South Dakota? More like, Hot-as-balls Dakota

Hi friends! Lee here with his very first post to the blog. Delayed, I know. But better late than never. I've got a lot to cover, and I'm extremely tired, so let's see how this goes.

I believe that Mike left off from when we were on the border of Minnesota and South Dakota in Pipestone. We are now nearly in Wyoming, so I have all of South Dakota to cover. Let's start off with Sioux Falls.

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After enjoying a lovely breakfast in the House of Darwin and Kris, we kind of putzed around for a little while. We were so appreciative for having them put us up for the night. It turns out that there was a pretty bad storm that night, and their backyard looked like a swimming pool the next morning. So staying indoors was key.

After getting a late start, we started to head out to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Golly, a new state! Since Mike had not retrieved his wallet in Minneapolis due to postal difficulties, he had it forwarded to the post office in Sioux Falls, hence our visit there. I can't remember the ride too well, but me thinks it was OK.

I wasn't expecting much from Sioux Falls, it being South Dakota and all, but it was still a pretty big city. I remember getting nearer, and there was actually more than one car every 5 minutes. Hell, there were actually houses on the road now. Before we knew it, we were a few miles outside of downtown (colloquially known henceforth as DT) and needed to know how to get to the post office. And fast. We asked this kid, but he was a nuisance. We asked this man in a car, and he said "next right, next to the Falls...about a few miles down the road." Brief aside: All day, I had been saying that post offices typically close at around 5pm, so I kept reminding the crew "hey, let's get there before 5pm so we're not stuck in Sioux Falls for a day." That said, it was 4:45, and we had a few miles to cover before our destination DT. We started pedaling like the dickens. And by the dickens, I mean we were going fast. Lightspeed fast. I got stuck behind a little bit - some things fell off of my bike into the middle of the road. I narrowly escaped the barrage of speeding dump trucks and bullets to retrieve my can of dog pepper spray. I pedaled my ass, feet, and ears off to catch up with the other guys......only to find out the post office was open until 6. But, Mike got his wallet! After weeks of Lenny and I having to cover his ass for food and shit, I imagined Mike holding up his wallet in the fashion of Link from Zelda. You know, Ba na na naaaaaaa.

We still didn't know where we were staying in Sioux Falls. We decided to randomly ask this guy on a bike if there were any parks in the area where we could pitch a tent. He gave us a few spots and then sped off. In about 3 minutes, we were still at the post office trying to decide what to do, and the guy comes back and says "you know what...you guys can stay at my place. My name's Chris."

He looked maybe a little older than us. Nice clothes, trim hair, clean look. A real business man. But the kind that knows how to have a good time. And what a good time we had later that night.

We rode to his house, which was a few blocks away, showered up, and went out. He took us to Mama's Lada's, a cool little enchilada place. We then decided to get a few beers. This is where the night got great. He took us to a place called 'stogeez.' Now, if the name doesn't say it all, I will. Upon entering, the smell of fine cigars and brandy grazed my nostrils, an aromatic sensation that a middle-aged business man is well accustomed to. The crowd? Well, middle-aged business men. The scene was literally like something out of an old Looney Tunes. We start off with a few drinks, and our host introduces us to a couple of people. One of them happens to be the South Dakota representative for Jagermeister. The other is a friend of the former, a local liquor distributor. To keep things short (which I realize I haven't been doing in this blog post), the night went on, many drinks were had, and I must say, many good conversations too. It's interesting talking to people who are so envious of your trip. The business men who never did crazy shit like this when they were younger. Every word they said to us had envy and regret all over it. Rick Ruane, the Jagermeister guy, ended up covering our tab. I had enough Jager shots to remind me of freshmen year of college. Gross.

They also talked about how South Dakota was expecting a heat wave tomorrow. We kinda just shrugged it off. Rod, Rick's friend, kept drunkenly bellowing throughout the night, "you guys are entering the PERFECT STORM!!!!"

We drunkenly hopped on our bikes and fled the scene back to our hosts abode. After we ordered a pizza and talked about the rat race of every day life, we passed out face first.

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Woke up the next morning trying to get on the road rather early. But when does that ever work? We went to this outdoor store to pick up a few supplies. One of the workers said, "You have to see the Falls if you're in Sioux Falls!" On that premise alone, we decided to spend a little while in Falls park. Here is a kewl pic:

So, on the road again. Our next destination was the Badlands national park, which was about 340 miles away. We knew this would take a few days, with towns few and far between. the good news is that we need only take one road all the way there: State Highway 44.

After some pedaling, we quickly realized that those guys from last night weren't kidding about the heat wave. It was....dare I say it: hot-as-balls. Almost too hot to bare. I think this was the day that Mike got pretty sick from the heat. Might have been a precursor to a heat stroke. We ducked inside an old couple's house asking to use their water. They were delighted to have us in. We ended up pitching a tent on the side of the road in this little park next to a lake. I remember it being so hot, that I went to sleep without a sleeping bag, no tent, and just underwear, and I was sweating so much that I couldn't sleep.

A lot of these next few days sort of meshed together in my mind. The only thing I recall, really, is the heat. Everyday, the locals kept saying "and tomorrow's supposed to be hotter!" Every person we talked to said we were insane for biking in this weather. The highest I heard the heat index get up to was 124 F. It was so hot, that after 5 miles of biking, I was drenched in sweat. And the WINDS! We had decent amounts of headwinds and crosswinds this whole time. You would THINK that they would cool you down a little bit. But actually, it was more like getting blasted in the face with one thousand hair dryers, each hair dryer having the force and the heat of roughly six suns. One day, we had to duck under an abandoned tractor to find some shade, because there were absolutely no trees. We're lucky we found it, because we were all feeling pretty dizzy and sick. After two days, we realized we couldn't ride between the hottest hours of the day, roughly 1pm-6pm. Long breaks at rest stops, trees, and whatever we could find filled the void.

Maybe it's because of the heat, or maybe because we are traveling by bike, or a combination of the two, but benefactors whom we had met along the way were more than willing to give us support. A couple by the Missouri river invited us in for dinner one day. The middle-aged dude at a bar in the middle of nowhere put us up in his place in Winner. We didn't even have to ask.

Also, some really amazing views came out of mid-South Dakota. One we hit the Missouri river, it was all gravy.

After about 4 days of this heatwave, we were getting really exhausted. No sleep, no showers, no towns. Towns and rest-stops were getting more sparse. Maybe about 40 to 50 miles in between towns. It was even rough to tell if we could do that much in a day. I don't mean to dramatize the situation, but it was certainly a trek and a half.

So fast forward, and we arrive at Interior, a town just outside of the Badlands. We get some nice huge burgers and some beers at the only bar/restaurant in town and then set up our tents in a field behind the elementary school and pass out. Just for the record, we have paid for camping/accommodations on this trip a total of three times: twice in New York, and once in Michigan.

I won't say much about the Badlands, other than that it was fucking gorgeous. Here are some kewl pix:

And after riding through the badlands, we experienced why the name was given. No water, treacherous winds, and dry atmosphere makes for what the French Trappers called, "Bad lands to cross." We took some empty bottles from a recycle bin and filled them up for reserves, and decided to do a 35 mile ride to the western side of the park, where there was supposedly a 'primitive' campsite. It got dark by the time we got to the dirt road, and it was a hell of an adventure. Terrible roads in pitch black darkness kept us from getting to the campsite until nearly midnight. I invented a new dish of corn, beans, torn-up bread, flax seeds, and thousand island dressing. I call it: the McSlurry. Ate some McSlurry's and passed out. The sounds of bison, coyotes and prairie dogs lulled us to sleep.

The next morning, guess what happened? I wake up to a fucking bison walking next to my tent!

He's a big guy. It was pretty amazing seeing a wild animal so big up close.

After leaving the campsite, we rode for 60 miles today to get to Rapid City, where we are right now. Mike got a flat today. I got some swamp ass, but what else is new. Lenny achieved smelliest fart all trip. Ok, so today wasn't so eventful. Except for the fact that we nearly ran out of food and then this family gave us a bunch of groceries. But they were assholes.....they didn't even give us cheese for our turkey sandwiches.

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So I think that seems to be it for now. Lots of details left out, but I'm too tired to even care. We will most likely hit Mt. Rushmore, crazy horse, and the rest of the black hills tomorrow. The last week has been the most challenging part of the trip by far, but it's nothing the Bad-Ass Biker Boyz can't handle.

-Lee

Apologies!

Hey family and friends,

The last few posts came from a personal log book I have been keeping on this journey. I find that such a log book meets my need for creativity and reflection. At the same time, I want to keep you all updated on our travels. To try to plant two trees with one seed, I decided I would make edits to the personal logs so that they would be blog worthy. Although it would still read like a personal log, it would contain all the entertaining details to let you know that these three playful persons are on a fun and meaningful adventure.

However, a few details not meant for your eyes slipped through. I would like to express my sincerest remorse for my lack of consideration and my own discomfort in sharing such details. I want this to remain a safe, open, and equal space for the members of this trip as well as the people supporting and reading about our journeys.

Please keep reading. If you have questions or would like to comment directly or have ideas on how to keep this blog suited to yours/everyones needs, you can always contact me at my email address mikembush@gmail.com. Again, my apologies!

Michael

Pipes

The day started at around 8:00 that morning. I was the first out of the tent and noticed the fresh sunlight. It was beautiful. I hung out all my damp clothes and sleeping equipment and enjoyed the sun on my skin. I went to start the oatmeal and watched as the others lazily got out of bed and utilized the sunlight just the same. We talked over breakfast – I told them I wanted to clean my chain since they had both done so yesterday. Not that morning though, maybe that night. We cleaned up pretty good and packed up in time to leave by around 10:30. I had guessed we’d get out then, the others guessed 10:00. They said it was a “motivational” guess.

We rode into town and found a grocery store right off the bat – Jim’s Market. We bought garlic bread, whole wheat bread, sweet potatoes, asparagus, bananas, bars, peanuts, cheese, cheese log, tomatoes, and cherries. We also bought a half gallon of milk to split outside along with some angel food cake. There was also free coffee, which I merrily enjoyed.

Packing away the food, I noticed the cherries were a little spaint. I mentioned that we might want to return them, but the guys disagreed. I continued to complain while packing them away, looking at the ground, while the locals approached us and began talking. One guy above us, who I told about the cherries, said something funny like “Well, if you don’t like them, you have the option not to buy them.” I looked up and noticed I had been complaining about these cherries to the store owner! Very embarrassing. He must have noticed and smiled.

I also enjoyed throwing a few of the really bad cherries at Lee.

We got on the road and our progress was a lot slower today. We had an easterly! Too bad we were heading south that day. We battled that crosswind for 2 hours to only get about 18 miles in. We stopped at an abandoned gas station for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a few bars. We tossed a few mom jokes around and joked about different brand names and jingles. I was on a jingle spree – must have sung like 10 different songs.

The towns were well spaced apart – about 15 miles each. We stopped at each town along the way. Our next start was Lake Benton. We stopped and had lunch in an abandoned log cabin on the lake. We were all very tired, so we each took a bit of a nap. The clouds began to look pretty ominous and unpacked our rain gear for ready use. I think I must have pissed Lee off who I awoke from his nap only to make him wait while I put on my wool socks.

We left and rode onward to Pipestone. I was getting ahead of the group all day and made a comment to Lenny like “Hey, lets see that pep.” He responded that he wanted to keep a nice even pace. I didn’t really understand – I guess I had been getting ahead all trip and I thought it was because my friends were too slow to keep up. I checked in with him and realized I was accelerating too fast and that we needed to be more predictable riding if we were to make use of the drafting. I didn’t like the idea of having to go gradual, but I was relieved to have the clarity. I told them to let me know to slow down if I went too fast.

We arrived in the town of Pipestone and stopped at a gas station. I was struck by a man named Ray who was standing, in what looked like meditation, behind the counter. I found myself sitting in meditation just after seeing him. I was tired and aching for a sweet. I bought some oreos and used the bathroom. I  began talking to Ray. I noticed he was a Native American and wanted to know something about him. I asked about his life, and he told us about his travels around the country. I asked him about Pipestone, and he told us about the Dakota, the Lakotahs, and the Nakotahs as well as the quarries where they make the peace pipes.

I was intrigued and wanted to learn more when a local walked in and began talking about the oncoming storm. Ray showed us the storm system on his smart phone, and we began to think about a motel for the evening. We hadn’t paid for a place since Algonac, MI, so I wasn’t very happy to be considering a motel. I think Ray noticed this and told us about a cousin he had in Jasper who might be able to set us up. He made a phone call for us and we learned we might have two guest rooms waiting for us. We were very grateful and made ready to head out before the storm really hit.

However, I wanted to see the National Monument where they mined the material for the peace pipe. The guys were worried about the storm. I really wanted to go, so when Lee suggested I could go alone, I immediately said yes and copied down the directions to our hosts for the evening. They weren’t too too happy to leave me behind with the storm loaming, but I was pretty rigid on going. We parted – they heading south, me heading north.

As I entered the monument park, I couldn’t help but shout really loud, a cry of delight and of notice. I was entering federal lands again, a park like the ones I had visited out west with the red roads and the natural landscape surrounding me on all sides. I sat at the Three Maidens. I hiked around the quarries. I saw the stone faces. I hopped the rock gap, proving my bravery. "I am brave enough for you!" I shouted loud enough for all my past romantic partners to hear, like I imagine young Indian boys might upon jumping that gap. I stood in the waters of the Jealous Maiden Waterfall (Winnewasa). I was by myself and I shouted every now and then to hear my own voice and the exhilaration I felt being out there. It was awesome. I grabbed a piece of pipestone and some sumac leaves for smoking later J.

Stone Face

The Gap

Me after crossing the gap

The Oracle

Last bit of Minnesota Prairie

I was worried about it getting too too late and the guys waiting up on me, but I was still able to enjoy a good hour at the park. I met a Native American visitor who told me about some pow wows happening out in Portland. I met another tourist who was doing the ride out in Iowa and was heading down there for the big happening. I rode through the town of Pipestone and saw that the buildings were made of the red stone and I wistfully passed through, wishing we could stay the night there as well.

I rode fast down Hwy 23. I received a call from Lee indicating that we had a place to stay that was nice and had showers. I called up my friend Dallas and told him I had found my destiny – to be a leader of the Indian people. I rode until Jasper and saw the first Wall Drug sign. It was in Minnesota.

The house wasn’t too far from Jasper center, so I found it no problem. I rode up my bike into the open garage and said hi to our marvelous hosts. I took a shower, hung my clothes to dry, and offered some bananas while eating one myself. Our host, named Darwin, had built the house we were standing in himself. I marveled at the Pipestone furnace and the beautiful porch. The quote on the wall was really appropriate for me – it said that life isn’t about waiting out the storms, it’s about dancing in the rain. I knew I was with good people when I saw that quote.

We worked on cooking up the rest of the venison sausage we had on the porch grill while chatting about different things. I was pretty tired and ready for sleep, but we still had to eat. Darwin and his wife offered us Doritos and we enjoyed their condiments and hospitality and even a beer each. I considered watching a movie from their DVD collection, which was expansive, but realized I was really tired and needed to sleep. I also cooked up the sweet potatoes so we could enjoy them the next morning.

Such luck, we would be shown around the shop the next morning as well. Thank you Darwin and Christine.

Let's Settled Down Here

Woke up to roosters call at five in the morning. Not enough sleep. We rolled around in our makeshift beds until 9:00, trying to get some remnants of sleep without much success. I awoke slightly earlier and began to journal hardcore – making up a lost day in fact. Today, I don’t think I will do that.

I was able to patch up my sleeping mattress finally to quality. The boys made some breakfast of the bratwurst and eggs our wonderful hosts left us. There was more after we had had our fill, so we made egg and bratwurst sandwiches. Duane and Yvette also had left us homemade bread and jam, which was just fantastic.

For some reason, it took us a really long time getting out of there though. I guess we were just enjoying our meals/moving really sluggishly due to the lack of sleep. Each time we walked out of Duane’s “man cave,” we were greeted by a hoard of geese that we, after a while, began to curse out loud for their annoying honking.

Lee washed his chain and I slowly began to pack things up, including the tent that had been drying on the line.

We got on our bikes at 12. We had a long ride still ahead of us before getting to Sioux Falls. We kept a pretty upbeat pace the whole day. After an hour or so, we stopped at a gas station for waters. Lenny found some marked down Lemon Bars with 400 calories for 30 cents, so he bought 12. I think the gas station was called Mel’s 7-17. It was a hoot. A gas station, a restaurant, and a knick-knack store. Mel was behind the counter. He sold us the Lemon Bars and almost ran after Lenny when he thought that he had stolen a small little woodpecker bronze statue that Lenny was just trying to fit to his headset. A funny little station out in the middle of nowhere. Lenny also started looking at the shirts in the back, all old and used. One he was looking at was this big yellow one that obviously didn’t fit him. I wasn’t sure why he kept shifting through them, since none of them would do I was sure, but he certainly looked funny trying on all these old shirts that were too big for him. Especially that yellow one – he put in on and had to wrap the ends around him to get it to stick to his frame.

I walked around and played on a little decorative horn and tried to put a cassette tape in a cassette player and listen to music. I joked about all the old movie titles I was seeing and played with some knives. I considered buying a candle and a glass, but didn’t. We ended up spending an hour at Mel’s.

We ate some lemon bars outside of the shack while Lenny admired the woodpecker statue and looked at the map. I talked to one of the people filling up on gas about 23 and he said it wouldn’t be very nice riding. We choose to take a scenic route by nabbing 75 out further West. We rode another 18 miles into Clara City to have another sit and fill up our bellies on trail mix and the sandwiches we had made from earlier in the day. We didn’t stay long and were back on the road. Lee put on his headphones. We decided to take 23 since it looked pretty good, but soon regretted our decision as the shoulder got narrow and discontinuous from the road with lots of potholes. After about 10 miles, I pulled us over and advised the scenic route. The guys agreed.

Riding west, we ended up in the town of Granite Falls. I thought it was just the most beautiful little town you’d ever seen. Right on the Minnesota river, it was a clean town with well paved roads and plenty of small businesses to choose from. I felt at home and we sat on a bench in front of the chamber of commerce snacking and checking our route. I began looking for Indian pow wows going on, though was stopped short by Lee, who apparently didn’t care and wanted to get going. 

We stopped for water at Jimmy’s pizza and sat down to an old fashioned Pac-man videogame. As we got on our bikes, I commented on how lovely the town was. How I wouldn’t mind living there when I was older. I began to describe all the places I would visit on a daily basis, the business I would start. It was a lovely little daydream. Before I knew it, we were out of Granite Falls and riding 67 going west. We would ride that highway till the end.

For some reason, the guys were really powering up today on the road. I had trouble keeping up out of Granite Falls. We rode 20 miles and stopped for one last snack in Clarkfield. I told the guys it would be another 26 miles until the next town and we had already rode 62. Again, the guys had a fire in their bellies or something because they were ready to go. And I was ready to go too.

We packed up on condiments and made our last big haul of the day. It was tough, but by 9:00, we were in the town of Canby. “Could be in Canby” “You can be whoever you wanna be in Canby.”

On arriving, we immediately saw “free” camping at a place called Triangle Park off the highway. We were set. While Lenny worked on his chain, Lee and I worked on dinner. Rice, beans, salsa, cheese, eggplant, onion – all wrapped in burritos. It was the perfect end to a very nice day of riding. Oh, and didn’t I mention the heat wave from the past few days was over? It was a good day, though a bit of a stretch and a challenge getting 88 miles when starting at 12.

After dinner, it was sleep. We bantered a bit – the guys made fun of me for the way I didn’t ask for things nicely and rarely said please. I laughed at myself because I knew it was true.

Michael

Bicycle Touring Toolkit Needs American Legion

What a storm we had last night! Lenny’s alarm went off, but none of us responded. I was the first one up at 6:45. It was dry in the tent! I couldn’t believe it. I guess Lenny’s idea for putting the tarp over the tent worked. Though, he had to thank Nigel, since he had been the one to suggest it himself. I need to remember to have a tarp on the next trip I do.

Though much of our stuff was still wet, we had to pack up quickly and leave before the ranger’s did their rounds. We hadn’t paid for the site, so we were on borrowed time. I washed some dishes and helped pack up the tent with Lenny. Lee went off to take a shower – what a mensch, taking a shower at a camp we didn’t pay at. I, on the other hand, wanted to go another day at least before washing off my man scent.

We rode out to the beach that morning to have ourselves some breakfast. I enjoyed a cucumber, oil, and cheese sandwich as well as a peanut butter and raspberry rhubarb jelly sandwich. Both were delicious – however, I had only one roll versus the guys two since I had binged the day before. The breakfast left me still a bit hungry, but I got to take a bit of a nap while the guys did various things to get ready, so I was able to recharge my energy that way. I also wrote a bit in my journal. We all sat in the sunlight, right next to the water on the lake. It was grass right up to the water, which was neat. It was a beautiful place to enjoy our meal.

We rode out of Baker Natural Reserve, but not before getting directions to the nearest town where we picked up two necessities – bug spray and denatured alcohol. I couldn’t find a sports store or a good water bottle, so those are still on the list. We took 19 south out of town and picked up the trail again. Today was going to be a riding day.

Unfortunately, the storm had really blown stuff up. We had to ford many fallen trees. I myself had the grand idea right outside of Watertown to go full pace at one of the barriers, hoping to clear it. I didn’t and scraped up my ankle good. Luckily, it is healing just fine The guys had offered to put a spongebob bandaid on it for me, but I just squirted some water on it and sad it would be fine. “Badass,” said Lenny, perhaps a bit sarcastically.

We stopped in Watertown for some groceries. We enjoyed a cream soda together while shopping for lunch and dinner. We bought mozzerella cheese, liverwurst, red onion, blue cheese, foccacia bread, and alfafa sprouts for lunch. I couldn't probably pronounce Foccacia or ghergens (I kept calling them capers) and the guys made fun of me for it. For a snack, we bought some yogurt and granola, which we downed right outside the store while sitting on some kitty litter boxes. I talked about the night out with the girls and told the guys that the only variable missing was three guys to match the three girls. We also got to finish the strawberries and enjoy more of our flax seeds which the guys had bought in Minneapolis. Oh, and there was free coffee.

We rode out of Watertown and 10 miles later, found ourselves in Winsted. The trail disappeared, so we had to check for directions to where the trail picked up again. We stopped at a creamery that wasn’t really a creamery and got our directions.

We rode until Lenny got hungry and stopped on a farm, though there wasn’t a spot any of us were really happy with. There were, however, a group of horses that we approached and began to pet a lot. We tried to feed them baby carrots, which turned out to be a real struggle, since horses can’t see what they are eating. One of the horses nipped the other one in the butt to send him running away. They all left and we waved goodbye. They were very sweet horses. I think I would really like to get one to ride around when I have the money. After petting the horses, we found a puppy with a chew toy who wanted to play with us. We threw the chew toy and hugged and pet the dog. It looked like his older brother came out or father and so we pet and hugged him too, even though he was a lot noisier and barked a lot more. We were like the animal whisperers.

We rode until we hit the town of silver lake. The guys were looking to eat right on the side of the trail, but I urged them to ride in town and eat on the lake. Once we found a good spot, with the help of Lee, I jumped into the lake to cool off. The guys waited patiently while I refreshed and as I got out of the water, I grabbed the rest of my food and joined the circle for our lunch sandwiches. They were delicious and quite filling.

We stopped at the local American legion to fill up on waters. I thought about getting a beer, but we figured we had a bit more riding ahead of us before that. Lee suggested taking 7 to Cosmos instead of the trail since it would be smoother riding and we all went with that plan.

The riding was slow and difficult – we were facing strong headwinds and a steady uphill the whole way. Lee was behind mostly due to his high wind resistance as well as his undergeared machine. We did about 64 miles though that day before landing ourselves in Cosmos. And what a funny town we had found – we stopped to fill up waters at the American Legion on East Astro boulevard and south venus way.

Lenny made the suggestion that we have a few beers and ask to camp out behind the Legion that night. We liked the idea and smiled at ourselves on our way in. When we entered, we saw a sign that said “all you can eat pizza buffet,” which piqued our interests even further. We sat down to large pizza and a pitcher of beer. The guys asked around for a spot and we learned we could camp at a few places free of charge.

We ordered our pizzas with the young lady in the back – her name was Krysie. She was very pretty – I wish I could have hung out with her more, another girl about to go to college.

A guy at the Legion offered his house to us and we accepted. We rode along and I was worried he might be a cereal killer, telling the guys that the people with the American Legion seem to be on the rough side, but they just laughed it off, said he was a nice guy, and all my fears turned out incorrect. He offered us his “man cave” to sleep in which came complete with a refrigerator, microwave, ac, and sleeping pads. It also happened to be the place where he prepared and cut meet, so it smelled like a meat shop. The fridge also had soda and food for us for when we woke up and some frozen pizzas if we got hungry. We were hooked up.

We went inside for showers and internet use. I sent an email to the DMV. I couldn’t believe the kindness we were receiving. “Expect that from bikers,” said the wife of the man who had invited us. Such kindness.

After we all took showers and our host had gone to sleep, we went in for the night. We all had one more beer each and Lenny and Lee smoked. We stayed up and joked some more – they teased me about the guy cutting us up and eating us that night, since I had been scared in the beginning. We also joked about really horrible ways of being chopped up with the “would you rather” game.

We slept fairly well. I’m really pleased that we got to enjoy another luxurious night on this trip.

Michael

Stormy Evening

I planned out the route we would take out of Minneapolis. We were very slow getting out of the house, packing up all our stuff getting ready to go. Lenny and Lee rode the tandem that Joel had in the garage and I rode it with Erin. It was neat.

I was sad to leave, but Minneapolis had been fun and it was time to hit the road again. We rode over to the Rainbow supermarket to pick up food for the day. We spent a lot of time in the bulk foods aisle “sampling.” We rode to the park outside Minneapolis and ate what we got. I pigged out – had two sandwiches, some biscotti, an apple, some other stuff. I can’t really remember right now, my head is kind of foggy from the other night and my legs are burning.

We continued on the Luce Line trail, which wove through Minnesota. We met three female tourists on their way back to Minneapolis who each had their very own tidy cat panniers. There was obvious some sexual tension and the guys joked about it later. “Well, we’re always looking for damsels in distress,” I said to the girls. “You should have been like “rescuing damsels in heat,”” Lee said earlier On and on.  As we rode, we entered tunnels, and like high school kids, we shouted real loud as we entered them. “I like it that you said you two were going to Portland, OR and I was going to college,” said Lee. “Yeah, we’re taking you to school,” I said.

We got to a park reserve and rode around looking for a spot to camp. We took a look at group camping – that’s when the bugs became unbearable. I shrieked at the amount of bugs. We continued until we hit a campsite. There was a pay box and the office wasn’t going to be open until nine, so we decided to stay without paying.

We cooked quinoa, eggplant, onions, and red pepper that night. It was quite a production – all burners were on and we were battling the wind. Suddenly though, after we were finished eating our glorious meal, the wind died and we started to hear thunder and lightning. There was a storm coming. Lee and Lenny were the first ones to pick up on it and we scrambled to move stuff into a dry spot. Lenny began affixing a tarp to our tent to protect us from getting extra wet. Suddenly, the wind hit us and it was enormous. We began to run around moving our stuff under the awning near the bathrooms. The power in the park suddenly went out. I didn’t know where half my stuff was, but I managed to throw it all under the awning, leaving a few dishes unwashed beside the sink and jump into my tent only slightly wet from the rain that was starting to pelt down on us.

I helped Lenny bring his bike under the awning and accidentally got his straps stuck in his chain. Sorry Lenny.

We all lay in our tents listening to the storm outside. It was big – lots of thunder and lightning. Lenny and I talked about his house and housemates and the rain and watching the rain from one’s porch. "Are you guys still alive?" Yeah Lee, we're still alive.

Minneapolis Part 2

"Where is my mind? Where is my mind?" The song on the radio as I wrote this entry. 

Woke up today really early – figured I’d get an early start on working on the Montana research project. However, I realized that there wasn’t any way to access the internet or the garage, so I had to come up with my own projects that morning. I started by shaving – that felt really good and I look really sexy now. Then, I went ahead and took a shower. Very refreshing, met my need for self care. Later, I went on Lee’s computer to check email. A nice way to pass the time. I also had the bravery to cook up some oatmeal that morning. Glad to have the opportunity to offer that to Lenny and Lee as they woke up blurry eyed from their slumber.

I sat in meditation for 15 minutes – I’ve done that two mornings in a row now. This journal writing is exhausting. It is almost five in the morning. It’s like I just want to be done so I can go to sleep. I can feel that, that need for rest. There’s also this need for reflection and growth, which the journal offers me. There’s something else – a need for trust. How can I trust myself that all this hard work is really going to pay off? I guess I just gotta have faith. I must trust this channel.

After meditation, I noticed that Joel had awakened. I immediately asked about the password to access the internet, which he offered graciously. We then went into the garage together where he gave me the spare set of keys to use with the guys in order to come in and out of the house. He also showed me the spare crank and the spare derailleur we could use to adjust Lee’s bicycle for the big hills. While we were out there, I was able to grab my notebook and my flash drive.

I came back inside and while eating some breakfast, immediately went to work on compiling the data. The other guys were still in bed mostly, and when they awoke, they took their sweet time getting out of bed and out into the world. They wrote letters to people and Lee, as usual, spent a lot of time on facebook.

I worked until about 4:00, taking some nap breaks in between. My companion was MPR, the current, which played all the songs and tracks I loved, from Bon Iver to Mumford and Sons to Iron and Wine. It was fantastic, except that I was doing work for the paper that Nic was going to write. Luckily, I stuck through it and compiled the data sheets as best as I could given the circumstances.

I felt accomplished – like I was finally making progress on something I had put off for too long. I felt competent – like I was doing a job only I could do. Later, when I finally sent my final email to Nic, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief and ease. I took a half hour nap just out of the sure sense of freedom I felt finally being done with what had taken me a full year to do.

I read a chapter in Zen Mind and received a call from Lenny. We would meet down at Loring Park near by Hennepin Avenue. When I arrived, I marveled at the quaint little park in the middle of downtown, a park I had sped through the day before on my way back to the house. There was this fountain that looked like one of those electric balls.

I found the guys seated near the playground. Lenny was pretending to smoke a cigar with a fallen pine comb. I shared my sense of relief and new found love with the gang as we continued to hang out a bitin the park. Lee called his friend, Lenny went god knows where, and I played on the seesaw, climbed trees, and rode around the park.

We left the park to check out the main drag, which happened to be Hennepin Avenue. We parked our bikes outside an expresso royale and got some monsoon Darjeeling tea as well as a chicken curry sandwich for me. The guys had already eaten after the farmer’s market they had gone to earlier in the day after going to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. All I had had was a little bit of pasta and pesto along with the oatmeal from earlier that morning. We sat and talked – Lee and I got into a conversation about living places during our stint in college and I learned about the flooding disaster in science four. Very sad, kind of dwelled in it, stared at it. I tend to do that.

As we walked, we noticed a lot of theatres that we weren’t interested in. The big thing happening was the Big Block Party, which none of us were really interested in going to sea. We did find a nice gay bar, called the Brass Rail, which I totally wanted to party at, but the guys said no due to the cover  charge.

I got a call from my mother regarding an unpaid ticket and became a bit sullen. I talked it out with Lenny and Lee. Lee was really good this time – he was like “Ok Michael, what is it?” From there, I just mentioned how I was worried about the dmv stuff. Then, they said together, “Hey, you can’t do anything about it now. Just put it on the calendar “worry later.” “ I think they made a great point. I still had one last thing I needed – a hug. When you’re battling new York state and your mother at the same time in your head, you really need some loving, caring support else you might drown underneath all the destructive voices. Trying to keep it together and maintain my sense of loving kindness. Trying to maintain my center.

At this point, we were nearby the orchestra center. We asked about different places to eat with the locals and learned about Namaste in uptown as well as Pancho Villa. We were pretty set on eating there until we saw that there was an string orchestra performance that had just started. We had to sort through some other options before deciding that we’d maybe eat real quick at one of the stands and go in for a nice meal. We ended up just going in and waiting until the intermission to eat.

We entered in the middle of Petrushka. The piece that tells a story. There was a projector that guided us through the piece. It was quite entertaining. As I usual do in a music hall with an orchestra playing, my mind began to wander big time, but with such resonance. Like my senses had been enhanced and I could hear all my thoughts with such increased clarity.

Lenny and I ate a burger at one of the stands at intermission while Lee read the program. There was a soloist who was very good after intermission – apparently, he had completed a film and was quite renown. Watching him play his violin, I started to believe the violin was indeed an appendage on his body, the way he moved and used it. The last piece was the firebird suite – an epic piece that made the whole performance worthwhile.

After the performance, we shared our impressions. Lee was really impressed, talked about how he had done the firebird suite himself in school at one point. Lenny was quiet. Lee really has a strong taste for music and I resonanted and connected strongly with him after the performance.

“That ending is just the most epic,” said Lee.

“BAH BAH BOHM BAH BOHM,” I shouted as we walked down Nicolette avenue.

“Seems to tell the story of a phoenix, or a hero making it’s journey,” I said.

“ I remember learning about the story in music history class, something about a bird’s feather and an evil man turning to stone,” said Lee.

We returned to our bikes – it was 10:30 and we were still ready to see more of Minneapolis night life. We rode to uptown. We took Hennepin, which turned out to be a real shit show, compared to the suggested bike route I put forth. Another case of me getting really upset and wanting to curse my teammates, but I kept it inside and tried to put some trust in the guys. Once we arrived in uptown, I just mentioned that I knew the way on the bike path and maybe we could take it.

When we got to uptown, we found out that Namaste was not serving food anymore. We decided to stop at a pizza place across the street instead to get some late night za. We got the white pizza, much to my pleasure, and Lenny and Lee got some duvals. We talked some more, this time about women and religion, two very important topics for me in my life. I think I got to the bottom of it with Lenny.

“I guess I just feel lonely because there’s not a lot of people who believe in god anymore.”

“Well, you’re a bioengineering, though you can’t separate the parts, the emergence has a strictly biological basis. You can’t call it supernatural.”

“Science answers what. God answers why.”

“I guess you’re right,” I said.

We rode our bikes on the greenway with me leading the way and then we took 3^rd avenue past the MIA over the stone bridge to see the falls. It was nice that the guys were leading me around after I led them through the greenway. We saw some cool night time lighting effects along the way.

We rode on into NE Minneapolis. We were looking for the 331. We met some other bicyclists and asked them the way. Turned out they were going in the same direction. The guy, I can’t remember his name, was from Sioux Falls, which was to be our next destination. He was way cool.

“If you can’t tell, I am an astronaut,” pointing to his white and blue suit.

We arrived at the 331 with only about an hour and half before closing. There was a band playing, but I wasn’t really into them. I just wanted to get to know some locals, and most of these hipsters were just giving me the cold shoulder. I almost lost it and began the spiral of self doubt when I went outside and checked my intentions. I want to meet people, especially girls. I don’t want to leave tonight without talking to girls. So, I got up and walked behind the bar where people were standing and had my first warm up conversation with a woman who was married to a music recorder. It was sort of small and uninspired, but it really loosened me up and got me out of my head.

I went inside just as the band was finishing up and got a beer for last calls. The guys were already ready to go and I told them to wait a while and talk to some people. I talked to a few and some more cold shoulders until I met Amelia. She was the coolest! From watertown, she talked about her small town and all that good stuff. She had a very fun and expressive way of being that I cherished from the moment I met her. Her boyfriend Zach was awesome as well – he came up and started chatting with me and he was just a load of fun. I also got to meet Allison, Amelia’s good friend, who I had tried talking to earlier while I was still in freak out mode.

Before I knew it, I was walking with these people over to a house party. Amelia and I tried to climb the brick wall outside the 331. As we walked, Eric and Allison sang a song about going to the party and as they did, they must have convinced like 6 other random people to come. It was a riot. Once we got there, everyone was really friendly and asking me about my life and history. Eric offered me a magic hat which I gladly accepted. There were three girls there on a bachelorette party – one of them was from NY, which was pretty cool. I wish I had continued talking to them – they seemed really down to earth. But soon, I was up and dancing around with Zach, making an ass of myself.

Then, the most beautiful three women from South Dakota entered. I started talking to one of them and I felt so so connected. She kept looking me in the eyes and talked about these crazy bicyclists she had met and she talked about baking and we both talked about Judaism. I thought I was going to get with this girl, when her girlfriends decided they wanted to leave. I gave her my information and made a lame request for a kiss before she left. She declined.

I felt really embarrassed and awkward after that. The girl told her friend “He just asked me to kiss him. Let’s go.” I felt the same way. I waited in the kitchen for a little bit before heading out onto the porch, realizing I had no reason to feel embarrassed.

I think the porch was the best part of the evening. I told my little embarrassing story and got a few laughs from the community. And they really were a community – known each other for 8 years. Such a special connection and a free flow of energy and love. I only hope I can have the same someday.

“So, I was sitting outside and just really enjoying the stars when laura was like “honey, there’s only like two people in the house, we should get to sleep” so I got up and felt in in my stomach and barfed”

“OH hey, here’s the local paper. What does it say? Local man barfs in his own backyard.”

“I hate snakes.”

The most hilarious nonsense. When I told them about the kiss, Amelia was very helpful in making me understand. If one girl gets kissed, they all have to get kissed. Curse my friends for leaving me that night.

I left even though Dan had offered me to stay and crash. I didn’t want to be away from the gang that night, so I declined and walked with the rest of the people heading home. We talked about how we would look each other up on facebook and I headed back to the 331 for my bike. Got a little turned around along the way, but eventually found my way to my bike and on my bike to Monroe. Listened to a little bit of This Town Needs Guns Along the way.

It was five am. What a night.. 

Minneapolis Part 1

Thursday night was spectacular sleeping on an actual mattress in the cold downstairs. So well treated. I slept past the other guys until Lenny had to wake me up. I also did a meditation that morning. When I came upstairs, I noticed that the guys had a whole slew of events they had been talking about with Jeremy. I tried to hear them all so I could add what we might want to do additionally.

We got ourselves ready and head out for breakfast at Al’s dinkytown diner. It was the BEST breakfast I had ever had in the best atmosphere. We took a wrong turn on the way with Lenny in the lead (took a right when we should have taken a left) , but ended up getting in there before another group of three. We waited outside for like 10 or so minutes and received our tables right near the entrance and where Doug, the large and in charge cook, was doing his business. He was the owner and the place was a real hole in the wall. One long bar and that was it. They could probably only serve 15 people at a time, but the FOOD! Oh man, the food was well priced, creative and tasty, and largely portioned! I was in heaven. I want more Al’s now. We received service from a very pretty waitress who was just starting over. Lenny and I noticed she looked a lot like a friend back in Binghamton.

We went down to the post office in downtown so we could get our mail. I called just to make sure that my wallet was on its way, which it wasn’t. Had a little bit of a scare until I realized that this David guy I was on the phone with was going to make sure I got my wallet in Sioux Falls. At the same time though, I was having trouble getting the package that I knew was there. The guy at the window had read my ID wrong and couldn’t find a Michael Monroe. We finally straightened it out and I received my pan and voice recorder. Score.

I was feeling pretty down though due to the lack of wallet, but I found Lee and we rode over to One on One sports so Lee could look for a granny gear. I continued to talk with Dave until we had everything arranged. I should give him a call soon, by the way. I also got in contact with Rose, who was going to sell me her phone so I could have a replacement for my broken phone. She couldn’t go very far from home, so I was going to ride 10 miles south to meet her at the Verizon store.

I rode down after one on one and enjoyed Portland avenue, only to find that east 66^th was pretty much unridable. I cursed Rose for asking me to come all the way out here on a bicycle. I thought I was going to be late too. However, when I arrived, I realized I had been reading my computer clock which was set to eastern time. I called Rose to let her know I was there early. In the mean time, I got on one of the Verizon computers, checked email and facebook, and read over the blog.

Rose’s cell phone turned out to be a tank. No color screen and the most annoying texting system ever. It wasn’t too bad though – I guess that will limit how much texting I will be able to do comfortably. Felt like I was sinking lower.

Suddenly though, my mind changed. I noticed a shift in energy. Once I had my new old phone on, I received a beautiful text from Vivian. I didn’t know it was her until I entered her into my contacts. She was very funny about it – she said it was the universe saying yes. I said it was her. 

Then, another marvelous thing happened. I received a phone call from my most cherished friend from home Clark Husted. He had ended his Appalachian trip early to work over in North Carolina doing wilderness overnights with troubled youth. Yes. I was all about this. I am going to give him a call soon to see if there are positions available in the Spring. I certainly hope there are. He told me about it and I was so grateful he had called me to share his marvelous news. I told him about my reservations regarding the trip I was on, and he totally understand. I shared all my sad stories and he was open to it. I could tell I could rely on him as a friend finally. He had found a niche for himself and he sounded very happy. He was into mountain biking, which is the shadow to what I am doing J. Such interesting ways the universe works. Such interesting ways that our faith can be rekindled. I also grabbed some razors, speed stick, and fluid for my contacts. I was all set.

By that time, Shabbat services were about to start. I called up Lenny to let him know where I ‘d be. I got directions and rode into Uptown for a reform service. Along the way, I avoided 66^th and got to take the Midtown Greenway. It was gorgeous – plenty of green and bridges spanning over the bike trail. Like a little hidden alley of wonders and no cars!

I rode past the greenway at first and I took a wrong turn onto Hennepin nearby the synagogue, but eventually, I made it, just in time for a little bit of food before the service. I was going to try to solicit money for the trip while I was there. I talked to a few people and noticed each time I mentioned money that their hearts would just sink and they wouldn’t want to talk to me anymore. Damn these stupid fundraisers. In any case, I was glad to go into the services and just enjoy my Friday evening Shabbat service. And my spirit had been calling for it. When we sang the Shema, I remember just soaring and singing with such vibrato.

After the service was when I really started asking around. And they weren’t interested. I asked the greeter if there were any way to get the word out in the community and if such a request would work, and she said no, it probably wouldn’t, the money needed to stay in the community and there were plenty of community charities that they already worked with.

I was very displeased and left without my backpack, so that I actually had to come back for it. There wasn’t even a nice oneg after the service. I called to see where Lenny and Lee were. They were cooking dinner, thank god, and I was invited. So, I rode on Hennepin, thinking it would take me north into NE Minneapolis. Unfortunately, it got me onto the interstate. I turned around on the on ramp and luckily found myself going north on a bike path. I rode behind another biker who lead me most of the way. Then, I took the busy Hennepin through the main drag and finally over the bridge into NE.

When I arrived at the house, the guys were almost finished cooking. I sat down to talk and chat with the rest of our hosts. We ate and drank a beer each. I sat and had a wonderful chat with someone about international schools and different cultures. I had thought he had just come by from another house that night. There were a lot more guys in the house that night. I was a little quiet, still pretty upset about being turned down for money. After I ate, I wrote in the journal for a couple of days, including Thursday’s angry entry. I must have given the guys some looks. I noticed that Lenny was chatting with Sarah a bunch. I was really happy about that – Sarah seemed to be the most uncomfortable with us staying there, though she was doing all her wonderful cooking for us.

Oh, the name of the meal that night was the Michael Bush surprise. The guys were real loving and open to my energy even as I cursed them out over and over again in my journal. I think that qualifies them as saints J.

Michael

The Twin Cities

Dairyland

We tried to make it from Chicago to Milwaukee in a day. For some reason that didn't work out. We stayed in Racine, Wisconsin, on a trail in a nature preserve. It was our sketchiest spot yet, but we had no trouble.

We got to Milwaukee in the early afternoon and went to SummerFest, an 11-day cheap festival. George Clinton was ridiculous and awesome.



We stayed with a Warm Showers host—too bad we didn't get to hang out much after the concert.

Wisconsin is full of bike trails, so we rode one toward Madison. We stopped at a couple bike shops on the way. Trailside Bicycles (?) hooked me up with a double kickstand. The Bike Doctor (or his evil evil alter-ego Doktor Bike) fixed my headset real quick, fixed Mike's pedal, and offered us free beers at the shop bar.



What a beautiful morning at Indian Lake.



In Madison we also had a WS host, a nice guy with a young family. They treated us to beers and barbecue, and in the evening we went out to watch a huge fireworks show from across the lake.

We rode on along Wisconsin's bike trail system, stopping by a few farms. We couldn't buy any raw milk because it's illegal, but one farmer grudgingly gave us a bit of free milk, since her elderly mother said we could have it.

The trails were mainly hard-packed gravel. Our steel frames and 32c tires held up nicely, so we were barely slowed down. My chain just sounds like a dying whale now. One of the trails went through some pitch black train tunnels. I will post a video of one soon!

We just got off the trails today, saw the great river, and expect to be in the Twin Cities tomorrow.

Oh, and there's this:

Chicagooo!

Lenny here, bringing the blog up to date with unapologetic brevity.

We rode 76 miles into Chicago, our longest day since our first day out of New Hampshire. As we rode, Stefano called for a stop because his wheel got severely untrue after hitting a bump. Upon closer inspection we saw that he had 5 broken spokes—more than we could handle on our own. He hitched a ride to a bike shop, and we three remaining riders pressed on through the wasteland of Gary, Indiana. We reached our meeting point and got some ice cream. As we ate and waited for Stefano, a pair of bikers out for a weekend tour stopped by to chat. They led us to a park where they stopped to eat and we picked up a trail into Chicago.

We rode by downtown Chicago along Lake Michigan.



Mike's cousin Joe put us up in his swanky apartment and got us deep dish and beers. Thanks, Joe!

Next day we walked around a bunch, pretty aimlessly. We got to the bean, which was about as great as I expected.



Shopping!



Dan Ryan!



Our second full day in Chicago was packed with activities. We started with the free and excellent Lincoln Park Zoo. Bears have funny butts.



We went to Taste of Chicago. We were there for a while and still didn't see all the vendors. I didn't optimize my ticket spending, but had a good time anyway. Mike's churritos were my favorite.



Mike then went to a bike shop, and the rest of us had a choice: Sears Tower or the mirror maze funhouse. It was an easy decision, and though the funhouse was a tourist trap on Navy Pier, the psychedelic tunnel made it worthwhile.

We joined up at Cozy Noodles, a hip Thai place Stefano had heard about. Delicious!

We ran around the corner to the Improv Olympic for the Cook County Social Club. It was just two people (I think they usually have more), and they put on an excellent long-form show full of characters.

Stefano had not been sure if he would stop at Chicago or keep riding to the Mississippi River, but with a bum hand, he decided to fly home from Chicago. The next morning we had breakfast together, and as we got ready to ride on, Stefano left to pack his bike and go to the airport. It's been real, Stefano.