Overdue Updates!

So I haven't posted anything since Cleveland! That's two weeks ago! I'm sorry for such a long delay, but Internet usage and free time are very limited. I'll try and do my best to include a day by day update since Cleveland, but after a while of doing the same thing every day it tends to blend together....

-Cleveland to Sandusky
As I said before I drove the van today, nearly impossible to find lunch for everyone so ended up buying some lunch meat. Not to difficult of day, but still nice to be driving the van. We made it into Sandusky with most of the afternoon to spare. We stayed at the middle school there and spent the night on the basketball floor. They had dinner waiting for us, HUGE foot long hot dogs. After dinner we all went to Cedar Point amusement park and had a blast. I LOVE roller coasters and only felt sick for a little bit after jumping on a big one right after dinner :).

-Sandusky to Fayette
Today was our first century, meaning biking over 100 miles. That's a lot of time spent pedaling all day. We got a bit of everything. Some rain, some sunshine, and lots of head wind. We had a few people take a spill while going over a railroad track during the rain and one girl went to the hospital. This was only at mile 15 so we still had a lot of miles ahead of us. Luckily the rain cleared up and we were making good time. I was exhausted for good bit of the day and even managed to fall asleep on my bike, didn't crash just rubbed into the rumble strip a little bit! The last 25 miles or so was hectic. 15 mph head winds and wide open fields. Everyone was exhausted and we were moving a pretty slow pace. We all made it to the host however.
Probably one of the more annoying things is that when you finally arrive at the host they have MUCH more energy than you do, yet you are still expected to be all cheerful and energetic. After this first century, my cheerfulness was seriously challenged....

-Fayette to Elkhart
Today we cross another state boarder! Well really two. Went up through Michigan and back down into Indiana. Nothing really special to mention about this day... the food was great at the host and they even fixed our bikes for us! The excitement really started at night...
The girls and guys were in separate rooms and the girls had a interesting visitor that night. A local peeping Tom, or Tim as we call him was whispering inappropriate fantasies... needless to say this ended up waking us all up, but no one was hurt and we all eventually laughed it off. Raffi, a guy on the team actually created a nice team song about him.

-Elkhart to Michigan City
Michigan city was awesome! We went to the sanddunes of Lake Michigan. We spelled out 4k with our bodies in the sand and also did a little skinny dipping! This wasn't the best city in terms of safety but it was still fun. The church looked like something built back in ancient times, like a huge european castle... and some people were sure it was haunted!

-Michigan City to Chicago!
RAIN! This whole day was either spent sleeping, waiting for the van to go back and forth to chicago, or driving. I didn't go with the first group of vans but went with the second then drove back to pick up the last group... it was a long day and we all wished we just had biked... to bad it was pouring!

Day off in Chicago...
Pretty much all day was spend at the bike shop or talking about doing something... luckily people finally made motions near dinner time and we went to Gino's East where we got some great deep dish pizza. We actually managed to dodge a 2 hour line because of the group size we went with.. don't know how that happened but it was awesome!

-Chicago to Kankakee
The weather really isn't on our side. it was about 50 degree and raining this morning! By mile 20 I was shivering uncontrollably and everything was wet! Luckily it warmed up and actually became really really really HOT! Kankakee was good, we stayed at a YMCA and had dinner at the local church.

-Kankakee to Bloomington
Today I got to witness the directors doing a 'no hands' contest. Chris made it 39 miles and Tom made it 33 miles with NO HANDS! it was impressive to say the least. We spent the last bit of the day on old route 66 which was all ripped up and needed new pavement! today was almost 100 miles and felt like it when we finally arrived. One of the groups took a 20 mile detour so their day was a little longer. one of our riders fell pretty badly and hasn't ridden since. but hopefully will get back on the bike tomorrow leaving sweet springs.

-Bloomington to Jacksonville
Today was a long long day, almost 115 miles. I guess I should mention that everything since cleveland has been pretty much flat. a 300 foot tall hill here or there, but pretty much flat. nothing to really complain about. Once we made it to Jacksonville we stayed at Illinois College, a great little school with some comfy beds!

-Jacksonville to St. Louis!
The weather looked pretty bad this morning, but some how we managed to dodge the big thunder storms but got rained on a little bit. We crossed over the Mississippi river on Route 66 on Chain of Rocks Bridge. Pretty cool and certainly happy to know that tomorrow was a day off!!! It was only a little scary biking through East St. Louis. If i was going to get shot anywhere on that trip.. thats where it would be!

-Day off in St. Louis.
Slept in a little bit and went over to REI. Messed up my rims yesterday in a crash where I managed not to crash! Caught my wheels in a groove in the cement highway and managed to unclip and step over my handlebars. Funny thing is another girl crashed because she was watching me crash... 2 other people hit the same groove but didn't mess up their rims quite as bad. But the weather was about 100 degrees in St. Louis today so didn't want to spend to much time outside. We stayed at Washington University in St. Louis and it was awesome. Very environmental conscious and i liked it alot!

-St. Louis to Montgomery City
HOT HOT HOT!! it was almost 100 degrees and very humid. A long day and we all were in bad moods. We all made it though and it was nice to get in some A/C... but not because we were camping! we all got in VERY late and it was a big mess to get everything set up and people eating and getting yelled at and tensions were high all around. Lets just say the camping part was enjoyable but the stress caused by certain people was not.

-Montgomery City to Fayette
Fayette was by far my favorite city so far. Everyone was wonderful and relaxed! The people were just very nice. We managed to dodge some nasty thunderstorms in the afternoon and ate lunch in someone front yard under a shady group of trees! It was another HOT day but i've learned to accept it. We stayed at the baptist church in town and had amazing food for dinner and breakfast. I met a couple who were originally from Vermont and New Hampshire! that was cool.

-Fayette to Sweet Springs
The ride was shorter today only 61 miles. Besides the 45 minute unexpected early wake up thanks to the directors, the day went great. We got to ride on a ferry across the Missouri river because the bridge was getting fixed and it was really nice of the Fayette people to work out a free ride for us and our vans! The road was really uncrowded after that... There were some NASTY fun hills for the last 20 miles of the day, but fun because it wasn't flat and straight!

To start our day off we went to mini-sprint kart racing last night! It was an awesome time. Cheap food, a cool beverage, and lots of town people cheering on very loud and fast cars as they fly around a dirt track! We got a picture with the young kids doing it. They can start as early as 6!!!! and one of the big winners was 11 and really cute.

The people Sweet Springs have been awesome to me. For a town of only 1600 they had a lot to offer us. We got to use the Pool at the park and shower there, we've managed to do our laundry!! thank the lord... We have internet at the school. The Kart racing was awesome! And they even provided every meal for us. We have a big BBQ for us in a few hours where the whole town is invited. We even had our third mail drop here! It was so nice to get mail! and I had more than anyone else!

This is the end our of first of three legs. So a new leader will take over of the next 20 or so days. I can't believe I'm over 1300 miles done with my journey across the country! there is still alot to come and i can't wait!

I miss everyone at home and school. I love you Chelsie! Thanks for all your support everyone!

Thanks for looking at my blog! Don't have a clue next time I'll be online but check back in a week or so!

-Travis