Closer to home

Central Washington. We're almost to the coast! The journey has been long and difficult at times, but we're almost there. Almost to the ocean that's been my neighbor for the last few years. The Pacific Ocean is less than 200 miles away, then we'll be riding along the coast all the way to San Francisco. 

The western edge of Montana, all of Idaho, and eastern Washington were beautiful, but were filled with a less than welcoming people. The last cool towns were Columbia Falls and Whitefish. Those towns are worth the visit. And now the black-list, Eureka, Libby, Clark Fork, Sandpoint, Newport, and Colville. I would be happy to never step foot in that part of the country again. We were never in danger or put in conflict but the people we encountered were hicks, meth-heads, or generally disagreeable characters. Thank goodness we've made it to where the ranchers and hippies get along, and where people are hospitible again. Tonasket, WA offered us a cyclist-only campsite and a visitor center with several bubbly, enthusiastic, and caring women that work there. Shortly after Tonasket, we were caught by a rain storm and stopped to hide out in the shade when a woman named Emily, a name that seems to regularly precede a nice heart, invited us into her house to wait out the storm and let us put our clothes in the dryer. She also told us that some of the bad vibes we got in Idaho could be because of the white supremicists there. Yikes!! 

Good thing we're past that area, and onto the Cascades. 

The maps we're using have an elevation profile chart that looks like an EKG reading. 

There are four major mountains we cross in the Cascades, Sherman Pass 5,575', Wauconda Pass 4,310', Loup Loup Pass 4,020', and Washington Pass 5,477'. Okanogan is the last town we were in, and we're just over the top of Loup Loup Pass. We've conquered three and have one more pass to go. We've also been told more than once that the two western passes, the ones we're in, are the most breath-taking part of the Cascades. 

Well we're at over 3100 miles and counting.

Glacier Country

Montana proved to be exactly what we expected. The entire state gradually slopes upward, and "big sky" is super serious. 

For most of the state of Montana we detoured from the Adventure Cycling maps that stay pretty far north on highway 2, a heavily trafficked highway partly as a result of oil business in north-western North Dakota. The route we took was further south along highway 200, to Lewistown and then north-west to join highway 2 near Shelby, MT. That route was the more scenic route and followed some of the Lewis and Clark trails.

We were fortunate enough to have Nate's sister Erica meet us near Glacier and give us a weekend off from biking. The three of us drove into Glacier National Park along Going To The Sun Road and camped and hiked and reveled in the mountains. It was amazing, and I took way too many pictures. 

We are now on the west side of the park and back on route. We are at over 2600 miles. Next up, a quick visit to Idaho and onto Washington. 

North Dakota

North Dakota has cut us a little slack. Though challenging in the beginning, the wind has slowed down tremendously, and we havn't had many storms. The hills are pretty consistent, and we will continue to gain elevation into Montana and across the rockies through Glacier National Park. Gackle provided us with a nice place to stay at the Honey Hub, which is a not for profit, cyclists-only lodging. We also visited the Painted Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Little Missouri National Grassland. Both of those parks were the highlights of North Dakota. We're past 2000 miles and are about to cross into Montana.

About the weather

Mother Nature hasn't been as nice to us lately. We've made our way through Minnesota and are close to the North Dakota border, and Fargo. The bike routes in Minnesota, converted rail to trail, were great and would be even better if they reached all the way from coast to coast. The Paul Bunyan State Trail was a long, fairly direct path from Brainerd to Bemiji in Minnesota. After the trail we stopped in Lake Itasca State Park where the Mississippi River begins.

We got rained on once on the Paul Bunyan State Trail, and a few more times after that. Two of those times were at night, and the other two in the day. At night we hide in the tent, and durring the day we take shelter when we can or ride through the rain if it's light. Thunder storms are quite spectacular and scary. 

All storms aside, the real issue with the weather we've faced has been the wind. Yesterday and today have been nothing but wind and we've biked half our normal distance each day. It's really hard to not think "this sucks!" But we just put it in low gear and pedal away.

On a lighter note, we biked 95 miles in one day last week, Minnesota is beautiful and natural, and here are some obligatory nature photos, signs, and one of me.

Mid-west cats

It's difficult to make myself sit down and write about what's going on sometimes. Some days we just bike all day till the sun starts to sink, and camp. Other days are so eventful, that i wouldn't want to stop and write for fear of missing out. 

I'll start with the now. We've biked over 1200 miles, and counting, in three and a half weeks. We're two days into Minnesota, staying in a cyclists-only bunkhouse. Our next short term goal is Fargo, North Dakota. 

My legs are kicking into high gear, and pedaling all day is feeling less like a chore. The hills are getting easier to zip up, my aches are subsiding. You'd be surprised that what's hurt the most are my hands and wrists. 

The roads are calmer and less traveled in northern Wisconsin and into Minnesota, compared to the lower part of Michigan. We've encountered a few bike paths on our route as well as a couple by suggestions of other cyclists, and one that wasn't complete or on the map, but was ridable for at least five miles. I'm excited about a trail we'll reach in the next few days that's well over 100 miles of bike path, called Paul Bunyan State Trail. It's in Minnesota, before we get to Fargo. 

We've started to encounter more locals after crossing into Wisconsin. Either people in Wisconsin are more hospitable than folks in Michigan, or maybe we seem more approachable as seasoned touring cyclists (pat on the back), but we are no longer surprised when a car pulls over to say hi and ask where we're going. Don't worry, i still remember the stranger talk, or "stranger-danger", but there are nice people in the world too. There's the good old reliable "did you need directions?" person, as well as the "is everything ok?" But the best one so far was more along the lines of, "Hi, I'm Jeff Soandso, and I'd like to offer you to go with my wife and I to our cabin on the lake. We'll make you supper, you can swim, and you can tell me about your travels." Nate and I both liked the idea, and Jeff seemed genuine, so we went with it. We had a wonderful time with Jeff and Terri. Both are well traveled biologists, and everyone seemed to be getting along fine. Nate and I swam, we had a meal of grilled venison, wild rice (actually wild, harvested from the area), and asparagus. We sweat for days in the sauna, and had a nice rest.

The following day we biked 75 miles, a good day for us. 

Week 1 GCM

Here are some photos of our first week of travel. We're mostly biking along country roads, fields, lakes, and small towns. We passed through several amish towns, but since they don't want their picture taken, I got a picture of the watch for horse n' buggy sign.

Among the many farms, we noticed a few veal farms. They're kinda sad, because they keep the calves in little dog-houses to keep them from moving much.

Our first couple days were tiring and painful but we're working through it. We're making decent time, and are steadily approaching Mackinaw City. We've biked over 300 miles and have about 180 miles to get there. Small goals first. After we get there we start heading west!  

The Great Cat Migration

So as everyone keeps saying, yes, we ARE crazy. Nate Franks and myself, Andres Burgos, are embarking on a bicycle trip that most people consider crazy. We call it epic. Our journey began by flying with our bikes and gear to Michigan to visit Nate's family and hometown of Sturgis. After some time of preparing and saying our good-byes, we took off. With our two bikes, two bike trailers, and maps from Adventure Cycling Association, we biked from Sturgis to La Grange, Indiana where we caught the bike route. That's where we begin what we're calling the Great Cat Migration. We'll give it another name later.