Day one: September 1, 2011 (trying to put on brave faces)

How many miles and how many months?
About 3,500 miles over eight months, six of which were heavy riding months.  Not bad, eh?

What was your official route?
We started in Madison (WI), rode to Chicago, across Indiana diagonally to Cincinnati (OH), my parents gave us a lift to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee (where they were headed anyway), rode across Georgia diagonally to Savannah by way of Atlanta, then down through Florida by way of Orlando and Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades, rented a car and drove from the Everglades to Tampa, rode to Gulf Shores (AL) for Christmas with Rachel’s family, across Mississippi to Gonzales (LA) and took a bus to New Orleans for a few days, rode from Gonzales to Austin (TX).

Then we took a month off and flew to Wisconsin in February.

We came back to Austin and biked across Texas to just south of Lubbock on the New Mexico border, hitched a ride to Roswell (NM) because of 40MPH headwinds (50mph gusts), rented a car in Roswell and drove to White Sands National Monument and Carlsbad Caverns, got picked up in Roswell by Rachel’s cousin in Albuquerque, rented a car and drove to the Grand Canyon and Painted Desert, flew from Albuquerque to Paso Robles (CA) because the Rockies were still frozen, biked up the California coast to Santa Cruz, got a ride with Rachel’s family to Sonoma.  I’m exhausted just recalling all of this!!

Jess riding near Orlando, FL

How many miles a day did you average?
I’d say between 45-55 is a good estimate. The least we ever did was 10, the most 77.

How many flats did you get/did any of your gear break down?
Jess’ flat count: 4
Rachel’s flat count: 6

All of our gear, except for Rachel’s second set of tires (I’m looking at YOU, Bontrager!!!) held up great!  I replaced my tires in southern Georgia (but they were already almost a year old by the time I left on the bike trip), and I replaced my chain, shifting cables, and brake pads in Tampa.

Rachel replaced her shifting cables in southern Georgia.

Over all, our bikes rode great for all 3,500 miles.  We became pretty good champs at changing flats (especially Rachel, who once changed a flat 1 mile from our hotel in pouring rain and thunder after riding 60 miles).

Rachel changing a flat in Louisiana

How much did your bikes weigh?
Mine weighed 105 lbs when I left (35 lbs bike + 70 lbs worth of gear)
Rachel’s weighed 100 lbs (30 lbs bike + 70 lbs worth of gear)

By the time we arrived in Sonoma (CA), my bike weighed 92 lbs (35 lbs bike + 57 lbs gear) and Rachel’s weighed 85 lbs (30 lbs bike + 55 lbs gear).

Are you guys in crazy awesome shape?
Our legs muscles are definitely stronger than when we left, and who knows how much fat we lost vs how much muscle we gained, but we both weigh about the same as when we left.  The truth is, it’s actually pretty difficult to lose weight bike touring.  With how much we’re using our bodies every day, we really have to eat enough calories or else we just felt like crap.  Also, visiting a new place always means trying the local fare.  As Rachel wrote earlier, we ate some pretty fattening foods on our trip, but man was it delicious!

Did you meet any bad people?
Not a one.  Maybe we were just lucky for eight months, but we really had to get used to accepting goodwill from strangers without giving anything but stories, smiles and thanks in return.

Our Couchsurfing hosts in Austin

Did you ever get into any bad or dangerous situations?
Well, we did have a few nights where we camped in some iffy spots.  Once it was a very cold (below 30 degrees) night on private hunting land and we could hear gun shots from people practice shooting in Florida.

Another time in Texas it was raining  and 45 degrees while we were riding with a monstrous head wind.  Hypothermia was a legitimate concern, so we found an abandoned barn to pitch our tent in for the night.  I slept with ear plugs in because the metal barn door kept slamming in the wind, but Rachel had trouble sleeping that night because she could hear rats going through our things.

Did you ever get hurt?
I flipped over my handlebars in Texas during a rain storm and banged my knees up pretty badly.  Rachel sprained her ankle getting off the bus at the Grand Canyon.  I’d say we were both very lucky.

Where did you sleep at night?
It depended.  Sometimes we’d walk our bikes into the woods or behind a power booster station or behind a doctor’s office or church and free camp (and we were never bothered).  Sometimes we’d knock on peoples’ doors and ask if we could pitch the tent in their yard (which actually had a surprising success rate).  Sometimes we’d pay for camping at a state or national park or private campground.  Sometimes (especially if it had been several days without a shower or if it was going to be especially cold) we’d stay in a motel.  Sometimes we’d stay with amazing family or friends.  Sometimes we’d use couchsurfing.org and stay with amazing strangers.

A beautiful (and secluded) spot behind a graveyard in Texas

What was your favorite place you visited?
Now that’s a tough question!  I’m serious when I say it was all wonderful.  I will try to answer this though!!

Our favorite city on the whole trip was hands-down New Orleans.  Not only did we get to spend some great time with Rachel’s cousins in Gonzales, but also the couple we stayed with in New Orleans were so much fun and really showed us the best parts of the city.  It’s just a really cool, really humble city with a fascinating history and music scene.  The food was also BY FAR the best I’ve eaten on this whole trip.  We definitely plan on going back many times (and will just have to plan on gaining at least 5 lbs every time we go!).  Heck, we’d seriously consider moving to NOLA if it weren’t for the extremely hot summers.

Atlanta comes in at a very close second, because the bike people we met there were amazing and really made us feel at home and showed off their city to us by bike.  Our host was fantastic and helped us get acquainted with tons of interview subjects.  Also I rediscovered chicken wings there after being a vegetarian for six years!

Other favorite places include Blue Springs State Park in Florida where we serendipitously got to swim with Manatees, the Smoky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, White Sands National Monument, all of Route 1 in California (because all of it is GORGEOUS), Yosemite National Park, and Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks.  Parts of Texas were also surprisingly very beautiful, too.

What was your least favorite place you visited?
Not a tough one at all!  South Florida and the Everglades.  Do I need to remind you what a total emotional breakdown looks like??

What did you eat?
As a foodie who loves cooking in a full kitchen, cooking with two pans and an alcohol stove was definitely one of the hardest parts of this trip for me.  Fresh fruits and vegetables just don’t keep long when they’re unrefrigerated + banging around in a kitty litter bucket for eight hours a day.  Thus, our diet while on the road consisted mostly of: flour tortillas (which you can actually do a lot with!), peanut butter, Nutella, various types of jam, trail mix/dried fruit, kale, carrots, rice, canned beans, sometimes Ramen (mixed with veggies), green beans with garlic and mustard, rice cakes, bagged Indian curries, bagged soup mixes, beef jerky, sliced beef from Wal Mart (please don’t judge us!!!), cold noodle salad with romaine, and mac and cheese.

I also went through a kick for a while where I was making vegetable (instead of chicken) and dumplings with dry pancake mix.  Once I made avocado sushi with nothing but nori paper, rice, honey, and avocado.  It actually turned out pretty well!  As the resident chef, I tried really hard to be creative and make food as nutritious as possible, but it was extremely difficult.

Flour tortilla + butter + cinnamon + maple syrup = bike touring french toast

Sushi in Big Sur

Rice with fresh ginger and garlic, lemon juice, kale, mushrooms, and carrots

What will you never eat again?
Basically everything I just listed above.

Would you do this trip again?
Probably not.  Not because we didn’t have an amazing, life-changing experience filled with the most wonderful people imaginable.  More because long-term travel is just too exhausting and not for us.  We are glad we did this and proud of ourselves for doing this, and now we know what a long-term adventure is really like.  I think two to four weeks is a good length for traveling, whether it’s bike touring, hiking, or just visiting a new place.

What’s next?
Good question!  For now we are working on our book for the trip, editing more interviews (and possibly even filming more interviews, because really– why stop just because we aren’t touring?), and catching up with family.  We have a wedding to go to in June, and then we’re heading back to Boston in late July where we will look for work.

We have tons of gear to review, and we plan on going on bike tours and other adventures still so no worries– Against the Grind will continue!  Thanks for coming along with us on this crazy, amazing ride!  If you have any questions here that we didn’t answer, feel free to comment below!

Candid photo from our GoPro in Florida

The two of us somewhat relieved to be out of the desert.

Here I am pedaling through paradise!!

Ocean-carved arches south of Morro Bay.

Elephant seals preserving their energy.

Big Sur is gorgeous!

Here's Rachel with her feet in the Pacific!

Yes, the water really IS that color.

Until we meet again, Pacific Coast!  We’ll be back!

I have determined that my exhaustion (and Jessica’s too, she’s wiped out as well) is our nutrition.  We’ve asked our bodies to do so much this year.  Climbing and pedaling and early mornings and harsh weather have tasked our cells with major strain.  And we struggled to feed ourselves as well as we had in Boston.  We’re really healthy eaters for the most part, especially when we have a kitchen to ourselves, but eating healthy is a huge feat, at least to us.

The American South, where we spent the majority of our trip, is not known for vast amounts of vegetables on the table.  Our diet consisted mostly of animal protein (in the form of beef brisket, seafood, beef jerky, cream cheese) and simple carbs (in the form of bread, bagels, tortillas, rice, noodles, snickers, granola bars).  We did try to get as much fruit and vegetables as possible, but they just don’t keep, so it was left to occasional salads, a few green beans or spinach and dried fruit, usually berries.

As you sit here wondering what this has to do with what we’ll be doing next, I simply have to say, we’ll be taking care of ourselves for a little while.  We need to recover before we can venture out again.  We need to do this fast because we only have the month of May to do this before we’re back to traveling, moving and re-establishing ourselves in society.

Our plan for this will initially take the form of a juice fast, and end in a stricter diet of as close to vegan when cooking at home as possible.  We need to strip our bodies of the toxins we’ve accumulated while not eating well.  We need to give our bodies as many vitamins and minerals as it will absorb.  I’ve been doing some reading and we’ve watched a few documentaries that promote a plant based diet and using juices as highly efficient cleansing and nutrition delivery system.  (If you’re curious, I’m reading The China Study.  It documents a comprehensive study in which the scientists were able to turn on and off cancer growth by varying the amount of animal protein consumed.   The evidence is very compelling and makes me believe that almost any disease could be controlled with nutrition.  The film that convinced us to fast/cleanse was Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  In it two men fast on juice for 60 days each and undergo a remarkable transformation not only in their waistlines but in mental capacity, skin clarity and the need for medications.)

We’ll keep you posted as to how we feel and whether it works and how we feel.  But we have to do something because I just can’t keep feeling this rotten after doing something this extraordinary!

We started out just north of Cambria.  As Rachel wrote in our last post, the wind was howling something fierce that day– so much so that we couldn’t even pay attention to the gorgeous cliffs and bright blue ocean.  The next day with the winds died down we finally had the opportunity to truly enjoy the last leg of our trip.

The pacific coast is a great bike route not only because of the gorgeous views of ocean and redwoods, but also because there are just so many other bike tourists on the road.  Our first day out (and then again and again and again over many days because we were going the same way and kept leapfrogging each other), we met Don, who started in Santa Monica and was biking back up to his house in Eugene, OR.  We also met Daniel, a German (shout out to Rachel’s motherland!) who started in San Francisco and was biking down the California coast and then across the country to New York (sounds somewhat familiar).  We also met Melissa and her lovely friends who were support vehicle-ing for her while she biked from Big Sur to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.  It was really refreshing to see so many people traveling by bicycle.

Rachel and Daniel

I feel like I should be bummed we’re not biking all the way up into Oregon, but with us being exhausted and with so much to see in Northern California (and a Milwaukee Brewers vs San Francisco Giants game to see), I feel really great about our choices.  We ended on a truly beautiful note.  And, provided there are no major earthquakes, the California coast will always be here for us to return to.

When I was 18-19, I was studying abroad in Berlin for a year.  My family came to visit me during my sister’s spring break and we traveled through Italy, Germany and France.  Because high school spring breaks are only a week, we planned the trip very tightly.  I flew to Rome to meet up with them, we scheduled an overnight train to Venice to save on a hotel/travel time, we had only a day here, a day there, etc.  This blew up in our face when the train workers of Italy decided to do what they seem to do fairly often only no one told us about it: they went on strike.  We, with our hobbled Italian, also did not determine that this was happening until we had spent basically the entire day in the train station.  We missed out on pretty much all of Venice because the only way across the country was to drive.

After the disappointingly quick visit in Venice, we rushed to the airport for our puddle jumper flight to Germany.  Only the baggage handlers must have gotten word from the train workers that a 24 hour strike is a good way to get a day off, and low and behold, our flight was delayed 6 hours.  We arrived to our former exchange student’s home at midnight to find a cold meal and some tired looking folks.

This harried experience taught me one thing: Travel slowly and allow for many, many, many delays.  It’s probably one reason why I thought a bike tour across the US was a great way to see our country.  There is no rushing involved at all.  A slow and steady, self propelled pace appeals to me.  It has worked really well on this trip.

What we’re about to announce here today, though, might feel sudden and rushed to you, though, dear reader.  We have arrived at the end of our bicycling journey for now.  This is the end of our very first bicycle tour.  Truth be told, it feels a little rushed to us as well.  Especially since we woke up yesterday morning thinking we still had three days riding left to do.  But let me back up a little.  Catch you up.

As I write this, we are sitting in Sonoma, California at the home of some very good friends of Jessica’s.  We left from Paso Robles (San Miguel), CA last Saturday.  Our host there, Wayne, dropped us off just north of Cambria, CA on Highway 1.  We were in great spirits despite knowing there was a headwind because, “Hey! We’re about to ride Highway 1!!!”  This spirit failed pretty quickly however when we realized how biting the 30mph headwind from the north was.  We did make it 31 miles that day to Gorda (in 8 very painful hours), but I couldn’t catch my breath for nearly an hour after we stopped and we were in bed before the sun went down. Over dinner, we lamented the fact that we didn’t even get to enjoy the vistas and massive view of the Pacific Ocean because we were working so hard just keeping our bikes upright.  (I was literally knocked off my bike by a wind gust!)

The wind did manage to die down a bit the next day, so we did get to revel in the beauty of the Pacific Coast.  And gosh, is it breathtaking.  Even if you do it in a car, you all HAVE to drive part of Route 1 some day.  It was hands down the most beautiful place we biked, even if the hills were kind of insane at times.  Three days later and we were collapsing in Aptos at a distant family member’s home, but I went to bed dreading the ride out.  There was nothing I wanted to do less than get back on my bike and ride three more days up to Sonoma through San Francisco.  I was tired, my knees were (and still are) killing me, the saddle sores were intense for both of us and there was at least 3400′ of total climbing left to do.  Gladly, when we woke up, our host, Stan, offered to drive us from Aptos (just south of Santa Cruz) to Sonoma.  And here we are.  My knees are still thankful!!

So, it seems sudden.  I even asked Jessica, “Are you a little hesitant to accept the ride because it means our last official riding day had no pomp and circumstance?”  But I had already been thinking about this last day as we rode along the highway.  How do we announce it to our friends, family, and readers?  Is it better to do it before or after?  Neither option seemed fantastic.  And so when we were worn out and talking it over, it really boiled down to readiness.  When we had our emotional meltdowns in South Florida, we very nearly left the bike trip (only 3 months in).  But we kept going, because we just weren’t ready for the adventure to end yet.  And we are so thankful we pushed on.  All of the amazing things we’ve experienced, all of the people who’ve helped us out and touched our lives throughout this insane journey, we wouldn’t trade it for anything.  But hell, we’re exhausted.  Are we ready to stop?  Yes.  Are we just saying that because Highway 1 is hard riding? No. Will we miss out on the northern California coast and Oregon if we don’t continue?  Of course.  Would we miss out on seeing and doing awesome things in the San Francisco area if we kept riding?  Most definitely.

Therefore, we made the decision to stop.  Nearly 8 months of adventure and 3,500 miles of riding.  I’m sorry if you’re taken aback.  We would have warned you if it hadn’t been so sudden to us as well.  But it feels right.  This has been the hardest and most challenging task either of us has ever taken, but we’re really glad we did it – the best worst year of our lives.  We’re just too tired.  We’re ready to go home.  We’re ready for our next big adventure.  I’m ready for some regularity in where I sleep, shower, eat and live.

So what’s next?

We aren’t going to stop working on this project, that’s for sure!  We are extremely productive and energetic people and we have big, big plans for Against the Grind.  We have a book to write for all of our donors.  We have lots of video to edit and showcase.  We still want to find amazing women to interview.  We are going to do lots of product reviews and update our budget and gear list.  Don’t worry, the train will keep moving, so keep checking in, stay inspired to make your own adventure and we’ll be right there beside you.  We promise to even keep riding our bikes and go on more (but probably shorter) bike tours!

And most importantly, THANK YOU!!!!!!  We raise our glasses to you all for coming along with us.  Without you we really would have gone home a long time ago.  Cheers!

We had woken up before the sunrise on our first day there, and I got my first glimpse of the canyon as the sun rose. We then puttered around the visitor center and decided to walk the whole length of the South Rim trail that day, saving any inner canyon hikes for the following days. We rode the two busses over an hour out to the end of the rim trail and began to disembark. It was then that I managed to step on Jessica’s heel and crunch.

I fell to the ground knowing I could not place weight on it. Jessica turned around and saw my face. She says now that she was sure I’d broken it from the look I had. I think the look really was saying, “It’s over.  This little car rental trip to the Granf Canyon is over. No more hiking, and maybe even no more biking.”

I hobbled off the bus (already putting weight on it, good sign) because the driver was a bit annoying. We pulled my sock off and saw that getting me to a doctor was imperative. It was already swollen up to the size of a tennis ball.  So back on the bus we went for the over an hour ride back to our car and drove to the on site clinic.

The nurses and doctor were very friendly and had me get xrays.  Since thus trip really would have been over and done with if I had broken something, we didn’t argue. Thankfully, she didnt see any fracture or bone chips. So a brace and a cane later and I wad on my way out the door. Which incidentally on the way out the door, I spotted a coyote crossing the parking lot, so that was cool.

Also, side note… I just have to rant and praise Massachusetts and what is now being dubbed “Romneycare” for a second. Jessica and I are both covered by this plan while on the road and it was a great relief to know that the state is doing a little to cover us while on the road. I didnt have to pay a cent for the care I received in the clinic and am grateful for it. We both lok forward to returning to MA and working and paying taxes so that we can pay it forward for someone else who needs health care. If you don’t think a system like that could or should be nationwide, then you can leave now. We cannot sing its praises enough, and will never believe anything else.  Rant over.

It has been over a week and I have tried to stay off of my ankle as much as possible while also still enjoying Albuquerque and now a little bit of California in the two days we have been here, nut it is still pretty sore. I am not going to worry about it until it hasn’t healed a month from now. Patience on this matter, I think, is prudent. The swelling and bruising is clearing up well, so I do think it is on the mend, just not as fast as I had hoped. I will keep you posted as to how it is progessing. We are staying in Central CA for probably a week, so hopefully that will be long enough for it!

PS- I am giving my droid wordpress app a test as to how easy it is to post, so forgive any typos!

It started when we were transported by car from Tatum, NM to Roswell and then again as we drove to all these National Parks and then Albuquerque, NM.  I felt like the car was just too fast.  The road we drove from Tatum was the same that Jessica and I would have ridden if the winds had been more favorable.  It wasn’t the most beautiful stretch of land, but I couldn’t help but continue keeping an eye out for good camping spots, checking out the shoulder quality and wish that we could take more time to take in the horizon as it passed.

Then as I drove us through New Mexico and Texas on our way to these parks, I felt like we were rocketing across the land.  The car zipped past immense vistas, mountain ranges, rundown towns, and vast ranch land.  And I just didn’t feel like I saw any of it.  My memory struggles to assemble the blurs into a true picture of southern New Mexico and western Texas.  As we drove through the mountain range on our way back to Roswell, I knew it would have been really difficult riding, but I found a part of me longing to ride the road (not enough to regret buying those plane tickets though!).

How fast do we travel through our lives and the land where we live these days?  It took the colonists weeks to arrive on the East Coast from Europe in the early days of our country.  It took the indigenous peoples of the Americas years, if not hundreds of years, to arrive across Asia and through Alaska.  It has taken Jessica and me 6 months to travel roughly 3500 miles.  But in a matter of hours we will be able to travel another 1000.

It’s easy to say we won’t be missing much except for cold nights, harsh winds and a whole lotta remote country, but the speedy feeling I’ve had the last couple of days has me wondering what we really will be missing.  Florida was not fun, nor would we have missed much had we skipped those weeks riding the interior of the state, but we made it through and I’m glad for it.  Yet, when I reach into the depths of who I am as a person, I know I’ll be much happier on the West Coast.

Therefore, the rocketing, speed-demon, rushed pace will have to do.  Afterall, when we return to Boston in the summer after finishing, I’ll have to catch up to the speed of life anyway.  Boston may not be the most bustling of all cities out there, but it’s certainly faster than our life right now.  I will also hold these slow days in a very special place in my heart, for they are tender and invaluable.

As you know, we didn’t make it all the way from Austin to Roswell without having our butts handed to us on a silver platter.  When I wrote last, we were in a little motel in Tatum, NM after being picked up off the side of the road by Carlos and driven there.  We’d decided and announced that we were done with the Southwest and going to fly ourselves to what is supposed to be some of the best biking in the world – the Pacific Coast.  We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and excitement over this change and it recharged at least my batteries for the day.  I knew we still had 70 some miles to go between Tatum and Roswell and that the winds were still going at 15-25mph with gusts up to 40mph, all coming against us.  But how could that dampen our spirits when in a short while we’d be free of it all?  I mean, all that stood between us and the CA coast was this wind and 70 miles, right?

Well, we left the motel at 9am.  Two hours later, we’d ridden roughly 6 miles, and actually walked for a good majority of that too.  Jessica couldn’t ride because the wind was just picking her up and throwing her into the lane of traffic.  I couldn’t ride any slower and not just get too far ahead of her, so I walked too.  But in reality, I was okay with that because walking was actually easier than riding at that point.  There’s far less traffic headed west in New Meixco than in Texas apparently, so walking our bikes yielded no good samaritans stopping to see if we needed help in anyway.  When Jessica walked up to where I was resting and started sobbing, I suggested we ride back to the motel and see if the very nice proprietor knew of anyone who might be able to take us to Roswell for a little money.

In less than 20 minutes, we had ridden back the 6 miles that had taken us those 2 strenuous hours, and found out that the owner of the motel was new in town and knew no one.  We made a few phone calls and Carlos said he and his wife, Billie, could take us after work that evening, which they did, showing us pictures of their lovely family and regaling us with funny and interesting stories along the way.  We are extremely grateful to them.

Our hosts in Roswell couldn’t have been nicer!  We stayed with a woman Pam, and her roommate, Bonnie, and they showed us the town.  There are quite a few good restaurants (which Bonnie happily proclaimed were due to their alien tourism industry), two lovely art museums, some great antique stores, and of course, a pretty kitschy UFO museum.  *Side note: There was really an incident in which something crashed into a rancher’s land in 1947.  It was metallic and no one could identify it.  There was definitely a cover-up by the military at that time, but as some of the locals, and now I, believe, it was likely a test craft of some sort from one of the many military test facilities and they didn’t want the Soviets learning about whatever it was that crashed.  Therefore, it was not aliens, but something that was classified and couldn’t be shown to the public.  Why they won’t come clean about it now is anybody’s guess, but I think it’s due to the fact that there may have only ever been the cover-up and not other documents to show what it was and so even our president’s don’t know the truth because the only truth left is the “weather ballon” theory.  Phew, that was a long side note!

After a few days in Roswell, which also included a Women’s History month bruncheon honoring three Roswellian women who have given much of themselves to the city, we rented a car and headed south.  Originally, we had decided to skip the Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands National Monument because they would have added a few hundred miles to our route.  But it was easy enough to rent a car in Roswell and drive the loop and see not only these great parks but also some more of the Southwest before we skip town.  Turns out that we made a good choice in renting that car.  These are two parks not to be missed!  There was a surprise too because the Guadalupe Mountains National Park is on the way from the Caverns to White Sands so we got a bonus park in there too!

In contrast to Mammoth Cave, which we visited in September, the Carlsbad Caverns have many more cave formations, and therefore is very beautiful.  As you read last week, I upgraded my camera to one that is more travel friendly, but also more darkness friendly, so once I have some free time, you’ll be treated to lots of cave photos with dripping stalactites and stalagmites!

The Guadalupe Mountains are the highest point in Texas, and a fine example of southwest terrain.  They are impressive to say the least, but hot!  We took a quick mile hike along a ridge and were pretty toasty, but well worth it because the view was spectacular.  The park is on my list for places to return to for a longer visit.

White Sands National Monument is what I’m dubbing the National Park System’s best kept secret.  WOW.  That is all I can say.  WOW.  We made it with a half an hour to spare before closing time and got a backcountry camping permit.  We then hiked roughly 3/4 of a mile into the sand dunes and pitched the tent.  The sand is virtually pure white due to gypsum, a mineral that is very fragile, so this park preserves a very rare natural occurrence.   To basically sum it up: Gypsum dissolves very easily in water.  When it rains in the mountains (mostly this is in the past, not currently), the rain melts the gypsum and takes it into this valley.  The water is trapped in the valley instead of running into a river and out to the ocean, so the gypsum isn’t carried off.  When the water evaporates, it leaves the minerals behind and the gypsum forms into big crystals.  The wind whips these crystals around and beats them down into a sand sized grain and then you have all these dunes.  Just wait until you see these photos.  It is probably my number one favorite place on this trip now and I can’t sing it’s praises high enough.  Make sure to stay at least one night in the backcountry campground too!

And now you’re caught up with all we’ve done.  We’re back in Roswell to return the car and get picked up by my mom’s cousin, who will take us to Albuquerque until we leave on our flight on April 7.  Since New Mexico has been treating us well (off the bikes at least) so far, I’m excited for northern New Mexico.  Hopefully, we’ll have time for a trip up to Santa Fe!

Mostly, we really had to rely on the generous spirit of Texans so far.  Near Marble Falls, TX, a woman, Jay, pulled over in sympathy as we got drenched in torrential rains.  She called a friend who ran a bed and breakfast, Donna, who agreed to put us up for the night, and who, in the end, actually came to pick us up with her husband, Gene, (gotta love Texas and their love of pick-up trucks) because we were unable to ride any further in the conditions.  Jay called the local paper and organized a few friends to ride with us the following morning. One of those friends, Don, called one of his friends, Joe and Susan, in a town a little further down our route and Joe and Susan showed us a really great time in Big Spring, TX.  They set us up with a very nice campground, took us to dinner and lunch two days in a row and showed us around town.  We also encountered a really lovely bike shop in San Angelo, TX where I replaced my worn thin tires, Concho Bike & Lawn Shop.

Then today, after another several days of terrible riding into heavy winds, we had to call upon the help of Texas again.  The winds were so howling that we were walking our bikes west towards Plains, TX.  It was actually easier to walk them than to ride.  A few trucks stopped, concerned we were broken down, but only one was going to Plains.  The driver, Carlos, loaded our bikes and us up and took us to his church.  There we met Carrie, who offered us beds at her house that night, which we accepted.  Then Carlos took us to lunch at the local Mexican restaurant and took us back to the church.  But a little while later, the ladies in the church office announced that they had arranged for Carlos to take us to a motel in Tatum, NM, where they had paid for a room for us.

And here we sit!!  So grateful and overwhelmed by the generosity!  But that doesn’t change the fact that we can’t keep going like this.  We can’t keep trusting that there will be people out there to help.  Not that there won’t be willing people, just that towns are going to get few and far between from here on out.  Add to that the fact that it’s still really winter weather out here and in the Rockies, we really had to sit and contemplate whether this was going to work.  If the only sight we really want to see between here and California is the Grand Canyon and the Grand Canyon isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, then maybe we should just skip to the good stuff, right?  I mean, we spent so much time in Florida for what now feels like a very small payoff.

So no more wasting time in places we are only traveling through, not visiting!  We found ourselves a cheap flight in Albuquerque, NM on April 7 to near San Miguel, CA.  That’s halfway between the LA area and the San Fransisco area.  We’ll ride north to friends in Napa, check out the sights and sounds of that area, probably sneak over to Yosemite (but since they had snow today, probably in a car), and then head north from there into Oregon.  How far, we don’t know yet, but we’re excited.  Sure, I’m bummed that I won’t see the Grand Canyon, but we hadn’t even planned on biking up to the edge anyway.  We’d found a bus from Flagstaff we were going to take instead.  This feels like the best decision we’ve made in a long time.  It feels like we’ll be restarting this leg of the trip in good weather and a pretty locale.  We’ll be able to spend time finding great interview subjects too because we’ll have so much more time to devote to the Pacific Coast instead of rushing off again.  It’s a good night here in this little motel in Tatum, NM!

She owned the Canon Powershot S95.  It is a very small and unobtrusive (read light in weight) camera that packs a punch.  It’s the only point and shoot sized camera that shoots in RAW.  This is a format that any photography geek will recognize.  It’s the only format to shoot in if you plan on seriously editing or blowing up your photos to large sizes because it records the most amount of image data.  JPEGS just don’t cut it for color and pixel resolution when it comes to serious photographers, professional or amateur.

In addition, this camera has nearly all the manual functions of any DSLR camera.  It has two rings that can be set to change any function from exposure calibration and shutter speed to aperture.  One ring is around the lens just like a DSLR, one is on the back of the camera near the menu options.  Both are easy to access and use when shooting.  In addition, pretty much any setting change a person can do on a DSLR through the menus is available here as well.

The only downside is the lens.  As per any point and shoot camera, it has a small lens.  Comes with the territory.  This means I can’t get up close and personal with that bird 50 feet away, but since I’d only really done this while in the Everglades and not while sat on my bike for a quick shot, it’s a sacrifice I was willing to make.  The lens is also very slow.  This means that it doesn’t have many aperture choices, only 2.0 to roughly 8.  This means long landscape like photos won’t look like Ansel Adams’ photos.  Again, not a look I was ever going for even before making the switch, so something I could live with.  In fact, in my photography, I almost always shot in a low speed lens because I like having blurry photos (when I want that effect) and only one object in focus.

The price tag was also completely within what I was willing to spend on a camera.  B&H Photo (the only store I buy my electronics from) had one listed for just under $300 with all the accessories.  For a point and shoot camera with so much going for it, this price was quite frankly astoundingly low.  Jessica is even jealous of the camera after we’ve both gotten the chance to play with it!  Thanks to Khara, I now have the only camera I will ever travel with!  It’s small, light and pretty advanced and I’m quite happy with the photos I’ve gotten out of it so far!