My favorite picture

Spray Lake early in the morning!

Details details

Here are some pictures of how we cook our food, filter our water, and pitch our tent!

The rest of the story..........

We made it home yesterday after a very long day of travel. We got up at 4am to get to the airport. Taking 2 bicycles, trailer and gear through customs went pretty smooth. The flights were all good. And the bikes and gear made it home without being damaged. One of the pictures shows Hap pushing the big boxes through the airport.

I wanted to fill you in on our last few days of riding before we got to Banff. We had a good nights sleep beside a beautiful flowing stream at Weary Creek. It was a cold start to the day though. 40's. This day turned out to be the hardest day of the trip. We had to climb over the Continental Divide at Elk Pass. The weather was sunny and warmed up to the 80's. We started on a gravel road and then turned onto a trail that went up over the pass. There was a small tree over the trail and I decided that my bike could jump it! Well, maybe it could....if it wasn't attached to a trailer. I hit the tree and fell over. I wasn't sure where I was falling so as I was going down I grabbed a bush. Hap had to help me get up, I was trapped under my bike. Just after that happened a group of about 6 cyclists were coming down the trail. They stopped and we chatted for awhile. What a small world. They were all from Missoula and one of them was "Julie" that worked at Adventure Cycling. Adventure Cycling is the group that makes maps for cyclists. We have been a member for almost 20 years. One of the others knew one of Hap's old neighbors who now lives in Missoula. And we thought we were in the middle of nowhere! We climbed to the top of the pass. It was a tough climb. There was a picnic table at the top so we stopped for lunch. Then we headed down what we thought was the right trail. Guess what? Yep! We were on the wrong trail. We rode right into a watery bog. I was first and by the time I realized i was riding in water it was too late. There were logs laying across the trail so not only was i through water, I was trying to bump over the logs. So....you guessed it...I got stalled and couldn't go. I knew I was going over so I jumped off. Now I am standing in calf deep black mucky water. Yuch! Hope I get a shower tonight!

We finally reached a gravel road and started down it but we weren't sure which way to go. We turned around and saw BIKE and an arrow written in the road. We figured the group we saw had marked the route. That helped alot. Now we knew which way to go. We ended up in a parking lot in Peter Lougheed Provincal Park. There were several campgrounds but we weren't sure which one had the showers. We had stayed here on another cycling trip several years ago. We went up the road just a short distance and saw a campground sign and a picture of a shower! Yeah! We were at Bolton Campground. We stopped at the campstore to register and then had a heck of a time trying to find our campsite. We finally found it, set up camp, cooked freeze dried spaghetti and headed to the showers. There was a line to get into the showers and when it was my turn a girl said, that shower (that I was going into) only had cold water. I said "it will be better than the cold stream we have been standing in for our bath! It turned out to be a HOT shower.

The next morning was really chilly. Our campsite was in the shade while we were packing up. It was 11am before we finally left. We rode a paved road out of the park and then turned on a wide gravel road. Then the climbing started again. Everyone had told us it would be all downhill after Elk Pass.....right! We saw a moose on the side of the road. There was more traffic on this road and it was pretty dusty. But the scenery was incredible. I hope the pictures show up ok for you to see. There wasn't a suggested campground so we planned to just pull off the trail to camp. Oh I forgot, we were told that we were in the grizzly bear roaming area and to take extra care. Remember bear spray, 30 feet, then lay down in a little ball! We passed a lodge called Mt Enigedene so we stopped just to see if they had any rooms/cabins. It was a nice place for $350/night! But she said that includes dinner and breakfast...no thanks. We kept going hoping to make it to Canyon Dam.

The route turned onto a very narrow trail next to Spray Lake. It was beautiful. But it was also alittle scary. We did alot of singing, talking and whistling......Yo bear..... The trail was fun, more fun without the gear though. We made it to the dam and found a beautiful spot by the lake. We pitched the tent, cooked dinner, and hung our food and cooking gear very high and very far away from the tent. We took alittle sponge bath. Before we got in the tent Hap decided to get more bear prepared. He got to tools out of the tool bag, our big knife, the bear spray and the binoculars. And then said NOW I'm ready. See the picture above.

I slept really good because I knew that Hap was watching out for the bears. Helicopters were constantly flying up and down the lake. Apparently it was to take people up to a lodge on top of the mt.

The next morning we fixed our usual oatmeal, peanut butter and bread for breakfast. The route was now on a gravel road that was closed to vehicles. Check out the scenery from this ride. We rode to Goat Trail that took us into Banff. Before heading down the trail we ate the last of our bread. Guess we better get to town!

Banff Canada

Hi everyone, well here we are in Banff, CA on Saturday, August 22. We actually arrived here on Thursday. Today we are packing the bikes in boxes, tying up lose ends and plan to take a shuttle to Calgary tomorrow. Our flight back to Ohio is Monday morning. I haven't been able to post a note since Sparwood so for now I will tell you what has happened since arriving in Banff. We are in the Banff library and time is limited. On thursday we rode into Banff. The trail into Banff was called the GOAT TRAIL. It was mostly downhill BUT it was also MOSTLY ROCKS! Try that with a mt bike and Trailer or with bags on the bike. Poor Hap didn't have a full suspension bike like mine. Sorry about YOUR luck! I can only say my new Giant Trance bike has been awesome. It has really made a difference in my back. Which by the way is still attached. Back to the story enough about my new toy! The trail was beautiful. I will be posting pictures when we get back to Ohio. So stay tuned! The mts are awesome and the weather was great. It was a good ride into town. We only got lost or should I say had a view "do overs". There were several waterfalls and bridges lining the trail.


We arrived into Banff behind the Banff Hot Springs Hotel. (An impressive sight!). It was very odd to go from riding in the middle of nowhere to a hustling, bustling tourist town. It is very beautifully nestled in between the mts and alongside the Bow River. The first thing we did was to ride to the bike shop to make sure our boxes we had arranged for were there. And yes they were. So Plan A was in force for the moment...... PLAN A: We had arranged with Sister Sonnie who has a Parcel/Post store to have our stuff sent via Fedex to Ohio. We actually arrived in Banff a day earlier than we thought we would. The reason..we ran out of clean clothes and hadn't had a shower for two days! And there was no campground or shower in sight. I called the Driftwood Inn and they said we could check in a day early. OK. PLAN A still a go!





Friday we got up, ate breakfast in the room (oatmeal, bananas and peanut butter). And took off to ride a trail that was recommended by the bike shop. Rundle River Trail. He said that it was very rooty and rocky and you would either love it or find it very frustrating. Doesn't that sound like fun! Of course that's the trail we want. After all we have just ridden 400 miles pulling all our stuff, that should be easy. We took off on our LIGHT, no gear mt bikes. We decided to ride to Canmore Nordic Center. That is where the 1998 Calgary Olympics held their Nordic events. And it is the Olympic training center. The trail was 10 miles long. Piece of cake........... off we go...the first thing that happened was we couldn't find the trail. I hate it when someone says "you can't miss it!" Doesn't he know who we are? We finally found the trail and started UP. Although we didn't realize we were climbing. It was a beautiful trail along the Bow River. And he was right there were lots of rocks and lots of roots. But other than that it was perfect. We rode through tree lined trails with lots of moss on either side, across rock fields, over bridges, one section of very narrow trail just on the EDGE of the river (Jill you wouldn't have liked it!). The last 3 miles or so was in the Nordic Center series of trails which was more double track. But uphill Of course. We went to the Nordic Center for a snack of Pita bread and Hummus (mmm good) and an apple and coke. Then we headed back. Oh did I mention we are still in bear country and there are signs everywhere of watch out for the bears? That makes it alittle more interesting. Hap had his bear spray though so we were safe. He left his noise makers and knife at the hotel (you'll have to wait until the next post to see what that means!). The ride back was even better. We started with a neat, fast downhill (watch out for those roots!). I kept leaving Hap behind on the downhills and then he would catch me on the ups. Remember the full suspension that you said you don't need Hap???? About half way back a girl (and guy) passed us......uh oh .... game on! (does anyone know me very well.. the part about the girl "passing me?" Let's just say that I passed them back in short order and had to wait for Hap at the end of the trail. It was one of the best mt bike rides I have ever had. It was awesome. I wish we had trails like that in Ohio. Oh and the girl......mmm...where did she go? We stopped at the grocery for dinner supplies and headed back to the room. Dinner was a salad, nuts and a turkey sandwich.



So back to PLAN A. Today we called FED EX just to double check what we needed to do. They first told us that they would email us the info, fill out the form, there you go.... Hap got the email, printed it out but didn't quite understand how to fill out the customs form. So he called back. This time they said we could't even use FED EX in Canada unless we had a CANADIAN account. Uh OH! So now what? PLAN B: Take the bikes on the plane with us. We have done this for 20 years. Usually just ride to the airport and they sale you a box for $10, no problem. We thought why are we taking a shuttle why not ride to the airport. It's only 80 miles. We had an extra day to do that. OK. PLAN C: Ride to Calgary Airport, box up the bike and the BOB trailer and fly home. Should we call to make sure they have a box at the airport? Remember that time???? OK, so Hap calls the airline! NO, we don't have any boxes. Now we are at PLAN D: Box the bikes and trailer in Banff, shuttle to Calgary Airport, shuttle to the hotel, shuttle back to the airport at 5am Monday morning. Are the shuttles big enough to carry the bike boxes? Remember that time...? We call the hotel first.....let us check and call you back....yes, but that shuttle doesn't run on Sundays......mmmm....will they fit in a mini van?? Of course we say.....mmm.....yes that will work. Now we call the Banff shuttle....do you take bike boxes? Yes that will be $10.30 for each bike....Alrighty then. Now we have $175 to fly each bike, $175 for the trailer, plus the shuttle......



So here we sit in the library. Everything arranged, bikes in boxes, trailer boxed. Only a few questions left to answer. How do we get three boxes through customs? Can we take our bear spray? What about our stove and fuel bottles? Remember that time....................?



I have to say that even though the cost is higher than expected. This trip has been awesome and worth every penny. We have had an amazing two weeks of just riding and being together. In spite of the cold, wet weather it has been wonderful. We have decided though that it is much easier just to ride home. So look out for the next trip! We don't need no stinkin aeroplane. We for sure would have ridden back into the US if we had known all of this hassle was going to happen. But when you travel like this you just have to be prepared for PLAN A, B, C, or D or ??? But remember it's all good!

I will be posting pictures when we get home and also more about our last four days of riding! So stay tuned.

Sparwood British Columbia Canada

Hi everyone,
We finally made it to a computer to put down some notes from our ride so far. Today is August 15, 2009. But I am going to start our journey at the airport in Kalispell, MT. We made to Montana, our gear that was shipped made it to Montana, we got off the plane ok. But the shuttle that I had arranged to pick us up for the 20 minute drive was not there. Mmm...I called and he said oh your here now! Yes our plane was delayed in Denver but we would still like a ride. Otherwise we are going to have a long walk at 9pm in the dark, down the highway. He finally came about an hour later. He sure was cheerful. Me .... not so much. Have you ever noticed how cheerful people can be when your NOT in the mood? We arrived at the Hilltop Hotel in Kalispell and found our two bikes and extra box of camping gear in our room. We spent a couple of hours putting them together, sorting gear and making plans for PLAN A. (Ride to Whitefish to get on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route). The first day of the ride was a pretty short day. But it gave us a good opportunity to check out our gear and make sure my new rack was working. A short lesson on racks and bikes.....I just got a new full suspension mt bike. Giant Trance. We were hoping that the suspension would help my back! The bike is awesome, I love it. But the color?? White...why does it have to be white? Back to the rack lesson. On all our other trips we have used rear and front racks. But with a front suspension you need a special rack. We rode the last time on the Great Divide with just rear racks. So we thought the same would be ok for this one. Hap did alot of research and found a rack that looked really good for a full suspension bike. The problem is that there are no places to mount the rack with the suspension and my new DISC (yeah!) brakes. Does anyone see where this is leading yet? On the way to Whitefish Hap noticed the rack "wobbling". We both were carrying maybe 50 lbs or so. Oh let me tell you about the traffic. It was a sunday morning and we passed alot of churches. This part of the ride was on regular paved roads. Traffic was whizzing by pretty close. We decided all of the churches must have let out at the same time. And if they happened to kill a cyclist on the way home from church oh well! Sorry about that. That's a sensitive point for me! I cannot get this target off my back. We stopped a couple of times and Hap did what he could to make the rack more rigid. That's why we carry so much extra rope, straps and duck tape! When we got to Whitefish we first stopped at Snappy's Sporting Goods for Bear Spray. It looks like a small fire extinguisher that is actually pepper spray! The directions say to spray it at the bear when he is 30 feet from you! Yeah right! Oh and then lay down in a little ball and "pretend" to be dead. We rode on into town and found all the bike shops closed of course. It was sunday. They gotta ride sometime. We decided we better not leave civilization until we fixed the rack situation. So we found a campground in town, stopped at a subway for sandwiches, took a shower and went to sleep. Hap saw one of the dreaded SPRINKLER HEADS near our tent so he went into the camp office to ask if they went off at nite. She just said "I don't know.." I bet she would if she ever had one go off in the middle of the nite on HER tent. But then after paying $26 to camp we thought maybe we should get a BONUS shower!
Monday, August 8
We woke up to a gorgeous bright sunny day. Temps in the 90's. While we wer packing up a guy from the next site came over. He was driving a big RV BUS. He started talking about the bicyclists on Route 93 (the main route through the area). When I heard him say "You just never know if the bikers are going to stay on that white line or not, ESPECIALLY on those blind corners". I had to walk away (see reason in paragraph number 1!)
So now lets get to the story of the rack. We went to Glacier Cyclery and met the owner Ron, who has done alot of touring. He had just the rack that we wanted for my bike but couldn't find it. Oh and by the way when we took off my rack it had already started to bend and we hadn't even gotten off the paved roads. After much discussion, wavering, hem hawing, figuring, calculating, and lots of other stuff. We ended up buying a new BOB (beast of burden trailer) and renting a front rack for me. This process took about 4 hours! We finally left the shop after 1:30pm. Me now pulling a trailer and a front rack with our sleeping bags. Whew! It seemed like the right thing to do. Because we have a trailer at home we knew this set up would work. We left Whitefish late in the day and started climbing past Whitefish lake. It was beautiful. We were on rough 2 lane dirt, rocky road. A few cars passed us but now many. It was great. It was a difficult ride though. I gave it an eight on Diane's Rigor Scale. We reached Upper Whitefish Lake and set up camp. An awesome campsite beside a crystal clear lake. There was a few people there fishing and kayaking. We even had a picnic table. For dinner we cooked freeze dried Terryaki beef. It wasn't that great but it was food. We sure didn't have any trouble sleeping that night in the 39 degree temps.
The next day we fixed oatmeal for breakfast. The road we were on was pretty rough. We had a couple mile warm up and then started a pretty tough climb. We stopped at Red Meadow Lake for lunch. The downhill leaving the lake was as scary as the going up. I went up the hill at 2.7 mph and down the hill at 3.0 mph! I decided I only need two gears for this ride first and second! Or go or stop! We haven't seen any bears on this ride yet but we did see lots of bear poop. And it is true what they say bears do love those berries! We got to Tuchuck campground late. There was a group of seven guys already there and a couple from Holland. It is fun to have other cyclist to talk to. The girl from Holland came over and said if you want to wash in the stream go ahead, my husband will look away. I laughed and said, it doesn't matter just make sure he doesn't laugh at me! The water was freezing but it sure was nice to get clean! For dinner we had our favorite freeze dried meal of Leonardo de Fettucini. It tasted especially good tonight. I am sure we are burning loads of calories. The Rigor scale was 8 again today!
On August 12 we rode from Tuchuck Campground to Eureka. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the sign at the campground. Watch out for grizzlies. Apparently this is part of the ranging area through Glacier Nat. Park. We are riding just to the west of the park. Good thing we bought that bear spray. Remember 30 feet! And do you THINK I have a tape measure? We woke up to pouring down rain. It is really nasty when you have to pack up in the rain. It was about 45 degrees or so. We packed up fast. For breakfast we ate a couple of power bars. Leaving the campground we immediately started climbing. It was a tough climb in the rain. We climbed for four miles over Whitefish Divide. It was beautiful and once we got warmed up not so bad. We had some wonderful views of Glacier Park too. We saw more bear poop and lots of Huckleberries. When we got to Eureka we decided to stay in a hotel. What a concept. That might have been the best shower I ever had. It rained all day. It finally stopped long enough for me to ride back to a laundry mat. We stopped an ordered a pizza that was delivered to the Ksanka Motel for us. We took everything out of the bags and dried out.
August 13 we rode from Eureka to ELKO. Yes you guessed it we woke up to a downpour again. We stopped and ate a good breakfast and then rode the 8 miles to the Canadian border at Roosville. We were on Hwy 93 for the ride to Elko. It wasn't bad except when it started to rain harder. The canadians have a great idea with their roads also. A berm! What a great idea. When we almost got to Elko it really poured. I could only see a few feet in front of me. I had called a hotel in Elko and make a reservation. Good thing because it was their last room. There was another group of 8 cyclists there looking for a room. They ended up getting a ride to another town. The room had a kitchen which was great. We cooked dinner, emptied all of the bags AGAIN. And dried everything out AGAIN!
August 14 we decided to ride a short day to Fernie. Hoping the weather would change. It was cooler today in the 40's. We had oatmeal and juice for breakfast. The road was a dirt road following the Elk River to Fernie. A pretty ride, but a cold one. We are in a beautiful valley with mts on both sides. The views are great. Wish we could see the tops of the mts.! We got into fernie and stopped at a Bagal shop for a sandwich. I found a room at the Raging Elk Hostel for $55. It was pretty clean but it looked like they were working on it. We had a great view of the Fernie Ski Hill. Looks like a good place to come back to. This area is know for its mt biking and skiing. There were 4 bike shops on Main Street. One of the shops was clear full of the Giant Trance Mt bike like mine. (without the racks! or BOB) I washed all of our clothes out in the sink and we hung clothes lines across the room. Now that was a sight. But I hate to wear dirty clothes. Its kindof funny when we ride like this. I even forgot to bring a comb for my hair. I don't think the bears will even notice! Maybe that's why they have to get within 30 feet! Just after we got to the hostel it really started raining hard again. But by the time we got everything washed and hung up it was just alittle drizzle. We walked back up town and found a burger and a beer. Neither was very good and both were very expensive. We should just have cooked at the hostel. Next time! We also stopped at the grocery store for some supplies. Back at the hostel we played some cards. And somebody won!
August 15-Todays ride...It was alittle brighter this morning but colder. In the 40's when we left. No rain though so that's a bonus. We rode a shorter ride today waiting hopefully for some better weather. Today the ride was all highway. It was beautiful but not too exciting. We are just riding north up this narrow valley with beautiful mts on both sides. We arrived in Sparwood early and went to the Mt View Campground. I washed everything out again. And we finally found a computer at the library to use.
So far the trip has been good. Challenging and problem solving but then that's why we do this isn't it?? Otherwise life would be boring. We saw the best t shirt saying that I think we are going to adopt! Here it is:

Confidence is the feeling you have before you fully understand the situation

Until next time!
Hap and Diane

Continental Divide Trip Part 2 Whitefish, MT-Banff

Hi there, it is time for another trip on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Tomorrow we will be leaving (on a jet plane) to fly into Whitefish, MT. The last time we rode the divide we went south from Whitefish. this trip we are heading north to Banff. Should be a great ride.....that is if you like riding in the middle of nowhere, with nuthin sept the trees, wind, weather and of course the wildlife. But then I think the wildlife out there will be better than the "wildlife" we have been seeing driving on the roads of Pickaway County lately!
Here it is 1pm and we have finished all the packin except for tying up some loose ends, finding plane tickets, reservations we made. You know simple stuff like that. We didn't have much to pack, clothes for a couple days, rain gear, cold weather gear, down jacket, heavy gloves.......hey this isn't MY first rodeo ya know. I 've been out in the wilds before with Hap. At least this time we have a compass. GPS..naw we don't need no stinkin GPS. You know Hap's motto "You can't be lost if you don't care where your going!"
Not sure how much posting I can do on this trip. We aren't taking the computer and the bears probably won't let me use theirs. But I will post as often as possible. Hopefully you'll get them email alert or whatever you call this.

Later. Gotta get some sleep before the sun comes up. Details....details!

Team Alpha on the Greenbriar River Trail WV

Back home again in Circleville, Ohio 10,300 miles

It's official we are home! And it's double official because I went back to work today at Berger Health System. I am the Wellness Director at the hospital. Don't tell my boss but I think that I have the best job in the world. I get the opportunity to go out into the community, local businesses and Berger employees to help them to learn ways to become healthier. I am not sure that taking a 10,000 mile + bike ride is a healthy idea but I'll get back to you on that.

We rode the last leg of the ride from Chillicothe to Circleville in a downpour. But then that's bike ridin'! It didn't bother us at all. In fact we had a wonderful tailwind so it actually felt like we were sprinting to the finish line. A great end to a wonderful ride. When we rode out our driveway last May we decided that we would do everything and ride anywhere we wanted for a year. We wouldn't regret anything or leave anything out. And that is just what we have done. No regrets. No, we wish we had..... just it's time to go home for awhile. Then??.........??

When we rode into Circleville we were pleasantly surprised to see Amy and Gregory standing on the side of the road with balloons, flowers and signs. Thanks guys for the great welcome. They really went above and beyond to come out in the rain. Then they followed us through town taking pictures of us. And all of the balloons on the car was a bonus! It was sort of like a parade!

Our house survived, but as you can see from the picture someone needs to mow the grass. I think our grass would get mowed more if the lawnmower had pedals!

Thanks to everyone who has supported us during this year with notes, emails, phone calls and prayers. We couldn't have done this without the support of all of you.

I will be making a couple more entries in the blog. We are doing a ride this weekend in W. Virginia with Dugan, my brother in law who has Alpha One. It is a fundraiser for the American Lung Association along the Greenbriar River Trail. Two days and 70 miles. Dugan is planning to ride with us. So for all of you who have all of healthy lungs, Dugan will be riding with about 1/4 of one lung with oxygen on his bike! No excuses is there?

Chillicothe, Ohio

When we arrived in Charleston we went out to dinner with Deb from the ALA and Neva who is an Alpha One support group leader. She has arranged for Hap & I to meet with the WV Governor tomorrow at the capital building. What an opportunity to do some PR for Alpha! Thanks Neva! We also were going to present our check to the ALA for the TREK bike tour we are doing with Team Alpha next weekend. It is a 2-day ride along the Greenbrier River in WV. It is a beautiful trail. Hap & I rode it a few years ago.
The next morning we were supposed to be at the capital building at 9:15a. We were only a few blocks from there so we got to the gate a little early. A TV cameraman showed up from WOWK Charleston station and did an interview. Another station WSAZ also did an interview. Meeting Governor Manchin was really cool. He read a proclamation stating that May was Alpha One Awareness month. He told us that he had mandated that when any knew roads were built in WV that a 2-foot shoulder was required. We thanked him for that. All in all it was a special day for us. We are still trying to figure out why people are so amazed at our “little bike ride”. All we are doing is having fun! When things get tough sometimes along the way, I remember Dugan and how hard he trained and worked to ride his bike with a quarter of a lung! What we are doing is easy. Hopefully we got some good press for Alpha.
We left Charleston and headed towards Huntington. We stopped at John’s bike shop in St Albans. We were very impressed with the bike shop. Great selection of bikes, parts and Jeff actually knew something about them. He had done a tour across the US back in 1976. We ate lunch at Taco Bell. We stopped at Jim’s Campground outside of. Milton, WV. There were two choices of campgrounds. The KOA wanted $30 to pitch our tent. Jim’s wanted $12. Which would you pick? Jim’s was really nice. We had a huge shelter house that we could park the bike under and cook our dinner too. It also had electric outlets as a bonus.
We left the next morning after eating our traditional oatmeal, peanut butter and banana breakfast. It was hot and sunny. The road was little busier as we got closer to Huntington. Most of the traffic gave us plenty of room. But there’s always that 10% rule. We had a flat tire on the way into town. It’s always much more fun to have a flat tire, in traffic, with no shoulder. It didn’t take long to get it changed. Hap’s getting really good at it. I don’t even have to tell him what to do anymore! It was supposed to start raining so we planned to stay inside in Ashland, KY. We stopped at a gas station to look in a phone book for hotels. While we were there a guy said, “Hey didn’t I see you on TV this morning?” He talked to us for quite awhile. We had been wondering why so many people had been blowing their horns at us and waving as they passed. Maybe they saw us on the TV! That would explain it. Before we got to the hotel we stopped and bought another tube. Just in case…..We have had to ride in more junk on the side of the road just because of the traffic. We got to the hotel, left the trailer and road to a Wal-Mart for dinner supplies and to get a prescription filled. While I was standing in line a lady behind me said, “Didn’t I see you on TV this morning?” I asked her if she learned something and she said yes she did. It was very interesting. Oh, did I mention that the Wal-Mart was on TOP of a big hill? So here’s the picture…..four lanes, no shoulder, slow tandem, lots of traffic. We had a lot of people come pretty close. I guess they had to get to Wal-Mart in a hurry. I am sure that it was some sort of an emergency that’s why they couldn’t wait 10 seconds or so to get around. But we all made it into Wal-Mart and no one got hurt. That’s the important part.
The next day it was pouring down rain. We decided to stay an extra day in Ashland. We spent the day doing laundry and eating. We only have 30 miles to go to get to Portsmouth, OH. Then maybe 70 miles or so to home.
This morning we left Ashland, stopped at Bobby’s place (or Bob Evans to all of you who aren’t from Ohio!) and road north on Rt 23. Rt 23 runs through Circleville HOME. Not far now. We are getting to our neck of the woods. It was overcast all day but still a great ride. We made a call to All Saints Episcopal Church in Portsmouth about spending the night there. We have stayed there many times when we road TOSRV (Tour of the Scioto River Valley). They agreed to let us stay even though TOSRV is the next day. We planned to be riding north tomorrow as TOSRV riders are heading south to Portsmouth. This way we get to see all of our biking friends that we haven’t seen for a very long time. We got to the church just in front of a big downpour. My brothers and wives are driving down tonight to take us out to dinner. It sure will be great to see them!
We are down to two more days of riding before finishing this year long (and three day) adventure. I go back to work in a couple more days. Where did the time go?

Today we rode to Chillicothe. It was fun to see all of the TOSRV riders coming south. We saw alot of old friends that we haven't seen for a long time. It sure is good to be on home turf. We have ridden the Tour of the Scioto River Valley every year since 1983 so we felt like we knew every turn and crack in the highway. It is a very pretty ride following the Scioto River. In Chillicothe we made a quick stop in the park to talk to the local newspaper and take a picture. Then we stopped and bought my mom some roses for Mother's Day. Of course I told her that I had bought them in Portsmouth and hand carried them from there. All of my family showed up for a cookout. It was great to see everyone. Especially the three new babies, Korbin, Reed and Rowdy. I plan to spoil all of them soon!! Tomorrow is our last day on the road. I go back to work at Berger Health System on Monday. Hap will be busy getting our house (assuming it is still there) back in working order. We have ridden 10,280 miles. Tomorrow's ride will be about 30 miles. It is supposed to be a stormy, rainy day. A fitting end don't you think?

Charleston, WV 10,000+ miles!

We ate a banana and peanut butter for a pre-breakfast before we left the motel. We continued south on Rt 7 toward Gallipolis. It was nice because we had a nice shoulder and not much traffic. It was also warm and sunny. We stopped at a restaurant for some pancakes. OK, so we ate twice in an hour, is somebody out there counting? It was such a pretty ride along the river. Everything was so green, spring is finally here! We stopped in Pomeroy for a very special event! Our 10,000 mile of this trip. Of course we had to have ice cream. It seems impossible that we have actually ridden that far and it has almost been a year. Today we were on a secret mission. Niece Kendall (Dugan's daughter) is graduating from Rio Grande this weekend and we are planning to surprise her. She thinks that we are a million miles away (in biking miles....) and has no idea we are coming. Ssshhhhh....... Traffic started to pick up on Rt 7 but we were going to turn west off of Rt 7 before we got to Gallipolis. We had ridden between Rio Grande and Gallipolis before and taken this route. But that time we were on our mt bikes with Hap pulling Katie (our dog) in the trailer. We remembered the route as being really pretty with not many hills. But guess what happens when you add 180 pounds to a tandem. The route gets hillier and the hills get steeper. Or maybe we just didn't notice the hills. By any standards it was a very hilly route. It started to rain just before we got to Rio Grande. Several members of my family were on their way to Rio at the same time so we were on the phone alot talking to them. On the outside of town we called Kendall's sister, Tiffany to have her call Kendall and find out where she was. Tiff said she was at the apt. We rode to the apt to surprise her. Boy was she surprised. It was great! I told her that I had been lying to her for several wks. And everytime I lied I had to call someone to confess. About that time Dugan called. He and Sonnie were on their way down. He asked where we were and I told him that we weren't there yet, we were about 4 miles from Rio. Yes, I lied to him also. But I'm confessing it to all of you! The rest of the family showed up a short time later. It was great to see them. The best part was seeing the twins, Reed and Rowdy. If you have been following us you know that they were born last November.

We spent a wonderful weekend with family. The worst part of this last year is being away from them. Mom and Dad came down. Dugan and Sonnie were there. We shared lots of stories, ate alot of great food and just enjoyed being together again. I tried to show everyone where my shingles were but no one seemed interested.

Yesterday we reluctantly let go of the twins and road away from Rio Grande. It was cool and sunny. We took a different route to Gallipolis that was alot better than the other day. We crossed the Ohio River and then the Kanawa River. We had planned to camp in Point Pleasant WV. But when we called they said sorry we don't allow tents. Then why do you call it a campground! We thought there was a hotel in Buffalo, WV so we headed south on Rt 62 on the Kanawa River. It was a beautiful route. When we got to Buffalo we were surprised to find that the hotel only rented by the week. Whoops! We asked about camping down the road and no one seemed to know of anything. So we just bought a gallon jug of water and planned to camp along the river. We stopped at a convenience store for a snack. When we were talking to some locals they said they wouldn't camp along the river. OK so now what? We didn't have any choice so we kept going south toward Charleston. We stopped in Eleanor at a convenience store. There was a local policeman in the store. We asked the clerk if she knew of a place to camp and she said why don't you camp in the city park. The cop said it closes at 10pm. Hap said can't you look the other way for one night? He said no! For the record, in alot of the towns we have been through they will let you camp in the park. We have many times. But I guess in WV you have to keep out the riff raff! I looked in my AAA book and found an Econolodge in Nitro. I called, made a reservation and we headed on down the road. We got to the Econolodge after a long day. Hap walked next door for spaghetti dinners.

This morning we had a short ride into Charleston. It was warmer today. I had been dreading riding into Charleston but it actually wasn't bad. We stopped at a Shoney's for lunch. We also stopped for haircuts. Are you wondering why we are going to Charleston, which by the way isn't on the way to Circleville from Gallipolis? We had an opportunity to raise some awareness for Alpha One. We are doing a fund raiser ride for the American Lung Association the weekend of May 15. Which is the weekend after we get home. We decided to hand deliver our donation for the ride to the main office of the ALA, in Charleston. They have arranged some media coverage for Alpha. We'll let you know how it goes next time.

Little Hocking, Ohio

We left Wheeling on a cold overcast rainy morning. And because we are in West Virginia we started with a climb. We finally had our first view of Ohio across the river. Our plan was to ride south down the WV side of the river hoping that Rt 2 wouldn't be as busy as Rt 7 on the Ohio side. Before leaving Wheeling we stopped at AAA to pick up more maps. While we were in AAA they mentioned a bike trail along the river. It took alittle bit of trial and error but we managed to find it. It was only maybe five miles long but it did get us out of the busy downtown section of Wheeling. When we got off the trail we stopped at a KFC/Taco Bell for lunch. Then we got back on Rt 2. Or at least we thought we were going to. The road became a limited access freeway. When we headed up the entrance ramp we saw the sign (the dreaded sign) that said No Bicycles. Mmm.... well look at that! We sure didn't expect that. We checked the map and our options were to go back into Wheeling, go across the bridge into Ohio and take Rt 7. Or get on the freeway to the next exit which was only 1/4 mile and then climb the ridge and loop way out south and then get back on Rt 2. We decided that was the best choice. We were only on the freeway for a few minutes so I don't really think it was a foul. We got off and wound our way through the small towns of Benwood and McMechen. On the south side of McMechen we discovered that the freeway was no longer limited access and was ok to ride on. Thank goodness. There was some construction but traffic wasn't bad. Just before we got to the town of New Martinsville traffic really picked up. Not sure why. We couldn't find a campground so we stayed at the Plaza Inn. Next door was a grocery store so we bought some dinner fixins. Tonight we had beef vegetable soup and salad.

We left the next morning once again on a cold day. But at least the sun shined off and on. We decided to go across the river and ride down the Ohio side and hopefully the traffic would be less. On the other side of the bridge we saw a sign that said Rt 7 is closed 25 miles ahead. Uh oh, that's not good! We stopped in a gas station to see if maybe we could get through. They were all so helpful. Even the customers got into helping us see if we could get through. Hap called the sheriff and he said no way. Does anyone find it ironic that we have traveled almost 10,000 miles all around the US and now that we are within 100 miles or so of home we can't get there! What we ended up doing was ride 15 miles south on the Ohio side and take a ferry back across to Sisterville WV. The funniest thing happened on the ferry. We walked onto the ferry with our bike and were standing behind a pickup truck. A lady got out of the truck, looked at me and said, "Do you know Darlene?" (which is my mom's name!) then she said, "Are you Diane?" It scared me for a minute. I thought something had happened at home and people were out looking for us. She then said "I'm Rita do you remember me?" As it turned out it was my Aunt Rita that I had not seen for over 20 years! Small world! She knew about our bike ride from emails from my mom. What a shock. When we got off the ferry, she and her husband asked if we wanted to stay with them. We said sure and rode 15 miles to St Mary's. It was really great to see her after all this time. And we really appreciated the hospitality and opening up their home.

This morning we left on a warm sunny day. Finally back into the 70's instead of the 50's. We stopped at Subway for breakfast before crossing the river (AGAIN!) back into Ohio. Rt 7 was a good cycling road. It is great to be back in our home state. After traveling all over the country we realize how pretty our state really is. The Ohio River Valley is beautiful. Everything is green and the flowers are blooming. We got a call on the way into Marietta from a TV reporter from WTAP in Parkersburg. She met us at Walmart and did an interview. Check it out at http://www.wtap.com/.

We had planned to ride to a State park south of Belpre OH. When we were riding through Belpre we stopped to call the State Park. We thought we had about 20 miles to ride but when we asked her how far it was she said "It's a 40 minute drive". Umm... we didn't think that we could get there before dark so we decided to punt. We stopped in Belpre, got something to eat, and looked in a phone book for campgrounds or motels. We found a motel in the town of Little Hocking that was only about 5 miles south. The bonus!? It was only $25. When we got there we were very happy to find a small, very clean place to stay. See? Sometimes you don't know where you are going to end up? Look what happened to us the last two nights! I can't wait to see what happens next! Can you?