Central Kentucky to Eastern Missouri

Oh, boy. We have not had internet access for a week. We've travelled 577 miles and traversed an entire state since our last entry. Oof.
We'll start at the beginning: Booneville, KY to Berea, KY. The ride was fine, not much to speak of, but, mysteriously, team mediocre arrived in Berea 2 hours late. It seems Robin got Team Mediocre lost. Mapgirl led the three average cyclists up the area's only hill/mountain. Tim likened the incline to Mt. Everest and JP just sulked. Dinner was the Cracker Barrel. Deep-fried, commercialized southern culture. Tim "the Instigator" Cooke-Huore bet Joe he couldn't eat 15 biscuits before the meal; he was right. Joe left 'the Barrel' with his fried chicken livers in a doggie bag. He attacked the challenge, completing 12 biscuits and making a serious dent in the 13th, but sadly, he failed.
We skipped Springfield, KY as we heard it was budget, and rode straight on to Bardstown, KY. We camped at My Old Kentucky Home State Park and ate McDonalds. We played "In the Green Glass Room" and JP just sulked. Remember: in the green glass room there is the University of Pennsylvania and the College of William and Mary, but there is no Indiana University.
Bardstown to Rough River dam was a st-ruggle. Mapgirl woke us up at the buttcrack of dawn to get done before the heat. We ate breakfast in Hodgenville and were treated by the mayor himself, Stuart (surname unknown). Best buscuits thus far. Paula's Hot Biscuit is a must when visiting Hodgenville, Kentucky.
R-E-S-T D-A-Y. We spent a day at rough river dam state resort park. WE ate a 12 dollar buffet for dinner during which a few unsavory characters tricked Terence into eating frog legs. A raccoon stole Joe's cycling shoe.
The next stop was Sebree, KY. A sweet place, with excellent people. We stayed in the first baptist church which had amazing facilities: a big screen TV, 3 couches, a stellar kitchen, and an ice maker. We met a few members of the congregation who were exceptionally cool. One even lent us her Suburban so we could go to a drive-in movie. We liked Batman begins, at least those of us who remained awake for the duration did. Much thanks to the first baptist chuch.
Sebree to Tunnel Hill, Illinois. We were officially far from our respective homes. We completed our first century. We all made it no worse for the wear. We 'got 'er done'. We stayed at a private campground and were greeted warmly by the owner. He let us stay for free and gave us 50 bucks for dinner. Very excellent.
Tunnel Hill, Illinois to Chester, Illinois. We have reached the home of Popeye, a milestone for every Trans-Am. We didn't have a place to stay when the ride began, but JP lucked out and we were given a little assistance. We met a local cyclist named Sandy in Carbondale, IL who showed us to the bike shop, watched us eat burritos as big as our heads, and hooked us up with a church in Chester. Much obliged to Sandy. Thanks to the First Methodist Church in Chester for giving us some cereal and pasta to take on the bus.
We're currently in Missouri, but too tired and hungry to write about how we got here.
-tk

Pippa Passes to Booneville

Boo to Kentucky's many hills. Today was quite painful. We climbed over 12,000 feet in all. Team Mediocre's morale was strugg-ling. We left Pippa Passes at 9:30 and got to lunch around noon. We ate at some convenience store along the way (and Robin was upset they didn't make her sandwich with wheat bread). We continued on our way and finished the final 40 grueling miles, to a warm reception at the Holy Family Catholic Church. We had a fantastic spaghetti dinner and chatted it up with the Sisters and Don, a local member of the congregation. Afterwards, we had a chain-lubing party. Woo-hoo. We're ready for some sleeeeep.

Breaks Interstate Park to Pippa Passes

We finally got out of Virginia! We'd actually be excited, if what was next wasn't Kentucky. Just kidding. But seriously, Kentucky's got some real mean dogs. This was also the first day we split into three groups, an event of biblical proportions. The Superathlete Group (consisting of Joe and Terence), the Mediocre Group (Robin, JP and Tim) and the SPECIAL Group (Jon and Tyler). Robin got to be mapgirl. We stopped for lunch at a gas station then continued on our merry way. Terence split off of the group, after meeting a few jub-jubs (Tim's much beloved term for slightly hefty people). We all thought he was doing his own thing, but apparently it's not good to leave someone alone in the middle of Kentucky without a map. Who knew. We arrived at Pippa Passes (home of Alice Lloyd College) - and settled into the hostel. Tyler's Aunt Linda brought us Cliff Bars and copies of the Fincastle Herald, of which we were the cover story. We're much indebted for deeming us worthy of coverage (and to his aunt for the cliff bars and driving our things up the mountain!). We ate at the Lighthouse Cafe, then played a rousing game of knockout. Afterwards, Tim showed us Americans his interesting way of opening Kentucky's own Ale 8 ginger ale. Good times.

Rosedale to Breaks Interstate Park

Ahh, glorious morning! Joe the Tucker made us a delicious batch of pancakes at 7 in the AM while we were sleeping. After this marvelous breakfast, we left for Breaks at about 9:30. We went a solid 20 miles, then ate lunch at Mama's Place (it's a Virginia thing). The service was absolutely pitiful, but it was good food and one person was completely overworked. This place was so understaffed, that they had a neighbor aid in the making of our sandwiches. After lunch, we hit a fairly rough spot of hills. It wasn't too bad though, roughly 45 miles in total. Robin and JP beat Terence up a hill. We rule. Afterwards, we all went to Breaks, which was a mild dissapointment. While it was pleasant scenery, it was a very commercial campsite. Stan bought us some delicious Father's Day hamburgers. Yay.

Damascus to Elk Garden/Rosedale

We left Damascus and started a good ride to a church in Elk Garden. We were apprehensive about it because the longest climb of the ride was supposed to happen at Hayters Gap. Joe took off up the mountain leaving the rest of us in the dust. Tyler and Jon kept a good pace in the rear and found the bus stuck 2 miles up the-that was Robin, I'll tell the strory from right chere. Welp, I usually stay behind to ensure the safety of less experienced riders, not because of physical limitations by any means. So I was enjoying a leisurely coast up the mountain when in the distance was Jon off the bike right next to an immobile freight train. Upon closer inspection I discovered it was Stan's bus, with the back lodged in the pavement causing the back wheels to be propped up, leaving the bus incapable of successful movement. Meanwhile JP had caught up with Tim, Robin, and Terence. Terence suggested that instead of cycling back down the mountain we should take the NY attitude an go on to Elk Garden. We arrived successfully and decided to not wait for Jon and Tyler to go to Rosedale to get lunch. We ate a service station where Tim was upset with the system that enabled the lunch lady to be completely incompetent. The rest of us agreed that the woman was probably just in a bad mood, not the fault of the system. Tim was livid about paying $6 for 2 biscuits and 3/4 cup of a large mashed potatoes, apparently the problem was that she would neither charge less for the unfilled cup, nor allow him to fill it up later. I would have been upset too if I had understood what the hell he was talking about. Alright back to what was important. Jon, Stan, and I were in a bind. For the second time on the trip the bus had gotten stuck but this time it was even worse. It was on the side of a mountain, on a road that the bus was not legally supposed to be on. Hmmmmm said we. We were very fortunate because we probably met half of the county that day for about 2/3 of every car that passed tried to help us or asked if we needed it. A fireman and drywaller tried to get us out with his truck and some chains. It moved it a couple inches but mostly bent the back of the bus' hitch. At one point there were at least 15 locals trying to help us, and a couple who was on vacation taking pictures because they thought it would be a good story to tell later. A very kind woman called the local wreckers since her brother-in-law worked for them. And it a split second everyone who had been helping was gone. So we waited, with rather jolly spirits I might add, for the tow truck, being entertained by naps and a wild dog and its adopted wild puppy that would just stare at us from a distance. While waiting two cops came from both directions of the mountain, uh oh. It turns out they were good friends who worked for different precinct who hadn't seen each other for quite sometime. So they made sure the tow truck was coming and then started to catch up on old times. They were also very kind and let us go by without a ticket. To make this short. The wreckers came and got the bus out. Stan, with the help of the wreckers , successfully traversed the mountainside and reached Elk Garden where we were staying for the night. We accepted their $550 fee as a donation towards our cause, so we were very thankful. So all in all that was real fun. To celebrate our glorious day we had a feast of egg fried rice, sweet taters, corn, baked beans, and Tang. MMMMmmmmm. good. Trumbo Out.

PS Hose Bathes stuhink.

Rural Retreat to Damascus, VA

Greetings from the Deep South(written from the point of view of a "Yankee"). We arrived in Damascus today after a short, hilly ride and an excellent detour to the lovely state of Tennessee. We were bogged down by fierce winds and and one Jackass riding too fast. PELICAN. The roads around and up Mount Rogers were hellacious, but fun. Fear not, morale is still high.

The last few days have included a wonderful break on the shores of Claytor Lake, where we were treated to a lakeside campsite, waterskiing, and a steak feast. Thanks to everyone who made our two night stay there so much fun -- it was great to drain our legs of lactic acid and to enjoy the state park. I caught three of the group's four fish, which makes me the man. Not to brag, but I shaved my legs at the cookie lady's, and they are both the longest and the best of the tour (Sorry Mr Tucker, your son's legs are strong, but they ain't beautiful, like mine). Back onto subject - there was a campfire, we got to meet the wonderful Charlene, got a visit from the luminous Caitlin Moorman, and Robin enjoyed the 'fruit punch' more than she should have. Thanks to everyone for the happy memories -- It's times like Claytor lake that make the tour so amazing.

Yesterday we stayed in Rural Retreat. Thanks to Rural Retreat United Methodist for allowing us to camp in the yard. We enjoyed a friendly game of 21 with the basketball hoop that was not regulation height. Tim played basketball for the first time and was nearly as bad as I would have been, had I not refused to play due to general malcoordination. I guess JP will have to cancel those "super athlete" business cards he had planned to order me. We enjoyed the cheapest meal of the trip at Pizza Plus.

Today we climbed Mount Rogers, which was fun, and not as bad as we thought it would be. When we got to Damascus, we decided to pay $10 to go tubing for 2.5 hours. Robin won $6 in a bet during the tubing. We all nearly got hypothermia and then ate burritos. We got ice cream at the Dairy King, which was closed, but the cashier saw me and decided to reopen. I am a handsome man.

TK from BK

Resting in Roanoke

We started our day this morning with lunch at the Lexington Restaurant just down the street from where we were staying. The food was good, but I don't think we're going to be having any more country breakfasts. Eating all of that food made everyone feel sluggish for the rest of the day. We had another beautiful ride out of Lexington to the Mill Creek Baptist Church just outside of Buchanan. Tyler's friends and family at the church put together a great baked potato and chili lunch for us. After lunch, we sped down Rt 11 into Roanoke where we are staying with Joe's family. We're looking forward to hitting the grocery store and Costco tonight in order to resupply. I think we're going to get some good home cooking from Joe's family as well. One more day until our next rest day, I think everyone is looking forward to spending a couple of relaxing days in Claytor Lake.

Beautiful Blue Ridge

Sorry about the short posts so far. We haven't had internet access for a few days, so we've had to update the blog through text messaging and we can only write about two sentences per text message. We hit our first real day of climbing today and everyone did great. We climbed from Afton up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, reaching 3,330 ft before a fast descent back down to around 1,000 ft. The scenery on the Blue Ridge Parkway was amazing, by far the best we've had in the ride. We ran into a number of interesting people along the Blue Ridge, including a cool Appalachian Trail hiker. We had a little SNAFU and couldn't get into the church in Lexington where we were supposed to be staying, but the pastor of Lexington Presbyterian Church was very kind and let us stay there for the night. Tomorrow we have a pretty easy ride into Roanoke (the website says Buchanan, but we had a slight change of plans). Off to explore Lexington...

We had a short but sweet climb today up Afton Mountain to the Cookie Lady's house. She's really an amazing woman, still going strong at 83...

We had a great stay in Charlottesville last night after a fast ride into town. The folks at First United Methodist were great.

We got an early start today, so we're already in Mineral. More to come about our day later...

Arrvied in Ashland

We had a great ride into Ashland this afternoon. We got started early and didn't hit too many hills. We had a number of detours due to construction coming out of Stafford, but we managed to find our way. We encountered our first loose dogs of the ride today. Five different dogs chased after us, including a mean looking German Shepherd, but we managed to outrun all of them. After arriving in Ashland, we all decided to take a dip in the pool at the Super 8 where we're staying. Now we're at the Ashland Coffee & Tea house having some coffee. More tomorrow...

Nice Stay in Stafford

Yesterday was hot, hot, hot. It was so hot that we decided to alter the route to make our ride 20-miles shorter. We ended up rolling into Stafford at around 6pm after a 75-mile ride. We stayed at the Summit Prebyterian Church in Stafford. Their activity room was very nice and they even brought us a breakfast of bagels and juice in the morning. All in all, a pretty good day...

Made it to DC

We had a nice ride into DC on Saturday. We spent about 26-miles on back roads before hitting the Rock Creek Bike Trail in Maryland. We had a picnic of fruit given to us by Slatevillle Presbyterian before setting off on the trail. The bike trail in Maryland was pretty slippery, but we all made it down in one piece. After riding the trail through Maryland, we hit our first national park - Rock Creek National Park in DC. City Bikes in DC very generously let us store our bikes there until Monday morning. Then we took the metro out to where we are staying. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. White for letting us stay at their house in Vienna,VA!! After settling in, we went to a barbecue with Jeanne Schlegel and Ron Aument, which was delicious. Thanks for all of the wonderful food! Tomorrow we set off for Stafford...

Awesome Stay in Glenelg!

We rode in the rain for the first time on Friday. There was a steady drizzle for our entire 68-mile ride from Delta to Glenelg. The rain was actually pretty refreshing, and we had a great ride. Everyone felt strong the whole way through. The members of Glenelg United Methodist Church were wonderful. We split up and spent the night in the houses of a number of very generous congregation members. They put together a great dinner for us with lasagna and delicious homemade apple and blueberry pies. Our host families made us breakfast as well the following morning, so we had plenty of energy for our ride into DC. Thank you Glenelg United Methodist!!!

Rain, rain go away - come again some other day. Having lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Reistertown after cycling 47 miles in the rain. 15 miles to go...

Slateville Presbyterian in Delta, PA put together a great dinner for us last night and let us stay in their activity room. Thank You!!!

We're happily lounging in Mt. Joy after a nice 27-mile ride out of Denver. The next half of the ride looks pretty hilly, but we'll be in Delta soon.

Made it to Denver...PA

After a beautiful 75-mile ride out of Philadelphia, we are comfortably nestled at the Holiday Inn - Lancaster County. Thanks to the Holiday Inn for their donation of two very nice rooms and 20 really yummy cookies. The ride today went great! It's amazing how much there is to see just a few miles outside of Philadelphia. After a wonderful ride through Valley Forge, we headed out into a maze of scenic country roads. We managed to get ourselves lost a couple of times, but quickly corrected and set off on our way. We arrived at the Holiday Inn around 4:30pm and promptly wolfed down three Papa John's pizzas. We discovered a Baskin Robbins across the street, so we made an ice cream run a little later in the night. It's amazing how much you can eat after cycling 75-miles. Now it's time for bed. Looking forward to more interesting scenery tomorrow...

Deraillers hurting,
cheap, sweet ice tea is heaven..
shoo fly pie? Bizarre..

A haiku for our first lunch break..
-tk