"Ah hell, the worst they could get is a warning!" - Day 28

When I write tomorrow we'll be finished! Not a lot to report from today, other than that Pennsylvania is stupid hilly. We met two friendly motorcyclists at the top of a hill that had a nice view of the beautiful wooded farmland below and exchanged e-mail addresses with them.
As we pedaled past Heart Lake, the director of the camp that owns it saw us looking longingly at its cool waters. He invited us to disregard the no trespassing sign and hop on in. It felt great to cool off and have wet clothing during the afternoon.
We stopped for lunch at a diner in Jermyn. When we asked for directions to get back on Route 6, a nice old lady told us to just get on the expressway on the outskirts of town. Another gentleman retorted that the "staties" wouldn't allow it. The old woman replied "ah hell, the worst they could get is a warning!" Needless to say, we rode illegally on Route 6.

My achilles was acting up with all of the hills, so our pace wasn't great as the day went on. I was able to pick some rasberries along the side of the rode while waiting for Travis, which was nice. Before we realized it, we had ridden past the bigger towns and were committed to make it to Milford. This was unfortunate, as the sun was setting and eventually set. We had 8 miles to go when it got to be dark. It was downhill into Milford but we had to take it a little slower than we would've liked because Travis had the only light. I still set a maximum speed of 41 mph in in the dark though!

In Milford, we grabbed dinner before looking for a place to pitch our tent. We were having no luck until we rode by the United Methodist Church, where the lights we were on. Pastor David kindly opened the church for us to use the restroom and allowed us to camp in the yard. I can't wait for tomorrow; we've only got 91 miles left!

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
9:50:59	120.7	3179	12.2	41.0

"Endless mountains." - Day 27

Two days to go! The tent keeps smelling worse and worse, after getting wet during the rainstorm in Iowa and with me sleeping in it not having showered since west of the Mississippi River in Davenport. Fortunately, after tonight we'll only have one night left in it!

When natured called this morning, we immediately turned to the old outhouses on the baseball field where we were staying. The men's was locked, but Travis was able to get into the women's. It was undoubtedly the filthiest restroom I have ever used, but we were both overjoyed at its convenient location just 100 feet from our tent.
We made it out of Smethport along the supposedly closed road that the guys at the bar recommended. We made good time most of the day considering the hills and it went by rather quickly. We've started to find the most ridiculous stuff funny and it's easy to tell that we're both getting very anxious to be finished on Monday.

We finally broke 3,000 miles today, which is about 600 more than the great circle distance between Seattle and Stamford. But it leaves us with under 300 miles to go.
Our destination for the night was Towanda, where we got Chinese food and went to a crappy bar where a guy with a ridiculously animated handshake pointed us in the direction of a park across the river. It's super hot out and our sweat adds to the stench in the tent. The thought of only one more night is an extremely welcome one.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
9:19:44	124.7	3058	13.3	41.6

"There are bears all over the place." - Day 26

Today was a pretty lackluster day. Last night the tornado or fire alarm went off repeatedly, making it difficult to sleep. We woke up around 6:30, got breakfast at a convenience store and hit the road around 8:45. Highway 77 was ridiculously hilly, taxing me and slowing Travis down a lot. We finally made it to Corry a little after noon, where we hit Highway 6, which we'll be able to take Highway 6 across the entire state. The convenience stores are a lot more stingy about letting us use the restrooms out east, which has been frustrating.

We were making slow time when Travis got our first flat since South Dakota, a pinch flat from a rock. His repairing skills were a little rusty, but we made it nonetheless. It's interesting that we stopped about every other day at a bike shop out west, but the last one we visited was in Sioux Falls. We also continue to see a lot of roadkill. Travis remarked that he thinks we see one piece about every mile or so. I doubted him and decided to test it. No sooner had I commented we should test his theory when I spotted a dead bird. Perhaps one per mile is an underestimate.
We continued slowly through Warren where we got Subway, and through Kane where we got groceries. I was finally able to find some prunes, which was a welcome relief. We set a goal of making it to Smethport, since it looks to be about the only town big enough to have a bar. Travis and I both think that we seem more isolated here than in Wyoming where the population density was considerably less. Perhaps it's because the people are less friendly, or at least more backwater.
We grabbed a bite to eat at Hull's in Smethport, which was a little pricier than we would've liked and didn't accept credit cards. A gentleman there recommended that we head to East Smethport to an old baseball field to avoid the cops in the "borough." There, some local kids with a 2 x 6 board took interest in us as we were setting up the tent. They were ready to rumble with whomever was trespassing on their turf, but after realizing we weren't a threat, they settled down. They did warn us that there are bears everywhere, but we're taking our chances without a bear bag. Tally ho!

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
9:03:58	118.8	2934	13.0	39.9

"Roadkill smells so much worse when wet!" - Day 25

Great news! The ride just got 500 miles longer! But we'll get to that later. Woke up this morning without being accosted by raccoons or park rangers. We left but I had to drop #2 like nobody's business. The first two towns didn't have convenience stores with restrooms. I was getting desperate and was a little bit ahead of Travis going up the hills in the national park. I spotted a porta-potty in the woods, threw my bike down in a spot where I thought Travis would see it and took care of business. When I finished, Travis was not waiting at my bike like I expected and had already ridden up the hill a half mile or so to a convenience store where he expected to see me. Since I wasn't there, he went on.

I went to the gas station to plug in my cell phone so that I could call him, left a voice mail and continued east. I stopped again at a McDonald's, thinking again that he was ahead of me and needing to plug in again because my battery was dead. Travis called and said he was ahead, so I set off after him. I was so concentrated on looking for him, that I didn't see the signs for Route 303 and ended up taking Highway 14 southeast to Ravenna. He realized I should've caught up to him already, called me and we made a plan to meet in Freedom. After asking for directions at a day care center, we finally met up in Freedom; hence the two paths in today's route map.

It was another slowish day after the delay I caused while we were separated. Around the Pennsylvania border we realized we probably wouldn't make it to Stamford until Monday evening, which is fine. The hills are beginning again, which is fun, but also harder. It has also been warmer and I went through another 3 slushee drinks today.
On the way into Meadville, we saw another biker come out of a church. He decided to "go out of his way to help us" by riding next to us in the traffic lane as we went up an arduous 1.5 miles climb to Blooming Valley on Highway 77. Turns out he was a born again Christian who had recently had a bad bike accident, didn't wear a helmet, got arrested while intoxicated and went nuts in the backseat of the cop car, had recently made love to a woman without compunction, claimed to be super humble, thought we were real american bikers, was in constant communication with Yahweh (the one true living god), and seemed mentally unstable. After directing us to a diner, but also giving us directions to a pub, he turned back around and headed back down the hill we had just spent 20 minutes climbing. After his prosyletizing, we were in desperate need of a beer and made a beeline for the pub.

One crazy dude

We're only 3 miles away from the biker we met in South Dakota, Jason's, house. We dropped his name at the bar, and one of the bartenders who also happens to be the fire chief's daughter, knew him. She treated us well by asking if we could camp on her father's property. ANother man in the bar, "Gus," paid $20 for our next meal, which ended up being this one as we were low on cash and they did not accept credit. Everyone was very friendly and interested in what we are doing.

As I got into my sleeping bag, my friend Laura sent me a text inviting me to North Carolina on her family vacation there. Google says it's only 460 miles from Stamford to Kitty Hawk and then her family could give me a ride to St. Louis where it should be cheap to get a flight back to Denver. So that's the new plan and the reason for the bike ride getting so much longer. Yay!

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
8:55:05	114.2	2815	12.8	44.9*

*Broke Travis' previous speed record and set the new high!

"Something has happened in China which is out of our control." - Day 24

Possibly 4 days to go! Holy cow! From where we are now, Google says it's 495 miles to Stamford, CT. That's crazy to think about! We woke up bright and early at 6 this morning, got breakfast at the convenience store in Lyons. Unfortunately, I was still feeling full from last night's meal at Lyon's Den, and didn't eat much.
We headed towards Highway 20, enjoying Ohio's nearly perfectly flat landscape and a very slight tailwind. We didn't set a goal for today, rather we just decided to bike until dark or we got tired, trying to make at least 120 miles.

I have been planning since March to spend my next year teaching English in China, and have been trying to coordinate visas, contracts, and medical forms during the trip. As a result, I have e-mails from the company I am working with forwarded as text messages to my phone. Today in the middle of the day I got a text that said "Something has happened in China which is out of our control. After your ap" Since the text message cut off the rest of the message, I didn't know what had happened. I was able to call my friend who is also going to China, and he informed me that the Chinese were no longer granting visas for foreign teachers in the province where we were supposed to be teaching. So for now, the upcoming year is in limbo.

Besides some construction, it was a pretty regular day, if a little slower than what we've been used to with a tailwind. We've recently discovered that ICEEs and Slushees are wonderful ways to cool off; I drank three yesterday alone! I had another craving today, so we skipped Subway today and had lunch at Burger King, where the lemon ICEEs are cheap and delicious.
I needed a break after we hit 120 miles around 5:30 pm in Lagrange, where we set a goal of Hinckley, which was another 20 miles. We got Subway to go for dinner and were directed by the townspeople of Hinckley to the Hinckley Reservation to camp. They told us that it was illegal, but also pointed us in the direction of a secluded area of the park where we shouldn't have any problems. Hopefully we'll make it through the night without any major problems. Otherwise, our spirits are high with the end seeming so close. We've been picking up the average for the past few days though, and it has been taking a toll on our bodies.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
10:20:05	142.5	2700	13.7	37.9

"Let's leave before they kill us." - Day 23

We were off to another late start this morning after the luxury of sleeping inside. We plotted a way out of South Bend and set off, intending to take highway 20 most of the day. But disaster struck as we rode down the on ramp, which had a sign declaring that bicycles were prohibited. When we stopped to check the map for alternative routes, a seemingly friendly man suggested that we take a county road to Dunlap. However, the county road went to Goshen, so we were forced to backtrack north to Highway 20 where bicycles were once again allowed. The silver lining was that we met a friendly woman named Emily during our second breakfast at Martin's supermarket in Goshen. She offered to let us stay with her and gave us directions back to the highway.
It was smooth sailing with a bit less than normal roadkill amounts until we got to Ohio. Just across the border there was a big billboard advertising a tourist information center, and since we had just vowed not to buy an Ohio map, we opted to stop.
The "tourist center" was set into a dirt hill with an enormous TV antenna and gravel parking lot. THere was a rusty mailbox by the door that said "Ohio maps," but was empty. We opened the unlocked door and inside found somebody's cluttered home with the TV on. It reeked inside and our calls of "hello" went unanswered. I turned to Travis and said "let's leave before they kill us." Which we promptly did.
We continued east on Highway 20, stopping only to try a few grains of wheat. We had been warned about bringing pepper spray for dogs, but hadn't had any problems until today. Travis was ahead of me when I heard him yelling expletives. I looked to my right and saw a vicious dog at full sprint charging out of an unfenced yard. Needless to say, I poured on the steam, shouting expletives myself and veering into the center of the road to add more distance between his teeth and me. We made it out unscathed and probably gave a fun show to the minivan behind us.

After asking for the town with a bar at a junction in the road, we ended up at the Lyon's Den bar in Lyons, Ohio. There we gorged ourselves, got a free beer from Raymond, and a map of Ohio from the bartender. We were fortunate to get it, as there isn't just one highway heading east towards Pennsylvania. The bartender gave us some "bakers" (baked potatoes) for the road, and we were directed to an old school yard to pitch our tent. We're still on a good pace to be finished sooner than we expected, even though our average speed today was a little slow.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
9:16:36	129.4	2558	13.9	32.1

"University of Dame Notre...LEE!" - Day 22

Woke up late this morning a little before 8 am. Right at 8, a park ranger came by and collected $6 for camping one night. I found it humorous that on the receipt under "Vehicle License" he wrote "bikes." We quickly packed up, deciding to get breakfast at a convenience store. There we picked up an Indiana map. I was looking at the University of Notre Dame and noticed they had inverted the word order on the map. I pointed this out to Travis, causing him to exclaim loudly "LEE!" It turns out that we have a mutual friend who is studying there, so we set a lofty goal of making it to South Bend, 129 miles away according to Google's phone text service.

We set off zig zagging across Illinois along various county roads towards Highway 2 in Indiana. It took us 50 miles and into the afternoon to reach it, but it was almost entirely flat. Once in Indiana we lost our tailwind and Google indicated that it was still 104 miles to South Bend, although it doesn't reply with the shortest route. We were worried about making it, but the flat and the motivation to sleep inside kept us going.

On the highway a few miles outside of South Bend, something hit my front wheel and then flopped into the guardrail. I didn't get a good look at it, but judging from the noise I would guess it was a bird. We've seen and smelled all kinds of road kill but this was the first that we've made.

We rolled into downtown South Bend just after sunset, where Lee met us and guided us to Subway and his apartment. We stayed up late chatting but got to check internet and sleep indoors. We have finalized with Jocelyn our plans and Google says it's only 734 miles from here. We should be there in 7 days if we continue at this pace.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
10:15:36	156.3	2428	15.2	27.7

"I think I have a broken rib." - Day 21

Our rest day yesterday treated us well. I finally satisfied my craving for cereal with two bowls of cereal and orange juice for breakfast. Laura and Karen made muffins for us, gave me buttered pretzel sticks, and each of us two nut rolls. Plus, looking at Google Maps it looks like we'll be in Illinois for just one night.

We got on the road at 8:45 and stopped at HyVee for supplies. There, I again indulged in some fruit, eating two juicy and delicious peaches in the parking lot. A few minutes later we were riding our bikes over the Mississippi River towards the finish line in New Jersey/New York/Connecticut. I am still trying to solidify our plans to stay with Jocelyn so it remains up in the air.
We had great westerly tailwinds and were making good time, but I could tell that Travis was struggling. We pulled into a gas station where he told me his side that he had injured in Rapid City, SD was acting up. He thinks it's possible a rib is broken. Knowing that there isn't anything that can be done besides painkillers, we called an exercise and sports science friend who recommended Ibuprofen and an ace bandage. We spent the rest of the day looking for a place that would sell one until we came to a town about 60 miles later with a Walgreen's. By that time though, the ibuprofen had kicked in and we continued east through Illinois.
With our tailwind we still made it to Morris around 7:15, even with all of our stopping. A sign on the way into town indicated tent camping to the south. We followed the signs to a state park, the tenting area of which is no more than 100 yards away from the houses in a nearby neighborhood.

We ate some canned food we bought a while back for dinner, going without dessert because we had already finished the muffins from this morning earlier in the day. Overall, a great day at a cool 80°F on Highway 6. Plus our 130 miles puts us 20 miles ahead of our 10 days to the finish schedule!

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
8:18:32	136.2	2272	16.3	34.9

"Feel free to use the pool, jacuzzi, shower, laundry, watch tv, and eat and drink whatever you like." - Day 20

Day 20 went mostly according to plan. We woke up around 7 as Holly and Erik got up, ate some pop tarts, and hit the road. We made it about 7 miles before hitting a detour due to another closed bridge that took us onto I-80. Knowing that it was illegal to ride bikes on it but also not knowing how else to get across, we began riding on it. I-80 is a lot busier and less enjoyable to ride on than I-90 and we made it no further than a quarter of a mile when a highway patrol car pulled onto the shoulder in front of us, lights-a-flashin'.

The patrolman politely explained that we couldn't be there and that you couldn't pay him enough money to ride on the interstate with how dangerous it was. We cordially replied that we didn't want to be there either, that the detour took us there and we didn't want to try another way around without knowing the road conditions. He advised that we get off at the next exit, which is where the detour took us anyway.

A scant few flat and easy miles later we rolled into Davenport and to the house of a friend of Travis' aunt. She and her sister were out garage sale shopping but told us to make ourselves at home, which we did, eating their food and taking a shower. They arrived about an hour later.

Normally I don't enjoy sitting around doing nothing, but I cannot put into words how great it felt to sit on a sofa watching a without moving a muscle. My afternoon of rest and relaxation was topped off with a delicious and filling meal of pasta, ribs, bread, salad, potatoes, and a chocolate cookie dessert. To top it all off, we got to spend the evening in the jacuzzi.
We've been spoiled the past few days, sleeping indoors 5 of the past 7 nights and showering 6 of the past 7 days. But we don't know anybody between here and the coast, so that is likely to change. All in all, today was exactly what we needed after our hard day yesterday and I think we'll be able to finish strong in 10 days or so.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
1:52:51	26.0	2136	13.7	21.8

"You can choose front yard, backyard, or living room." - Day 19

Day 19. Geez. This morning Ken's mom had breakfast out for us, which was a welcome improvement over instant oatmeal and convenience store pastries. We bid farewell to the Ferrells at 6:30 and after turning the right way off of their street, set off towards Davenport.
Riding early in the mornng was pleasant and we were pushing at a steady pace with our lofty goal of reaching Davenport. We hit another milestone coming down a hill outside of Grinnell, breaking 2,000 miles.
We were on pace to make it the whole way at 15 mph for 12 hours through the first 60 miles. We had Subway in Grinnell before trudging onward until Travis caught is front tire in a crack and went down. The tire was shot and it took some time to replace it with a spare. We endured a strong south crosswind along with moderate hills all day. Fortunately, we avoided rain though.

We had checked the highway report online in Des Moines to avoid any closures due to the recent flooding. As a result, we stayed off of Highway 6 between Iowa City and Davenport, opting instead to take a county road to the north. We kept seeing ominous signs warning "thru traffic only" and "road closed ahead" but without alternate route, decided to keep going and hope that we'd be able to get through on our bikes. It turns out the bridge had been badly damaged and was fenced off. But we decided that we'd risk collapsing the bridge with our additional weight, rather than head backwards 6 miles to try to find another route. Needless to stay, it remained upright.
By the time we made it past the bridge it was getting pretty late. The floods had also caused us to end up crossing I-80 more times than we would've liked and a wrong turn outside of Wilton left us behind. With 25 miles to go to Davenport, we called it a day as the sun set.

In our typical fashion, we went to the first bar with food that we saw. When we asked if anybody knew where we could pitch a tent, the bartender offered her front yard, backyard or the living room. When she called her husband to let him know she was brining to guys home from the bar with her, he responded that he'd have clean towels ready for us! Erik and Holly were great hosts, offering laundry and breakfast that we refused. The two felt like they should pay some of the hospitality they had received on a motorcycle trip forward and we were the lucky beneficiaries. Their company was enjoyable, but we were exhausted from our longest day yet and had to go to bed. We didn't quite make it to Davenport, but we're in great shape for a 25 mile rest day tomorrow before crossing the Mississippi!

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
11:36:10	164.7	2110	14.1	35.7

"Dude I HAVE to stop and scratch my feet!" - Day 18

As we rolled out of our tent this morning, we were surrounded by a thick fog. We didn't think much of it and went on making our instant oatmeal breakfast. However, as we began to take the tent down, it began to downpour. We hurriedly unpacked our rain gear and finished taking down the tent in the heavy rain. We decided to go ahead and ride in the rain, even though we've lost 3 of our 4 taillights and the one that remains only works intermittently. The rain eased up after a few minutes and it was dry enough to remove our rain gear within an hour.

Riding in the rain gave us a nice change of scenery and was also a little bit cooler. However, my feet got soaked and after an hour or so were getting uncomfortable. I tried to dry them by taking my socks off and pedaling with my feet on top of my shoes but the itching just got worse. Eventually, it was too uncomfortable to bear and I demanded that we stop so I could scratch.
At the gas station, we were once again asked if we were training for RAGBRAI, and were told all about how much fun the bike across Iowa is. We had actually originally thought that we might be able to join it for a day, but it is later in the year than our trip allowed. It certainly sounds more enjoyable to only ride 60 miles a day, with refreshments and activities the whole way. So we vowed that we would return to Iowa in the future and partake in the traveling festival.

We eventually picked up the trail that was recommended to us in between Bagley and Jamaica. Railroad trails are awesome because the railroad takes direct and flat routes. The Subway in Panora treated us well and we cruised the remaining 40 miles to my college roommate, Ken's, house in Des Moines. We were required to buy day use permits on the trail for $2, which we thought was strange.
Ken's family welcomed us with showers, laundry, two delicious meals and some fun stories about Ken as a youngster. We've got a big day tomorrow for the push to Davenport, 180 miles in one day hopefully!

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
6:06:51	85.5	1945	13.9	29.2

"I live in a beach house with 5 girls, you can always stay with us!" - Day 17

Got up this morning at 6, broke camp and were on the road by 7:30. The rolling hills of Iowa were tough, and the roads were bumpy, had no shoulder and decent semi traffic. Combine that with the smell of the pig farms and it made for a taxing day.

Our modus operandi has been to go into convenience stores and choose food that offers the highest calorie content per dollar. This means eating a lot of donuts, trail mix, pastries and other scurmptious foodstuffs. This morning, we discovered granola bars for $0.25 that offered 210 calories. That's 840 calories for a dollar. Admittedly our boiled potatoes at the beginning of the trip were better, but these granola bars are sure tasty!

In between Remsen and Correctionville, we saw a lady running with a dog on the hill in front of us. As we passed, she shouted "he's not mine!" and continued on her way. Wanting for company, and not having seen a dog in a while, I encouraged our furry black friend to join us. The dog proceeded to chase us for the next mile and a half, gaining steadily on us on the up hills and losing ground on the down hills. Eventually he broke off when he found some construction workers on the side of the road.
We stopped for lunch in Schleswig, where we were also able to use the internet at the public library to check the weather. We could see storms brewing to the southwest and watched on the radar as they passed over Denison. By the time we got underway again, the storm was well clear of our zigzagging path towards Des Moines. The greasy hamburgers from Cheeta's didn't treat us well though, so we slowed it down in the afternoon.
My hungry caterpillar mode struck again in Manning, where we stopped at a grocery store and I once again indulged myself with two peaches and a plum in the parking lot. There, we started talking to Mary and Zack, who gave us directions on where to camp and a Rails to Trails route to Des Moines. Eventually, they invited us over to their house for hamburgers!
Once we got indoors, they realized that in order to survive dinner, they'd probably have to offer us showers too. After a delightful dinner with them and Zack's friend, Pat, we took siezed the opportunity of internet access and cell phone chargers to lay out our plan for the end of the trip. Travis' friend in New York wasn't working out, so I contacted my friend, Jocelyn. She was excited to hear about our trip and when I hinted that we were looking for a place to stay, she replied with the wonderful text: I live in a beach house with 5 girls, you can always stay with us!" Needless to say, we changed our destination from New York City to the beach house in Stamford, Connecticut.

Pat escorted us in his truck to the local campground where the mosquitoes weren't bad at all. We've got two days of housing to look forward to in Des Moines and Davenport and after looking at the map today, think we'll have about 10 days left after Davenport.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
8:58:52	117.0	1859	12.9	37.0

"Food tastes so much better when you've been riding a bike for the past 16 days!" - Day 16

Day 16. Wow. Woke up around 7:30, got breakfast at a convenience store, and set off for Sioux Falls. Winds were out of the north, which wasn't optimal but was better than a headwind. My glove tan is getting pretty good, and we're running low on sunscreen so I went without it today.
The patched tube that Travis patched bit the dust just outside of Sioux Falls and after fixing it the liner had gotten cockeyed. So I got the pleasure of using our cheap, yet seemingly reliable, Walmart hand pump to inflate the tire to 100 psi twice.

Dad left at the first exit in town for the bus station while we continued to Two Wheeler Deeler, an owner of which we met in Spearfish. Interstate 90 had taken us nearly half way across the country, but it was not with any great sadness that we left it for I-29. We were given a warm welcome by with a flat tire for Travis no less than a mile south of I-90. Armed with the tubes from yesterday, we made it to Subway before splitting up with Travis going to the bike shop and me heading to the grocery store. I downed two peaches and a plum before joining Travis at the bike shop. My rear wheel had gotten pretty messed up by the double flat yesterday, but Travis was able to true it in no time.
We initially planned to head south on I-29, but it was uncomfortably crowded and so we began picking our way southeast towards Des Moines on the back roads. We aren't entirely sure how far the whole ride will be, but it we're guessing about 3,300 miles. Hence, I finally got the opportunity to belt Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer: "Whooa, we're half way there! Whooa, livin' on a prayer!" A bit later, we crossed into Iowa by Akron and after looking at the map, set a goal of Le Mars, 21 miles away.
In Le Mars we got delicious cheese balls at Bob's Inn before heading to a local little league game. We caught two innings of that before heading to the bar to look for a place to sleep. The locals recommended the city park, so that's where we are. Hopefully it's free!

Tomorrow we're going to try to reach Templeton, well over halfway to Des Moines. Spirits are still high, even though the back roads are hilly, they are much more peaceful and enjoyable.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
8:42:36	129.7	1742	14.8	30.9

"You guys are threading the needle." - Day 15

Travis was so exhausted from yesterday that he passed out on the couch and slept most of the night on the couch but made it to the bed by around 5 am. We didn't wake up until 8, leaving an hour for us to get "continental breakfast" which consisted of bread, butter, peanut butter, jelly, cinnamon rolls, and no more than 2 tiny cups of orange juice. Still, it was good.
We set out on a frontage road because I-90 was under construction and made great time on account of the huge tailwinds and flat terrain. I didn't eat for the first two hours and was hence famished when we stopped to refill water 40 miles in. I bought a box of donuts (1,500 calories) and trail mix (1,170 calories). Both were finished before 4 pm.

Travis and my dad crossing the Missouri River

We continued towards Mitchell with Travis flatting once. Later I got both of my tires on one pothole which left us wanting for one tube. I had to use a stick-on patch which lasted 15 minutes before flatting a mile from the first exit for Mitchell. Dad went ahead to get tubes and a glue-based patch kit, while I fixed it again. We made it into the city on my freshly repatched tube, got some Subway, and decided to push 30 miles on to Salem.

We were making great time and still had four hours before the sun would go down. I led for the final 10 miles into Salem, really pushing hard to repay Travis for setting such a grueling pace yesterday. Our average was probably about 22 mph for the final 5 miles in. Dad got a motel, we showered for the second day in a row, got burgers and beer and then prepared to hit the sack.
Looking at the weather in the motel, it was a wonder that we haven't been rained on while riding yet. My dad had been watching the weather from home as I updated him on our position and he said that we've been threading the needle in terms of avoiding the storms. Hopefully it keeps up!

We've done 402.7 miles in the past three days, so we're up to where we wanted to be at 100 miles/day. We're going to try to get to Des Moines early on Thursday, push really hard the 170+ miles to Davenport on Friday, and then take Saturday off. Zoom zoom.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
7:18:06	133.9	1613	18.3	33.4