Days 34 - 36: Epilogue

Day 34: Washington, IL to Knoxville, IL
Daily miles: 55
Miles to date: 1,431

Day 35: Knoxville, IL to Davenport, IA
Daily miles: 56
Miles to date: 1,487

Day 36: Davenport, IA to Iowa City, IA
Daily miles: 18
Miles to date: 1,505


I have the audacity to believe that I should be able to ride my bicycle alone on a country road without being harassed, kidnapped, or pillaged. The first two days riding alone were awesome. I felt free, but most importantly, I felt safe. People were friendly, accommodating, and curious.

As I was leaving Peoria, a father and son stopped to talk with me about my trip.
They asked to pray with me for my safe passage before we parted. So we stood there, holding hands, in the last busy intersection at the edge of town. The day's ride was beautiful and took me by horse pastures, sunflower fields, and through a few of the small towns that freckle the heartland. That afternoon, after seven hours of riding, I waved at an oncoming motorcycle as is the custom in rural areas: just the subtle movement of a few fingers off the wheel (or in this case, handlebars). Folks on motorcycles tend to *get* the two-wheeled travel thing. Shortly after this motorcyclist passed me, I heard his engine gear down, and I went into alert mode. A quick look over my shoulder confirmed that he was turning around.

He passed me again, this time going in the same direction. Looking back at me in his mirror, he and nodded with seeming approval. "Yes, she'll do," I imagined him saying to himself. My heart raced, and I heard his engine gear down again, the brake light coming on. He pulled over to the side of the road, about 100 yards ahead. He got off the motorcycle, took off his helmet, and waited. For me.

Shit. (And a whole bunch of new curse words humanity has never heard before.)

I've never been circled by sharks, but I suspect this is what it feels like. I frantically scanned for an escape route, but what was I going to do? It was a two-lane road lined with tall corn fifteen miles from the nearest town. Earlier in the day, I did a hard sprint on fresh legs: 22+ mph on an incline with a 90-pound load so I could get through a construction area without holding up traffic. I kept up with the semi-truck in front of me for a quarter mile. But after a long day of riding in the heat, and having just pedaled my loaded bike out of a steep river gorge, my legs were spent. I was maintaining a speed that hovered around 9-10 mph; there would be no sprinting to safety.

Fifty yards.

He was stopped in front of some sort of agricultural outbuilding. Just beyond him, two houses whose occupants I was certain weren't home -- it was 3:30 on a weekday, surely they were at work -- and beyond that, nothing but corn. What the hell was I going to do? I hadn't planned on riding alone. I didn't have pepper spray; I didn't have anything. My phone was zippered away in a handlebar bag that I had to stop my bike to access. (Weeks earlier, in Virginia, I had crashed trying to do so on the move, knocking my handlebars out of alignment under the weight of my bags and disabling my bike.) Even if I could get to it, calling 911 would probably be as effective as throwing the damned thing at him.

Twenty yards.

As I closed the distance, I tried to anticipate what he might do. If he chased me on foot, adrenaline might let me out-pedal him, but only for a short distance. He just needed to get me off my bike, which was possible by simply throwing his helmet at me.

Ten yards.

Moment of truth.

I moved away from him, toward the center of the road, and kept my eyes on him as I passed.

"Hey, you wanna stop and chat for a second?" he called out to me.

"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH! Not a fucking chance!" I thought. But "no, not really," is what I said, through an inexplicable, if uneasy smile. A smile! I was terrified and I was smiling! Or maybe I was baring my teeth?

And that was it. He got back on his bike and rode away.

If I had had pepper spray or a gun, I wouldn't have used either. He may have been just like the father and son I met that morning -- just wanting to talk about traveling on two wheels. I'm glad to never have found out. Before that moment, I was planning to ride all the way back to Arizona on my own. This incident made me rethink that. If he or anyone else wanted to harm me, I was helpless to stop them. I had nothing and no options. That evening in the relative security of a hotel room, I reran the scene in my mind. If I were to go all the way to Arizona, what would I need to protect myself? Pepper spray? That would suffice in town to stop an attack -- buying me time to get away and seek help. But if you've ever driven across Kansas, Colorado, and Arizona, you know there is a whole lotta nothing for miles and miles in those states. Pepper spray would not save me from someone who was intent. A gun? Absolutely not. I had never handled one and would be more likely to hurt myself than stop anyone from hurting me. Once I got back to Iowa City, I knew my trip was over. My enjoyment of the last two days on the road had been dampened by the lingering fear from the close call and knowledge that I was utterly vulnerable. As much as I would love to believe that the dude left me alone because I was giving off some sort of don't fuck with me vibe, that assumes that others who are victimized somehow brought it on themselves. The fact of the matter is, I was just really damned lucky.

It took some doing for me to get going on my last day in Illinois. Knowing that a pretty significant finish line -- crossing a state by myself -- awaited me at the end of the day helped tremendously. I cried when I finally crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa and saw the stadium where the River Bandits play -- even though I never shed a tear when I crossed my ironman finish lines. This was so much harder won.

To a state well-crossed.

Days 32-33: Going Solo

Day 32: West Lafayette, IN to Gilman, IL
Daily miles: 73
Miles to date: 1,299

Day 33: Gilman, IL to Washington, IL
Daily miles: 77
Miles to date: 1,376

Big day. I split off from Julie and Daniel in Kentfield, made a left turn and headed for the Illinois border. I stopped for lunch in Sheldon, the first town I came to after I crossed the state line and was immediately confronted with a conundrum: I will be rolling into places alone, how do I handle questions about my journey?

As excited as I am about what I'm doing, I also enjoy safety. So when the guys at Rosie's Fine Foods & Spirits (a high-falootin' name for a chicken joint that serves its food in paper-lined baskets) asked where I was riding from, I only told them half the truth.

"Oh, I'm coming from West Lafayette." [Truth]

"I'm practicing for a cross-country trip at the end of the summer." [Lie] "My friend is going to come pick me up when I get tired." [Lie]

I don't think I was fooling anyone, but they were benevolent as I knew deep down, despite my semi-rational standoffishness.

Nevertheless, my route across Illinois is basically flat and straight, save two bends to cross over some train tracks and under an Interstate. I am mostly proud of my mileage on these days, the forgiving terrain notwithstanding.

Days 30-31: Parting Ways

Day 30: Bloomington, IN to Greencastle, IN
Daily miles: 45
Miles to date: 1,070

Day 31: Greencastle, IN to West Lafayette, IN
Daily miles: 56
Miles to date: 1,126

 

My time with Daniel and Julie ended with a three-day tour of some of Indiana's college towns: Indiana University to DePauw in Greencastle, and finally to West Lafayette, home of Purdue. This is probably the least interesting part of what passed these two days. After much consideration, I finally decided on the way to Greencastle that I would not continue with Daniel and Julie to Chicago and the West, but would split off from them and head for Iowa. Though they are both wonderful people, we just have different ideas about our goals for the trip, how we travel through these communities, etc. Plus, I am really excited at the prospect of riding across a state by myself.

I broke the news yesterday when we got to Greencastle. The day was memorable for that, a short jaunt to the county fair, and getting to sleep in a bike shop. While Daniel and Julie chose floorspace between the displays, I chose a cozy little spot under a rack of bikes.

Day 29: One Thousand Miles!

Columbus, IN to Bloomington, IN
Daily mileage: 40
Miles to date: 1,025

Today we rolled 1,000 miles as we left Gnaw Bone, IN. You read that right. The welcome sign for the town we stayed in the last two days said, "Columbus: unexpected. Unforgettable." This place announces itself with "Gnaw Bone: No parking."

Other than that, this was a pretty easy 40 miles even with the heat. Well, except for the last little hill which I pushed a little too hard right as the afternoon heat got the most intense. Still, we arrived in Bloomington relatively early and started making plans for dinner.

Days 27 and 28: Madison, IN to Columbus, IN

Daily mileage: 50
Miles to date: 985

North of Vernon, IN

Even with a heat index of 110 the ride went quickly and smoothly yesterday. Hooray for mild terrain! After lunch, I was beset by cold chills though I felt strong otherwise. We stopped into a church for refills on our water bottles and to cool down. When we got back on the road, the sun mercifully ducked behind a layer of cloud cover, keeping all our core temps out of the red zone.

Today: we rest.

Day 26: Owenton, KY to Madison, IN

Daily mileage: 40
Miles to date: 935

Wow. Virginia took us three weeks, and yesterday's distance took eleven hours. Today we crossed into Indiana, arriving at our destination around 2pm -- making quick work of both Kentucky and the day's miles. Fittingly, however, to get out of Kentucky, we had to negotiate traffic on a narrow bridge with 10-foot lanes and (of course) no shoulder.

Madison is an Underground Railroad town and its historic buildings and neighborhoods OFF the main commercial strip are in incredibly good condition -- especially since Indiana isn't exactly a "Civil War" state in the tourist sense. If I have to opportunity to do another cross-country ride, I'd like to follow Adventure Cycling's Underground Railroad bicycle route. Fascinating.

Day 25: Paris, KY to Owenton, KY

Daily mileage: 43
Miles to date: 895

This is the first day we've ridden in Kentucky in which we did not get rained on. Instead, we endured the heat wave that's been rocking this part of the country for the past few days. We only did 43 miles, but it took us ELEVEN HOURS to get from point A to point B today. We took lots of breaks -- and long ones, which only made it difficult to get going again.

The scenery has changed a bit from the misty mountains of eastern Kentucky. We are now in the rolling hills of horse country, complete with hay rolls and the awesome black barns. Sadly, the road we were on today was heavily travelled and had no shoulder, making it difficult to take pictures of all of them, but I managed to get these two shots anyway:

Day 24: Berea, KY to Paris, KY -- DRIVE IN!

Daily mileage: 57
Miles to date: 852

The morning started with a LOT of rain, which cuts the heat but is still a pain if only for the reduced visibility and ensuing humidity. We were rewarded for our efforts with a double feature at a family-owned drive-in and permission to camp there overnight.

Days 20-23: Kentucky Coal Country

Day 20: Elkhorn City, KY to Hindman, KY
Daily mileage: 67
Miles to date: 672

Day 21: Hindman, KY to Booneville, KY
Daily mileage: 63
Miles to date: 735

Day 22: Booneville, KY to Berea, KY
Daily mileage: 60
Miles to date: 795

Day 23: Rest day

Bottom line: Kentucky is a beautiful state.

But whoa, did the first half of our trip through this state chew us up. This stretch of days took us through the mountains of Kentucky's coal country, where the coal industry is as hard on the people as it is on the land they both inhabit. For me, the real trouble was all the climbing; my IT band was still being tempramental but the climbs were steep enough that I probably wouldn't have been able to ride up them anyway. Still, we were greeted with misty mountain mornings on these days, which made a day of walking my bike over narrow and winding passes somewhat bearable.

This stretch of riding was also notable for the dogs and the rain. Oh, the junk yard dogs! I was caught by one, a blue heeler, in Virginia but the dogs of eastern Kentucky are faster, more numerous, determined, and snarling. And when there weren't dogs, we got dumped on by torrential rainstorms. We'd get off the roads once it got heavy enough to make us difficult for drivers to see, but mostly we'd ride through it.

Other than that, I spent my pedal time singing songs by Kentucky natives: Loretta Lynn (esp. Coal Miner's Daughter), the Judds, and Patty Loveless (who is from Elkhorn City). Since I'm slower than Daniel and Julie, I ride alone a lot (which I enjoy) and sing out loud most of the time. Singing songs by native artists somehow felt right.

I'm still thinking a lot about our passage through this stretch -- Daniel and Julie reported feeling very threatened here, an experience I did not share despite being alone most of the time. I'll put up a separate post about that once I've had a bit more time to mull it over.

Day Nineteen: Rosedale, VA to Elkhorn City, KY

Daily mileage: 47
Miles to date: 605

Holy crapballs, we finally made it out of Virginia! This crossing was hard won, with a ton of shadeless, steep climbing on both sides of the state line.

Day Eighteen: Damascus, VA to Rosedale, VA

Daily mileage: 56
Miles to date: 558

The day was hot, the mountains were steep, and I'm tired of pushing my bike up these narrow, winding roads.

Day Seventeen: Rural Retreat, VA to Damascus, VA

Daily mileage: 60!!!
Miles to date: 502

Awesome. Today was only supposed to be a 40-mile day, but a wrong turn and some backtracking gave us our 60-mile day into Damascus after all!

The guy we stayed with in Max Meadow (Totally Tony) appeared on our route today and rode with us for a little while. Then he attempted to "help" me climb a hill...by grabbing onto the back of my bike and pushing me as he rode along beside me. As you might imagine, this just made it difficult to balance and I crashed, dropping my chain and knocking my handlebars out of alignment. Poor, sweet, well-intentioned Tony. But really, what was he thinking?

Once we got ourselves back on track, we had a big mountain pass into a 14-mile descent into Damascus. Damascus is another trail town with several hostels for hikers and bikers (we've been following the Transamerica bike route for the last few days). We found dinner at Quincy's Pizza, where we managed to get sucked into Forrest Gump along with the rest of the patrons, the bartender, and our server. I only mention this because I was amazed at how the whole place went silent during the scene where Forrest proposes to Jenny and then again when she dies. Oh, and because I've been quoting this movie since we left DC and my southern accent amounts to shabby imitations of Tom Hanks.

Days Fifteen and Sixteen: Max Meadows, VA to Rural Retreat, VA

Daily mileage: 26
Miles to date: 442

From Krissy's Big Adventure

Our first real attempt at a 60 mile day was thwarted by my stupid IT band -- it pretty much wadded up and made it nearly impossible for me to climb anything without getting off my bike and walking. I felt terrible -- I knew Julie was really disappointed that we wouldn't get to another trail town that holds a lot of memories for her, and that both she and Daniel were unhappy with another low-mileage day. But they were incredibly kind and generous (as they have been the entire time with my poor conditioning) as we set up camp at a lake outside Rural Retreat, VA.

From Krissy's Big Adventure

Day Fourteen: Christiansburg, VA to Max Meadows, VA

Daily mileage: 43
Miles to date: 416

I originally tagged this as "uneventful" but this was our first rainy riding day. A serious thunderstorm rolled in and since we were far enough away from each other that we each weathered the storm alone in whatever shelter presented itself. Both Daniel and Julie found the eaves of churches to sit under, while I holed up at an abandoned motel. CREEPY.

Day Thirteen: Troutville, VA to Christiansburg, VA

Daily mileage: 42
Miles to date: 363

Ugh. Heavy traffic. Fast traffic. Hostile traffic. All damn day. Final insult: a narrow pass we'd have to share with all of it to get to Christiansburg.

From Krissy's Big Adventure

Day Twelve: Lexington, VA to Troutville, VA

Daily mileage: 34
Miles to date: 321

This day was awesome for so many reasons, not the least of which being that my legs finally decided to join the trip!

The day began with hay rolls and ended with me getting to our destination 15 miles ahead of Daniel and Julie not because I'm fast, but because all of Daniel's progress kryptonite was clustered on a 7-mile stretch of today's route: dinosaurs, wax museums, "Foamhenge" (which is exactly what it sounds like).

Right after I stopped to snap a photo of some hay rolls (oh, my beloved hay rolls!) I decided to keep moving while Daniel and Julie enjoyed an extended break. Over the next few miles, as I passed signs for all of Daniel's favorite things in roadside attraction form, I had to laugh to myself knowing what heaven he'd be in and how impossible it would be for them to move through that stretch with any sort of momentum. Mostly though, it felt good to push myself and have my legs turn over effectively. Oh yeah, and not be the last one rolling into our destination exhausted.

Today's destination, Troutville, is another Appalachian Trail town with a city park they allow hikers and cyclists to camp in overnight. This park is beautifully maintained and well-used by the townspeople -- it's apparent that it is a source of pride for the community, as well it should be.

Day Eleven: Waynesboro, VA to Lexington, VA

Daily mileage: 42
Miles to date: 287

Our second fire house! I'm tired of being wet and just tired in general -- so much so that I sat my ass down in one of the recliners in the TV room and fell asleep before 6pm. I hoped that spreading my sleeping bag in my tent might help it dry out a little more, but it continues to be damp and musty after having spent the day stuffed in a dry sack under the heat of the Virginia sun.

And yes, I skipped the fireworks. I wouldn't say I missed them.

Days Nine and Ten: Waynesboro, VA

Daily mileage: 27
Miles to date: 245

Our first rest day! Waynesboro is a trail town along the Appalachian Trail. The local YMCA has a grassy area set aside for hikers and cyclists who come into town. Julie hiked the entire Appalachian Trail last year, so this was a bit of nostalgia for her. Apparently, all the hikers have trail names (Julie's Evergreen); I've met No Plan, Panda, Four Eyes, Pickwick, and a couple named Chuckwagon and Chowhound.

The most, um, colorful of this bunch is definitely Four Eyes, or as the CDC will likely come to know her: Patient Zero. She's some kind of science grad student going through a divorce. Boy, is she ever. I'm pretty sure she boned Panda last night, but before I had even taken my helmet off she was telling us about a poem she had written about trying to masturbate in her tent -- complete with leg gestures. A few minutes later, she started calling Pickwick "Daddy" in ways that made us all uncomfortable, and she passed around naked pics she had taken of herself with her phone.

Nice to meet you, too?

The only other memorable event from Waynesboro was the torrential hailstorm that turned Julie's tent upside down and blew my rainfly off and soaked most of my stuff for the second time on this trip. Given the size of the hail, we're probably lucky nothing ended up with holes in it.

Day Eight: Mineral, VA to Charlottesville, VA

Daily mileage: 21
Miles to date: 218

From hippies to yippies in less than 24 hours. Tonight we're staying with a young couple who have given us the use of their guest house. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of this place, but it is modern, modular, and in the process of being moved into by a new tenant who we only came to know through the few items he has brought into the house.

In our chats, the three of us have established our "types:" Daniel goes for the oldest child/earth mothers, Julie digs scruffy mountain men, and I go for clean cut, athlete/musicians. I don't know anything about this new tenant, but looking at his drum set in a heap on the living room floor, I kinda want to make out with him.