I broke the interweb?

So, I've been sitting here trying to get this blog updated, but the Garmin website to post the GPS tracks of each day isn't working, and the blogger page isn't letting me upload photos, so this will be a pretty lame update as it will lack visuals.

The rides in montana have been progressively worse as we neared billings.  The drivers have been getting more hostile, and just about every rider has made some complaint about how rude these people are.  They're just fine in restaurants and around town, but on the roads they turn into huge jerks.  Yesterday I got flipped the bird by what looked to be a 50 year old woman, and today I got told to, "Get off the road, faggot!"

Needless to say, I doubt I will be retiring in Montana...  The thing I'm looking forward to most in Montana is seeing the welcome sign in my mirror.

The real concern is that I hear people get more and more rude and aggressive as we go East, so if we're only in Montana and people are already this bad, what lies ahead?

We have a pretty tough week ahead of us over the next 5 days.  We'll cover more than 400 miles, and knock down the longest day of the ride (112 miles), so once that's done, it's all down hill from there, right?

Next time I update this, I will more than likely be in South Dakota, so see you all in about 5 days!

June 25th - Rest day in Missoula, MT

First, I'll put up the GPS tracks from the ride into Idaho.  That was a good day of riding and it was nice to finally cross a state line.

On June 23rd we left Sandpoint, ID and made our way across our second state line in as many days.  The ride into Montana was pretty nice.

The Pend Oreille Lake portion was especially beautiful.  We were told it was moose country and to be especially watchful for wildlife, but I didn't see anything other than a few deer.

Thompson Falls: Home of Western Hospitality.

On June 24th we made our way from Thompson Falls to Missoula.  It was 102 miles, and for a few of our riders it was their first century ride ever, so congratulations to them!  (Nelle Glasser, Kendall Smith, and Melanie Zahn)


The weather was pretty bad again.  I think it started raining about 3 minutes into the ride and persisted for most of the morning.  The rain stopped around lunch time (mile 40) and I dropped off my rain gear at the 60 mile stop as the skies were clearing.  That was almost a horrible mistake because it started raining in Missoula no more than 5 minutes after I finished the day's ride.

Next time I will play it safe and just tuck my rain jacket away in my jersey.

My legs feel fine, but lately I've been having some pretty bad neck cramps...  I've never been to a masseuse, but I am going to get a neck massage later on today.  Hopefully that helps with the neck cramps.

There are quite a few beautiful views in this part of the country.  This was the view from lunch.  I need to talk to Charlton about picking a better spot.  This view made it hard to leave the lunch stop.

Speaking of Charlton, I would like to thank him, Lynn, and Tom for all the great support.  They're doing a great job and without them we wouldn't be successful on this ride.




Tomorrow we ride 99 miles to Avon, MT, and it's 4 days until our next rest day.  I will probably only be able to update this blog on rest days, so check back here in a few days.

June 22nd - Crossing into Idaho!

It has been too long since I made an update to remember everything, so in the future I will try to keep better notes so that when I have an internet connection I can post everything...  

Today we crossed the state line into Idaho.  One state down, and just 11 to go before we roll into Washington, D.C.  Before starting this ride, I wasn't sure if I had trained and prepared enough, but after the first week, those doubts are gone.  I will make it to D.C.

A fraternity buddy of fellow Big Rider Jeff Sloan picked us up during our stay in Spokane and took us on a tour of the downtown area.  I got some pretty sweet photos of the Spokane River, but I will only add this one, mostly because I want to get to sleep.  All this riding is making me tired...

While in downtown Spokane, we ate at the Steam Plant.  The food was awesome!  If you're ever in the Spokane area, I highly recommend it.

A day around Seattle...

I didn't have internet access yesterday, so I wasn't able to post an update.  Yesterday I arrived in Seattle, and dropped off my truck with Susan Gaylor.  Here's a photo of me and her.  If she steals my truck, I at least have a photo.  She's super generous, and gave me a ride back into Seattle and even took me on a small tour to see the Seattle Troll (picture below)

 This morning, I decided to go for a ride.  I'm not really familiar with the area, so I am not entirely sure where I went, but while along a bike path I saw this statue and decided to snap a photo.  There are a lot of bike paths here, and you see people jogging and cycling all over the place.  This is the kind of place I could retire to.

 Here is a close up photo of the plaque below the statue.  Sorry it's tilted, but I am too lazy to delete the photo, rotate it and repost.  You can either turn your head or hold alt + shift and use the arrow keys to turn your display.

 Here is the Seattle Troll.  I had to wait around for a while to be able to snap a photo without a bunch of tourists in the view.  It seems like a visit to the troll is a must if you're visiting Seattle.

Like I said before, you see people cycling all over the place here. I appreciate a city that appreciates cycling.  Over the Freemont Bridge, there is even a meter that counts how many cyclists cross the bridge each day, and it keeps a running total for the year.  This shot is from early in the morning, so the number is low.  When I was coming back from dinner last night the number was nearly 3,000.












In a bit, all the riders should be here for the orientation, so I am getting really anxious to start this adventure now.  Tomorrow, WE RIDE!

Driving to Seattle, Part 1

Mt. Shasta

I intended on getting on the road at 4:00am today, but I wasn't able to sleep last night, so I ended up leaving the house at around midnight.

Now, more than 900 miles later it's 9:30pm and I am exhausted.  I have stopped at a Motel 6 in Grants Pass, OR for the night, and I am pretty certain I will be able to sleep this time.  I am ONLY 400 or so miles from Seattle, so tomorrow will be an easy day of driving.

Oregon is a beautiful state so far.  So much so, that it's hard for me to drive here because I want to stare at all the scenery.  I saw a river today!  It might not seem like a big deal to some people, but we don't have any in the desert...

I was only in Oregon for 30 minutes before I apparently broke the law.  I had no idea you're not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon, so I pulled up to the station and started pumping my own fuel as I always do.      The attendant ran out and took over the pumping, quite aggressively I might add, and informed me of the law.  Once she figured out I wasn't from around here, she was really nice.  Actually, people in Oregon seem to be nice all around.  They certainly drive better than Californians, too.

Well, I am off to bed...  I have to get some rest.  I will try to get more photos tomorrow.

All packed up and ready to go!

So today was my last day at work.  I will be driving up to Seattle tomorrow.  I think I will be leaving the house at about 4:00 am.

The truck is all packed up and ready to go.  All I am waiting on now is to have one last dinner with Milena and the kids before I get on the road.  I am going to miss the family, but at the same moment I am really looking forward to taking part in this ride.

I want to thank all my friends and family that made this possible.  Without your generous contributions I never would have raised enough money to take part in this ride.