Day 47: Naperville to Brookfield

Posted by: Arin

We woke up at 6:30 in the morning after only four and a half hours of sleep. There were people going into the building so we got out of there quick and no one noticed us. We didn't really have anything to make for breakfast so we did a quick search to see what was around. Our only options close by were McDonald's and Cracker Barrel, and since I had never been to a Cracker Barrel we chose the latter. Apparently it's like a country style Denny's with a gift shop. We had some breakfast there, charged our phones, and then I called my second cousin Nancy who I knew lived near Chicago. She and her family were going out of town for the day, but she said we could go sleep at her house anyways. Awesome!

We continued our ride down the Prarie Path, going through several towns and almost getting lost a couple times. That path has so many little side paths. We took one stop to help a lady who was running with her bike. She had a flat tire and no tools and was going to run all the way home with her daughter who was on a bike, but we decided to patch it for her so she could ride the rest of the way. We couldn'tu take the wheel off because it was bolt on, but we were able to find the hole and patch it anyways. She was a nice lady, I think her name was Janet. 

We rode on and made it to Nancy's house, where the first order of business was to take showers (as it always is when we get to stay with someone). We were dying of hunger and decided to skate to a Mexican restaurant nearby. Everything on street was closed though because of Memorial Day. We had to skate another mile or so to downtown La Grange, where we got some awesome empanadas. 

On the way back to the house, we noticed an awesome mini ramp thing in a park that was under construction. A part of the fence was only connected by a small amount of wire so we opened it up and went in. The mini ramp was crazy. It had almost no platform on the top and the bottom was unfinished concrete so it was razor sharp. We skated it anyways.

We skated back to Nancy's and played guitar for a while before going to bed... In an actual bed! Illinois isn't all bad.

Day 46: Lee County to Naperville

Posted by: Arin

I woke up having to pee so bad, so I got out of the tent in my underwear and a t shirt. I walked a couple of steps and was about to pee when I looked over my shoulder and saw a cop sitting there parked in the rest stop. I decided to get back in the tent, put on more clothes, and peed behind a tree. The cop never came out and talked to us, but was in and out of the spot all morning. He must have heard about us from the day before. I was actually kind of happy to have him there because it made sure that no one else would mess with us in our exposed campsite.

We got back on the road a little before 11 with 46 miles ahead of us to Aurora. We were kind of pumped to go there because that's the setting of Wayne's World. Road conditions were pretty terrible, but for some reason I was in a great mood all day. With only two stops (one for snacks and one for ice cream), we made it to Aurora by 2pm. We would have plenty of time to find a good place to sleep.

First order of business was to go get a pizza, which we ate in a sketchy park before riding across town to the local skatepark. It was in the middle of Phillips Park, a huge park with a zoo and a water park in it, so it took us a little whole to find the skatepark. We pulled up, started skating, and talked to some of the locals. One dude was stoked and said we could come with him to camp in his friend's backyard (something they're doing for Memorial Day weekend). His phone was dead so he couldn't call to make sure it was ok, but he assured us it was going to be fine. We stayed there at the skatepark with him until it started getting dark, then he led us in his car to where he lives.

We got there and hung out in the garage for a while. We couldn't go into the house because it's owned by his girlfriend's parents and apparently they're weird about strangers. While we waited for his phone to charge, he brought in some bread, turkey, fruit, and carrots so we got to eat a little bit. Finally he called his friend and you know what? It totally wasn't ok for us to come over. In his friend's words: "Charles Manson probably rode bikes, I don't know these guys." 

Why does everyone we've met in Illinois suck?

At least this one guy was trying to help us, but he ended up totally screwing us over. It was past 10pm and we had nowhere to sleep. He also told us that cops would probably mess with us anywhere we tried to sleep in the area. He had to leave to go to his friend's house, so we left too. All of our water containers were empty, so we headed to the gas station down the road to get some snacks and fill our water. While we were there, our friend stopped by to get some gas and beer before leaving us sitting in front of the station.

We sat outside eating our snacks and trying to figure out what we were going to do. We were either going to start riding the bike path towards Chicago or try to camp somewhere close by. As we sat there thinking, a man coming out of the convenience store stopped to tell us the lady in the store was calling the cops on us and that we should get out of there. Apparently everyone here hates cyclists. We just went for the Fox river trail, right across the street. It connected to the Illinois Prarie Path, a carless bike path leading almost all the way to Chicago. It was almost midnight at this point.

We rode into the night at a slow pace, not finding anywhere to sleep. This path had no cars, but led past lots of people's back yards. At this point we were afraid of everyone calling the cops on us, so we just kept riding.

Around 1:30am the path went out onto a big road. A small wall on the side dropped off quite a bit on the other side and had some decent tree coverage, so we decided to sleep there. It was on the side of a cable and internet provider company. We figured that no one would be working the next day, but we still slept away from any windows, tucked up against the wall next to the sidewalk.

Day 45: Clinton into Illinois farmland

Posted by: Arin

Because our spot was a little sketchy, we woke up and got packed up early (for our standards at least). We were really feeling like drinking some coffee so we headed to a cafe about a half mile away. While we were there, we were able to charge our phones too. We actually hung out for a while to make sure they were fully charged.

The bridge over the Mississippi River was right down the street, and it was awesome to ride over. The river is so huge you can almost feel its power. This was only a small section:

Once we were over the bridge we had officially made it to Illinois. We didn't really know what to expect and only made it a few miles in before Brad got a flat. It turned out to be a manufacturer's error on the tube that Brad bought from the shop where I bought my faulty patches. I guess that's what we get for going to a Trek store. We popped in a new tube and were on our way.

We rode at a decent pace for another 15 miles or so before we got hungry, so we took a little break under an overpass to make some peanut butter, raisin, and apple wraps. Highway 30 actually ended for a short period of time so we were stopped on the side of the interstate. After we got rolling agin was when we really started hauling ass. Soon into it we were able to get back on the 30. Now let me tell you something about highway 30 in Illinois - the shoulder is a foot and a half wide, so it's pretty sketchy. Luckily there wasn't much traffic and the cars gave us room. After a while we noticed we hadn't passed a town in a while and our water supply was diminishing. Soon though, we came upon a little diner on the side of the road.

We set our bikes outside the window and went in. The hostess told us there wasn't a town for over 20 miles and we had already ridden 50ish, plus it was already 5:30pm so we decided to eat dinner there. I had been craving breakfast food so I got an omelette with hash browns and toast, followed by some peach pie with ice cream. It was amazing, and I'm not just saying that because I haven't had hash browns in months. While we were there, we talked to a lot of people who were curious about what we were doing. They all knew each other so it was funny to be the lone outsiders. When we were done eating, our waitress said we were all paid for. We never did find out who paid, but if it's the people who got our business card, thank you! What an amazing act of generosity.

We set off optimistically from the restaurant hoping to find a good place to sleep soon. It was already 7:30. The miles kept ticking away as sun went lower and lower, with no sign of a good spot. The wind was strong too, straight in our faces slowing our pace to a crawl. Finally I was over it and told Brad I was going to ask the next house if we could sleep in the driveway.

One lone house came up maybe a quarter mile later. We rode into the driveway and knocked on the door. A man answered. "Hi," I said. "I know this is a random question, but is there any way you would let us camp in your driveway?" He replied "Fuck no, get the hell off my property. I'm going to have you arrested. Now that's a random answer."

Ok. We got the hell out of there. No wonder that guy has no neighbors. He was the first genuinely mean person we had met on the whole trip. We were still riding into the wind, and it was getting dark fast when a cop pulled us over. He asked us if we had headlights. I said we did, but we hadn't turned them on yet to save battery. It wasn't totally dark out yet. Luckily I had already put my lights on and the rear was blinking. He was ok with that, but said he still had to give us a warning. He took our ID cards. "You guys rode here from California? You riding across the country?" He got it spot on. Then he asked us if we had asked a guy if we could camp in his driveway. I guess the guy had called saying he was scared when we came up and thought we were looking into his windows so we could steal stuff. The cop know we weren't causing any trouble so he sent us off down the road, without an official warning but with info of a rest stop a couple miles down and permission to camp there. So here we are, cozy in our tent. 

Day 44: Cedar River to Clinton

Posted by: Arin

I knew we weren't in for good things as soon as we got up to the bridge we were sleeping near. It had no shoulder and not a very tall wall. We even had to wait a bit just to have enough room in the traffic to get over it. Once we got over the bridge it wasn't any better. There was literally no shoulder so we were forced to ride in the loose gravel on the side of the road. Any cyclist who has ridden on gravel will agree that it uses much more energy to go the same speed you would on the road. Our first 20 miles of the day were spent mostly off the side of the road, toiling.

We made it to a town and I was not feeling so great about riding. We pulled down a side road to the city park to take a break and eat. While we were there, we had a couple good interactions with people on bikes. One was a lady who had a big dog carrier with a seatbelt on the back of her bike for carrying around a little dog. She was riding to her job but stopped to chat for a while. The other person was an old man. He stopped at the park to drink water out of the spigot, and stuck around to talk with us a while. He actually talked our ears off. It was his 88th birthday, and he was just out riding his bike like he always does. A very funny old man, he had crazy energy and was convinced the only way he's ever going to get enough money from the government for Medicare is by robbing a bank and going to jail. That way he can have free housing, free food, and free clothing. He was also a World War II veteran. I was happy to have talked to him.

The first lady we talked to told us about an ice cream parlor in town so we had to go. We got there and it looked closed, but some drunk people from the bar next door told us that it's connected to the bar. One guy even bought our ice cream! We stood around for a while talking to old drunk people about what we were doing for a while. They were in disbelief. We told them we were going to try to make it to the Mississippi by the end of the day and they said we wouldn't make it. It was already 4pm and we had 50 more miles and bellies full of ice cream.

We made it there by 7. We were hauling ass on those touring bikes and the shoulder got huge. Our first order of business was to get supplies for dinner and fill our water. The second was to get to the Mississippi River bank. We got to a picnic table and cooked dinner on the side of the river before riding to a spot we deemed safe enough and setting up camp for the night.

Day 43: Toledo to Cedar River

Posted by: Arin

After a night of rain, we woke up dry and in good spirits. The ground had dried and the sky was clear. Since we hadn't set up our tent the night before, the morning went fairly smoothly. We still had plenty of water and went straight for the highway.

This was a day of ups and downs, literally. It felt like none of the road was flat. Other than a couple quick snack breaks we powered through the day and arrived in Cedar Rapids with a good 50 miles under our belts. For the second day in a row, the first grocery store we saw was a Fareway. After grabbing some food we made a stop at the laundromat.

Most of the laundry we've been doing has been at whomever's house we can find to stay at, but I do like stopping at laundromats. It's a nice chunk of time during the day where you just don't think about riding at all, plus I get a chance to catch up on writing this blog and eating some snacks. After a couple hours we were out of there and back on the road. We wanted to make the junction where Cedar River meets highway 30, another 8-10 miles down the road. We got there and found a perfect spot right by the river.

Despite my best efforts to cover up completely, I got eaten up by mosquitos. I had three or four really itchy bites. We cooked our dinner and got right in the tent to avoid more bug bites, and it was so nice out that we didn't even have to use the fly. 

Day 42: Nevada to Toledo

Posted by: Arin

After a long sleep, we ate breakfast and packed up our stuff. We really needed to get riding again. The last time we rode 50 or more miles was a week ago! Sure, we've been taking days off and stopping in cool places, but it was time to end the slump. 

...of course we started riding at noon. It was ok though, we were determined. With just one stop in the middle of the day to fill up our water bottles and get a snack, we made it 50 miles to Toledo. Knowing there weren't many towns for quite some time, we stopped at a Fareway grocery store in town to get some dinner. It was my first time at a Fareway and it's pretty weird. They have this thing where they bring your cart out to your car and load all your groceries for you. At least their prices are good. 

By the time we were done shopping, it was already 5-6. We had heard a few of the locals saying it was going to rain and it did look like it, so we were on the lookout for some shelter. First we had to go fill up all our water at a gas station (and buy a pint of whiskey). As we left the station, some guy asked us where we were going to sleep. When we said we were camping, he told us about a park up the road with a covered stage or something. Grateful for the info, we headed up the road and came to the park. There was the perfect spot! A covered picnic area with 3-4 foot high brick walls around it. We had cover from police and the sky! In preparation for the storm, we drank our little bottle of whiskey.

Around 8:00 it started to rain. By 9:00 it was pouring. The wind picked up too, sweeping sheets of water into our covered area and soaking the entire place.

There was lightning going on every five seconds too. We spent a bunch of time capturing lightning flashes on our iPhones. Keep in mind it was pitch dark out otherwise.

Huddled in the corner, we made our dinner. It was going to be a long night. Luckily the rain and wind eased up around 11:00 and there were two dry spots: on top of tables. Brad and I each got a tarp from the tent to use as a blanket (it wasn't too cold out) and set up our sleeping pads on the tables. We didn't want to get our sleeping bags wet. Somehow we were able to get a good night's sleep.

Days 38-41: Grand Junction to Ames to Nevada, but mostly just Ames

Posted by: Arin

We woke up at our little spot on the side of the road to the sound of trains. We've become strangely attached to the sound, as almost all of our sleeping spots end up being right next to train tracks. It feels familiar, almost safe now. While getting ready for the day we even spotted a couple tags by Collosus of Roads, one of the most famous train artists of all time. We've seen his stuff four times now on this trip, and we're still on the lookout for the elusive Bozo Texino.

Anyways, we were only about the 35 miles from Ames and the only wind was a mellow crosswind. That meant we were able to fly through the ride in about two hours. We arrived in Ames and went straight to the skatepark. As we were arriving, however, a man on a bike rolled up and started talking to us. One thing that everyone who sees us in Iowa talks to us about is RAGBRAI, an annual organized ride all the way across the state. This guys was no exception; he went on and on about it, telling us we should have planned our trip to coincide with the ride. Of course we couldn't have done that because we just heard about it a few days ago, but it does seem like a cool event. Everyone seems to know about it.

We went across the street to change out of our biking clothes so we could skate and rolled back over to the skatepark. One of the locals was super surprised when he saw us pull our skateboards out the bags they were in. We skated for a good few hours before getting too hungry to continue. By that time we had met quite a few of the local skaters, and they all ripped! 

We left to go get some Thai food (disappointing) and then donuts. The only donut shop we could find was a dunkin' donuts. I had never been to one before, so we decided to give it a try. That was a bad idea too. It was pretty much a fast food restaurant that happens to sell crappy donuts, and the guy working there didn't even like donuts. We then headed to the grocery store to get some food for the next day. 

It was already fully dark out by the time we were done, and we headed back towards the skatepark. Throughout the day we had kind of been probing for a place to stay, but all we had gotten was some info on a place to camp in the woods by the skatepark. However, when we got back to the skatepark one of the guys from earlier was there and offered for us to stay at his place. What a rad dude. He was going to a little get together and invited us so we hurried over to his house.

Ames is a huge college town with over 70,000 students, but the school year ended a week ago so almost no one was there. Josh (our host) ended up taking us over to some of his friends' place where they were doing typical college things like beer bongs and beer pong. We saw one dude take something like 15 beer bongs! After getting a little too drunk and staying up a little too late, we walked back to Josh's and passed out. Here's a little snippet of the night:

The next day we decided to stay in Ames a little longer to check it out, and where else could we start the day but the skatepark. Let me tell you though that the Ames skatepark is amazing. Josh drove us over there and we spent a good few hours skating all the stuff there. Of course we got hungry again, so josh took us over to one of his favorite Chinese food spots in town. The place was called Joy's Mongolian Grill and it was delicious, highlighted by unlimited rice (steamed and fried) and soup. We then went back to the park, where Brad and I were barely able to move but somehow Josh was ripping right away. We spent most of the day at the park, and even got to climb another tall tree! Here's a sweet picture of Josh boosting a clean ollie over a rail and Brad at the top of a tree:

That night we went to another party. I felt pretty out of place, with kids everywhere. The host was super drunk already when we got there, and he was pretty agro too. Brad and I mostly just hung out with a guy named Bryan from the skatepark out by the bonfire. He actually ended up driving us back to Josh's later.

The next day it was tough for us to get going. The four of us ended up going out to another Chinese food restaurant that also had unlimited rice and soup. I guess Ames in known for having good Chinese food. We went back to Josh's and took our time getting ready. After finally leaving around 2pm, we headed back to the grocery store to grab a couple more things and then to the skatepark to say bye to everyone. While we were there, some girl and her mom came up and started taking pictures. The girl was in a princess dress and it was really bizarre.

We didn't even leave Ames until after 4. We started riding, but neither of us felt too good. We rode past Nevada, the closest town, and three miles later we were already ready to camp. We even managed to find the perfect spot right alongside the river. Unfortunately I tweaked my back trying to lift my bike over the barrier at the top and was in pain for the rest of the night. We set up our camp and just chilled out before going to bed to the sound of trains (of course).

The next day I woke up and my back was still hurting. Because of that, and because our spot was so good, we decided to stay another day. That day was mostly spent lazing about and exploring the river around us. We saw some pretty neat stuff.

As the day neared its end, we realized we didn't have any food to make dinner so we stripped all the stuff off of our bikes, loaded it all in the tent, and rode back to Nevada where we had some prime Mexican food. It's crazy how we've been able to find such good Mexican food in the Midwest. I guess yelp really works. We filled all of our water up at a gas station and rode back to our camp. Luckily everything was still there! We would finally get some good riding in the next day, but after putting all the panniers and skateboards back on our bikes, it was time for sleep.

Days 36-38: Omaha to Grand Junction

Posted by: Arin 

I woke up at 9:40 again in the basement, around the same time as Brad. We went upstairs to find no one there. Pam and Scott got in a few minutes later, they had been out foraging for mushrooms. Layne was already at work. We ate some egg sandwiches before getting to packing.

Packing was much easier this time around. We were pretty much ready to go from leaving the last time, with just a few thing a to put away. We once again said our goodbyes and left.

The ride to Blair (about 23 miles) was much easier too. The weather was perfect, no humidity, and my body felt great. In town we stopped at a park to eat some lunch and chill for an hour or two. It was actually pretty cold, despite sunny skies. After eating some almond butter wraps we got back on the road, and over the Missouri River into Iowa once again.

As you can see from the picture, we didn't get a very warm welcome from Iowa. The shoulder practically disappeared, forcing us to ride in the dirt on the side of the road some of the time. We also had some nice and strong winds working against us. Nevertheless, we rode on through Missouri Valley and into Logan. There we saw a sign on the side of the road for camping at a park, so we decided to check it out. We actually ended up riding through some dirt trails before coming across a perfect spot. We weren't sure if camping was actually allowed there, but it seemed too good to pass up. There was big fire pit and logs to sit on. We pitched our tent, made some dinner, and passed out.

The next day started much like any other day, with oatmeal and packing. We headed out of town and continued on highway 30. Conditions really didn't improve at all. The wind was still there and if we were lucky, we had a three foot shoulder to ride on. Another thing about that highway is that it becomes a truck route in Iowa. That means semis were driving by us every minute (or less!). The worst are the cow trucks. You see them coming from far away and have to brace yourself because getting hit by that wind is brutal. It feels like a wall is hitting you and it's hard to stay straight, plus the air it brings actually smells like shit. 

We rode pretty consistently until we reached Arcadia. It was starting to get later in the day and it was pretty cold, so we rode into town to check it out. That town didn't have one good spot to hide. The houses didn't even have fences. We decided to go to a bar and grab a beer. There we kind of probed the locals about finding a place to sleep, but no one seemed willing to help us. For some reason though, the owner gave us some t shirts before sending us off to ride ten miles into the next town.

It was starting to get dark and we did not feel like riding ten more miles, so we pulled into the first roadside park we saw. Unfortunately there was nowhere good to hide there either, but when we looked down the hill to the train ravine, we saw what looked like a little flat area on the side of the hill. We then proceeded to move our bikes down a hill so steep that no 90 pound bike should ever be brought down it to get the the spot. It turned out to not be very flat, but we didn't care. We set up our tent on a little dip and had the most uncomfortable night of the trip thus far. We were mostly on a downslope, with a little turn up towards our feet, and our slippery sleeping bags were sliding down our pads all night. We were also right next to train tracks, and the trains were so loud you almost thought they would hit you. We somehow managed to get a full night's sleep.

The next morning we had to get our bikes back up the hill, a task just as difficult as bringing them down. We had about 75 miles left to Ames, our target, but the wind was howling and the shoulder was horrific. It was as discouraging as anything has been on this trip, so we stopped to get ice cream in 50 degree weather. 

Now, it's hard to say this, but the worst part of the day was the few miles after eating ice cream. The shoulder disappeared entirely and there were trucks galore, forcing us to ride on the bumpy dirt roadside. Finally that ended and we had a three or four foot asphalt shoulder. It felt like heaven. We rode a little while longer, making it past Grand Junction, when we spotted a really nice camping spot. It was a bunch of trees on a perfectly flat park area, almost totally hidden from the road. We couldn't pass it up so we made camp and went to bed early. Ames could wait.

Day 35: Omaha

Posted by: Arin

This was the first morning in Omaha where I really slept in. The first two nights we had been sleeping in bedrooms upstairs, but Pam washed all the sheets after we left because her cousin was coming over so we slept on a big L-shaped couch in the basement. The reason I'm going into this is because there are no windows in the basement, so no sun to wake us up. I got up around 9:40 and headed upstairs.

To my surprise, only Brad was up there. I had thought that we were going to be cleaning up broken trees all day, and worried for a moment that everyone else was working while we were just sitting around. It turned out that there was a tree crew going around cleaning everyone's wreckage, so I sat down and ate the best scone I have ever eaten. 

There was a HUGE pile of wood chips in the driveway from the fallen conifer, and it was our job to spread them over a section of yard that was mostly mud. It was me, Brad, and Scott working as a three man team. We had one person scooping into the wheelbarrow, one person wheelbarrowing, and one person spreading the chips around the lawn. After a couple hours of hard work we had managed to cover that whole section of the yard, but had barely even made a dent in the wood chips. We were all fairly wet from the rain, so we went in to dry off and play some more ping pong. I lost every game to Scott again, he really is the best ping pong player I've ever played. He left for work, leaving Brad and I home with Pam for the day (Layne was already at work).

Most of the day was spent just sitting around, doing crosswords in the paper and being lazy. Layne got home and we ate pasta with homemade sauce and homemade bread. I'm definitely going to start baking bread; this family has been an inspiration for me in the way I want to live (and eat!).

Sarah from the bike shop had heard that we were in town still and invited us over to hang out! We thought about riding, but ended up getting a ride into town with Layne and Pam. They dropped us off and we ended up hanging out and drinking beers with her, her friend Tessie (sp?), and her boyfriend Eric. She's got this rad house with one issue: it's kind of slowly sinking so the floor is a little slanted. It was really awesome to get to hang out with them. We got to look at some of her bikes, including this awesome Rawland with a sweet saddlebag. 650b!

Thanks Sarah for having us over though! We'll definitely be back sometime.

Scott came by after work to pick us up. We were trying to make it to a movie that started at 9:15 (The Holy Mountain, a film from the 70's directed by Jodorowski), but Scott didn't get off of work until 9 and a little lollygagging on our part made sure we didn't get there until 9:45. Luckily the movie wasn't too plot-oriented and there was still an hour and a half left. It was a crazy movie!

We got back nice and late again, and after eating some ice cream (a nightly tradition for the three of us there) we all went to bed. We were finally going to continue our journey the next day.

Day 34: Omaha to Blair... and back to Omaha

Posted by: Arin 

I woke up in the morning to pouring rain. It seemed like we were bound to stay in Omaha another day or two. I got downstairs and Pam was already starting to make breakfast. Homemade waffles and a big baked egg and vegetable kind of thing. Road food doesn't even compare to that. The rain let up around 10am, and Brad and I started packing up our things (slowly). I had to switch out my tubes too, since I still had the ones with the short valves. After saying our goodbyes, we got on the road around 2:30. Thank you Layne, Pam, and Scott for showing us an awesome time!

As we left the house, the air was hot and wet. Breathing was tough, and I felt like my wheels were rolling through grass. I don't know what it was, but I just didn't feel good. I had a weird pain in my ribs and knee too. Needless to say, Brad was waiting for me at the top of every hill (and the first ten miles were all hills!). Around 5-5:30, we were reaching the town of Blair. We started to see a lot of lightning in the distance, and we made our way over the Missouri River into Iowa. The weather was looking a little more problematic, so we decided to take cover under the bridge that we rode over.

As you can see in the second picture, the weather continued to get worse and worse. There was a period of time when you couldn't even hear any gaps between the thunder, and a lightning bolt struck within 100 feet of us! I had never heard such a crash before. The wind started to pick up, and even behind a wall we were getting soaked. Water was coming from all directions. An ease in the rain allowed us to get out from under the bridge and ride back over it into Blair. The only thing was we had ridden down a dirt road to get there and we had to ride through mud to get out. We made it back over the bridge and found shelter in front of some business. We were going to wait out the night there and see what the next day had in store.

I took the opportunity to do a little writing, and as I'm doing that, I get a call from Layne. "How are you guys doing?" We told him our situation and he offered to have Scott swing by and pick us up. I guess the weather had hit them pretty hard. A big conifer tree in their yard fell over, along with a bunch of other trees in the neighborhood. Their neighbor's roof even got smashed up. After declining the offer, we sat around thinking for maybe 5 minutes before calling back and asking for a ride. It was supposed to rain the whole next day and we were only about 20 miles away.

About 45 minutes later (10:30pm), Scott rolls up in his Honda Element. The back seats were out and we were able to load both our bikes in without taking anything off. On the way back, a power substation was out and the road was blocked, so we had to take some dirt roads back. On the way we saw some gnarly knocked-over trees!

We got back to his parents' and they weren't kidding. Trees were broken and knocked over, but luckily none of their property was damaged. Scott and I played a few more games of ping pong (I lost all of them) before we went to bed. Another late night. 

Seriously though, I can't thank Layne, Pam, and Scott for thinking of us and rescuing us from what could have been a pretty terrible night.

Day 33: Omaha

Posted by: Arin

The other day I asked what a better way to start a day is than pan dulce. Turns out it's homemade cinnamon rolls and blueberry pancakes. Pam is just a master chef and everything she makes in unbelievable.

Our day in Omaha was awesome because we spent it with a tour guide. Layne let Scott drive us around Omaha in his Volkswagen Thing, which was awesome.

First stop was the skatepark at Seymour Smith park. That place was pretty cool, although it could have been designed with a little better flow in mind. It was fun watching Scott progress though. When we got there he couldn't even make one turn on a quarter pipe and by the end he could make a few in a row. 

The next stop was Omaha Bicycle Co in the Benson area of town. We ended hanging out for a long time with Sarah (the owner) and Vince (the mechanic), talking about bikes and touring. They even had a little coffee shop in the store! It was probably the most down-to-earth boutique shop I've ever been to, and my favorite shop as well. Up in the rafters I spotted a Bontrager Privateer in the same year as the one I own. 

From there we drove to the downtown area to walk and skate around. By then it was around 3pm, so we were pretty hungry. We decided to stop at Zio's Pizza, where we got a huge pizza loaded with veggies. Just a couple blocks from there was a man-made sunken like kind of thing. It had this big metal slide that kids were playing on, but we ended up having a lot of fun in an area with a bunch of stairs where we could skate and jump around. 

Scott's house wasn't too far from there, so we drove over to hang out and drink a beer or two before heading out on bikes. He's got a sweet place. The bottom floor is a workshop for a community garden and he has the whole upstairs to himself. From his balcony you can see the whole garden, where people can rent out their own raised boxes. 

We brought the bikes downstairs to ride to Memorial Park. While we down there we met some of his neighbors (Ricky and Allie) who decided to come along with us. Here's the coolest part though: Brad and I were riding a tandem mountain bike brazed by Tom Ritchey himself. If was probably one of the most beautiful bikes I have ever seen, and also both of our first times on a tandem. We took a few minutes riding around the street to get used to it before heading out. We got to the park, and just as Scott promised, there were some awesome trees to climb. I climbed the highest I've ever been in a tree!

Allie and Ricky headed home, while we rode back to Benson to grab another beer before riding back to Scott's. We then made the drive back to his parents' house to return the Thing and go to bed after munching on some homemade bread. It was a good day, I love Omaha!

Days 31-32: Gibbon to Omaha

Posted by: Arin

After a fiasco like the day before, things were bound to turn our way eventually (and turn they did!).

Really though, what better way is there to start your day than at a Mexican bakery? Brad and I had seen a Mexican restaurant the day before while looking for the park. It had a little hand painted sign at the top of the building that said "RosyChuy panadería y tortillería" and we knew that we had to go back there. We got to the restaurant around noon. I walked in and asked them if they had any pan dulce. The guy walks into the other room and comes back with a huge rack straight from the oven. They had just finished making them, so we got three each. What timing! It was probably the best pan dulce I've ever eaten.

After devouring all of them and deeming this a legit Mexican restaurant, we went back in for burritos. We finally left around 2:30 and we had a tailwind! By 5:30 we had already ridden about 50 miles and stopped in Kearney to get food for dinner. A guy at the grocery store actually offered for us to stay at his apartment, but we wanted to keep riding so we continued on. We made it a little past Central City and decided it was time to make camp. 

Once again, we found a spot under a bridge going over the Platte River. We just couldn't seem to get away from it, but I wasn't complaining. We set up camp, made some dinner, and went to bed early, preparing ourselves for the 105 miles in between our camp and Omaha.

Our camp was just a couple miles down highway 92 from highway 30, and we expected the day to be flat just like every other day in Nebraska had been. That was wrong, as we ended up going up and down hill after hill. I wasn't feeling too good in the morning, but we stopped to stretch and eat about 20 miles in and that did the trick. We were flying down the road. Around 2:30 we had been riding for just over three hours (including the break) and we had already covered 55 miles. I called Layne, a guy who we didn't know at all but was a friend of a friend of a friend, to tell him that we were about 50 miles out of Omaha and that we'd be there around six or seven.

Here's a funny story: I put up a Facebook status update asking if anyone had anywhere to stay in Omaha. A friend named Addison sent me a message letting me know his coworker's friend (or something) lives there and that we could stay at his house. Awesome! I got Layne's number and we had a place to go. I need to buy Addison a beer for that.

We left from our little break a little after 3:00, and what we thought was going to be 50 more miles actually turned out to be only 35. We got to his house by 5:00. Of course no one was there, they weren't expecting us for another hour or two. I gave Layne a call and his wife Pam answered. Now this is probably one of the greatest phone conversations I have ever had. She was so stoked to hear from us! After I told her we were there, she told us to go on in and shower, eat, do whatever. What hospitality. They were going to be back in 30 minutes, so Brad and I immediately hopped in the showers.

After I got out, I helped myself to an apple an an orange before I noticed the surround sound stereo. After looking through some CDs I found a Talking Heads album and put it on. I hung out for a while in the kitchen area before Layne and Pam got home.

Now let me tell you, these are probably the nicest people it have ever met in my life. Right off the bat they were telling us about their kids, showing us bikes, all while Pam was somehow covertly cooking us the most amazing meal of the trip so far. If you don't know me, pizza and cookies are the way to my heart and that's exactly what we had for dinner. Just look at this pizza.

Actually, the pizza turned a Cheeseboard recipe. If you haven't been to Cheeseboard or Ariz Mendi in the Bay Area, you're missing out on the best pizza in the world. Brad used to live in San Francisco and every time I visited we would eat at Ariz Mendi almost every day. We finished dinner and their son Scott came over. I then proceeded to get schooled in ping pong before getting to sleep in an actual bed! What an amazing welcome to Omaha.

Day 30: Lexington to Gibbon

Posted by: Arin

This day was my most frustrating of the trip so far. The night before I had been too tired to fix my slow leak so the day started with flat repair. I took my time putting on the patch, making sure it was on perfectly. It looked beautiful and after pumping up my tire we hit the road.

One hundred feet later we heard a hiss of air as Brad's tire went flat. We fixed that and continued on for another seven or eight miles. There we stopped at a little gas station/auto shop to fill our water bottles. I was anxious to get riding again but as I lifted my bike from the wall, I saw that my rear tire was low. This was absolutely ridiculous. I took the wheel off to find the hole, which turned out to be immensely difficult. I took the tube into the bathroom only to find my patch was slowly leaking. I decided to rip off the old patch so that I could try an instant patch rather than the vulcanized ones I had been using. 

*side note* Every single patch from the patch kit I bought in North Platte has failed.

As I'm tearing the patch off I hear another weird hissing noise as my front tire rapidly lost all of its air. Great, now I had a box full of faulty patches and two flats, and the closest place to buy tubes was a walmart in Lexington 7 miles back. As I'm sitting there hopelessly, the lady working in the gas station comes out. She asked me if I was having some issues and I told her the situation. "I have a mechanic back in Lexington who can grab you some tubes when he comes back" she told me. The day was saved! After about an hour of waiting, a guy comes with three tubes. I then proceeded to pay $31.60. That felt a little harsh, but I had tubes!

I pulled the first one out of its box... And the valve was too short. No pump was going to be able to clamp on. Luckily, a few weeks before the trip I saw a YouTube video that showed how to make a presta valve adapter out of a presta valve cap and I was able to pump up my tires using the air compressor! I just wouldn't be able to pump up my tires again until I got new tubes. Anyways, this mechanic saved my day. Thanks Bobby!

While we were waiting, we met another interesting guy. He was a farmer who had been living in the same house in the area for 50 years! He was super stoked to hear about our journey and shared a story of his own. Back in the 70's, he drove a tractor all the way from Nebraska to Washington D.C. to protest the high cost of farms. He was with farmers all over the country who made the journey, driving ten hours a day at 10 mph. By the time they got to Washington, they had a line of tractors over ten miles long! He was really great guy who genuinely wanted to keep in touch with us and even bought us some cookies!

Once I got the flats fixed, we got on the road and rode all the way to Gibbon. As we approached town, it was starting to get dark and we saw a heavily wooded area off to the side. We went in to see if it would be a good place to sleep, but there were some pretty sketchy looking plants and bugs so we got out of there quickly. We got into town and saw lightning in the distance. Rain seemed like a possibility, so we gave up being hidden to get a roof in a park. There we made dinner and slept under some concrete tables, using the footprint of the tent over the bikes as a wind screen. Although the lightning continued late into the night, we avoided rain and slept peacefully.