Snow/Rest Day - February 28, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Yes, we are camping and resting in a snow storm in Silver City, New Mexico at 6,000 ft. elevation. I am using the campgrounds public computer so daughter, Yvette, has a couple days off.

This weather is very unusual according to the owners of the campground and promise mid 50's to 60's for the next few days.

Luckily, we are staying in one of the nicest campgrounds we have ever been in. Comfortable, clean, and many amenities. Thank you Jim and Jackie Blurton, avid bikers and owners of Sliver City KOA (575-388-3351) for the camping discount and the donations to MS. We will spend a couple days here using it as home base for a day of biking tomorrow and then a day of sightseeing and hiking.

Day 16 - February 27, 2010 - Coast to Coast

From the Captain:

Highest elevation of the trip so far, 6,300 ft. over 14 miles. We were overly optimistic and thought we could get a 50+ mile day in since are maps showed a long downhill. What the maps didn't show was the numerous dips that we encountered. By the time we got to 37 miles, we were exhausted, partly because this was our 5th day of biking in a row.

Carol picked us up when our legs quit and drove to Silver City, NM. We are expecting another storm tonight with snow and Silver City is a good place to savor a rest day.

From the Stoker:

A very difficult and strenuous day but we are feeling satisfied and proud. We have worried about this climb since we got the maps months ago, hoping we could make it without vehicle support and WE DID!!! Our vehicle support was waiting on the peak as we arrived to cheer and take pictures.

The climb to the peak was beautiful through the canyon with many rock formations. I can't wait to post pictures when our computer is fixed. Once we started downhill, we entered New Mexico and enjoyed biking through gorgeous pine forest and along rivers We are so lucky to have the opportunity to see this wonderful country so up close and in detail.

Day 15 - February 26, 2010 - Coast to Coast

From the Captain: Rode from Thatcher to Three Way, AZ on Hwy. 70 and 191. We are entering the highest elevation of the trip. We did the first of four climbs today climbing from 2000 ft. to 4800 ft. It was a long gradual climb; one of those that kept you saying to yourself......"that must be the peak", then you would round the corner and realize you had more climb ahead. We biked 38 miles and decided to quit early since the next climb is from 2600 to 6300, our highest elevation of the trip. We were riding through Gila river valley and the scenery was nice. Although we're climbing, we're looking forward to arriving in Silver City, NM. Its in the Gila wilderness area at 6000 ft. elevation. It should be beautiful.


From the Stoker: After 38 miles of climbing (yes, gradual, but still climbing), Carol was on the peak of the pass shouting and cheering us on for our accomplishment. It's so nice to have her helping and supporting us. We couldn't do it without her.

Day 14 - February 25, 2010

From Yvette Lepore (the Daughter): I'm standing in for my parents for a few days to do their blogging. They are fine, the bike is fine, the truck is fine.....but their computer crashed. They won't be able to get if fixed for another week or so. I will do my best to keep up and translate their telephone updates. Bear with me though, taking shorthand over the phone is not my strong suit. I can't post pics but they will post them later when the computer is back up and running.


From the Stoker: Great day today with beautiful weather. We rode 66 miles in 4 hours. We finally had a tailwind today. We traveled through an Indian reservation on Highway 70 to Thatcher, AZ. Not much to see but a mountain range on our left and snow capped mountain on our right. The rest was just desert and a littered highway. I guess it can't always be beautiful. Remember when I said every day is a good day? Well today was better than the rest. It felt so good to ride and feel like we were flying.


From the Captain: Warm sunshine and gentle breeze today. The tailwind gave our tired legs a great assist. The pavement was smooth and the shoulder good. I got several good photos of a snow capped mountain. The nice thing about this trip is that every day is different. There are new views around every corner.....unlike the three routes we bike in our summer and fall home in Manistee, MI. The campground we stayed in was free. The owners were very supportive of our cause as their 28 year old sister has MS. A big thank you to Red Lamp Mobile Home Park in Thatcher, AZ. 928-428-3382.

Day 13 - February 24, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 13 - February 24, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Impressions from the Captain:

What a grueling day! We left Superior knowing we had to climb to 4600 ft. and had to go thru the Queen River tunnel. We immediately started to climb and reached the tunnel (which was 2-3 miles out ) pretty tired. We only mention the tunnel since it was pointed out in our literature as dangerous, and we met a biker on the road that said he had been hit in the tunnel. Scratched up, but destroyed his bike. We decided to wait for our support vehicle and let her follow us thru the tunnel with flashers going.

We were battling, yes, another strong head wind and it was draining us so fast that we could only go from one turn out to the next. The good news was the canyon was beautiful and we got many good pictures at each turn out. When we got to the top of the major climb we found out we were pedaling up a 7% grade! We had to continue to 11 miles to reach the summit but we were pretty whipped and only put in 33 miles. Optimistically we had planned the day before to put in another 20 miles but that was based on the info that the climb was only a 3% grade.

From the Stoker:

Yes, another difficult day but we are sooooo proud to have accomplished such a feat. I think it was fortunate that we had to pull off at every turnout. The views were wonderful and we had fun taking pictures. It is amazing what we are seeing that could never be seen while driving a car through this canyon.

We have found that we are strong enough to tackle almost any climb, but need so much more strength to tackle the wind with the climb. It took us 1 hour and 30 minutes of biking time to climb the first 8 miles and that included a short walk we gave our favorite bike.

We left Superior, AZ on highway 60 to Globe. We picked up highway 70 in Globe and continued east about 8 miles to an Apache Indian Reservation. We are camping in a RV Park that is part of the Casino owned by the Apache Tribe. We treated ourselves to the Italian Buffet Night at the restaurant. Then we decided to treat ourselves to a little gambling. Carol lost $5.00, Dick lost $10.00, and I won $51.00. A great end to a great day.

Day 12 - February 23, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 12 - February 23, 2010 - Coast to Coast

From the Stoker:

Today was a cool but clear sunny day. We did 48 miles. I think I made a mistake on the post 2 days ago. We biked to Mesa, AZ, had Carol pick us up due to the second flat tire. We drove to Apache Junction to camp. Carol drove us back to Mesa this morning to begin our day.

The first 20 miles were on small city streets until we reached Apache Junction again. We got on Highway 60 for the rest of the 28 miles. It was a gradual climb the next 10 miles with a headwind but not difficult. The last 15 miles was a very difficult climb to 2900 ft. and a strong headwind. There was a short downhill section and we had to pedal to travel at 15 mph. Normally, it is difficult to keep our speed below 25 to 30 on a downhill.

We have a couple very difficult days ahead of us but the scenery is beautiful. I hope you enjoy the photos. We are staying in Superior, AZ at Superior RV Park owned by Howard and Linda Clark. We thank them for a very generous discount to support our cause.

Impressions from the Captain:

When we left Mesa this morning we had strong head winds and I thought “not another day” but as we got South of Superstitious Mountains the wind was a tail wind. I thought our prayers were answered awfully fast! But, as we got further down the road, it was back to the head wind. Evidently, we were in an eddy coming around Superstitious!

The highway had an awful shoulder with a rumble strip about 2 ft. wide on a 4ft shoulder. That would not have been bad to contend with if the strip had remained equally spaced. Not so! Seems the rumble strip “installer” must have been drinking that day because the strip wandered back and forth over the 4ft width. Because you can’t stand on a tandem, it made for a very rough trip as I constantly had to cross over into the traffic lane. At all the culverts, they put up guard rails which ended up deleting the shoulder all together forcing us on to the traffic lane. A little nerve racking.

Impressions from the support team:

I have finally learned to back the %#$&* trailer and told my bikers that the truck was beginning to feel like an extension of my arm (not) but the anxiety level is greatly reduced to about ¼ the “loo” breaks I previously took. The bikers are going so fast that the support team frequently is behind them on the planned meeting spots. They have therefore consented to cycle slower so that I can get my chores done and the canine support team can have longer walks.

Remember, if you would like to view the pictures in larger format, just click on them.

Rain/Rest Day - February 22, 2010 - Coast ro Coast

Rain/Rest Day (again) - February 22, 2010

This is been a record breaking year in this part of the country for rain, unfortunately for us. It has made the desert almost beautiful and we are hoping we will enjoy some desert flowers as our journey continues. It looks like we will be able to start our climb tomorrow with sun and four good days ahead of us.

Rob, Thank you and love to you and your beautiful family.

Yvonne, Thank God we have you to remind us He is always watching over us.

Joe, No snow yet and hopefully not in the mountains when we get there.

Tom & Linda, Good to hear from you and congrats on all the success. Save the newspaper for us. Thanks for your generous donation.

Debi, Thank you for your support and see you in the spring.

We have some request to post our itinerary. We are going thru many little towns on many different roads but I have done my best to give you an idea.

We are in Apache Junction AZ now
Globe AZ
Safford AZ
Mule Creek just inside New Mexico
Silver City, NM
Over Emory Pass at 8200 ft.
Las Cruces, NM
Anthony just inside of Texas
El Paso, TX
Van Horn, TX
Fort Davis, TX
Marathon, TX
Del Rio, TX
Kerrville, TX
Small roads between San Antonia & Austin, TX
The Hill Country east of Austin, TX
Continuing east to De Ridder just inside of Louisiana
Ville Platte, LA
St. Francisville, LA
Into Mississippi for just a short distance through many small cities
Into Alabama to Mobile
Across Mobile Bay to Pensacola, FL
Milton, FL (Carol’s hometown)
De Funiak Springs, FL
Tallahassee, FL
Finally dipping our front tire in the Atlantic Ocean in St. Augustine, FL

Day 11 - February 21, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 11 - February 21, 2010 - Coast to Coast

From the Stoker:

We did it! We made it through Phoenix. It was quite stressful, especially for the Captain. Lots of traffic the first 10 miles, then just plain city biking with a million stop signs and lights and turns. I spent most of the 51 miles with the map in my hand giving directions. We finished our day in Mesa, AZ and camping at a KOA, nice but expensive.

We weren’t sure we would be able to bike today after listing to the weather report last night, rain expected on and off all day. We left with a threatening sky but enjoyed a good amount of sun and got spit on only a couple times.

I left my camera in the camper worrying about rain and I am so sorry. The pictures I did not take was rows of beautifully shaped orange trees in peoples front yards loaded with oranges and the ground covered with them and many displays of colorful flowers. We biked on a beautiful bike path for about 13 miles and could have taken many pictures. I also would have taken a picture of Dick changing a flat tire.

I will respond to comments on our daily post. Mick, it is not a fish story but we did fail to mention that today was no wind and sometimes a tailwind. How about that!

Elliott, the water pictures were of the Colorado River in Ehrenberg, AZ. We never change place on the bike, Captain is always the captain, stoker always the stoker. The bike is sized for us that way. When a semi passes us, it pulls us along for a 100 yards and we love it. Yes, a tandem saves energy. You have the power of 2 and the air drag of one bike. I will make a list of the cities we will be going through and post it tomorrow. Thank you for your support and we are glad you are enjoying following our progress.

Impressions from the Captain:

Getting thru Phoenix was tough! Probably the most mentally tough day we have had. Constant stop and go, got lost 4 times, and then had to deal with two flat tires all while dodging the rain drops. We wanted to get thru today, being Sunday so we wouldn’t have to deal with rush hour traffic on Monday. When you have a flat tire you need to inspect the tire and tube and locate the cause of the leak so that you can remove it. Both of us went over the tube and tire with a fine tooth comb and couldn’t locate the cause so we assumed we had ridden over something that pulled back out. After about 10 more miles it was obvious that we had a slow leak so we called for Carol to come get us. She got lost and we had to wait awhile for her to find her way! Stressful for her.

The weather tomorrow is predicting another front coming thru that will probably ground us another day so I’ll spend the morning and replace both the tire and tube and look for the problem when we land in EL Paso. We are heading into the toughest part of the whole trip. We have several major climbs in the next four days much of it above 4000 ft. with one pass coming out of Silver City over 8000ft. The good news is we should be seeing some really pretty country in the Gila Wilderness area.

Rain/Rest Day - February 20, 2010

We are not happy that it is raining. We were very anxious to get the trip thru downtown Phoenix done and over with. We thought about heading out anyway, but then considered biking thru traffic and with rain was not a good idea.

We have spent the day restocking the refrigerator and shopping at Target. This is the last big city we will be in until we get to El Paso TX about 2 weeks from now.

I guess we will just have to spend the evening at Margarita Night at the club house. We did get to enjoy “all you can eat” breakfast with our friends, Jim and Cheryl, at the club house. It sure beat the very healthy breakfast we have each morning before we head out on the bike.

We have made sure to thank everyone that has helped us through this journey. We need to thank our daughter Yvonne and husband, Randy, for introducing us to Nutrilite Nutritional Products. They are keeping us very healthy and energetic and helping us to pedal on. www.forbesenterprise.net

Just got back from Margarita Night and what fun. Karaoke night also with lots of very good singers. The $1.00 margarita’s were wonderful and all the snow birds were so friendly and fun and we got these tired bodies up and dancing. Back to the camper at 10:00 and on our way to bed. Biking tomorrow, rain or shine. Pray for us.

Day 10 - February 19, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 10 - February 19, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Impressions from the Captain:

So much for the theory of prevailing winds out of the west. We had head winds again today but we managed to do 55 miles. The legs are starting to feel stronger and we finished feeling pretty good (except for the bottom sides). We have arrived at the outskirts of Phoenix. Not looking forward to going thru Phoenix tomorrow but luckily it is the weekend and traffic should be down. It’s amazing how green everything is from all the rain they’ve had.

This morning we were getting ready to leave and a woman in the site next to us, from eastern British Columbia, walked over and handed me a $20 bill and said it wasn’t much but she wanted to support our effort. It is really good to see people share our cause and make a contribution, little or big.

We ran into an older man on the side of the road this morning who was off his bike and seemed to be having some problems. He said he was fine but starting to cramp and was trying to shake it off. Turns out he is riding around the periphery of the country and had left Bozeman, Mt. He was hauling a trailer with 200 lbs in it and was having to work really hard on the hills. He said he had picked up his wife’s ashes in San Diego and was taking them to Phoenix for the memorial. He felt that once he had dropped the ashes and some other items in Phoenix he would shed 100 pounds.

From the Stoker:

Those of you that are sending prayers, work on no wind and getting us thru the city of Phoenix. I am pretty proud of our strength though, 65 miles yesterday in 4:41, and 55 miles today (with 1800’ elev.) in 4:12 of biking. Isn’t it amazing how many people we have run into doing this same trip. The couple was my age but the single men were Dick’s age. So, those of you that think we are too old for this, not so.

We met our same friends for dinner that we met here on our way to San Diego. We are camping in Pleasant Harbor RV Park. It is beautiful with many amenities. I can see why Jim and Cheryl stay all winter.

In case you haven’t noticed, I have learned how to comment on the comments. I comment on the same day I received them and I’m thinking that I should reply on the following day (the next post you will read). Again, thanks so much for the encouragement you are sending on to us.

Sending picture of the decal we have on the cargo trailer and on our biking shirts.

Day 9 - February 18, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 9 - February 18, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Impressions from the Captain:

Wow, cooking today! We did 65 miles with an 1800 ft. elevation gain. A day of rest on the legs made a big difference. Woke up to clear skies and warm sunshine. Its amazing how much more you notice when you’re biking thru the desert than when you’re driving. They’ve had some strong storms (blew down some Saguaro cacti) here in the past month and the desert is very green. It’s surprising, but there are huge Black Eye Susans bushes growing right along the road. After a day of doing maintenance the bike is riding nice and a lot quieter. We should make Phoenix tomorrow and meet up with the Noteboom’s again.

Impressions from the support staff:

Someone asked what I do all day while they cycle. I do chores, get the camper fixed, buy supplies for the trip, close up camp, contact the next campsite, sit in remote areas waiting for them, worry, walk dogs, and catch up on my reading. The canine support staff insure that no creature sneaks up on us (like killer rabbits) and make friends along the way. Truthfully, the bikers often beat me to the next rendezvous and am I ever happy to see them. They are pretty phenomenal!

From the Stoker:

It was a great day! We need many more of these. We met a couple in the middle of the desert at a fruit and veggie stand that were good friends with the Noteboom’s. What a small world. We also met an older man biking the same route as we are. He is hauling his own camping gear and eating cold food. What would we do without Carol?!

I am sorry that I haven’t learned how to comment on the comments. I will try tonight to figure it out. We are overwhelmed with the enthusiasm, support, and prayers we are receiving from many of you. Thank you so much. It is a very nice way to end our day and certainly helps us get back on the bike and pedal on.

Day 8 - February 16, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 8 - February 16, 2010 - Coast to Coast

From the Stoker:

It is finally more than a warm day, it is a hot day. We only had 21 miles to bike to get to Quartzsite, AZ. We are getting stronger or the climb just wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. We could have made it easy yesterday, but glad we didn’t, our time on the Colorado River was wonderful.

We arrived in Quartzsite and staying at 88 Shades RV Park. We arrived early afternoon, set up camp and walked about a mile to the flea market. Dick and I only spent an hour or two but Carol never got back to the campground until dinner time.

We enjoyed time sitting in the shade with our glass of wine and thinking about the steak dinner we were going to have. We will enjoy tomorrow (if you can enjoy washing clothes and paying bills and fixing bikes) but be anxious to get back on the bike Thursday morning.

Impressions from the Captain:

It was an easy day to get to Quartzsite, climbing 1000 ft., which seemed to go relatively easy, in spite of another day of head winds. The only highway available here is I-10 so we had to deal with the noise and traffic. Luckily, the shoulder is wide and smooth so I could concentrate on road hazards. I used to dislike the big trucks but when you’re going into a head/cross wind they block the wind and, surprisingly, they’ll pull you along for 100 yds. or so. Sometimes our speed would increase 2-3 mph. Love it!

Starting to have slight knee tenderness….something that was fairly common with my running and biking but it would usually go away with stretching the quads. Hopefully the day of rest will help.

Day 7 - February 15, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 7 - February 15, 2010 - Coast to Coast

From the Stoker:

What a beautiful hot sunny day today. Only biked 25 miles, flat with some headwind. We decided to make a short day out of it due to it being our 5th day of biking without a rest day. We have left CA and are one mile across the Arizona border in Ehrenberg. We have 18 more miles to Quartzsite and they are all up hill. We will have a rest day there while Carol enjoys the biggest flea market in the US.

We are camping on the Colorado River in River Lagoon Resort. There isn’t another camper in sight. We have a gazebo to ourselves, picnic table, and a gorgeous view. We had crab legs on the grill (thanks to Carol) with our wine and a great dinner. It was wonderful finishing the day early and enjoying the rest and relaxation.

The picture of the Arizona state line is for our grandson Joey. He’s having a hard time believing Grammy and PaPa are traveling state to state on our bike.

Impressions from the Captain:

It will be good to get to Quartzite and some much needed rest and a chance to do some maintenance on the bike. We notice the fatigue setting in earlier each day. The head winds and the hills are taking their toll. One thing we don’t want is an overuse injury, especially this early in the trip. We are finding one of three things dictates the distant we travel each day. The difficulty of the ride (hills, wind, etc.), the availability of campgrounds, and how we feel (particularly our bottoms). Today it was the first and the last.
The bike is making a lot of annoying noises and it is ready for some general maintenance. I’ll probably have a full days work on it and the trailer before we head on towards Phoenix.

If you would like to view the pictures in a larger format, just click on it.

Day 6 - February 14, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 6 - February 14, 2010 - Coast to Coast

From the Stoker:

Happy Valentine to All! We drove back to the dunes to pick up the bike route and took a couple more pictures before we took off. Unfortunately, the first 30 miles were climbing with very strong headwinds. The climb was moderate but the winds made it seem severe. We were sandblasted the whole time we were biking along the dunes. The last 16 miles were suppose to be downhill. It was downhill with many, many huge dips (down and up). I guess each up was at a lower elevation therefore classified as a downhill. We never had a break from the wind all day and we are toast tonight. We are staying at an awful campground in Palo Verde, CA. We can’t even thank anyone for their support because there is no one here. We just put money in an envelope and drop in a box. We can’t blame Carol for this one. Every day is good, some just better than others. Tomorrow will be better.

Impressions from the Captain:

Woke up last night with heavy winds blowing. Hoped they would be tail winds but no such luck. The legs weeeling fatigued after only a short time so we thought we would be lucky to make it half way to Palo Verde but as the ride progressed we got into thedownhill and the winds started to ease we realized we would make it.
We ran into a another tandem on the route and made some new friends, Don and Marilyn. They are from Colorado and this is their second trip across the US. They went from San Francisco to Virginia. It was good having someone to ride with to keep your mind off the uphill and stiff wind.

Day 5 - February 13, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 5 - February 13, 2010 - Coast to Coast
Impressions from the captain:

Woke up to bright sunshine and warm weather. The first day we got to ride in short sleeve shirts. Before we got on the road we ran into a problem with the camper, couldn’t get the valve closed on the black water (poop) tank. Not a show stopper unless you’re dry camping, and of course, because things are so far apart here, we thought we would dry camp! One of my concerns on this trip was how maintenance and repairs would interfere with our riding because I was responsible for the truck, camper, cargo trailer and of course the bike. We did some quick calling and found an RV dealer that was willing to squeeze us in on a Saturday, when he found out what we were doing. So we got underway on the bike while Carol took the camper over to get repaired.
We rode into a head wind towards the Imperial Sand Dunes. Being a three day weekend it was packed with off roaders. We had never seen such an array of custom dune buggies, ATV’s and motorcycle. And the toy haulers……some $500K motor homes pulling double deck trailers! It would make Silver Lake look like a sand box.

From the Stoker:

The Dunes were unbelievable. They were 10 miles long and 6 miles wide. I took many pictures of all the craziness and thought about our kids and how they would love it.
Only 46 miles today but the headwinds sure slow you down. You feel like your climbing all the time. Carol decided she wanted to go to a campground with hot springs. It was 54 miles from the Dunes and the hot springs was 4 small bath tubs. And she never got in them. We were the only vehicle and RV without an ATV (many ATV’s), and they were allowed to ride them until 11:45 p.m. Carol has lost the privilege of picking a campground.

If you are interested in viewing the pictures in a larger format, just click on the picture.

Day 4 - February 12, 2010 - Coast to Coast
From the Stoker:

What a glorious 56 mile day. Beautiful sun and warm weather, a few rolling hills, a pass to climb which was more difficult then it should have been due to headwinds, AND a 12 mile downhill on Interstate 8 through In-ko-pah Gorge, AND many miles of flat road. Days like this sure make it easy to “pedal on”.

The very best part of the day was that wonderful downhill with unusual scenery and the feel of warm wind on our face. Of course, putting 12 miles on the odometer in a very short period of time was a treat after all the climbing we have done.

What a great job our Support Driver and her two best friends our doing to make this trip possible.

We are in El Centro, CA and would like to thank Country Life Mobile & RV Park (760-353-1040) for their support.

Impressions from the Captain:

Last night we camped with-in 2 miles of the border. The campground had to put up barriers and lock the rest rooms because of the illegals coming across the border. You could even hear helicopters during the night out searching for them. Today we kept seeing border patrol all over the place and at one point had two separate vehicles stop to see what we were doing. The local post has grown from 30 to over 500 in three years and they patrol 24/7, in jeeps, on horseback, ATV’s and on bikes. We saw them at one point dragging tires down the dirt roads parallel to the border so they could look for footprints.

We descended from the mountains into the Imperial Valley which supplies most of our produce year around. It is reclaimed desert and irrigated from the Colorado River. Really green!

February 11, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 3 - February 11, 2010 - Coast to Coast
Impressions from the captain (the one in front):
Woke up to clear skies and warm sunshine. When we got to the higher elevation we were really glad we had waited a day (so were the legs), they had 4” of snow and black ice on the road yesterday. In the desert sunshine, you’re hot on one side and cold on the shady side. Same thing with the hills, sweat going up and need are coats going down. The highlight of the day was that we crossed both passes (over 4000’ each) today and arrived in the campground with very tired legs. Early dinner, motrin and off to bed.

Impressions from the Stoker (the one in the back):
The highlight to me is that we have just about completed the 3 most difficult days that we will have in CA and we are still standing. We just have one more pass to cross, a great downhill, and then some much needed flats for a few days. It’s driving us crazy just biking about 30 miles a day and can’t wait to put on some real miles.

We are camping east of Live Oaks Springs, CA in Sacred Rocks Reserve (619-353-5020).
Once again we are thanking wonderful people for their generous support.

February 10, 2010 - Coast to Coast
We had an unplanned day of rest today. It started raining yesterday around 3:00 p.m. and was still raining lightly this morning. It started to clear up about 11:00 a.m. but the weather report said it was snowing at higher elevations. Our plan today was to continue climbing the mountain over 2 passes and another 2,000 ft. elevation. It didn’t take long to pick this day as a rest day.

We are staying in a campground about 8 miles east of Alpine, CA on an Indian Reservation. It’s surrounded by rocky cliffs and has very unusual trees. It has large campsites and many amenities. We would like to thank Ma-Tar-Awa RV Camper Park on Browns Rd., 619-445-3275, for their very generous support.

Forgot to mention, we are traveling with our Picco (on the left) and Carol's Milo.

February 9, 2010 - Day 2 - Coast to Coast

Not many miles today, 28.5, but a whole lot of elevation gain. We started climbing after 11 miles of easy rolling hills. We climbed to near 3000 ft on our way up the mountain and that doesn’t include all the ups and downs in between the major climb. We got in about 3:00 just before the rain started and the legs sure were complaining. It seems like all the training still doesn’t protect you from cramping legs. We’re hoping the weather will co-operate tomorrow, although they’re predicting snow. We’re anxious to tackle the last part of the climb. Scenery was beautiful and the bike is working well. We’re optimistic and happy!

We forgot to mention the great people that helped us yesterday. While we were standing on the street corner with a broken chain, a biker (Dave) stopped to ask if we needed help. He was from the area so helped give Carol, our support, directions to pick us up. He couldn’t think of a bike shop near where we broke down but called us 30 minutes later. He had gone home and went on-line to find one for us. He called again today to make sure we got the bike fixed and were on our way.

The two men that helped us at the bike shop, the owner and a mechanic, went out of their way to take care of us. When they found out we were biking across the US, they dropped everything and spent an hour replacing the chain and adjusting the gears and charged us only $29.

We have also received many emails expressing words of support and prayers. People so willing to help certainly keep us “pedaling on”.

February 8, 2010 - Coast to Coast

Day 1 - February 8, 2010 - Coast to Coast
Would like to report we had a long day of biking and uneventful. It didn’t happen that way unfortunately.

We dipped our back wheel in the Pacific Ocean about 10:30 a.m. on Ocean Beach. Dick didn’t want the wheel totally in the ocean due to the salt water so Carol took our picture in wet sand until a huge wave almost buried it.

The ride out of San Diego was beautiful along the San Diego river and some bike paths thru the canyons. California is very bike friendly and should be an example for other states. Things were going great until we were out about 20 miles and the chain jammed and got bent between the granny gear and the middle sprocket. We were dead in the water! Thank goodness for Carol providing support. We called her and she came back and picked us up.

Some quick calls and we located a bike shop near-by who said they would take the bike right in. What a lucky call! These guys were very good and had the bike repaired in less than an hour. Besides replacing the chain they found out the source of he problem (some shims that didn’t belong) and adjusted the shifting. We headed back to our breakdown spot and finished biking into the campground. The shop is Inky in El Cajon. Tomorrow will be a new day.

February 1, 2010 - Coast to Coast

February 1, 2010 - Coast to Coast

After a month in El Paso training, we are finally done and ready to head west to start our trip. We decided that we had good endurance (long rides) but were still weak on our strength (hills). We’ve concentrated the last week on hills and feel a lot better about our conditioning. Today we did 54 miles which included two major hill climbs and we felt that our training has paid off.

We’ll leave here Wednesday for the West coast and plan to start our trip next Monday. We’re really anxious to get started but also anxious about what the trip holds for us. It seems like the preparation has been all encompassing for the past 6 months. Between buying the truck camper and prepping it, buying the cargo trailer and prepping it, updating the bike, and all our training it will be fun to just start riding. The bike is finally right, our bodies are ready, and the equipment is ready.

We have had 10 shirts printed with a logo and two large decals for the sides of our cargo trailer. The Sign Bros, (Ike and Nate) in El Paso, TX (915-855-8000) did a wonderful job and gave us a great deal. We are so thankful for their help, kindness, and support.

Many of our friends and family have donated to the MS Society and yesterday we were surprised to receive a $500 donation from a anonymous donor. It is great to see others share in our cause. Thank You!