up north

We are currently in Eureka, Montana and have been thoroughly enjoying this state. Last night we were once again spoiled w/ food, beds/couches, and the warm indoors for the night as we stayed w/ friends of Kaylene's. We were also pleasently surprised to find a friend from rosedale, Eli, living close by this area w/ his wife and were able to see them as well.

This morning we realized that we are only about 1000 miles to our destination, Portland, and that is exiting for us as well. A few days ago we ran into girl from Portland who was going east. She was so thrilled that we were going to be in portland as that is her favorite place ever and she offered us to stay at her house. Speaking for all of us, I would say that it is fun to run into other bikers and talk w/ them for a while. We have met up w/ husband/wife combos, father/son, a group of boys just out of college, and single riders out touring. It has also been surprising to me to see how many people we run into that have done tours or hope to some day.

Another highlight of our trip lately was our trip into glacier national park as we rented a car for the day. it would be great to put up the pictures from that trip, but we cannot due so at this time due to technical difficulties. hopefully they will be coming soon. but we were able to get some off bike excercise in as we did some great hikes and the scenery was beautiful! Anyway, we need to get on our way again, but hopefully we will be able to share more of our latest journey soon.

rolling hills and wind....

Hi from Iowa! We have now made it to the larger/longer states. The flats of Indiana and Illinois were wonderful, but the wind was quite mocking. We have been spoiled the last few days to have a tail wind, so tomorrow we will once again see what we are made of. On the other hand, i second the gratefulness we have felt for all those who have given us a place to stay along the way! We are truly blessed. We were even able to experience some of the Hopedale,IL fourth of July festivities on our day off as we stayed at the Nachtigalls. They graciously left us stay at their house the second night while they went camping. And, of course, it was good to hang out w/ Liz. As we made our way to Iowa, we had some detours due to underwater roads and bike issues (yes, my bike), which left us in burlington, IA last night. The bike shop there was great and even let us camp out behind/take showers there. so that is why our trail is so jagged coming into Iowa. Iowa has also proved to have more rolling hills which, along with the tailwind, aide our rising speeds. I don't have a cyclometer on my bike for fear it would drive me crazy, but it is always fun to coast up to bruce and shawn and see us going 28 mph down a hill. Tonight we made our way to Iowa City thanks to Ramona, Brylee, and Kurt where we were able to experience some good jazz at the ped mall.

eating our way to portland

we set off from oil city on monday morning at 0700 sharp.....or after we bid our farewell....so like closer to 0800. judging from the uphill into oil city, we were hoping for some nice riding out and were not disappointed. we didn't hit the hills until at least 10 miles out and by now we are so in shape, it barely phases us:) the trip went well w/ very few dilemmas and we made it to the youngstown area w/ only 1 warning to wait out a storm. we found a bike shop there and once again fixed my spoke. then we hit the rain for the last 10 miles of the trip, arriving in columbia at shawn's great aunt and uncle's house. of course we got a great supper and breakfast there as well as nice accomadations for sleep. Thank you Wilbur and Dorothy Yoder!

tuesday morning we made our way southwest towards dover ohio to the house of Earl and Dorothy Yoder. the day was lazy and uneventful. we were met upon arrival in dover by the one and only sheila yoder, who joined us for our last few miles. we arrived at the house just in time to unload the bikes and take them into the shop for a tune up. that night we had a meal prepared by my relatives and it was a party! my brother jason and his girlfriend, lydia were even able to be around for food, fellowship and sleep.

today consisted of sleeping in (i was up at 0800), lunch at grandma's, coffee, and ice cream. some habits are hard to break. this evening sheila suggested we go see get smart, being as her other cousin's husband (who was born and raised in holmes co.) has a supporting role in the movie. we were able to pick up our bikes at the shop tonight. my bike has a new wheel - halelujah!

time to pack and prepare to continue on. i believe it will be a campsite near mt. vernon tomorrow night, then to plain city where we get a roof over our heads once again.

another storm

We are currently in Fair Haven, NY waiting out another storm i suppose. The weather up here is weird. But at least we have escaped the bugs for the most part! Thank you all for your comments-its good to hear from you! Yesterday was our day off, we spent it at a campsite off the shore of Lake Ontario. Bruce and Shawn would not get on the bike at all and even walked twice to the ice cream place a mile away from our campsite. Karla and I on the other hand were loving biking w/out our load so we went into town 5 miles away and I was able to go to church:) Last night we had our first theft as two little racoons got our apples, bananas, and bread from our bear bag! But at least they didn't get our cereal and milk for breakfast.

The hills of New York are quite more enjoyable for me than the mountains were, and I am beginning to enjoy my time on the bike more. Drafting Bruce and Shawn helps:) Today we were just a flying and realized we had missed our turn 5 miles back so we had to backtrack. Even so w/ all of that we have rode 50 miles today and are planning on another 2o. Well we better go while the sun is out and there is no more thunder!

bread loaf conquest!

Hi all, this morning we awoke to the sound of water rushing down the stream right by our tents. I think it has been the best night yet. Each day we face a different challenge between the weather and the incline. Yesterday was heat and wind...apparently they were warning ppl to stay out of the heat. It was supposed to get up to 103-107 w/ the humidity. Needless to say we drank more water, and i can't tell you how refreshing a bath in the stream was! We are blessed w/ a great cook in Karla as each night we have a good meal to top our PB&J for lunch. Our first night we ran into a friendly chap who gave us some of his quinoa that he had gotten in hawaii, so we had that last night w/ beans and corn, oreo's for dessert:). Another upside(literally) is that I have not fallen since the second day, though my knee is slowly healing. We have biked up a few mountain passes that have proven to be quite tough, but oh, the joy of biking down them! Shawn hit 42.86 this morning heading down bread loaf (what we call the pass). I'm pretty sure that every single day ppl warn us about the extreme thunderstorms heading our way, but we have only had to face rain and some wind so far. Well, next time you see an update, hopefully it will be written in New York.