The Final Days Back to Boston

Sorry it has taken us 3 months to publish this entry -- time ran away on us. We are officially finished the trip and are now up in Maine working for the summer having a different adventure. We plan on having a follow up/reflections entry about the bike trip and a map route posted sometime soon. Hope you are all doing well! 

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It has been a wonderful trip down the Erie Canal and we have been accompanied by some delightful weather.  Each day we have headed out expecting to encounter rain but we haven't seen a drop. 

On Friday we were fighting a persistent headwind which made biking quite unpleasant.  Instead of grudgingly pushing along we took a shorter day and stopped at a campground in Montezuma, NY. The stay at the campground was just what the doctor ordered.  It had a pool, showers (which we needed quite desperately after biking along a dusty trail) and all the 25 cent ice cream cups that we could eat! The only downside to the campground was that the water tasted strongly like rotten eggs (because of the sulfur) so we ended up buying a bag of ice and melting it for drinking water. We felt so proud of ourselves for thinking of that (I think our college education is starting to show its dividends). 

The next day we continued along the Erie Canal Trail and we tried to make up for some lost time so we biked from 8am to 8pm -- we took some breaks in the day, but it was still a long day in the saddle and our posteriors are not holding up well. 

The Erie Canalway Trail is proving to be everything that we hoped for. Even though it is only paved on certain sections, riding off road for most of the day through beautiful greenery is a quite relaxing experience (in its own strenuous kind of way).  

On Sunday evening we met up with Josh’s parents at a campground along the canal and we camped together for the evening. The next morning Josh’s dad drove the van down the trail a bit and then biked in our direction. It was Memorial Day so we watched a small town parade (with a surprising amount of candy) and then biked towards a town called Amsterdam. There were some foreboding clouds chasing us in the morning but the storm was going southeast and we were going east so we pedaled as fast as we could and we got hit with a few drops but we biked right into blue skies.  After having lunch in a cute roadside stand/diner we continued the rest of the way to the van. We ended up missing the town the car was parked in and biked until the sidewalk ended -- it was only about a 1/2 mile too far but it seemed fitting to stop where we ran out of trail. 

 above: where the sidewalk ended

We decided to head back to Boston with Josh’s parents because our butts are really sore and the weather is looking rainy so we are officially finished the trip. It has been quite the amazing adventure and we want to say thank-you to our family and the many strangers who helped us along the way.  This was a trip that we will never forget! 

Biking over the Border Back to Boston

May 23,

After saying goodbye we headed of Wellandport towards Niagara Falls. We got about 5 miles away when we noticed that out tires could use a little air so we pulled into a church parking lot to pump them up. What we forgot was that we had changed the attachment on our pump and we couldn't figure out why it wasn't working (oops). After a little bit we figured it out and pumped up the front tire, but while pumping up the rear tire we broke the valve off. It was still holding air so we decided to keep on going. We rode for another mile until Chatale's pedal fell off, but that was a quick fix. We rode about 15 miles to Welland to visit Chantale's sister, Lynette, at work for a delicious cup of coffee. From there we said goodbye and headed on our way to the Falls.
When we got into the downtown area in Niagara Falls we starting hearing some noise from the chain. We dismounted the bike and saw that one of the links was broken. We weren't sure the best thing to do to fix it so we just popped of the link and kept going towards the border.

It was a beautiful day to see the falls and we got some great views from the rainbow bridge. We thought that we would have to walk our bike at the pedestrian crossing but it turned out that we just biked along with the cars. It was a really quick and easy border crossing.



We biked on some great paths along the American side of the Niagara river and made it easily to the start of the erie canalway trail in Lockport, NY (a 400 mile bike trail with a few on road segments). At the start of the trail we bought a book with maps and information about all the towns along the Erie canal. This is the first real map we have had since our first day of the trip in San Francisco!



The trail is really flat because it's right along the canal and is mostly composed of crushed stone which isn't too bad for biking. There's also a nice on-road bike route that parallels the canal so when we get sick of the crushed stone we will probably switch to the roadway. Right now we are in Middleport, NY and are camped right along the canal in a free campsite. Apparently there are a bunch of free or suggested donation campsites along the way it should be a really pleasant stretch. Tomorrow we will continue along the trail and hopefully will be able to go an entire day without getting lost.

Homeward Bound

May 12-20,

It has been quite a while since our last post because we have spent less time biking and more time in the presence of great company. After the storm passed in Vasser, MI we biked about 30 miles until the rain started again. We took shelter in a park and played euchre as the storm blew by. When there was a break in the clouds we started back up again and went 20 miles until google maps tried to take us down a private, grown over dirt trail. We stopped in a small country store to ask for directions and were approached by a father and his daughter who offered us a place to camp for the night. We were quite soaked by that point and happily took them up on the offer. We packed up our bike on their trailer and rode a couple miles down the road to their property.

We had an absolutely wonderful time at their house. When we arrived, we set up our tent in their heated garage, took showers, washed our clothes and they barbecued a delicious dinner and even let us ride one of their horses with the help from the daughter Rachel (who is an amazing horseback rider).








In the morning the weather was still rainy and the family offered to take us farther in the direction of the border. We happily complied with their offer because the three of them were already headed to church in the same direction. The mother, Mary, even packed us a bag full of snacks to take along with us on our ride! We arrived at the church and expected to get out of the vehicle but instead the father, Chuck, offered to take us as far as he could and ended up driving us another 25 miles out of his way all the way to Marine City. We tried to express our thanks (which was extremely abundant) as much as we could and packed our bike back up for the border crossing.







On a little side note, one of the most amazing things that we are experiencing on this trip is the incredible kindness and generosity presented by complete strangers. These sort of encounters with people are the type of thing that will remain in our memory far longer than any typical, fairly uneventful day of biking. We have found that contrary to popular belief, people are quite amazing and good most of the time.

Our crossing into Canada was our most positive border experience ever. The ferry runs from Marine City, MI across the St Clair river to Sombra, Ontario. It is about a 5 minute ride and only cost a dollar per person.



We crossed the river with only one other car on the boat, chatted with the border guards and set off, riding along the river toward blue Canadian skies.



It was a delightful day for biking once the rain passes and we rode about thirty miles to the house of Danielle and Matt (one of Chantale's best friends from high school and her husband) a little east of Sarnia. We had a great one day visit with them, hoping their baby would be born any minute (Mothers' day would have been a good day for that).

On Monday we set off towards Brantford, Ontario. We had a very ambitious day planned, hoping to cover 120 miles so that we could make it to Chantale's aunt and uncle's house for dinner, where we would meet up with Chantale's parents and then ride the rest of the way to Wellandport, Ontario. The day started off exactly as planned and we were optimistic about our chances of making it Uncle Mel and Aunt Betty's on time. However, right after a mid morning snack break, we tried to take a detour around a gravel road, got a little lost and went about 15 miles out of the way in total. Then right after lunch we got lost in a huge complex of suburbia right outside London and added another few miles onto our day.

By this point we were much less optimistic that we would make it anywhere close to dinner time so we sought out wifi to call Chantale's parents for an update on timing and to devise a plan. Normally we would have just kept on going and cut the day a bit shorter but we wanted to see Chantale's mom before she headed to Iowa the next day (for five days). We arranged for a limo service and a few hours later were greeted with many hugs and drove the rest of the way to Brantford.

We were treated to a wonderful feast (asparagus and rhubarb are in season out here and we had been eyeing the fresh produce at farm stands along the way but had no way to cook it, but Aunt Betty had made both of those dishes and then some!). We chatted with Uncle Mel and Aunt Betty, toured their beautiful home, said goodbye and headed off to Wellandport. (Hopefully another time we can visit for longer and do a bike tour of Southern Ontario). Our arrival in Wellandport was not exactly as we had envisioned it throughout the rest of our trip, rolling up on our tandem into familiar territory and being greeted by awaiting family. However, it was still great to be home to see Chantale's mom before she headed out.

In Wellandport we have been keeping ourselves busy by doing a bit of yard work and painting, meeting up with our friend Samantha and walking around Dundas Point outside Hamilton Ontario (which is apparently the waterfall capital of the world), playing games, cooking in a fully stocked kitchen with more than just our jetboil, going on a biking wine tour in the Niagara Region and spending lots of time with family (Ann, Lydell, Jeff and Lynette, Weston, Kailyn and parents).



















Yesterday, Chantale's mom returned from Iowa so we will be spending a couple more days here and then heading out on Wednesday for the last leg of our trip. We are antsy to get biking again but are making sure to savour every moment with family.

Location:Michigan to Wellandport

Grand Rapids, Grand Times / On the Road Again

The drive from Iowa to Grand Rapids went by in a flash. We were entertained by constant large thunderstorms and lots of lightning along the way. When we arrived in Grand Rapids we reassembled the bike, set up our tent (with our Alma Mater as the base camp), dropped off our car and then wandered around for 3 days. Our time in Grand Rapids was filled with hanging out with friends, visiting some of our favourite spots from college, tulip time festival, tasting wonderful local beer (Founders Brewing Co) and searching for places on Calvin's campus to get free food and coffee. It was absolutely wonderful.

Below: Pictures from Tulip Time Festival in Holland, MI rated the best small town festival in the US, and maybe the world?)








(disclaimer: the above photo is actually from Orange City, Iowa. They had no tulips left in Holland, MI.)

On Thursday, it was finally time to get back on the bike! It felt really great to actually pedal around with the fully loaded tandem. On our way out of the city we stopped to watch a minor league baseball game (the West Michigan Whitecaps) with our friend and my former roommate, Zach. The sun was shining and despite the thousands of children on field trips swarming around the ballpark, it was a quite enjoyable way to spent the last of our time in Grand Rapids.




We left the ballpark at 2:30 and headed north on the White Pine Trail, a beautiful paved bike path that runs north out of Grand Rapids. It was a very pleasant ride until the path turned to gravel about 25 miles north. Thankfully, the trail intersected a bike route that traverses mid Michigan. We took that paved route and headed the last 25 miles over some beautiful rolling hills to our destination in Blanchard, MI. We met some very friendly people in town that guided us to the campground and we settled down for the night in a field with our own private gazebo!




The next day we were planning to follow the mid-Michigan bicycle route that would take us toward Saginaw bay but then we looked at a map and realised that it made a lot more sense to take a straighter path toward Marine City, MI (our border crossing location). We stopped in a small town along the way, got some google map biking directions and headed on on way. We had a tailwind for most of the day and arrived 80 miles later at our campground near Vassar, MI. We were the only ones camping there for the night so we had our own private little place. The manager was really kind and came to our site delivering free wood and kindling. It was only our second campfire of the entire trip!




This morning we woke up to the sound of thunder in the distance so we quickly packed up camp and took shelter under an awning. Now we sit, waiting for the the storm to pass (hopefully) and we plan to split the ride to Sarnia, Ontario into two sections (probably taking a shorter day today so we can ride in the sun tomorrow.

R&R in the Center of America

Sorry that it has been a while since our last post -- we have done a lot of relaxing and not too much biking. The whirlwind drive from New Mexico to Iowa went by in a flash. In just 24 hours we nearly doubled the distance we had traveled for the entire ride (cars are amazing).  We left the desolate southwest landscape, watched the sun set over the Rockies and when it rose we were driving through fields in the mid-west.  Quite the change of scenery in such a relatively short amount of time. We returned the rental car in Omaha with an hour to spare and then found a park and napped for a few hours until we were picked up.

We are currently staying in Orange City with my sister, Julie, and her husband, Tim. It has been a really wonderful past few days full of fresh homemade bread, and delicious food in general. We went into Sioux Center yesterday to find a bike shop because we were doing some bike maintenance and found 2 broken spokes on the rear wheel that needed some attention. We spent the day wandering around the town and reading in the library, we also experienced our first tornado warning later in the afternoon. Julie got off from work a little early and came to pick us up and then we stopped in at the post office for a minute. While we were sending out some mail the tornado warning sirens went off and we took shelter in the back of the post office with the other customers that were in there at the time.  It was neat to see what goes on behind the closed doors of the postal system. Within a matter of minutes it went from a blue sunny day to a incredibly dark, windy and raging thunderstorm. We were quite thankful that we weren't biking through the middle of nowhere during that storm.

Today we have been on a Cinco de Mayo theme full of homemade cheddar and jalapeno bagels, tortillas, salsa, bean dip, sangria, and other wonderfully festive foods. The time here has flown by and tomorrow afternoon we will rent another car and head off to Michigan to visit our some friends and our Alma Mater for a few days, then we'll hop on our bike again and continue our touring adventure!  We are getting a little antsy to get back on our wheels again.

Shaping Up and Shipping Out

April 27 - 30,
After talking with the ranger at the campground, we found out that it was 100 miles to the next closest campground. The map showed one mountain pass and fairly hilly terrain, so we were prepared to hitchhike for a few miles at some point (not a habit we want to get into though). Fortunately, we had a strong tailwind and the pass that was on the map was nonexistent so we made the first 30 miles in a little over an hour. After that we just had 69 miles to go and that sounded a lot more reasonable. We had a tailwind for a few more miles, but when we took our next turn it turned into a crosswind and that slowed us down a bit. The road we were riding on had some beautiful scenery and we rode by sand dunes, cliffs, and canyons. At one point when we descended into a canyon there was a pretty steep hill and our odometer read 51mph -- our fasted speed yet! Thankfully the climb out of the canyon was a little more gradual. By the end of the day our pace had slowed down a bit and there was still one last hill into the campground, we weren't sure if we were going to make it up by pedalling but out of nowhere came 3 dogs barking and biting at our heels -- that was just the motivation we needed to speed up the hill and into camp.



The next morning we did some bike maintenance and that led to a slightly later start. We talked to the ranger and found out that the next major town was 90 miles away and that the first 25 miles of our ride would be a gradual but steady incline gaining 2,000 ft. We had our work cut out for us . There were some smaller towns listed on the map so we were hopeful that we could find somewhere to stay that was closer than 90 miles. We made it up the hill and had our usual lunch of peanut butter and banana sandwiches. The map we had didn't show terrain, so we had no idea what lay ahead of us for the next 65 miles. It turned out to be fairly hilly but there were also a lot of tall pine trees along the road which was a welcomed change of scenery -- it had been a long time since we had seen a forest. We kept on trekking along for another 45 miles until the next small town hoping to stay there for the night. Unfortunately the town had a gas station and a small grocery store but no campgrounds or motels. After talking to some of the locals we found out that the closest place to stay was a town called Window Rock, another 20 miles down the road. After going 170 miles in 2 days we did not feel like going any further, but we bought an energy drink and made the last 20 miles in an hour. We treated ourselves to a hotel (and a much needed shower) before collapsing into bed.

The next morning we planned out our route to Albuquerque and it was 130 miles of busy frontage roads. That sort of biking is pretty stressful and more mentally tiring than physically tiring because the roads are not bike-friendly so we have to be very aware of the traffic around us while making sure that we are finding all our turns. Instead, we decided to bike Gallup which is just west of Albuquerque and buy a greyhound ticket into the city to pick up the rental car. The ride to Gallup was a short 25 miles and we crossed into New Mexico but we were fighting traffic and wind the whole time and when we got to our campsite we were really glad we opted for the bus.

After setting up camp, we took the bike apart (so that it will fit in the car) and we realised that we are not ready to be finished biking and we are really glad the trip is not over yet. The past 2 days were our highest milage yet (and we're not even sore) so we can safely say that we are in good biking shape. We are excited that we still have another 1,000 miles ahead of us from Michigan to Massachusetts.

Ahead of us today we have a 20 hour drive and car rented for 24 hours -- it's going to be a whirl wind tour through Colorado and the Rockies and then up to Iowa. It would be neat to say that we rode up the Rockies with our bike, but this early in the year we don't want to get caught in bad weather up there. Maybe someday we'll come back and bike it (without 60 lbs of gear). We have found that we have a much greater appreciation for vehicles now -- what would take us a little more than 2 weeks on a bike will take 20 hours in a car. What amazing inventions! We are really looking forward to some R & R with family for a few days and hoping to get rid of our ridiculous farmers tans and sock tans.

Raining, Biking, and Hitchhiking

April 26,

We packed up the tent this morning and were on the road by 7:30. We were well rested and well fed and the sun was shining. We were hoping that the forecasted thunderstorms and wind wouldn't come to fruition -- but they did.
Despite a strong headwind, we proceeded with high spirits and strong legs. Then we turned around the bend. The wind hit us like a wall. We struggled against it, uphill for another hour until we felt the first drops of rain. We pulled to the side put on our rain gear, looked at each other and stuck out our thumbs to hitch. There wasn't much traffic on the road but the third truck that passed us (about 5 minutes later) stopped and offered us a ride about 15 miles to their ranch. The people in the truck were a wonderful older Navajo couple with their grandson. We tossed the bike in the back and rode off. We started talking and they offered to take us an extra 35 miles to the next road junction and we happily accepted. Along the way they told us stories about growing up in Navajo Nation and pointed out all the interesting cliff formations. Some notable ones were a big glass bottle, the profile of a big man laying on a mountain, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln with a big nose. It was really great and we were extremely thankful to get out of the headwinds and rain (which had started to steadily fall). When they dropped us off there was a break in the clouds and the wind was at our backs!



We peddled along the last 25 mile stretch toward our campground at Navajo National Monument. There were some more showers as we went along, but nothing strong enough to dampen our spirits. As we climbed toward the campground, the showers turned into a downpour and at every curve in the road we longingly looked for the visitor's center. Soaked to the bone from the cold 35 degree rain and winds, we arrived and warmed ourselves under the hand dryers in the bathroom. By the time we had explored the exhibits in the visitor's center, the rain had let up and the sun was peaking through. We set up our tent, ate an early feast and napped until the sun shining on the tent beckoned us to go and explore a bit.







We went for a short hike, saw some Anastazi ruins (from afar) and headed back for a nice hot cup of tea before bed.



It was really wonderful that we were able to hitch a ride for part of the way because it would have been a cold, wet and windy 90 mile ride. For the next couple days we will continue riding through Navajo Nation which means that we are only allowed to camp in the few campgrounds scattered about the region so will need to do some longer (but forecasted sunny) days.

Looking at a map of the country we are starting to realise how big it is. Realistically, we can't make it all the way across in the time we have left. What we are planning to do is rent a car in Albuquerque, drive to Iowa to visit family... and then we will take it from there.

"No Act of Kindness, No Matter how Small, is Ever Wasted" - Aesop

April 23 - 25,

For our last night in Zion we had a visitor from Denmark who was hitch hiking across the country, he was looking for a place to set up his tent so we returned the favour that we received on our first night in the park. We had a pasta dinner and and a cup of authentic Navajo green tea and then headed off to bed.

The next morning we woke up bright and early at 5:30 and packed up camp so that we could climb out of the park in the cool of the morning. The climb out went really well -- we powered up all the switchbacks and even got a little break at the top. We had to wait about 45 minutes at the top because there is a tunnel that bicycles aren't allowed through, so the park ranger stationed at the tunnel stopped a pickup truck and asked if we could put the bike in his truck and ride through with him. When we got to the other side we hopped out and continued on our way to a town called Kanab. When we got into town we found a grocery store and picked up lunch and found some wifi to post our blog and look at some maps. We took longer then we planned and when we headed out again it was pushing 8:00pm. We biked about 15 miles out of town to BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land and pitched our tent a little ways down a dirt road.

We woke up this morning and got another early start. It was a relatively easy 60 mile day with no huge passes. We are thankful to be done with Nevada and the endless basins and mountain range passes -- but it was a great way to get into biking shape! We crossed the Glen Canyon dam and made it to Page, Arizona near Lake Powell by 12:30 (when we crossed the border into Arizona we gained an hour because they are not on daylight savings time so we felt like we made amazing time). :)




The dam was HUGE! The first picture is the view of the dam from one side of the bridge and the second is the water level downstream of the dam.






As usual, we found a grocery store and bought some fresh bagels and hummus for lunch. After eating we found a little cafe and had lots and lots of coffee (because we hadn't had any that day and there were free refills) and used their wifi to look at some maps for places to camp. Once we were well caffeinated we went back to the grocery store to pick up a bottle of wine and as we were getting back on our bike to head to the campground we were approached by a man who was curious about our trip. As it turns out, he is part of an organisation called warmshowers.org and he was hosting another touring biker and he invited us over to his house to let us pitch our tent in his backyard. We were served a delicious dinner, took a warm shower, and were able to do laundry. What a wonderful surprise! We are discovering a really neat subculture of cyclists who are very kind, open, and generous people.

Tomorrow they are calling for thunderstorms in this area with a headwind, so we are mentally preparing ourself for a challenging day -- we'll let you know how it goes. :)

And I Think to Myself, What a Wonderful World

April 20-23,
We departed our slightly seedy motel in Milford, Utah without much motivation to bike after the long ride the previous day. But we departed nonetheless and were treated to a wonderful shorter ride. There was only one climb between us and Cedar City but it was by no means an easy climb. The grade was gradual but the climb just went on and on and on. But we made it to the top and had a long descent into the outskirts of Cedar City.

We wandered around the outskirts of town looking for a cheap campground but in the end opted to stay in town at a cheap motel (once again) because we wanted to ask questions about the best bike routes for the upcoming days (and the shops were already closed). We spend the rest of the evening walking around Cedar City, admiring the beautiful surrounding cliffs and eating pizza and lots of ice cream and sampling some Utah beer. It was a very pleasurable day.

The next day we awoke and sought out some directions for the best way to get to Zion National Park. We waited for a bike shop to open and were advised that the fastest (and only direct route) would be to follow frontage roads along the interstate and then to hop on the interstate itself for 15 miles. So off we rode, slightly downhill with the wind at our back. We picked up some shoes for Chantale and then continued riding down toward Zion. The time came for us to hop on the freeway and it was exhilarating. Fortunately the Road was mostly downhill and the Saturday traffic wasn't too heavy. The shoulder on the road was wide so it wasn't that dangerous and all the cars zooming along by us created some nice drafts that pushed us along.

We got off the highway and immediately the heat of our desert surroundings hit us like a wall. We hadn't had any oppressively hot days so far. We rode along a little bit longer until the intersection of the road that would take us all the way to Zion. We stopped for a big lunch and filled ourselves up on some peanut butter, granola bar and banana sandwiches, washed down with a small tub of frozen yogurt. We should have looked at a topographic map before our lunch stop because immediately as we resumed our biking we hit a climb accompanied with heat and no breeze to speak of. We felt our full stomachs with every petal but pressed on toward our destination. With only 3 miles to go, we were completely drained. We stopped in a small town and looked for some water at the church and post office, but to no avail. Determined to find some refreshment, we rounded the corner and stumbled upon a beautiful grassy, shaded oasis with some wonderful water fountains. We recharged for a little while and then biked the rest of the way past the town of Springdale and into Zion. This week is "National Parks Week" which means that there is free admission to all the national parks throughout the country. This came as a pleasant surprise because it would have cost us 26 dollars to enter (interestingly, more than the cost of a vehicle).



There are two campgrounds at the southern entrance of the park but both of them were completely booked for that Saturday night because of Earth Day and Parks Week. We were considering turning back around and heading back to BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land to camp off road somewhere but Chantale mustered up the courage to ask some people if we could set up the tent in the corner of their site. They kindly obliged so we set up the tent and explored the town a bit to pick up some food. We ate beside a bubbling brook, admired the outskirts of the beautiful canyon and planned our next few days.



We decided to stay in the park 3 nights so that we would have plenty of time to explore. The next morning we got our own site, set up the tent, and then moved our tent from out under the tree because of a crazy caterpillar infestation. The whole lower park of the canyon is completely overrun by forest tent caterpillars. Apparently it happens every year but practically every surface beneath a cottonwood tree is covered with these caterpillars. In some spots it is impossible to walk without crunching a few of them with every step. I'm not one to enjoy killing bugs for no reason, but after a short while you start to not care anymore.



After we set up camp we headed out on the park shuttle into the canyon. We randomly chose a hike called Observation Point that took us winding through a beautiful side canyon, up the canyon walls and all the way to the rim. We were treated with some spectacular views at the top. We headed back down into the canyon, soaked in some more sun and headed back into town for some more food. It is such a luxury being situated in one place with food readily available so that we can go out and shop for whatever type of food we are craving. We opted for some pasta with sauce, avocados, and cookies with milk for dessert. We walked around a bit more, went to a ranger program on birds in the park and then retired for the night.



Our plan for today was to wake up really early at 4 am, eat some quick breakfast and then head off on a ride to the trailhead for Angel's Landing (the most popular hike in the park) where we would hike up and arrive in time for a sunrise in the middle of the canyon. We managed the first two tasks, waking up early and eating breakfast but then we decided to head back to sleep for a couple hours. Instead, we caught the first shuttle at 7 am and then hiked to the top, still able to admire the first rays of sun on the canyon walls. It was a gorgeous, short hike with some really narrow paths with cliffs on either side that drop off a couple thousand feet--absolutely stunning but not good for those wary of heights. Surprisingly, despite our later start, we were the first ones at the top and enjoyed a few minutes of amazing solitude admiring the canyon as it filled with light and colors. We headed back down just as the crowds of people starting coming up -- perfect timing!



It has been another beautiful day, we ate a second breakfast when we got back to camp, picked up a little more food in town and biked back into the canyon by the main lodge, where we are currently hanging around outside on the lawn. Tomorrow we pack up camp and exit out the east side of the park toward Lake Powell and the Arizona border. It should be a tough day but hopefully we will be well rested and ready to go!

Great Times in the Great Basin

April 18 - 19,

After leaving the KOA in Ely we had a great ride ahead of us to a town called Baker, next to Great Basin National Park. The weather and wind cooperated with us and we made the 65 miles and 2 passes in great time. On the way there we rode with our two friends and a had beer with them in the only place in town that was opened. The campsites for Great Basin National Park were another 6 miles and 2,000 ft up the mountain so we said goodbye and started the trek up.



On the way up we some some interesting artwork along the sides and some really neat houses. About 2 miles from the campsite we met a lady named Lori who was walking the other way to her house. She was also a cyclist so we got to talking and the subject of Chantale's shoes came up (remember the ones she threw on the shoe tree). We had meant to pick some new ones up along the way, but all the towns weren't large enough to have a shoe store. When Lori found this out, she took the shoes right off her feet and offered them to Chantale. Not many people I this world would give a random stranger the shoes they are wearing, we are meeting so many kind and generous people along the way.

Our campsite had a wonderful grassy patch for our tent, and stream running through with water that we could filter for drinking. We slept in, took our time eating breakfast, explored our surroundings a bit, and then headed down to the visitors center for a tour of Lehman's cave (one the natural wonders that Great Basin is famous for). The caves were really neat -- at one point we were 192 feet underground. The pictures don't do it justice of what it was really like down there. After the tour, we walked back to our campsite and took a nap and basked in the sun. After dinner we had a small fire and then headed off to bed.





The next we woke up bright and early and got to start our day with the 6 mile and 2,000 foot descent. It was a great way to start the day. We got into town in no time flat and had breakfast at a little place in town. We hit the road at 10:00 and had a really long, but satisfying day. We finally crossed over into Utah.



Below: our bike halfway between Nevada and Utah


We rode 90 miles to milford and beat our record for the most miles per day. We rolled into town just as the sun was setting and found the cheapest motel. We had a late, but filling dinner, and then settled into a deep sleep.



Above: one of the roads that go on forever...I think we came from the lowest part of the saddle of the range in the background.


Today we have 50 miles to Cedar City -- it is the largest town that we will have seen in weeks. It might be kind of refreshing to see a stoplight.

Until next time,
Chantale & Josh

End Of The Road (almost)

April 16,

As planned, we had a wonderful campfire last night with the two other cyclists we met (Kevin and Josh). Having a campfire is a great excuse for staying up a little later than we normally would. Usually when the sun goes down we don't really have anything else to do so we just go to bed.


It was really nice to hang out and talk for a while. The two other guys are about our ages and have been living in San Francisco and Sacramento. They both have been biking a lot more than we have been, one of them has worked as a bike delivery guy in San Francisco so biking actually is his job. It sounds like we will be crossing paths with them in the weeks ahead because they are taking a similar route through Utah.
We left the campsite by 8:30 on a very beautiful sunny and cold morning. The first little bit of the day was a descent, then a flat straight stretch and then a quite hefty climb.


We felt great all the way to Ely, 40 miles, and made it there before we thought we would, at 11:30. We walked around for a while and went on a wild goose chase to find a buffet. Unfortunately the restaurant in town that usually has a buffet is closed on Wednesdays. We kept walking, getting hungrier and hungrier and then went on a little shopping spree at a grocery store instead, having our own little buffet on a little hill on the side of the parking lot.


After all the food and a lot of sun, we didn't have much motivation to bike much farther so we just went a couple miles along the road to a campground. Chantale showed her charm to the manager and got us a discount. Our original plan was to go a little closer to Great Basin National Park so don't have as long of a day ahead of us but it's no big deal. We showed the bike a little love and cleaned it up really well so it will hopefully be rolling really smoothly.


We are going to take at least one rest day at Great Basin to rest our butts (and legs) so we won't be posting for a while due to the lack of wifi.

Location:Ely