A Day Off in Bartlesville, OK! Home of Conoco-Phillips Oil, a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and an incredibly hospitable church here, the Adams Blvd Church of Christ. Today I may also go to "Woolaroc," ranch of Frank Phillips with lots of Native American artifacts and animals.
Yesterday, Melanie, Emily B., and I played a game called "Wow, we only have a 40 mile day today!" This game is designed to make an 80 mile day seem much less hard. After our lunch stop at mile 40, we pretended that we had just started biking for the day, and gosh, did our leaders think we were wimps or something, just giving us 40 miles to do today?? This made the time pass fairly quickly, and though it had been threatening rain all day, the heavens did not open until we were only about five miles away from Bartlesville on our "40 mile day." There has been an incredible flow of rainfall in Oklahoma over the last couple of weeks, and we could see as we were biking that the rivers and ditches were overflowing their banks. Not until we biked through the flash flood coming into Bartlesville did we really realize why! It was SUPER FUN! Like stomping in puddles when you are six, careening through huge puddles on your bike, with warm rain pounding all around you. I had not been feeling so great all day (I think I am coming down with a cold), but that last five miles made me come in beaming because it was so hilarious that we were biking through these kind of conditions.
I think I am plateau-ing a bit in regard to biking. I am starting to feel a bit of the compulsory nature inherent in doing a bike trip as opposed to a bike ride - there are no choices really - you have to bike to the next town. There's no other option. And you don't always feel happy to be sitting on your bike seat for 5-6 hours. It is a lot of exercise. So I need to recover my joy in biking since I only have a month left! And of course I am still so incredibly happy to be doing this, don't get me wrong. Just some days are easier than others.
The terrain is changing rapidly now that we are Oklahoma (and will continue to change as we get close to Colorado Springs, where Mom is coming to visit me ! ! !). The Ozarks were, while only baby mountains compared to the Smokies where we cut our teeth, quite steep and more intense than I was expecting. We had a few climbs that had me breathing heavy, though I am happy to report that I almost never stop biking now on any climbs after my Appalachian training. My tan is incredible. My arms have turned to what I would describe as a nut brown, almond in particular, the outside of the almond. Melanie is so funny because her skin is so fair that she looks like the creamy inside of the almond, except she gets pink every single day! While I continue to get more and more mocha colored. Soon I will look like one of those ladies in Florida (NOT you Aunt Diane!!) who lay out all the time and have brown leathery skin. Unfortunately.
The Ozarks were beautiful, though not as beautiful as the Smokies to my eye. They were smaller, more rolling. More nice farmland though (the refrain of this journey). We went through a mini-Gatlinburg in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, complete with about 14 wedding chapels. It is apparently the Little Switzerland of the Ozarks. There were many themed hotels. I mean themed in their architecture, either Tudor style or Victorian style, but everything a bit overdone. There is a trolley that stops at every hotel to take people from place to place along the one road through Eureka Springs.
A very exciting day was crossing into Oklahoma because we got to cross into Missouri too! The whole group stayed together (mostly) throughout the day so we have some awesome pictures from the state lines.
Tomorrow I'm having dinner with my Aunt Jane and Uncle Perry, which I think I already said somewhere, and then we're off - only one more week until my visit with Mom in Colorado Springs, and then only two more weeks until we're there in San Diego!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Hello from Harrison, Arkansas, the biggest town we've passed in days at about 15,000 inhabitants. Other towns in the Ozarks and the flatlands leading up to them were more like hamlets, with laughable population signs: 80, 150 (more or less, the sign said), and finally a whopping 485. Yesterday we had thunderstorms all morning that were supposed to continue all day on our first real century day, soooo! After 40 miles we stopped riding and were shuttled the rest of the way! It was AMAZING! Not to be a wimp, but I was exhausted, and today I had about the best ride ever because I was just so refreshed.
Some things I've seen in the last few days:
lots of cows and horses, and this is the season for adorable calves and foals!
finally, lots of dead armadillos, what fascinating creatures
in Arkansas, lots of rice paddies in the flat lands, also sohrgum, not a common crop, soybeans, corn, and I think cotton and potatoes
a horde of mosquitoes at our campsite that has made every single person here in itching agony
I didn't write about this earlier, but on the way to Memphis, I saw a DEAD HORSE. Just lying by the side of the road, with no eyes, rigor mortis, and tons of flies. After further investigation, in this very rural farmland, when livestock die, the county provides the free service of picking them up and sending them to either the glue factory or the "rendering" factory.
In Memphis, we went to a piano bar on Beale Street, and sang Piano Man and Country Roads and Tiny Dancer about a million times.
I had to put new tires on my bike. They are called ARMADILLOS, HAHA! Because they are puncture-resistant. Here's hoping they get me to the Pacific!
Over and out for now. This Saturday I will see my Aunt Jane and Uncle Perry in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and I am very excited for that! They are driving down from Wichita. And Calicoe and Elissa sent me an AWESOME care package.
Love, Emily
Some things I've seen in the last few days:
lots of cows and horses, and this is the season for adorable calves and foals!
finally, lots of dead armadillos, what fascinating creatures
in Arkansas, lots of rice paddies in the flat lands, also sohrgum, not a common crop, soybeans, corn, and I think cotton and potatoes
a horde of mosquitoes at our campsite that has made every single person here in itching agony
I didn't write about this earlier, but on the way to Memphis, I saw a DEAD HORSE. Just lying by the side of the road, with no eyes, rigor mortis, and tons of flies. After further investigation, in this very rural farmland, when livestock die, the county provides the free service of picking them up and sending them to either the glue factory or the "rendering" factory.
In Memphis, we went to a piano bar on Beale Street, and sang Piano Man and Country Roads and Tiny Dancer about a million times.
I had to put new tires on my bike. They are called ARMADILLOS, HAHA! Because they are puncture-resistant. Here's hoping they get me to the Pacific!
Over and out for now. This Saturday I will see my Aunt Jane and Uncle Perry in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and I am very excited for that! They are driving down from Wichita. And Calicoe and Elissa sent me an AWESOME care package.
Love, Emily
Sunday, June 17, 2007
From the Beating Heart of the Southland
I am Sewanee, TN, home of the University of the South, actually staying on the campus. We're camping next to a manmade lake tonight. (In the South, there are Sonics and Piggy Wigglies. Sonic is good especially for ice cream blasts, and we saw an employee on roller blades in Dunlap. I think originally it was a roller skating drive in eatery. Piggy Wigglies...well I've only passed them and not gone in for groceries, but a name like that is so comical.) I went swimming in the lake after my ride, which completely hit the spot, and it's a nice place to camp with a pavilion. My appetite has definitely revved up again now that we've been riding. And something exciting!! I am now in the Central Time Zone!!! We're also going to bed earlier, at 9:30, and getting up at 5. I hate getting up early. But getting here before being boiled in my own skin by the sun is Worth It!
The best part of the last two days has been my riding group, the "Chainrollers" (pronounced "Chainrolla's"). We do a pace line sometimes, so we can all draft off of each other, switching who is in front every half mile. It's like geese! We also wait for each other if we get flat tires or fall behind. The core four of this group are me, Melanie, Lee Anne, and Ivey, though sometimes others too. And the initiation is that you have to tell a story involving feces/defecation. And yesterday I blew my first snot rocket! I know. My hygiene goes more and more downhill everyday I lack a steady base to call home. And every day I am covered in sweat, sunscreen, chain grease, and assorted grime. This morning I noticed that because we were doing a big climb in the morning, instead of in the heat of the afternoon, I was only subtly glistening with sweat, instead of dripping it. That was nice. Getting up at 5 is worth it in this hot climate. And Friday we have a day off in Memphis!! Only 270 miles from here (ha!) And I am getting a MASSAGE. I've been planning this since before I left. I'm getting an arnica sore muscle massage, and man I can sure use it. The masseuse will probably be full of pity for my knotted muscles. That first day on the bike after our break in Maryville was tough! (only because I got so out of shape already) But it was also SHORT, only about 32 miles thankfully, and only rolling hills. I also got my first flat tire, which I fixed with a Cliff Bar wrapper, a perfectly acceptable practice, and then we realized that the National Guard Armory where we were staying was only about 500 feet farther up the hill!! Oops. I could have just walked, or probably rode, rather than make 5 people wait for me to change the tire. I also got another flat yesterday! But I think it was in the same spot because the Cliff Bar wrapper got moved when I was deflating and inflating yesterday afternoon. This time I used a Nutrigrain bar wrapper, and have experienced no further problems, after patching both punctured tubes.
Ok and here's a revelation! Bike chains and sprockets and cassettes, all those moving parts - are supposed to be SILVER, not black! When they are black they are dirty, and you need to clean them with rags, soapy water, and degreaser, and then relube them. I was astounded. And also to learn that our little patch kits are only to patch the tube inside the tire, and when your tire is punctured a little bit, you just ride on a cliff bar wrapper to plug the hole until something worse happens! So I'm pretty sure that before San Diego, I will have to invest in a new pair of tires, but I will keep going on these for now. I also added up the total I spend on equipment, and it falls in the neighborhood of $750+. That is a lot of $. New tires will bring it up to over $800 probably, and then I just bought my plane tickets home (with a detour to Portland), so there goes a good chunk of $! I am praying that I will be gainfully employed in the fall so that I can pay back my loan before the grace period is up, and boost up my savings to buy a car. Anyway, biking.
Something else I want to write about is the smells of biking across the country. Every sense is so much more visceral when you are on a bike - feeling the wind, feeling the burn in your thighs, and then the scents - the heady smell of honeysuckle is one we smell often, but far more often is the putrid stench of roadkill. I'm pretty sure that I've seen more dead animals than live ones, even including all of the herds of cattle we've passed now. That's bad! How do I feel about the infrastructure of America? Without it, I couldn't do what I'm doing either, but any thought I ever glancingly had of animals having any kind of peaceful coexistence with humans is completely shattered. Papa said we will see a lot of dead armadillos in Oklahoma. Is a bad I am excited for this?? Just to see armadillos I mean.
I think maybe this is just about enough for today. We have had some interesting host sites in Tennessee. Unlike in North Carolina, where we stayed almost exclusively in churches, in Tennessee, we have stayed at a camp (though a churchy camp), a National Guard Armory, a rescue squad, and a college lakeside campsite. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I'm riding sweep to Pulaski, TN, so it will be a loooong day in the sun, but lots of fun to be able to relax, go slow, and take lots of pictures. And though I do not dare to predict anything involving hills (it seems that every time I say, I think we're at the top! I am completely wrong), I know that there are no major mountain ranges left. And perhaps no more ridges either? We had one major climb yesterday, and one today, but neither have been anything compared to what we did in the real mountains and I love it that I feel so strong! And rolling hills can be awesome with the Chainrolla's momentum.
Over and out from the University that pretends to be THE University (of VA),
Emily
The best part of the last two days has been my riding group, the "Chainrollers" (pronounced "Chainrolla's"). We do a pace line sometimes, so we can all draft off of each other, switching who is in front every half mile. It's like geese! We also wait for each other if we get flat tires or fall behind. The core four of this group are me, Melanie, Lee Anne, and Ivey, though sometimes others too. And the initiation is that you have to tell a story involving feces/defecation. And yesterday I blew my first snot rocket! I know. My hygiene goes more and more downhill everyday I lack a steady base to call home. And every day I am covered in sweat, sunscreen, chain grease, and assorted grime. This morning I noticed that because we were doing a big climb in the morning, instead of in the heat of the afternoon, I was only subtly glistening with sweat, instead of dripping it. That was nice. Getting up at 5 is worth it in this hot climate. And Friday we have a day off in Memphis!! Only 270 miles from here (ha!) And I am getting a MASSAGE. I've been planning this since before I left. I'm getting an arnica sore muscle massage, and man I can sure use it. The masseuse will probably be full of pity for my knotted muscles. That first day on the bike after our break in Maryville was tough! (only because I got so out of shape already) But it was also SHORT, only about 32 miles thankfully, and only rolling hills. I also got my first flat tire, which I fixed with a Cliff Bar wrapper, a perfectly acceptable practice, and then we realized that the National Guard Armory where we were staying was only about 500 feet farther up the hill!! Oops. I could have just walked, or probably rode, rather than make 5 people wait for me to change the tire. I also got another flat yesterday! But I think it was in the same spot because the Cliff Bar wrapper got moved when I was deflating and inflating yesterday afternoon. This time I used a Nutrigrain bar wrapper, and have experienced no further problems, after patching both punctured tubes.
Ok and here's a revelation! Bike chains and sprockets and cassettes, all those moving parts - are supposed to be SILVER, not black! When they are black they are dirty, and you need to clean them with rags, soapy water, and degreaser, and then relube them. I was astounded. And also to learn that our little patch kits are only to patch the tube inside the tire, and when your tire is punctured a little bit, you just ride on a cliff bar wrapper to plug the hole until something worse happens! So I'm pretty sure that before San Diego, I will have to invest in a new pair of tires, but I will keep going on these for now. I also added up the total I spend on equipment, and it falls in the neighborhood of $750+. That is a lot of $. New tires will bring it up to over $800 probably, and then I just bought my plane tickets home (with a detour to Portland), so there goes a good chunk of $! I am praying that I will be gainfully employed in the fall so that I can pay back my loan before the grace period is up, and boost up my savings to buy a car. Anyway, biking.
Something else I want to write about is the smells of biking across the country. Every sense is so much more visceral when you are on a bike - feeling the wind, feeling the burn in your thighs, and then the scents - the heady smell of honeysuckle is one we smell often, but far more often is the putrid stench of roadkill. I'm pretty sure that I've seen more dead animals than live ones, even including all of the herds of cattle we've passed now. That's bad! How do I feel about the infrastructure of America? Without it, I couldn't do what I'm doing either, but any thought I ever glancingly had of animals having any kind of peaceful coexistence with humans is completely shattered. Papa said we will see a lot of dead armadillos in Oklahoma. Is a bad I am excited for this?? Just to see armadillos I mean.
I think maybe this is just about enough for today. We have had some interesting host sites in Tennessee. Unlike in North Carolina, where we stayed almost exclusively in churches, in Tennessee, we have stayed at a camp (though a churchy camp), a National Guard Armory, a rescue squad, and a college lakeside campsite. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I'm riding sweep to Pulaski, TN, so it will be a loooong day in the sun, but lots of fun to be able to relax, go slow, and take lots of pictures. And though I do not dare to predict anything involving hills (it seems that every time I say, I think we're at the top! I am completely wrong), I know that there are no major mountain ranges left. And perhaps no more ridges either? We had one major climb yesterday, and one today, but neither have been anything compared to what we did in the real mountains and I love it that I feel so strong! And rolling hills can be awesome with the Chainrolla's momentum.
Over and out from the University that pretends to be THE University (of VA),
Emily
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Finally!
So here I am in Maryville, TN, with a library at last, and hopefully enough time to write about all that has happened, do my affordable housing curriculum, and write a cover letter for a job, and buy a plane ticket. Sigh. I think everyone has left me to go to the bluegrass festival.
I'm not sure where to start. Maybe I'll work backwards. Last night we went to a bar in Maryville called the "Bullpen." It was kind of sketchy, but a lot of fun since we were all together. The bartender was nice enough to give the under-21s an X on their hands (in dry erase marker, so that it would wipe off easily) so that they would be allowed in to join our redneck dance party. Is that rude to use the word redneck? Maybe. There were a lot of ladies with big hair. And a lot of lecherous older men eyeing the ladies with big hair. We get some interesting views of America on this trip, like in Gatlinburg (is it Calicoe or Risa who called it Gatlin-Vegas? complete with Smoky Mtn. Wedding Chapel, fudge shoppes and "old time photo" places on every corner, in addition to a fake space needle, and multiple ripley's believe it or not type illusion places with creepy moving figures) It's really hard to even do it justice with the few pictures I took. We also passed through Cherokee, NC that day, where the Cherokee Indian Reservation is, and a huge casino owned by the tribe. In the town, all of the roadsigns are in both English and Cherokee. One of my pictures is of the high school, whose name is written on the side in Cherokee. Also, many of the roads were named for people. And instead of campaign signs for mayor, there were campaign signs for chief and vice-chief. Interesting huh? But then I was wondering a lot about how the Cherokee felt about the pretty crass commercialization of their culture. I rode through without taking a lot of pictures, but there were stores selling "Indian" stuff everywhere, and some places where there were Indians dressed in neon feathers and robes to do some kind of dances for tourists to watch (I mean, neon feathers?? how unauthentic can you get?) Also there were HUGE statues of Indians in front of some of the stores which just looked really stereotyping and fakey. Andrew got like four flats that day, so we were stopped at this little store place right before the reservation. Sometimes I am so disappointed in men, especially old men and their lechery, as stated above in the Bullpen bar section. The very old man in the store (the owner) started talking to me about our trip or something when I asked where the bathroom was, and somehow he mentioned how much he loves women, and did I ever meet a man who didn't love women?
So then of course I pushed the button, saying well, gay men don't love women.
"They should be shot."
That is what he said. And I was like all right well see you later!
We had so many hard days before this break, and I mean
HARD
like don't think you can do it, riding your bike uphill when it's hot as hell from 8 AM to 7 PM
HARD
The mountains. How do I even describe the crazy rides I somehow completed through the mountains? I'm completely mystified when I look back at them from Maryville (We can still see them in the distance.) I am pretty sure from the talks we've had that no other trip will ever have to do rides as hard as ours. Because this is the first time for this trip, we are the sad guinea pigs who didn't realize that riding 80 miles UPHILL is TOO FAR for ONE DAY and also TOO MUCH to do for THREE DAYS IN A ROW.
But then somehow I did, which makes the accomplishment even greater. And I feel stronger now when I ride. Yesterday coming to Maryville I was not happy about the hill we encountered after only a few miles which also seemed to stretch up and up. I thought Ohhhh NO. not again. not again. But I did know that I could do anything after what I just did, and that all the hills from here until the Rockies will never be as hard or as long as what I already did. And the hill ended up being (comparatively) short and then downhill for miles and miles and miles, but the kind of gentle downhill that makes you love the world because you don't need to brake, and you don't need to pedal, you just coast without going too fast as you follow the course of the beautiful mountains stream. Other downhills have not been so nice. They have been steeper, longer, and bumpier, so that your feet go numb from being still, hands get numb and cramped from breaking, and my right shoulder gets spasms from shifting and breaking almost every day which are only exacerabated by those scarier downhills. And then of course you are trying to avoid cars that get pissed off that you are only going 25 mph (this is about my personal safety limit on a downhill) and try to pass you (this is so dumb when you are on a curvy downhill mountain road), and making sure that you don't run over gravel or a hole in the road that could throw you off your bike. I mean the whole endeavor is somewhat fraught with peril and I wonder if I am the only one who feels this way, and I don't mean to scare parents! I am really glad that I am going with a group and I have made a personal pact to never ride by myself because it's just too scary with traffic and directions and stuff, and also to try to get ready earlier in the morning so I do not ever get left behind as sometimes has happened to me.
I saw some awesome things on this trip: I saw mules for the first time I can remember. I saw a fox that walked right out in front of my bike (I was going very slow because I was going uphill), made eye contact with me, and then calmly walked back into the woods. In one day I bike from basically the bottom of a mountain range to its highest point at Mt. Mitchell, and climbed total I think about 8,000 feet in elevation (this is the sum of all the uphills we climbed, highest elevation I saw a sign for was about 5,900 feet.) It was so cool to realize that I was now at eye level with the tops of all the mountains around me, instead of looking up at them as I had been that morning, and that I had gotten there of my own locomotion. Also, that I didn't walk my bike at all.
And then the next day, making it to the North Carolina-Tennessee state line (also at the top of ANOTHER mountain), and I really didn't know if I could make it up another one. And then after lunch it was like a "last chance to get in the van" before Gatlinburg scenario, so I had to decide if I could make it all the way to Gatlinburg or not! But I did. Even though it was the third day in a row that I spent 11 or 12 hours on my bike. Which is why it has been so good to have a week of not bike riding, though my appetite has not decreased.
I mean personally, it's has been pretty frustrating to feel like I have been working really hard to continue going when I am exhausted, and not walk as I said before, but it still takes me 11 hours to finish a ride when we're supposed to be able to finish by 4 PM with detours. There have been so many things I wanted to stop and look at or take pictures of, and I feel like I can't stop because I will either get left behind by the group I'm with or we're on a downhill and it's hard to stop, or I simply can't stop if I want to have any hope of getting there before dark. That is one of the reasons why being sweep with Ryan was so great - because I knew we had to take a long time and stay in the back, so we could take lots of pictures and stop all the time with no pressure to hurry. I actually made fun of him a lot because I kept asking him if he noticed all of these things that I saw along the way and he hadn't seen any of them! Why bike across America if you're not going to look around all the time? It was funny.
Alan came to visit me in Chapel Hill, and it was so great to see him, and hard watching him leave. It is very easy to feel lonely when you are doing something like this because it's inherently emotional to push like this every day, at least for me. I was definitely one of the people (whose names wouldn't be mentioned in Eric's journal entry?) who pulled into Winston Salem and started sobbing because I didn't ever think that I was ever going to get there. Plus there are three other couples on the trip, and when you see how much they rely on each other for emotional support it makes you feel worse that one of your main emotional support structures isn't there to help you, but also more self reliant I guess, that you really are on your own to do this.
I think that's all I have to say for right now. Hopefully I will be coming back to the library again as I still have quite a bit to do and catch up on. Thanks for all of your comments and phone calls!
I'm not sure where to start. Maybe I'll work backwards. Last night we went to a bar in Maryville called the "Bullpen." It was kind of sketchy, but a lot of fun since we were all together. The bartender was nice enough to give the under-21s an X on their hands (in dry erase marker, so that it would wipe off easily) so that they would be allowed in to join our redneck dance party. Is that rude to use the word redneck? Maybe. There were a lot of ladies with big hair. And a lot of lecherous older men eyeing the ladies with big hair. We get some interesting views of America on this trip, like in Gatlinburg (is it Calicoe or Risa who called it Gatlin-Vegas? complete with Smoky Mtn. Wedding Chapel, fudge shoppes and "old time photo" places on every corner, in addition to a fake space needle, and multiple ripley's believe it or not type illusion places with creepy moving figures) It's really hard to even do it justice with the few pictures I took. We also passed through Cherokee, NC that day, where the Cherokee Indian Reservation is, and a huge casino owned by the tribe. In the town, all of the roadsigns are in both English and Cherokee. One of my pictures is of the high school, whose name is written on the side in Cherokee. Also, many of the roads were named for people. And instead of campaign signs for mayor, there were campaign signs for chief and vice-chief. Interesting huh? But then I was wondering a lot about how the Cherokee felt about the pretty crass commercialization of their culture. I rode through without taking a lot of pictures, but there were stores selling "Indian" stuff everywhere, and some places where there were Indians dressed in neon feathers and robes to do some kind of dances for tourists to watch (I mean, neon feathers?? how unauthentic can you get?) Also there were HUGE statues of Indians in front of some of the stores which just looked really stereotyping and fakey. Andrew got like four flats that day, so we were stopped at this little store place right before the reservation. Sometimes I am so disappointed in men, especially old men and their lechery, as stated above in the Bullpen bar section. The very old man in the store (the owner) started talking to me about our trip or something when I asked where the bathroom was, and somehow he mentioned how much he loves women, and did I ever meet a man who didn't love women?
So then of course I pushed the button, saying well, gay men don't love women.
"They should be shot."
That is what he said. And I was like all right well see you later!
We had so many hard days before this break, and I mean
HARD
like don't think you can do it, riding your bike uphill when it's hot as hell from 8 AM to 7 PM
HARD
The mountains. How do I even describe the crazy rides I somehow completed through the mountains? I'm completely mystified when I look back at them from Maryville (We can still see them in the distance.) I am pretty sure from the talks we've had that no other trip will ever have to do rides as hard as ours. Because this is the first time for this trip, we are the sad guinea pigs who didn't realize that riding 80 miles UPHILL is TOO FAR for ONE DAY and also TOO MUCH to do for THREE DAYS IN A ROW.
But then somehow I did, which makes the accomplishment even greater. And I feel stronger now when I ride. Yesterday coming to Maryville I was not happy about the hill we encountered after only a few miles which also seemed to stretch up and up. I thought Ohhhh NO. not again. not again. But I did know that I could do anything after what I just did, and that all the hills from here until the Rockies will never be as hard or as long as what I already did. And the hill ended up being (comparatively) short and then downhill for miles and miles and miles, but the kind of gentle downhill that makes you love the world because you don't need to brake, and you don't need to pedal, you just coast without going too fast as you follow the course of the beautiful mountains stream. Other downhills have not been so nice. They have been steeper, longer, and bumpier, so that your feet go numb from being still, hands get numb and cramped from breaking, and my right shoulder gets spasms from shifting and breaking almost every day which are only exacerabated by those scarier downhills. And then of course you are trying to avoid cars that get pissed off that you are only going 25 mph (this is about my personal safety limit on a downhill) and try to pass you (this is so dumb when you are on a curvy downhill mountain road), and making sure that you don't run over gravel or a hole in the road that could throw you off your bike. I mean the whole endeavor is somewhat fraught with peril and I wonder if I am the only one who feels this way, and I don't mean to scare parents! I am really glad that I am going with a group and I have made a personal pact to never ride by myself because it's just too scary with traffic and directions and stuff, and also to try to get ready earlier in the morning so I do not ever get left behind as sometimes has happened to me.
I saw some awesome things on this trip: I saw mules for the first time I can remember. I saw a fox that walked right out in front of my bike (I was going very slow because I was going uphill), made eye contact with me, and then calmly walked back into the woods. In one day I bike from basically the bottom of a mountain range to its highest point at Mt. Mitchell, and climbed total I think about 8,000 feet in elevation (this is the sum of all the uphills we climbed, highest elevation I saw a sign for was about 5,900 feet.) It was so cool to realize that I was now at eye level with the tops of all the mountains around me, instead of looking up at them as I had been that morning, and that I had gotten there of my own locomotion. Also, that I didn't walk my bike at all.
And then the next day, making it to the North Carolina-Tennessee state line (also at the top of ANOTHER mountain), and I really didn't know if I could make it up another one. And then after lunch it was like a "last chance to get in the van" before Gatlinburg scenario, so I had to decide if I could make it all the way to Gatlinburg or not! But I did. Even though it was the third day in a row that I spent 11 or 12 hours on my bike. Which is why it has been so good to have a week of not bike riding, though my appetite has not decreased.
I mean personally, it's has been pretty frustrating to feel like I have been working really hard to continue going when I am exhausted, and not walk as I said before, but it still takes me 11 hours to finish a ride when we're supposed to be able to finish by 4 PM with detours. There have been so many things I wanted to stop and look at or take pictures of, and I feel like I can't stop because I will either get left behind by the group I'm with or we're on a downhill and it's hard to stop, or I simply can't stop if I want to have any hope of getting there before dark. That is one of the reasons why being sweep with Ryan was so great - because I knew we had to take a long time and stay in the back, so we could take lots of pictures and stop all the time with no pressure to hurry. I actually made fun of him a lot because I kept asking him if he noticed all of these things that I saw along the way and he hadn't seen any of them! Why bike across America if you're not going to look around all the time? It was funny.
Alan came to visit me in Chapel Hill, and it was so great to see him, and hard watching him leave. It is very easy to feel lonely when you are doing something like this because it's inherently emotional to push like this every day, at least for me. I was definitely one of the people (whose names wouldn't be mentioned in Eric's journal entry?) who pulled into Winston Salem and started sobbing because I didn't ever think that I was ever going to get there. Plus there are three other couples on the trip, and when you see how much they rely on each other for emotional support it makes you feel worse that one of your main emotional support structures isn't there to help you, but also more self reliant I guess, that you really are on your own to do this.
I think that's all I have to say for right now. Hopefully I will be coming back to the library again as I still have quite a bit to do and catch up on. Thanks for all of your comments and phone calls!
Monday, June 4, 2007
almost a century
Yesterday I rode almost 100 miles! I'm not sure exactly how far. Probably about 90. I thought I was never going to get there, and cried when I did, and there was a road we were on that dead ended on a highway which was really scary. And when I saw we, I mean "I" because I was all by myself for the last few hours (I rode my bike from 8:30 to 6:30), which was why it was so scary. I have to run actually, it's 6:20 AM and we are riding again soon, so I have to get all packed up. Yesterday was all rainy and gross, though the farmland we passed through was beautiful. I took a long (wrong) detour, and was picked up by the van to go back to the lunch spot. Anyway, I want to tell all of my donors who look at this thank you so much again! I'm trying really hard to get your real thank you notes written and mailed. There are a bunch of people whose money came in just after I left that I forgot to add to this blog list, so sorry about that! Lots of love!! (and my muscles are definitely bigger)
Emily
Emily
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)