<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724</id><updated>2011-08-01T19:21:38.594-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Our Ride Across America!</title><subtitle type='html'>Bill and Steph Brodegard have decided to ride across the United States.  We are starting in Oregon and finishing in Virginia. We hope to have amazing adventures and make hundreds of new memories. We are riding for a cause...Here's Life Inner City.  And we have dedicated the ride to our good friend Kevin Pavlis.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>35</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-2025372360823903527</id><published>2009-08-24T11:26:00.003-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-24T11:31:36.037-07:00</updated><title type='text'>We made it!</title><content type='html'>For all you worriers out there.  WE MADE IT! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We got to Virginia Beach on August 15th...exactly 40 days after we left. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sorry for not updating the blog, but our laptop is on the fritz.  It has all the pictures on it and I didn't dare post without pictures.  I hope you understand. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Good news is the computer is fixed and we get it back today!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-2025372360823903527?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/2025372360823903527/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=2025372360823903527&amp;isPopup=true' title='11 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/2025372360823903527'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/2025372360823903527'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/we-made-it_24.html' title='We made it!'/><author><name>Steph</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04528309116660202285</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>11</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-2593113830669969406</id><published>2009-08-24T11:26:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-24T11:26:25.846-07:00</updated><title type='text'>We made it!</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-2593113830669969406?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/2593113830669969406/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=2593113830669969406&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/2593113830669969406'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/2593113830669969406'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/we-made-it.html' title='We made it!'/><author><name>Steph</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04528309116660202285</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-6065537707008023573</id><published>2009-08-17T09:52:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-17T10:07:01.589-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Nauvoo and Carthage</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomMoFbQkQI/AAAAAAAAAvk/GJZDf9OpIxU/s1600-h/DSC_0042.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomMoFbQkQI/AAAAAAAAAvk/GJZDf9OpIxU/s320/DSC_0042.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370978650895192322" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomMnv7aOsI/AAAAAAAAAvc/KpvRDK_h46g/s1600-h/DSC_0034.JPG" style="text-decoration: none;"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomMnv7aOsI/AAAAAAAAAvc/KpvRDK_h46g/s320/DSC_0034.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370978645124463298" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Easy day today.  we got chased by a storm, got told we were not very tan.  we ran into this classic guy who invited to his house to stay.  (Poland Family!  this is you!  the bed felt GREAT!)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;tomorrow, Nauvoo, then Carthage, then who knows?  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Nauvoo to Table Grove, IA&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;popped two tires with little sharp rocks.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;super huge thunderstorm.  Thanks again to the Poland family for letting us hang out at their house all morning. very slow day, we only made it sixty miles&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Got to see the Nauvoo Temple and went to Carthage Jail&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomMmwnvx4I/AAAAAAAAAvU/4-PJ8iJ_5go/s1600-h/DSC_0008.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomMmwnvx4I/AAAAAAAAAvU/4-PJ8iJ_5go/s320/DSC_0008.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370978628130555778" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-6065537707008023573?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/6065537707008023573/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=6065537707008023573&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/6065537707008023573'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/6065537707008023573'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/nauvoo-and-carthage.html' title='Nauvoo and Carthage'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomMoFbQkQI/AAAAAAAAAvk/GJZDf9OpIxU/s72-c/DSC_0042.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-3355769493171777347</id><published>2009-08-17T09:42:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-17T09:51:54.554-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Amish</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomKQXc3sVI/AAAAAAAAAvM/v1vKTBIzL48/s1600-h/DSC_0001.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomKQXc3sVI/AAAAAAAAAvM/v1vKTBIzL48/s320/DSC_0001.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370976044393673042" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomKPzjyCYI/AAAAAAAAAvE/7vtLH8bPY-8/s1600-h/DSC_0003.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomKPzjyCYI/AAAAAAAAAvE/7vtLH8bPY-8/s320/DSC_0003.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370976034758986114" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;August 2nd&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;It is amazing how little you can have and still be very happy.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Today I was sitting by my bicycle, and our little tent.  I looked at all the stuff we brought on the trip: three pairs of biking clothes, one other outfit, some sandals, toiletries, a camera, laptop, patch kit, waterbottles...and a few other items.  Not a whole lot. It all fits on our bikes and we carry it around with us everywhere. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;It is amazing how little you can have and still be very happy.  I am so happy...we are having so much fun everyday!  I love Bill!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;August 3rd.  Moravia IA to Nauvoo IL&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;it is amazing how much stuff I need to be happy.  today we saw a whole bunch of Amish people.  I think they are called a "solemn" of amish.  they wear "Plain" clothes.  they drive "Plain" little buggies.  they kind of look plain.  Steph and I did some research on the Amish by reading about them on our iphones.  There is an ap for that.  Here are some facts about the Amish.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;1. "Beachy" amish drive black cars.  they are like the wild Amish.  they have telephones in thier places of work.  the other Amish do not speak to them or allow thier children to marry them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;2. the average Amish has as many years of education as they have children in thier family (6.8)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;3. Amish people grow beards when they get married.  the men too.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;4. Amish get hung up on stuff like how many straps thier suspenders have, how many pleats there are in thier caps and what color of dresses the women wear.  if you wear suspenders that have too many straps you could get "shunned" until you confess your sin and repent publicly.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;5. when we walked into an Amish shop there was a sign that said :&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;"This shop is the Lord's shop.  stealing from here is like stealing from the Lord.  Our price is much easier to pay than His."&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Steph and I bought some of the Lord's chips and left.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-3355769493171777347?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/3355769493171777347/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=3355769493171777347&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/3355769493171777347'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/3355769493171777347'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/amish.html' title='Amish'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomKQXc3sVI/AAAAAAAAAvM/v1vKTBIzL48/s72-c/DSC_0001.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-8743226225701280750</id><published>2009-08-17T09:35:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-17T09:42:29.623-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Iowa is so hilly!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomIZyItmDI/AAAAAAAAAu8/dI2jN8VxUaY/s1600-h/DSC_0197.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomIZyItmDI/AAAAAAAAAu8/dI2jN8VxUaY/s320/DSC_0197.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370974007152449586" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomIZT2zH9I/AAAAAAAAAu0/2k0PboGfTrc/s1600-h/DSC_0187.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomIZT2zH9I/AAAAAAAAAu0/2k0PboGfTrc/s320/DSC_0187.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370973999024250834" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;August 1.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;the day was tough again.  lots of hills, although the road that we were on was much less busy.  (the championship Knocks again! thanks for the suggestion!)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;we called up the branch president out in Centerville, Iowa and he invited us over to spend the night.  James Rodebush and his lovely, wonderful and talented wife, Joyce gave us a great bed to sleep in and a delicious dinner the next day.  we will be heading to Nauvoo on Monday!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;oh, and we saw some bison today!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-8743226225701280750?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/8743226225701280750/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=8743226225701280750&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8743226225701280750'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8743226225701280750'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/iowa-is-so-hilly.html' title='Iowa is so hilly!'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomIZyItmDI/AAAAAAAAAu8/dI2jN8VxUaY/s72-c/DSC_0197.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-1179921208783833318</id><published>2009-08-17T09:21:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-17T09:35:41.096-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Welcome to IOWA</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomGq8fsaZI/AAAAAAAAAus/N99wLTed8os/s1600-h/DSC_0184.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomGq8fsaZI/AAAAAAAAAus/N99wLTed8os/s320/DSC_0184.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370972102967716242" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomGqVRjJDI/AAAAAAAAAuk/PcxHs1jlXLw/s1600-h/DSC_0181.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomGqVRjJDI/AAAAAAAAAuk/PcxHs1jlXLw/s320/DSC_0181.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370972092439405618" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomGp0qEHHI/AAAAAAAAAuc/QkvxUk7fPT4/s1600-h/DSC_0163.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomGp0qEHHI/AAAAAAAAAuc/QkvxUk7fPT4/s320/DSC_0163.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370972083683859570" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;July 30th &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;we left late this morning.  Pam made us a delicious breakfast (Ham!  Eggs!  Pancakes!)  then showed us the way to her friend Tod's house in Council Bluffs.  It was only 65 miles away, so Steph and I did not feel bad about leaving at 10 in the morning. Thanks Tod for the bed, dinner and breakfast!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;July 31st.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Very tough day today.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;We started on US 34 and it was a mess.  the shoulder dissapeared and there were tons of trucks. When we got to Red Oak and decided to take county roads.  The county roads were incredibly hilly. In some ways it was more difficult than the Rocky Mountains.  Just as much climbing, but instead of getting it all done in ten miles or so it is stretched out over sixty miles of hills.  About the time that Steph and I started getting tired we turned off of the paved road and on to some gravel.  For the next thirty miles.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;We never would have made it, but with ten miles to go a little puppy dog started following us.  It would run ahead of our bikes, check out some sweet smells and then catch back up to us.  It ran with us for TEN MILES!  finally we got to a paved road again and Steph and I decided to outrun it. We were trucking at twenty miles per hour and this dog was keeping pace!  we named the dog racer and it did not get hit by a car.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;We pulled into town just as the sun was setting.  The town pool was open, (the owner of the local bank was having a party) and we were invited to:  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;1. a dip in the pool&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;2. a shower&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;3. an apartment for the night&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;4. breakfast in the morning.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Carl and Jan Knock, you guys are awesome!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-1179921208783833318?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/1179921208783833318/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=1179921208783833318&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/1179921208783833318'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/1179921208783833318'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/welcome-to-iowa.html' title='Welcome to IOWA'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SomGq8fsaZI/AAAAAAAAAus/N99wLTed8os/s72-c/DSC_0184.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-3299543841666993385</id><published>2009-08-13T18:30:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-13T18:39:27.893-07:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS_Uk5q2BI/AAAAAAAAAuU/_L5u3nohFKk/s1600-h/DSC_0098.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS_Uk5q2BI/AAAAAAAAAuU/_L5u3nohFKk/s320/DSC_0098.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369627015956322322" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS-su6zfQI/AAAAAAAAAuM/IRrG9Njt3AA/s1600-h/DSC_0138.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS-su6zfQI/AAAAAAAAAuM/IRrG9Njt3AA/s320/DSC_0138.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369626331450670338" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS-rsBNqyI/AAAAAAAAAuE/kF0NjDYf_mE/s1600-h/DSC_0085.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS-rsBNqyI/AAAAAAAAAuE/kF0NjDYf_mE/s320/DSC_0085.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369626313492376354" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;July 29th&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;I was hit by a truck today...I mean I was hit by Bill today.  We were pulling into a gas station to fill up on water.  There were multiple places to pull into the gas station.  I looked over my shoulder and saw that Bill was already in the turn lane, so I got into it as well, thinking we were going to turn right away.  Bill was thinking we were not turning right away so he was still cruising pretty fast.  At that moment, a car was coming out of the gas station.  I thought this would be the prefect opportunity to turn into the station.  So I turned...exactly at the moment that Bill was going to pass me. It was a spectacular crash!  It ended with both Bill and I on the ground and my front wheel "taco-ed".&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;That happened in the first 15 miles of the day.  A very nice man stopped to give us a lift into town where there was a bike shop. We bought a new wheel and set out for 100 more miles. It was a very long day, but the warmshower we got to was AWESOME!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;We got into Lincoln a little late. Pam knew we were coming and had made us salad, bread, and lasagna with zucchini. After dinner she served us ice-cream and blueberries. Everything was so delicious. Where is this lady from??? She is amazing!  To top it off, we slept in a wonderful bed and she was making ham, eggs, pancakes, and protein smoothies when we woke up. Do we have to leave?   &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;ps. Pam, I love the glasses!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-3299543841666993385?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/3299543841666993385/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=3299543841666993385&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/3299543841666993385'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/3299543841666993385'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/july-29th-i-was-hit-by-truck-today.html' title=''/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS_Uk5q2BI/AAAAAAAAAuU/_L5u3nohFKk/s72-c/DSC_0098.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-7198557302475564866</id><published>2009-08-13T18:20:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-13T18:25:42.398-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Gibbon, Nebraska</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS81k1Rh2I/AAAAAAAAAt8/jth-989CI0s/s1600-h/DSC_0066.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS81k1Rh2I/AAAAAAAAAt8/jth-989CI0s/s320/DSC_0066.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369624284338685794" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;July 28th &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;130 miles today.  extremely windy when we started out.  it got windier.  by two o clock we had only gone 55 miles, which was a bad sign.  then the wind died down a bit and we were able to start moving.  We put on another 80 miles before nine o clock that night.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;It was dark and we smelled bad.  As we got into Gibbon we found an old folks home called "the good samaritan"...  a sign!  They let us take showers... thanks!  Now we are camped in a park.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Tomorrow we hope to pull to Lincoln.  another heroic day.  Nebraska is corn, trains and smelly trucks.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-7198557302475564866?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/7198557302475564866/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=7198557302475564866&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/7198557302475564866'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/7198557302475564866'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/gibbon-nebraska.html' title='Gibbon, Nebraska'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS81k1Rh2I/AAAAAAAAAt8/jth-989CI0s/s72-c/DSC_0066.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-525162956655647265</id><published>2009-08-13T18:13:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-13T18:19:49.892-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Pictures</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS7U9cCDiI/AAAAAAAAAt0/x_vOPvF0wvc/s1600-h/DSC_0049.JPG"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "&gt;Cool Pictures from Sterling Colorado to Lincoln Nebraska&lt;/span&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS7U9cCDiI/AAAAAAAAAt0/x_vOPvF0wvc/s320/DSC_0049.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369622624496389666" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS7HJ3qGEI/AAAAAAAAAts/6YPo-gV5wRk/s1600-h/DSC_0057.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS7HJ3qGEI/AAAAAAAAAts/6YPo-gV5wRk/s320/DSC_0057.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369622387315316802" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS61lflhYI/AAAAAAAAAtk/4yjt9wqVQwI/s1600-h/DSC_0150.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS61lflhYI/AAAAAAAAAtk/4yjt9wqVQwI/s320/DSC_0150.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369622085492901250" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS6nKLA_JI/AAAAAAAAAtc/K-TmZn_xhWs/s1600-h/DSC_0072.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS6nKLA_JI/AAAAAAAAAtc/K-TmZn_xhWs/s320/DSC_0072.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369621837640694930" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-525162956655647265?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/525162956655647265/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=525162956655647265&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/525162956655647265'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/525162956655647265'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/pictures.html' title='Pictures'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS7U9cCDiI/AAAAAAAAAt0/x_vOPvF0wvc/s72-c/DSC_0049.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-644753443102060126</id><published>2009-08-13T17:58:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-13T18:04:09.527-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Black IceCream!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS34-_4ZKI/AAAAAAAAAtU/BUZdg925Bp0/s1600-h/DSC_0004.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS34-_4ZKI/AAAAAAAAAtU/BUZdg925Bp0/s320/DSC_0004.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369618845343966370" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS3WRmWv9I/AAAAAAAAAtM/c-r6-w7MQqQ/s1600-h/DSC_0014.JPG" style="text-decoration: none;"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS3WRmWv9I/AAAAAAAAAtM/c-r6-w7MQqQ/s320/DSC_0014.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369618249041756114" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;July 25&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;th&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Long and pretty much flat road today.  We cruised for 103 miles of generally uphill against the wind sort of stuff.  Steph was a champ and had some inspirational pulls.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In New Ramer we saw a rodeo in action.  They had calf roping and barrel racing among other things - all we saw was the barrel racing (girls) some of those girls could MOVE!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;When we made it into sterling, CO, we met up with the Speight family.  Mark, his wife and daughter welcomed us into thier house.   great day!  We ate black icecream! It was not the most delicious icecream we have eaten...but it did amazing things...like turn everything it touches black!  Amazing.  We had another great laugh!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;Thank you Speights!  You guys are great!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-644753443102060126?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/644753443102060126/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=644753443102060126&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/644753443102060126'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/644753443102060126'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/black-icecream.html' title='Black IceCream!'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS34-_4ZKI/AAAAAAAAAtU/BUZdg925Bp0/s72-c/DSC_0004.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-3739678748547671584</id><published>2009-08-13T17:47:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-13T17:53:50.773-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The French Man!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS1Q5OAXMI/AAAAAAAAAtE/DcsmNPAwFus/s1600-h/DSC_0013.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS1Q5OAXMI/AAAAAAAAAtE/DcsmNPAwFus/s320/DSC_0013.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369615957574573250" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;Fort Collins to Sterling, CO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The French Man!  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;After today, both Bill and I wish we knew how to speak French.  As we were riding toward Sterling, CO we saw another cyclist coming towards us on the opposite side. We rode to the other side of the street to greet him and find out where he was headed and where he came from. Once we said "hello" we knew that all of our effort might be in vain. He told us he did not speak english.  That part we got.  And then he started speaking French!  We understood that he was going from  New York City to San Francisco and that he was from France. And that is all.  We then were able to use a little sign language to figure out that he needed water, and wanted to know where he could get a hotel. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;We showed him where to get water and where the closest hotel and camp ground was.  We also filled up one of his water bottles.  I asked if he needed food, and he showed me his chapstick...indicating he had plenty of chapstick. He did have very chapped lips though.  Then we all just stood around and smiled...nothing else to say because we didn't know how to say it.  We both said goodbye and went our ways.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Moments later Bill and I decided that we should have just given him some of our food....or at least pulled it out.  Bill turned around and chased him down.  He gave the French man a whole bag of Fig Bars.  He said thank-you, and then kept riding. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;can you imagine what that frenchman must have thought?  "Wow, those fat americans!  always keep cookies in thier bags!"  we had a good laugh.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-3739678748547671584?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/3739678748547671584/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=3739678748547671584&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/3739678748547671584'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/3739678748547671584'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/french-man.html' title='The French Man!'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SoS1Q5OAXMI/AAAAAAAAAtE/DcsmNPAwFus/s72-c/DSC_0013.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-985062355686017154</id><published>2009-08-02T20:49:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-02T20:52:31.955-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Bike Co-op</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZeubcl7zI/AAAAAAAAAs8/zhQmG7b9OXQ/s1600-h/DSC_0265.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZeubcl7zI/AAAAAAAAAs8/zhQmG7b9OXQ/s320/DSC_0265.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365580157793201970" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In other news, when we got into town we found the “bike co-op”.  We rolled up and asked for a tube to buy.  They said, “we do not sell tubes, but if you would like a tube, we can give one to you.”  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;This place fixes and refurbishes used bicycles and then gives them to people who need them.  The cost of a cheap bike is about twenty hours of community service.  The cost of a nicer bike is forty hours or so.  If you wanted to fix your bike they would show you how to do it, free of charge.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Amazing place.  Inspirational.  Steph and I have yet to build our garage, but when we do... It will become a bike co-op.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-985062355686017154?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/985062355686017154/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=985062355686017154&amp;isPopup=true' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/985062355686017154'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/985062355686017154'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/bike-co-op.html' title='Bike Co-op'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZeubcl7zI/AAAAAAAAAs8/zhQmG7b9OXQ/s72-c/DSC_0265.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-631113717234667981</id><published>2009-08-02T20:11:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-02T20:48:55.782-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Ohh SHIFT!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZd6F6FpqI/AAAAAAAAAs0/UY1Tf5JxV2s/s1600-h/DSC_0251.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZd6F6FpqI/AAAAAAAAAs0/UY1Tf5JxV2s/s320/DSC_0251.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365579258658137762" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="color:#0000EE;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZaVZD56jI/AAAAAAAAAsk/DqqlTsO4XW4/s1600-h/DSC_0258.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZaVZD56jI/AAAAAAAAAsk/DqqlTsO4XW4/s320/DSC_0258.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365575329609542194" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZZcsCCriI/AAAAAAAAAsc/4R0h9bnLPxc/s1600-h/DSC_0002.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZZcsCCriI/AAAAAAAAAsc/4R0h9bnLPxc/s320/DSC_0002.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365574355449458210" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZX3cGJ6aI/AAAAAAAAAsU/BFvU5qh33iA/s1600-h/DSC_0003.JPG" style="text-decoration: none;"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZX3cGJ6aI/AAAAAAAAAsU/BFvU5qh33iA/s320/DSC_0003.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365572616004954530" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;July 24&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font: normal normal normal 8px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;th&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; - Gould to Ft Collins&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Today we had a 52 mile descent.  It was spectacular, except that Steph got a flat halfway down the hill, which I patched poorly, because the patch failed.  So I patched it again one mile later.  One mile after that the patch failed again.  So steph patched it.  Steph’s patch held for about seven miles before we had to pump it up again.  So for about thirty miles we pumped the tire up every six or seven miles.  Whew!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;When we got into town we found a wonderful family to spend the night with.  Rita and Tom Brown work for the forest service and have a wonderful house and spectacular garden.  (steph and I are inspired again!) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;We spent the whole night talking and laughing with the family. Such great people! The "Oh Shift" sign was in their kitchen...left over from when they were cheering on some cyclists at a race.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-631113717234667981?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/631113717234667981/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=631113717234667981&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/631113717234667981'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/631113717234667981'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/ohh-shift.html' title='Ohh SHIFT!'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZd6F6FpqI/AAAAAAAAAs0/UY1Tf5JxV2s/s72-c/DSC_0251.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-9015255194379816815</id><published>2009-08-02T18:20:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-02T19:29:40.677-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Cold morning</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZLhMnP22I/AAAAAAAAAsM/UcsR2pRZ6g4/s1600-h/IMG_0107.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZLhMnP22I/AAAAAAAAAsM/UcsR2pRZ6g4/s320/IMG_0107.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365559039752133474" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;It was so cold this morning waking up that I ate my breakfast in my sleeping bag.  It was about 40 degrees outside...brrrrr.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-9015255194379816815?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/9015255194379816815/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=9015255194379816815&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/9015255194379816815'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/9015255194379816815'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/cold-morning.html' title='Cold morning'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnZLhMnP22I/AAAAAAAAAsM/UcsR2pRZ6g4/s72-c/IMG_0107.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-1959354310474741280</id><published>2009-08-02T17:49:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-02T18:14:54.861-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Camping in the Woods</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnY5ODFV7jI/AAAAAAAAAsE/RThEfjj-7TA/s1600-h/DSC_0229.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnY5ODFV7jI/AAAAAAAAAsE/RThEfjj-7TA/s320/DSC_0229.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365538919567191602" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnY3x6VTPjI/AAAAAAAAAr8/duqFjCgc2jg/s1600-h/DSC_0244.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnY3x6VTPjI/AAAAAAAAAr8/duqFjCgc2jg/s320/DSC_0244.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365537336670240306" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnY2DBdKz6I/AAAAAAAAAr0/FlaY3_z4Oz0/s1600-h/DSC_0243.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnY2DBdKz6I/AAAAAAAAAr0/FlaY3_z4Oz0/s320/DSC_0243.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365535431616810914" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Steamboat was a very cute town...I would like to visit there again.  Or maybe even buy a ranch close by. Today we had some of the most scenic riding so far. We climbed up Rabbit Ears pass (9420 feet) and there were huge meadows of wild flowers and bubbling streams everywhere.  Pine trees, Aspen trees, cool air...wonderful.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Gould is a tiny town that apparently survives on campers.  The KOA campsite cost 32 dollars per night.  another campsite cost 24.  all we really wanted to do was pitch a small tent.  we need about ten square feet of flat surface for 7 hours or so.  not that hard.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;so Steph and I trucked toward a possible campsite 10 miles (and ten thousand feet!) up the road.  but the sun was going down, so we decided to pitch a tent by the side of the road.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;lots and lots of mosquitoes.  twenty for every square inch of your body.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Steph got another flat.  The tubes with the long stems do not hold up well against a hand pump. the valve ends up breaking off. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;pray for no bears.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-1959354310474741280?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/1959354310474741280/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=1959354310474741280&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/1959354310474741280'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/1959354310474741280'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/08/camping-in-woods.html' title='Camping in the Woods'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnY5ODFV7jI/AAAAAAAAAsE/RThEfjj-7TA/s72-c/DSC_0229.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-4337502184027674824</id><published>2009-07-30T08:06:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-30T08:07:48.556-07:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;July 22 Massadona to Steamboat springs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;we met some riders along the road.  we asked them how the terrain was out to steamboat springs (110 miles away!) and they said that it was pretty flat out there, but that the climb out of steamboat was rediculously hard.  I quote:  "You will only get 15 miles in that day"  apparently it is tough.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;once we got to steamboat springs we went to Andy's house.  he was signed up for warmshowers, however he was on a bike hike himself that day.   He left his house open for us to use.  what a champ!  showers at last!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-4337502184027674824?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/4337502184027674824/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=4337502184027674824&amp;isPopup=true' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4337502184027674824'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4337502184027674824'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/july-22-massadona-to-steamboat-springs.html' title=''/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-8542001812041826502</id><published>2009-07-30T07:58:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-30T08:02:55.965-07:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;July 21 Duchesne to Massadona&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Great library visit in Vernal.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;out of Vernal we met a grasshopper named sage.  He hopped on my bag and rode for about eight miles into Dinosaur Colorado.  Friendly little guy.  I did not kill him with my spokes. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;We passed blue mountain.  (hangliders)  we did not see any, but they can fly from there 100 miles.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;We rode the last twenty miles as the sun was setting.  right over the border between Utah and Colorado there are very colorful cliff faces and rocks.  gorgeous.   Also, there is a much better highway in Colorado than in Utah.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;We had milkshakes in dinosaur, they were delicous, and helped us get that last twenty miles.  they were worth the ten bucks we paid for them, although just barely.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Now we are at a sucky campsite.  the portopotty has been tipped over and not cleaned out afterwards.  maybe tipping it over is how they clean it out?  ten wasted bucks.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Georgia; "&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;But the campsite has water, and a moderately flat spot.  also, no rattlesnakes.  and no sprinklers.  Worth ten bucks.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-8542001812041826502?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/8542001812041826502/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=8542001812041826502&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8542001812041826502'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8542001812041826502'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/july-21-duchesne-to-massadona-great.html' title=''/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-4624287725321299693</id><published>2009-07-30T07:25:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-30T07:58:19.508-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Strawberry Reservoir</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGz0F7AKOI/AAAAAAAAArI/3M-8yiXP5nU/s1600-h/DSC_0096.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGz0F7AKOI/AAAAAAAAArI/3M-8yiXP5nU/s320/DSC_0096.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364266338699192546" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGzSpksluI/AAAAAAAAArA/yD0rCmNAKOA/s1600-h/DSC_0094.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGzSpksluI/AAAAAAAAArA/yD0rCmNAKOA/s320/DSC_0094.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364265764153759458" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGu5kGa6PI/AAAAAAAAAq4/C3cwqD0En0A/s1600-h/DSC_0118.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGu5kGa6PI/AAAAAAAAAq4/C3cwqD0En0A/s320/DSC_0118.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364260935141353714" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:16px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;July 20th&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Today was windy and fast.  we started out at the Glassford's house through Provo canyon and up a horrendous hill to Strawberry Reservoir.   After Strawberry is was windy and fast downhill the whole way to Duchesne.  We finished up 107 miles in record time.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Grasshoppers eat dead grasshoppers.   Along the road you will see three or four grasshoppers munching on the carcass of their earstwhile brother.   Then I will come along and skoosh them all.   I imagine that later ten or twelve grasshoppers will discover the smorgasbord that I have left and thank me.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Butterflies are also attracted to us.  perhaps becuase we wear brightly colored spandex the butterflies think that we are friends.  we are not friends.   The butterflies flit and flutter hopefully around our bicycles and then decide to take a chance at befriending our spokes.  so sad.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;We went to a pool after we got into Duchesne.  The pool felt great, the shower felt better.  now we are camped at a park and we are going to bed.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnG0YBDzliI/AAAAAAAAArQ/n_ZruQTvmyw/s320/DSC_0104.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364266955869230626" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px; " /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-4624287725321299693?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/4624287725321299693/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=4624287725321299693&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4624287725321299693'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4624287725321299693'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/strawberry-reservoir.html' title='Strawberry Reservoir'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGz0F7AKOI/AAAAAAAAArI/3M-8yiXP5nU/s72-c/DSC_0096.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-2894333035179201496</id><published>2009-07-30T07:18:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-30T07:24:18.659-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Visiting the Family</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGs4WV7o1I/AAAAAAAAAqw/-9FXyRzHjak/s1600-h/DSC_0080.JPG" style="text-decoration: none;"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGs4WV7o1I/AAAAAAAAAqw/-9FXyRzHjak/s320/DSC_0080.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364258715245192018" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;July 18th&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Hung out with the family in Provo.  Had a picnic at the park.  Went in the provo river.  The day was hot but the water was freezing cold.  Bill, Christine and Steph all dunked their heads in.  Told stories. Eric and Robin are rediculously cute.  Dave is amazing.  Jen and Michelle look great.  Christine and Steve look happy together. Mom and Dad are living the dream. We love them!  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Sunday.  Watched the tour de france. Go Lance! Cheryl made us a delicious dinner.  Church was great fun.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-2894333035179201496?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/2894333035179201496/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=2894333035179201496&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/2894333035179201496'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/2894333035179201496'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/visiting-family.html' title='Visiting the Family'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGs4WV7o1I/AAAAAAAAAqw/-9FXyRzHjak/s72-c/DSC_0080.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-4135288308402342433</id><published>2009-07-30T07:10:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-30T07:17:45.603-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Brigham City to Highland, UT</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGral9IAII/AAAAAAAAAqo/5_rDJ2JLKHw/s1600-h/DSC_0098.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGral9IAII/AAAAAAAAAqo/5_rDJ2JLKHw/s320/DSC_0098.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364257104528408706" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;July 17th.  Brigham city to Highland. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Easy day, all downhill.  Bad drivers.  A car cut Bill off in Salt Lake City...he ended up hitting the back of the car...it was a pretty beat-up car anyways. Heavy trucks over point of the mountain ran Bill off the road.  Lots of honking. Not everyone in Utah is a bad driver, but Utah really does have horrible drivers. Went to the Salt Lake City Bike Company...awesome bike shop!  It is owned by Brent...great guy!  Steph knew him in Boise when he was a rep for Idaho Mountain Touuring. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-4135288308402342433?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/4135288308402342433/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=4135288308402342433&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4135288308402342433'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4135288308402342433'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/brigham-city-to-highland-ut.html' title='Brigham City to Highland, UT'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGral9IAII/AAAAAAAAAqo/5_rDJ2JLKHw/s72-c/DSC_0098.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-4744741422980972829</id><published>2009-07-30T06:51:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-30T07:10:10.107-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Heat and Rockets</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGpepNKCgI/AAAAAAAAAqg/k9fbN8pYkvk/s1600-h/DSC_0097.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGpepNKCgI/AAAAAAAAAqg/k9fbN8pYkvk/s320/DSC_0097.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364254975097178626" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;July 16th &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Malta, Idaho to Brigham City, UT.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Long, hot day.  100 degrees! Hottest day so far. We were in the middle of the dessert and saw a rocket factory.  There was an explosion in the hills...they must have been testing something big! They had green grass and the only tree for 60 miles...so we did what anyone would do...we took a nap outside the rocket factory and dreamed of colorful airplanes in a yellow sky.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Camped behind a church in Brigham City.  Bill slept with his clothes on because he was sure someone was going to come tell us to leave in the middle of the night. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-4744741422980972829?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/4744741422980972829/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=4744741422980972829&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4744741422980972829'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4744741422980972829'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/heat-and-rockets.html' title='The Heat and Rockets'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SnGpepNKCgI/AAAAAAAAAqg/k9fbN8pYkvk/s72-c/DSC_0097.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-5823835496305161387</id><published>2009-07-26T18:25:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-26T18:46:45.797-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Shower, Sprinklers, and the Milky Way</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Sm0Gr_ZlN_I/AAAAAAAAAIY/b0A5mpZ3PGI/s1600-h/DSC_0002.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Sm0Gr_ZlN_I/AAAAAAAAAIY/b0A5mpZ3PGI/s320/DSC_0002.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362950084091000818" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;July 15th.  Hagerman to Malta.  &lt;br /&gt;We rode another 100 miles today because we are trying to get to Provo by Friday.  We show up to Malta, ID and have not showered in two days and don't know where to camp either.  We saw an LDS church that had cars parked out front. Turns out there were young women there for their Wednesday Night activity.  We basically snuck in (so not to disturb them) and found a shower in the Men's restroom. Score!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Someone told us there was a park nearby, so we camped there. &lt;br /&gt;It was a great park, but as we were setting up the tent, the sprinklers came on. Great! Now what?&lt;br /&gt;Well the park actually had a fire pit off to the side of the grass that was surrounded by gravel.  We figured that was a safe spot because they wouldn't sprinkler the fire pit and gravel.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Turns out they do sprinkler the fire pit and gravel...right about 2:00 in the morning. We were sleeping peacefully (with the rainfly off of course) when we were violently awaken by industrial power sprinklers.  Talk about panic. It felt like a horrible movie!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So we got a little wet and had a hard time sleeping the rest of the night.   One good thing came of it though.  It was so dark out there that we looked up at the sky and saw the Milky way. Absolutely breathtaking!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-5823835496305161387?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/5823835496305161387/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=5823835496305161387&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/5823835496305161387'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/5823835496305161387'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/shower-sprinklers-and-milky-way.html' title='Shower, Sprinklers, and the Milky Way'/><author><name>Steph</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04528309116660202285</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Sm0Gr_ZlN_I/AAAAAAAAAIY/b0A5mpZ3PGI/s72-c/DSC_0002.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-4669628363395486518</id><published>2009-07-26T17:56:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-26T18:24:24.121-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Riding the Freeway!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Sm0BUElpXnI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/3HommsjGgHg/s1600-h/DSC_0022.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Sm0BUElpXnI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/3HommsjGgHg/s320/DSC_0022.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362944175608782450" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;July 14th&lt;br /&gt;Boise to Hagerman.  Today we rode on the freeway (I-84). This is a picture of us fixing a flat at a rest stop.  We got a lot of weird looks, and it was as scary as all get out.  Don't worry Mom, we didn't have to ride on it for very long.  And we were protected by the rumble-strip "forcefield" the whole way! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When we made it to our destination... Hagerman, ID...we stopped at this little trailer called Righteous Ray's barbecue.  There was the girl that worked there, and her friend. We ate barbecue sandwiches and chatted with them for a while.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The friend told us she saw some crazy cyclists on the freeway in the morning, near Boise. One with a purple shirt and one with a white shirt...just like us.  Turns out is was us! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Slept in the city park tonight.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-4669628363395486518?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/4669628363395486518/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=4669628363395486518&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4669628363395486518'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4669628363395486518'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/riding-freeway.html' title='Riding the Freeway!'/><author><name>Steph</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04528309116660202285</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Sm0BUElpXnI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/3HommsjGgHg/s72-c/DSC_0022.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-5229200902219455691</id><published>2009-07-24T15:51:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-24T16:01:31.430-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Quick Update</title><content type='html'>We are currently in Fort Collins, CO.  Headed east towards Nebraska.  We have fallen behind on posting due to the lack of internet. Don't worry, we have been writing great blogs and taking amazing pictures. (oh yeah, we lost our camera usb cord...but we are getting a new one tonight).  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are just a few photos to keep you occupied. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Smo78FWPS0I/AAAAAAAAAH4/inbuED8d-lU/s1600-h/DSC_0033.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Smo78FWPS0I/AAAAAAAAAH4/inbuED8d-lU/s320/DSC_0033.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362164209751640898" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bill snoozing after lunch somewhere in Idaho. &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Smo8tFDB2eI/AAAAAAAAAIA/FOYURERhSek/s1600-h/DSC_0084.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Smo8tFDB2eI/AAAAAAAAAIA/FOYURERhSek/s320/DSC_0084.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362165051484658146" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Steph in the road. Real safe...I know. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Smo9EKgrw2I/AAAAAAAAAII/DDiAs8zE_AE/s1600-h/DSC_0069.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Smo9EKgrw2I/AAAAAAAAAII/DDiAs8zE_AE/s320/DSC_0069.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362165448088208226" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We hate when this happens.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-5229200902219455691?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/5229200902219455691/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=5229200902219455691&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/5229200902219455691'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/5229200902219455691'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/quick-update.html' title='Quick Update'/><author><name>Steph</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04528309116660202285</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xEaoD5f9k8o/Smo78FWPS0I/AAAAAAAAAH4/inbuED8d-lU/s72-c/DSC_0033.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-8550641266203687588</id><published>2009-07-22T20:09:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-22T20:13:35.623-07:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SmfVUghH9MI/AAAAAAAAAqY/SY_0fH787B4/s1600-h/DSC_0015.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SmfVUghH9MI/AAAAAAAAAqY/SY_0fH787B4/s320/DSC_0015.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361488429710832834" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SmfU6JR15RI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/Hug3MQLUrUo/s1600-h/DSC_0014.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SmfU6JR15RI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/Hug3MQLUrUo/s320/DSC_0014.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361487976796120338" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;July 14th&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Brogan to Boise.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Today was great becuase Boise Idaho, "Heaven on Earth" was so close.  we flew, and cruised into Idaho Mountain Touring to visit with some pals.  (GREAT NEW STORE!  AMAZING!)  Then we chilled in the classic Egyptian movie theater and saw the new terminator movie.  the theater was great.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;we stayed up too late though.  tomorrow will be rough.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-8550641266203687588?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/8550641266203687588/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=8550641266203687588&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8550641266203687588'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8550641266203687588'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/july-14th-brogan-to-boise.html' title=''/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SmfVUghH9MI/AAAAAAAAAqY/SY_0fH787B4/s72-c/DSC_0015.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-6473039493313645371</id><published>2009-07-22T20:05:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-22T20:08:22.061-07:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SmfUE1m8blI/AAAAAAAAAqI/gYpYOxJFhUo/s1600-h/DSC_0021.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SmfUE1m8blI/AAAAAAAAAqI/gYpYOxJFhUo/s320/DSC_0021.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361487060982853202" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Left John Day and headed to Brogan, OR.  It was a great downhill ride today, but the tremendous head wind slowed us down big time.  We got into Brogan and could really find anything to eat but Oreos and Milk.  Delicious...we ate the whole bag!  Slept in the city park...it was great.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-6473039493313645371?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/6473039493313645371/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=6473039493313645371&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/6473039493313645371'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/6473039493313645371'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/left-john-day-and-headed-to-brogan-or.html' title=''/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SmfUE1m8blI/AAAAAAAAAqI/gYpYOxJFhUo/s72-c/DSC_0021.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-7335348710745071125</id><published>2009-07-16T20:00:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-16T20:04:20.996-07:00</updated><title type='text'>rest day</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/Sl_qKdMkgCI/AAAAAAAAAqA/BJF2bGHeODY/s1600-h/DSC_0034.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/Sl_qKdMkgCI/AAAAAAAAAqA/BJF2bGHeODY/s320/DSC_0034.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359259546951122978" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;We spent this day with Mike and Sophie Cosgrove. Mike was the gentleman who helped us fix the spoke.  He is very proud of his tiny town and wanted to show us some things.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;we saw:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;1. the painted hills.  spectacular hills in blue, red and white.  Mike knew the ranger that ran the park and so we got a personal tour of some of the cool areas of the park where they were thinking about building trails.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;2. Chum Long How museum.  this was amazing.  crazy curses abounded.  we have proof.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;3. elvis presley as a native american.  (steph and I danced in front of an audience and got a resounding applause.)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;4. a great shower and a great bed.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Mike and Sophie are wonderful.  thanks for the memories!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-7335348710745071125?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/7335348710745071125/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=7335348710745071125&amp;isPopup=true' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/7335348710745071125'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/7335348710745071125'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/rest-day.html' title='rest day'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/Sl_qKdMkgCI/AAAAAAAAAqA/BJF2bGHeODY/s72-c/DSC_0034.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-2971747691186711874</id><published>2009-07-16T19:56:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-16T20:00:18.229-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Cosgroves!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/Sl_pC3b3szI/AAAAAAAAAp4/4HX7vHn0NLU/s1600-h/DSC_0035.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/Sl_pC3b3szI/AAAAAAAAAp4/4HX7vHn0NLU/s320/DSC_0035.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359258317044036402" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;I popped a spoke about five miles into the ride today.  We pulled the spoke out, but there was no way to put the other spoke back in without taking off the rear cassette, and we did not have the tools.  So we kept on riding.  about ten miles later I had a brilliant realization&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;1. If I broke another spoke we would not be able to continue riding and... &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;2. we would have to hitch a ride to the nearest bike shop (70 miles away)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;I immediately began bouncing up and down on my seat to try and pop another spoke.  no such luck.  70 miles later Steph and I pulled into the bustling metropolis that is John Day, OR.  (a stoplight!  hooray!)  Only to find that the bike shop was closed.  everyone I asked about the bike shop said that there used to be one, but that it had shut up shop a long time ago.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Out of options Steph and I did the only reasonable thing;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;1. got footlong subs and blizzards&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;2. tried to find a movie theater.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;as we were searching for a great movie to watch we passed by where the bike shop had been AND THE DOOR WAS OPEN!  Mike Cosgrove was inside working on a bike (he fixes bikes as a charity... there is a special place in heaven for him) I stepped inside and before long Steph and I were pulling apart my rear wheel and replacing the spoke.  Neither steph nor I had ever trued a wheel, but we learned tonight!  It was fantastic! we finally finished up around nine at night and Mike invited us to his house to spend the night.  WHOAH!  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Here are some observations:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;1. John Day is an incredibly friendly town&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;2. truing a wheel is easier than it seems at first&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;3. Heaven is a bed and a shower.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-2971747691186711874?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/2971747691186711874/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=2971747691186711874&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/2971747691186711874'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/2971747691186711874'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/cosgroves.html' title='The Cosgroves!'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/Sl_pC3b3szI/AAAAAAAAAp4/4HX7vHn0NLU/s72-c/DSC_0035.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-8160328116915218112</id><published>2009-07-16T19:53:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-16T19:55:53.955-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Good old spray!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Another heroic day!  Steph and I pulled one hundred and then miles with three 5 mile climbs!  We climbed out of Deschutes, then saw these awesome windmills.  then, while we were distracted we climbed another two file-mile climbs.  Beyond tired.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;we took showers in Spray, and (sort of) washed our clothes.  Good people in spray.  all three of them.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;I threw in this picture because it is hilarious.  got to love google maps.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-8160328116915218112?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/8160328116915218112/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=8160328116915218112&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8160328116915218112'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8160328116915218112'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/good-old-spray.html' title='Good old spray!'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-4525446325130727109</id><published>2009-07-16T19:45:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-16T19:51:04.400-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Tough Day</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/Sl_m9UarbUI/AAAAAAAAApw/VRkGwxAR8oE/s1600-h/DSC_0023.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/Sl_m9UarbUI/AAAAAAAAApw/VRkGwxAR8oE/s320/DSC_0023.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359256022721195330" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Tough day.  About fourteen miles into the day Steph and I took a wrong turn.  twenty miles later we figured it out and had to backtrack.  we ended up on this gravel road that wound its way through the mountains above the columbia river.  astonishing views but slow and tough.  when we finally made it back down we had only gone another fifteen miles towards our destination.  we ended up getting thirty miles in for the price of sixty.  ouch.  We had a stellar campsite right by the Deschutes river.  Dinner was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, just like breakfast, just like lunch.  delicious.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-4525446325130727109?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/4525446325130727109/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=4525446325130727109&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4525446325130727109'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/4525446325130727109'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/tough-day.html' title='Tough Day'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/Sl_m9UarbUI/AAAAAAAAApw/VRkGwxAR8oE/s72-c/DSC_0023.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-6309545270975765755</id><published>2009-07-07T17:07:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-07T17:18:53.721-07:00</updated><title type='text'>105 miles and a tail wind!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlPln05dkII/AAAAAAAAApo/xynLLx-TZNE/s1600-h/DSC_0093.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlPln05dkII/AAAAAAAAApo/xynLLx-TZNE/s320/DSC_0093.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355876854250967170" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlPk6itTEsI/AAAAAAAAApg/wejKnPYKIhU/s1600-h/DSC_0100.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlPk6itTEsI/AAAAAAAAApg/wejKnPYKIhU/s320/DSC_0100.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355876076273996482" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;We left Skapoosse, Oregon and decided to ride on the Washington side to the Columbia River today.  It was breathtaking and beautiful.  The first half was a lot of climbing, but the second half of the day just flew by....literally.  The wind from the Columbia gorge was very strong.  We loved it...especially in the tunnels.  Since we made 50 miles in record time, we had a little time to goof around, and we are headed to a further camp ground back in Oregon. &lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-6309545270975765755?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/6309545270975765755/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=6309545270975765755&amp;isPopup=true' title='15 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/6309545270975765755'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/6309545270975765755'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/105-miles-and-tail-wind.html' title='105 miles and a tail wind!'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlPln05dkII/AAAAAAAAApo/xynLLx-TZNE/s72-c/DSC_0093.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>15</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-5971259720439785761</id><published>2009-07-06T21:45:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-06T21:49:13.262-07:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlLTwMyi_sI/AAAAAAAAApY/6ooLA06DBnU/s1600-h/DSC_0099.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlLTwMyi_sI/AAAAAAAAApY/6ooLA06DBnU/s320/DSC_0099.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355575731917356738" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Very wet today.  We woke up to dark clouds and a steady drizzle.  we packed up the tent wet (bad news) and set off.  we did not have that much of a plan, but we ended up choosing a very busy road to ride on.  Lots of campers coming home from a fourth of July weekend on the coast - huge behemoth campers with multiple pop out sections and wheels that made typhoons out of the moisture on the road.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;we stopped for lunch about sixty miles into the trail (a little town called Ranier... as opposed to Raniest) picked up some chips and fig newtons and shivered our way through a few hundred calories.  then, in a stroke of genius, we called a family on Warmshowers.  We were pretty wet and miserable. The Kadera family welcomed us into their house, fed us a delicous meal and showed us their incredible garden. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;tonight we will stay with the Kadera family, and then tomorrow we will leave at around six in the AM again and see if we can get to... somewhere else.  white salmon or something.  we will know when we get there.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Here is a photo of everyone here.  Thanks guys!  y'all are awesome!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-5971259720439785761?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/5971259720439785761/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=5971259720439785761&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/5971259720439785761'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/5971259720439785761'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/very-wet-today.html' title=''/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlLTwMyi_sI/AAAAAAAAApY/6ooLA06DBnU/s72-c/DSC_0099.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-8670830434306425818</id><published>2009-07-06T21:34:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-06T21:45:23.966-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Getting out of Portland</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlLSS-CfhVI/AAAAAAAAApQ/-98dhBoCf2o/s1600-h/DSC_0094.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlLSS-CfhVI/AAAAAAAAApQ/-98dhBoCf2o/s320/DSC_0094.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355574130229871954" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;he airline industry is on tough times.  Northwest Airlines wanted to charge us $300 to take bikes on the airplane.  they also wanted to charge $15 per checked bag.  Airlines are a really unique industry in that they set thier prices on how much they can gouge the customer instead of how much the service actually costs.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;And Northwest really wanted us to pay the $300!  The published charge for taking a bike on a plane was $175 - but Lorraine, the sweet soul behind the counter, asked three different sets of supervisors to see if she could not get the higher price.  finally she had to give up and "save us some money" by charging us only $175.  Our tickets did not cost $175!  those bikes had better be getting some hot meals on the plane!  Sweet, sweet Lorraine.  I bet she is just a wonderful person when she is not at work.  Probably really helpful.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;We spent the first night at our Cousin Ben's house.  Ben is a great guy - very well educated.  He is what I would call a non-traditional JDMBA in that he now works construction.  He picked us up from the airport in his silver nissan T-top, which miraculously fit in the bicycles and us.  Snug, but we are family.  On the way home from the airport Ben talked to us about the city.  he said the neighborhood we would be sleeping in is decent - he had only been shot at twice.  Apparently last weekend he also saw a gentleman get mugged (or shot?) on the corner and had to run when the muggers came after him.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;then, as we are walking in the house Stephanie says:  You know Bill, it is really nice outside... we could just set up the tent out here!  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;On Sunday we went to Church.  We left at 8 to walk to the closest ward which we thought probably started at nine.  it turned out to be a spanish ward that started at ten, so we trucked another mile or so in the opposite direction to find an english speaking ward that really did start at nine.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Church felt comfortable.  lots of the same type of people as go to our ward; a hodgepodge of young families, old retired couples with walkers and middle-agers.  Everyone was impressed that we were riding across the USA, but then told us about thier close family members who did the exact same thing.  Apparently Portland is the biking capitol of the world for a reason!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Ben, the Champ, took us to the coast in his yellow 4 speed pickup truck that he bought for $150 from an old farmer.  the last we saw of ben he was driving away from the coast, waving out of his window.  Ben, we sincerely hope that the pickup truck got you home again.  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;Then we went to the ocean to dip our bikes in.  I had this mental picture of a lovely beach with sunbathers and volleyball.  nothing of the sort.  The beach was cold, the wind was blowing and there was the rusted out hull of some ship standing like a warning for anyone who dared enter the water.  There will be no swimming tonight!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "&gt;that is all for tonight.  the first day was easy: we did not ride at all on our bikes.  day two will be long.  pray for us!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-8670830434306425818?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/8670830434306425818/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=8670830434306425818&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8670830434306425818'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8670830434306425818'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/07/getting-out-of-portland.html' title='Getting out of Portland'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SlLSS-CfhVI/AAAAAAAAApQ/-98dhBoCf2o/s72-c/DSC_0094.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-7131539152840493681</id><published>2009-06-28T06:07:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-06-28T06:14:06.610-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Less than a week to go!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SkdsOsPwIgI/AAAAAAAAAig/u9dxVu7k6Pw/s1600-h/DSC_0099.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SkdsOsPwIgI/AAAAAAAAAig/u9dxVu7k6Pw/s320/DSC_0099.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352365681804321282" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Bill and I have less than a week before we leave for our trip.  I can't believe we are doing this! Are we crazy? Yes!&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;So we are a little crazy... a lot nervous... and very excited!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-7131539152840493681?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/7131539152840493681/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=7131539152840493681&amp;isPopup=true' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/7131539152840493681'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/7131539152840493681'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/06/less-than-week-to-go.html' title='Less than a week to go!'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IpWShhTvzYk/SkdsOsPwIgI/AAAAAAAAAig/u9dxVu7k6Pw/s72-c/DSC_0099.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6582663744147762724.post-8500160895004956909</id><published>2009-06-23T16:21:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-06-23T16:36:37.909-07:00</updated><title type='text'>ZOMBIES ATTACK!</title><content type='html'>Every so often when Steph and I talk about going on our bike ride across the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA somebody asks us if we have a plan of where we are going.  &lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;we say  "Of COURSE WE DO!  "How could you ride across the United States of AMERICA without a plan!?"  (We dont have a plan...)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; which begs the question:  "How can you ride across the USA without a plan?  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Here is what we have:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;1.  Two plane tickets to Portland Oregon &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;2.  A google map where the little blue line changes every couple of days &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;3.  Four very sexy looking legs that can get us a good eighty miles or so before it gets dark &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;4.  $42 &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;I cannot decide if our made for TV movie that will be  called "The Little Engines That Could" or "ZOMBIES ATTACK!"&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6582663744147762724-8500160895004956909?l=bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/feeds/8500160895004956909/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6582663744147762724&amp;postID=8500160895004956909&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8500160895004956909'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6582663744147762724/posts/default/8500160895004956909'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://bikeacrosstheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2009/06/zombies-attack.html' title='ZOMBIES ATTACK!'/><author><name>Bill</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00595031649093799883</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry></feed>
