Day 26: One Day More!!!

"One day more...Another day, another century, This never-ending road to DC."

Only one more day before we make it to dc! Only 50 miles stands between us and our goal. We had a fantastic day coming out of the Appalachians. We had the most elevation gain because of big climbs today overall but also managed to bike the 105 miles from mt storm to purcellville. 

We saw amazing breathtaking views biking down from mt cheat:

 And for anyone still doubting about the Appalachians being mountains...

Check out this view! We were on our way down from Mt. Cheat, and we still had this fantastic view!

Casey's first time to Virginia! 

Day 25: Mountains to Climb

Anyone who says the appalatians aren't really mountains has never biked across them. Today we went our highest speed (41) and our lowest speeds (around 5) on the road today. We also went our highest elevation and lowest elevation on this side of the Mississippi. We climbed Mt. Thornton, Mt. Laurel, Mt. Casey Messick (as we named it), Backbone mountain, and Mt. Storm. All in 69 miles. We are exhausted! We decided today that we will stay in Mountaineer motel, to rest up and shower for the first time in over a week. We realized these last few days that our legs were getting darker and our tan lines fading. Then we realized that it hasn't been sunny all week. 😳 Yes, gross, and we know it. So to prepare for our triumphant victory ride into Washington DC, we will shower. 

We literally biked into this cloud

Days 21-24: climbing the toes of the Appalachians

We have been biking hard and haven't had enough energy to write at night these last few days. Here's a recap:

Day 21: Versailles, Indiana. Wonderful day. We enjoyed doing nothing but eatibg and sleeping. We couldn't get to a chapel this weekend so we enjoyed a full days rest. We also gave our bikes a much needed bath (now we just need a bath!!)

Day 22: 107 miles to Hillsboro, Ohio 

It was really far.

Day 23: 119 miles to Coolville, Ohio 

This day was really, really far.

Day 24: 95 miles to Bridgeport, West Virginia, this ending our six day streak of centuries (100 miles or more in a day)

To sum up our last few days: calories, miles, food, biking, eating, climbing, calories (did I mention that yet?) If previously we biked across the back of the Ozarks, we are now climbing the toes of the Appalachians, toes from a millipede, neverending hills. 

3400 calorie meal, each:

Day 20: yard sales

Apparently it's national yard sale day in Indiana because there were a unbelievably large number of garage/yard sales going on. We saw close to twice as many yard sales as miles we biked today (108miles)

We're in Versailles Indiana. Lovely little town. 

We are so grateful for the weekend. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the city we wanted to due to some great and spacious hills, and that was the next lds chapel closest to town. Maybe we can find a local Christian congregation in town and make some new friends :)

We saw some amazingly beautiful scenery today! Just absolutely breathtaking! These past couple of days, Indiana has just been full of surprises. If you want to see pictures you'll have to google it, sorry didn't have time to take any pictures today 

Grocery shopping for the sabbath!:

Day 19: 2 Days and a Night without a day

Today it rained. Again. So today we chose to dodge the rain. We downloaded a weather radar map, and if we saw a storm about to nail us we'd get off the road...QUICK! This made for slow going, but we stayed dry. For 107 miles. 650 more to go!

We had a great meal at Hunan Garden in Lawrenceville, IL. It was a family that moved here from Fuzhou a few years ago, and they were super nice.

When the sun finally came out, we were exhausted, but thrilled. Haven't seen it for a couple days. 

Day 18: dodging storms

More rain today! But we learned our lesson. As long as we don't get wet we're okay! So instead of pushing through rainstorms, we waited them out wherever we could, at people's barns, at convenience stores, at restaurants, enjoying more calories for our tired bodies, and even at a winery where a nice lady gave us some jerky. We would wait till the rain stopped then pushed as hard as we could to get to the next town before it rained on us. In this very tiring yet successful way we were able to accomplish 90 miles for the day, still leaving us behind on schedule. If it just wasn't so cold we would have been alright. 

Sorry no pictures today! We're not very good at remembering to take them sometimes. 

We're right now nice and dry in our tent camped out behind a church under a pavilion we saw to the side of the road 

Enjoyed a great bike store in edwardsvillev today. Shout out to the bike factory!

Day 17: mud and rain

It rained and got real cold today. Soaking wet, we biked 77 miles to get to Alton, il, across the Mississippi River. Casey had been constantly telling Bryce how excited he was to cross the Mississippi and how he was looking forward to the day. Well, the day has come and gone and he got his wish, in 40 degree wet rains and winds, not how we imagined it at all. The only parts of our body that wasn't absolutely freezing was our faces thanks to facial hair. I guess that's why god made man to grow beards, so that they can keep bikers faces warm when biking in the rain over the Mississippi. 

We're currently feasting to make up for all the energy trying to stay warm on our bikes yesterday, between the two of us, we devoured almost 5000 calories. Thank you McDonald's 

Here are some pictures:

For bikers:

Definitely make sure to use touring bikes for any long distance touring and not road Bikes. They require less maintenance and are more versatile for the different roads you could encounter and the ride is a little more comfortable. Also cheaper to fix