Saturday, May 30, 2009
Updated Map!
Listen up you clowns, the map has been finally updated to day 10, and we are leaving from Missoula as we speak. We'll keep the stories coming (funny and quirky, yes indeedy). Peace, love, and Nutella in and around my mouth.
Day 10 - Wilderness Gateway to Missoula
Distance - 99.7 miles
Today we crossed the border from Idaho into Montana, along with the border into the mountain time zone. Our day consisted mostly of a gradual uphill to Lolo Pass, which unfortunately didn't offer quite as much scenery as Washington Pass did. After that we descended the mountains to Lolo and then Missoula.
Just after entering Missoula we experienced our first flat (Aaron's back tire), but it was soon remedied and we ate at a Chinese Buffet for dinner. Tomorrow we will me heading southeast towards Yellowstone.
Today we crossed the border from Idaho into Montana, along with the border into the mountain time zone. Our day consisted mostly of a gradual uphill to Lolo Pass, which unfortunately didn't offer quite as much scenery as Washington Pass did. After that we descended the mountains to Lolo and then Missoula.
Just after entering Missoula we experienced our first flat (Aaron's back tire), but it was soon remedied and we ate at a Chinese Buffet for dinner. Tomorrow we will me heading southeast towards Yellowstone.
Day 9 - Spalding, ID - Wilderness Gates campground - 113.3 mile
Distance - 113.3 milesOur longest day yet! We covered some serious miles today on our gradual climb into the Rockies. Our path followed the Clearwater / Lochsa river the entire way which is part of Lewis & Clark's original trail, and runs through what is now the Nez-Perce Indian reservation. Before this trip as far as I was concerned Idaho was an empty state - who knew it had this scenery?
Last night brought several animal attack false alarms, but it turns out James just makes vicious animal noises when he sleeps. Incredibly, we made it through the night again and got a nice and early start from Spalding. The wind cooperated with us for the most part early in the day and we maintained a pretty steady pace. The reservation casinos were tempting however, and threatened to put the RLPT on pause. Everybody knows that the best way to protest the real world is to hit the jackpot on the slot machines. Plus casinos have buffets.
We stopped for lunch in the lovely tourist town of Kooskia and ate on some street benches outside the "laundrymat", not laundromat. We resisted the urge to wash any clothing though because only real people wash clothes. After lunch we made it to the town of Lowell, population 23. The welcome sign had the population originally at 24, but was crossed out and corrected with a 23, to clear up any confusion. We talked to a nice man (1 of the 23) at a convenience store who gave us advice on the next day's climb and a campground ahead, which we now occupy! Tomorrow we will be crossing Lolo pass, the second highest point on our trip, followed by a righteous downhill into Missoula, MONTANA!
-posted by Aaauron
Day 8 - Spangle to Spalding
Distance - 101.4 miles
Today was marvelous, as we finally crossed from Washington into Idaho! Not only that, but we finally completed our first century that didn't involved riding in circles!
We began our ride from our beloved playground at Spangle (pop.300) after a fantastic evening featuring many slabs of meat in the glorious form of Freedom and Rancher burgers. We rode through picturesque green rolling fields of the Palouse (the default background on your computer, get to it). At around 4:30pm PST, we moved from the Evergreen State to the Tater State (motto: Idaho is too great a state for litter), and moved further into the state after a jolly photo sean with both state signs since we somehow missed WA on the way in. After several more miles, we came to the edge of the world/a huge basin containing most of Idaho. Taking the advice of the Spangle postmaster, we turned off the highway to follow a five mile snakey, awesome, downhill, egregiously fast, downhill, cliff-edged downhill! The wicked cool descent totally made up for the uphill for the past two days. We celebrated by hitting the slots at the Nez Perce Riverbend Casino. That's not true, we actually bought a ton of groceries. And then went to the historic Nez Perce town of Spalding. There we found a dawn-to-dusk park to sleep in. I reckon since we slept between dusk and dawn, it didn't count. Yeah. Tomorrow we head to the foot of the Bitterroot Range--into the Rockies!
-posted by s[hazz]am!
Today was marvelous, as we finally crossed from Washington into Idaho! Not only that, but we finally completed our first century that didn't involved riding in circles!
We began our ride from our beloved playground at Spangle (pop.300) after a fantastic evening featuring many slabs of meat in the glorious form of Freedom and Rancher burgers. We rode through picturesque green rolling fields of the Palouse (the default background on your computer, get to it). At around 4:30pm PST, we moved from the Evergreen State to the Tater State (motto: Idaho is too great a state for litter), and moved further into the state after a jolly photo sean with both state signs since we somehow missed WA on the way in. After several more miles, we came to the edge of the world/a huge basin containing most of Idaho. Taking the advice of the Spangle postmaster, we turned off the highway to follow a five mile snakey, awesome, downhill, egregiously fast, downhill, cliff-edged downhill! The wicked cool descent totally made up for the uphill for the past two days. We celebrated by hitting the slots at the Nez Perce Riverbend Casino. That's not true, we actually bought a ton of groceries. And then went to the historic Nez Perce town of Spalding. There we found a dawn-to-dusk park to sleep in. I reckon since we slept between dusk and dawn, it didn't count. Yeah. Tomorrow we head to the foot of the Bitterroot Range--into the Rockies!
-posted by s[hazz]am!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Days 6 & 7 - Grand Coulee to Spangle
Distance - 99.7 miles
Our morning ride consisted of about 4 miles of uphill, as we had camped next to a lake that happened to be located in a canyon. After we reached the top of what seemed like a never ending climb, we were rewarded with a view of Washington high country, lots of farmland, lots of wind, but overall more lush and inviting than the previous day's desert.
We passed over rolling terrain, taking breaks in places like Wilbur, Creston, and Davenport. Creston had one gas station and one diner, and the gas station was closed.
When we got close to Spokane, my sunglasses broke, so I split off from Aaron ans Sam and went to the REI in Spokane to get a new pair. I met back up with them at Spangle, where we spent the night in a small park. The saloon here served some great food at really cheap prices. Everyone we talked to here has been very nice and helpful, and doesn't seem to mind us being hobos in their park. We decided to take a recuperative day here as well, and tomorrow morning we will be heading into Idaho, just past Lewiston.
Our morning ride consisted of about 4 miles of uphill, as we had camped next to a lake that happened to be located in a canyon. After we reached the top of what seemed like a never ending climb, we were rewarded with a view of Washington high country, lots of farmland, lots of wind, but overall more lush and inviting than the previous day's desert.
We passed over rolling terrain, taking breaks in places like Wilbur, Creston, and Davenport. Creston had one gas station and one diner, and the gas station was closed.
When we got close to Spokane, my sunglasses broke, so I split off from Aaron ans Sam and went to the REI in Spokane to get a new pair. I met back up with them at Spangle, where we spent the night in a small park. The saloon here served some great food at really cheap prices. Everyone we talked to here has been very nice and helpful, and doesn't seem to mind us being hobos in their park. We decided to take a recuperative day here as well, and tomorrow morning we will be heading into Idaho, just past Lewiston.
Day 5 - Twisp to Grand Coulee
Distance - 96.2
Turns out the sun rises at 5:10am in Washington, which woke us from our public park slumber in Twisp pretty early. After a crucial 65 cent doughnut breakfast, we took off from our friendly little town and headed east. The morning gave us smooth riding with only slight hills and lots of flat stretches. Of course we are finely tuned biking man-machine monsters at this point (picture the terminator on a road bike) so it was a cake walk. Around mile 45 we passed through Bridgeport, which was the last town for 50 long miles, and left us with nothing but endless stretches of slightly uphill road surrounded by sun-scorched rolling hills and sage brush.
The only shade we could find for lunch was a lonesome farmhouse we came upon surrounded by a small grove of trees, and that's where Lt. Col. Glen Heartsmith (retired) entered our lives. He welcomed us to eat in the shade of his trees and then began to tell us stories while we took off our shoes and devoured some bagels, nutella, bananas, and peanut butter. Glen served in the Marine Corps (Uncle Sam's Misguided Chilluns as he called it) from '67 to '71, after which he returned to Wa state to:
- get run over by a tractor, shattering his pelvis, and breaking an arm and a leg.
- crush part of his spine lifting something too heavy
- get a finger chopped off in a conveyor belt, which he showed us
He now sits on several thousand acres of farm and 'collects any and all kinds of information on weapons.' Before we left he invited us to fill our water bottles up with his hose, 'as long as we weren't allergic to arsenic.'
The rest of the ride into Grand Coulee was wide open and isolated with only the occasional questionably accounted for cow that needs to get himself an education and a job. We rolled into the small Dam town of Grand Coulee around 5:30, and scored some Dam ramen noodles, crackers, easy cheese, and summer sausagii at the Dam grocery store. We are staying at a campground on the lake, and took our first glorious 'shower' in it's frigid waters. Tension rose on the RLTP 09 however, when several kids stole the swings on the beach from Sam and Aaron. Sam and Aaron wanted to swing. Stay tuned as the drama unfolds...
- Posted by Aaron
Turns out the sun rises at 5:10am in Washington, which woke us from our public park slumber in Twisp pretty early. After a crucial 65 cent doughnut breakfast, we took off from our friendly little town and headed east. The morning gave us smooth riding with only slight hills and lots of flat stretches. Of course we are finely tuned biking man-machine monsters at this point (picture the terminator on a road bike) so it was a cake walk. Around mile 45 we passed through Bridgeport, which was the last town for 50 long miles, and left us with nothing but endless stretches of slightly uphill road surrounded by sun-scorched rolling hills and sage brush.
The only shade we could find for lunch was a lonesome farmhouse we came upon surrounded by a small grove of trees, and that's where Lt. Col. Glen Heartsmith (retired) entered our lives. He welcomed us to eat in the shade of his trees and then began to tell us stories while we took off our shoes and devoured some bagels, nutella, bananas, and peanut butter. Glen served in the Marine Corps (Uncle Sam's Misguided Chilluns as he called it) from '67 to '71, after which he returned to Wa state to:
- get run over by a tractor, shattering his pelvis, and breaking an arm and a leg.
- crush part of his spine lifting something too heavy
- get a finger chopped off in a conveyor belt, which he showed us
He now sits on several thousand acres of farm and 'collects any and all kinds of information on weapons.' Before we left he invited us to fill our water bottles up with his hose, 'as long as we weren't allergic to arsenic.'
The rest of the ride into Grand Coulee was wide open and isolated with only the occasional questionably accounted for cow that needs to get himself an education and a job. We rolled into the small Dam town of Grand Coulee around 5:30, and scored some Dam ramen noodles, crackers, easy cheese, and summer sausagii at the Dam grocery store. We are staying at a campground on the lake, and took our first glorious 'shower' in it's frigid waters. Tension rose on the RLTP 09 however, when several kids stole the swings on the beach from Sam and Aaron. Sam and Aaron wanted to swing. Stay tuned as the drama unfolds...
- Posted by Aaron
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Day 4 - The Ascent
Distance - 74.2 miles
Max Velocity - 40.9 mph
The first 32 miles was a grueling ordeal of almost non stop climbing. There were a couple points where we actually were going downhill, but this was a bad thing because we would have to re-climb any distance we went down.
We finally peaked at 5,477 ft at Washington Pass, and then we began the fun part of the day: the descent.
The next 10 to 15 miles were all downhill, and we probably averaged 35 mph for the duration. We passed through Winthrop, where apparetly all the buildings need to look like the wild west section of Busch Gardens, until we ended up in Twisp, which is smaller than the name implies. The guy who runs the sprinklers in the park talked to us ad told us where we could sleep and not get wet. Tomorrow should be fairly flat, so we're hoping to make some good distance.
Max Velocity - 40.9 mph
The first 32 miles was a grueling ordeal of almost non stop climbing. There were a couple points where we actually were going downhill, but this was a bad thing because we would have to re-climb any distance we went down.
We finally peaked at 5,477 ft at Washington Pass, and then we began the fun part of the day: the descent.
The next 10 to 15 miles were all downhill, and we probably averaged 35 mph for the duration. We passed through Winthrop, where apparetly all the buildings need to look like the wild west section of Busch Gardens, until we ended up in Twisp, which is smaller than the name implies. The guy who runs the sprinklers in the park talked to us ad told us where we could sleep and not get wet. Tomorrow should be fairly flat, so we're hoping to make some good distance.
Day 3 - Bellingham to Diablo Lake
Distance - 63.9 miles
This morning Joy (friend in Bellingham who let us stay at her house, thanks Joy) took our photographs for the article after we ate a champion's breakfast of doughnuts and fruit. After leaving the fun of Bellingham we set out to go to Diablo Lake, 1000 ft higher than our starting point. We passed the amazing town of Concrete, Washington, which was approximately 3 miles wide but had the largest welcome sign we've ever seen. The last 8 miles or so were all uphill, but we got to the lake and staked out a campsite. We got some amazing pictures of lake and mountains, and tomorrow we are climbing to the top of the pass.
This morning Joy (friend in Bellingham who let us stay at her house, thanks Joy) took our photographs for the article after we ate a champion's breakfast of doughnuts and fruit. After leaving the fun of Bellingham we set out to go to Diablo Lake, 1000 ft higher than our starting point. We passed the amazing town of Concrete, Washington, which was approximately 3 miles wide but had the largest welcome sign we've ever seen. The last 8 miles or so were all uphill, but we got to the lake and staked out a campsite. We got some amazing pictures of lake and mountains, and tomorrow we are climbing to the top of the pass.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Bellingham: On Point
After 86 grueling miles, with everything between urban sprawl to evergreen shaded country roads, we finally made it to Bellingham!! Verdict: It rules. We met my good buddy Pat and scored some balling burritos, ate some ridiculously delicious ice cream, and caught the sunset over the water. Now we're having our last night under a genuine roof for several weeks, and totally living the dream. Tomorrow we're off to Diablo on Highway 20 at the base of the Cascades. Getting ready for a 1500 foot climb followed by another 3 grand. Rage on protesters!
Note: People around Washington so far are really nice, even drivers. I'm curious to find the boundary between cars that give you room and cars that run you over. But not really.
Edit by James: It's quite likely that we won't have internet access for a while, so don't worry if you don't see a post for a week or more. We will continue to write entries and post them whenever we can
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Delicious
On our way to Bellingham, snacking like we are getting paid for it (in reality we had to pay).
This morning we asked a lady to take our picture at the beach, afterwards she violently and deliberately hurled Aaron's camera into the sand and laughed at his suffering.
Also, Washington is a den of sin, as we passed numerous casinos, strip clubs, liquor stores, and coffee huts where the main pull was that the girls serving coffee were in bikinis. We stopped at every one, and I don't even like coffee.
This morning we asked a lady to take our picture at the beach, afterwards she violently and deliberately hurled Aaron's camera into the sand and laughed at his suffering.
Also, Washington is a den of sin, as we passed numerous casinos, strip clubs, liquor stores, and coffee huts where the main pull was that the girls serving coffee were in bikinis. We stopped at every one, and I don't even like coffee.
Day 1 - Seattle Tacoma Airport to the Seattle Hostel - 36.2 miles
Apparently today was supposed to be a pretty much no-biking day, we were just going to set ourselves up, hit up the REI and the grocery store for supplies, and then go to sleep at the hostel and get ready for tomorrow. Well we DID do a lot of biking, so I'm going to call it Day 1, ok? Cool, so everybody got settled into their bikes today and dealt with some packing and riding issues. My spokes tried to eat my saddlebags, every single spoke on Sam's back wheel spontaneously loosened making it pretty wobbly, and James' derailleur was actin a fool and he also bounced one of his saddlebags off his bike in the middle of an intersection. It was a good start overall though and went relatively smoothly, and nobody is dead yet. The real world took a surprise blow from us today, and she has no idea what she has in store for her!
Tomorrow will be a solid 90 mile ride to Bellingham, WA, where we will aggresively pursue the fame and fortune initiative.
Tomorrow will be a solid 90 mile ride to Bellingham, WA, where we will aggresively pursue the fame and fortune initiative.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The adventures have already begun
We arrived at the Charlottesville airport this morning at 5am, only to be told that our bikes couldn't fit on the plane. Instead he put us in a cab for Dulles, and we just made our flight there. On the bright side, we all have vouchers for a free plane ticket within the next year, so I'd say it's a win. Now we have to put our bikes together and go to the hostel.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
It's Go-Time!!
Having just survived beach week, walked Mr. Jefferson's Lawn, and collapsed in exhaustion from it all, we prepare ourselves for rolling out of Cville at the bright and early time of 6:14am EST. After bouncing in Dulles, we'll take the really long flight (but not really THAT long compared to the return trip) to Seattle, Wawa. We'll be staying at Hostel Seattle on the night of May 20 and launch our excursion 90 miles north to the seaside/bayside/waterside? town of Bellingham! The best part is that we plan on doing an interview/photo shoot situation (perf execution of a GFI, or Get Famous Initiative) for Bellingham Alive, a brand-new, totally gnarly and altogether fantastic magazine! Hooray!
You'll hear from us again on the otherside of the USGBA (figure it out), stay tuned in to find out more about our trip and possible other GFIs.
Now for one last Pony, peace!!
You'll hear from us again on the otherside of the USGBA (figure it out), stay tuned in to find out more about our trip and possible other GFIs.
Now for one last Pony, peace!!
Monday, May 18, 2009
More Mail Info
I have notified the two post offices in Otis and Murphysboro that we are having mail sent there. Just mark it like this
General Delivery
[Name]
[Address of post office)
They will hold it for us until we arrive
Thanks for everyone's interest and support
General Delivery
[Name]
[Address of post office)
They will hold it for us until we arrive
Thanks for everyone's interest and support
Friday, May 8, 2009
T-Shirts!!
Hey guys! First of all, if you happen to be caring enough about our lives and will be following this blog on our journey, thank you!! We really appreciate any and all support, advice, love, prayers, and/or deconstructive criticism. So, WE HAVE MADE T-SHIRTS! Underground Printing is producing the official shirt of the RLPT from my design, and we have 6 shirts on the way. We didn't know if there would be any interest in the t-shirt, but if anybody would like one we can order more at $20/shirt, they are American Apparel so they're pretty high-qual, let me know if so!
THE PLAN:
We will be flying to Seattle on May 20th, 3 days after our glorious graduation from the world of college. We will exit the airport, re-assemble our bikes, and be off on our way back to Yorktown, Virginia. Check out the interactive map above for a detailed map of our route.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Where to send mail
For those interested in sending mail or packages, we have two locations picked out
Otis, Colorado
119 N Washington St
Otis, CO 80743
Packages sent here should arrive no later than Wednesday, June 3rd
Murphysboro, Illinois
203 N 11th St
Murphysboro, IL 62966
Packages sent here should arrive no later than Friday, June 12th
These dates should ensure that anything you send arrives before we do. Please don't send anything that is extremely perishable, including milk, eggs, ice cream, and live animals.
Otis, Colorado
119 N Washington St
Otis, CO 80743
Packages sent here should arrive no later than Wednesday, June 3rd
Murphysboro, Illinois
203 N 11th St
Murphysboro, IL 62966
Packages sent here should arrive no later than Friday, June 12th
These dates should ensure that anything you send arrives before we do. Please don't send anything that is extremely perishable, including milk, eggs, ice cream, and live animals.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Where we be at!
Hey all!
First, thanks for paying attention to the official blog site of the RLPT! Since you're hopefully wondering where we're going exactly, I made a map instead of doing actual finals work! Hooray!
Obviously, the states we're visiting are colored in blue and our projected route is orange. A more detailed plan with cities and towns along with target dates is forthcoming... Time to go study my face off, rage on protesters!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
