Day 5

I started off the day by having breakfast with Elaine. Her and Tom are really two of the nicest people I have ever met. I helped her a little with her Brooks saddle and I was on my way. Bruce, however, didn't want me to go. He followed me almost all the way out to the road.

Or should I say, I followed him. About 20 feet after I left the driveway, my mom called. While I was talking to her, I heard footsteps behind me. It was Elaine. Bruce was missing. I though "oh great, these folks put me up for the night and I lost their dog..." So, I turned around to help find him. He was waiting for me back at the house! After saying one last goodbye to him, I turned around and started off again. I saw some really beautiful scenery on my way out of town. 

 

A lot of the time, I could imagine Civil War troops marching along these shady paths. 

I absolutely love all the farm land around these parts. The houses on the farms are so pretty too! Speaking of which, anyone want to buy a farm with me? So cheap!

Here are some more photos:

At this point I should have turned, but I didn't and got lost...or should I say, went onanistic adventure. 

^^The steed will suffice

I thought today would be a perfect day to blast done times as I rode along. 

The damn thing broke after like 2 miles. Anyone know how to fix a zipper?

As I got closer to my destination, all the lovely older buildings started popping up. When I landed at Bob and Cathie's house, they had me hop in the shower and invited me to dinner with them. We had steak and an amazing quinoa salad. Afterwards, I went downtown with them and helped myself to more ice cream than a human should consume. We even saw a live band performing. 

What a way to finish a bike ride! On the way back, we talked about the city and they invited me to stay another day so I can spend a whole day in DC. So, I took them up on the offer. I was reluctant, however, because I'm airtime concerned about not getting any mileage in. But I've been crushing it for the past few days so I figured it would be alright. All in all, 72 miles and an amazing day!

DC tomorrow via the Metro. No cycling for these legs!

Day 4

Made it into Maryland! What a spirit booster this was.

Today was absolutely wonderful. I went soooo slow - on purpose. I took a ton of pictures and ate some local cuisine. It was a fabulous day on the road. 

I started off in corn country. It was really interesting to pass through an area entirely dependent upon upon corn. 

You can't really tell but there is a grain elevator in the background. The first one I saw - though I did see plenty of grain hauling trucks, so they must have been going somewhere. Here is some more corn:

I likes seeing that. It's one good way to use the stuff!

David and I were trying to figure out which hill was going to be the biggest on my route, so I took pictures of all of them. 

Here was the first one:

After that I meandered across a big bridge:

That's the Susquehanna, to give you a reference. 

Then there was another hill:

The good thing about hills is that they usually lead to some incredible scenery:

I ran into an Australian couple coming up from Miami. I said I had heard there were some nasty hills up ahead. The man responded by say "nah, it's all down hill! Except for the up parts!"  I got a kick out of these folks. After the scenery comes and goes, there are usually more hills:

Then, I found it. The mother of all hills. I was wondering when I'd happen upon it. It went up:

And up:

And up some more:

When I finally reached the top, I ran into a kid who said I looked like I was having fun. I actually was though, it was a blast! He told me there were even bigger hills up ahead of me. Oh great. 

That dirty little liar. 

Once I saw this:

I got pretty excited. So excited I had to stop for food. I ordered a slice of cheese pizza from a place right off the main road and they practically gave me a quarter of a pie. 

Then, boom, I hit it. Maryland!

It was a little different than PA. A lot less Amish. 

After stealing maybe the best apple I've ever had in my life, I found my way to Tom and Elaine's house. I was greeted by this Bruce:

He is so adorable. Tom and I had dinner together and he just kept adding food to the table. It was great. I ate almost too much. We had great conversations all night and they really made me feel at home. 

So, after I think 67 miles, I had an amazing day!

Thanks again Tom and Elaine, I had a spectacular stay!

Now off to day 5: Rockville, MD

Day 3

Today started off so well! I tried something new for the day: sit upright, take my time and enjoy the ride. It worked wonderfully - for the first 35 miles. I was as happy as a clown. I found myself yelling "free miles" each time i coasted down a hill. I was really enjoying the ride. I was even taking more pictures - something i've been trying to remember to do.

The the hills happened. Oh god were there hills. To make matters worse, I wondered off course. After I reached the end of what I considered at the time to be the most grueling 7 miles I had ever ridden, I realized that I was far off course - exactly 7 miles.I wanted to just lay down on the side of the road and sleep. I was so bummed. But I eventually found myself back on course and even at a nice gas station that had the best chocolate milk I had ever tasted in my life.

$1.20. This stuff was amazing. This helped to brighten me up a little. But you know what really put a smile on my face? Seeing my first buggy!

I landed in Amish country. It was beautiful. Where do these buggies come from anyway? Is there a buggy dealership that you can purchase them at?

Anyway, After hours and hours of riding, I finally got close to my destination. I happened upon some home-made root beer being sold on the side of the road and helped myself to 12 oz of it. I had to keep myself from bonking. After meandering through some streets and 76 miles, I found my destination - David and Lindsay's house. I was so excited to see them. After a nice shower, they took me out to dinner and then to a baseball game. Their team won the title for the second year in a row, after two nail biting games. It was so exciting!

Afterwards we headed back to their house, hung out a little bit and then I went to bed. I slept like I've never slept before. It was great. Thank you so much, David and Lindsay. I loved hanging out with you for the night!

Now off to Day 4: Garretsville, MD. Maybe the hilliest day of my entire journey. this should be fun!

Day 2

Day 2 started off with a bang. Flat tire within 10 minutes. 

Luckily it was an easy fix. Looked like it was going to pour for a while but I only got a few drops. Heading south from New Hope was amazing. The houses and the landscape were beautiful. 

If I ever move back to the east, this is where that will be. Once I got into Conshohocken (?) I stopped at an REI and had a great time chatting with an employee named Drew. After I got a GPS from him, I was on my way again. At this point I was tired. Oh so tired. The weight was really getting to me. So much weight! I even ran into someone who had done some touring and with one look at my bike, he said "You've got too much wait!" To which I replied, "You're telling me!" After a grueling 15 mile ride down a bike path, I found my way to George & Barbara's house. Barbara gave me a big glass of ice tea to welcome me and sent my stinky butt to the shower. We talked and talked and had a genuinely good time sharing memories. After George got home, they took me out to dinner and I got the biggest burger on the menu. Apart from the beautiful scenery, spending time with George and Barbara was definitely the highlight of my day. When we got back to their house, they helped me clean out my bags and get rid of all the unnecessary weight. 15 lbs I think. This was very, very exciting for me. I'll be shipping all that stuff to my grandma and grandpa tomorrow. Today was exactly how I hope the rest of my trip goes: easy-fix problems, beautiful weather, and getting acquainted with some amazing people.

George and Barbara, I can't say thank you enough.

So, all in all, GREAT day! 63.75 miles and some wonderful memories.

Day 1

Today, I learned two things:

1. Never let your mother help pack your panniers.

2. Never trust google map's bicycle routes.

It was an interesting day on the steed. I started out my journey at Sandy Hook. Good idea right? Maybe. After loading the bike, my dad and I began walking said bike down to the salty waters of the Atlantic Ocean. All 400 yards through the sand were grueling. My dad and I certainly got a workout from it. Imagine pushing 115 lbs of crap across the fine New Jersey sand with just two narrow tires under it all. Fun. After we dipped the rear tire in the water and took some pictures, we turned around and pushed it all the way back to were it came from - the parking lot. After a quick lube, I was on my way. The ride down Sandy Hook was beautiful. Riding across from the New York skyline was something else. Once I got over the bridge, I followed some local roads to what was once a bike path. There were huge signs saying "Path Closed." Sure, I saw them - I just didn't SEE them. The trail was initially very nice. Then, I got to the reason why it was closed. After riding through sand, mud and ditches I found myself staring at a complete mess. Apparently the trail was never fully cleaned up after the storm. Goodie. There were tires, barrels, and even assorted pieces of cement and metal half buried in the sand. I had to pick bike up and carry all 115 lbs over tis stuff. It was an adventure to say the least. Once I got out of that mess, I followed a bike path for virtually half the ride. I can tell my handlebar bag and i are not going to be friends. It likes shift around a lot when I hit big bumps.

At mile 50, I was tired and out of water, so I stopped at a Wendy's to get a refill. While I was there, I also rewarded myself with a large chocolate frosty.

I immediately regretted this.

A few miles down the road, I happened upon a mountain bike trail that Google seemed to have thought appropriate for me. It was not. I looked at my maps and found an alternate route. Under construction. Wonderful. So where does Google take me? The highway, where else. After and hour of that, it then plopped me into the heart of ghetto Trenton and made me do circles in it. That was not fun. Im frankly surprised I didn't get more rude remarks than I did.

Finally I found my way to the place I would stay for the night. Sheri, thank you so much for letting me use your yard - it's beautiful. 

So, after 6.5 hours and 73 miles, my first day is complete. Tomorrow, I head through New Hope to Audubon, PA. Let's hope that ride doesn't have as many tricks.

Now to lie herein my tent and sweat myself to sleep.

Like always, the donation link is at the top - any help is appreciated!

Day 0

Well, it's the day before I take off and I couldn't be more excited. I've been getting some overwhelmingly positive responses from folks on Warmshowers.org. My family (most of them) and friends are all being incredibly supportive as well. There were just a few things I had to take care of before I left...

First was to shave my head!

Now, this was quite a morning. I woke up and decided that moment was as good as any to take some buzzers to my head. So, I rolled out of bed (can't you tell?), grabbed the clippers and met my parents outside. They did not think this was a good idea - I thought it was a great idea! Initially, the clippers were having trouble slicing through my hair so my mom grabbed a pair of scissors and went to town. She had a ball. Aunt Amy, you would have loved it. Once short enough, we were ready once again to press the buzzers to my scalp. Unfortunately, the buzzers weren't.

The buzzers died right in the middle of it. Great. I plugged the clippers in to charge, plopped a hat on my head and took to something else that has been awaiting my attention - packing my panniers. I checked my list of what I needed and started covering the pool table in assorted adventuring gear.

I instantly noticed that I was lacking a few necessities (bear spray!), so after a quick stop at REI I was ready to pack. Thanks to my mom, packing was made a lot easier. I was getting anxious. I looked real ugly, and I needed to do something about it. We quickly finished packing and headed back outside to finish what we started in the morning. The clippers were finally charged and they worked like a dream. After they did their part, we designated a pink disposable woman's razor ti finish the job. A few nicked moles and one burning scalp later, I was shaved.

It doesn't look that bad, does it? I do have a rather lumpy head...

Finally, to finish it all off, we got the bags on my bike and I took it for a ride.

Heavy. Oh, so heavy. But it still rides like a dream. It handles hills incredibly well. I LOVE THIS BIKE. I'm going to enjoy every mile of this trip - well, at least half of them.

Tomorrow begins Day 1. My parents will be taking me to Sandy Hook at some point early in the morning. I'll be heading, from there, to just outside Trenton. I've been in touch with a wonderful person who is going to let me use her back yard while she is away for the weekend. i really couldn't be more excited. Nervous? Maybe a little. I can best relate this feeling to that of an incoming college freshman. A whole lot of excitement, but I really don't have a clue what I'll be getting into. We'll find out tomorrow if I'm going to love this as much as I think I will...

Folks, don't forget to donate and tell all your friends about my fundraiser. Any bit of help is greatly appreciated. I've even made it easy by creating a link-button up top for you!