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After our first day in Missouri proved to be difficult with the steep hills, we were excited to get going in the morning to give us as much time as needed to conquer them. Unfortunately, fate had a different plan for us and the valve on my tube came off as I was topping it off with some air. We ended up leaving around 9:30 AM but the ride proved much smoother.

We climbed through the beautiful Missouri countryside and marveled at how mystical it all seemed. For me, Missouri has the air of a secret, enchanted forest. It was so breathtaking it almost distracted me from the wall-like hills that we were ascending. Almost. We arrived in Hartville that evening around 4:30 PM; a whole two hours earlier that the previous day. We celebrated by getting lottery tickets (which we did not win, by the way) and drank some Gatorade and Arizonas.

The evening was going well, apart from the fact that our ride tomorrow needed to detour about 10 miles and we would be doing more than 4,500 ft in sixty some miles. And on top of this, the lodging was iffy as the one camping spot listed replied to my inquiry “We’ve never had camping here, you’re insane.” The last part wasn’t said over the phone but I can read between the lines. We prepared ourselves emotionally for a rough day and went to bed earlier than usual.

As I went to fetch my phone that was charging before bed, I saw a dog trot right past me. There were people canoeing in the nearby lake and I assumed he was theirs. I told Paula to not be alarmed if she heard a sound and went into the tent. An hour went by. The dog was running around our tent and panting and at this point, it was later than we hoped to go to bed. I went out and asked some older gentlemen across the park if the dog was theirs but they had no idea. The couple canoeing was still out on the water so I retreated to the tent and waited for them to come out and take their doggy back.

Another hour. The people came out and started calling for “Daisy” and we assumed they were looking for their dog, who was around the picnic pavilion. After about ten minutes, they stopped calling and drove off so we thought that was that. As we start to drift off to sleep, a loud series of barking jolts us awake. The dog was still there, and was barking aggressively at any person who walked by the pavilion. There were several groups arriving to do night fishing, so you can imagine the frequent howls. We asked again if it was anyone’s dog and again we found no one.

We tried once more to settle in and rest but then a loud “slump” bent the zipped entrance to our tent. The dog was using it as a bed and upon hearing (and smelling) it sinking into the mesh material, our hopes of sleeping that night sunk with it. We got out of the tent and I called the sheriff’s office to see if any dog shelter could take him. It was becoming clear to us that the poor guy was a stray and we wanted him to be in a nice home while we could also get our sleep. Unfortunately, this small town had no animal shelters or even a county officer that could take the dog away.

It wouldn’t respond to us yelling at it to leave, but instead would cower its head and whimper and shake profusely. It was clear this dog had been abused and we hated every attempt to get it to find another area for the night. It was past midnight now, and we had no way of getting enough sleep to do the amount of elevation and miles.

The next morning, we got breakfast and devised a plan. We would get a U-Haul and bring our bikes to the next stop with a U-Haul dealer, which luckily only cut out about 80 miles. Unluckily, the dealer near us only had 20 foot trucks. So I drove it! Never have I felt so unsafe in a vehicle than driving that truck but at least I know I can! We drove to Ellington and stayed in a nice hotel there. It was good to get an emotional “reset” for the day and not have had to stress about dogs, detours, and difficult hills.

We left the next day feeling refreshed and calm, and looked forward to our next destination: Al’s Place in Farmington, Missouri — AKA the best hostel on the trip. It was a fully furnished apartment in the city of Farmington and it made us feel so luxurious. We got really good custard at “Lix’s” and found Missouri stickers at the local bike shop. It was a successful day and we were finishing Missouri on a high note.

It was hard to believe that we were already heading to Chester, IL the following day. We crossed the Mississippi and were greeted by the hometown of Popeye! We stayed at a bike hostel/shack in town and watched the second Twilight movie (we had decided to binge them at Al’s Place).

Unfortunately, some family news led to a late night awake and we needed to postpone another day. We were just thankful to have a nice, free place to stay. During our second day in Chester we watched more Twilight, went to a really good breakfast buffet and got Chester, IL stickers at the Popeye store. While we were there, we learned that two other bikers had just stopped in and were headed to the hostel — which I had the keys to! I ran back and met Beau and Sarah a younger couple riding west on the trail. We got them another set of keys and went separate ways. As we lay in the shack later that night, we heard a knock on the door. We figured it was Beau and Sarah, but it was Matt who opened the door! We had met up once again with the cyclist going east.

The night was crammed, with all five of us in tiered bunkbeds, but so fun. We got to talk, share battle stories and recommendations, and just laugh at how crazy the trip can be.

On our way to Goreville the next day, I called the church we were planning to stay at. I’m glad I did because they decided just a few days prior to not host any more cyclists due to COVID. We found a warmshowers host named Jack en route and went there for our second-to-last night in Illinois.

We left Jack’s house and rode on a pretty bust rode for about twenty miles until we could glide through Illinois’ back country. For our last full day in Illinois, it was a beautiful one. About 10 miles away, the roads turned gravel, which was my fault for trusting Google Maps on knowing which roads are real. We powered through the discomfort (especially me since my tires are much thinner than Paula’s) and ended up at a horse camp with so many amenities! We had ice cream, laundry, showers, and WiFi! The people were so nice and it was a great experience for our last night in Illinois.

A Funny Moment of the Week: It was such a hoot to run into Matt and to meet Beau and Sarah. Laughing with all of us crammed into a tiny shack will be a highlight of the trip for me.

What We’ve Learned: I learned to drive a U-Haul! Never would I have gone into this trip thinking I could come out saying “Oh yeah, I know how to drive a 20 foot truck through the Ozarks.” But here we are! It was definitely something I’ve always wanted to do and definitely the most stressful time I’ve driven in my life.

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Starting the week, we spent an extra day in Hutchinson to hopefully wait out the worst of the storms. Treating it like a rest day, we went and got donuts and some much appreciated coffee. Afterwards, we returned to the church we were staying at to work out a plan for the rest of the night. We saw there was a movie theater nearby and wanted to see the new Marvel movie, “New Mutants.” It was raining and it would be dark by the time the movie would finish, so we looked for an Uber to take us there and alleviate some stress.

Unfortunately, the one Uber driver id Hutchinson, Kansas was a little busy before he picked us up ( It took 10 minutes to start the .2 mile distance between us ) and when he arrived I looked up at the console display to see his Bluetooth had automatically connected and was illuminating his last played audio… from XXXVIDEOS.COM! He quickly realized and tried to smoothly click it away but luckily I snapped a picture before he did. Needless to say, we were speechless and reported him to Uber after we safely departed the vehicle. I’m just glad we were wearing masks and he couldn’t see my jaw obviously dropping as I read that.

After the movie, we called a local taxi service instead and got a ride back to the church. The weather still looked crummy for the next day, but we needed to try and push through to get to our next location.

As we departed in the morning, we had 76 miles to go and the rain just got worse and worse. Not only was the wind howling against us, but the road we were on was so busy the big trucks were spraying mist until the visibility was near zero. Paula said she couldn’t see me when I was more than 10 feet in front of her. It got to the point where it was too unsafe to pedal on, so we pulled over to a nearby cemetery and found an old bathroom to take shelter in as we figured out a new plan.

We ended up getting the local Sheriff to pick us up and drive us into Newton, Kansas where we found a hotel to spend the night in. We were so grateful for the rescue and used the extra rest to gear up mentally for the coming days.

We left the Holiday Inn and went through what I call “Moody Kansas” — the dark, cloudy skies and dry corn fields had a completely different feeling to the usually sunny state and put me in the Fall mood. We rode to Cassoday, our original destination for the previous day, and set up camp behind the country store.

The next day, my parents planned to visit and we rode to Pittsburg, Kansas — the spot we would have been at if no storms interfered with our week. We got dinner at an old fashioned steakhouse and enjoyed some very good, stringy onion rings. Over the weekend, we explored Pittsburg by eating at different diners, trying the long feuding chicken places, and we even spent time to see Big Brutus! For those who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Big Brutus, it is a gigantic electric shovel that was too expensive to move, so it is now a museum in West Mineral, Kansas. Paula and I thought it was such a cool, unique place to see and thoroughly recommend it to anyone passing through.

Sadly, it was time to depart from my parents and also from Kansas. We set off for Missouri and enjoyed the flattest part of the stare we knew we would encounter. We stayed at a lakeside campground in Greenfield, Missouri and prepared for the heavy elevation we knew we’d see in the coming days.

We ended the week with a very difficult day. Kansas along with the unexpected amount of rest days combined for a big shock when we did over 4,000 ft of elevation in one day. We finished at 6:30 pm and were exhausted, but luckily the Lion’s Club had a great park for us to stay at with showers that was amazingly close to a nice gas station. Hopefully, the shock of Missouri hills will wear off after today, and we’ll get back into the grove of it.

A Funny Moment of the Week: Well, after the scary Uber ride, we decided to go a different route and get a taxi on the way home. Unfortunately, the taxi service wasn’t exactly a limousine either. We got into what the driver explained was a “repaired old police car” and one of the back doors wouldn’t open so I guess the repairs went to other areas. Also, the driver was actually the mechanic because all of the real drivers had quit. To put the cherry on top, he needed me to navigate him the 3 miles to the church from the theater and charged me thirteen dollars. Well, we got there in one piece but it was just a funny trade off in transportation quality.

What We’ve Learned: Delays happen. And that’s okay. This week, we had to work around a lot of things that weren’t in our control and it got frustrating at times. All you want to do is “go, go, go” and keep on biking but when it’s not safe, you just have to figure out an alternative and push through. When the rain got so bad on our way to Newton, we had to set aside our desire to keep going and realize that destinations can be rearranged and for the better that. We would much rather stop a little earlier than expected than in the hospital.

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Well, the cheapest motel in Pueblo got us what we expected: two beds, a shower, and not enough locks on the door. Apparently, this motel was a hotspot for prostitution and drug dealing. Oh well! We left the next morning with no scratches and an itch to start “Flat Colorado”. That evening we stayed at Lake Meredith Campground, a free campsite on a “beach” with beach cows! It was near a cattle farm so the smells weren’t fantastic, but the view was so calming and made you forget about the trash-filled port-a-potties.

As we woke the next morning, I noticed a text from my mother. “If you care about your Grandmother on her birthday, you will stay in a hotel tonight!!” Apparently, my grandmother saw it would reach a high of 98 degrees that day and was very worried. Paula and I needed ever so much convincing to stay in a hotel room that it took all of … five seconds. We found one at our destination and booked it online. We were happy to get away from the stinky cows and start the day with a golden light at the end of the ride. (Thanks Grammie!) That night we watched a cheesy Hallmark movie and did laundry.

After leaving Eads, we had our final day in Colorado, ending at the Sheridan Lake Bible Church. There we met two other bikers: Matt (going East, like us) and Pablo (going West, and rocking an awesome sunglasses tan). We shared stories about the trip and laughed about each of our adventures. It was a fun night of socialization and we went to bed feeling ready to start sunny, flat Kansas.

The first thing we noticed about Kansas was that construction zones are a nightmare! While one side of the road was being redone, the pilot was going back and forth leading cars from each side over the single available lane. As we followed the pilot car, we were passed but assumed we would be let safely across. Usually, construction zones send us first and wait to even send cars going the same way but we thought it would be alright. All of a sudden, we see the pilot car coming towards us, followed by countless semis! Needless to say, we weren’t in the mood to play “Chicken” so we got off of the road and waited for it to be safe to continue.

Despite that, the rest of the ride went smoothly, and we stayed at our first “Warm Showers” of the trip! For those who aren’t familiar with Warm Showers, it is a service like Airbnb but only for cyclists, and the hosts are free! Many times, they are other cyclists but our lovely hosts, Ben and Brinlee, were simply wanting in on a part of the adventure. They were amazing people and we ate fajitas and played Settlers of Catan to end the night.

The next morning we flew through more of Kansas, and we completed the seventh map! We ate pizza and camped in the city park of Ness City, Kansas feeling victorious. Every time a map gets to be packed away feels so important and special.

We left Ness City a little late, because I woke up with a flat tire! We patched it up and went on our way, but when we arrived in Great Bend, Kansas, we realized we had booked the wrong RV park and that the one we went to had no tent sites. The park’s owner, Renee, was so sweet to let us camp in an open RV spot and let us use her shower and brought us three bags of fresh fruit! We were so appreciative of her hospitality and it put a “Great End” to the day in Great Bend.

As we left Great Bend, we went through the wetlands of Kansas (who knew) and enjoyed a break from the corn fields. When we were eating lunch on the edge of a farm’s lawn, the woman who lived there came out with ice cream sandwiches and ginger beers for us. We were so grateful for her kindness, but it didn’t stop there — she offered to ride us the last 17 miles! We were hot, and feeing sluggish so we hastily agreed. Robin drove us to the hostel in Hutchinson we were going to stay at and as we approached, we saw a familiar face: Matt! It was good to catch up with him again and see he was doing well.

We got grubhub for dinner and noticed that the forecast was for thunderstorms all day. We decided to stay an extra day in the hostel and wait it out. We’ll see what happens!

A Funny Moment of the Week: Watching the Hallmark movie in Eads was a highlight of the week for me. Everything was so low quality and every cliché was used. It was a little break from the usual as we watched an uptight real estate agent accidentally marry a movie star and (you guessed it) they fall in love 🙂

What We’ve Learned: Looking back at this week, the most important lesson I’d say we’ve learned or at least understood more is that people want to help us. From the unexpected angel Renee, to Ben and Brinlee, to Robin, it’s obvious to see just how caring people are and supportive of our trip. Paula and I have definitely been inspired to help others whenever we can and we are hoping to become Warm Shower hosts one day to return the favor!

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For our last day in Wyoming, we headed to Six Mile Gap campground in Encampment, Wyoming. The campsite was a pain to get to — about two miles of rough hills and all bumpy gravel — but worth every inch of struggle. The actual sites were hidden from view with stairs leading up a hill into a glittering aspen grove. There we saw a picnic table and a leveled out area to put our tent. It felt like a magical forest and I loved every minute of it.

The next day as we crossed into Colorado, we were welcomed with a pop-up hailstorm! It ended as quickly as it started, but it was still a funny, dramatic entrance. That night, we celebrated with some Chef Boyardee. As we did the pass into Granby, Colorado the next day, we met four other bikers at our campsite. After enduring some light rain, we took primitive baths in the river and ate some snacks in the tent before calling it a night.

After Granby, we quickly rode through Hot Sulphur Springs and into Heeney, Colorado where we met up with Paula’s mom and (a surprise visitor) her brother! It was such a nice treat to see them. That night we drove to an Airbnb nearby and had Italian food for dinner.

The following day was a rest day. After we dropped our bikes off at a nearby bike shop for some tuneups, we drove back to Hot Sulphur Springs and went to around 18 different Hot Spring Pools! It was such a fun getaway, and we ended the day with some steak, a romantic comedy, and ate a lot of veggies! We went to bed early to prepare for Hoosier Pass — the highest point of the trip!

The climb was long. And difficult. But as we reached the peak of Hoosier Pass, we felt so victorious. Paula’s brother joined us (how hardcore to do that with no training) and after eating some much deserved lunch at the top, we coasted down into Hartsel, Colorado. Crossing the highest point on the Trans America made me think back to all we have done. I was overcome with pride for us and all we have accomplished thus far. We were officially halfway done with the trip and I felt like it flew by. I started to get the feeling the next half would fly by just as quickly.

The next day we said goodbye to Paula’s mom and brother after they gave us a jumpstart to our week by dropping us off in Cañon City, Colorado. We rode on some pretty big roads Google took us on into Pueblo, where I got a flat around 4:30pm. By the time we got it all fixed, it was around 6pm and we just resigned to staying in Pueblo as opposed to going the extra 12 miles. We booked the cheapest motel we found and prepared ourselves to continue our adventures the next day.

A Funny Moment of the Week: Well, on our way to Pueblo, CO we made a detour for lunch to celebrate the end of the sixth map. Google was directing us back onto the main road but it wanted to take us along some smaller country roads first. Why not, right? The main road had a lot of traffic and we didn’t want to deal with that right away. As we continued, the small roads turned to dirt paths and we suddenly encountered a big wall of rocks that separated the road into two. We SAW the road. We KNEW it existed. And it was still our route for Google Maps. So we said, “There’s technically no sign?” And we crossed over it like the adventurers we are. We rode along and the route continued. All of a sudden, these large signs started popping up: “NO TRESPASSING!” “PRIVATE PROPERTY!” We hurried along. We noticed a large gate looming closer… more locking us in than letting us out. We found a break in some surrounding wood fencing and hurried out. As we turned to leave, we could finally read the large sign on the iron wrought fence: “PUEBLO MOTORSPORTS ARENA!” Google had, unknowingly, taken us through a dirt bike and monster truck course. What a journey!

What We’ve Learned: Don’t trust Google!

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Gearing up for a whole week in Wyoming, we were excited to see all it had to offer. Our week started off by traveling to Dubois where we went to the National Bighorn Sheep Museum and grabbed lunch at a great burger and milkshake shop. After that, we settled in at a lodge where we enjoyed another relaxing rest day along with some much appreciated beds and showers.

During the day, Paula noticed some large cracks in the rim on her back wheel. After some investigation, it came to light that REI had not included the correct quality rim for her bike when she purchased it. Because Wyoming only has so many bike shops, we put together a plan to stay in Lander, WY for a few days while we got that fixed.

While in Lander, we stayed at the beautiful city park where tent camping was free and very convenient to the center of the town. During our first full day after arriving in Lander, we sat at a local bakery and planned out the rest of the trip. Having the destinations and mileage planned out to Yorktown made everything feel real and exciting.

After some running around that day to different places — for those of you who don’t know, Taco Johns is bad and please save yourself and do not go — we still had yet to hear that Paula’s rom had arrived. Unfortunately, it was incorrectly sorted and even with overnight shipping it was held back another day. We went bowling in the evening and had a bad experience with rude owners. Their “bike rack” was plastic and secured by a single link chain and when we asked if we could put our bikes in a more secure area, we were answered with scoffs and begrudging “yes”es.

The next day, we took a more relaxed approach and hung out with movies and snacks. Paula’s part arrived in the late afternoon and we didn’t feel good about riding at night so we sighed and pushed it back another day. It was fine though, because as we headed back to our tent with Paula’s newly repaired bicycle we ran into Adam — a cyclist who we met back in Yellowstone who is doing the same trip. He’s a nice guy in his mid thirties and it was good to see a friendly face.

The next few days we continued riding peripherally with Adam as our destinations and mileage were similar. We were so excited to finally leave Lander and get back on the saddle. We stayed in this barely existent town Jeffrey City outside of their church. It was very .. erm… rustic camping with no water or bathrooms. We made do with what water we had (luckily we had extra) and politely watered the sagebrush that Wyoming is so infamous for.

From there we rode to Rawlins, WY and met some strong winds as we approached our living arrangements for the evening. We stayed in a wonderful Fairfield Inn my uncle in Colorado booked for us. We treated ourselves to some McDonalds and milkshakes before settling in.

The next morning we rode later in the morning to Saratoga, WY. We were camping right along the lake but rode into town to check out some free hot springs. The hottest pool was 115 degrees Fahrenheit and Paula and I both came out half cooked through. We heard there was a grocery store in town and we went, thrilled to get some fresh food for dinner. We bought grapes, GoGurt (not “fresh food” but still perishable and delicious), and strips of steak to cook with bell peppers and cheese. It was a beautiful day and we were able to do so many fun things we hadn’t been able to do for a long time. Even though the week was slower than expected, we were glad to finish it in such a beautiful, fun way.

A Funny Moment of the Week: I discovered in Saratoga that Paula eats GoGurts in such a strange way. Something about them makes her enter a different dimension. We were sitting there eating and talking and laughing and all of a sudden, she picks up a GoGurt and the second the skinny tube touches her lips, an animal awakens. Her eyes glazed over as she slowly pushed the yogurt up the tube and her breathing deepened intensely. Needless to say, I saw this and immediately erupted into crying laughter as I tried to explain to her what she was doing. I have to say that pointing out how ridiculous she appeared was worth losing the privilege to see her eat GoGurts ever again in the future.

What We’ve Learned: This week, unfortunately I have to change this segment to what I’VE learned. When we were staying in Lander, we went to a local bakery to plan the rest of the trip — as I mentioned. What I refrained from mentioning was that as we arrived with bags all on my bike, I attempted to put my front wheel into the provided bike rack. Well, I did a bad job and because there was so much weight on my bike, I watched in slow motion as the bike fell and my front wheel bent an arbitrary amount.

Luckily, a bike shop in town was able to replace my front wheel and all was swell, but come on. What kind of absentminded idiot thinks it’s a good idea to put their bike shoddily into a bike rack while they have 30 pounds on the back!? Chloe Myers. That’s who. But alas, it’s all amount learning and I can swear on my mother’s grave that you will never catch me making a mistake like that a second time.