the slideshow of: my first bike trip

part one of seven [ one . two . three . four . five . six . seven ]
update: 2 - 7 replaced with interactive slideshow

I've been intending to do this for quite some time, but just recently got around to re-scaling all the images for the website - with the Pacific ride approaching fast I thought now was as relevant time as any to share them.

I have 65 images total from my first bike trip - which lasted 55 days, starting from my hometown Onsted, MI and finishing on the Golden Gate Bridge... these are in no order of importance - and yes, I'm fully aware that the majority of them aren't much to look at. But all the same, each one re-sparks countless faded memories for me...

I'll do my best to specify when and where each photo was taken, but I'll admit, I didn't do the best job at keeping track of that info'... which I regret now. If I can, I'll include random journal entries related to certain photos, and anything else I can dig up. Enjoy & stay tuned for more:


06/07 . day 13 . "A back-road in Iowa" - This picture was taken somewhere between Colesburg, Iowa & Lansing, Iowa. This is a day after we phoned Chuck from a small town [just one mile out of Marquette] and found out that his doctor said he couldn't get back on a bike for at least 30-some days... from here on out it would just be Tim and I.


"A birds eye view" - This was our second or third day on the road... Tim & I had a thing for climbing on top of stuff, while Chuck had a thing for wearing spandex pants...


06/04 . day 10 . "A bridge in Muscatine, Iowa" - I remember Tim & I were really excited when this picture was taken because the landscape was beginning to change, to explain: every last inch of ground between Onsted, MI and Muscatine is flat as... [trying to think of something very funny that is "flat"... nope, I got nothing], just trust me, it was flat. This was probably the first time in 6 or 7 days that we had seen any kind of hill what so ever. We excite easily I suppose.


"A cave in Montana" - This was the day after we first met the "pittsburgh six" at a park about 10 miles east of where this photo was taken. The plan was to ride with them for a day - but almost immediately Tim and I got the impression that they were having second thoughts, or maybe they just wanted to size us up, either way, they left us behind in a cloud of dust.

When Tim and I stopped on the side of the road to decide whether or not we should [or could] catch back up with them - we noticed that the road we were standing on divided the "look" of our surroundings in a strange way... to our left was a pure green stretch of flat land covered with tall-grass that was swaying slowly in the wind, and to our right was a dry, lifeless mountain of dirt and rock... the occasional cactus plant. These two places, that seemed like they belonged half a world apart from each-other, were only separated by the small paved road - Tim and I choose to explore the hills... thats where we stumbled onto this cave.

While I was crawling around down there, the walls of the cave were wet with something that didn't smell like water - I managed to get the back of my navy blue shirt I was wearing covered in the stuff and before I knew it - the back of my shirt had turned pink.


"A cold day on the road" - I'm not sure where exactly I snapped this photo, but I'm guessing from the look of the land that it was somewhere in Ohio...


"A lava bed in Washington" - at this point in time on our trip, Tim and I were putting in so many miles per day that we began to slack off on our journals... so I'm having a hard time remembering what park this was taken at... I do remember that this hardened river of lava was a half-a-mile across and something like four miles long, if that helps anyone solve the mystery.

Half way through writing the above - I remembered the extremely winding hills that lead up to where I snapped this picture and how Tim, who was ahead of me by twenty or so feet, had suddenly disappeared when I turned one of the corners.... I slowed down on my bike and started to look around confused, wondering how the hell Tim could have just disappeared out of the blue... right about then Tim bolted out from the thick wall of evergreens screaming, "bear!", at the top of his lungs. I almost fell off my bike... good times, good times...


"A muddy river in Illinois" - not quite sure why I took this picture...


06/17 . day 23 . "A night after a muddy day" Here is a journal entry from the day:

Due to extremely strong winds from the west... we have pulled off the road and stopped to dry off in an old abandoned cabin right on the shore of Devil's lake. I hope we [aren't] forced to sleep here tonight - there is glass all over the floor - looks like teenagers come here quite often to beat down the walls and get drunk. Tim just climbed down from the attic - he had to bust down some of the ceiling to get up there.

Today without a doubt is the worst day by far... today we have dealt with: two flat tires... a whole sky full of rain... lots and lots of mud... a long and boring dirt road with lots of loose gravel... went four miles out of the way to get food at a store that is no longer open... [and] really, really strong winds... we were pedaling our butts off out there and only making 4 or 5 miles an hour [opposed to 13 or 15 miles an hour].

It's cold... it's shitty outside... we are hours behind schedule... and it doesn't look like it's going to let up today... and I wouldn't rather be doing anything else.

06/19 . day 25 . "A really bad day" - First before I explain this picture and what exactly Tim is doing... here is the journal entry from the day before [which also happens to be the day after the entry above]:

An hour or so after I finished writing the previous page, we packed up and left... easier said than done. The constant rain fall had turned the 'once dirt driveway' to forty feet of mud and clay. It built up on our bike's tires... chain... brakes... everything - so not only did they weigh far more than normal... the tires wouldn't spin and the wind was [literally] pushing us over...

Tim was almost out of the driveway (after a good five or six minutes of pushing as hard as he could) when the mud and the wind got the best of his grip on the heavy bike - he tipped right over on his side in the mud. Both of us got a good laugh at it.

I also have a correction - earlier I said we had 2 flats - but now the score is 4 flat tires in less than 15 miles... bad luck indeed. So we walked to a wind generator for camp - we spent two hours or so down on the dock of Devil's lake cleaning up our bikes...

So, okay, now to explain the picture: Tim and I woke up after camping underneath the wind generator [which is actually a very scary place to sleep], we packed up and didn't get farther than twenty feet out of the driveway when Tim's tire went flat... for the fifth time in less than a 24 hour period. We had used up all of our inner tubes the previous day - that's when I remembered hearing if you stuff your tire with grass you can ride on it for a short period of time and not ruin your rim or spokes... which might have worked perfectly if it weren't for the 60 pounds of gear strapped to our bikes... Tim, in the end, had to run his bike to the next town - which luckily [and I'm really reaching here with the word "luckily"] the next town was only 3 or 4 miles away... not 30 or 40.


"A sunset before Iowa" - this picture doesn't do any justice to how amazing this sunset actually looked... I remember this moment very clearly - the air was the perfect temperature, the road was completely empty except for just us... Tim and I spent the evening biking and talking about faith, religion, God, evolution, life... it was probably the first level-headed, calm conversation I've had with someone on all these broad topics in my life... it was an amazing moment.

[ps. yes, I realize how amazingly boring this post was... it happens...]