Feb 13 Thursday

 We have a lazy day start and finally get on the road around 11:00. Jim road out with me. We had forgotten how much climbing there is on the road out here

Lots of movies have been made out here. If they need a desolate setting this is the place

These are the building that have been used for some of the movies.

It is hard to imagine that there is a flood gage out here. But here it is

The Rioi Grande is running strong this year. It's been about thirteen years since Jim and I have been here. Back then it was desperately low. It makes me smile to see it flowing so well. What is more 

Facinating is the hills on the other side is Mexico. When they talk about that wall they want to build to keep our borders safe you can only think to yourself...Yeah, Right.

Riding back to camp this is a shot of Lajitas. The last year we were herea rich guy from Houston bought the town of Lajitas. He envisioned a rich person's hideout. Lajitas was  out of a set of an old western movie. Wide dirt road down the middle with a row of buildings with a wooden boardwalk. The guy closed the RV camp, camp grounds and a funky general store down the hill. There was a Lone Star beer drinking goat named Clay Henry at the general store. He put in a 

$30,000.00 Golf course, which flooded because he built it on the flood plain. Interestingly enough it hadn't flooded in 92 years. Since then he has gone bust and a new group of investors have done a pretty nice job. The old Lajitas is definitely gone the new people seem to be embrassing the regular people. Especially the mountains bikers. The group here have delveloped incredible trails. They say if you like Moab, then you better check this out.

Mike got in pretty late so we opted for dinner and went to the Resturant in Lajitas. It is a beautiful 

Place. The food was marvelous. Here is Jim and Mike with Georgia who is from Main. You probably 

Are wondering as well. How did she get here. Well, she wanted to move to Texas and found herself in Marfa. People there said working in Lajitas she would make a better living. She was working hard and always had a smile.

Back at camp and we plan our morning. Jim is going off road. Me, I'm gonna head out on 170 to see if I can ride any farther. The wind really made it hard to ride very far this morning, but when I turned around, boy did I fly.

Feb 12 Wednesday Apine to Lajitas

We ate a Penny's Diner.

Here is Jim with my favorite breakfast, biscuits & gravy. I swear  this breakfast helped me ride across the states this last summer

Bonnie and Doyle work at Penny's Diner and put on a great spread.

We are in the mountains of Big Bend now. This is called Cathedral Mountains it stands 6800 ft.

This particular mountain is quite long. If you look just right you can tell why it is called Elephant Mountain. It stand at 6230 feet.

One last mountain we came across that was worthy of a sign. Hen Egg Mountain at 5000 ft..

if you look into the distance you you the road winding down through the land. This area is called 

The O2 Flats. It is between Alpine and Study Butte. It runs through the O2 ranch land. Fast 

Motorcycles and Hot cars like to run this road. It is fast and flat. We've heard over the years they would love to have a race on it. The only  problem is, it is the only way to get to Study Butte from Alpine

Diggity and Doogie are ready to be there. We are just about to get to the RV camp

We have landed and this will be home for the next few days. This is a Mountain Bike Festival.

We brought my road bike cause you don't wanna see me off road. So I will get some climbing in

On the highway 170.  We are excited for the festival, they they have over 500 registered. If you look at a map to see where this is. Then you will realize this is a really special place for Mountain Bikers to ride

In Terlingua there is the Starlight. Terlingua is known for their chili cook off which is held the first weekend in November. If you were to see this place you cannot imagine 10,000 people coming to watch the cook off which usually 300 to 350 people compete. Back to the Starlight it has changed

As well. This time of year they have a Word Off where people come and recite their poetry and stories.

It began as the Chisos Movie Theater, constructed for the mercury miniers in the 1930s. It was abandoned in the late 1940s, ultimately causing the roof to be sold as scrap. In the 1960s it became an outdoor gathering place, music and theater venue, and dance hall. In 1991 it got it's roof back.

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Tomorrow Jim is going to ride with me on the road. Plans are Mike Pluto will be in and he will ride off road.

On the road to the Saris Gala

On the road to Madison Wisconsin for the Saris Gala. This is a fund raiser that Saris puts together for the Bike Fed of Wisconsin. They have been doing this for ten years. Jim and I decided to come up for the festivities. Below is Chris and  Sara Fortune who own Saris are ready roll on the pub crawl bus.

We stared the crawl with Old Fashions.

Phil Ligget! Those who know bike racing know it best through the eyes and voice of Phil. He has been the commentator for the Tour de France for 41 tours also 14 Olympics.

He is here for the Gala with a warm up on the pub crawl. Surprisingly he is awake. He just flew in from England.

Our first stop was the bar called the Fresco at the Oveture. It is a multi purpose facility. This view is from the balcony of the Overture... Beautiful evening

Pedaling hard to move on to the Tipsy Cow Pub! By the way this is a whole lotta work.

Inside we had an interesting Drink called the Moscow Mule, made with Ginger Beer & Vodka.

We made it back to the hotel dropped everyone off and made our way to Chris and Sara's home.

Their home is across from downtown Madison on lake Monona. An incredible view and a lovely end to a fun evening

August 31 Day 61 Sanford ME to Portland ME 38 Miles 985 climbing

Today we ride into Portland Maine. There is a different feel around the trailer today. Everyone knows this is it. All of us have made the journey. This entry is to say "Thanks for the memories, everyone."

 Nancy, thank you for coming up with this trip. With your persistence and planning you gave yourself a marvelous 60th birthday present. We all really enjoyed being a part of it.

Sharon, with your ability to plan and organize you helped Nancy pull this off. Thank you

Chris and Mary, what hard work you did to make sure the routes happened each day. I hand it to you there were a lot of adventures these past 60 days.

Nevin became our kinder soul, however he stood up and voiced his opinion when needed. He could ride anyone's pace.Thank you for being Nevin.

Harold was able to meet his goal and pass it. 250 beers plus 6. I loved the way he would explore the small towns we visited and always came back with history lessons none of us would have never found.

Suzanne was so funny and happy and boy could she ride. She did develop an obsession for Lays Potato chips. We made a vow to change our habits back to normal after this trip.

Roger was the man. All you needed was a tow rope and you could ride like the wind. We all enjoyed his smile, bright blue eyes and his gift of story telling.

Larry, in case you didn't know he was a Marine and will always be one. A heck of a cyclist. Always up front. Had to get there so he could unload the luggage.

Recumbent Pete, taking care of the back of the group, making sure we all made it in. Always had kind words to say.

Paul and Jean Mykitin joined us for the last two weeks of the trip. We really wished they could have been there for the whole enchilada. They would have had a blast and we all would have enjoyed their 

Spirit. So glad you made it for the last two weeks Paul and Jean.

Patrick wasn't here for the whole journey, just the last few weeks. We learned quickly he would have been valuable to have around for the entire trip. His navigational skills were incredible. 

Ah Pat. A cyclist from the old school. I enjoyed the fact he was convinced we were all bike racers because we wore Lycra. I am enviable of all the thousands of miles that he has ridden in his 70 years. Pat the only race we are in, is the race of life. We are all doing our best to enjoy it.

Brother Mike, thank you for the prayer this morning. We have had a blessed trip. The weather was awesome and everyone finished the ride. Oh and you were never lost, you only misplaced yourself a few times.Your rest stops were great!

Me and my Mr. Jimmy. I remember when we talked about riding across the States. Then two years ago you said let's ride across with Chris and some of his friends. We did it!

Diggity and Doogie. A 12 year old and 22 month old pup. 52 hotels and 10 camper stays and counting. You little guys have been pretty darn good. Love you guys

Today we all rode together.we waited at turns and no one was dropped. Many parts of the ride were on the Eastern trail bike path.

The path was hard packed and tree covered. Also with it being Saturday and the Labor 

Day weekend the trail had many people out enjoying a ride, running or just a stroll with family and pets.

We finally got to the city and made our way down to the East Beach. No barns today, but I did spot this pretty cool old boat.

They have this small gauge train that runs up and down the coast line. Just like so many of the big freight trains we passed out west the conductor blew the whistle for us.

This is it we all lined up to dip our front wheels in the Atlantic.  

Victory pose. 

Jim and I and our great bikes doing a happy dance.

Below is my Garmin 3364 miles, total climbing for the trip 102,133 feet

This trip would not have been complete without the help of some great friends. Keith and Martha who did the sag support for the first two weeks. Since they were the first, getting the routine down was a tough job. They made it look easy. We all knew that what they were putting together was a lot harder than riding our bikes. The photo below Martha became cone head for the day.

Damon and Cindy were the next ones to come. They were dynamic. They could whip up a lunch stop like nobody's business. They introduced us all to Lays potato chips, Oreo cookies and Chips ahoy cookies. Darn you two!

Then along comes Sam. You couldn't pull anything over on Sam. He could do it all by himself. Finally he let us help. Of course with some direction from him.

We were fortunate that Chris's daughter Tessa was able to take on a week when we found out Jim's brother Mike would not be able to make it. Then Sondra , Roger's wife was here as well. They made a great team and the food presentations improved immensely.

Finally would like to thank all of you who have followed this blog. It's been a blast. We still have our journey home with friends and family to visit along with way. Hopefully maybe get a few rides in as well. If you are curious check in and see what we are up to.

Dang that was fun! Rhonda and Jim