We entered wisconsin. we were picked up by Aleece and Bri. We stayed with the family in Columbus. Bri was maries longtime friend since 7th grade. It was great to see them all. The kids grew up! Our last night there we visited Alexa, Aleeces daughter, at the hospital. Alexa went into labor and was due in 24 hrs. The day we left, Alexa gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Neveh! after 3 days at the Weyker home, we were on our way to Wales where we arranged a night's stay with Pat and Mary Jo. The next day we took the several bike trails that lead toward Chicago. They were beautiful rides. Wisconsin is supposedly the second most bycicle-friendly state- and it was! Along the trail route, we encountered a club of cyclist, turned out they were the Bay View Bicycle Club. They were hosting a lunch and invited us to join. Art and Kathy, two cyclist members, invited us to stay at their place in Racine, WI. From there we headed in to Illinois, and connected with Susan from warmshowers, she rode out to meet us and guide us through the busy streets to her house. We stayed there for 2 days and explored the city, had dinner with Marshall's childhood friend Erica, and on the way out of town had a Chicago style hot dog... We rode around Lake Michigan and through the devastated city of Gary, Indiana to the town of Portage, where for the first time on the trip the rain forced us indoors to a motel. In the morning we rode to the dunes and Marie took a dip in the lake. We just arrived in Michigan and are checking our route and figuring out where we should sleep tonight.

Iowa, Psyowa....

Sorry for the lack of updates!! We traveled the Lincoln highway across Iowa. We stayed with Deb and Howard our second night, Roy and Rebecca the third night, Cecil the fourth, and Doug and Brian for the weekend.

We celebrated fourth of July with a group of harvesters at a motel in Oberlin. The next morning we rode to Alma, Nebraska, 77 miles our longest ride to date. Joe, the proprietor of the coffee/camera/bike shop hooked Marshall up with some new extra thick tubes and gave both bikes a tune up. They had a mishap with the fireworks on the fourth there so they showed them on the 5th instead, so we got a double showing. Marie got another flat in the morning so we changed it out and rode to Minden. We set up camp in the park inside a bandstand. July seventh was Marshall's birthday so we took a rest day and enjoyed Pioneer Village. We met a cyclist, Crystal on an overnight trip to Red Cloud. Marshall asked her where the closest bike shop because his rear tire was worn thin and bulging out and lumpy from the pressure. She worked for the Bike Shed in Kerney and phoned her sister to have her drop off a new armadillo tire for him which she donated towards our cause. Minden to Fairmont and a warmshowers.org connection. We stayed with Gene and his wife, and he took us on a tour of the county seat. He is turning an empty lot across the street in to a beautiful neighborhood garden. We had a lovely dinner and got some needed rest in a real bed. In the morning he rode with us to Exeter and took us out to breakfast. Lincoln was next. When we arrived we stopped at joyride, a bike shop and the girl working there, Kelly, offered us a place to stay for the weekend while we explored the city. We went to a Jazz and Blues Street fair and then slept in and relaxed all day today.

We spent a relaxing day in Eads. Our filmmaker friends invited us to check out an old theater that they were documenting. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the community pool and had dinner at the local restaurant. The next morning, we woke up before the roosters crowed. By noon we had left the green pastures of Colorado and crossed into Kansas. Kansas is not so flat as they say- we rolled over many hills through the prairies. The wind and cornfields are endless. In the small towns that surround the silos we've met many kind locals, some we made amazing connections with (like George), who we would talk for hours with and learned so much from them. We crossed paths with many bikers along the Transcontinental Route.
If you are ever in Kansas There are at at least 3 places you should experience: (1) Check out an amazing fossil shop, the Keystone Gallery, owned by Barbra and Chuck in Scott City. (2)There is a beautiful hidden valley, Scott State Park. This place we did not check out since it was a bit out of our way; (3) the Monument Rocks, but they look amazing on the postcards we sent to our friends.
While in Oakley Darren, over heard us say we were looking for a intertubes and he called around and connected us with the biking community. We stayed with a family in Oakley for one night. Thomas, the father, checked our bikes and his friend Jim gave us spare tubes for our tires. The last few days we have had 4 flats on the road. For the weekend we are staying at Len's, a great grandfather who collects fish and rides a motorcycle. There are strong wind warnings and they're expected until after 4th of July.

Days 22-25

Spent two days at John's, relaxing and enjoying his family's company. Went to a few bars in downtown Pueblo. The psychedelic jam band was a failure, only one member showed up... figures! But the night was not a waste- we hung out and had good conversation with some of John's long time buddies at the Downtown Bar.

Left Johns house Saturday morning by 7:30, with goal for the day- make it to Ordway, and stay at Gillian's. John cruised with us for 25 miles and departed with us in Boone. On the 2 lane highway it was hot, water was scarce since most of the small towns had only one facility open if any. Hours later we arrived in Ordway. There was a fountain in the park that other travelers were soaking in. We rolled into the small park and washed off. We met Tom and Allison, from Virginia, who were touring with their motor-home, meeting up with a couple in Pueblo. There were two boys coming from San Francisco going to Virginia, Rocky and Isaiah.

It only took riding down three blocks to find Gillian's home. There were goats and horses on the property, and a few trailers parked in front of the house. Henry, a neighbor, greeted us and brought us into Gillian's house. Gillian took most of the other cyclist out to the lake to teach them how to sail. We were free to make ourselves at home. After we came back from the town's only grocery shop, Gillian and the cyclist arrived home. The charismatic Gillian is very blunt with her guest. She is open to accommodating any cyclist, but she doesn't take anyones b.s. A New Zealand native, she works as a guard for the local prison. It is expected that any cyclist who arrive in Ordway be directed to Gillians home, for it acts the towns impromptu hostel. In 2007, her house along with several acres of the town burned down. Most people lost everything, few recovered. Gillian uses workaway.info to find volunteers to help her rebuild her home. Willing cyclist also help with certain duties. A major wind storm came and held back the previous cyclist to spend another night; making a head count of 16 people. We met cyclist, of various ages, touring both direction of the country.

All of the cyclist got us early to leave. We exchanged contacts and said our goodbyes to newfound friends. This was the notorious long stretch of 60 miles to Eads. There is only one famous outhouse with a log sheet inside it and the town of Haswell that was named during the railroad construction because it has... a well... for water and had the worlds smallest jail. There was a strong headwind but the temperature was moderate. We arrived in Eads late in the afternoon. After showers and a quick snack, we hung out at the bar for an hours or so and gabbed with the locals. On our way back to camp, we were stopped by a group having a late picnic in the park. They had extra food to share, and noticing that we were long distance bikers, asked if they could feed us. Of course, we chowed down with them. They were filmmakers making a series of documentaries about historic sites all over Colorado. There was plenty of leftovers and they gladly gave us the extra homemade baked beans and potato salad. Awesome people we come across. With our bellies full we camped out in the park, watching series of The Maxx on the laptop. Happy end to a long day.