Mississippi!! Illinois, Ozarks, an the SUN in MO

Well a TON has happened since the last update but i will try and not make it as long as the last biggy.  first things first. 

Day 12 Sebree--> Cave in Rock IL

Day 13 Cave in Rock --> Carbondale

Day 14 Carbondale--> Ozora MO

Day 15 Ozora --> Centerville

So it has been two states since we have last talked to you.  we have traversed through Illinois and we are currently about half way through the great state of Missouri.  

so from sebree to cave in Rock we had another day of RAIN. this time we were a little more prepared saying we wrapped our bodies in trash bags for the day.  it ended up that we got more wet sweating under the "sweat bags" than if we just romped in the rain.  at least we were a ton warmer though.  also this day i found a verizon store to fix my STUPID phone that decided not to work.  well it ended up being a couple towns away but it was early in the day and thought that we could easily make it there.  well with the awful weather when we got closer we realized life just wasnt going to work the way we wanted, but we thought we would try anyways.  so we had about 20 mils to go and the store closed in an hour.  long story short, we were CRUSHING it for a good 45 min and then we just figured we wernt going to make the next 7 miles in like 10 min.  pretty discouraging.  all in all we just kept riding and actually hit the Ohio river!!!! this means that we got to get on a sick ferry and cruise on over to Illinois!!!  first fully transversed state under our belts.  the river was pretty sweet and there was a state park right into the state that looked like the perfect home away from home.  all was right in the world until the morning hit, that is where we fought the law, and the law won.  

We slept under a picnic shelter to avoid getting more soaked with rain.  The picnic shelter was apart of the state park...but was not an official, designated camping area.  A park ranger apparently thought we were way out of line......and felt it necessary to call the town sheriff.  Long story short....we had to pay the park ranger 10 dollars for staying under the shelter.  After talking with some of the town folk later that morning....we heard a whole bunch of horror stories about this crazy park ranger.  They told us he was pretty much always in a bad mood...and they assured us we were welcome in there town any time. 

The next morning we woke up in Carbondale, had a great stop at the bike store (to fix T's wheel that bent the evening before), the verizon store (to fix JC's broken phone), and walmart (to buy some rain gear and contact solution.)  We didn't end up leaving town until almost 3, but we still managed to crank out 65 miles that day. Highlights from 3 oclock on:

-Passed through Popeye's hometown (see pics)

-Crossed the Mississippi!!!!

-Arrived in Missouri 

-crazy plains 

Highlights from the next day:

-Flat tire bonanza

-Ate lunch a great place called Spokes Grill.....where we saw an AWESOME motorcycle gang. We need motorcycles now.

-River romp

-Wolf Packs (dogs in MO romp in packs of 6 or more!!! eeeek)

-Camped for free in the city park

day 16 had some highs and lows for sure.  both literally and mentally.  we headed out of town and hit hills to start the day off right.  those hills soon became steeper and steeper.  aint not thing for our legs though of course.  we hit this one road that was closed to construction and were a little confused.  we only had to take a 3 block detour but then when we hit the road again, it was stinking loose gravel.  in our minds we were like, okay well this is bad but it cant be too much longer.  about 10 miles down the road, climbing hilly steep gravel covered roads we thought to our selves, well this cant be too much longer.  anther 10 miles we finally exclaimed to each other that THIS ROAD SUCKS!!! after lunch we were told only one more good climb until it become more rolling, and boy was it a hill.  90 degrees climbing up a mountain, we took some hawt sweaty bod pics for the ladies :)  just kidding, those are really for our moms. hahah  After the mountain, the head winds didn't feel that much better but we persevered.  all the way to Houston MO in the county of Texas?!?  yea weird.  but after getting to town the nicest people flagged us down and told us how the town park is by the high school and during the school year, the park isn't always the nicest place to stay.  but they opened up their hotel yard to us and even offered us a free beer!!! yes please.  not only did they allow us to romp in the back but they gave us the key to a room in the back and allowed us to shower up and freshen up!!! and believe you me, we needed a rinse after sweating for 8 hours!! we chilled with Pony and his wife at the horse creek inn and got a great night sleep. we're about to embark on western MO!!! 

-burnt and burner

Oh Kentucky

Day 9 Berea --> Springfeild
Day 10 Springfeild --> Eastview
Day 11 Eastview--> Sebree ...(first 100 mile day!!)

We currenlty have a love hate relationship with the state of kentucky. It seems that the weather is either great or awful....and right now its awful. The rain is ROCKING our lives...so were seeking refuge in the library. But were only about 60 miles from Illinois, so were trying achieve a new land very soon.

Highlights since last time-

-Slept inside of an empty church (and woke up to the rain, so it was nice to be inside)
-Passed our first time zone barrier!
-Had our first 100 mile day yesterday
-Had a homecooked meal (stirfry cabbage!!! ham, corn, potatoes, cornbread, apple dumplings icecream) , did laundry, took a shower, and slept on mattresses at First Baptist Sebree. Thanks to Pastor Bob and his wife Violet for an unbelievable amount of hospitality.

Lowlights-

-tried to use the post office, but passed about 5 in one day that were all closed
-our pace was too much for the netherland guys to keep up with, so we parted ways.
-our matches and some other stuff got blasted by the rain.

New pics should be up at the bottom....we've recieved feedback the big pics at the bottom are better than small on the right. Ok cool.

Catch Up Time

So quick explaination for the recent lag... thursday get to library that randomly closes at 1pm on thursdays. go figure. Friday finally get to Hindman but its an hour after the Lib closes. Not a problem well just get it in the morn. Well saturday wake up and the library doesnt open on the weekend. i guess no learning can take place on the weekends duh. then saturday we dont pass a library and sunday is mothers day! but now ill start the catching up...

so first off our cities we've stayed in that some are wanting to know.
Day 1- harrisonburg --> Stuarts Draft (i know wrong turn in there)
Day 2- stuarts draft --> Troutville
Day 3- troutville --> some place in the country
Day 4- some place in the country --> Damscus
Day 5- Damscus -->Haysi
Day6- Haysi --> Hindman
Day 7- Hindman -->Boonville
Day 8 Boonville--> Berea
Day9 Berea--> someplace far far away (aka not there yet)

aight well Thursday was by far our BEST day!! first there was an old preacher like man at he top of a hill that offered us some drinks that we more than willingly took. he talked real old man stylish and gave us life lessons; priceless. then we hit Jefferson National Forest. awesome. we climbed up mount rogers which was our "favorite" climb if there could be such a thing. had an EPIC waterfall romp/ bathe and clean our clothes session. see pic. then after the climb was like a 30 min downhill to Damascus. very awesome. we hit 43 mph and with a trailer behind almost had an accident. at the crest of the mountain we came across A) the Appalachian trail. and B) a couple on a tandem going across country with a recently retired mom driving an RV. what an idea!! on top of our awesome day, when we reached Damascus there was a Hostile. our first hostile stay and to say the least, the people at a hostile are anything but hostile. Hostile rough def-free place to stay usually provided by a church along a highly traveled path.

When we woke in the hostile we packed up and hit up some dairy King for breakfast. the two oldest ladies we have ever scene were eating there as well so you know it had to be good. the trek there for those ladies most have been as hard as our full day of riding. out of Damascus we had a climb, only to be continued by more the whole day. we had 3 mountain climbs in which the 3rd around 5 or 6 in the afternoon was straight up!!! not what you like to see after climbing all day. but our thunder thighs made it just fine. one of the mountains was called Big A mountain. it was actually the easiest of the day but still a funny name. towards the end of the day we were really tired and it had started raining. this was our first rain session but it was warm so it want that bad. but we hit the town of Haysi and all we wanted to do was find a place to set up camp. after asking some ladies in the local grocery store, the pointed us to a shelter in the heart of this tiny downtown area. when we got there it was perfect. a gazebo with about a 10 foot radius. we pulled all our stuff in and got some dry clothes on. we then made Bologna sandwiches until dark and crawled into our sleeping bags, praying to to be disturbed by the local PO. when we woke we just made breakfast out of our sleeping bags nice and dry and then headed out shortly after.

Day 5 was enough climbing so we thought for sure we were going to have an easier day. well truth be told it was more of those darn mountains called the Appalachian. we just gritted our teeth and started singing. you'd be surprised on the songs that just pop in your head that need to be proclaimed to the world. I'm pretty sure this is the day we hit Kentucky!!!! it was really weird leaving Virginia. in the town of lookout we ran across these two guys from the Netherlands. very cool people. Tjan and Minnow. there on recumbents and you can see them in the pic. were actually playing a little leap frog with them still. we crush them climbing but the downhills and windy days they catch up. there nice guys though. T received his first flat of the trip climbing up an awful highway but we took care of it and life went on. darn staple!! the both of us had our first little mental "ugh" in the morning but keeping our glasses half full, we quickly pulled ourselves out of it. we think it was the whole being out of Virginia thing and the mix of some not so friendly people something or another. we don't really know. the day passes and we reach the town of hindman. we try to sneak to this baptist church way on top of a hill but come to find out, the pastor lived below the church and was vacuuming until 9pm or so. so we got the hint and went and camped out behind the library, with all intentions of catching you guys up. but as mentioned before, we got owned.

from hindman we headed towards Booneville. this included some awful roads again. in the beginning, Kentucky was way in the negatives for good points. sad note, we were cresting a mountain and we thought we saw some road kill, but it came to be a dog that had recently been hit. the saddest thing we have ever scene. so we rode past thinking we couldn't do anything and low and behold, there was a animal shelter sign not even 200 feet past the dog. so we both agreed we had to at least tell them and a guy went up and picked up the dog and rushed it back. so in the back of our minds the dog could still be alive!!! this was probably the climax of our crappy Kentucky. from then on the roads turned into minimal traffic, sweet windy rolling hills, and the weather was perfect. on top of this we hit our first 500 miles!!! we got to Booneville around 5 30 ish and we decided we were going to treat ourselves right. so we found an awesome church that had set up a sweet facility with a shower and camping area that worked out very nicely and we were going out for dinner and a possible brew dog! well all showered up and hungry we went into a diner restaurant thing, and found out IT WAS A DRY COUNTY!!!!!! i thought those only existed in old country music songs. So we got some noodles and headed back and made a big fat meal. Tjan and Minnow ended up there that night as well so we hung out and chatted it up talking how awful American bread is. they were literally discussed beyond belief at our bread, as T and I ate like a whole loaf with our dinner :) opps.

well that brings us to day 8. the WORST DAY EVER. completely miserable. we woke up and it had rained throughout the night but thankfully, wasn't when we woke. we packed up and headed into town for a bite to eat. while eating, the sky turned BLACK and the heavens fell. rain and wind like you wouldn't believe. it ended up being a tornado warning for surrounding counties so we buckled down for an hour or so and let it pass. it cleared and bit and we decided to hit the road. we had about an hour of just wind probably around 40 mph gust that would just stop you in your tracks. but we kept truckin. then the rain started. wasn't that bad. about an hour into it, it really came so T and I found Tjan hunkered down in a little pull off road with pretty ample protection. us three waited that out and then decided we weren't getting any warmer sitting so we hit the road. being this was around lunch time, we were going to just find a place to eat and hang out until the rain passed. well from Booneville allllllllllll the way to Berea not a single gas station, county store or anything. we had some skittles, and apple we spilt, little debbies and some crackers for lunch. talk about a well rounded meal. we were completely out of food. the rain kept up along with the winds. FINALLY in the town of big hill there was a store and Tjan and Minnow fed us some left over pizza and cheese sticks. we then made it to berea another 7 miles down the road after we got feeling back in our feet and hands. then huddled under an overhang of a really nice hotel, Jon a random chill hippie guy started talking to us. long story short he opened up his house to us and we got to sleep in a sick house with a HOT shower. and we got to throw all our wet clothes in the dryer! very crucial. after a awful day, the nice gesture of Jon in berea wiped all our worries away!! a huge thanks to Jon!!! he even left us oatmeal for the morning!

okay wayyyyyyyy too much writing has taken place and we need to hit the road if we are ever going to make it to our next destination. hope this caught you up.

Timon and Pumba

PICS up

so we tried to add some pics today. theres 4 for your viewing pleasure. ladies please try to contain yourselves when you witness our river romp!!

Pics are at the bottom. Next time well have them on the side for easier viewing but weve been in the library for way too long now.

lifes good
JC & T

Day 3

Quick Highlights if ya dont feel like reading...

Great Morning
first mountain climb
first crash - yep it was T if yall had any bets
WILD BEAST
first sighting of people

So if we wern't pumped enough day 3 is yet another perfect day in the 70's with minimal wind!!! i guess the world knew we were about to emark on our journey. so last night we had another church romp session in the town of Troutville. Set up a little camp, started making some dinner, feasting our bodies when...WILD BEAST ran across our path. in actuallity it was only a neighborhood dog but it was acting really weird and wimpering and scared so we just shooed it away. then about an hour later WILD BEAST #2!!! another dog though. this one we both just flexed and then it got scared and ran. After our sweet slumber we rose to yet again mount our bikes to continue the journey. it took a good 20-30 min before we really felt good but then after than it was just anohter day. really hilly at the beginning and then about 30 miles of perfect rolling hills through virginia back country. after the rolling hills though we hit our first mountain climb. Paris mountain i think is waht it was called and that took us right to Christiansburg. This is where we saw our first cross country riders. they were from germany and it was the 9TH tour in america!!! holy boot. we then reamed some Pizza Inn and sent home about 9 pounds of combined stuff we have decided we just dont need. i have a feeling with that much less weight that next mountain wont feel that bad. We're at 198 miles so far and were trying to get another 30-35 before the night falls. wish us luck and we miss everyone!! We're off until next time

The American Duo

The Begining!

DAY 1 and 2

So our day of living the dream has become a reality. We ended up leaving around 2:30 yesterday with a very appreciated departure crew composed of the BAG, T-Home, and Girls house along with the wonderful Jasper family. The weather could not have been better. perrrrrrfect 70 degrees, no wind and the sun was shining.

highlights of life:

Soul food in Staunton- ribs and frys $4
Celebrity status achieved- first autographs signed to a little boy on the side of the road
First House opening: old man in Vesuvius
First Wrong turn- 30 mile detour...OOPS
Pound session 1 of thousands- weird Asian noodle stuff
Slumber- church Field

Day 2 highlights of life

Got back on the actual route!!
RIVER ROMP- see pics!!!
Crazy bridge- straight suspension bridge(wobbled and everything)
First library: session hence this blog setup


Everything is going swell overall. a little technical problems with T's bag but we are getting that situated. Ain't no thing. Some decent hill climbs but nothing that bad quite yet. We are literally surrounded by the mountains though. left, right, front, back!! its just a matter of time. speaking of time it is 6 39 and the Library closes at 7 and we need to refill on some water so we are over and out.

life is so real!!!!!

-Voltage and Foghorn

p.s. we are remembering our sunscreen Mom's so theres nothing to worry about