A web site devoted to Hunt & Allison's bike journey across the USA, June 10 - July 31, 2001
Miles biked: 3741
Miles to go: 0
YEAH! They made it!

UPDATE: 7/29/03 I've finally got around to posting the final pictures


Tour Itinerary Updates
Day Location Day's
Mileage		 Total
Mileage		 Pictures Hunt's Notes Total
Flats
Hunt		 Total
Flats
Allison
0
9-Jun		 San Francisco 0 0
(4)		    
1
10-Jun		 San Francisco to Fairfield, CA 82 82
(28)		 Xu’s bike doesn’t show up, and he borrow’s Greg’s mountainbike. XXXXX’s bike is lost by UPS and he’s forced to buy another one. We start from the hotel right into a hill. The chilly san Francisco background goes by as we bike from milbrae to Ocean beach where we will ceremoniously dip our wheels in the pacific ocean. As we leave the beach, we notice there is a triathlon going on. The police have closed off the road, and we need to figure out a new way to get to the golden gate bridge. ‘Lost’ is a good term to describe the day. I think everyone went an extra 3-4 miles just trying to follow the directions. Finally once we reach Sausalito it warms up a bit. Allison runs up to her house as we ride by and picks up a second bag. Just outside mill valley the first flat is reported. I believe Joanne gets the honors. Finally back at the hotel we all jump in the pool and hottub. Each day, one person will get to wear the yellow jersey for something heroic done on the ride. The first winner of the jersey is Jeff, who managed to not only beat everyone else in by over an hour, but then also went another 20 miles with Neil to the local Wal-Mart

E-mail from Hunt

0 0
2
11-Jun		 Fairfield to Sacramento, CA 57 139
(7)		 The day is quick and flat. Train tracks. That’s the biggest event of the day. 8 crossings and a few trains go by. A group head off in the wrong directions and add a few miles to their trip. Since Jeff’s coming in so fast each day, Neil makes a bet that he can’t do 100 miles every day. He takes the bet. We arrive into old town Sacramento. A few people go out for some beers in town. The yellow jersey goes to Steve for his exploits cleaning glass off the bike path. 0 0
3
12-Jun		 Sacramento to Auburn, CA 51 190
(15)		 The road is wonderfully flat. We bike along 33 miles of bike path. We stopped at folsom lake for a SAG stop. Hunter (me) had his knees checked at the doctor. ``Traumatic Arthritis'' they say, and I decided to take a day off to heal. Will prove to be a very good decision. Andrew and Roger get into an accident near a cliff near the lake and they go tumbling over. Roger’s bike is located in a nearby tree, and Andrew is left with a torn collar muscle. He’s supposed to get it operated on within 10 days, so at ``Route Rap'' that night he bids us all a fond farewell. Andrew gets the yellow jersey.

E-mail from Hunt

1 0
4
13-Jun		 Auburn to Truckee, CA 73 263
(18)		 The first big climb. 8400 feet of vertical. The day is brutal. It’s the first day partially on interstate 80, and there’s a large headwind. At the top at Donner pass, the wind is cold an almost enough to knock you over. Bikers take refuge in the van from the wind and cold. Quotes from the day: ``I’m using muscles I never knew I had!''. ``Man, my bones hurt'', ``we better eat soon, I’m getting irritable!'' ``I was hating the world back there''. The view coming down Donner pass towards the lake was spectacular. The deep blue water, the bright sunny day. We should really have ``crash of the day'' contest. Tim was coming down the large downhill from the pass at 7200ft to 5800ft and blew a flat. His bike went out of control at 25 mph, and he looked around for for the best place to put it down and dumped it on the middle of the road. He’s got some really nice texture on his leg and a large gaping hole in his pants. He reassembled the bike enough to coast it into a local bike shop. The first thing he had to buy was a new pair of shorts. The others were a little too revealing. Next they had to rebuild the wheel that broke as it hit the guardrail. Tonight is soak in hottub and pizza party. Tomorrow promises to be another challenging day.

E-mail from Hunt

1 0
5
14-Jun		 Truckee to Sparks, NV 50 313
(19)		 This is my first day of riding after I took the Truckee day off to rest my knee. Allthough it hurt like a bitch, the leg still worked OK. After a while, it felt better. The first grade took us towards Lake Tahoe. We stopped for a few pictures by the shore. It was really beautiful. Then we pedaled ourselves up the side of Mt. Rose. It must have been 8500-9000 feet. I remember seeing a sign on the way down that read ``8000 feet''. Just as we were nearing the top, a fleet of Pantera’s drove by. I managed to get a picture of the last one as it went by. On the downhill side of Mt. Rose there was a vacant building ``The Mt Rose Institute of High Level Thinking'' 2 0
6
15-Jun		 Sparks to Lovelock, NV 90 403
(4)		 Not much in Lovelock. It’s a town of about 1500. Strangely, everybody’s skinny here. Outside town there are many hot springs spewing steam out of the ground. There’s all sorts of signs around warning people not to swim in them. I personally wouldn’t want to swim in steam, but who knows, somebody might.

E-mail from Hunt

4 0
7
16-Jun		 Lovelock to Winnemucca, NV 73 476
(2)		 Isn’t that a great name? Winnemucca. Apparently that is the name of a Indian chief who had only one moccasin. (the Indian word for moccasin is ``mucca'', ie One-Mucca) Hunt had flats number 5 and 6 here. That night I switched over to my ``Turbo-Armadillo'' tires. I haven’t had a flat in 5 days since. 6 0
8
17-Jun		 Winnemucca to Battle Mt., NV 54 530
(12)		 6 0
9
18-Jun		 Battle Mt. to Elko, NV 73 603
(6)		 The ride into Elko was an average Nevada day. The two neat things to see were a sign that read ``Hunter ->'' and a nice canyon with a stream running through it. Crossing the stream in one area was a small cable-suspended car. Unfortunately it was chained to the side. Another interesting thing in the morning were the existence of these cricket-like bugs that sat on the side of the road. There were tons of them. 6 0
10
19-Jun		 Elko to Wendover, UT 108 711   Wendover is that last pocket of moral corruption before you enter Utah. We stayed at a hotel attached to a Casino and had a wonderful buffet dinner in the rainforest café. I think we all ate way too much. Getting into the hotel was quite a chore for me. It was 108 miles though the desert with a 3600 foot climb. I didn’t get much sleep the night before and was really dogging. I was out there for almost 10 hours. At the second SAG stop Allison had pulled out of her group and waited for me. I was really glad she did. She managed to pull me the rest of the 25 miles in. Let me tell you, mile 95 to 107 were the worst. We had a 15 mile head-wind, and most of it was uphill. I managed to eek out an 8 mph speed into town. 6 0
11
20-Jun		 Wendover to Salt Lake City, UT 117 828
(5)		 Another 100+ mile day. 118 to be exact. The sun was just pounding down on us as we rode through the desert and along the salt flats. Allthough many days Hunter and Allison ride at different times and speeds, we rode together today. The setting up of the course put a 50 mile gap between the first SAG stop and the second. It’s a long way to go without water. Long about the 70 mile mark Allison was showing signs of real exhaustion. She couldn’t catch her breath and new she couldn’t make it the whole way. We waited under a bridge for a while to cool off, and managed to flag down the SAG van rolling by checking on people. Greg (our mechanic) is a God-sent once again. He gave us a lift to the second SAG stop at the 92 mile mark. Hunt hopped out, had some lunch and headed on, and Allison caught a well-deserved ride into the hotel (after checking on a few more riders along the route and handing out more water). I rode with two other women, Susan (the infamous) and Joanna. We did a nice draft line rotating at the mile markers. As we continued on I-80 (the past 4 days have been on I-80 by the way) we got pulled over by a cop. She said that this was a ``motor vehicle only'' road, and we had to get off. We told her we were going cross-country, and she called into dispatch and let us go to the second exit down so that we could stay on-course. I’ve never been pulled over on a bike before. Glad I had my seatbelt on. At dinner we heard that Nick managed to hit a chunk of truck tire (or ‘gator) the wrong way and skinned himself up. It also looks like he put a nice dent in his top tube probably from his knee. Xu’s bike also arrived; in a mashed-up box, with a destroyed rear derailleur, and bent frame. The next day he would go into town and buy some more parts to repair it. It arrived 12 days late, and was damaged. UPS and FedEx didn’t do so well. 6 0
12
21-Jun		 Salt Lake City - REST DAY 0 828
(19)		 It was actually a struggle to sleep in this morning. Our bodies are programmed to get up at 5:30 every day. We met Susan and her Dad John and Paul in the lobby and caught the shuttle to the airport to rent a car. After a quick trip to UPS and Circuit city (which didn’t have the MP3 player I wanted) we headed up to Park City to see the preparations for the Olympics. Many of the other bikers headed out to get massages and to tour the city. Upon arrival at park city, we split up, the men going to the local brew pub for lunch, and the women to the local sushi bar. Park city is a quaint little town with a lot of art and knick-knack shops. We toured the local mining/jail museum and headed back down to see the Olympians testing their skill on the ski jumps. We managed to crash a private party and capture a few pictures of skiers skiing down ramps and doing flips into a pool. A security guard came up to us and said we had to leave. But he was nice enough to let us get a few pictures first. On the way back down the mountain it was amazing to see how many people didn’t know how to use a lower gear when going down hill. The road smelled awful- like burning brakes. We actually saw a truck hold his brakes for 60 seconds and have smoke billowing out of his back wheels. When we arrived in Salt Lake, we finally picked up Hunter’s MP3 player and headed to dinner at Margaritaville. Susan ordered the ``Macho Grande Burrito''; 4 lbs of burrito that was so large, if you ate it all in one sitting, you got the next one free. Only 3 people do it a year, and Susan decided to give it a try. I’m sorry to report that over half of it went to a homeless person outside the restaurant. 6 0
13
22-Jun		 Salt Lake City to Springville, UT 60 888
(6)		 Allison finally had her first flat tire. I was sure to capture it in full color. Just to show how much they could show off, John and Susan taught us the no-hands biking victory dance to do while riding. Susan even showed us the fabled no-hands, and one-foot clipped in dance. We took a quick tour through BYU with a few new friends Jim, and his son, something starting with a J, and Perry. Perry had done half of the fast cross-country ride in 99. Averaging 105 miles a day, no matter what the weather, hills, or wind. At lunch we discovered Susan has some nice horn-like tan marks on her forehead from the slots in her helmet. We should start a goofy tan of the week contest. 6 1
14
23-Jun		 Springville to Price, UT 73 961
(10)		 After a climb or two, I stop to take a pee. Off in the distance is a tiny waterfall. As I turn around, I find the bones of a deer that must have been hit by a car several years ago. You find the neatest things when you stop to pee sometimes. Just outside Price is this small town called Helper. Its named that for its purpose of providing additional train engines to help push cargo over the mountain. There’s a small museum in the downtown area. Probably around 300 people live there. The museum is marginally interesting, but a great break from the day. Just as we finish the tour, we look outside and notice its starting to sprinkle. –its another 10 miles to Price! 6 1
15
24-Jun		 Price to Green River, UT 66 1027   Not much to say on this day. Just that you shouldn’t stay at the motel that we stayed in. The food made us sick (me in particular, as I had to find several bathrooms the next morning along the road). I don’t think I took any pictures that day... 6 1
16
25-Jun		 Green River to Grand Junction, CO 95 1122
(5)		 We have completed yet another state! Welcome to Colorado! They had a nice sturdy sign welcoming you. (as you can see in the pictures) I tested my expert climbing skills in clip-in biking shoes to get a better look at... Well, the barren wasteland. A few sunflowers grew wild on the side of the road. 6 1
17
26-Jun		 Grand Junction to Montrose, CO 68 1190
(5)		 6 1
18
27-Jun		 Montrose to Gunnison, CO 63 1253
(16)		 Now this qualifies as one of the best days of the trip. There were a few hills to get over, but we came upon a large lake that we rode along. The views were very beautiful. We stopped at a boating area and had lunch on the deck of a restaurant at the border of Blue Mesa Lake. There were several chipmunks running around begging for scraps. They managed to hold still just long enough to pose for a picture. It helped when you fake-offered them a French fry. However, one got pissed off that we didn’t actually feed him, and he jumped up against my leg, and tried to jump into Allison’s lap. The remainder of the way in was a nice tail wind. We got to the hotel, and even though it was 4:00, several of the rooms were not ready yet. After Route-Rap, there was a t-shirt swap. People brought shirts they wanted to trade and all put them into a circle in the parking lot. Numbers were drawn and people selected which ones they wanted. How the rules went, if you were the next one to select a shirt, you could either get one from the pool, or steal one from another person. Once a shirt got stolen twice, it was frozen with that owner. Hunt ended up with a superman shirt, and Allison got a pink ride across Virginia shirt. 6 1
19
28-Jun		 Gunnison to Salida, CO 65 1318
(14)
+1 movie		 This was the dreaded Monarch pass day. A climb up to 11,200 over the continental divide. I was really lagging due to not getting enough sleep and tons of lactic acid built up over several days. We met at the top and took our pictures next to the sign. We got in just barely early enough to catch the 1:00 deadline for catching the van to go white water rafting. We managed to have a whole 4 minutes to get changed into swimwear and get into the van. The rafting was a lot of fun. The water was cold, but early on the sun was out and we dried off fast. However, towards the end of the trip, the skies clouded up, and it was much harder to dry off. Especially after having John getting us into a water fight with all the neighboring boats. Susan, ``Large Marge'' after the burrito eating incident, was brave enough to go for a quick swim before we got to the end. As we drove back to the rafting place, the rain started to pour down. Lightning stuck trees and telephone pole 500 feet from the building. Neil ran out to get the van to drive us back to the hotel, and got a large shock when he touched the door. When we got back, we met Dad at the Pizza Hut in town. He was definitely unprepared for how much we actually eat each day. We went through several platefuls of pizza from the buffet. That night at Route-Rap, they announced Hunter’s birthday, and had a cake for all the birthday people that section of the trip; Harry (70th), Hunter, Joel (21st) and Perry. 6 1
20
29-Jun		 Salida to Pueblo, CO 95 1413
(5)		 Hunter and Dad started out early in the morning for a mostly downhill ride to Pueblo. 2.5 Miles out of town, Dad manages to not only hit a rock and get a flat, but also take a big chunk out of his tire. Hunter’s spare tire was put on, and we continued on. After a very quick start and a two hour downhill, the temperature got to 104 degrees. Dad wasn’t looking so good. We missed the first SAG stop (forgot to tell Dad to look for the small marker cone) We stopped at a Wendy’s for lunch. We also skipped the Royal Gorge to make up time to get in with the rest of the pack. After a long slow ride in, and a lift from Georgia a few miles before the hotel, we at dinner that night at the Texas Roadhouse. The kind of place where you throw the peanut shells on the floor. The steaks were great. Dad and Georgia left that night for Taos. The rest of us had a party in Joanna’s room. 8 Cases of beer were drank for the people leaving’s send off party. 6 1
21
30-Jun		 Pueblo, CO - REST DAY 0 1413   Allison rented a car and Stan, Allison, and I went to Colorado Springs. We stopped by Garden of the Gods, and spotted Andy. The rain kept us from doing too much hiking, but the scenery from the car was very nice. After which, we headed up to the Broadmoor Hotel for dinner and a massage. It’s a really beautiful hotel. In addition to the 80 minute massage, Allison and Stan went for the water massage. Essentially you stand in the buf in the shower with 16 or so shower heads, and someone massages your muscles with one of those car washer wands. I hear it was very nice. We got out of the place very late, and got back to the Hotel around 10. Allison, with all her charm, convinced John Perry to drive with her to the airport to drop off the car. All in all, we made it to bed after 11:00 for a 121 mile day the next morning. 4:00am the next morning. 6 1
22
1-Jul		 Pueblo to Lamar, CO 121 1534   This was possibly the toughest day. We had the heat, the humidity, a nasty crosswind which eventually was a headwind for the last 10 miles, and low spirits. Allison had a flat and Hunter’s spoke broke along the way. After a quick repair job, we were introduced to the aroma of Cattle feed lots. No picture can ever describe what 500 acres of cow shit smells like. We did have 3 new arrivals though. Aaron, Steve, and Nancy hopped in for the heartland part of the tour. Unfortunately, due to the real difficulty of the day, they each had to sag in towards the end of the day. What a way to start a tour. At the second sag, we stopped in at a local general store. They had really great popcicles. I believe I had 4. Right as we got to the hotel, we just about qualified for a ``metric double century'' a.k.a. 200 kilometers (124 miles). To make sure we had enough mileage on our computers, Hunter, Susan, Allison, Tom, and several other people biked circles around the building until their odometers read 125 (we were told it was 125, not 124, so we each did an extra mile). That night at dinner a representative of the feed lot industry gave us a talk on the cattle business. He showed a powerpoint presentation. Allan was sitting in the front row when the projector was turned on. You could see his silhouette on the screen. The room erupted with laughter as you could see him wiggling his ears. 7 2
23
2-Jul		 Lamar to Garden City, KS 104 1638   Welcome to Kansas! 100 degrees, and 95% humidity 7 2
24
3-Jul		 Garden City to Dodge City, KS 52 1690   Another day that was difficult to get a room. Even though it was 3:00, many of the rooms were not ready. There was some really bitchy woman at the front telling everyone to go to hell, and line up at the counter for the next available room. I grabbed a chair and took my place as number 7 in line. Finally, 2 hours after I arrived, we got our room. That night, since tomorrow was the 4th of July, Allison got some decorations from roger and Marian to decorate her bike. The dinner that night was Chinese food. –well, the Kansan-ized version of that. We all stuffed ourselves. That night, we went to the local tourist trap to see old time dodge city. We arrived in time to see the daily gun fight. Although I don’t believe they were working from a script, the guns were loud, and their cowboy hats seemed quite authentic. Inside the saloon, we caught Miss Kitty’s burlesque dancers. It was a rather neat show of can-can dancers, and singing bartenders. When then asked for any victims who were having a birthday, Allison alerted them to my presence. I went up on stage, sat in the birthday chair, and got my birthday song: ``here is your...Birthday song! It doesn’t last that long!'' ``...OK, there you go, get off the stage''

Birthday thanks from Hunt

8 2
25
4-Jul		 Dodge City to Great Bend, KS 85 1775   Allison, Janet, Roger, and Polly all decorated their bikes for July 4th. There was a judging at the Perkins at dinner. Polly had completely wrapped her bike in blue crepe paper. Allison had streamers and all sorts of decorations, along with an American flag. They all got DQ certificates. Have you ever got those ``brown and serve'' rolls from the grocery store that you put in the oven for a few minutes to get them brown? Well the Perkins that night was serving them straight from the bag. Paul talked to the Manager person monitoring us, and his reply was ``they are cooked to the exact specifications. By the way, we don’t have to book you people'' I believe a few other people were scolded for taking food from the side that didn’t have the sneeze-guard. Mabye we’re just getting picky. 8 2
26
5-Jul		 Great Bend to McPherson, KS 64 1839   Hunt finally gets a haircut. One of the things about McPherson is that everybody leaves their garage door open. I believe I counted 7 out of 20 houses had their garage doors open. Its such a nice little town. As we rolled into town, we stopped into a deli shop. This nice woman in line behind us was very interested in our story of biking across the country. She was so impressed that she bought several of us lunch that day. Tired of constantly going out with the crowd and eating buffet food, Hunter and Allison go out on a date. We saw the movie AI. I thought it was a great movie. I like the kind of movies that take you out of your world and transport you to another place and time. We stopped by the Applebee’s on the way home and had my favorite: buffalo wings. 8 2
27
6-Jul		 McPherson to Abilene, KS 63 1902
(10)
+3 movies		 Along the route we found a few abandoned houses. We stopped at one and took a few pictures. It looks like in its second life it was converted into a hay barn. Further down the road, we found the marker for the midpoint for the ride. We took a few pictures and headed on. One of the great indulgences of the trip is the local Dairy Queen. One problem is that once you’ve been out in the 100 degree weather ice cream doesn’t last too long. 8 2
28
7-Jul		 Abilene to Topeka, KS 107 2009
(7)		 108x108 day. It was 108 miles, and by the end of the day it was 108 degrees. It was a real shity day. We were graced today by non other than our mechanic, Greg. Something Allison said to him the night before, lit a fire under his butt, and he accepted the challenge to ride that day. His history is that he’s been riding in a van for a month and a half, the furthest he’s ridden any bike is probably 30 miles, and he smokes whenever he can get the chance. The bets on how far he’d make it started at the first SAG stop at 35 miles, to 60 miles, to 75, and Stan, the winner managed to guess his correct distance: the whole way. I rode in with him from the second SAG, and without riding in a draft line, and only stopping a few times, he made it in. I was really impressed. But geez, still at 103 miles, he was still waving at all of the chicks in the cars that went by. The motel in Topeka was one of the nicest overall buildings we’ve been in. They had a reception for us when we arrived. Free food and beer. I called my old roommate from college and he came up from Kansas City. It was great going back through memories of building potato guns, and 4-wheeling in a friends Toyota corolla. 8 2
29
8-Jul		 Topeka to St. Joseph, MO 89 2098
(1)
+1 movie		 We crossed the Missouri border to get into yet another state. Along the way, we met up with a few people who had done the ride several years ago, and knew we were coming through. They pointed out a short cut we could take that would cut off 4 miles, and take off most of the hills. Glad we met those guys! Further down the route, another bike club had a unofficial SAG stop for us. We had lawn chairs, food, water, and pamphlets with all the local attractions in town waiting for us. Tom managed to get himself into a wreck. Some woman was driving along, and didn’t see him. She turned right infront of him. He had no choice by to ram right into the side of her car. His front fork was broken, and he had a few injuries, mostly to his ribs. The police came and worked things out. Like the trooper that he is, he got back on John’s bike and kept riding. I’m not sure what the total outcome of the event was, but I did see Tom’s yellow bike with John’s spare blue fork on it a couple days. Tom is the ``XXXXXX'' person on the first day that had to buy a brand new bike because UPS lost his other one on its way to San Francisco. That night, at the hotel, Neil had arranged a water balloon toss. Several hours later, Allison got a call from another person who was checking into the hotel. His last name was also Hartsoe. They swapped a few stories that night, and came up with their own versions of their family tree. It seems like they have a great grandfather in common. The story of the Hartsoe clan busting family out of the county jail was a story they both knew from the past. Although they were accidentally deleted later, I took a few pictures. Only the video remains. 8 2
30
9-Jul		 St. Joseph - REST DAY 0 2098
(2)		 Hunter and Allison go to Kansas City to see Hunter’s family. A few shopping trips were done, and we stopped by the pool. Ben was such a great guy for driving up to get us. 8 2
31
10-Jul		 St. Joseph to Chillicothe, MO 71 2169
(12)
+2 movies		 We passed by the small Amish/Mennonite town of Jamesport. Several people were out in their carriages doing their daily business. We learned the distinction between Amish and Mennonite. Mennonite drive cars, and wear patterned clothes. They’re a little more relaxed on the daily rules. 9 2
32
11-Jul		 Chillicothe to Kirksville, MO 75 2244
(6)		 The ``1000 hills'' day. ...Actually, it was only 214 (counted by Janet) But if you added all of the uphills together into one big rise, it would equal the same amount of feet it took to get across the continental divide- 4600 feet. The good part was you were go quick enough at the bottom of the hill to get half way up the next part of the hill. Allison headed out in the morning with a mission. She was going to really book that morning and catch up with Susan, who had left 20 minutes earlier. For every person she passed, she would get 1 point. For every person who passed her, subtract 2 points. It was going really well, with 9 points, until Roger sped up to say ‘hi’. Still no sign of Susan. She must have really gone fast that day. First SAG down, and for some reason Susan didn’t sign in. Little did Allison know, but the very first turn out of the hotel, Susan went the wrong way. She got 5 miles out in the wrong direction before none of the turns matched up with streets. That night at Route rap, Allison got the yellow jersey, for not only continuing to earn the ``wheaties girl'' nickname, (she came in 1.5 hours before I did) but for all of the birthday cards she circulates for people, and for her really nice, thoughtful nature. 9 2
33
12-Jul		 Kirksville to Quincy, IL 73 2317
(8)		 If there is one word to describe today, its probably Miserable. It wasn’t really the longest, or the toughest hills, but from the moment we woke up, until nearly 15 miles from the finish, it rained. Not the happy warm rain, but the crappy cold windy rain. At least we know that our rain gear works. Mine was more like a wetsuit; warm water inside, cold water outside. Too bad you couldn’t pee inside it to warm it up a little! Also, due to Murphy’s law, Allison had 3 flats, and Hunter had 2. Today we crossed the Mississippi river. Goodbye to Missouri (and all the bad drivers) and hello Illinois. Stan and company took a detour to the north to cross the Mississippi the old fashion way, by boat. When we got to the hotel, a newsperson from CBS was in the lobby interviewing random people. Paul should be on TV tonight at 6:30 or 10:00. 11 5
34
13-Jul		 Quincy to Springfield, IL 105 2422
(4)
+4 movies		 In one section of the ride we came across a bunch of highschool students riding atop a special tractor-like machine. Stan went up to investigate. Apparently, they’re trying to pollinate the plants. The machine does most of the work, but the kids manually finish the job by cutting the top off of the corn stem. Susan enjoys her new aerobars, as I take a few more videos of riders along the way. I wish the sound came out better on some of them. Pierre and Susan speak French along the way.

let me just run through some of the nicknames people have got.

Harry: lance (as in Armstrong)
Elanie: squiddles (which is the Scottish way of saying squirrels, from a drinking game one night, which also is her log on address at school: Squire, E.L: squirel)
Allison: Wheaties girl (she kicks ass on the bike now)
Nick: Nails (from Tom and Janet, it’s the preferred nickname of a student of theirs who takes is from a death row convict. I don’t know why)
Pierre: Ghandi (for his forward nature)
Susan E.: Large Marge (for the burrito eating incident)
I'm sure there are several others I'm forgetting.

11 5
35
14-Jul		 Springfield to Champaign, IL 88 2510

8 movies		 Now today is Bastille day. However, the French just call it ``happy july 14th''. A few people had their French flags. We'd had lunch in small town at the 80 mile mark. Met Harley, who moved out from san diego, married an architect, and bought up a city block of old buildings. We had ice cream in one of their stores, and listened as she told her story. He had a neat fish who listened to you when you talked to it. 11 5
36
15-Jul		 Champaign to Crawfordsville, IN 80 2590
(8)		 One of the missions set out this day was to find everything needed for a Hunter-Allison date that night. We looked for flower shops, nice restaurants, and other fun activities to do that night. The whole group pitched in to help. It was about time for something different from the Motel-Buffet line dinner routine. Unfortunately, everything in small towns are closed on Sundays. What’s even worse, is that there is no alcohol sales on Sunday here. Unfortunately, the date turned into a rain check, and a walk through the neighborhood after dinner. We saw a paraglider fly by. I’m not exactly what you call it, but it’s a paraglider in a 2 person pod, with an engine. We waved hi. Earlier that day, it was decided that Stan is limited to 3 photo stops. Extra points if he can mix a pee stop and a photo stop. Soon limitations are put on how many ties he can stop to make friends, in the interest of biking in before dinner time. 11 5
37
16-Jul		 Crawfordsville to Indianapolis, IN 73 2663
(3)		 This day started as a slow day. Susan Allison and I kept it down in the 14 mph range. Yet still we passed several people. The first attraction for the day was the Indianapolis speedway. As we approached, we could hear stock cars racing around the track. We went in and saw a few cars practicing for the Brickyard 400 in August. We grabbed some hot dogs, cokes, and popcorn and hit the stands. Around 300 people were there to watch the 3-4 cars round the track. Stock cars are much louder in person than on TV. Next on the trip was the Velodrome. It was a circle track for bicycles that had nearly 45 degree (or more) banking turns. It was left over from the Pan American games sometime in the 1980’s. I dumped my pack and water bottles, and tested my top speed. Unfortunately I was only able to hit around 25. –c’mon guys, I was really tired after biking some 500 miles since the last rest stop. I hear that Jeremy, Andy, John and company got up to 35 in a pace line around the track.. Once we arrived at the hotel, the general concensus was that it was the worst hotel yet. It was under construction (which it needed badly) smell, didn’t have a pool, and had several other gross and unpleasant features about it. Someone even mentioned their bathroom towel had small curly hairs still on it. Then started the mass defection. 10-14 left the hotel and went to the Holliday Inn next door on their own dollar. There was a vote that evening at route rap to see what could be done. It turned out that the next morning instead of staying there, they would ride to Richmond. This killed the golfing trip a few of us were planning and the other Indy rest day activities. The vans would split, and the Ryder truck and blue van would go with the main group, and the red van would stay with dick and john to meet the 3 new riders, and then take them up the next day. 11 5
38
17-Jul		 Indianapolis - REST DAY 0 2663
(5)		 Several of us, hmmmmm, Stan, Susan, Allison, Hunter, Steve, Dave, Anna, Pierre, and Polly decided to start everything an hour late. This was supposed to be our rest day. However, after a large breakfast at the Omlete house, we met up with Dawn, and started a fast pace. It was a really great ride. There was possibly a wind at our backs, and there were long stretches of downhill. We got an update about Harry. Apparently a couple days ago he got a bladder infection, and the doctor told him he’d be off the bike for a week. So I imagine that week will be about 3 days. We had intended on visiting a few bars along the way in the many towns we passed, and decided that it wasn’t such a good idea. We got in fast, and then Hunter, Allison, Greg and Susan went to see the movie Moulin Rouge. That movie was just a sensory explosion. As we walked home from the Red Lobster, the heavens opened up and released a 4 hour long (or more) thunderstorm. I went to bed early and watched it from the window. 11 5
39
18-Jul		 Indianapolis to Richmond, IN 68 2731
(5)		 After working on the web page and doing some online bills for a while, several of us went to go see the movie ``Legally Blond''. Not exactly a high brow movie, but it was entertaining. After I met with Pierre and Jerry and traded photos. Lunch was at the infamous ``Taste of the town'' --probably a popular place back in the 60’s. The food wasn’t that bad, although being the people that we are, it was fun to complain about it. 11 5
40
19-Jul		 Richmond to Marysville, OH 104 2835
(5)		 A foggy early morning. First on the Agenda was to go 4 miles down the road and enter Ohio. Not much to see out here. Just more farm land and farm animals. We stop at Sag stop 1 and take a picture of a local farmer in his tractor. 11 5
41
20-Jul		 Marysville to Wooster, OH 105 2940
(5)		 Ok, along the trip, we’ve seen people’s personal cars with ``US Postal Service'' on a sign stuck to the top of the car going around delivering mail. For some reason, the mail person is on the right, and apparently, nobody is driving the car. I stopped by one and looked in. He has his foot all the way over on the pedal and was steering from the other seat. –poor man’s right hand drive. We saw a farmer filling his grain tower, and Elaine did a good boxing pose in front of the ``Home of the fighting Scots'' sign. Also along the trip, I keep running across all sorts of signs that have the name ``Hunter''. Stan has a picture of me taking a leak under the ``Hunter Cemetery'' sign. Guess I’m famous. 11 5
42
21-Jul		 Wooster to Niles, OH 91 3031
(5)		 After we got in, we headed down the street to get something to drink from the Taco Bell, and to stop by the Borders books. I was going to get a book on CD, then compress it and put it on my MP3 player. Might be good for those days when I’m so far behind and nobody’s around. Midway there, Allison’s mom came driving up and picked us up. For the next couple hours we were at the bookstore talking to different people. That night, Allison introduced Judy at Route Rap, and she mentioned that Allison had ancestors that lived nearby over a hundred years ago.

OK, so here’s the deal. Alcohol isn’t sold on Sundays in Pennsylvania. After we got in, and had route rap, a pot was collected, and Marian, Greg and Hunter went out to the local liquor store to get some booze. Problem: the liquor store was miles from our hotel in some bizarre direction that took us 5 people to actually find out where it was. Apparently we were in a dry county or something. Finally, 45 minutes away we get to the local grocery store that sells beer. 8 cases of beer, plus other fun items were bought. Near midnight, we crawl into bed.

11 5
43
22-Jul		 Niles to Erie, PA 90 3121
(5)		 I got up mucho late, and then proceeded to have a flat 3 feet from my door. As I stood there fixing it, I knew I would never catch up to people. –they had left for breakfast at Denny’s almost an hour earlier. So, I decided to skip breakfast, and get something along the way. I took off as fast as I could, as it started to rain. I didn’t see anyone for 10 miles or so. Then from behind, 3 of the fastest riders, Jeff, Aaron, and Joscelyn passed me. –Something was wrong here. It turns out that it took over an hour for everyone to get breakfast. I was way out there at the front. Anyway, I kept going fast, just for the hell of it.

Click off one more state. We just crossed into Pennsylvania. The first SAG stop was at a covered bridge that once stood over a creek. It was moved to a field several years ago, and replaced by a concrete one. Something strange in Kansas City that I noticed while we were there (we took a detour to KC at the St. Jo rest day) was that there were all of the painted cows all over the down. Well, here in Erie, there were tons of 3 foot wide fish all over the place. Apparently it’s a US-wide fund raiser for something. This hotel was a nice one. I was glad to get something good. We again met Allison’s Mom.

The beer from yesterday made its way into Nick’s bathtub with a bunch of ice. Little did we know that the eqivalent of 12 cases of beer would leave a few stragglers after 2 days of drinking. I’m not sure what happened to the rest of the beer later. Thanks so much to Marian who carted our beer around and kept it cold.

12 5
44
23-Jul		 Erie - REST DAY 0 3121
(5)		 Hitting the beach, seeing a lighthouse, having dinner with Allison’s Mom. 12 5
45
24-Jul		 Erie to Hamburg, NY 82 3203
(5)		 This is the day we went to Niagra Falls. When we arrived into the hotel (which was named something other than what was on the route sheet) 12 of us piled into the van to drive up into Canada to see the falls. Pictures are worth 1000 words, so see ``pictures'' 12 5
46
25-Jul		 Hamburg to Canandaigua, NY 94 3297
(5)		 Team Leisure and Team Estrogen merged forces to make an outing to a bike museum. Inevitably when you get that large of a group of people together, someone has a flat. Keeping with good form, Steve volunteers his rear tire. And when I say tire, I mean the whole tire. A call is made to Greg to bring a new tire to go with the new inner tube. The bike shop has over a 100 years of biking history. There are military bikes with guns, wooden bikes, big wheel bikes, and all accessories. On one of the older bikes, its seat has a slot down the middle. How did this knowledge get lost, and have to be rediscovered again? Further down the road next to the second SAG stop, team leisure stops for a lunch break. I had a flat which slowed Allison and I down. Stan noticed in the paper he was reading the headline ``ABB to cut 12000 jobs''. 13 5
47
26-Jul		 Canandaigua to Syracuse, NY 63 3360
(5)		 Team Liesure strikes again. 14 miles after the start, we find a coffee shop in a local town. It has a nice living room area where we stop and drink some $3 coffee. After a while, we start playing one of the games that was there. I think it was ``Scategories''. After a while Allison, Stan, and Susan head out for the Womens History Museum in the next town. The rest of the group heads for a bike shop at the other end of town. It takes hours; Nick gets new pedals, shoes, and other items, Anna gets a new bike pump, Polly a new tire, 2 people had flats just sitting outside the store. Now finally 11:30, all we have to show for mileage is 16 miles. So... We go for lunch. A while later we catch up with the rest of the team at the museum, and watch them have lunch. Something about Anna’s bike, especially when she travels up steep hills and her bike swings back and forth, her 2 water bottles with the gray ``nipples'' look just like boobs. That night, there is the official pie eating contest. No hands are allowed, and you get to pick your pie. Mine is the apple pie. Man it was good. However I only got half of it down before John managed to finish his. I believe the favorite was Tom, the ``pie king'', but John just had more skill and technique. I was a little full that evening for dinner. 13 5
48
27-Jul		 Syracuse, NY to Little Falls, NY 85 3445
(5)		 Not much to say this day. We passed by the world’s smallest church. It was really kind of a tourist trap. –But you know, that’s what we’re here for. I was once again back in the end of the group. Some days I’m fast, other days are like today. 13 5
49
28-Jul		 Little Falls to Albany, NY 70 3515
(5)		 Constantly through the trip you notice how much neighbors want to copy each other. Long about Illinois, every yard had a trampoline. It went on for 100s of miles. Recently, the trend has been to have these blue crystal balls out in their yards. I’ve seen them for days. There were also plastic waterfowl, silouette cowboy figures, and other plastic animals in the front yard. Anyway, T.L. starts the day looking for an alternative route to a coffee shop. We find one off the route a little and pose for a group picture. From there, we get some local info from the city visitors bureau and find a really nice bike path that goes along the river. Its about a mile from the ABB route, and much much better. Most of TL goes off to see a historic fort along the river. Anna and I head on in. About mid way there, I pop yet another spoke. I wasn’t even doing anything bad. Anyway, we limp along following the map and stumble back on course. We meet up with Greg in the SAG van who is running an informal sag on the route. Up in the sky we see something that looks like a rainbow and a cloud mixed. It has the colors of a cloud, but the shape of a string of clouds. I’ve never seen anything like it. Once I get in, Stan and I continue working on the video slide show that’ll be done at the end of the ride. 13 5
50
29-Jul		 Albany to Brattleboro, VT 78 3593
(5)		 I’m drawing a blank on this day. ...anyone help out? 13 5
51
30-Jul		 Brattleboro to Manchester, NH 85 3678
(5)		 Many people have been asked what would you do if you came across an accident victim lying in the road; what would you do, but I never had to answer that question, until today. Allison and I had got a late start that day and were just about at the end of the pack. Coming down a hill we came across a group of people standing over what looked to be a biker. As we came closer, we found Barb lying on the ground with cuts to her neck, abdomen, and arm and blood all over the ground. A FedEx driver was standing by making a call to 911. A few other people were standing idly by. Allison began to comfort her. Like angels out of the blue, JD and Dawn rode up. JD, being a fireman, and EMT certified, took over and started caring for Barb. He says its hard to deal with that situation. You don’t have anything to work with. Just your two hands. Another person who was also a medical person came running up with a medical kit from his car. Over the next few minutes, they assessed her injuries as Allison held up her bandana for shade, and the FedEx guy (Jim) and I directed traffic around the accident. Shortly later, the cavalry arrived. Dawn went in the ambulance, and JD, Allison and I were left with dawn and Barb’s bike. 20 or so minutes later, Dick showed up with Red van to take us in. I SAG’d to the next SAG stop to catch up a little so I could work on the computer presentation that night, and Allison and JD rode in from the scene. They managed to get in early that evening. It was an eye-opening event. Every biker needs to take a first aid course.

On arriving to the hotel, John, Paul, and Hunter headed out to print some pictures of the staff members for a gift for them for the end of the ride. 6 pictures each were selected, and we headed to Kinko’s to print them out. Unfortunately, at the rate we were going, it would take many hours to print them out. A little computer wizardry, and they’re finished a few minutes before the evening meeting.

That night we had what we call “the last supper”. People got up and told the group what they thought of the trip, and the people, and the things they learned on the ride. Some people were great roommates, Jerry and Jerry, some people had large speeches about living for today, instead of never being happy, and always looking for tomorrow, Mike, to other people who got a chance to stop and look around a bit instead of having life pass them by. Later that night John and Susan assembled the picture frames for the staff.

13 5
52
31-Jul		 Manchester to Portsmouth, NH 63 3741
(5)		 A red-white-and blue day. We get up late, and meet at 11:00am at a high school near Portsmouth. A policeman meets us there to escort us in. People line up for pictures as we wait for more people to come. Polly climbs back into a tree again, team ``gear down, goof off'' does a few practice runs in the parking lot for the cameras, people make sure they have no film left for the actual arrival at the beach, etc... And for the first time, Hunter is photographed on a bike.

As the crowd lines up for the final triumphant last few miles to the Atlantic ocean the police car takes position in the front. He hits his siren to announce to the world that to move aside a band of conquering warriors have arrived into town after 52 days of battle and are now returning home to the cheering crowds. It was so emotional finally coming to the end of the trip. We rode side by side all parading down to the water. A few of us even had tears down our cheeks as we rode into the cheering family and friends who met us at the beach. One by one we made our way to the water, ceremoniously dipping our front wheels into the water to signify the end of the journey. Paul’s wife got lost on the way, and we all felt bad for him not having anyone to hug as he crossed the finish line. She showed up quickly after. After all of the heart-felt celebration and mourning, a few of us headed to Maine for that last nearby state to tack onto our list. I could only stay for a minute though, because I had to get back and do the last few touches to the slide presentation video a short 5 hours away. The timing was critical, because the time needed to graphically render a new presentation (graphics take a while to process) was 5 hours.

I got back to the hotel with haste and dug out the computer. I turned it on... The hard drive made some strange ticking noises, and then it bluescreened. Hard drive crash. I tried everything under the sun to just get this thing to boot long enough to get the rough draft version of the presentation onto Stan’s computer for the presentation. Nothing worked. Finally, I went outside to see if I could find someone with a car. Jerry graciously offered his wife, and car. I’m afraid I don’t remember her name, but I owe her a great debt as we drove for 2 hours trying to find a new copy of Windows 2000 to reinstall the laptop with. Side note: if you ever have to get anywhere in Portsmouth, it usually involves the 14/16/1A traffic circle, the maps are printed incorrectly, and anyone you ask will leave out important intersections in their screwed up version of the directions. Once I got the software home, the repair software wanted the administrator password to let its protected files be modified. I called work. They didn’t know. Stan started downloading a password cracking software from Norway, and Stan and Brent (Stans Son) started looking through other photos they had to make an alternate presentation. With 3 minutes before dinner time, I managed to break into the system using another route. The machine came up, and we were off. Getting the presentation equipment to work was a different story, but hey, I’m rambling.

The dinner that night was loud with people talking to people telling of their great adventures. The head of ABB came in from another ride he was running coast to coast which was in Syracuse. Craig got up and said a few nice things about the staff, and JohnE presented them all with framed groups of pictures from the ride. Many people said their last ``until we meet agains''. The group slowly disbanded, and the evening came to an end.

The next morning, 16 of us had our last continental breakfast for a long time.

13 5
Total Mileage 3741     13 5
Closing Thoughts In movies, they sometimes have a small blurb saying what happened to the characters after the resolution. I like those.

Here it is July 29, 2003, 2 years after the bike ride.Here's a couple updates. After the ride, we hitched a ride to Boston with Suz and John. After a quick tour, we boarded the plane to go home. Allison went back to her apartment in Sausalito, and I went back to my house in Santa Clara. As you can imagine, being with someone for that lenght of time strains your relationship. We decided that that's all we could stand of each other, and we were to go our separate ways.

Allison's company had folded, and she began looking for another job in San Francisco. Every lead turned up dry as people were leaving SF in droves due to no jobs. Lonely, Alison picked up a puppy named Jake. After some soul searching Allison and I decided that we'd give it another try.

I had unfinished business in Lake Tahoe. Within 3 weeks, I was back on the bike set to fully complete the ride. Back on day 3, I hurt my knee, and could not do the hill climb from Auburn to Truckee. 2 months after that day I attepted that ride again. The whole area was covered in smoke, as a forest fire was in full progress a few miles away. I passed over 20 fire trucks along the side of the road. you'd be amazed at how fast physical fitness leaves your body. The climb was tough!! Anyway, I did make it in, and I officially biked from one coast to the other.

The 50,000 foot view of life we got from the bike trip led us to move out of California. Its really not worth it there. So many people who live there don't know that there's better places in the world. You get so stuck in your thinking that you don't realize that you can move. We moved to Colorado, near our good frieds from the bike trip, John and Suz. One thing lead to another and I found myself still working for Intel. The catch was that I had to move down to Colorado Springs. We bought a house up in the mountains, among some pretty pine trees, and just a month ago got married. John is going on a perpendicular cross country ride. He and Paul are starting up in canada, and riding to the gulf of mexico along the Missippi. Suz just graduated from college and is working in Boulder. Dave K is moving to Denver. Anna took another big unsupported trip through Europe. Tom and ????? announced they were pregnant a few months after the trip. And my father has given up biking completely. What can expect after biking 100 miles in 95 degree weather on a bike with broken toe clips while only drinking 2 bottles of water.

Words of wisdom:

The cross country challenge isn't a race. If you bust your butt to be the first person in, all you've done is waste the day. There's no prizes for being first. Nobody will love you for being the best. Stop in the middle of the ride and play putt-putt golf, take pictures, get lost, go sky diving in your biking gear, ask a farmer about how his combine works, and you'll have a great time. Coming down from normally eating 5000 calories a day, to 2000 is really tough!! Beware of adding a few extra tens of pounds. Always stay in the hotels you stayed at along the way when you drive cross country. Take lots of pictures. especially close-ups of people doing something, when they're looking in your general direction.

Stop and ask people about what they're doing. Peole love to have strangers come up and ask them questions....(with the exception of big cities). Force yourself to be social. The best part of your day, every day, are the people in it. One rider just did his biking for the day, then watched TV or did crossword puzzles at night. Only in the last few days did he open up and talk to people. Its too late then.

Beware of drivers in box trucks. A few people got a mirror in the back of the arm because they didn't give you enough space when they pased. Unfortunately, most people don't keep biking.

All in all, expect a few changes in your life after the ride. You'll be much wiser to the fact that there's a whole lot in life that really just doesn't matter as much as you think it does.



Comments: My mail address is hwornall,at,yahoo.com

Hunt & Allison's journey web site maintained by Josh Resch