Cycling with Dad along the Erie Canal

We have really enjoyed having our parents here these past few days! Check out Dad leading the pack!

New York!

Are we related or something?

We are pretty excited to be in a state that at least touches the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore we made this pose.

Going to Canada! The Canadians gave us a cute bike underpass. Also, border security held the door for us as we entered the pedestrian border security. This doesn't seem that weird until we have to return through U.S. border control the following day.

Niagara Falls

We got into a lot of trouble on our way back into the U.S.A., because we thought there would be a pedestrian entry so we cut to the front of the line to look for it. There wasn't one, and it turns out the government has these guys acting really scary and angry these days, so they were super mean to us. They let us back in eventually though. Notice how light our bikes look while Mom is sagging for us!

Entering Pennsylvania and people we have met

We met a triathalete a our campground. She had done an Iron Man! We were very impressed.

Bike riding past this Root Beer stand was not an option, and we are glad that we didn't! Here we had three excellent root beer floats, and we met Mary and Nick Spano, who were wonderful company. After talking for a while, they bought us our root beer floats and a t-shirt that the "Rider of the Day" gets to wear every day. Maybe tomorrow it will be our dad!

Entering Pennsylvania! (Notice Cate's new T shirt) I apologize for any inappropriate material on this website.

As it turns out, we crossed routes with Damion Maynard, who is walking a mile for every service man or woman lost in Iraq. So far he has been on the road for 15 months. He hopes to be in Washington by September 11th, but thinks that he probably not make it by then, and will at least try to get to Ground Zero. Christina joined him just a few days before in Ohio.

Lake Erie and Pandas who LOVE to Bungee

The Pandas have seen lots of exciting things since our last post! We have been in 4 states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario. We went through Cleveland and swam a few times in Lake Erie. We also met up with our parents, and it has been so nice and relaxing to be with them for a few days. Dad (aka Panda Papa) has been so much fun to cycle with and Mom has been great support. Today the whole family rode along the Canadian side of the Niagara River and we all got great views of Niagara Falls!

I would like to thank everyone for their immense support of Sarah during the trying time following the kitten incident. Since you all took so strongly to the concept, I presume you all want to hear more about bungeeing.

Not native to the sport of cycling, bungeeing is something that cross-country cyclists do many times a day. It is how we attach items as diverse as sleeping bags, pots & pans, wet bathing suits and bottles of beer to our bikes. It is important that the bungee not be too tight or too loose. Bungeeing can be hard for me since I have lost strength in my hands, and I have to either decrease the volume I am trying to bungee by sitting on my sleeping bag to squish it or ask one of my sisters for help.

When I picture bungeeing animals, I imagine them lying flat on their stomachs with their chins on their arms docilely enjoying the views. Sarah pictures them lying on their backs under tight bungees, wriggling around and squealing. Cate does not think bungeeing animals is a good idea; she wants a trailer or a handle bar bag.

The idea of bungeeing started with the Story of Davy the Raccoon (see story somewhere below). Davy and his family love to be bungeed!

Lake Erie and Cleveland, Ohio

We stopped just west of Cleveland and went swimming in Lake Erie.
















Cleveland

Perry Town Park on Lake Erie

I'm pretty sure Liz was peeing in the lake

It's almost like we already made it to the Atlantic Ocean, isn't it?


Somehow we feel obligated to flex in pictures sometimes

Couples from teh town came out to watch the beautiful sunset (and we did too).

Thank GOODNESS this lake was paved

Fording a lake to avoid a 3 mile detour. Good idea? Sure.

A day like any other day (when you are riding your bike across the country)

We have fewer than 1,000 miles to go! The routine is now beyond comfortable; it's a lifestyle. Nothing unusual has happened since Sarah posted yesterday. We were interviewed for the Defiance newspaper. We got really annoyed by the number of trucks on the road. We found a state park for camping last night, where we made dinner and raccoon-proofed the campsite by suspending the panniers from a post with bungees, so the rascally creatures did not wake us up in the night (see photo). We all argued in the tent because we were squished. It went like this:
Cate: I have no room!
Sarah: [silence]
Me: [sitting up, writing in my diary] I am against the netting like I always am!
Sarah: [silence]
Cate: Yeah, but you're sitting up! I couldn't even sit up like that!
Sarah: [silence]
Me: I am in the exact same place I am every single other night.
Sarah: [silence]
Cate: Yeah but....
Then we all fell asleep. Problem solved.

We overslept, but still woke up with a beautiful sunrise over the Maumee River because we are so far west in the time zone. We ate too many pancakes and made a mess of the picnic table. We left late, lunched early, and loitered at the bike shop in Bowling Green. I talked on the phone sitting on a sidewalk. We petted a puppy and put on lots of sunscreen. We cheered when a tail wind picked up. Then we saw a library and thought air conditioning and some down time sounded very appealing. Like I said, a typical day!

Tomorrow night (Friday) we will arrive in Cleveland and are staying in a hotel downtown. If anyone has a restaurant recommendation let us know! It has to be a place that will accept us in very casual clothes.

Thanks for reading!

First couple of days in Ohio!

(Note the cookies on the back of the bike)

Mary Jane Thurston State Park in Grand Rapids, Ohio. It was very nice.

We have really cool tan lines.

Raccoon proofing.

From Defiance, Ohio

The Pandas have been doing well since our last posting. Unfortunately, seeing Batman and having two "Mega-tubs" of popcorn instead of dinner made us all feel a little bit "off" yesterday, and we didn't start biking until after twelve, and we had to do almost 90 miles, so it was a pretty hard day. Fortunately, we got to town and discovered what the little icon meant on our map that was a bike with a little roof over it: It was a shelter meant for cross-country cyclists! We stayed for free in this building in Monroeville complete with kitchen, TV, laundry, two bathrooms, bike maps, and two beers left for us by our fellow cross-country cyclist friend Hilary, who is a day ahead of us. It felt really nice to be able to cook ourselves dinner and breakfast, which we hadn't been able to do in a long while. It also felt good to get back in our routine of leaving earlier, so that today would be far less stressful.

In case anyone is wondering, I am still heartbroken that I gave up the little kitten that followed us in the dark. The kitten was obviously looking for adventure, and a nice person that would bungee him to the back of their bike.

All animals love to be bungeed.

Run-biking?!

Run-biking! This is from a long time ago, before I lost my pannier. I could still balance with no hands back then.

Cyclists in Paulding, OH

We ran into one cross-country bicyclist (He is to the left of Sarah), and some of his cohorts, who were riding with him for two days or so. He was doing it for "Bike 4 Mali" (bike4mali.org).

Crossing State Lines!

We were really excited to be in Ohio! (We took this picture in full view of some construction workers. They though we were weird, at least a little bit.)

This was a drive-by picture as we drove out of Chicago on their equivalent of Route 1. It was awful.

Peru, Indiana

Wary of writing another posting right now since my last one was way too whiney, but I think we have gained some perspective as we begin our last weeks of the trip. No matter how hard this can be, it is better than real life, going to the office, studying for exams, applying for jobs.... Our main problems are raccoons, pinched nerves, and flat tires, none of which are so bad by comparison.

We just had a really wonderful time visiting family this past week and now are feeling refreshed. As we were leaving Lafayette yesterday, we stopped by the bike shop and there we met a French cyclist who is going from Washington D.C. to Portland, Oregon in only 40 days! Every summer he does a tour in a different country. He has even gone to countries in Asia and next he wants to do northern Africa! The shop gave us a really nice route on back roads yesterday. We saw a lot of beautiful wildflowers as we rode along the Wabash River. Near the end we tried to speed up (hindered, as usual, by a flat tire) because we wanted to get to Peru in time to see Batman! And we did! And it was totally awesome! Then we picked up a pizza at around 9:30 and started toward our campsite. As we passed by a trailer park, Sarah suddenly disappeared off the back. Cate and I were very scared. I thought she might have been eaten by one of those mountain lions that catches straggler cyclists, and when I saw her headlight was on the ground I really got scared. Serial killer! We are not usually jittered so easily, but then again, we do not usually ride after dark. As we turned around and rode toward her, we saw her walking, unharmed, and holding a little kitten. Her explanation: it was chasing me! I had to stop and pick it up! And then she asked if she could bungee it. No! Kittens are not good for bungeeing! She was heartbroken to leave it, and heartbroken this morning when we rode by and there was no kitten in sight. I think she thought it would be waiting for her and jump on the back of her bike and they would be together forever. Sorry, Sarah.

We still have not left town because the raccoons ate our breakfast so we had to stop, and then Sarah had a flat and also decomposing tire and had to buy a new one. Once we hit the road we will be heading toward Monroeville, Indiana, and then into Ohio and up to Lake Erie! We are especially looking forward to our parents coming and riding and camping with us.

-Liz

Visiting the Chesters in Carmel, Indiana

Watching a concert on Conner Prarie. Our cousin Emily is on the far right next to Sarah.

We are very excited that our cousing Melissa is 6 months pregnant!

The Chesters and the Jasper County Fair

Departing from Chicago, I became more and more sad that we had chosen to leave so soon. Our hands were hurting and we were stuck on a road similar to Route 1 in New Jersey with construction and strip malls. After about 20 miles we stopped in a small town and resolved to try and find another road. We stopped on a sidewalk to inhale several fresh baked cookies and encountered a friendly cyclist. She had a whole bag of maps, including a cycling map for northern Indiana that she quickly gave to us! 

So after that we were on much improved roads and bike paths and determined that we could get much closer to Lafayette (the home of our cousins, south of the route), than we had originally anticipated. We made it to Rensselaer, Indiana and happened upon the Jasper County Fair. Well, first we saw the sign for fairgrounds so we thought we could camp there, then saw the sign for the fair and delicious foods. 

At the fair we were instant celebrities - we were announced on the loudspeaker, interviewed for the paper and we posed for photographs with the Jasper Fair Queen! We petted baby animals, including puppies, cows, goats, and sheep, and saw a livestock auction. We wanted to see the demolition derby, but by the time we were given a spot to camp and took showers we were pretty exhausted. Aside from our tent being barraged by water balloons while we were sleeping, the night was awesome! We met some really nice people and ate great food. 

The next day we only had a 50 mile ride south to Lafayette. We are so happy to once again be hosted by family! We first stopped at Melissa's, who looks great at 6 months pregnant, and her new home looks nice as well. From there we drove down to Carmel for a picnic and concert last night. We are having a great rest day- we went to the Carmel water park today and have been resting and eating and writing this post. 

-Cate

Pandas in Chicago

Upon arrival in Hyde Park at the house of our Aunt Ta, Uncle Steve, and cousin Sarah Taylor.  We are very excited to have made it!

Ta holding Wanda

We got to spread out in the basement, a perfect bike cave

Cate packing Wanda- it seems somehow obvious that an anthropologist took this photo

Ready to go!  Hilary Price, another cross-country cyclist from Philadephia, joined us for the night.  She ended up spending another day in Chicago but we hope to see her again soon.  

Traveling to Hyde Park on the lakeside bike super-highway

Chicago! (the story of Monday)

We made it to Chicago yesterday! We had an interesting time getting here, as always.

In Muscatine, Iowa on Monday morning, we heard there were canal paths into Chicago that might work for us, so we spontaneously departed from the Northern Tier route and headed northeast toward Colona, Illinois to pick up the Hennepin Canal Trail. 25 miles into the trip, Sarah discovered a broken spoke. While she was duck taping it, Cate and I were bungeeing her panniers to our bikes. Two cyclists suddenly appeared. One of them, Tom, offered to take us to his bike shop in Rock Island, so we followed. He left us at a grocery store and went to get his truck. He came back and took Sarah to the bike shop.

Meanwhile Cate and I headed to the library where we met Larry. We were pretty despondent at that point. We had heard that the canal path might not be doable for our bikes, and we didn't know how we were going to get there or how Sarah's bike issue would work out. Larry rescued us by calling Dean Mathias, "Mathias Bareback," Illinois's famous seatless bike rider. He came over to the library, put us in touch with someone who assured us the paths would be rideable even if they weren't paved, and offered to ride with us to Geneseo, a town along the canal path with a campground. We were saved! Sarah's bike was fixed and cleaned by the kind mechanics of Bike n' Hike and Tom dropped her back at the library. Chaos had forgotten her helmet at the shop, but Tom was nice enough to go get it and meet us in a town further along. Then we were off with Dean! It was so fun to talk to him and watch him ride without a seat (sort of like run-biking) and to have some new energy on the road.

When we arrived in Geneseo, we went to a restaurant, where the Albanian owner from Kosovo sat down with us and talked with us and ended up giving us a free huge dinner! Also, Deb, Dean's wife arrived and so we had a big fun group. Dean and Deb took us to the campsite and waited until we got settled and then we had to say goodbye. It was an amazing day of meeting people and getting so much help just when we needed it. We were so fortunate.

The next days along the canal paths and on the roads toward Chicago were pretty challenging, and we did not have the best night in a state park Tuesday night, but I will let another Panda tell that story.

Right now, we are just so happy to be in Chicago with Ta, Steve and Sarah! Another cyclist we met, Hilary, was in an accident yesterday, and she is pretty beat up. She is on a train into Chicago now to get a new fork and she will be staying with us in Hyde Park tonight and we will all leave the city together tomorrow morning. I regret putting up the whiney post I made last time because things can always be worse, and we have been very lucky so far not to have any big crashes. As I said when we were under attack by raccoons and Sarah asked that we all think of something good to say, "Even this is better than real life." We are having the best time.

- Liz

The Story of Davy, the Rockin' Raccoon

Imagine a raccoon that always says please and thank you, that always asks for food before taking, that never snarls or oinks by your ear in the night. This raccoon demands only the food we don't want (yes we still have some tuna), he never rips opens anyone's pannier, and above all, he loves to be bungeed to our bike.

This raccoon's name is Davy. We have never met Davy.

The story of Davy is as follows: Davy was lonely and wanted a girlfriend, when he ran into three nice young denny girls who bungeed him onto one of their bikes and took him to where he found a nice young raccoon named Margaret. Davy and Margaret lived happily ever after with Davy's mother Petunia and their nice raccoon babies, who Davy and Margaret like to bungee together. Davy and Margaret like to bungee everything together, in memory of that wonderful time Davy spent on the back of one of the denny girls' bikes.

The story of Davy, Margaret, Petunia, and their bungeed-babies came about while we waged war with some raccoons in the night. These mean raccoon bullies ripped open Liz's food pannier, wriggled their way into Cate's, and finally came searching for food in our tent. These raccoons could not be scared away by anything we did, including throwing things at them and spraying bug spray at them. All we could comfort ourselves with was the story of Davy.

Our friends from the Rock Island Bike Club

Thanks to Tom (who found us on the road), Dean (the one without a bike seat) and Larry (who found us in the library and is taking the picture). Our very helpful support team for the day off route from Muscatine to Geneseo.
On a bike path with Dean leading the way. As you can see, it is as if he is running and cycling simultaneously.
Our post-ride meal was awesome. Thanks for the free delicious food and conversation, Nurije!

Come on feel the Illinoise!

Wow we're in Illinois. Some bicyclists (in the Subaru) stopped to offer us directions and took our picture.
Thanks to Charlie from Harper's Bike Shop for escorting us out of town!

Muscatine, Iowa

We look super strong
Thanks to Ron and Nancy for the hospitality!
Notice the awesome new handlebar tape

Iowa smells worse than New Jersey

It is true! I cannot believe I took all this cruelty to New Jersey my whole life! Not only does it smell like a mixture of diapers and dog food in Iowa, they have lots of traffic! Enough Iowa bashing, it is just that we have had a pretty tough time here so far.

Yesterday our pedal pumpers (our legs) were too tired to go on, so we were stopped short in Marquette, along the Mississippi. We ended up at a state park nearby for the night, where we had a relaxing evening and an excellent dinner (special salad, potatoes a la Wanda, and tortillas with apples, cinammon and nutella for dessert). Then we were up for two hours in the middle of the night for the second night in a row with severe thunderstorms. Big A is awesome though, so we did not get wet. Our bikes, however, were not so fortunate.

Today things were finally starting to shape up, and we thought we could get back on schedule when Sarah "Chaos" Panda realized she was sans front right pannier. After 15 miles of searching for it, she was not able to find it. So, not only are we totally miffed by where the pannier could have gone and how she could have not noticed its abandoning ship while we were riding, but Sarah has lost a lot of gear and an ipod. Not just any ipod, this was a real fighter, 3rd generation vintage ipod. She is also completely without underwear. Oo-la-la.

Some injuries are also starting to take their toll. We all seem to have developed some tendonitis in our knees. Sarah and I have lost feeling and strength in our hands and lower arms. It's kind of bad... but hey, no one said riding our bikes across the country was going to be easy, or painless. Right now we are just looking forward to some serious r & r with family in Chicago and Indiana. Listen to what Melissa Chester Key wrote us in an email- "If the weather is nice, we could also head to Central Park... [it] has a nice pool, lazy river, some water slides, and plenty of lounge chairs." Can you imagine ANYTHING that could sound better than that to tired cyclists? The only down side is exposing our tan lines to the public.

We would also like to congratulate our father on completing the ride up Mount Washington this morning. He completed the course in 1 hour 41 minutes, his best time!!! What a good cycling role model. Also, happy 25th anniversary to our parents!

- Liz and the Pandas

Entering Iowa (slowly)

Today we arrived in Iowa! Since our last post we went off route (slightly scary) to visit Katherine Koleski's home in Rochester. We were way too busy to write a blog post from K2's (because we spent most of the day lounging in the pool). In order to get back on the route we traveled 107.5 miles in one day! We chose to go a little out of the way to go on THE BEST BIKE PATH EVER. It was 40 miles of net downhill flatness in canopy trees by the Root River. Thanks for the route advice from the cyclery in Rochester!

Unfortunately, after our triumphant century yesterday, we struggled today. Lots of hills. We're also not as psyched about Iowa so far based mostly on the south wind that we are biking against. Although we went to the Effigy Burial Mounds, a national park, which contain mounds in different shapes from a pre-tribal civilization.

Bartholemew, my bike, identified more as a woman and is now Wanda. She loves jewelry and ribbons. Wayne, Wanda and Joaquim are the current names of our bikes.

The Koleskis and the BEST BIKE PATH ever

Walking feels nice sometimes too

Today, the Pandas toured Minneapolis! It was very exciting. First we went to the Walker Arts Center to see an exhibit by Richard Price. It was excellent, though I was very thankful for my handy-dandy art-history-grad-student sister to explain just what "appropriation" meant ("So he was literally just...taking pictures...of someone else's pictures?" "Yes, that's it exactly"). We also spent a fair amount of time trying to converse with a "Dolphin Oracle." It went something like this:

US: hi
(extended pause)
DOLPHIN ORACLE: tell me more about your mystery
(after some thought)
US: what is beauty?
(extended pause)
DOLPHIN ORACLE: you are beautiful

Then we gave up.

We were extremely thankful that the hostel we are staying in, (a beautiful old mansion that is now converted to an international hostel) was near to the Walker Arts Center, because unfortunately the Pandas' pedal-pumpers were too tired to push properly today. (In case you are wondering, Liz thought of this "tongue twister" on the road. And we are huge dorks and appreciate things like making up tongue twisters while riding. As well as finding huge panda statues.)

From the Walker Arts Center, Cate and I suggested we would like to go shopping, so Liz google-mapped the nearest Urban Outfitters to us on her blackberry, and as it turns out, this was exactly the right thing to do. It brought us to the happening neighborhood of Hennepin, where we shopped a little (it's not exactly easy to go shopping when you know you have to carry everything you want to buy with you on your bike, but our stained athletic clothing no longer felt appropriate today somehow), then we went to see War, Inc. at the local Indie film theater, and then we had dinner and walked back to the hostel. It was a very all-around relaxing rest day, definitely well-needed, (and hopefully well-deserved).

This is my first blog post where I haven't spent most of it talking about animals, so I will say that we are happy about a certain lack of animals. Actually, the lack of a certain animal: that pesky beast known as the mosquito. It was a very well-appreciated luxury!

Back on the road again tomorrow! Hopefully our pedal-pushers will be ready to pump by then.

-Sarah

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

From inside the museum. Below: From on top of the museum.

In case this photo is unclear, Cate was wholeheartedly pointing at a cloud while I cheerfully pretended to be punching her.

Playing on the roof with Claes's Mickey! (We then got yelled at for 1) touching the artwork and 2) taking an illegal photograph of us touching the artwork.)