A few hiccups

The ride into Butte was another tough one.  Temp in the mid 90's and super hilly with a headwind the last 40 miles.  We were practically crawling.

Fortunately, when we arrived there were tons of leftovers sitting around from a large dinner that the church in Butte had and let us polish off... Its amazing how food can change your whole attitude on life...  I had no energy that night and just sat around the church and read.

The next day I realized at our lunch  stop, about 40 miles out, that I had left my wallet in Butte... typical Matt... I spent all day trying to call the church and finally got a hold of a special woman- Carol Brown, who found my wallet at the church and overnighted it to me in Missoula... not the first time a stranger returned my wallet to me and probably won't be the last.

The ride into Missoula started off great.  about 18 miles in we stopped to swim in some hot springs that were really not that hot at all, but still sort of cool.  Nice waterfall and huge boulder/cliff to jump into the water.  There was also an awesome cave that you had to swim underwater to get to.  This very small cave was the site of one of the funniest scenes of the trip... I went in first then everyone just started coming in one by one, hitting their heads on the rock everytime.  eventually, it was crowded like a clown car since noone on the outside could hear us telling them to not come with us all running out of oxygen and laughing hysterically... trust me, it was funny.

The rest of the ride was troublesome.  We were riding on I-90, which is always loaded with debris and I nailed a huge stone and 4-5 miles later realized my front fork was completely cracked... We made it to the lunch stop and I was pretty worried I was going to have to get in the van, but I managed to rig it up with some epoxy and duct tape enough to get me into Missoula...

Last night we once again took advantage of the rest day and went out... started at a brewery that had stopped serving 10 minutes earlier, so we got a growler of "Fresh Bong Water", their finest pale ale and took it down the street to a park.  We eventually ended up at a pizza shop for some very dissapointing buffalo wing pizza.  I got reprimanded by the staff for initiating a huge bleu cheese versus ranch debate (bleu cheese is definitely better)... saw some T.O. reality show business on sportscenter at one of the bars and got pretty pumped.

Today I went to six bike shops to try to find a new fork.  None could help me out.  The Cadex is just too outdated.  I was pretty resigned to riding it in its current state- sketchy, duct taped, and super unsafe... Eventually I ended up at the headquarters for Adventure Cycling Association, which is based in Missoula.  I guess its the spot to stop on long bike trips.  I meant 4-5 other guys who were on long journeys like ours.  They also had free ice cream and pop for tired cyclists and took my picture and hung it on the wall with all the other passerby's from this year, which was pretty cool...

After talking to one of the guys for awhile, he suggested the I take my bike to a welding shop and have the fork welded back together.  Why didnt I think of that?  After spending an hour helping a guy out in a place the reminded me way too much of working at Electric Materials, we got it welded and sanded down... so now I'm back in business

Had some birthday cake tonight to celebrate Matt Harlans birthday then went and saw the new Harry Potter with Zernyu and Adam... tomorrow we're supposed to be staying near some realy hot springs.

Can't believe we're gonna be in Portland in 12 days.

New watch and camera to make u...

New watch and camera to make up for the broken/somewhat functional ones. Yay for stimulating the Missoulan economy. This town is great.

Blah

Well my bike broke down again so I had to ride in the van for a day and drive it the next. It turns out that when a chain stretches past a certain point, it'll rapidly wear down the cassette, the gears in the back. If I had been checking for chain wear before, I could have saved the cassette. Well, I always seem to learn the hard way. I'm currently in the college town of the University of Montana, Missoula. It's a really nice campus and bicycle friendly too. There are about five different bike shops within walking distance. All but the last shop I checked didn't have the right cassette for my bike, and the cassette was pretty pricey. At least I can ride my bike into Portland now. There's a river that runs through town and you can kayak or ride an inner tube down it. I really wanted to go, but unfortunately I had to get my bike fixed.

Driving into Missoula was very scenic; Montana is completely covered and surrounded by mountains, and the road passes by rivers and waterfalls. There is a place by the road where a small waterfall flows into a little lake, the size of a swimming pool. The locals call it Nimrod and it has the clearest water I have ever seen in my life, like bottled spring water. The water has a slight smell of sulfur, so it probably comes from a hot spring. It was almost the perfect temperature: cold enough to be refreshing, but not too cold for you to start shivering. A large rock rests by the water and you can get about a ten foot drop from jumping off of it into the water.

Around the rock is a little underwater tunnel that you can swim through which leads into a tiny cave. We were all too chicken to go through at first because it was dark and you couldn't see the end, but Matt Strick finally went through and realized that the tunnel was about three feet long. We all started to swim through the tunnel and when we popped out of the water, we realized that there wasn't enough room for all of us in there, so we started yelling for people to stop. Sound doesn't travel from the cave to the outside, so people kept coming in, and at one point we had eight people inside, and it became pretty hard to breathe. Matt Harlan forgot to take off his glasses and when he swam out from the cave, they came off his face and fell to the bottom. We spent probably an hour searching for his super-thin-framed glasses with a headlight that barely worked and swimming goggles that leak and give you double vision. I'm glad he eventually found his glasses.

7/18 Tour De Pain

Within the first twenty miles of today's ride out of Ennis, Montana towards Butte, there was a hill we climbed that had a really steep grade on the other side where all of us reached our fastest top speeds yet. I topped out at 52.4 miles per hour, which was quite an exhilarating ride. The next sixty miles were absolutely exhausting, though. We climbed hills that seemed to never end or go down on the other side, and the temperature climbed up into the 80's as well. Twenty miles away from Butte, there is one of the most brutal mountain passes I have had to ride through so far. Though it was only eight miles of continuous uphill with a manageable grade, we had a headwind all the way up and all of us were completely dehydrated. I'm pretty sure we were all delirious halfway up the mountain and I was getting tunnel vision.

Lately my chain has been skipping a lot while riding, and it got worse and worse while I was riding through the mountain pass, which was driving me crazy. I brought my bike into the local bike store and it turns out over 3000 miles of riding is enough to stretch a chain. We found out that the store was owned and run by the brother of Levi Leipheimer, a Tour de France rider who was just injured in a crash during the race yesterday and he was in fourth place. Everyone at the store was really cool and friendly, and Levi's father even came in to take a picture of us with Rob Leipheimer. It was definitely one of the coolest bike shops we've been to on the trip so far. The walls were covered with all of Levi's jerseys from previous Tours. I'm not sure how to end this entry, so this is the end.

The Home Stretch

It's been a long time since I last wrote about the trip so bear with me as I try to recount all the great things that have happened over the last week and a half. Wyoming was really beautiful and scenic as we got further into it with a lot of beautiful landscape.

Let's talk about one of the most exciting parts of the trip: Yellowstone National Park. The ride in long and tough but after a lot of hard work and a steep 10 mile climb, we made it to the campsites. Camping was really fun and we ate some really good chili thanks to Clinton and Conor. That night we just relaxed and enjoyed the much cooler temperatures. The next day, a rest day, I did a trail called the Elephant Back Trail with a few friends and it was such a fantastic view at the top. You could see the entire Yellowstone Lake, islands in it, and big mountains in the distance. It just so happened that that was the best place to get reception in the park. Later, I just read by the lake and rested as much as possible. I thought it was pretty funny too how legitimately homeless we all look around a campfire wearing everything we own and eating (mostly beans) out of cans.

The ride from Yellowstone to West Yellowstone is one of my favorites so far. It was 65 miles I believe and was so scenic. We stopped at Old Faithful and checked out tons of geysers in the area. We even met a bunch of alum while walking around and waiting for Old Faithful to go off. It's pretty neat hearing people read the back of your jersey as you walk by them. We've come so far already; actually making it to Yellowstone was a huge milestone in itself. The rest of the ride that day was awesome. We had a great water stop near the bank of a winding creek and a hill and "Loveshack" to dance to and keep us going. In the last 15 miles, we saw elk and a bald eagle. That was really amazing. Traffic was at a standstill as we all watched and waited for the bird to soar and she finally did. Apparently, a bald eagle's wing span is about as big as me-5 feet. Crazy. The town of West Yellowstone was really cute too. While it was pretty touristy, there was an extremely wonderful homeade ice cream shop: City Creamer. I had the double chocolate orange and I would definitely go back for more. So good. A few of us then found the best book shop ever: The Bookworm. It was cramped and just chock full of books and antiques and little rooms with more stuff to look through. Probably the best one I've ever been to.

Montana so far has been really great. Two nights ago we stayed in Drummond and were given such a great meal it did not even feel like real life at all. Stuffed peppers? Are you kidding me? It was delicious, we've got it so good. A family across the street from the church was walking by as a few of us were reading outside. They told us about Missoula (our next stop/rest day) and one of the girls, Megan, asked if she could ride in the morning with us. That was really awesome, she didn't even know us but just wanted to ride!

The ride to Missoula was gerat. It was a shorter day and we stopped to jump into a hot spring. The water wasn't really all that hot, but who cares? We jumped in and explored a sweet cave that you had to swim under water to get to. It was pretty scary, but something I will never forget.

The rest of the ride was great, I only regret to say that I've had a bunch of flats lately and my rear tire finally blew out after 3100 miles. I even got one when we got to Chinese restaurant last night. So that's kind of stressful but I'm getting over it.

Today, I checked out the downtown area, went to some bookshops, shopped for my secret santa (christmas in july for the i4k), and just enjoyed walking around all day. We're in the homestretch of this ride already, I can't really believe it. Tomorrow we'll be in Idaho, then Washington, then Oregon. Less than two weeks of riding left, oh boy. It seems like so long ago that we left Central Park, it feels like a lifetime. I'm not sure how I feel about it really. More excited that we're nearing the end or sad to leave such a fun and crazy lifestyle. Hopefully the next two weeks are really great as I'm sure they will be.

i am so bad at blogging...

Hello world! My parents have been reminding me daily that I have a blog to fill, and I have still yet to fill it. I don’t know why I am such a bad blogger, but I promise to do something about it for these next… two weeks. Wow. How insane is that? We have traveled over 3000 miles, been gone over 7 weeks, and are still going strong. What an amazing feat! I am very good at talking about the trip, I can hardly keep my mouth shut, but I am pretty awful at writing about the trip. SO, I thought I’d post some pictures I have taken over these past few weeks, to tell the story for me.

Day 52 & 53 - A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

Drummond, MT to Missoula, MT

Today's ride was a short one, and we knew we would have fun with it.  At the 20 mile mark, we saw a "hot" spring and pulled over and everyone jumped in, which was a lot of fun.  The water was not really all that hot, especially at 9 in the morning, when we got there, but we found a great place to jump off the rocks into the spring, and there was a waterfall and an awesome underwater cave that we explored.  You had to swim underwater and through a passage, and then up into a room where you were inside the rock and could hang out.  It was scary to try to get in and out of, but it was really cool once you made it inside.  After that, we rode on, and made it into Missoula with not much trouble.  Cady broke his handlebars, but somehow managed to glue them back together for the last 15 miles of the day.  We  explored the city a bit, and it is nice to be in a big city.  Missoula actually has traffic, and stores with actual things, its almost strange to be in a normal city after the past few weeks.  We visited a few bike shops with Sae-bin, his derailleur broke the other day and he decided to buy an entire new bike, despite the fact that we only have two weeks left.  At night, we had some chinese food for dinner, where we met an older man who biked across the country in 1987, and did it only 40 some days, so we were all humbled by his stories of riding 90 miles a day all by himself.  Then we all headed out to some local watering holes for Matt Harlan's b-day, which was at midnight.

Today is our second-to-last rest day(!) and after I finish blogging and putting my pictures up, I plan on getting some food, doing laundry, trying to send some stuff home so that I can pack my bag again, and then maybe exploring Missoula a bit more.  Sae-bin just walked in with his new $4000 bike, but he got a great deal on it, it was originally $6000, and the thing is insanely light, I can easily pick it up with one hand.  This is a college town, since the University of Montana is located here, the home of the dominating Grizzlies, one of the best football programs in D-II college football.  They also have a huge letter M on one of the hills overlooking town, as many of the towns in the West have, so I am considering heading out there to try to catch the sunset tonight.  I am loving Montana so far, it is really scenic everywhere, and all the people are so nice.  I think this is definitely up there on my list of favorite states that we've been through.  It's funny, but you can't help trying to imagine living in all of the places that we've been going through, just to see if you can imagine yourself living there.  I am not really a fan of most of the small towns, there is just not enough happening most of the time, but Montana doesn't give me that feeling, despite it having way less people than any other state. We head to Idaho tomorrow, and then into Washington, then Oregon!  It's crazy to think that this journey is almost over, and that we have ridden 3200 miles already.  Weird.  New pics are up at http://www.flickr.com/people/8300819@N03/ as usual.

States traveled through:16(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT)
Distance today: 56 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3244 mi

Day 51 - Montana Hospitality

Butte, MT to Drummond, MT

Our ride into Drummond was another kinda long one, but we managed to make good time and got into the town by about 1:30PM.  It turned out this was pretty lucky, since some of the riders in the back groups didn't get in until almost 5 PM.  Drummond is a small town, but their hospitality has been rivaled by almost none.  The ride was a hot one, and we were heading into the wind for the second half of it, but as soon as we got into town, they had cold water, amazing lemonade, hot dogs, and deer jerky waiting for us, and we were also able to use real showers from the high school across the street.  We really appreciate showers nowadays, we have been using garden hoses and their freezing cold water to shower recently, and we are getting used to the stares as people drive by and see kids lined up in front of a church in spandex using a hose to shower.  Anyways, we haven't had a real shower since Cody, WY, which was forever ago, so we really appreciated it, and when we got back, the Drummond church folk had an amazing dinner prepared.  We got to feast on roast beef, tons of fruit salad, fried chicken, and awesome macaroni salads, and for desert, rhubarb pie and strawberry shortcake, so needless to say, we all ate until we couldn't move.  After dinner, some people climbed a nearby hill to watch the sunset, and I read outside in the beautiful weather until it was dark.  Montana has been beautiful so far, and every place we've been people have been really nice and the scenery has been stunning.

States traveled through:16(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT)
Distance today: 73 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3185 mi

Day 50 - Hills and High Speeds

Ennis, MT to Butte, MT

The ride into Butte was very long, and not very fun.  There were at least three separate mountains that we had to climb, including a very long one at the end of the day that exhausted everyone.  However, we did get some nice downhills after climbing each hill, and it was definitely an easier day than the ride into Yellowstone.  Once we got in, the church where we stayed had a ton of food out for us, so we were treated to all the pasta salad, sandwiches, and tiny White Castle-like mini burgers that we could eat.  All those downhills also meant that we could get some serious momentum going, and I hit a new high speed of 50.3 mph, which I was pretty pleased with, i didn't think I would be able to hit fifty after not being able to do it in the steep hills of Pennsylvania.  All in all, an exhausting day, but at night we were able to relax some, and I got to read a lot, so it wasn't a terrible day.  The town is also really nice, Butte is very spread out among the hills, and we had an awesome view when we were coming down from the mountains and riding into town.  A famous Tour de France rider, Levi Leipheimer, is from here, and some of the team went to his brother's bike shop and met his father and brother and hung out there, so that was pretty cool too.

States traveled through:16(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT)
Distance today: 80 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3112 mi

Missoula

We've made it to our rest day in Missoula, Montana-and we head to Idaho tomorrow. Montana was a lot of fun because we continued the tradition of Mustache Montana. Most the guys shaved their beards, and the girls drew mustaches on our faces everyday. We spent a lot of time explaining the tradition along the way.

The ride to Drummand, Montana was stressful. We had three flats along the way, two in which the van had to come back to supply tubes and tires. Luckily, we were warmly welcomed to the church with tons of food.

The ride into Missoula was a lot of fun. It was a short ride of 53 miles, and we stopped at the hot springs. We swam into a cave, which was really cool. It took me some time to get the courage to swim into the cave, but it was definitely worth it.

Missoula is a really cool town. I ran up to the M on top of a hill yesterday, and the view was amazing.  We're currently enjoying the mountain weather at a very fancy cafe.

The smallest towns have the be...

The smallest towns have the best hospitality. Thanks Drummond MT! Missoula tomorrow.

Mo' Montana

A little bit of catching up. Going into Butte the ride started easy and ended with some steep work. We found out that the 6 mile climb is also the training ground for Levi who was in four place in the Tour de France until he broke his wrist, yeah we’re hard core…
In Butte we also did a couple of portrait project interviews and were both inspired by the stories and the people.
From Butte we headed to Drummond a small town with a large, large heart. The ride in again began as an easy cruise until the dreaded wind turned on us. One group had multiple flats because the only way to Drummond is on the debris ridden I-90. On the bright side, the randomness of junk offered great material for secret santa presents for our Christmas in July celebration.
When we gt into Drummond we were greeted by Vicki, who we are so thankful for the time and effort she put into feeding us and making us feel welcome. After dinner we had some trouble moving from all of the amazing food we gorged ourselves with. We even picked up an extra rider, Megan, for tomorrow from Drummond!

Tomorrow swimming in hot springs, 50 miles and a rest day to come!!!

Manly in Montana

It was a brisk Montana morning when we emerged from West Yellowstone, clad in cold weather riding gear, jackets, and mustaches. Mustache Montana has begun both for the guys who have been hard at work growing them and the ladies who needed some help from a marker.

After days and days of climbing we got a brief respite as we rode downhill for most of the day. This, combined with the cool weather and incredible scenery, made for a very enjoyable ride. One group was lucky enough to see a majestic bald eagle on their way to Ennis.

When in town we foraged for food donations and came up with some of the best of the trip. Restvedt Meats donated some incredible homemade sausages, brats, and hot dogs. Check them out if you're ever in the area. The local grocery store also proved to be a source of generosity when Ken F. gave a sizable donation.

Yellowstoned

Hello all,
Writing from Ennis, Montana tonight.  I just ate a 32 ounce blizzard from the local ice cream place so I'm gonna need to use the bathroom soon.

Yellowstone was awesome, though cold. The ride into the park from Cody was probably one of the toughest of the summer.  Uphill with the wind in our face the whole time, cold temps, and a little rain towards the end.  Luckilly, we had a lot of beautiful stuff to look at, which made it easier. 

Once we made it to our campsite, I went for a short run on a trail nearby, made it to the top of this overlook, great view, but then fell pretty hard on the way back... good thing noone was around to see... That night we had some chili and made smores by the fire, which was sweet till it started raining and we all made a break for tents... However, there was still plenty of fun o be had in the tents in terms of late night immature jokes.

The next day I decided to take adavantage of the rest day and not rest at all- went for a 14 mile run on some pretty rugged terrain.  Running down one trail, I came about 4 feet away from a wild buffalo, which was absolutely terrifying, but also awesome.  I just froze and backed away really slowly... then checked my shorts.  There were two of them, so I just stopped and watched them for 10 minutes or so.  I'd later see two more buffalo, but kept my distance this time.  The run was great, ran on a bunch of great trails, with some amazing views of the lake and sorrounding mountains, but it took a lot out of me so the rest of the day I just chilled by the lake and read.

The ride out of Yellowstone was equally as cool.  Stopped at Old Faithful, saw that and hiked around the area and saw a whole lot more geyers and geothermal stuff- really impressive. 

We ended at West Yellowstone, just outside the park.  Major tourist town with a bunch of shops and restaurants with jacked up prices.

The ride into town today was awesome.  We dropped 4000 feet in elevation over the 75 mile ride so it was pretty much downhill the whole way, plus we had an awesome tailwind so it made for easy riding allowing us to get in early with time for me to take a nap and go for a run before dinner.  Which brings me back to the 32 ounce oreo blizzard and the dump I'm going to go take. 

Confessions of a Chamois

It's been hard to start writing a new blog entry because there has been so much going on.  Like the pictures I take on the road, I find my words a poor representation for how awesome everything has been.  Having just passed through Yellowstone, there is much to be awesome.

We have finally been riding through the mountains we have been expecting all along.  I thought the Black Hills were impressive and challenging until the Bighorns came into sight.  By the time the day came to climb the 18 mile ascent up the Bighorns, I thought I was prepared.  I pushed myself very hard up the mountain doing my best to stay up with the front group.  And even though I succeeded, I paid the price by wearing down my legs.  It took several days after to recover from the strenuous workout, it being no help that we had to ride each day after that, but now I think I am a lot stronger.  Looking back at the hills out east, I can feel a physical difference that has come with the last 3000 miles of our journey.

The views from the mountaintops and plain alike have been amazing.  I have seen a large difference  in the landscape once we crossed west of the Missouri River.  Before we crossed it was hard to imagine that it was considered the 'west', but after I can see the mountainous, drier land that is typical to the west.  Its an awesome feeling to ride along side mountains all day and just watch the peaks as we roll by.  Sometimes, when we are riding uphill or against a headwind, its hard to appreciate the breathtaking landscape, but our hard work pays off each time I catch the sun rising over the mountains or each time I glance over my should to see that we are still following a clear flowing river.  Like I said, these words don't do the countryside justice.

What I got to see of Yellowstone was amazing, but I discovered one thing right away; I need to comeback someday.  There was so much to see and two days in the park didn't even scratch the surface of what I wanted to explore.  Next time I come I hope to bring even more warm clothes for those freezing mornings and evenings as they really were colder than I expected.

Well, someone cut the lights here at the church which usually means bedtime! Until next time, stay classy.

Closer and Further all at the same time

Ennis Montana, home of...something. This being the furthest west I have ever been has brought something interesting to my mind:With every pedal stroke I take I am going further and further from where I live. But at the same time I am getting closer and closer to Portland and the end goal in which i get to go back home. As i reflect on the amazing experience this ride has been. All the parts of the country I may have never seen otherwise. And of course all of the amazing people who my life would remain untouched by if i had not done this. If its the survivors we meet in the McDonalds lie who thank us for what we are doing or the people we have met that have made a similar journey such as the man we met in Yellowstone but he did it in 1948 when he was 13 on a Schwinn cruiser bike and that was how his family moved. The sights and scenery have been amazing. Its been a great ride with great people. I couldnt imagine a better way to spend my summer.

In Ennis MT, there are mountai...

In Ennis MT, there are mountains all around us, this is so cool

Yellowstone

The ride into Yellowstone was a lot harder than I had anticipated. I had hoped to get into Yellowstone early to do some hiking, but we didn't end up getting in until 8pm. We had to be shuttled into the park, which took a really long time. Most of us took naps while we were waiting for the van, which was a poor decision because none of us wanted to do the next 30 miles.

On the bright side, Yellowstone was amazing. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. We spent two nights camping, which was cold, but definitely worth it. On our rest day I hiked Pelican Valley, and saw a ton of wildlife including bison and elk. The bison were only a few yards away from me, which was cool, but also a little frightening.
On our way out of Yellowstone we stopped at Old Faithful, and walked around to see the other Geysers for a good amount of time. We also saw a bald eagle, who's wing span had to have been at least 5 feet. In the end, I'd like to go back to Yellowstone, and spend more time exploring.
The ride today was also cold in the morning, but primarily downhill. Christa and I were on dinner, and we made brats and lentils-prob one of the better meals we have cooked for ourselves.

Weather Forecast: LOL

After a seventy mile descent of 4000 feet today, we are finally out of the rapidly changing weather of Yellowstone National Park. Three days ago, we left Cody, Wyoming to climb into Yellowstone, which was unexpectedly quite possibly a tougher climb than the Big Horn Mountains. It was pretty much uphill for most of the eighty miles and because Yellowstone didn't seem to like us, it blew a headwind at us for most of the way while we were riding uphill.

It was hard to see how beautiful the scenery was while we were grinding our way through the wind and uphills. I'm pretty sure the cars zooming by us only see about a third of what we see on bikes, and they can't get the photos that we're able to take. The entire road going through Yellowstone doesn't have a shoulder, so cars can't just pull over, whereas a cyclist can stop anywhere.

We were hit by a slight shortage of oxygen once again, as we reached around 8000 feet and the slightest hills made your legs burn endlessly. Since the climb was so slow going, the sun started to go down and the cold started to creep in. We even rode by parts where snow hadn't melted yet. By the time we reached our campsite, it was around 40 degrees and we could see our breaths. Soon after dinner, it began to rain and sleeping in a cold, damp tent made it the most miserable night of the ride so far. Yellowstone seemed to be punishing us for no good reason.

The next day, we were treated with incredible weather, which was perfect for our rest day. The sky was completely clear and the sun shone bright and warm enough to remind us that it was still summer. There is so much to do and see in Yellowstone, that I wish we were driving through it by car. I didn't regret it too much, though, because we were in biking distance of one of the main attractions; the 300 foot waterfall. Since it was twenty milles away, most people were too tired and burnt out to get back on their bikes for it and chose to hike the trails around our campsite. Only three of us were willing to get back on our saddles and go for a 40 mile ride on our rest day.

Clinton, Dave, and I left for the falls soon after breakfast, when it started to warm up. Our efforts were definitely rewarded; there was so much to see on the way to the waterfalls, that the hills we climbed didn't bother me a bit. There were a lot of bison grazing around the park, and at one point, we stopped by one that must have been less than five feet from where we were standing. Some tourists didn't appreciate that we were in the way of their pictures. I think driving around in an RV messes with your mind.

On the way to the waterfalls, we passed by some river rapids and there were a bunch of cutthroat trout attempting to swim upstream. Apparently, they jump several feet out of the water to get over ledges, but we never got to see that. They were all hiding behind rocks, taking their time. Dave had his camera at the ready to get a shot of a trout jumping out of the water for at least half an hour, and when he finally turned away for a second, one of the trouts finally made the leap. None of us got to see it, but the other tourists there were all cheering. Disappointing.

We saw a bunch of smelly sulfur pits on the way, too, which looked as disgusting as they smelled. With a pH of 2, I'm pretty sure my bike would disappear forever if I dropped it in one of the pools. Past the pits was an incredible view I've never seen before: it led into a giant, open valley between tall mountains and there was a pack of bison grazing in the middle of the valley. A river wound through it and you could see snow peaks on the taller mountains farther away.

When we finally reached the waterfalls, we were blown away by the view. I didn't really have any expectations – in fact, I thought they would be pretty boring because most of the pictures of waterfalls I've seen have been pretty boring looking. Fortunately, I was very wrong; the 300 foot falls fell into a giant canyon that had walls stained with a red to yellow gradient. Coming off the falls was a very clear double rainbow. We spent several hours hiking around it and even got up right next to the brink of the falls. It's kind of unsettling being right by where the water falls, because you can see how fast the water is actually flowing. We met a man there named Tom Blue who gave us a very generous donation.

Riding out of Yellowstone was the coldest it has ever been. Climbing out of my tent and changing my clothes in 38 degree weather was an experience I don't want to have to repeat again any time soon. Our route leaving the park went by Old Faithful and we hiked around the place for over two hours. Geysers are pretty interesting and I have no idea why they shoot hot water out once in a while. They remind me of bad acne. There were a bunch of pools of really clear looking water which looked really tempting to hop into, but unfortunately they're all around 200 degrees hot.

We passed the Continental Divide several times while leaving the park and attempted to take a picture at one of the signs. We were eaten alive by a swarm of mosquitos and even after taking about ten different pictures, at least one person is seen trying to swat a mosquito away. It was both hilarious and painful.

I learned that the Wyoming/Montana border is less than a mile away from the exit from Yellowstone. On the way out, we passed some hitchhikers – unfortunately, our bikes only seat one.

Today, most of us finally hit 3000 miles. It's hard to believe the trip is almost over, yet the beginning of the trip seems like it was forever ago; I barely remember it. We were finally relieved from endless hills to climb with almost seventy miles of continuous downhill. For once, we could finally enjoy the view without being exhausted and completely out of breath. There was a bald eagle sitting on a power line post and I got to see firsthand how big those birds really are.

We've passed a lot of touring cyclists going the opposite direction so far. They are far more hardcore than we are; they have all of their gear hanging off their bikes so they don't need a support vehicle. We were also made to feel inadequate once again when we arrived at our stayover. There was a magazine lying around and on the front cover, it showed a triple amputee who is biking across America. He uses one arm to pedal his bike. I cannot even imagine how he climbs the hills.

Day 49 - Mustache Montana

West Yellowstone, MT to Ennis, MT

Today's ride was a longer one, we rode over 70 miles, but it was mostly downhill.  We heard rumors that we had over 3000 ft of elevation loss today, which means that we hopefully will be having warmer mornings from now on.  The ride today was very easy, but with a cold morning, it was a little bit of a slow start.  The guys who weren't lame all shaved our beards into mustaches for Mustache Montana.  The girls also drew on sharpie mustaches so they could be included too, so that was funny.  I rocked a "Lemmy" mustache, Conor, Isaac, Tim, Adam, Conor, and Erik all shaved too. Only Strick, Cady, and David were too boring to shave, and didn't want to have any fun. We also passed 3000 miles today!!!  It's crazy to think that we are so close to the end, and we are over 3/4 of the way done.

States traveled through:16(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT)
Distance today: 73 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3032 mi

Day 48 - Geysers, Eagles and Ice Cream

Yellowstone, WY to West Yellowstone, MT

Our ride out of Yellowstone was really cool.  I was not looking forward to it, since I knew it would be long day, but we saw some awesome stuff.  Thanks also to Bob and Dinah from FL who donated to the cause, and who we loved talking to, at the Kepler Cascades, which was a very cool waterfall.  We visited Old Faithful early in the morning, and pulled in just as the geyser was going off, so we had perfect timing.  That was pretty cool, but to be honest, the surrounding geysers, which we spent about an hour exploring, were kind of boring, and I could only take so much stinky boiling water before I was ready to move on.  We crossed the Continental Divide twice and saw Isa Lake, which is on the divide, so it drains into both the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico!  After that, we headed to the Painters Pot Geysers, which were cool, and then headed into the west part of the park, which was stunningly beautiful.  The Madison River was the most amazing shade of blue I have ever seen, and the area is clearly a fly fisherman's heaven.  We saw a family of elk on the way out of the park, and just a few miles from the border, we saw a real bald eagle!!  It was really cool, we got to see this huge eagle from really close up, and also saw its nest and baby across the street.  Once we got into West Yellowstone, we found a fantastic ice cream shop and I had a delicious scoop of huckleberry, and then we found the most fantastic bookstore I have ever been in.  It was called the Bookworm, advertised over 50,000 books, and when you entered, had books everywhere you looked, and I wanted to literally live there.  The books were sort of organized but also were random enough that you might find an interesting title on every shelf.  I hope to find a similar bookstore in Chicago, and spend as much time there as possible.  If you are ever near Yellowstone and need a book, I would strongly suggest heading there.  I picked up a David Foster Wallace book, since I have been looking for one forever, and despite the fact that I don't have any room in my bag any more.

States traveled through:16(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT)
Distance today: 69 mi
Total Distance traveled:  2959 mi