Where to next:

Into Illinois at Chester through Murphysboro, into Kentucky to Marion,Hardin Springs, and onto Berea.
From Berea KY - Christiansburg VA, through Hazard, Elkhorn City, Damascus aad Wytheville.
Then headed for the East coast through lexington, Charlottesville, Palmyra, Ashland and onto Yorktown.

Then i will be winging it from there, up through Washington DC, onto Philadelphia, up to Connecticut and finishing in Boston. Ready for the weather and everything else with it.

Rode myself into Fall

It had to eventually happen. Lying in my tent two nights ago i get woken with a huge clap of thunder at 3.30. I don't think i got back to sleep afterwards. It rumbled, and flashed the whole night, and rain belted off the tent. The next morning when i tried to pump up a slow puncture in the rain, the valve broke. Up and down the hills in the rain, trying to make it to Farmington. Of course the tube i put in also started to go flat, to add to my troubles, so i had to pump it up periodically along the way. The sky was down the ground, foggy, and dark, not the best for cycling in. So when i rolled into Farmington shortly before it was dark i saw 'big al's TA inn' on the side of the street with signs to follow, that brought me to a historical prison. Which has been developed into a free hostel for Trans-American cyclists. Beds, couches, TV and internet access which is where i am writing to you from, before i get a few things sorted in town and head for Illinois across the Mississippi river in the sunshine. Changed my whole day to finish with a nice warm shower, and get everything washed and dried before heading off again.

Nobody warned me about the Ozarks

The terrain was beginning to get a little more undulating towards the east of Kansas, and a few people had mentioned the hills in Missouri, but after the peaks and then the flats, i wasn't really expecting it to be too bad. The last three days has only been up and down. The frequency of the hills in the Ozarks, has to be one of the greatest interval training sessions i have come across. The height may not be extreme, but you're not at the top of one, when you get a short reprieve, and are back at it again to ensure you get to the top of the next. Add into this a few vicious looking dogs nipping at your heals and it makes for tough terrain.You'd almost feel a bit claustrophobic, wondering where is the end of them. I must have been looking strained one evening as a stranger passing by gave me a bottle of gatorade out the window of his truck to help me along, and a bit of sugar was much appreciated at the time.
Met plenty more cyclists heading west. Met six in one day, all scattering before the winter in the east.Great here in towns where you can put up the tent for a night in the local town park, and nobody goes near it.

51 days over 100 degrees fahreinheit

As you will have seen from the photos, there are long straight roads, lots of grain towers, in every small town, huge farm equipment, definately where John Deere made his money, and even a wind farm for good measure. Corn, maize, sunflowers, cattle, feed yards, and small oil wells. There are small oil pups in the fields, with large tanks beside them pumping the oil out of the ground. I could do with one of them behind the shed at home. Some of them are very small, and the oil gets collected then by the tankers and taken off for refining. Moved an hour closer passing the time line in Wichita county, KA in the middle of the All-Ireland actually.
It was only really flat for a couple of days, before a few low hills started to be seen in the eastern end of the state. Also got greener towards that end, as the west is very dry from the rockies sucking all the moisture out of the air from the pacific.
Have to say though, the people were great in Kansas. Maybe i was also just enjoying the flats for a change, but they all salute driving by and were full of questions everywhere you go about the trip. It was also the first state where there was not a load of 'For Sale' signs up. All through the other states there had been a lot of property for sale along the way, but in Kansas, only very few were moving out. I did speak to a few who had come from Colorado or more mountainous states and they were only wishing to see a few mountains again.
There was also the carnage on the roads passing through there. The grasshoppers are everywhere. As you peddle along is all you hear is them jumping out of your way, or the whizzz when they go through the spokes. The gravel tracks are not the most comfortable to be riding on, or the best for the bike. I was trying to hang onto the few fillings i have in my teeth by the end of it.
I was talking to a fireman who was telling me up until a couple of weeks ago, they had gotten 51 days over 100degrees. I would have been like a crisp coming out the other side. Apparently some people quit had the cycle because of it. When it gets into the 90's that's hot, nevermind anything over. And apparently many of those days were up around 105 - over 110. So the only person hoping he didn't get p*#@ed (poured that is) on in Kansas was me. As one woman said " i hope you don't get wet, but i'm praying for rain".

A mixed bunch in Ordway

The night in Ordway, CO was an interesting one. I asked for a place around to pitch the tent and was sent in the direction of a lady from New Zealand. She hosts cyclists passing through and has two large trailer homes outside her house. So when i arrived i was shown where everything was in the house, bathroom, laundry, the kitchen and told to use what i need. She had a Swiss lady and Belgian man staying with her as part of the Woofer program(where people come to america and go out into the country to experience life on the farm and give a hand around the place) and as they were leaving the next day, and i needed food i joined them for dinner in the local VFW(Veterans of Foreign Wars) pub for a bite to eat.  When we returned to the house, five more cyclists, four from Boston and one from Georgia they had met along the way, had arrived and were cooking in the house. It is certainly strange to me that people will open up their homes like this, in quiet areas, to absolute strangers, but i have to say the hospitality and generosity shown by these people i have met so far has been great.
The other cyclists fed me stories of wild dogs in Missouri (which only turned out to be partially true, touch wood, i have a few miles before i am out of here yet) and i told them of the cold in the mountains. I left the bears out, didn't want to frighten them too much. The next morning I repaired a slow puncture i had, and noticed my tire was bald. A bald tire in less than 3 weeks. The other cyclists were getting theirs changed in Pueblo that day so one of them gave me an old tire and put on their own spare to get me through Kansas. As the next bike shop was on the far side of Kansas.

Distances

Ness city - Larned: 107.5
Larned - Newton: 175.41
Newton - Chanute: 231.1
Chanute - Golden city: 145.7
Golden City - Marshfield: 148.36
Marshfield - Alley Springs; 172.5
Alley Springs - Farmington: 147.5

Total on the Odometer: 4426km
Flats: 2. One around 2900km, and another at 4278km

The top of the Hoosier Pass

So i steadily made my way upward from Kremmling toward the pass. That's the one that would break the back of teh journey, the last time over the continental divide and finally get to the side where everything flowes towards the atlantic. on up through the city of Silverthorne, and Dillon, with some huge mansions of winter homes where people come for the skiing. Also a handy bike path around the lake instead of dealing with half the traffic on the road. A bite of luch at breckenridge and ready for the last 2000 feet from there to the top. As i was on my way up the fog came down, not only fog, but then rain, and freezing rain. It got a lot colder heading up and when i reached the 11,542feet it was damn cold. This was the first point on my whole trip whether due to freezing temperatures or lack of battery my camera decided not to function. So as i stood around with the camera down my drawers trying to get it to warm up, i was getting colder. Tried it again, but no use, so i decided i would roll back down to the Breckenridge side to Blue river and do it all again in the morning.
Found some nicely reduced accomodation from a woman who is heading for Killarney on holidays in three weeks, and thawed out in the hot tub for the evening.
It was the next morning after a huge snow shower i headed back up, once again through the fog, rain,sleet and eventually snow to reach the top for the second time, get my photos, throw on an extra layer and head down toward Alma, and Fairplay, which is actually South Park. Eventhough plenty had said it was all downhill from there, i found a few nice rolling hills as i made my way toward Canon city and florence.
Of course some restaurant was trying for the first time an endless bowl of pasta, and after my fourth, where the waitress was almost too afraid to look at me incase i was calling her for a fifth, a lady i met in the tourist information office gave me her desert voucher so it was a slow cycle onto Florence where i finished up for the night.
Better get back out on the bike... had a great night in a tent two nights ago in the middle of a thunder storm kansas style, interesting certainly, and i was glad i had pegged it down well.

Cowboy Bill

Met an interesting character in Riverside who had been of the name Cowboy Bill, and 82 yr old holding down three jobs, two of which were in the tourist information office, and the local museum. He was a retired from construction, but he gave me plenty information on the locality before i set off for Kremmling.
After a bit of a pull up the hills after riverside adn saw two bald eagles perched on an electrical pole by the road. Another day that was broken into 2 sections, one was 50 miles, and the second was 60, not by choice you understand. As i crossed into Colorado the thunder clouds in the photo were chasing me into Walden the town close to the midpoint. I tried talk my way into a meal being enjoyed by a vintage rally car group in Walden. They all sat around with there two seater open top cars enjoying lunch as i shuffled into a very nice diner in the town. And as karma would have it, next i heard that thunder shower start, first a rattle or two, then the hail let rip and pounded the place. And from my seat in the diner i could here two seater, open top sports cars high-tail it out of town.
Most of the roads are great here, but some have a crack every few meters, that varies from about 3-4 meters to 10 meters. And every ime you pass it just makes a jolt, a bit like the old Killarney- Mallow rail line when you felt every joining of the track.

The good samaritan

Outside Lander the landscape is fairly harsh, and the roads stretch for miles in front of you. You'd see a car appear and dissappear way out ahead of you and eventually it would pass by and with a quick calculation you'd figure out it's a long way to where they first appeared. So as i was tipping away into the 60mile section with little else than sage grass to look at on the hills and the temperature was up in the high 20's by 10am, next thing a truck pulls over in front of me on the hard shoulder. I had read the maps and eventhough they were old, they suggested not cycling alone through Wyoming as people have been harrassed on the bikes, so i was thinking to myself what is going to happen here! A man jumps out of the truck puts his two hands out to stop me. Then opens up the trunk, reaches into a cooler box and pulls out a cool bottle of ice water. Asked where i was heading, told me i had a long way to go, and wished me the best. It was the nicest drop of water i had enjoyed in a while.
The stop for lunch after 60 miles was an old uranium mining town, called Jeffrey city. It had over four thousand living there in it's boom of the 60's and 70's but now there is hardly a hundred, and many of the houses that were lived in are derelictI enjoyed some fine accomodation in Lamont that evening, after these tippees had been recommended to me along the way. The owner just lets any cyclists who want to drop by and use them for the night. She also puts out some tinned food and drinks in the fridge with some supplies in case people need them... No sudocrem though

Red hills

riding on from Dubois there was little or nothing around for 40miles, so pulled  into a community cowboy gathering for some peach cobbler, and the big money maker when i visited was waiting for a chicken to lay an egg in a chicken coup, with the numbers in squares on the floor. Looking a little out of place among the stetson and jeans wearing, truck driving cowboys with me in my cycling shorts, i said i'd continue on. Then came the red hills, with little else around. There was an Indian reservation on my way into lander, and it's great to get a few encouraging comments along the way.

Togwotee Pass

The Togwotee pass was the second highest on the bike route, and i'll have to admit i didn't do it, not for lack of trying mind, but i had to leave it behind. After leaving Moran junction just outside  Grand Teton park, i started heading toward the pass. Untill i came to road works that is. I asked nicely, then begged and pleaded but it was no use. The only way through over here is that they put your bike in the pilot truck and take it through the roadworks for you. But i was having none of it, so i waited 2.5hrs until they finished work and made my way up the pass. As it was beginning to get dark on my way up and i had passed through the few miles of roadworks, i pulled into a lodge and set up tent. Up early the following morning i set off the rest of the way to the top of the pass heading for Dubois (pronounced like a corkman -doo boys). that was all fine till at the very top of the pass there was another set of roadworks, for 2 miles either side of the very top. There was no give in them even after more of my best irish accent to get through, and given that it was 7 in the morning and i was not going to waste a day around there i had to take the pilot truck. Now this has happenned in other places but they have all let me through except for this one spot. But i made up for it later on.

Winter snapping at my heals

So the day i was leaving yellowstone through Craig's pass they were putting up the poles on the sides of the road to let them know the height of snow which they are preparing for. This wasn't as bad as the black smoke trucks were pumping out on your way up the hills when they have almost two storey houses attached onto the back of them, leaving you feeling like you have been on 60 sweet afton a day. Crossed over and back the divide a number of times on my way down to Grand Teton National park, which is also in Wyoming. I'd have to say the resort where i had lunch had an even more impressive view of the mountains than Killarney, The lake looked nice, but the mountains were bigger, with a huge view from the hotel reception, as it also had a wall of glass to take in the view.

The details

I will update the details more regularly from now on, hopefully twice a week. Tough finding places with some libraries closed weekends, some mondays and in the middle of the flat countryside there just isn't any. But there are a few interesting bits ad pieces to be filled in along the way.

The mileage to Lanard

Old Faithful - just below Togwotee pass = 139km
Lodge on Togwotee - Lander = 183km
Lander - Lamont = 150km
Lamont - Riverside = 164km
Riverside - Kremmling = 181km
Kremmling - Top of hoosier and back to Blue river = 108km
Blue river - Florence = 155km
Florence - ordway = 150
Ordway, CO - Tribune, KA = 190km
Tribune - Ness city = 172km
Ness city - Larned = today, half day

I found the flat bit

Well, i made it to Kansas. Right in the middle of it at this stage in a place called Larned. Took a half day today to get a few things washed and try and update this. The last few day have been easy going wit very little up or down. It is literally a long road straight east. Finally heading directly east. Enjoying every minute of it so far, but it is a nice change from the mountains.

Canon City

I have just arrived in Canon city, Colorado. I plan on taking my first day off tomorrow and updating this blog with more info and photos.

Never happenned had a quick stop outside Florence for the night as i could not find a proper campsite so a park had to do and could not stay there the next day. Really good out here where you are allowed stay in town parks or fair grounds and nobody goes near your stuff..... touch wood. Wouldn't like to push my luck. But people have been great out here, and now since moving onto Kansas everyone seems to salute driving along the road.

A room with a view

Dillon - Ennis: 121km
Ennis - Yellowstone, Old faithful: 169km

Well since the last installment i have covered a lot of miles, a few states, and i am finally on the run toward the Atlantic.
Headed out by the beaverhead river passing out by beaverhead rock, which was a marker for old indian routes through the area. Some huge irrigation equipment keeping these valleys green as opposed to the rest of the land which look very barren. After that started heading onto Ennis through the ghost towns of Nevada city and Virginia city which have been preserved and old buildings from around the area brought in. The barmaid and a couple in the bar had both been to Killarney and were full of praise for the place. Went over a small pass just after, and down into another valley to the town of Ennis, where i camped just outside, listening to the fisherman talking about what they had caught that day. Many of the rivers around there are well known for fishing.
Headed south toward Wyoming and Yellowstone park the following morning. Of course on the maps there was supposed to be a couple of places to get breakfast after 20-30 miles or so, but since the season was finished around the beginning of september these diners were closed. So i had 50 miles up on the bike before eventually found a great diner and went all out for the full American breakfast, from eggs and hash browns to a short stack of pancakes hanging out over the side of the plate. It hardly touched the sides going down. Saw an osprey up on a nest outside the diner and they would swoop down into the river and pick out fish. Passed by Quake lake where in 1959 a huge earthquake killed 26 people in the middle of the night, as the side of a mountain just slipped down, and covered a campground, as well as that it blocked the river and created a lake. From there cycled along by Hebgen lake and onto West Yellowstone. As i was heading into the park it took a bit of time to appreciate it. As there was a huge wildfire that had burned the whole area in 1988. But as i got further into the park and saw bald eagles, bison, and elk, i could see why it was such a big deal. Then i got up to the geysers and eventually Old Faithful. Of course there was no camping within 16 miles of this and it was just too late to move on to the next site, so two very nice ladies in the Yellowstone lodge, made sure i had a couch to sleep on for the night. Right outside the window was Old Faithful, so i had a great view of the whole show.

The highs and lows:

Priest river - Thompson Falls = 191km
Thompson Falls - Missoula = 163km
Missoula - Darby = 114km
Darby - Dillon = 194km

Right the highs, I believe so far the highest pass was yesterday at 7360 feet known as " Big Hole Pass". So that was a good lung opener. But it was only one of 4 passes i went over yesterday, not in too quick a succession as i was on the bike for 194km. The lowest was 6760feet and is known as badger pass. In the middle of the passes then a huge plain opens up where there was a big battlefield from the 'big hole battle' between indians and the army.
 I am now well on my way out of Montana and should be out by tomorrow at some stage, taking it a little easier today heading for Ennis, and just been through Nevada city a ghost town here in Montana. When i got to Dillon last night there was exactly 1400km on the clock so moving along nicely. Of course the other highs are the temperatures where it is getting up to the low 90's some days. So i am taking a colour well of course, and the tan is coming along nicely. The phone coverage is very bad, it would have done me a lot of good if getting attacked by one of the local grizzlies, cougars or wolves that they have roaming around here, to be ringing emergency services for help. Huge wildfires happenning here at the moment too. First saw them on my way down from Missoula, by the Bitterroot river, billowing smoke, now more of them have taken off with the winds (thankfully no real headwind of note so far) and are blazing through thousands of acres of forestry. Apparently one has already taken around 30,000 acres so far. Been to Hope Idaho, beautiful spot overlooking the Pend Oreille lake, Paradise Montana, where it was far from it sounds, and a bite of lunch in Wisdom, in the hope of some enlightment.
Montana is real cowboy country, the bigger the trucks the better, the larger the camper or motor home the better, and now that hunting season is on, you have to have a few quadbikes on the back of all that, or a raft, or as one truck i saw driving down the road had strapped to the roof a Deer head. The truck had been white before said deer head was placed on top. Huge plains, with big mountains on either side of the long valleys, with cattle, and round bales of hay covering the valley floors. Passing through a few indian reservations along the way and a lot of historical points along the way. Spotted a Black Bear on the railway tracks around Dixon and a few Moose aswell. But the place is worse than home for deer. They put up signs saying what it has cost so far in the year for damage to cars when they have hit animals as a warning to slow down.
Enjoyed a nice dip in Jackson Hot Springs yesterday and got back on and did 40 someting more miles after it, so it must have been good, should be getting to see 'old faithful' in a few days so might have to take another there. Still seeing a few cyclists but all heading west, must have missed the memo on that one. People are still letting me know that i left it late in the season, but the temperature is just about right during the day for me. A few good microbreweries opened here to clear the dust off the tonsils at the end of the day.

Oh yeah i mentioned lows, there was ice on my tent this morning, and there was supposed to be some snow in the higher peaks of West Yellowstone earlier in the week. So i might have to pull out the thermal pyjamas... and the saddle sores are slow to heal... anything for a bit of sudocreme

Made it to Idaho

Colville-Priest River ID, 167.3km
Undulating, but mainly uphill out of Colville, a large plateau along the top and then back down again. Up on top there was Crystal falls and S fork mill Creek where it seems is the spot to be for hunting, and killing anything. Where i ate breakfast,must have paid for some taxidermist second home. People shooting around on quad bikes and hunting season just started. Plenty deer around. Stioll looking for a bear though, even leaving food by my neighbours tent at night, but still no sign

Tonasket-Colville. 155.5km

There wasn't much warming up into it as after 10 minutes of leaving Shannon's i was on an upward slope to Wauconda for breakfast. Met a few more cyclists heading west in Republic. They had started in Florida, up the east coast, across the top and were going to head back down the west. To be fair here, they make the roads long heading up and down, no sudden turns, just a long slow incline to get up these big passes, and most roads so far have great hard shoulders to cycle in. After they pointed out a small bakery and i supplied myself with a sandwich, i was heading for the top of the Sherman pass, another one over the 500ft marker. On my way down i came to road works where they tried to carry my bike for 6 miles over the recently sprayed road. but that wasn't going to happen as i am cycling across the US, not the US minus 6miles in Washington where i got a lift. Crossed over the Columbia river, and travelled on to Colville. A beer from the neigbours in the caravan next door was a good way to finish it off. Great to have so many randomers waving, and giving the thumbs up on the road.A lot of places advertising rodeo on Labor day weekend, but not much else to do if sticking around.

Winthrop-Tonasket. 129.7km

Left Winthrop heading for Twisp, where i got a bite, before gearing up for the Loup Loup pass. Through more woodland, bear warnings, and dead snakes on the road, over the top and then getting hit by a very dry heat as i entered a huge fruit growing area, just before Okanodan.Great to just stop by the fruit sheds on the side of the road and have the pick of apples, peaches, nectarines etc. Pushed on through Riverside, and enjoyed a great nights sleep in front of Shannon's restaurant after finishing into a headwind to Tonasket

Rockport-Winthrop. 164.61km

After a few adjustments to make myself a bit more comfortable, i had a few easy miles to ease back into it. Passing by blueberry fields and places selling muffins and ice cream for breakfast was too good to pass up. After Newhalem there are three dams on the skagit river. The higher two are Diablo, and Ross lake which reaches up to the canadian border. A steady climb up Rainy pass at 4855ft and then onto the Washington pass at 5477ft. But with all the climbing there was one great drop for 7miles to Mazuma, an area that is known for cross-country skiing in winter and where many have second homes from Seattle. Finished up at Winthrop, where i got a bed for the night after asking Tom Sullivan for directions.It was the second mention after the bike shop i heard of warmshowers.com. He and his wife, Carolyn, have done a lot of adventure cycling themselves.

From the beginning

After spending 2 days around Seattle to get everything ready to go, i eventually got moving at 1.15pm on monday. I left Everett, after dipping my bike into the Pacific ocean, and got on the road. The first few roads were busy enough getting out of the city, but once i hit the 530, it all quietened down. As i started eastward there was a slight increase in height, and every now and then just a hint of a few decent hillse. By the end of the first day i was pedaling through pure logging country, huge steep sided valleys, covered in cedar and douglas fir and lumber factories interspersed throughout. Interesting sign outside a church said how there was going to be a meeting to discuss 'end of days' prophecies, so we must be good till tomorrow, not so sure about after that.
Day 1: Everett-Arlington-Darrington-rockpoint. 117km on the clock.