http://picasaweb.google.com/cormacg85
Also here are some links to videos I took
We camped beside a train track and these huge trains went by all night and kept us awake. Our tent was nearly blown over the next morning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbnD6qvP9p4This was our long descent into Yosemite Valley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5dncK5VJoU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcNMxeN6zRE
This is us shooting the AR-50, the world biggest sniper rifle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P-QwbIcNlE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o1xvN0sMWg
This is the Rocky Mountains and our cycle downhill after a steep climb up Wolf Creek Pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE8POdD_hEQ
I really should have taken more videos!!
Anyway for whoever might be interested, here is the rest of the story from where I left off in Kansas all those months ago!
... We were just leaving a small town in east Kansas intending to cycle through the night to beat the day time humidity. The goal was to get to the State of Missouri by morning. And that we did, almost! It was the longest journey either of us ever did in one go. about 190 miles without any major stop. Although we did have a quick hour long power nap outside a laundrette in the city of Topeka at about 4am. Due to road works and some bad short cut decisions - how could a shortcut not be a good idea in a strange city in the middle of the night - we got quite lost in Topeka and went through some dodgy looking neighbourhoods. Eventually we found our way out and back on to the main road. By now we were basically running on red bull energy but it worked suprisingly well. We got to a small town called Valley Falls at about 9am and we were ready to pack it in even though Missouri was still a ways off. However we were informed in the local service station there were no motels in Valley Falls so we would have to do another 25 miles to Atchison! After some more red bull and chocolate in Valley Falls we slowly did the last 25 miles, found a motel in Atchison and passed out. The plan was to sleep till about 9pm or so and spend the night on the road in the much cooler conditions. It wasnt to be! We slept nearly a full 24 hours. It was quite a wierd feeling to completely miss a day!
Feeling quite rejuvinated after the rest we set off again that morning to find we were only 1 mile from the border of Missouri. So I suppose we practically completed our overnight mission to Missouri! As much as we wanted to get to Missouri as soon as we were there we wanted to get out ASAP. It was agreed that Missouri was definately the worst State we had to cross and possibly the worst state in the whole of America. The sun was blazing, the roads were narrow, the drivers were ass holes, the mosquetos were vicious and the humidity was unrelenting. In fairness we met a few friendly people in different shops and stuff but overall Missouri was far from an enjoyable experience. We even got reported for cycling side by side and a cop car pulled us over and took down our details! The only time we were reported for something other than being road kill!
We agreed we had to get out of there as quick as we possibly could. Another all nighter was on the cards. After a late start and a good break for lunck we were only a little farther than Cameron by night fall. Spirits were still reasonably high as darkness descended and we continued on. I must add that our clothes were constantly soaking wet with the high humidity. Such a miserable feeling. We could manage a week and a half without a shower in the dry heat of the desert but in this humidity you would long for shower so badly! The main event of that night was round 11pm or so. A car pulls in about a 1/4 mile ahead of us. A woman gets out and we being the gentlemen that we are we asked was she ok. She told us she had a flat tire and didnt have the wrench to take the wheel off. As she was on her own with 3 young kids in the car and no cell phone and she was too scared to flag down a car. We put our bikes down, took the lights off and stood there waving them at the passing cars. Numerous cars passed, some slowing down for a look but only after 15 mins did one stop. The guy didnt have any tools either but he did have a cell phone so he called the highway patrol to come help. Within about 3 minutes 6 police cars and an ambulance arrived. "Wheres the accident?" a cop asked us. "We got reports a pickup truck hit a motorcycle". "Eh there is neither a pickup truck nor a motorcycle here and there is definately no accident," we informed him. "Just a flat tire!" The clever passers by had somehow imagined a crazy accident and reported it to the cops. All 12 cops pitched in and changed the womans wheel in no time so I suppose it was a job well done by us although a bit of a waste of police time!
We set off again. After a short time the muggy and monotonous conditions started to wear on us. It became apparent that we would not last the night and after a good 2 hours of arguing (about what I cant even remember) we pitched the tent just past Brookfield and grabbed a few hours sleep. The next morning we were feeling just as crap as the night before and as we got moving again it was starting to get hot. We pretty much picked up the fight where we left off the night before and trudged on through the day. We got to within 30 miles of the Illinois border before nightfall. It was agreed not to bother with any more night time cycling. It just leads to crankeyness. The next day we crossed the Mississippi river into Illinois at the town of Quincy and gladly said good bye to Missouri. It was a damn big river about a mile in width.
The conditions of the last few days had us so worn down that every little disagreement bacame a major arguement. That night we pitched our tent about 15 miles from a town called Rushville. It was agreed we could do with a rest day in a motel to recover from the Missouri experience although we just could not agree on what town we should stay in. The next morning started the same way the the last night finished, with a huge arguement over where we should stay. After some pretty heated exchanges we agreed that we should go our separate way and finish the trip alone. In hindsight it seems like such a drastic decision! How did it come to this!! But almost instantly we were friends again! I think it was that we both felt the other was getting their way all the time but as soon as we agreed that we are going it alone we instantly got on again. In Rushville we split up the gear. I was eager to get to New York as quick as possible and wanted to carry only the minimum weight. This worked out well as Daithi wanted to take the tent and the camping gear. It was suprisingly easy to split the gear and I dont think we had a single dispute over who should get what. Even though we were now going solo we both needed a rest day and there was no sense in paying for two separate motels so we continued on to Lewistown together where we booked into a motel. There Daithi made the decision to change his route plan and head to Washington DC instead of New York. That night we had a few beers and had to a toast to a good trip. The next morning when we left the motel we wished each other good luck and a safe trip. I turned right and Daithi turned left. That was the last I saw of him till he arrived in New York city with $3 in his pocket and nothing in the bank (more about that later)!
Initially the split seemed like such a relief. We were both free to stop and eat where and whenever we wanted. The first time I really noticed Daithi was missing was when I was having lunch. It was a bit lonely sitting in a restaurant waiting for your food all alone. Apart from that though it was quite a relief not to be arguing all the time over stupid little things. The first few days after we split up I made great progress. For almost the first time in the trip I had reasonable tail wind so I made the most of it. In 3 days I covered 350 miles. Also because I was staying in motels I would waste less time in the morning and evenings as I had no tent or stove to pack. For the most part Illinois, Indiana and the west of Ohio were perfectly flat. You might think this sounds boring but it was actually very satisfying to cover a lot ground everyday, especially with the wind at your back. Not much really happened for a few days. I just got up in the morning and cycled all day with only 2 or 3 food stops, then found a motel and so on so forth! I was able to get nearly 10 hours a day of cycle time.
One morning just after I had left the city of Mansfield I got a flat tire. Only my second flat tire of the trip uo to then. No big deal, I had the tools to fix it. While I was there fixing it a group of cyclists passing by stopped to see was I ok. I got talking to them and it turns out they were also crossing america and were heading in the same direction as me. There were 7 of them altogether and they were from Portland Oregan too (just like Catie and Dave, our previous cycle buddys)! They waited for me to fix my puncture and I travelled with them for a two days. They all rode fixed gear bikes and cycled REALLY fast, especially uphill. East Ohio had a lot of hills. I could barely keep up with them but fortunately they stopped often for coffee breaks! Catie and Dave also loved their coffee, I think its a Portland thing! We hit some bad weather that evening and stopped for the night in a Gazebo outside a church in a little town. It was nice to get some free accomodation again after nearly a week of forking out for motels. Then next day we continued on through Ohio crossed some river into West Virginia and after 5 miles passed into Pennsylvania. Just outside Pittsberg I split with the guys. They were heading south for Maryland while I was going due east to New York. Again I was going solo.
Pennslyvania was very very hilly. In fact I dont think there was a single piece of flat land in the whole of the State. Very pretty and scenic but not so good when you are trying to get to New York on bicycle. Also there was no direct route to New York. All the roads on the map would twist all over the place so it wasnt easy to plot the best route. A couple of short cuts backfired. One shortcut led me right over the top of a big mountain instead of a detour around it. After a couple of uneventful days I was through Pennsylvania and into New Jersey State, only 50 miles from New York!
The next morning I slept in. It didnt seem so urgent to get there anymore. Didnt properly get on the road till about 1 or so. It was just an easy 50 miles through New Jersey and then I was finally there. No big deal. Wrong! 3 times that day I got punctured. Twice in the back wheel and once in the front. Up to New Jersey I had been punctured twice. Once in Arizona and the other in Ohio, now I get 3 in one day!! On top of that New Jersey is not a nice place. Well the part I was in anyway. So much debris on the road from car wrecks and broken glass. The farther I got into New Jersey the worse it got. Newark being the worst of all. I had to fix the last of my punctures in the middle of a ghetto in Newark. Anyway it was about 9pm when I made it to the Island of Manhatten. One of the most stressful days of the trip. I had nowhere to stay but I did have a phone number of the O'Malleys. They were distant relations of my dads originally from County Mayo (Ireland). I called the number and got in touch with Paddy who gave me directions to their house in The Bronx. It was after 11 by the time I arrived. It was nice to hear Irish accents again after 2 months of american! Paddy and Mary were really lovely people. They let me stay with them for the 2 weeks until my flight home. They gave me my own bed room as well as dinner every night. It was great to be living in a house again. It was about a week later Daithi arrived in New York. He called the house in a panic saying he had just arrived in the Port Authority bus station New York City and had only $3 left and had no idea where to go. Luckily the subway only cost $2! I gave him directions to the house.
Because we had been running late earlier in the trip we changed the route and decided not to go to Canada. With 2 weeks to kill in New York it seemed like a good idea to spend a few days on Toronto, I was born there after all and have relations there I havn't seen in a long time. The day after Daithi arrived we got a bus to Toronto. We were met in the bus station by my Aunt (and God Mother) Frankie. We had an absolutely brilliant time in Toronto. Frankie and Audrey brought us all around Toronto. We saw Niagara falls, went to the top of the CN tower (the tallest man made structure in the world), went to Canadas Wonderland Theme Park and even found the house where my family used to live in Hamilton. One of the days we met up with my cousin Johnathan who had stayed with us in Dublin one time. His family invited us over for an amazing BBQ dinner and a cake with our names on it!! Then we went out into town with Johnathan and his friend. Great night out but the next day we were feeling the worst for wear!
Sadly we didnt have a whole lot of time to spend in Canada as we needed to get back to New York to pack our stuff for the flight home. Its safe to say it wont be 19 years before I go back to Canada again. Reluctantly we left and went back to New York. We spent the next 2 days buying gifts and packing the bikes away. Daithi reminded me that officially I had not finished the trip yet as I had not reached the Atlantic Ocean even though the O'Malleys lived less than 2 miles from the sea! After the last day of cycling where I got 3 punctures in one day I really didnt feel like getting on the bike again. But I couldn't go all that way and not finish the job. Paddy gave me directions and I set off for the final leg of my journey. Part of the Atlantic that touches the Bronx isnt exactly the cleanest looking beach I'd ever seen. In fact it was littered with broken glass. Keeping my sandles on, I climbed in up to my waist in Atlantic Ocean and finally the journey was finished!!
The next day we bid our farewells to the O'Malleys and got a taxi to JFK Airport. It had been a really great trip but we were definately looking forward to getting home.
A big thanks again to anyone who is reading this who helped us along the way. We really American people are the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. So many people along the way offered us food, drinks, money, their house and lots of encouragement, especially on the big hills! If you are ever planning on comming to Ireland be sure to let me know! cormacg@gmail.com
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