Ontario

The guys moved through Ontario pretty quickly. They should be in Niagra Falls as of last night. Doug said the towns they went through were pretty small, with few services. Their first day, they were chased by a thunderstorm. A guy came by in a car and told them they should come back and wait the storm out in his garage, which they did. Then the local said they could stay at his home for the night! He called his girlfriend to warn her that there would be 5 extra guys when she got home. They ordered pizzas for them and went and got coffee for them in the a.m.
They are all doing well!

Michigan:hot and flat

Doug and the guys (Jeff, Joe, Don and Andrew) have made their way across Wisconsin. They took the ferry from Manitowoc, WI to Ludington, MI. They camped in Ludington, (loud fellow campers), Clare (city park--bad bathrooms) and tonight they are in a motel in Caro. Tomorrow they plan to be in Port Huron on the border of Ontario. They plan to bike across Ontario to Niagra Falls . They have had hot weather, flat terrain and 90 mile days the past 3 days.
They are healthy and doing well.
Therese

East of Colby, WI

Doug left yesterday on a single touring bike, borrowed from nephew Scott. He called after 1/2 hour to tell me how easy it was to ride a single bike after the tandem. Yesterday they made it to Colfax and today just east of Colby, WI. They had tailwinds, but hot weather in the afternoon. They tried to camp in a city park. The sign said to call to ask permission. The woman they talked to said she had never heard of anyone camping there and wouldn't give permission. They found some locals and asked them for the phone number to call the sheriff to ask permission. One of them said they could camp in her backyard and use her shower. It turned out to be a much better place than the city park. (Another trail angel.) They have been riding on back roads which are great, but don't go through towns with services. They are looking forward to getting to Wausau tomorrow to resupply.
Tom from our group called from Stillwater and will stop by our house tomorrow. He wants to see the Mall of America. (As a local that's embarrassing--I'd rather take him to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area--maybe another time.)
Therese

Thursday 7/22/10 Have the chance to update today because we are in a motel in Mosinee WI. waiting out a rainstorm. We did 32 miles in a hard rain and strong east winds. Everyone was soaked and it looked like tomorrow would be favorable to do a big day so we can get close to the ferry on Saturday morning. Riding a single is so much fun after the tandem. I did have to buy a mirror for my sunglasses since I no longer have Therese watching my rear. The person who opened her home for us last night reaffirms that there are really nice people out there, which is what we've found this whole trip. I'll try and add more if I get the chance but Therese will update after I call her at night. on the road in Wisconsin. Doug

Trail Angels

Trail angels is a term Appalachian Trail hikers use to describe people who help them along the way. Our trail angels are: Scott and Cayley who were our mentors and bike mechanics at home and via phone, Kathleen and John who picked us up at the Seattle depot and shuttled us to the start of our trip, Greg who went with us to San Juan Island, "The bike group guys" (Andrew, Bob, Don, Jeff, Jim and Jeff) who met us our first night in Concrete, WA; helped us replace 5 spokes and asked if we wanted to join them as they were going cross country to Bar Harbor, ME, Mark and Betty who picked us up and treated us to their vacation home overlooking Lake Chelan, Tom who joined our group in Whitefish and always had anything we needed, Charlie and Micayla, their daughter Sienna and new baby on the way, who hosted us in Whitefish, the town of Hinsdale, MT who let us join in their 4th of July festivities, the town of Esmond, MT who let us join in Esmond Days, Orv from Cooperstown, ND who gave us a personal tour of the the Griggs County Museum: a must see!, Lois in Melrose, MN who led us to the motel. I'm sure there are others who we missed, but the people we met along the way were definitely the highlight. People approached us and talked to us....something that doesn't happen with travel by car or plane.
Doug and the guys (Jeff, Don, Andrew and Joe) are off this morning to continue the trip to the East Coast. We'll continue to add posts for his trip.
Therese

Home coming photos

Mississippi at last: Jeff on a recumbant

Almost home!

Joe crossing the Mississippi:Coon Rapids Dam

storm damage across the trail

Home!

Home!

We arrived home on Sunday, July 18 (our 29th anniversary!) around noon. From Melrose, we rode the rest the of the bike trail to St. Joseph, MN (home of the College of St. Benedict-Rita's alma mater) and then we followed the Mississippi River to Monticello where we spent the night on Saturday. As we were entering Monticello it was starting to rain. We met another "trail angel" on the road; Lois, an older woman on a bike. She offered to lead us into town and show us where the motels were. She was very quick on her 3 speed bike and kindly took us to the Community Center; looked up the 4 motels in town, wrote down their phone numbers and gave us directions. Thank-you Lois! She told us that Monticello was her home town, but she had taught for 40 years in Quito, Equador.
We checked into the motel and asked the owner if we could bring our bikes inside. At first he said "No", but after more conversation we realized he thought we meant motorcycles. When he learned we had bicycles, he said, "of course, leave them in the lobby".
It turned out we made the right decision to stay in the motel that night, the worst storm I've ever seen rolled through around 7 pm. We had wind gusts up to 86 mph and a wall of rain. It didn't last long, but our tents would not have withstood that.
On Sunday morning we continued on to the Coon Rapids dam where we crossed the Mississippi, then we rode a bike path. Due to the storm, there were many branches and sticks on the trail and in 3 places very large branches or trees which had to "portage" our bikes around.
Rita and the cats greeted us at the door. Before the guys got in the house, I was in the shower! It is good to be home. Jerry and Barb, Scott and Cayley arrived and the eating frenzy began. Barb made us homemade bread, apple pies, homemade ice cream, orzo salad, fruit... We had Root Beer Floats and Pie for dessert! Anne Rykken came later with chicken (she was sure she brought too much-we ate it all!) and we ate some more. Sue Thomas arrived with Margaritas and beer!
Andrew, Don, Jeff and Joe are staying with us. They will take off tomorrow morning with Doug and head for the East Coast. I'm very grateful to this group. They provided friendship, safety and motivation to see me home. I have no desire to continue the trip beyond this point, but I'm happy that Doug has a good group to continue. Riding the tandem is more stressful than riding a single bike...he wasn't able to let go of the handles even to drink. It will be so much easier for him on a single bike. They plan to ride across Wisconsin this week, take the ferry across Lake Michigan maybe on Friday, then continue across Michigan to Sarnia Ont. Cross Ontario into Niagra Falls, cross New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. I wouldn't be surprised if they finish in three weeks or so.
I'll probably add more thoughts later....
Love,
Therese

MN homestretch

W are in Melrose, MN and should be home Sunday afternoon! After our layover day in Cooperstown, ND due to storms, we rode 92 miles with an awesome tailwind into Fargo. We reunited with the rest of our group and stayed at the Scandia Hotel there. The next day we crossed the Red River into MN. Unfortunately, there was no "Welcome to Minnesota" sign. The other unfortunate thing was the condition of MN roads...very bumpy with expansion cracks, poor shoulders and lots of truck traffic. We made it to Pelican Rapids for lunch and at my suggestion decided to drop down to Fergus Falls for the night. Today we rode the Central Lakes/Lake Woebegon bike trail to Melrose: 80 miles with no traffic and smooth surfaces! It was heavenly, except for the high heat in the afternoon. Tomorrow we may get to Monticello and then home on Sunday.
Doug plans to continue on with the group to Bar Harbor Maine. He will have one rest day at home and then off on his single bike. He's looking forward to it. The tandem can be a beast to handle!
See you soon!
Love,
Therese and Doug

Cooperstown, ND (not the baseball hall of fame)

We arrived in Cooperstown last night after a 64 mile ride into a crosswind. Not a bad day. We camped in the city park and had another great restaurant meal for not much money: 2 pieces of chicken, baked potato, unlimited salad bar for $8.75. The salad bar had pickled herring and lime jello surprise: we are in Lutheran territory.
This morning we arose to a red sky: "Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morning, bikers take warning. We ate breakfast, packed up, saw lightening and headed to the cafe. We sat out a storm and debated about what to do. More storms were predicted for later today. As we are 90 miles from Fargo, with not much in between we were uneasy about setting out. We didn't know this town had a motel, when we found out it did, and that the winds would be in our favor tomorrow the decision was easy. Five of us decided to stay. Two of the guys went on and two are already in Fargo. We hope to meet up tomorrow. The two who left today called to say we made the right decision as the headwinds were difficult. The best part was that we now had time to go the Ronald Reagan Historic Missile Silo command post for a tour. It was very interesting to see the place where two airforce personnel sit for 24 hour shifts with the two keys that allowed them to fire the missiles toward the Soviet Union.
The locals all talk to us. North Dakota is the friendliest state as their motto says.
We are safe and comfortable tonight. Thanks for all of your good wishes!
Happy trails,
Therese and Doug

crosswinds and heat!

New Rockford, ND...We're making our way across North Dakota. Riding a bike is the perfect speed to appreciate the prairies. It is not as boring as riding in a car. We have seen some beautiful bright yellow fields...found out they are canola. Also some blue/purple fields which are flax. We've moved from range land to farms. There is still a lot of wide open spaces here. After Williston, we rode 77 miles to Stanley and camped in the city park. We were able to go to the city pool to take showers and swim. Next day we rode 81 miles to Granville, stayed in another city park, which was nice with the worst bathrooms. Then we rode 79 miles in high heat to Esmond. Yesterday, after nearly 100 degrees, we pulled into Esmond, out of water, looking for a cold drink. The cafe was open and we ordered cokes. The food looked good, so we ordered baked potatoes, mushroom swiss burgers, apple pie ala mode and the bill for the two of us was $13! We went back for breakfast...2 eggs, 2 french toast, 2 bacon, coffee, $4.50 each. It also happened to be Esmond Days, so we were treated to a street dance a block from the city campground. They played until 2 am, but we were so tired, we were able to sleep thru it. Today we rode 60 miles.
We are all tired and sore...but hanging in there. We may slow down a bit. We should be in Minnesota by Weds! Maybe we'll be home next Sunday or Monday?? If there are any women out there who want to come ride with us...at least in spirit...I could use some female companionship to get me to the home stretch. ( The guys have been great, very kind, but I miss my friends and family.)
Lots of love,
Therese

more photos

North Dakota

We are in Williston ND and back to Central Time! Only two states to go! Today is our first rest day in two weeks. Yesterday we had a short 44 mile ride from Nashua MT to Williston and we stayed in a motel-only the third time this trip. It's crazy, but Doug and I feel we sleep better in a tent now! We have found the cure to insomnia...just bike 10 hours a day and you will sleep like a baby...through trains, wind, fireworks...
Rita and Erik joined us last night and will camp with us in the city park tonight before we head East and they head to Bozeman to visit friends. It has been fun being with them and having a car to run some errands. Erik is enjoying talking with all of the guys in our group and he would like to join them!
We should be home in two weeks! We have been lucky with tailwinds and cool temps.
I'll try to post some more photos.
Love,
Therese and Doug

Culbertson, MT

Today we biked 92 miles in 7 hours including breaks, We had an awesome tailwind...we were riding 22 mph easily. We biked through the Fort Peck Reservation. Everyone warned us not to stop there, but the people we met were very friendly. The landscape was open but beautiful. It is greener than usual according to the locals. Lots of birds. We are 22 miles from the North Dakota border.
Tomorrow we meet up with Rita and Erik who are headed to Bozeman. We will do an exchange of gear...give away the warm stuff and they are bringing us more gear for hot weather.
We are camped at another city park for free...lots of other cyclists are here too. It's fun meeting other people. We feel sorry for those who are headed west into the wind. We are lucky!
We plan to take a short day to Willeston---40 miles.
All the best...love, Therese and Doug

photos so far

Storm warning

We arrived in Havre, MT about 10:30 a.m. with the intent of getting some food and going to the library. Two people approached us on our bike and told us to take cover...a storm with quarter size hail is approaching. So we're hanging out in the library.
Last night we stayed in Hingham. The highlight yesterday was a stop in Rudyard. We went to the dinosaur/depot museum. It was very interesting.
We eat a lot of small meals through-out the day...oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. I highly recommend the Starbucks micro instant packets! We have a Cliff Bar down the road. We stop at a grocery store and get deli chicken, maybe ice cream. Dinner we cook rice or pasta and add a packet of tuna. We also eat peanut butter on sandwich thins. We eat chocolate chips and peanuts and raisins. We drink as much as we can. It's amazing how hungry we are. We crave salt.

from the mountains to the prairies

Tuesday, 6/29 we rode the Going to Sun highway. We camped part way up the road. Bikes aren't allowed on the road between 11 and 4 due to the traffic, so we got up at 4:30 am and we were on the road at 6. It was a great time to be out, before traffic. We watched the sun come up on the peaks and the moon set. We had perfect weather. We were at the top by 9:30 am. We had road construction and had to wait for a pilot car to take us down one lane at a time. While we were waiting for one, we got a flat tire. The six guys got into action and changed the rear tire in less than 5 minutes!
We had a fun 18 mile downhill ride.
The next day we left Glacier and found ourselves in the plains. We camped at a city park in Shelby. It was a beautiful little park until the sprinklers went off at 5:50 am as we were making breakfast. We quickly had to pack everything up.
Today we biked to Hingham and we are in another city park. We walk across the street to the bar to take a shower. There are no paved streets in this town. People have been very friendly.
It is definitely big sky country and no tree country. We can look for 50 miles and not see another tree or building.
I have been writing new lyrics:
To the tune of Cowgirl in the Sand:
Hello biker in the sun...so many miles you have come..from the mountains to the sea...over plains , cross country...old enough now to drive a car..It's the biker in you that makes you want to go so far....
Feel free to add.
Thanks for all of your good wishes! Keep wishing for tailwinds and safe drivers. We had another close call today.
We love you...happy trails,
Therese and Doug