good sign since the sky was turning black with clouds. One particularly excited dog chased us down from about a mile away just as it started to rain (again) - it really freaked me out, but then I saw a tiny pony hooked up to a tiny carriage and all was awesome in the world again.

Yeah,something aint right here...

The last 20 miles of the day it was raining... raining and getting darker and gloomier. Good thing we got into Ft. Wayne, IN right smack in the middle of rush hour! Of course the bike route we were supposed to take in town was gated and locked, so we did the best we could on roads and sidewalks to get to the shady motel we were staying at. About 5 miles from the motel, Jeff went right to get onto a sidewalk by a school near a really busy intersection. I followed, but neglected to factor my speed, angle, rain factor, and pretty much anything else when I hit the 1.5" entry curb to get up on to the sidewalk. WIPEOUT! Good one too. Scraped up my ankle... fist-sized knot on my shin... and my handlebars literally spun 90-degrees to my wheel. But, luckily, it was all made up for when we reached the motel and we realized it was surrounded by about 5 different gentlemen's clubs - haha, I did say it was shady! And what greeted us on the way into our room? A black kitten all curled up and looking cute just waiting to cross our paths! So there it was... after 72 miles... cat day finally came to end with a lukewarm flip-flop wearing shower in a gross bathtub, a paper thin pillow, and a rock hard bed. And just when I thought the night was turning for the better with the Big Brother Season finale, guess what....the station cut out just when they anouncing the winner! Is this some kind of joke? I mean... seriously...

Welcome back to the trail I guess -- still lovin it -- still keepin' on truckin!

~Styx & Bones

All of our pictures are in different "Why Not Bicycle" folders in this picasa album: https://picasaweb.google.com/113448133157937829305

Bicycling Vacation!

Just wanted to put up a quick blog to say we had a GREAT vacation from bicycling back in CT and are now officially back out on the road cycling towards the good 'ol west coast!

Our time in CT seemed to fly by, and we were constantly on the run, but it was definitely an awesome time. Our first night in town we were lucky to grab dinner with Dave & Lina at our favorite place, The Cougar (chowder) Pot before they made it official and got all married up on Saturday. 

The next night our awesome friends from Unilever Trumbull met up with us in Milford for a little bowling action - shout out to Stephanie, Yaling, Caryn, Craig, Andy & Danielle - thank you for the great night! 

After that it gets blurry... Too much running around! But, on 9/10/11 we had the pleasure.of witnessing Dave & Lina's marriage at Jackson Gore in Okemo, VT. The ceremony was fabulous, and basically so was everything else!  The ceremony was fun and fit them very well, and we especially loved the speech given by Daves dad, Dick, during the ceremony... and how they all danced down the aisle on the way out!  It really was the best time, and it was great to catch up with Dave & Lina's family and friends - we've met many of them over the last few years, and really enjoyed seeing them all.  Seriously awesome time - I can't say it enough!

We were able to catch up with Jeff's mom and dad the next day and made it back to Ohio to keep heading west on this bike ride yesterday. It's amazing how many things have happened in the last two days of riding... But its Survivor/Big Brother night in America... So i'll be blogging about that tomorrow! Don't miss it!!!

Miss you all! Thanks for reading!

~Styx & Bones

Cleveland's HOT! And also cold... and also has Thunderbirds?

Does anyone else feel like watching an episode of the Drew Carey show?  No?  Just me huh?

Oh well, here we are in Clyde, OH today - almost to Indiana!  So far Ohio has been a set of extremes --- best AND worst roads, hottest AND coldest weather, and smallest AND biggest birds!  What?! 

A couple of days ago going into Cleveland the temperature was seriously 90, "feels like 100" with 5 MPH wind and a dew point in the high 70's --- it was seriously the worst day ever trying to make it 55+ miles through Cleveland to city center where we had a free night at a hotel.  At one point around lunch we were so overheated we went into the first restaurant that didnt look overly sketchy just to soak up their a/c for a while - very nice. 

As we approached city center I saw a bunch of people just baking in the sun on the side of a hill across the freeway just staring out in one direction over Lake Erie.  I was thinking maybe they were going to have some kind of awesome fireworks show that night or something, but turns out there was an Air Show going on and the USAF Thunderbirds were about 10 minutes from performing.  Just as we got into downtown Cleveland, we could hear them take off -- I had seriously never seen an air show so close to a major city before!  I mean, I've seen the Thunderbirds, but I've never seen them do their tricks and then fly around all the skyscrapers that made up downtown to come back around for the next trick --- it was VERY cool!

The last couple days have been windy, rainy, and cold!  We've been windswept sideways on our bikes, hailed on and it was definitely lightly raining sideways on us yesterday!  We met a couple of older gentlemen riding their bikes east -- its always nice to meet other cross country riders -- they are always excited for us and urge us to keep going!

Speaking of keeping going.... today is the day we peel off the trial for our friends wedding!  We have 40ish miles to knock out to pick up a rental car and get our behinds back to Vermont.  Speaking of that, why the heck are 1-week rental's so DANG cheap compared to 1 or 2 days???  Anyways, we haven't had a plan so far, so the question is... will we be back to finish, or is it moving time? 

Have a great rest of your week!
~Styx & Bones

Oh, sorry! I didn't see a car...

Lol... Camping at Geneva on The Lake in Ohio about 50 miles east of Cleveland. We rode our bikes into camp, just like we always do. We proceeded to pull various sacks out of our panniers, just like we always do.  Our neighbors in their huge houses on wheels tried not to stare at us with their puzzled looks as they saw an entire campsite come out of our bikes... Just like they always do. :0)

We are the lucky campers next to the water fountain tonight. Jeff and I were in the tent playing a rousing game of Uno when a lady came traipsing through our campsite and was startled when she heard us talking inside.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't know anyone was here - I didn't see a car."

And you won't, my friend. You won't.

Goodnight all!

~Styx and Bones

I've got a mule and her name is Sal... Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal...

Hey! I've been trying to think of "that one song about the Erie Canal" for like four days since we started riding along it and FINALLY I'm at a computer that can tell me! :0)  If you want to be nostalgic about your childhood and remember it too, you can go to this link: http://www.eriecanalvillage.net/pages/song.html (beware, it starts to play INSTANTLY... even when you are in a hotel lobby with all kinds of people around you).

Soooo, what have we been up to?  Our first day after we fled to get out of Irene's way, we still had a pretty windy day, but all was made up for when we passed a fruit stand with probably the most delicious peaches and homemade pies EVER.  We rode a lot of the bike trail that goes along the Erie Canal - some of it amazing and paved and some of it sandy and slooooow... well, at least us pedaling are slow.  The one thing that stood out above anything else in upstate New York were the ridiculously huge and perfectly manicured lawns.  Seriously, you would think there's some kind of law that forbids you to have grass over 2" tall - even the ditches and grass in the most remote parts along the canal were perfectly manicured.  I think it actually made everything prettier :0). 

Anyways, the next day we passed our first of many "Horse and Buggy ahead" type signs, and actually saw a guy pulling one into a barn.  Since then we've passed a few and they are always nice and smile and wave to me :0).  We've gone through some pretty rural towns and a lot of countryside with orchards, vineyards, and a few Dairy Farms (p-u!).  One day Jeff slowed down and commented how creepy and quiet the road we were on was -- funny I was thinking how much it reminded me of home! 

We've officially camped on Lake Ontario once and Lake Erie a few times now - a couple days ago we got to check out Canada from across the bay near Buffalo, NY (someone forgot her passport, so we just got to see it out from a distance.)  Trying to ge

t in/out of Buffalo, we came around a corner and a lady frantically ran up to us asking for help - FRANTICALLY.  Guess she ran out of gas in the middle of the intersection, so Jeff jumped into action and pushed her across into a parking lot -- I'm sure the biking wasn't enough of a workout for him -- he probably needed it to help him out with his leg muscles... lol. 

We are currently in Erie, PA and should be in Ohio by tomorrow!!! 

Other random things of note - I can't get my head together for this blog!:

- Jeff got chased by a miniature pincher... haha... better than than a doberman one! 

- Some little kid yelled at me to catch up to Jeff and a few others just yelled in general.  Whats up with people honking at us?  Is that a cyclist thing because they always wave?  A construction worker yelled at me today "where you headed??" I said "west!" He laughed and said "that works!"  Maybe I'm being a little to vague?  haha...

- Seen 5 different people cycling cross-country (in the other direction of course) - every one of them had the same panniers (rear bags) as us. 

- Michelle keeps bugging me to find a geocache... every time I think about it they are in the other direction.  Hmm... maybe I should plan ahead?

- Only've seen 2 creepy lurkers so far, so that's nice.  We instantly went in another direction.

OK thats it for now! Hope to blog more often so no more brain dumps... but you know how that goes!!!

~Styx & Bones

See pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/113448133157937829305/WhyNotBicycleCTNY

Hasta La Vista, Irene!

Day 1, Connecticut:  We didn't really look at any type of topography going into this ride, so we probably took the worst route ever up the biggest hills we could find to get to where we were camping that night - it was awesome.

Day 2, Connecticut:  Even worse hills than the day before AND an earthquake!?  OK, we didn't feel it.  AND, to clear up my family rumors, it did NOT make me fall off my bike, nor was it caused by me falling off my bike... LMAO. 

Day 3, Crossed into New York State: Much better ride and we had a great lakeside campground all to ourselves.  Jeff suffered a broken spoke, but the bike repair shop guy gave us a free part and Jeff had it fixed and true in about an hour.  The ride was getting easier and things were looking up!

Day 4, New York: Hurricane Irene is comiiiiiiiiiing!  Heavy rains forced us inside after 15 miles of great riding.  More heavy rains, 65-100 MPH expected winds and a big 'ol hurricane is coming!  Yipes! What is mother nature trying to tell us all in the first four days!?!

So, last night we spent a few hours trying to figure out how to bike from here to Albany and over towards Buffalo without getting schwacked by the hurricane.  There are a lot of great bike trails up there we were looking forward to checking out, but after considering all of our options we realized we really didn't have many.  There just aren't a lot of places to hunker down between here and there if the weather came in sooner than expected or something went awry.  Basically we looking at potentially 3 consecutive nights in a hotel waiting out the storm. 

The problem with that is... we didn't come out here to sit around in a hotel... we came here to ride!!!  So, with much thought and consideration, we've decided to rent a big 'ol van, and drive ourselves up to Rochester, NY to get out of Hurricane Irene's way and get riding!  Today we will be driving most of the day, but tomorrow we can hit the streets again to sunny skies without worrying about having to duck and cover every time a cloud rolls in.

Hope everyone is having a great Friday!!! 

~Styx & Bones <---- those were our "trail names" when we hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2010 in case anyone reading this is wondering. :0)

I can't ride my bike with no handlebars

"Training or touring?" the guy said he passed me on his bike. 

"Touring" I said. 

He replied "good for you!" And threw in a bonus "the only way to travel!" when he passed Jeff.

I guess I should of said both.  We are definitely touring, but I feel like I'm also in training... maybe like the biggest loser camp, but with less dieting.  Haha. These hills are rough! I'm starting to see why most of the established bike routes are north of where we are!

Now let's take a moment to cover awkward privacy violations, roadkill and breakdowns.

Awkward privacy violations:
Yesterday when we were getting ready to leave Kettletown State Park, Jeff went to the bathroom to change of clothes.  When he left the bathroom he went right back in to throw something away... he noticed there was a lady standing on top of the toilet peeking over the top of the stalls THAT HE WAS JUST IN! LOL. Let us know if you see any videos of him changing on the internet.

Roadkill:
Seriously, there is way more roadkill on the side of the road that you never ever even see when you're driving a car!  There were some stretches in the last couple days where I felt like I was dodging more road kill than anything else.  Despite my dodging, so far some of the things I have run over on my bicycle include: Tons of worms, Glass, Random metal pieces, A Copenhagen can full of water (that was nice), An old ear of corn and a pile of roadkill! Gross!

Breakdowns:
Yes, we've had a few! Jeffs back rack came loose at least four times before he moved a few things around and now it seems to be fine. The only reason that this is of note is because every time he broke down it seemed like we're in even worse part of New Haven - yipes! Both of us have had to do some minor gear adjustments and a break adjustment or two on mine. Nothing major. When we woke up at camp yesterday I remembered to tell Jeff that I "had this feeling like my handlebars were going to fly off when I was going downhills yesterday." Yeah, the headset on my bike was about one bolt thread from just completely detaching my bike from my fork and throwing me onto the pavement. Glad I remembered to check it because... I definitely can't ride my bike with no handlebars.

~Styx and Bones

We have an album started you can see all our pics at here: https://picasaweb.google.com/113448133157937829305/WhyNotBicycleCTNY

Wow and also wow!

Today we officially kicked off the Bicycle Ride of Justice at Branfords Stony Creek beach! Where it will end, we have absolutely no idea. All we know at this point is we have the Butterfield/Roberts (lol) wedding to attend on 9/10/11 in VT, so if our bodies hold up we should be biking until then.

Today we enjoyed a leisurely ass kicking at the hands of CTs rolling hills.  We made it a total of 35.4 miles into Kettletown State Park near Southbury, CT, (which for a couple of out of shape desk jockeys with no experience at all ain't half bad!).

Yes, its true... Not much experience. For those of you who know me well you know I haven't really ridden a bicycle since the early 90s... Lol. Seriously, our plan was to do this bicycle ride sometime next year... take some time planning and get ourselves physically ready.  It was only a few weeks ago when we decided to do it now, and even today sitting in this tent we are not really sure where we'll end up tomorrow. 

It's awesome. 

Anyways, just wanted to check in! I hope everyone is have an awesome week!

~Styx and Bones (ride again?)

"I can see Alaska from my house!"

Hanging out with some good friends at the Cougar Pot tonight when I turned and asked Jeff... "What if instead of riding to mom's house from here, we ride to the coast of CA, turn right and go to Alaska?  THEN we can see RUSSIA!" 

After we came home Jeff's sporadically awesome memory came into play and he pulled out his phone to play me this little gem:



Haha - I LOVE IT!
If you're looking for a fun bicycling song, check these out!  I don't know why anyone would be looking for one besides me... so if you KNOW one, post on my FB or here!!!  Playlists starting... noooooowwww!!!

Bicycle Wreck – Tennessee Mafia Jugman
Bicycle Built For Two – Nat King Cole
Bicycle Commuters Anthem – Shera Kelly
Bicycle Song - Susannah Vlachly
My Bicycle - Beebo
Fat Girls on Bicycles - Punk Group

Why Not Bicycle?

I have spent at least the week thinking about what to write for our very first post in this new blog.  There are so many things going through my head and so many things I want to write that I just don’t know how to get it out of my head and onto this screen. 

So, how did “why not bicycle” come to be?  Well, first of all, the blog called “why not bike” was already taken by someone named David who has posted exactly zero times.  Bummer.  I started thinking of alternate blog names and decided to keep it simple and go with “why not bicycle?”  It seemed fitting.

So how did we come up with biking at all?  We both probably have our own versions of that story.  Jeff says he’s always wanted to bike across the US.  He had always wanted to hike the AT, but now that he’s checked that goal off the list he's moving on.  We’re not cyclists by any stretch, but we are practicing to be, and having a lot of fun doing it.  For me, the desire to bike across the US started with a combination of things. 

First and foremost, coming back to work for corporate America after hiking 2,175+ miles in under 6 months is just... awkward.  We didn't feel fulfilled in what we were doing before we went on the hike, and after we finished, we brought ourselves right back around to where we were when we left.  We both understand the concept of "the grass is never greener," but we also want to walk through all kinds of grass while we are still young enough to enjoy how it feels.

Second, Jeff mentioned hiking again.  He found a trail called the "American Discovery Trail" that goes from somewhere near Washington DC all the way across the US to around San Francisco, CA.  For at least a week he would give me unsolicited information about the ADT and details on people who had hiked it.  Though it’s been 6 months since our epic hike ended, I admitted I am just not ready to hike again right now. 

Third, the ‘winter blues’ really caught us hard this year, as we enjoyed record snow and a long winter in Connecticut.  Today it was supposed to snow again, but so far it’s just been some sort of weatherman’s April Fools Day joke.  A new job and the extended winter really put me in a state of mind where I was either ‘blah,’ or asking myself “what’s next?”  At random times the past few months I’ve compulsively applied for jobs in Germany (Michelle is moving there if you missed that memo) and also Colorado.  Why Colorado?  Well, I hear there are 300 days of sun each year, lots of outdoorsy stuff to do, and it allows me to cross “live in every state that starts with a C”  off my list of things to do in life. 

So what happens when you combine hiking the AT, working for Unilever again, discovering the ADT and wanting to move to Germany / Colorado?  Obviously you can connect those dots!  *Sarcasm* Let’s bicycle across America!!!  OK, so when the Colorado thing came up it led me to apply for a job at the company that makes Fat Tire Ale – New Belgium Brewing.  They are super-committed to environmental stewardship, frequenly hold rallies to "trade your car for a bike," and as a part of my cover letter I offered to sell my Jeep and ride my bike from here to there.  Maybe it wasn't the right angle considering I didn't get the job, but it is how the path to bicycling across America developed in my mind.  After receiving the rejection notice from New Belgium I asked myself... "Who wants to stop in Colorado when you can ride all the way to California anyways?"  After I say 'hi' to mom in CA I can head back to CO.  :0)

So that’s how it started.  We have no definite plan on what is going to happen next.  If we were independently wealthy we would have been on the road yesterday, but since we’re not, a little bit more planning is involved.  The goal is to go within the next year or ten, but a lot of things can happen between now and then, so who knows!

Stay tuned if you like – thanks for reading (mom!)

~Aly