Sea to (Almost) Sea For Water

This is my first post about why I'm riding, and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope .  If you've already donated, thanks.   If you haven't, give it a try.  Even a small bit will really help families get safe water where there hasn't been any.  And you'll feel great. Green is great. April 25: Carthage to Miller by bike, 39 miles.  Miller to Springfield by bus. Remember Steve riding in the cold?  He woke up in Carthage truly unwell.  Steve was being Steve, not wanting to make a fuss.  So Carol and I left on bike while Steve stayed and took a morning nap.  The idea was to meet at Miller, nearly 40 miles down the line. The route wandered far off Route 66, snaking along the edges of midwestern sections.  Numeric street names counted off logically to the county line, and then picked up on the other side.  We were well out in the country.  The fields were vast green waves rolling off to the horizon.  Occasion...

You can fix this. This is my first post about why I'm riding.   The money you give will go to a project in Haiti.  See the green stuff?  They're using that for water.  Click here to donate to Water Life Hope and fix that .   April 24: Miami, Oklahoma to Carthage, Missouri We left late out of Miami, letting the rain tail off before we left.  Conversations about the route through Missouri took time as well, and we finally settled on a direction.  We'll stick to Route 66 until Sullivan, then head south and east using the Adventure Cycling Association's Great Rivers South route to reach Cape Girardeau, where we'll cross the Mississippi. So off we went, all three of us at first.  Steve rode with us until we got to Commerce, the next town after Miami and adjacent North Miami.  He'd thought it would warm up faster.  By the time we got to Commerce he was chilled in his bike shorts, and headed back to the hotel to pick up E...

Here's my first post about why I'm riding and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope.  We really enjoyed Tulsa.  We're not moving any time soon but definitely understand why people would live there. Welcome to Tulsa, or in our case goodbye. April 22: Sand Springs to Chelsea, 55 miles. This was a joy of a ride.  We started at Sean and Sherri's in Sand Springs, rolling down the Katy Trail to Tulsa.  We cut through the city streets to get to the Adventure Cycling Association route.  It was long, flat, safe and warm.  There were miles and miles of bicycle lanes, really impressive in a city this size.   At the eastern edge of the city there was a remarkable Tulsa/Route 66 sculpture, something like you'd see in a south Asian roundabout. We rode all the way to Catoosa without a hitch.  Catoosa is home to an enormous blue metal whale , originally created as an anniversary gift.  A trip to Paris wouldn't do?  It's huge -- must...

Sean and Sherri presided over the adult's table at the Easter feast Here's my first post about why I'm riding, and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope .  If you have already donated, thanks -- please talk with a friend about donating.   If you haven't yet donated, giving will make your day.  Trust me. We're in the middle of the ride now, maybe a little past halfway.   We ride with Adventure Cycling Association maps, and we've gone through about 75 panels.  We've gone through our initial supplies of Chamois Buttr , and nearly through our initial chains.  Fairly soon we'll leave Route 66. The people we've met are the best part of the ride.  We've had some rough spots -- I made far more colorful comments about Oklahoma drivers than I wrote in this blog.   Our daily experience, though, is of extraordinary kindness.  If you've lost faith in humanity, or even in America, I highly recommend bicycle touring.  War...

This is my first post about why I'm riding, and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope .  It'll make your day and mine. Downtown Edmond is cute. April 19: Oklahoma City to Chandler, 48 miles. Carol and I set out from the campground where we'd spent the night and turned to head north into a lusty headwind.  Big surprise.  The first eight miles from Oklahoma City to Edmond were yet another grudge match against the Oklahoma wind.  There was a little jog through Edmond's tidy downtown, and then we headed east again on Route 66. There are more hills in Oklahoma than we expected.  Then again, we've been riding for weeks so we have the legs.  What we didn't expect was that the shoulders on the road would become intermittent, and then disappear entirely.  We'd had this condition before and most drivers simply dealt with it calmly, passing us as they had the opportunity.  Not here. The Round Barn in Arcadia is worth seeing. We had ...

Here is my first post about why I'm riding and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope .  If you've already given, thanks.  If you can think of anyone else who might give, don't be shy -- share the link. This guy defined placid. April 18: Weatherford to Oklahoma City, 62 miles. There was a storm last night, including hail, a big Weather Channel topic.  We had spent a fair amount of time trying to find a sheltered place for Ed the bus.  No luck.  So as the storm approached we kept scanning the radar.  It literally bent around Weatherford.  If we had stayed in place in Sayre the storm was severe.  If we had gone farther towards Oklahoma City there might have been hail.  As it was we went out in the morning and the bus was pristine.  Perfect. Steve and I started off across the parking lot, looking for the best place to start the route when two cyclists rode towards us across the parking lot across the street.  One of the g...

This is my first post about why I'm riding and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope .  It'll make your day and ours. Your friend and mine in Amarillo, Ellie the Wonder Dog We've ridden a couple of more days but we came out this morning (April 17) into pea-soup fog and weather warnings about tornados.  There aren't many people here, but they drive really fast.  We would be little greasy spots on the road by the time they said, "Hey, what was that?"  We have a non-refundable hotel room in the next town so we'll drive the bus there and then try to find shelter for our friend Edward Bus. Here's the trip diary. April 15: Amarillo  to Alanreed, 70 miles. We had the best rest ever in Amarillo.  Expectations for the place were exceeded left and right.  We went to dinner at Yellow City Street Food  on our first night, and it was just like being home in Decatur.  It has the Rock Island Rail Trail .  We stayed with wonderful Air...

Here's my first post about why I'm riding and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope .  It'll make your day and ours. Cadillac Ranch, almost to Amarillo April 11: Tucumcari, New Mexico to Adrian, Texas.  63 miles by bike, 1/2 mile on foot. In the middle of the night the wind subsided and the temperature dropped.  Steve and I set out in the morning bundled up.  I had on 6 top layers: a microfiber base shirt, a jersey, a flannel mountain biking shirt, a fleece vest and a rain jacket.   From the waist down there were winter wind-front biking pants with hefty knickers underneath, along with wooly socks.  There were winter gloves and my Buff neck gaiter.  The sheer number of garments described the temperature.  And they didn't come off all day. Adrian is right in the middle of the windmills About a half a mile after leaving the campground where we'd spent the night  Steve spotted a school bus in a junkyard.  The violent...

Here's my first post about why I'm riding, and here's where you donate to Water Life Hope .  It'll make your day and ours. This is what's in Montoya. April 10: Santa Rosa to Tumcumcari, 50 miles by bike and 14 by bus. The wind was fun until it wasn't.  We left Santa Rosa on a deserted stretch of road with a cross wind a good bit of the way.   It was manageable, but the wind made the landscape itself moan.  Steve met us at a former town called Cuervo , and things were starting to get out of hand.  Carol rode around what was left of the town, and had difficulty riding the half-mile back to the bus.  The route turned and the wind was solidly behind us.  Steve passed us quickly in the bus after we all left Cuervo.  Carol and I were barely pedalling and still kept up with the bus pretty well.  At one point I was coasting over fairly level ground at roughly 38 MPH.  That was the fun part.  We all pulled into a sort-of-to...

This is my first post about why I'm riding, and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope .  This is something you really want to do. April 9: Romeroville to Santa Rosa, 64 miles Santa Rosa's Route 66 Auto Museum Any number of places in the US have been called the Saudi Arabia of wind.  We may be casual observers but I think that we would nominate Northern New Mexico today.  Steve looked at the weather report last night and noticed it would strengthen throughout the day.  Our route meant that we'd have to ride like fiends to avoid having cross winds over 20 MPH for part of the day.  For a lightweight bike like mine, that makes it hard to steer the bike. We weren't able to completely avoid it, but we only had to deal with it for about 15 miles.  Then we turned and the wind was at our back.  Sometimes we were cruising over 30 MPH.  We crossed the Pecos River twice, once in the middle of nowhere and once in the middle of Santa Rosa.  ...

Here's my first post about why I'm riding , and here's where to donate to Water Life Hope .  And here's a roundup of the last couple of days. Ellsworth Gallery, Santa Fe Sunday April 7: Yet another rest day. Yes, we're slacking.  But you have to take the altitude into account.  We were wiped.  Steve and I went to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum , and came back to the bus and napped.  Carol was a better tourist, and took decent pictures.  All the pictures here are hers.  The highlight of Santa Fe for us was (as usual) our Warm Showers hosts.  Lindsey and her housemates have a lovely, sunny, happy group house.  Lindsey and her boyfriend guided us to a terrific vegetarian place on Saturday night, and we dined in with roommate Becca and friend on Sunday.  It was like a vastly improved version of group houses Steve and I had been part of decades ago.  By Monday morning we were refreshed and ready to go. Monday Apri...

The Teepees, Petrified Forest This is my first post about why I'm riding.  Here's where to donate to Water Life Hope .   We're nearly 30% through the ride, and 23% funded.  Somewhat worrying, but I continue to be hopeful. It's been another little bit since there was the magical combination of real wifi and a little time to write.  In Albuquerque we wonderful set of Warm Showers hosts with lovely, juicy wifi but the time got vaporized with database stuff and taxes.   Now we're in Madrid, with a short riding day ahead and great wifi.  I will not be deterred. Ric, the National Parks volunteer and amazing photographer who never said word one about it. The steadying rhythm of the ride means some things are going better.  We invest time in stowing stuff, the payoff being that the bus doesn't vaporize things.   We've rearranged the bus so that everything is accessible without risking aging backs.  Rest days are keepi...