DRRRAAAAMMMAAAAA

Well, a lot has happened since I updated this last. After signing off from Jackson at the library, we spent several hours trying to find a place to sleep. Jackson apparently caters to the wealthy population who utilizes ski resorts, but has no place for anyone who wants to spend under $120 a night for lodging. There is a no camping city wide ordinance to "preserve the beauty of the town" which basically meant we were out of luck. Even the RV parks turned us away. Ian got on the phone with the sheriff to see if there was a place to stay the night, and was informed of a homeless shelter in town. Though none of us were terribly keen on the idea of taking someone's bed for the night at a homeless shelter, we were out of options. It was dark, and there was a thunderstorm blowing through, and it wasn't going to be safe to bike the next 10 miles out to the nearest place to pitch a tent, so we went to the shelter.
The people there were all very nice and understanding. The manager said he completely understood and that the shelter was there for all people in need of a place to stay. We had a bit of a restless night, as none of us still felt particularly good about being there, and they fed us a wonderful breakfast in the morning, and we were on our way.
The next day we crossed the continental divide, which was amazing! There was this incredible idyllic lake at the top with a beautiful view of the mountains in the background. About a mile down the road, on the down hill, there was a massive amount of construction, which they wouldn't let us ride through. We ended up hoisting our bikes into the pilot car and getting a ride down the first part of the down hill. We met up with a guy named Lyndsey from Scotland that we had been playing "tag" with all day at a campsite in a town called Dubois and hung out for the next two days with him.
We took a day off in Lander, at which there is free camping in the city park, as long as you don't stay for more than 3 days.
Since then, we have been plugging along in areas that are much less inhabited. We got stuck in the middle of nowhere because the town that we had chosen for our destination wasn't so much of a town as it was a confederate bunker with two separate barbed wire fences surrounding the property. There wasn't another town for 20 miles. We had no choice but to head to the next town. I was about at my strength's end, and it had gotten dark. There weren't many people on the road, but the occasional high beam was enough to blind us and make it even harder to see the ditch to one side and the rumble strip to the other. We finally made it to what we thought was the next town, which was just as bleak and closed off as the last (minus the confederate flag), so we kept going, hoping to make it the next 6 miles to the nearest rest stop. About 5 minutes later, we start to see lights coming from a building. A little farther down the highway, and we come to a cafe, THAT WAS STILL OPEN. We went into the cafe and talked to the owners and asked them where we could pitch a tent, and they said we could sleep on the porch of the abandoned house next door. We all went to bed without dinner, we were all so exhausted.
The next morning we got up and brought breakfast from them (a real one with eggs and hashbrowns!) and set off for casper.
In casper we sprung for a motel (none of us had taken showers for days) and ordered Chinese food and got a great nights sleep for once in a long time.
Woke up late this morning and began our trek for one of the small nowhere towns between casper and Lusk. Unfortunately the couple I am riding with have been having relationship problems, pretty much since we met up, which I have sort of ended up in the middle of. 20 miles down the road this morning, and she decides she is going to split off and head home by herself. He doesn't really know what he wants or what he is doing, but is worried about job stuff and is too preoccupied to make a decision, and I am left feeling frustrated at the pace and time and the fighting.
I want to be enjoying this trip, but more and more I am just ready to go home. It has become tedious, and outside of that, I have become the third wheel on my own adventure.
We shall see how the next few days go. Hopefully they get better.
Katy

Wyoming already!

Well, my cellphone's data plan is roaming again, which means the map on the site is out of commission. While it says I am somewhere off a highway 75, (I haven't passed a highway 75 in days, if ever) I am actually in Jackson, Wyoming. I got into Alpine, Wyoming yesterday evening and met up with my friends Ian and Jen, who are going to be riding with me for the next two weeks. We have been doing some hill climbing, but they have been rollers for the most part. We are anticipating actually climbing the continental divide in the next two days.
Idaho was interesting. Although I think the last day was my favorite. Coming into Wyoming through the targhee national forest was absolutely incredible. It was difficult to stop myself from stopping every 10 minutes to take a picture of yet another idyllic setting.
For the most part, idaho seemed to be pretty constant uphill false flats, and large rolling plains, with a head wind. One day I got so frustrated I only ended up doing 45 miles (an extremely short day for me). Like the rest of the country, I have met nothing but incredibly nice people. Ones who were more than willing to share a campsite with me to save some money, or who let me camp for free in their RV parks because I had eaten at their cafes twice that day, or even ones that saw what I was eating for dinner and felt so sorry for me that they fed me salad to make up for the sad meal. (that last one in particular was at craters of the moon where the people at the campsite next to me saw that I was eating refried beans, tuna and corn for dinner. :)
Overall, I am feeling strong and good, and I am ready to tackle the continental divide.
-katy-

Idaho! part 3

i am currently taking a rest day in boise. put some things together to mail home to try to make the rockies as easy as humanly possible (which really is not humanly possible). as i probably should have realized, 6 weeks is not much time for this trip. while it is thoretically possible, it doesnt account for the fact that i would like to enjoy myself on this trip too. i have decided to not worry so much about my final destination, and concentrate on where i am and what im experiencing. i am meeting a couple of friends in a few days in jackson, wyoming and they are riding with me to chicago. if that is as far as i make it, great! i will hang out for a few days, take the train to new york, hang out for a few more days and fly home. if i make it to new york, also great! i have spent too much time worring about the final destination and not enough time focusing on the reason i set off on this trip in the first place; a love of bike riding, and a desire to see the country.

idaho! continued...

sorry for the disjointed format. i am trying to post from my finicky phone. anyhow, people so far have been pretty fantastic when i come across them, which hasnt been as frequently as i would like, especially since all the other cyclists ive met have been going the other direction finishing their cross country treks. aparently i have chosen the wrong time of year for this. the people in the towns along the way have also been amazing. the town of dayville, oregon puts cyclists up for the night in their church, letting them use the showers, kitchen and laundary for free. it was quite welcome after a long hard day of riding in 100 degree weather in the desert. another lady in ironside, oregon let me sleep in her motor home next to her house during a rather ominous thunderstorm. in general people have been enthusiasti and totally helpful.

Idaho!

so, i have made it to idaho! oregon was rough at times. much of it is having record highs just like the rest of the country. there is so much distance between towns at times that i was starting to be afraid that i would run out of water. i did in fact after coming down from the cascades in the middle of the warm springs reservation, which is at least a good 30 miles long with

Solo time...

Today is the first day I will be traveling solo. I'm a little nervous, but I think once I get on the road I will feel a lot better. Things always seem more daunting before actually setting out, and it will certainly be nice to have quiet time and clear my head. As much as I love portland and friends, half the point of the trip was to get away from everything.

I will be traveling along highway 26 through oregon and should be near the base of mount Hood tonight. First day of climbing mountains! We shall see how this goes. My next major stop is Boise, Idaho!

-katy-

Tracking map

It has been brought to my attention that the map in the upper right corner of my blog doesn't always show my position. If this is the case, its most likely because my cellphone is out of tower range and cant transmit to the website. Don't worry. Its not broken, just temporarily unavailable.

-katy-

Portland!

Hey all! I am finally able to update this from a real computer! Apparently my phone doesn't work so well for updating blogs.

So to continue from the last post...after getting a flat and spending an hour and a half patching the tube in several different places, some really nice man pulled into the gas station and offered to go buy some tubes for us and bring them back! (people never cease to amaze me some times)

We ended up in Milton that night in this horrible motel in which you could smell the mold growing in the carpet. Gross.

The next day, we rode through Tacoma, which is one of the least bike friendly places I have ever been in the north west, and pushed through to Centralia after not finding any camping (apparently there is very little along the I-5 corridor) and ended up in a motel there after riding around 70 miles. We ate dinner at a place called Burgerville which is fast food, but is, as much as possible, local and organic (walla walla sweet onion rings!)

The next day we started our ride with the one day riders of the STP, since we were following their route. It was nice to be cheered on after such a long day of riding the day before. Some of the older men on the STP were really interested in my trip and had a lot of good pointers since many of them had done similar tours 20-25 years earlier. It was nice to have the encouragement. 50 miles, and the best 50 for me so far, later we rolled into kelso and ended up in yet another motel :( .

The forth day, we tried to get an early start and failed miserably as I was having tire trouble again. I pumped my front tire and when I tried to remove the pump nozzle from the valve and the inner piece pulled out!! I changed the tube (with the brand new one that the guy brought us at the gas station) and we were off. Five minutes down the road I checked the pressure of the tire, AND IT WAS FLAT AGAIN!!!! I couldn't find the hole in the new tube and it was a slow enough leak that I could fill it every 45min to an hour and it would be ok, but it certainly didn't make slogging up hills very easy.

We started off towards the lewis and clark bridge and got in the line of two day STP riders who were crossing, and ended up getting a sweet escort across an otherwise not terribly appealing bridge. (for anyone who hasn't crossed one of the washington-oregon bridges over the columbia on a bike, between the wind, the tiny bike lane, the traffic and the steep grades they are often the scariest parts of bike tours in the north west. ) We biked into portland with all of the two day people finishing the STP and got to share a bit in their glory of making it to the finish line. Along the course that day I ran into my friend Remmington, who rode the STP pulling a trailer shaped like a covered wagon!! He gave me another new tube and gave me some recommendations for different tires that would make touring a hell of a lot smoother. My tire held air the rest of the way to portland, where we split off from the STP and road to Ian's friends house, where we spent the night last night.

I am spending the day today gathering more supplies and recuperating a little, and tomorrow I set off for the base of mount hood.

I am hoping to be in Idaho in 7 days, and then off to wyoming to meet up with the next set of friends for probably the easiest, as well as most difficult leg of the trip. The mid west and ...THE ROCKIES!!! (dun dun duuunnnnnn)

-Katy-

and we begin!

we set off thursday 7/15 into the wild blue yonder otherwise known as the clusterfuck that is west marginal and white center and promptly got ourselves slightly lost. twenty twenty minutes later after finally getting on the right path, i, of course, got a flat tire after neglecting to buy extra tubes before we left (oops!)

And the countdown begins...

Who would have thought that the last 6 months would go by so quickly. I leave a week from tomorrow and no matter how much I have planned in the last 6 months, I still feel as if I have no idea what to really expect. I have decided to try and keep a blog, as I guess this is quite a bit easier than sending mass emails. I will try and keep it updated as much as possible, but I make no promises. :)

I have posted a map that I will update from my phone that will allow people to see where I am in the country.

Thank you all for your support, encouragement and interest. I look forward to seeing you all and telling stories when I get back.