Tetons!  We had this view from the road during the decent from Togwotee Pass, on the way to Jackson (Click on the picture to see the whole thing).

Erika and Peter navigating our way through Grand Teton National Park

Bike & Builders in Grand Teton National Park!

Getting our Energy Legs ready for Teton Pass!

The view from the top of Teton Pass (Click on the picture to see the whole thing)!

Hello Idaho!  This was taken at the bottom of our big decent from Teton Pass.  (We’re attempting to spell Idaho.)

A pit stop between Ashton, ID and West Yellowstone, MT

Hello Montana!

Yellowstone Chariot Chasers in Yellowstone!  This is Peter pulling Shawn through the park in the chariot.

Taking in Idaho the right way.  This is the view from a pit stop along a bike path between Wallace and Coeur d’Alene.

Lake Coeur d’Alene

Today we rode from Coeur d’Alene, ID to Spokane, WA.  It was a short, 30 mile day, so Shawn, Peter and I went sailing on the lake!  It was my first time sailing, but both Shawn and Peter have a lot of experience, so I got a private lesson!  Here’s a few pictures:

Sailing Shawn and I on Lake Coeur d’Alene

Sailing Shawn and Peter

Peter trying to upright the boat after Shawn made it capsize intentionally.

The last few days have been the best days of the trip so far, without a doubt. Overall, Wyoming was incredible and completely lived up to my expectations.

Staying with the family in Lander was a great experience. Jake had bought a small amount of fireworks earlier in the day and when he asked our host how she felt about fireworks, she walked into her garage and pulled out a huge box of fireworks left over from July 4. We spent about an hour setting them off in her driveway. After fireworks, four of us, Shawn, Ariela, and Chonger-man spent some time in her hot tub and had an awesome chat.

Dubois, WY was a great little town. It did not have a tourist feel to it and was pleasant to walk around. We found a great little shop of an artist who made carvings out of moose antlers. He would cut into them, creating different scenes of animals, mountains and American Indians. We even got to talk to him about his work.

The ride from Dubois to Jackson was my favorite day of the trip so far. It was about an 80 mile day. The first thirty miles consisted of climbing 2,600 feet up to Togwotee Pass. We reached our highest elevation of the trip, 9,658 feet and crossed the Continental Divide. I was surprised with how easy the climb was though. I was sure that we still had more to climb when we got to the top of it. It was not until I saw the sign that said there was a 6% downhill grade for the next 17 miles that I was sure we were at the top.

The rest of the day was awesome. We descended down right in front of the Teton Mountain Range and were able to ride through Grand Teton National Park and down to Jackson. Overall, a really awesome day.

The next day was epic. It included the hardest climb of the trip. In the first 12 miles of the trip, we climbed 2,200 feet above Jackson. The hardest part was about four miles long at a grade of about 10% and took me about an hour to climb. For all of you familiar with Lehigh University’s campus, South Mountain’s grade is somewhere between 8% and 9%. It was probably one of the hardest physical challenges I’ve ever completed. The whole group met at the top of the climb and we all cheered for the rest who were finishing. Then we had a great dance party. One of the great rewards was the descent afterwards. My max speed on the descent: 50 MPH. Oh yes, faster than the cars.

The next day we rode into West Yellowstone, MT. After spending about an hour or two in town, Isabel, Danny, Peter, Shawn and I set off on our own fantastic journey. We rode into Yellowstone National Park to camp at the nearest campground inside the park. It quite the eventful 14 mile ride. I saw both a beautiful bald eagle and a buffalo on the way. The buffalo was huge and I rode right next to it. If I had tried, I definitely would have been able to touch it. I found out later that buffalo have been known to “gore” people. I don’t plan on getting that close to one ever again. That night the five of us sat around the campfire and it was glorious. The next morning was a slow one and we had a great breakfast that included summer sausage, something I never had eaten before. The rest of the day was awesome. We rode all the way down to Old Faithful. That geyser itself was incredible, but there were also many others in the area that we walked around. After visiting Old Faithful, we went on a short, but beautiful hike. We were able to find a trail with hardly any other people on it, which was a nice change from the crowds at Old Faithful. There was a fire in Yellowstone in 1988, so there was an eerie combination of dead trees laying on the ground and a lot of really young trees. It was really interesting. We finished off our awesome day in town with elk and buffalo burgers. Overall, the day was incredibly satisfying. I loved being able to take my time going through a small portion of the park.

Here are some pictures of the week:

Today we rode from Shoshoni, WY to Lander, WY, an easy, 50 mile day.  We are literally at the base of the mountains.  They are so close and I can’t wait to climb up into them.  Because we got in so early, we had time to explore the town all afternoon.  It was nice to walk around.  Towns around here have really cool outdoors shops, so I picked up a few souveniers.  We also checked out an awesome Native American art shops. I’ve really grown to love Native American art.  I love how earthy and geometric it is.  Some of the beaded work just amazes me. 

We’re staying in a home stay tonight, which is really cool.  I’m staying with seven other Bike & Builders at a home of one of the parishoners with the church that is hosting us.  They’re incredible.  Our host mom did a lot of cycling when she was younger, including the Alaskan Highway twice.  She really understands what we’re doing and it’s great to hear her stories about her travels.  They also have three little kids that are extremely outgoing, showing us all their tricks and toys.  Right now they’re waiting for me to help set off some fireworks in the backyard.  I’m going to go check that out right about now.  I’ll be sure write more about the climbs later!

Fireworks! Go!

We are definitely in cattle country now.  We’ve passed countless ranches and when we visited Douglas, we were invited to dinner at the pastor’s ranch.  He had many acres of land that he raised cows on at the foot of  several large hills.  He also had a barn full of horses that we were allowed to ride!  It was awesome, except that both of the horses I was given to ride refused to do anything that I asked them to.  We had a great barbeque dinner and got to play with their sheep afterwards.  The place was just really cool.

Yesterday we rode to Casper, the second largest city in Wyoming.  Population: 50,000. Elevation 5,000 feet.  Riding into town was a bit bizarre.  We had to stop at a traffic light for the first time in a few days.  I really had to think hard to remember the last traffic light we had to ride through.  Because we didn’t have to ride our bikes the next day, we were able to go out last night.  Two friends from Lehigh, Christine and Emily have been working at a ranch outside of Casper all summer and they were able to come out with us.  It was incredible to meet up with them and hear about the work they’ve been doing all summer.   Thanks for coming in guys!

Today we had another good Build Day.  We were working on the outside of a Habitat house in a neighbor close to the host site, which by the way is a hotel.  Yes. We’re sleeping in beds.  It’s the first time I’ve slept in a bed in about a month.  It’s the first time I’ve slept in a bed with sheets and a pillow since I’ve been at home, back in mid-June.  It feels both wonderful, but foreign at the same time.

Anyway, more about the Build Day.  We weeded the entire back yard and laid sod down.  It was kind of bizarre to roll out a lawn, particularly in such a dry environment.  It felt a bit unnatural.  We also moved two sheds from the driveway to the back yards of the two houses we were working on.  The task required everyone’s participation.  We actually rolled the sheds on a few large pipes.  Accomplishing the move required a lot of team work and was really satisfying to complete.  Great job Bike and Builders!

This week we’re heading further West, and in the next six days we’ll be climbing into the Tetons, over Teton Pass and through Yellowstone National Park.  I cannot wait!!!!

It is interesting the way that we know each other though. I was chatting about this the other day with one rider on the trip, Peter. We have gotten to know each other by observing how each person overcomes a significant mental and physical challenge. I feel like no one will ever really know me the way the people on this trip know me. It’s interesting and great to know that people other than myself have seen me in this way.

Anyway, the most challenging day we’ve had so far was definitely our first day this week. We had 108 miles to cover to get from Carroll, IA to Sioux City, IA, with pretty severe headwinds and some pretty steep rolling hills. I rode with two awesome people, Isabel and Justin, who were nice enough to wait for me a couple times at the top of a few big hills. I was definitely relieved to finish that day.

The next day we crossed over into South Dakota, heading for Yankton, but not without any issues. Our day was supposed be under 70 miles, but we ended up with about a 13 mile detour, making the day particularly long. The headwinds again posed a significant challenge. I felt pretty good at the end of the day though.

My best day this week was an 87 mile ride from Lake Andes, SD to Winner, SD. A good friend on the trip Shawn, who is a particularly fast rider, slowed down and rode with me. We had an awesome day. We got out on the road early, a little after 7AM. It was absolutely gorgeous. South Dakota has been one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. The riding was awesome. The morning was nice and cool, and the hills were just the right size. We (and by “we” I mean “I”) sprinted the last ten miles into Winner and it felt great. The towns here are awesome as well. The people have been great and extremely welcoming.

We also crossed over the Missouri River that morning, so we are officially in the West now. The Missouri River was the river that Lewis and Clark explored on their famous journey. One person in Winner told me that farmers and ranchers are sometimes considered the same thing, just farmers work East of the Missouri and ranchers work West of the Missouri. Another people told us we smelled “gamey” when we arrived in Winner. I’m not really sure what that means, but it’s definitely a new word for my vocabulary.

I am really satisfied with this week in general. I feel really strong and healthy. 90 miles isn’t a big deal to ride any more. I would consider anything less than 70 miles to be a light day. It’s weird how everything has changed. A ride more than 30 miles was a long ride when I was training, now it’s not enough of a workout. It’s crazy.

Today we had another Day Off, our second of the summer. We’re in Chadron, NE. I went for a hike with three other riders, Peter, Maso, and Ariela. There was a pretty big cliff that we got a ride most of the way to that we thoroughly explored. We climbed up the side and then down the other ridge. The view was outstanding. I’m not really sure what I expected Nebraska to look like, but it certainly was not that.

Here’s some pictures from the week:

Great faces in South Dakota!  (I’m George Washington!)

Hay bale art:

Top of a hill overlooking Lake Andes

Nebraska!

The view from the top of the cliff!

We had a day off! A whole day to ourselves! In pure Eileen fashion though, I spent little to no time relaxing. The whole group commandeered a bar the night before and had a blast. Then I was among a group of ten who got up at the usual 6AM to catch a train to Chicago! It turned out to be an awesome day. We spent a few hours in the morning walking around downtown, finding an awesome farmer’s market and then seeing the waterfront. Lake Michiga in huge!  It’s weird to see such a large body of water that is not salt water. I was then treated to lunch by two AWESOME people, Danielle and Andrew. We had some great Thai food and I got to learn all about their new life in Chicago. They were also an excellent audience to tell my experiences to. Andrew is really into cycling, so he immediately understood what climbing a 13% grade meant. It was awesome.  Thanks guys!

The afternoon was spent wandering around the Art Institute of Chicago and Millenium Park. There’s a really cool sculpture of what looks like a large bean, and it’s made of a reflective material, making it particularly conducive to fun picture taking. Overall, the day really awesome. The two hour train ride back to Pontiac was perfect for absorbing the day and relaxing a bit before hitting the road the next day.

Pictures from Chicago:

The Bean!

Skyline, flowers in Millenium Park

Chicago skyline as seen from the Bean

 <– that’s me!

The rest of the week was pretty fun, we had some both long and short days.  I did experience though what was hopefully the least fun day of the trip.  We woke up in Clinton, Iowa to a huge thunderstorm.  It was pouring and there was lightning.  Unfortunately, lightning is a showstopper for Bike and Build.  We waited around at the YMCA until about 10 AM.  Our leaders were scrambling for a way to get all of us to Mt. Vernon, our destination for the day which was about 80 miles away.  By that time the storm had cleared, but the radar showed another one to the northwest of us. 

A handful of us decided to head out, and try to move fast enough that we would be able to miss the storm.  We were posed with a challenge: 80 miles in six hours with head winds, hills and rain.  We had to be at the host site by five.  We had a big presentation to give and Mt. Vernon was having its Heritage Festival that weekend.  We were determined to make it though.  We set out and had 20 miles behind us in an hour.  I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such an adrenaline rush before.  It was pretty incredible. 

Unfortunately though, after 20 miles, it had started to storm again.  We were getting ready to take shelter in a barn to wait it out, when the rest of the group pulled up in a school bus that the YMCA had procured from somewhere. 

We were really bummed to have to ride in the bus to the host site.  I hate to think that I didn’t ride every mile that I could on this trip.  If we didn’t have the time commitment, we definitely would have been able to ride.  It was just unfortunate that a lot of bad luck seemed to pile up on us on one particular day.  The weather had cleared by the time we got the Mt. Vernon though and we did get to enjoy the Heritage Festival. Mt. Vernon was a really cool town.

Luckily, the rest of the week went by pretty smoothly.  Overall, the group loves Iowa.  It has the same farms of corn and soy as Indiana and Illinois, but the rolling hills make the rides much more fun and interesting.  I’ve been able to ride both by myself and with different groups of people.  Everyone here has been really friendly too, particularly our hosts.  Iowans are also really excited about a huge cycling event called Rag Ride that happens here every summer. 

I have definitely enjoyed a few morning where I rode the first 10-15 miles by myself lately.  It’s really relaxing and gives me both time away from the other 31 people I’ve been living with for the last month and time to think and reflect without being interrupted.  It’s really nice. 

Two days ago we had a really short day, only 40 miles into Ames, Iowa, so we added a scavenger hunt to the agenda.  A special shout out goes to some great friends at home, particularly Anthony Moffa for supplying an antiquated list of ideas for our hunt.  It worked out really nicely.  The day was a lot of fun, and we were actually able to meet several local people who were more than happy to help us accomlish many of the items on our lists. 

Yesterday was a particularly amazing day.  It was an 80 mile day, with some great terrain and roads.  We rode by Iowa State’s stadium in the morning, which was cool to see.  I rode a lot in the morning by myself, really enjoying the scenery.  In the afternoon I had some great conversations with two friends, Justin and Chris.  The people on this trip are all just really amazing and interesting.  Sometimes, it’s even overwhelming. 

Today we had a Build Day in Carroll, Iowa.  We worked on siding a house and laying the concrete for the garage floor.  The story behind the house is pretty sad though.  The family was living in a Habitat house that burned down, killing their 16 year daughter.  The Habitat community was really hurt by this tragedy.  Fortunately though, they have the capacity to build them a new house for the family.  I am honored to have had the opportunity to help this family. 

Tomorrow we have a big day, a century ride to Souix City, Iowa.  Then we’re off to South Dakota!

One guy on our trip made this video. Check it out!

Here are some more pictures of my life in the last two weeks since I have the ability to post them now:

The summer home of Rutherford B. Hayes, a former US President that we stumbled upon in Ohio.

Ohio State gets a new offensive line (I’m the quarterback!)

Apparently the Community College we stayed at in Dayton also has a Model Student for its students to emulate.

Handstands for Indiana!  (I’m on the left!)

Hilary visits!

Can you spell Mississippi with only one eye?  I’m not sure if I can, but I know I can cross in on a bicycle!

Scavenger hunt items:

Taking our bikes through a drive through.  Thank you Dairy Queen.  Warning: McDonald’s does not accomodate cyclists in their drive throughs.

Our whole team, the Low-Talking Walruses, fitting into something small

Beautiful Iowa.  This was taken during our beautiful ride yesterday.

We finished painting our trailer last night!  We have some awesome artists in this group, and they did a stellar job putting it all together.  This is the trailer that is pulled by our 15 passenger van and carries all of our bags, gear and food.  We’re always psyched to see it half way through our day for lunch!

I’m out of here.  I’ve a beautiful day to explore a beautiful new town!  Adios!

The last two days have conituned to be well, flat. I had no idea that the only two crops grown in the midwest were soy and corn, and we don’t even eat the corn that they grow here! We’ve been on a lot of back roads, so highlights consist of things that are not corn or soy.

Yesterday was a 70 mile day that we were incredibly grateful for. It was short compared to the last two days of riding. A few of us started on the road a bit late so that we could attend the Sunday service at the church we were staying at. They invited us to stay and tell the parishoners what we were doing. The service was pretty cool, very different from the Catholic masses that I’m used to.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful, with a lot more corn and soy. Since we were on back roads, we were able to ride next to each other, which was really nice. I had a good chat with a couple people, making the miles go by faster. We also crossed a state line into Illinois and a time zone! We had a whole extra hour to ride today!

Last night I had a really awesome treat though. One of my best friends and college roomates, Hilary drove down from Chicago to see us! She was able to stay for a couple hours, eat dinner with us and meet the crew. It was excellent! It was fun giving her a tour of our daily lives and we got to chat for a little bit.

Today was a really short day, only 40 miles on more flat grounds. We got to Pontiac, Illinois by about 1:30. We have our first day off tomorrow which is exciting, and there’s talk about going to Chicago for the day. There’s a train we can take to the city from Pontiac. Hopefully it’ll work out that we can go!

Yesterday I rode my first century ride from Dayton, Ohio to Hartford City, Indiana. The ride started off with a police escort out of Dayton. It was awesome to have a police car throw on its sirens and stop all the traffic in an intersection so we could go through. They led us to a bike path that we took for about 16 miles. Then we made our big error for the day. We took a wrong turn that led us about 15 miles out of our way and we didn’t end up getting lunch until about mile 55. Needless to say, but we were pretty hungry when we pulled into lunch. After lunch we needed to reroute because one of the roads we had planned on riding had about 6 miles of gravel. It didn’t make the day too much longer though which was nice. We also crossed another state line! INDIANA! Woo! My total mileage for the day ended up being 116 miles. I don’t think I ever felt so good either. Morale was really high at the end of the day. I am really impressed with the group’s ability to handle a bad situation. A typical group of people would have been miserable at the end of yesterday, but instead everyone was psyched that we had completed our first century. We didn’t even have showers because the YMCA had closed by the time we got into town. We ended up using the hoses of some of the people who lived in the area. It was wonderful.

Today we had another long day, about 96 miles. Morale was definitely lower today. It was hard to wake up and think about riding almost as long as yesterday. It also started to rain after lunch, making the mental game a bit harder. I started out riding really hard this morning and was able to stay up in the front all day, making the day shorter. We’re staying at a Methodist church right in West Lafayette, IN. The church also services Purdue University, which is right around the corner. The pastor from the church is an avid cyclist and met us about 8 miles from the end and cycled with us into town. He brought us through the university, which was really neat.

Tomorrow we head off to Clinton, Illinois, crossing both a time zone and a state line! Woo!

This week had been awesome.  I appologize for not updating sooner.  Ohio has been an incredible adventure so far. 

We had an excellent Build Day in Youngstown, Ohio.  At the end of the day, we were able to go to a local pub and watch the news and see ourselves on it!  Here are the links to the two things that they played:

News!

 More news!

I worked on the roof and I’m wearing a red Phillies hat.

The last four days have been both fun and challenging. We had a really long day from Akron to Gambier, filled with some really steep climbs between miles 50 and 70 of the 80 mile day. We think some of them were at least as steep as the 13% grade, if not steeper. We did stop at a great fruit stand run by an Amish family and quickly consumed a pint of some of the best strawberries I have ever eaten. They actually took some pictures of us and posted them to a website. They E-mailed them to us too! Here’s the link:

Fruit Stand

That’s my bike with the “Seattle or Bust” tag on it! It used to be really pretty, and I tried to make it weather proof, but the rain got to it during the first week.

It was definitely an eye-opening experience to ride through Appalachia. I have learned a lot about the region over the years, but was never exposed to it.

The Amish people there definitely live a different type of lifestyle. At the fruit stand we talked to some of the family members. The family had eight boys. They planned on going to school in a one room school house from grades 1 – 8. Then they would work on the farm. They speak Pennsylvania Dutch at home and learn English when they start school. The boys at the stand were very soft spoken, but definitely interested in what we were doing.

The Amish aren’t the only people who live in the area though. We passed by a lot of farms and went through some beautiful country side. While the hills were tough to climb, they do make beautiful scenery. I could tell though that there was very little money in the area, as many of the buildings looked in disrepair.

Here’s a crash course on Appalachia via the trusty Wikipedia:
Appalachia

The next day we rode to Columbus, which was a polar opposite from the country side we rode through. Columbus was a great city and we were able to ride several bike paths to get there, making the entry into the city very easy. On the way in we stopped at Ohio State’s stadium, actually rode our bikes through the gates and, some people, right onto the field. We had a spectacular photo shoot on the field. The place is huge!

One of our trip leaders, Natalie, is from the Columbus area and had some kind of connection to the “Athletic Club of Columbus,” which ended up hosting us last night in the city. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed a hotels as nice as this place. The floors were marble, chandeliers on the ceilings, mirrors all over the walls. Insane. People must pay ridiculous amounts of money to have events there. It was totally bizarre and a real treat.

Today was another 80 mile ride from Columbus to Dayton. It was flat. Wonderfully flat. They converted a lot of the railroads into bike paths in Ohio, which means they can’t have more than a 3% grade and we rode about 50 miles of them today. Awesome!!!

Dayton is an interesting city. Apparently the Wright brothers were born here, and they are VERY proud of it. I’m sensing that there is a little bit of contention between Ohio and North Carolina on this issue because the airplane first actually flew down there. I plan on investigating further.

Ohio is one of the states that has suffered the most due to the recession. Many people have lost their jobs in Dayton and the state in the last year. There is a lot of blue collar, manufacturing jobs for the automobile industry around here so they are really feeling a pinch. We’re staying at a community college called Sinclair in the city of Dayton. They have been doing a lot in the community to help displaced workers gain other skills so they can find other jobs. The provost of the schooled talked with us today and was saying that they are really trying to reach out to people who have been working a line job for 20 years since they graduated from high school if they did that all. Helping them to go back to school and adjust to the new, academic lifestyle has been the school’s greatest challenge.

The Habitat chapter in the area is really excited to have us here. We’re building with them tomorrow, hanging dry wall and painting, which should be fun. They also arranged for a bike shop to service our bikes while we’re working tomorrow! Hurray for a much needed tune up!

I had planned on posting pictures today, but I don’t have access to the USB drives on this computer, so it’ll have to wait for another day. I promise I’ll post them soon!

I hope everyone is having an awesome summer. Don’t forget to leave me comments if you’re reading!

Sending love from Ohio!

Youngstown is a very impoverished city. The average per capita income is less than $14,000. There is a small center of town that is considered safe, but we were advised not to stray too far from there. I could tell when we were riding into town, that it wasn’t the nicest place to be.

In response to the poverty that we saw on the way in here, today we had an awesome Build Day with the Youngstown Habitat for Humanity chapter. As a group we redid all the outside landscaping, replaced several doors and put down an entire new roof. I got to help lay all the shingles. It was incredible!

Big climb!

Ohio!

Roofers!

Beautiful house!