Tunneling Through Western PA -- A good idea.

Western PA features repeated steep climbs.  This one measured in at a 14% gradient.  I managed to stay on the bike, but there simply is no gear low enough to make this climb comfortable.  

 The views are worth the climbs though.

My mother's side of the family (Livengood) is from Somerset County, PA.  I'm sure that when Peter Livengood came to the area from Switzerland, the terrain seemed tame by comparison.  Family history says that he was the first person to cross the Allegheny Mountains in a Conestoga wagon.

 Rather than climb these hills, the PA Department of Transportation (PENNDOT) preferred to dig through them.  As a result, the PA Turnpike was referred to as the Tunnel Highway.  Two of these tunnels east of Breezewood were abandoned in 1968 when a bypass was completed (abandoned PA Turnpike).  If you are in the area, this ride is definitely worth doing.  Bring a strong headlight for the tunnels.

Myna entering the first tunnel

Me entering the second tunnel

Flat road, no traffic, a few potholes.

The view from inside the tunnel--the squiggly white line is the distant light at the end of the tunnel and the sway of my hands.

The abandoned turnpike ride goes from just east of Breezewood to just west of Hustontown.  Much of our ride across PA followed Bike Route S (PA Bike Routes).  The climb up to Cowan's Gap is a nice gentle rise.

The beach at Cowan's Gap State Park

We stayed with my father-in-law Don in Chambersburg, PA and had dinner with my parents in Waynesboro, PA.

Note:  I am currently at home in NJ--life here is busy, but I still have material to share with you.

Climbing to Somerset, PA

Today, we set out from Murrysville, PA through Latrobe (site of the old Rolling Rock Brewery) and then south to pick up route 31.  Route 31 climbs Laurel Hill before descending into Somerset PA.  Western Pennsylvania has absolutely no sections that are flat.  As soon as you are down one hill, you begin climbing another.  I saw slopes as steep as 15% today.  Fun going down, but my heart rate was regularly up into the 160's.

Laurel hill is appropriately named because there is lots of mountain laurel there, which was in full bloom.  I was too busy focusing on the climb to take any pictures.  Laurel hill is inappropriately named because it is no mere hill.  As I was climbing, I heard a truck honking, smelled burning rubber and saw smoke.  The truck passed another, narrowly missing an oncoming car.  I had never seen a real runaway truck, but I suppose that's what the runaway truck roads are there for.  The mountains in the west may be taller, but the roads in the east are steeper.

My bike couldn't figure out how to take a photo.

 I was born and raised in Pennsylvania and I love the state; but it has always neglected the roads.  I hit a monster pothole today, got a flat and threw my wheel out of true.  Even though it was after hours when I found a bike shop, Kevin and Eric opened up to help me out (http://www.fatjimmys.com/).  Many thanks to them for getting me back on the road.

Kevin and Eric get my vote for employee of the year.

Made it to Pittsburgh, PA - Rest Day at Andrew's

I took a rest day to spend time with the family on Lake Michigan

Katie filling the castle moat.

Libby and Krista

John and Myna road while I played with the kids.  I rode the following day.

Lilly Pads as far as the eye could see.

Black-eyed Susans

We stayed at AP Reader Susan Zuber's in Auburn Indiana.  She and her friend Ken rode with us the following day.

Bike-related mailbox in western Ohio.

Western Ohio is pretty flat.

We stayed at Clinton Lake Campground near Republic, OH

Everyone at the campground had a golf cart.  Some of them were very fancy.

No till farming, where soybeans were planted before the wheat was harvested.

We stayed with Lisa and Doug Herr in Medina, OH.  They took us to a graduation party for one of their friend's daughters.  Thanks to them for letting us crash the party.  

 

My Nephew Aengus at his Father's Brewpub (Rivertowne Pour House) in Monroeville, PA

My sister-in-law Melissa, and neice Finlay at the pub.

We're spending our last rest day at my brother Andrew's house in Murrysville, PA.

Crossing WI

Tensions can run high when a small group of people are in close quarters making lots of decisions every day.  

What is John doing with that Knife?

John is a minimalist (Myna is too but I want to focus on John).  He believes in having as small of an impact on the Earth's resources as possible.  In the picture above, he is doing his version of the hair stylist.

John's ultra high tech cycling/hiking/walking footwear

John wears a pair of flip-flops that he found and repaired.  His pedals are simple platform pedals, so he has no benefit from the pulling muscles in the legs.  The bike is a vintage bike which has seen hard use--the handlebars vibrate.  From the start in Anacortes, WA, his rear tire has had places where the threads are showing through.  Somewhere around Idaho, Ellen and I began warning him that the tire would blow out, damage the rim and could cause him to crash.  He insisted he could get 500 more miles on it.  Our warnings probably helped to cement his position that it would last.  I was impressed when he rode 105 miles in one day on it.  It finally blew out on our rest day, so luckily he was not hurt and the bike was not damaged.  He was short of his 500 miles, but I was amazed that the tire lasted more than ten.

Unlike John, I am pretty high tech about most things.  The bike is a Bianchi Volpe.  I bought the "Fox" specially for this ride.  Although it is not very light (23 lbs with the pedals, rack and fenders), it has a more upright position than my carbon fiber road bike and has attachments for panniers and fenders.  I could ride this bike fully loaded if I wanted--and I may want to at some time.  I expect this to become my commuter bike when I begin school again in the fall.  I also like to have clean clothes and usually do wash each night.  In this picture, Myna is drying my clothes.

This is how we dry our laundry, so early in the morning.

From Old Bogies, we rode south.  Part of our ride was about 20 miles on the Old Abe trail.  The trail is a beautiful wooded rail-trail.  It is pancake flat and straight, with a few bumps in the pavement.

Myna and Dawn on the Old Abe trail

We saw a variety of crops in Wisconsin.  There was plenty of corn and soybeans; but I also saw oats, wheat, alfalfa, clover, potatoes, and what I think was cucumbers.  It was nice to see the diversity of crops.  We also saw cows and horses, but I was also pleased to see the once-endangered bison (although we have a bison farm near our home in Whitehouse Station, WI)

We may have bison in NJ, but I have never seen a sand hill crane in our farm fields.

Sand Hill Crane click for movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smjLzskx_BA

We stayed at John Dobyns house in Oshkosh WI on the 4th of July.  John is a Wisconsin public school teacher I met at the AP Biology reading.  I do not intend this to be a political blog, but I'm sure you can imagine how he feels about Gov. Walker.  The food was protein-rich and tasted--wow!  The Dobyns have two high-energy girls which made me wish mine were there--but I would see them the next day.

The Dobyns

 The next day, we rode to the ferry at Manitowoc.  There may have been a slight tailwind, but my legs felt really good, and I had motivation to ride--my little girls were on the other side of Lake Michigan.  The ferry costs about $50-60 for a car.  I assumed that that included any riders.  When we got there, I found out differently.  Apparently, each person also has to buy a ticket for $71.  I felt ripped off, but paid the price and got on.  I would NOT recommend this ferry to anyone for the price we paid.

But wife and my little girls were waiting on the other side, so I would have paid much more if I had to.

The best part of the trip so far.

North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin

If you've been following the news, you know that North Dakota has had a lot of water.  In fact, Minot, ND, one of the cities along our planned route has had historic floods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Souris_River_flood).  Much of our route through ND was under water.  Because we preferred not to divert resources from and add congestion to the flood-stricken area, we decided to drive across the state.  Even Interstate 94 had sections that were covered in water.

To find a campsite in North Dakota, we relied on the Garmin Nuvi, which we frequently do without incident.  In this case, however, the Garmin took us down 3 miles of road which deteriorated from packed gravel, to mud.  Myna and the Rav-4 took the mud in stride, though there were some nervous moments.  When we arrived at the location that Garmin said was the campsite, we were next to the highway and an overpass in a muddy section of fallow field.  The area was completely dark.  The upside of this was that the night sky was amazing.  I don't think I have ever seen the stars and the milky way in such clear detail.  I forgot to take a picture, but don't think it could really do the vision justice anyway.  We programmed in a nearby town, and wound up camping on the site of a school which had been removed when the towns consolidated educational facilities.

Site of the Eckelson, ND school which served as a campsite for 5 hours.

 The next day, we drove to the edge of North Dakota and rode the last half mile from Whapeton, ND into Minnesota. 

Waiting for the train in Whapeton, ND

Minnesota was pretty flat and windy (crosswind mostly); and planted to corn and soybeans.  At an intersection, a man pulled up and asked if we were riding across the country.  It turns out that his daughter ran across Minnesota to raise money for cancer research.  Here is her blog (http://www.runxmn.blogspot.com/).  

Along route 7 in Minnesota.

Wisconsin was more hilly.  Dawn and Tom joined us for the ride.

John drafting Dawn

Tom - Ex Army Ranger, Owner of Old Bogies bar and a strong rider.

Old Bogie's with the boss "Maggie" in the foreground.

Old Bogies (http://oldbogiesbar.blogspot.com/) is a beautiful wood building that compliments the forest setting.  The people were friendly.  The beers on tap were from the Angry Minnow in Hayward, WI. 

The view from Tom's deck overlooking the Chippewa River

To date, I've ridden 728 miles and the team has ridden a total of 1780 miles.  We are taking a rest day here at Tom's.