Center of the Universe

Day 37 - July 10th, 10:41pm
70 miles. Beloit, KS to Red Cloud, Nebraska

I know, seriously, a town called Red Cloud, you just know this day had to be awesome. I'd def put it in the top 3. All the cool things today were definitely much needed after those 200 miles of nothingness.

To start with, 70 miles is actually a treat. Our terrain was the same mix of flat and rolling ground, a great mix of wild, untamed prairies and endless farms. It was really gorgeous and kind of struck me as a less intense version of West Virginia(which id say has been the prettiest so far), West Virginia Lite if you will.

The weather was a whole other deal. To begin, as we exited the building this morning what did we find? Not one, but two rainbows covering the entire sky! They were so pronounced and colorful, almost like a skittles commercial. It was the first time all of us had seen anything like that. Words cannot describe. It was wild and purely awe - mazing.

We started the day pedaling away from the darkest of the dark clouds towards the other half of the sky that was all blue. It was only 2 miles before the cue sheet turned us left back into the storm clouds for 27 miles. As we prepared for the worst, being rain, the landscape yet again pulled off something crazy. The sun peeked through some clouds illuminating all of the seas of wheat and contrasting heavily with the ultra dark sky. The color clash was outrageous. It looked like a poorly photoshopped image or something and was super. Kinda was one of those "Whoa, are you for real right now sun?!" moments. Even more super was that we were able to actually peddle all the way through the storm clouds to the other blue sky side without any rain! Anyone reading this blog knows very well by now what that means for me.

Our first funstop of the day was at the world's largest ball of twine at Cawker City, KS. In case you were wondering, 17,000 pounds is really heavy and yes that ball is ginormous. Its kinda hilarious to think that something like that actually exists but then again we need something to take pictures in front of, right? Much fun was had as we did some climbing on it as well as taking little snippets to carry along with us. Don't worry, we also put on our own twine contribution that way exceeded what we took.

Next up was the geographic center of the universe, erm, i mean the continental US. I kinda love anticlimactic monuments and this definitely did not fail to deliver. Though i did think it would be pretty funny if they one day discovered that they were off by like a few feet and had to move the whole monument. There was also this rooster just hanging out in the lunch gazebo. Kinda random, but also kinda fun.

The biggest highlight by far though, and one of my favorite memories so far, was my riding with Larry, Ryan Farr, Steven, and Carlos. 20 miles of enless, deserted rode basically means byof. Bring Your Own Fun. What started out with some joking around about riding formations quickly turned into the most extremely synchronized cycling performance Kansas has ever seen. Seriously\, I've seen less coordinated Olympic athletes. After developing about 6 or so moves including the Jack in the Box, Flying V, Five Abreast, Reverse V, we ran through a 5 minute choreographed routine memorizing positions and all. That was merely to prepare for none other than our finale, the fabled Zanzibar. All i can say is that criss crossing, water bottles, charging, flanking, thumbs up, and fist pumps, may or may not have been involved in that move alone.

While obviously super fun by itself, we performers have the audience at heart and ran through it relentlessly in preparation for a Van only performance. Kate apparently didnt get the message and passed us only 1/3 of our way into it. No Joke, we were actually furious that they hadn't watched it all. Its all good since we calmed down after getting out a flawless run through anyway. Ugh, Happiness is so internal these days...

The waterballoons were unused today due to rehearsal, but the munitions team remains ever alert.

Passed into Nebraska today! Apparently over here is where its "The Good Life". Funny, you wouldn't really know it from the 5+ shotgun rounds sprayed onto the state welcome sign. Oh America...

Got some pool time in along with the others in town. I've never really taken to diving but there have been boards everywhere. I decided today that I don't enjoy painful bellyflops but would rather prefer graceful swan aerialism. Did a lot of practicing on the board. Not much improving, but still, a lot of practice. Hopes are to get a decently cool one i can do solid by the end of the trip. I mean what's water for if you can't show off to your friends, right? The millions of little kids there definitely had a ball doing that in front of us today.

Thought today about having us try to break some kind of cycling world record. Would probably be unneccessary, silly, and totally useless. Figured it would fit right in with the rest of our fun activities!

47 miles tomorrow is a joke, we usually do a little less than that just for lunch. Will be nice to rest while still covering distance. I'm also responsible for writing the group journal for today. Was originally planning on letting my imaginary gnome friend, Moxy, take care of it. He tells me he'll cover next time though and will just use my experience for this time. Gnomes these days... Anyway, Goodnight!

Seas of Gold

Day 36 - July 9, 7:58pm
94 miles. Manhattan, KS to Beloit, KS

Waking up at 4:30 really isnt too bad. Really, I mean as long as you think of it as an extended nap from the day before you'll be set. Seriously though, being totally ready to ride while its still dark was an interesting experience. Breakfast was provided by this funny group of men from the church who were kind enough to be up so early. It was funny since dinner the night before had been prepared by a female only group. Seems like a good enough way to avoid marriage stress...

Riding with the sunrise in the morning made me realize how few I've actually seen. I can't even remember the last time, but let me tell you, no one could get over how magical the morning ride was with such a majestic sun creeping over the horizon. We all agreed that we'd totally do 4:30 every morning if we could experience that each time.

The rolling scenery was great all the way through. Lots of prairies and lots of wheat. Unfortunately the latter had already been harvested only a week ago but that didn't stop Karina and I from getting a quick frolic in(it was her first!). Though i would've loved to be running among head high stalks, standing in a sea of gold for as far as i could see was pretty awesome. The 100+ degrees that started hitting around 2:30 was less than great. But there were sheep! We even got to see them run around. Gotta love em.

I explained yesterday how people usually just end up riding with each other sorta randomly unless arranged beforehand. Lately there have been lots of two person pairs and I've been thinking for a while how frustrating it can be when your pace isn't matched up with your partners. Its really none of your faults but just rather your difference in riding abilities. On a super hot and long day like today where the roads are flat I at least feel that its nice to go a healthy pace and finish early and beat the heat. You obviously can't ditch people you're with so it gets a little tough if things aren't matched. Its not so much going slow that's the problem, but rather that feeling of not getting a good workout. I guess in a way my body sometimes craves endorphins and speed really bad but I can't always allow that due to riding conditions, and that can sometimes be tough to handle. Its also much harder if good conversation isn't always present to make up for the slow riding. Just some thoughts on an unavoidable dilemma. It kinda bothers me that i sometimes find myself subtly maneuvering to make sure I don't get paired with certain riders, but on the other hand there shouldn't be anything wrong with wanting to ride with people who you like and who match your speed.'

The day was once again spent on Route 24 which was thoroughly uneventful. We did pass a sign pointing to Salina, KS which was cool since my roommate Patrick is from there and has told me a bunch of stories about it. On the last 15 miles, we hit flat land and the crosswind picked up like nobody's business. We were struggling to not let the wind push us off the rode. I literally had to ride tilted left 80 degrees just to keep from being pushed over. It was pretty fun and cool actually. I mean really, who would want easy riding?

We did some guesstimating and are thinking that the Rockies will come into sight in two days. Some say tomorrow but i think two days sounds good. Can't wait to get that first glimpse of them on the horizon. Nothing like staring at doom head on for hundreds of miles.

Also, the artillery was out in full force today. The satchel was loaded last night with seven munitions of which only one was prematurely detonated today. One other was fired directly at the van as it passed us(perfect timing!) only to be deflected off the windshield. No other victims were targeted, but tomorrow is another day. And for those who are more confused than usual, I'm talking about my slowly self-consuming water-balloon obsession. Jenny couldn't tell what hit the car, so worry not, she still assumes it was an onion(?). The enemy still sleeps...

Finally! i found postcards. Such a load of stress off of me, it was literally the only place in a 30 mile radius that had any. Ugh! Its silly to be upset over this but i still can't believe that in 94 miles and our host town i didn't pass a single pharmacy that i could buy sunscreen from. With sun that intense its a necessity and it pains me to keep borrowing from people. Words cannot express my outrage at the barren countryside right now, as beautiful as it is. This is def my city side being all fussy but seriously, just one bottle of sunscreen. I just get really upset and outraged when things that should make sense and be simple aren't. Namely, buying a bottle of sunscreen somewhere in 200 miles of road. Don't even get me started on companies' customer service...

Got into town early with Carlie around 2:30 and enjoyed a great root beer float at this nice soda fountain shop for only $2.50. You can't even get a whipped cream topping for that cheap in NYC. By then it was definitely over 100 degrees and we headed to the city pool with some others only to find the greatest slide ever. We easily went on it at least 10 times in the first 5 minutes and were more hyper than most of the little kids there. Water to our skin was like gold bond to a wet crotch. (Trust me, riders know what that means) Getting to know several female lifeguards was also very appreciated. Easliy chilled in the pool for over 1.5 hours and loved every minute.

The catholic church here treated us to a great spaghetti dinner and i couldn't help but go into "inhale" mode after all that swimming. Finished dinner by 7 something and its really nice to have all this time to decompress. Though its quickly approaching 10pm which for most people is probably the equivalent of 1am.

Also, mail drop today! Super Duper thanks to John and Niki and everyone for sending the cards and words of support (loved the drawn in bicycle!). They totally made my day. I guess someone looked at how to mail love on the right sidebar, ahem... Also just in general thank you for your unrelenting love and encouragement. That goes for all of the readers of this blog as well. You're probably all connected in some way to one or more riders on this trip, whether friends or family, or acquaintances we've met along the way. If you're a random dude in Greenland that's probably still okay. But knowing that you're all following along and silently cheering means the world to me and all the riders. Comments are just goldmines of encouragement as well and I'd highly recommend them. Its really my honor and pleasure to share this magical journey with you all so THANK YOU for being there with us.

The Little Apple

Day 35 - July 8, 9:52 pm
80 miles. Lawrence, KS to Manhattan, KS.

So this was our cue sheet today.

1. Turn right out of hotel
2. Turn right onto Route 24.
3. Pedal Pedal Pedal for 80 miles.
4. Turn right into church.

One road, 80 miles. Yes, we're in the midwest. Rode with Clarissa today and it was honestly some of the fastest riding yet. She's pretty awesome and we get along well. Im just really attracted to her laidbackness and how forthcoming she is. Its kinda wierd to think shes 5 years older than me but how i never even think of that when talking to her. If she never told me i would've thought she was 20. Age is just so ridiculously arbitrary and it amazes me how little it matters in how people can connect. Its too bad it still remains such a silly barrier sometimes. LIke me, you may also be thinking of one age marker in particular.

We averaged almost 17mph for the whole day which i think is my highest yet. We got to lunch at 40 miles without even stopping once which was definitely a first. Neither of us had ever ridden 40 consecutive miles like that so that was cool. We had also never been on such insane flat ground without a headwind so yea.

Morning riding is the best. Traffic and temperature are so low and your energy is so high. By the time the sun came out in our last 10 miles, even I was having trouble with the heat. Guess who saw more corn today! Apparently all the wheat has already been harvested so thats no fun but 24 was actually a decent highway. In some ways, its nice to have many turns to give yourself small checkpoints and a false sense of accomplishment and such. But so long as the shoulder is nice and we can keep up a good speed, staying on one route and getting in your zone also works pretty well.

We found some abandoned train cars and climbed up to see the empty insides. Seeing an empty container is pretty much as anticlimactic as it sounds but it was still fun to see and climb the cars up close.

Its kinda personally funny to be in a town called Mahnattan coming from NYC myself, when its clearly not the most populated. In case you're wondering, Manhattan is actually a Native American term meaning roughly "Land of hills". Thats the only way i could see that the two towns would have the same name. Its apparently referred to as the "Little Apple"

Seriously though, could it be any harder to find a simple postcard. The gas stations were fruitless and the town book stores has all of these silly artsy cards. Its kinda frustrating actually because its just so counerintuitive. We have so little time to actually look for things like that and when you're riding it sucks to ruin your rhythm and take a pitstop for errands. Man, I've never wanted tacky gas station items so bad. You would think that a place like Kansas would want to show off itself at every chance it gets. Either way, I am confident that i will persevere and that through my cards all shall know of the great state of Kansas.

After getting to the church, four of us headed over to a local sprinkler park and basically did what every other 8 year old was doing. We ran around and screamed. Did some mothers pull their children away from us? Maybe. Hopefully not. it was an awesome sprinkler park though with so many cool colorful fountains and on such a hot day it must have been paradise for those kids. The only problem was the aimable squirt guns with which the kids decided to keep getting my attention with. For our pose we decided to go with Water Vixens. And by we i mean I. That might help explain the, how can i say, less than coordinated arrangement.

We continued walking into the main strip which was a typical college town strip for nearby Kansas State University. We walked into this store called Acme Gifts which is one of those stores that basically has all of those really witty and funny but utterly useless items like huge moustaches and peanut shaped erasers. It was sort of like Urban Outfitters except cooler and less gimmicky in my opinion. There were some fun girls there that were fun to talk to and that I joked around with about the store. Lets just say that I wouldn't have stuck around so long had they been guys...

Then i met the owner of the Store, named Diane, and had my world rocked. She was also apparently the owner of that Acme t shirt shop i wrote about in Lawrence as well as the original branch in Manhattan. I flipped out when i heard that and told her how i had legit said to myself how all i want to do is work there for the rest of my life. I could really sense something about her that I haven't seen in many other people and that immediately mesmerized me. You could tell that she just absolutely loved her work. I can't explain it but the way she spoke, her subtle facial expressions, her tone of voice and smile all just gave me the impression of extreme laidbackness in the best way, which is just so attractive to me. With a store like Acme her whole philosophy is how can i sell the coolest, funkiest things to people and i just find that so inspiring and beautiful. It was overwhelming actually how much that spoke to me. I can only hope for a career where i can pursue such a simple, fun goal like that. Meeting her and hearing her story and seeing how her personality was clearly the bedrock of her business was an unbelievable highlight. I could barely handle how inspired I was.

It disappoints me sometimes to think that people's careers and passions aren't always related. Its obviously one of things that just is and you can't really change all at once, but why does economic necessity have to so crushingly trump our personal fulfillment sometimes.

Great chicken dinner provided by the church which was much appreciated. We'll need it for our 100 mile ride tomorrow! I'll also need plenty of sleep for our 4:30 wakeup so goodnight!

Seriously, why do we even bother getting off our bikes sometimes.

Retro Cocktail Hour!

Day 34 - July 7, 10:50pm
2nd Build Day. Lawrence, KS

Have felt totally great these mornings. Forgot what it feels like to not have to freshen up, gear up, and pack your entire belongings all in 30 min. I think its fair to say we all got to the build site pretty excited to take our progress even further and get back in our rhythm.

Dave was one of the older knowledgeable guys helping out and just as we arrived i made a passing comment about his shirt which led into a ten minute conversation about "Retro Cocktail Hour" which is this great 50's lounge music that Dave loves which they apparently play on this one Kansas radio station. He totally jumped on the opportunity to talk all about it and i love it when you can get that reaction in a person. I really feel that life is all about passion, both serious and silly. If you ever find someone so into something the way Dave was into Retro Cocktail Hour you better shutup and listen because that person is sharing something that is so special to them and that kind of raw, energetic passion is so beautiful and contagious.


The building went great. I realized I'm actually becoming decently knowledgeable on home repair which is so cool. That kind of autonomy and self confidence is awesome. We covered the trusses in plywood and actually gave the house the start of its roof. Walking on the roof was fun but once again sort of terrifying. The before and after pics from yesterday and today are so awesome.

Also, the house is literally right across the street from a cemetary and you can see from the yard the grave of Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, which was apparently done as a 1891 indoor winter sport for a local YMCA. Basketball is consuming at KU and the whole team visits the grave before the finals and such and the whole town takes super pride in him so it was cool to visit it. (What they won't tell you is that as KU's first ever basketball coach, he actually to this day has the worst ever loss to win ratio of all coaches since)

We had our first picnic since Connecticut tonight courtesy of the whole Habitat community and it was so intensely pleasant to eat and converse like that outdoors. Especially with some of the older gentlemen we had been working all day with. John was the awesome 91 year old who was just totally on his game the whole day and taking apart nail guns and generally being wise and supportive and grandfatherly. Mark was the supervisor and i really got to like him over these two days. He was just genuinely nice to us and it showed in the way he treated us that he appreciated our efforts. He also showed us his rumored "down in one" nailing.

Totally wierd: The first person i mingled with at the dinner was this 70 year old pastor named Phil. We got into conversation about my school and he mentioned how since he went to Seminary in Boston he had once taken a few classes at the Harvard Divinity School. So far so normal. But not when I mentioned how i had also taken a class there last year WITH THE SAME PROFESSOR THAT HE HAD! Harvey Cox must be 80 yrs old now and is kind of a big deal in religious studies and actually taught both of us 50 years apart. I still remember how much I enjoyed his class and his teaching enthusiasm. Phil must have been among his first sets of students. Crazy!!!!

This stay in Lawrence was a much needed rest for us. Super Huge Mega Ultra thanks to Lori from the Habitat here for putting everything together so well and for just being plain cool and energetic and laughing at my jokes. It wouldn't have been the same without her watching out for us so much. You rock Lori!

Heading into the second half of the trip I'm in a great place. I just feel very centered and ready to absorb everything fully, and not flustered and disoriented as in the first few weeks. I'm back in the bubble, not really thinking about the real world and its truly bliss. I really feel that the ability to totally let go like that, even for days or hours at a time is so healthy for us. How many vacations or breaks are spent thinking about what has to happen upon return. Hopefully not too many. I guess it goes more generally into my whole theme of being present in the moment. It definitely takes practice and willpower, but consciously forcing ourselves to relax and live in carefree bliss for moments at a time is something i think we all owe ourselves sometimes.

I'm really looking forward to the change in scenery we're about to undergo in only 9 days. It's wild how we're going from rolling foresty hills to flat, farmland plains, to soaring snowy mountains, to burning deserts all in the same trip and I love it. America is really wild geographically when you think about it. Can't wait for the desert. Go Nature!

Go JayHawks!

Day 33 - July 6
Build Day. Lawrence, KS

Hotels rock. so does 7 hours of sleep. It was just so nice to have a sense of stability waking up this morning, as in being in a normal place where people usually wake up rather than a church basement. The continental breakfast was not exactly designed for 32 starving riders but they had real belgian waffles. Oh and processed eggs and sausage, YES.

I biked over to the build site with some others. Its so wierd to get on my bike for anything less than 70 miles, let alone an enjoyable stroll. The site had all of the wall framing done and kept us busy all day putting up the roof tresses and siding. It was crazy hot and sunny and I tried to hold out, but eventually had to do the unthinkable. Yes, I donned a visor. They're actually extremely functional and it kinda grew on me. Now if only it also looked good.

By the end of the day we had all of the tresses up and the house was really taking shape. I got to do some work up on the roof which was really fun and new. What wasn't fun was the fear of heights i think i developed from standing on 4 inch wide beams. It didn't help that this older dude Zach was zooming by on them like nothing and was literally walking circles around me. The family also was there and it was just a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.

Afterwards Larry and I rode up along the town's main st and gave it a thorough checking out. it started out at "The Vagabond Bookstore" which was this crazy used bookstore stacked to the roof with all kinds of crazy old books. It was interesting talking to Howard, the Vagabond Bookman himself. He had gone bust farming in the 80s and kinda started buying books dirt cheap at flea markets, and reselling them out of his truck. It turned out pretty well for him and he soon had so many books that he had to open up shop. He also apparently sells bicycles that he keeps in the aisles. Interesting store to say the least. Picked up a sweet book from the philosophy section called "A commonplace book". Its a collection of different literary and philosophical quotes and this guy Charles P Curtis' pithy commentaries on them. Figure i could read one of the 109 sections a day. The guy was a Harvard Sociology Professor(my school and major) so that was also cool.

There were so many other locally owned gems in this town. A self identified hippie store with the largest collection of 1968 pennies in the world (around 14,000). The pennies are actually part of a compelling story of a guy who was upset one day, found a penny from 1968 on the ground and started collecting from there. (Check out www.1968pennies.com)

There was also this really cool t shirt printing shop called Acme, where you could design your own shirt and have them print it. They also had a whole wall chock full of hilarious designs. I walked in and almost bugged out. T-shirts are by far the one object in this world i have the least resistance to when shopping. I could literally spend my life doing something like that store. It was pretty inspiring actually in that sense.

We had dinner graciously donated by one of the KU ministries and it was fantastic. It was Mexican themed and all i will describe is the 60 avocados worth of guacamole that made my heart leap. I could've taken a bath in that tub it was so large. I basically ended up having a meal of guacamole with a side of rice, beans, tortilla and salsa. They also passed around a basket to the community members there for donations and we had a whopping $300+ in donations. Thank you to everyone there! I had the pleasure of sitting with Jim there and we had great conversation, some of which included him telling me about Red Dog, this 73 year old dude who leads 6am workouts 4 days a week in Lawrence with regular attendance of 200+. By the way this has been going on for 20 or so years and the guy is currently fighting cancer but still going. Wish i could have met him but my prayers are with him. Community was definitely a big theme i took away from that church and from Lawrence in general. You can definitely feel it everywhere, and its too bad that its not more often the case. Jayhawk pride was also something not too be even joked about for fear of being tarred and feathered.

We later walked around the KU campus which was really pretty. Kate had all 32 of our nametags stuck on her shirt which was amusing. There was this giant wood cylindrical sculputure made out of branches there rising to 25 feet which you had to see to understand. Standing inside was really cool. Also full moon = great.

We had more ice cream later(Blackberry!) which is quickly turning into a theme of the trip. I feel wierd doing it almost every day on this trip since i usually save it for special occasions. But honestly when you're riding 70+ miles daily, its hard to not to be like "Hey i totally deserve this" every single day. Kind of makes you rethink what is a "special occassion" on a trip like this and how relative life quickly becomes.

More building tomorrow, lets finish that roof!

Kansas!

Day 32 - July 5,
87 miles. Richmond, MO to Lawrence, KS

Everyone has been looking forward to Lawrence for a while. I mean when you're doing three 90 mile days in a row you better have something to keep you going. It didn't help that since i had done the town facts research for Lawrence I jumped up on a chair in the morning to eagerly announce my findings. Seriously listen to this town and how it oozes hipness:

"Lawrence is known for a thriving music and art scene; Rolling Stone named Lawrence one of the "best lil' college towns" in the country. The New York Times said Lawrence had "the most vital music scene between Chicago and Denver". Locally owned bar and music venue "The Replay Lounge" was named one of GQ magazines top 25 bars/venues in the country in 2007. The Lounge is also apparently a Pinball SHRINE!"

I rode with Carlie all day today and it was most fun. She is quite possibly the most chipper and enthusiastic girl I have ever met. Her happiness and positive energy is so contagious in the best way. I think most of us have been falling into the rhythm of riding entire days with the same group of people and it seems to be a much more fulfilling sense of accomplishment and bonding this way and i think i like it more than switching it up at lunch. The best part is that we all start off more or less together and sort of just randomly settle in with whomever which is nice.

The first 5 miles of the day were marked by this bizarre mound of dirt rising above the ground that Doug, Carlos and I stopped at. Of course, its climbability was like a magnet to our testosterone. Did we get ridiculously muddy? Yes. Did we conquer victoriously and claim eternal glory? Oh yeah.

Among our many musings, we somehow stumbled onto the concept of water balloon bike warfare. Again, 90 miles daily = craving for on the road entertainment. But seriously, water balloons on bikes, who would be silly and crazy enough to do that...

Well within 30 minutes we had secured 100 of them from the dollar general store and I created Handlebar satchels out of bandanas while Carlie filled them up. At 1300 hours primary bombardment of the lunch spot commenced, but collateral damage was minimal due to firing malfunctions(so maybe a few exploded in my hand...). All was good as we restocked atfter lunch to show other riders how we had been keeping busy. All in all, it was safe to say that victory had been firmly achieved at day's end and our waterballooning forcers biked on with triumph. Victory of what or over whom i dont know yet, but victory nonetheless. Just like my acquiring red velvet, I absolutely love when random amusing thoughts can turn into reality through sheer willpower. Kinda makes you wonder what else is possible next time you have a fun idea.

First of all, Kansas is not all flat. Lets get that straight. Coming into it over the Missouri river was pretty exciting as Kansas is literally the middle of the country and it really makes our "cross country" trip feel that much more real. Odd how there are two towns called Kansas City right across the river from each other. Also, apparently the Kansas City Royals baseball team is actually from Missouri. So crazy!!!

Along the rolling hills going through a populated boulevard, I heard a sedan honking at me. Great I thought, someone wants to either yell at me or run me off the road, AGAIN. As they approached i noticed three pretty tough looking gangster dudes in the car and was less than excited when they started slowing up next to me. And then my world got rocked. I looked over, they looked over, and they all flashed a peace sign and were like "Hey man" and then drove off.

An actual car full of non-cyclists had slowed down just to say hi to me. I think you can figure out who felt pretty damn cool right there and then. Awesome, i think yes. In general, I have rarely felt more like a celebrity than when i am riding with that spandex and jersey on. Waving to people we pass and getting hellos back is kind of intoxicating. Everyone needs to feel a little cool now and then i guess, right?

Going into the last 20 miles of the day, the impossible happened. Yes, we finally had a slight tailwind. We all agree that it was pretty much the best riding of the whole trip. We were all doing 20 mph without much effort and the rolling scenery and fields were just gorgeous.

If hip and cool had a baby city, that city would be called Lawrence. Its a wonderful college town that has a great main street, zero sprawl, local business, young folks, and TONS OF BIKERS. Honestly though does being a hipster really mean you have to look like your in a 70's workout video. Lawrence is to Hipsters what light is to mosquitos. Seriously, these dudes make Brooklynites look boring and mainstream. It's all good though and totally cool, just not what i expected so deep and random in the country. In honor of it, Larry will henceforth be referred to as Lawrence for the next two days per his request.

The Habitat Chapter here is basically the greatest ever. They've arranged six rooms for us at a riverfront Marriot Hotel. Room Service? Continental Breakfast? Jacuzzi? Not sleeping on the floor? We might as well be bathing in lavender scented silk ribbons also.

We had a great dinner at Johnny's Tavern, legit THE place in Lawrence, and the pizza and corn was awesome. Finally getting to eat some of the latter after riding through a million miles in it was pretty good. But even better was the fact that the TV was playing the tour De France. Aside from bowls of guacamole i have never ever been so fixated on something. We were all just totally mesmerized by all the crazy cyclists and speeds. They were legit averaging 40 mph which just shouldn't make sense. I so wish we could watch more of it on the trip. Its crazy how much more you appreciate somehting after having done it. It totally showed my skyrocketing level of appreciation for cycling and the mentally unstable athletes who actually choose to participate in it. Watching the Tour def pumped us up for more cycling. It may also may have given me a reality check for understanding our own level of 15 mph hardcoreness.

At night we checked out the Replay Lounge and by checked out I actually mean pillaged. It was pretty cool and hip. Lets just say Doug's mohawk wasn't the only one there. Though I doubt their dance floor has ever been rocked as hard as by the 32 of us. Some locals joined in but most couldn't get past their amazement of our grooving. Sometimes I can't help but laughing inside at the first glimpses of confusion whenever we roll into a new town.

Lawrence is a great cozy town to be in for 2 days and we're so excited to spend two days here. It'll be great to really affect our build site and to get to know the town. Def looking forward to raiding the funky book and clothing stores. Hopefully no womans sweaters will tempt me this time...

Happy Birthday America!

Day 31 - July 4, 9:05 pm
92 miles. Moberly, MO to Richmond, MO

Happy 4th of July!

The only thing i like more than a sunny day is having it be rainy in the morning and then turn to sun from there. The latter happened today. Lets face it, preparing for the worst and then having a pleasant experience instead is pretty sweet.

What isn't so sweet is helping out Colin Hood clean up trash only to realize its an assassin trap in disguise. Enough said, but a kill well earned on his part. Nothing like a healthy dose of deception and cunning to build character. Worked for Sparta right?

Other than passing by the world's largest pecan(?) (it was metal, boo) today not too much has really been going on these few days. Its mostly just riding which is a little of a downer because its the really random silly things like running through corn that totally make my entire week and keep me going. There were tons of cool trains passing by today though. Corn was still here but no so much. It seems the Pecans have been guarding their turf well.

One thing that did suck was a car throwing a small firecracker at us as it drove by. I saw this weird smoky thing in front of us only to have it explode and scare the hell out of us. Its kinda funny but mostly retarded. Honestly, I never ever thought i would be the type to get roadrage, and I still won't, but I legit wanted to throw a rock at this car if i could have and it scares me to say that. But it was such a messed up thing to do and could've actually caused an injury. Humans are probably as stupid as we are smart sometimes.

The riding itself was unbelievably quick today. Lunch at 40 miles came in only 3.5 hours, and felt like a snap. Though there were some hills and headwind we were just pushing along. I don't know if its my body or my mental attitude adjusting but I was just really not feeling the effects of the mileage at all which is great. I was thinking more generally today of what ridiculous riders we've become and reminiscing on the first week where i literally thought my body might explode at any second from all of the crazy adjustments. I'm totally feeling the groove physically and mentally now which is awesome and is the kind of character building i was hoping for. Even the initial rain didn't upset me that much!

Had a great conversation with Miranda about African drumming today since she has also done it in college. Major bonding ensued and we could hardly get over how much we both love it to death.

I'm on trailer crew this week and we get to fill up the trailer every morning with all 32 bags. It's honestly like real life tetris and kind of fun. Though having real live 8-bit Russian medley's probably wouldn't hurt either. Actually, wait, hold on, i just found a great tetris dance remix on my computer. Guess who's gonna jam tomorrow morning...!

Dinner was real fun today as i realized I am becoming decently knowledgeable on the different Protestant denominations. But mostly it was because i had a sweet conversation with this short little sweet lady named Joe Ann of the DAR. No she is not a member of the Duly Arranged Reptiles, but rather the Daughters of the American Revolution. What that means is that she can actually trace her lineage all the way back to an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War. I don't know about you but that kinda blows my mind, especially coming from Queens, basically the Immigrant capital of the world. I knew almost nothing about them before and it was a great pleasure hearing her talk about the organization and her involvement.

Crazy cool randomness: super small door in the church next to a large one. Good thing it didn't throw us onto the Jersey Turnpike or into anyone's consciousness.

Now ass for the fireworks you've obviously only read this far for. Essentially, imagine cleaning your bike in a mortar field. No joke, there have been explosions left and right continuously since 6pm. Our neighbors might as well be trying to burn our church down. It got really sweet at 9 since we are on the top of a hill and can see the entire town's backyard fireworks. It was actually a full 180 degrees of sulphurous stimulation. We couldn't even decide which ones to focus on but we could all agree that Missouri rocks. Hopefully not too many children had their arms blown off today.

Finally we sat to watch the spectacular fireworks presentation a few of us has had actually spent two hours preparing. We couldn't decide whether it was the fireworks themselves or the military like precision with which the members were running around with torches yelling codenames like "Pink Elephant" and "Mortar Up" that was more awesome.

I even got to set off one of our 600 bottlerockets. It was my first firework ever since they're illegal in NY state and also since I'm terrified to death of handling them up close. However, the ensuing power rush more than made up for all of that.

Got really thinking today about the whole America thing. People were decked out in all sorts of red, white, and blue paraphernalia. I've never really identified super strongly with America and have always been kind of in an interesting place with my Greek Heritage being so strong and living in NYC which is a universe of its own. I feel that nationalism and localism in general are pretty silly but I think they are still essential to one's sense of self to an extent. This trip has really been interesting in terms of helping me appreciate the American side of my Greek-Americanness. Wish i had more fully developed thougths but i suppose just the fact that im even thinking about this stuff is good enough. There'll always be time for answers i guess.

Overall, solid day ridingwise. I'm excited to be feeling so confident on the road and with my (hopefully real and not just supposed) mental and physical toughness. Also, I've been doing a lot of practice lately with hands free riding and am making great progress. Definitely a fun goal to work towards on the way to San Fran. Not much else to do on flat 5 mile stretches.

Well actually, the other things i did do today was 1. calculate the fact that we'll have each pedaled roughly 2.2 million times by the end of the trip give or take 200,000 or so. Seriously, i tried keeping count for a while and that's just a big number.

2. My other thought was of why can't roads be different colors besides beige and black. Seriously how much more fun would they be! Think about it, you could color code different directions of traffic which means its at least arguably functional. And intersections would have cool blending effects making them pretty which is probably even more important. You could even have like a hometown's sports teams colors. Hopefully at least like 4 people take this idea somewhat seriously.

Off to bed in what is basically trench warfare between competing fireworks camps. Apparently more fireworks = more Americanism?