Greetings everyone! We apologize that we haven't updated the blog in a while. We think that our feet are finally off the ground with this project, and we hope to be updating a lot more in the near future.
The entire crew hasn't been together until the week before last. Our time has been full of side trips, and just a few minor injuries that have left the group temprarily fragmented. Nonetheless, we're finally all together and making good time! From western Virginia, most of the group headed into Kentucky, which was not our favorite state. There were lots of hills, lots of angry dogs, and lots of angry coal truck drivers barreling down the road. Stavros and Daniel missed the eastern half of Kentucky due to a detour down to Asheville.
After Kentucky we rode through southern Illinois, a beautiful area with lots of national parks, lakes, and vineyards. We took a "zero" in Carbondale, Illinois where we were hosted by some extremely generous couchsurfers named Ashley Cline, Felipe Panchiera, and Aur Beck. We would like to thank them for taking us in, giving us a place to stay, and showing us a great time in Carbondale. Aur (who is the chief technician for Advanced Energy Solutions) provided the group with a solar panel, a 12 volt battery, and some more equipment so that we can power a boombox and charge cell phones and ipods as we ride.
And then there were the Ozarks. Most people think that the Rocky Mountains would be the hardest part of a cross country bike ride, but that's not the case. A fifty or so mile stretch of the Ozarks was the hardest part we've ridden so far, and we've been told that's the hardest stretch of the entire trail. The reason is that the hills are so much steeper than in the Rockies or the Appalachians (even though the relief isn't as great), so that you actually end up climbing more in the Ozarks than in a day of Appalachians or Rockies. However, Missouri was perhaps the most beautiful place we've seen so far, which made up for the difficult terrain. We've never seen water so clear. However, the weather was nuts in Missouri. It seems that every day and every night there's a 30% chance of thunderstorms, and we had several times where they came out of nowhere, got everything soaking wet, and disappeared back into nowhere.
And finally, we are in the great city of Wichita, Kansas! Our stove fuel is very low, and it was worth a sidetrip here to resupply. The first thing that struck us about Kansas is how hot and windy it is. It's not all that flat yet, but it's getting flatter with every mile. The direction and speed of the wind will determine how fast we can get through Kansas. For the most part, the wind has been from the south so far, which has given us a cross-wind. As long as the wind doesn't pick up from the west, though, we should be able to cover lots of miles in Kansas.
Some members of our group have made side trips into cities along the way, with Wichita being one of them. It's interesting that the most inaccessable places to bikes are the places that the most people want to go to. Today, we had to ride 60 miles on Kansas Rt. 54 (which is kinda like an interstate, but bikes are allowed on the shoulders) to get into Wichita. The ride was tough, and the traffic for the most part was unaccomodating, but now that we are in town, we're not finding it any easier to get around. Wouldn't it make sense for cities to be the most accessible to bikes? The roads in Wichita, St. Louis, and Springfield, MO (the biggest cities we've visited) were all clearly made only with cars in mind.
We will head to Hutchinson, Kansas tomorrow, and hope to be in Boulder, Colorado around July 4th. Peace!
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