artorbust.com Blog

Stationary Bikes 

We have arrived in Nashville, TN and my mother’s home.  After more than two months, 2000 miles, eleven states, and a District of Columbia, we have finished.

Alexa rejoices over leaving the state of Kentucky 

In the last three days we have covered the 150 miles or so of scenic route from Mammoth Cave, KY.  We entered Tennessee yesterday, staying in Springfield last night, and then making it the last 50 miles today.  We have been on pretty good riding roads the last few days despite having to make our own route.  Also, arriving in Nashville was much easier than expected.

Alexa’s view of Nashville 

So, it’s done.  It’s amazing how things just end, and that’s it.  No summary required, or really even possible.  Tonight, we don’t have to find a place to sleep, prepare for tomorrow, or grow anxious about the impending mechanical failure.  Actually, one of the interesting things about the trip is that we have not had a flat tire since Charlottesville, VA, and Alexa only had one flat tire for the whole trip.  Alexa’s one flat tire was patched and so she finished with the same tires and tubes that she began with in Maine.  However, she had a wheel replaced, a spoke replaced, and a conspicuous wobble.  But, her bike, Lolly, made it as well.

We may write more.  For now, we would like to thank everyone who was involved, at any level, in our trip.  From Kay and Tom for their gift of a bicycle to Alexa in the spring, to those who gave us a place to stay at night (Deb and Lonnie, Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Larry, the Lee family, Bethany Spring, Bonnie and Phillipe, Jay at the nursery, Brad in Lexington, the Cookie Lady, and others), to the many bike shops for all their help, and to our families and friends who have been so generous.

Frankly, this trip was a lot… of everything.  So, our gratitude is genuine, because every person who made this trip even the slightest bit simpler or easier had a lasting effect on our days and nights.  Thank you, and may you do it again and again for others.

 Here are some pictures from our weekend near Gethsemani.

A monk at play

Immediate Friends

Alexa’s pilgrimage to the hermitage

 ‘Neck-deep in grace’

It started raining three days ago…and hasn’t stopped yet….well, today it has stopped.  We took a last minuete turn south as we were riding in straight rain for one very long day, deciding at the last minuete to take the short way home.  We are now in the middle of figuring out our own route…wish us luck…

…we have stayed the past two nights at Mammoth Cave National Park and yesterday we spent five hours and five miles underground touring amazing caves with ancient rock formations.  Long ago, billions of years ago, they were underground riverways, it was really cool.  These computers are not letting us put on picutres, but here are some journal entries and thoughts of the past week

10/22/07: (written by ANthony)

TOnight we are staying in a log cabin next the the memorial park located at the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. It’s a nice place, no running water, but comfortable beds and rocking chairs on the porch.

Alexa and I rode here today from Bethany Springs Near Gethsamani.  On Saturday we arrived at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani a little before 11:00.  We had stayed in a campground in Bardstown the night before.  Gethsemani was nice. It was different than we both expected and for me it felt a little odd being a tourist at a monastery.  We toured the groudns and sat in for one of hte prayers, and then we moved on to Bethany Spring where had reserved a room for the night.

Bethany Spring was a fantastic experience.  It is a reterat center that is run by the Thomas Merton Institute for Contemplative LIving.  We were greeted by the resident there, Alida.  She is a former nun of 51 years who had left her monastery about 4 years ago to take her spiritual life into the world.  She was a fascinating woman.  SHe showed us our room and let us know about the retreat that was in progress and then led us to ur room.

Alexa and I were going through the building a little while later, we met Kathy and Michael, two of the four retreatants there for hte weekend.  They were very enthusiastic and welcoming and before we knew it, the retreat leader and director of the center, Jonathan Montaldo.  He immediately made us feel very welcome and then invited us to eat with them.  From then on we were spoiled and treated witht he highest kindness and generosity.  Jonathan even invited us to stay the next night.  The next afternoon there was a re-dedication of hte building which was attended by some of the monks and Abbot of Gethsemani.  At dinner we met some very interesting peopl including Patrick, who was about our age and a brother of the Sacred Heart Order and was living and teaching in Saint Lous. We ended up talking with him for a couple of hours later that night about his own spiritual path, and ours.

This morning we had a beautiful farewell and I can’t say there have been many places where I have felt recieved with such opennes, love, and generosity. 

I, Alexa, have to add to this entry.

Why did we want to go to Gethsemani?  I studied Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, priest, and Mystic, in graduate school.  I was fascinated with his writing, his life, and his social work.  He was active in the 1960’s, speaking out against the Vietnam war, and wrote deeply of his connection with his Catholic Spirituality.  He also was interested in Eastern Spirituality, and was a key player in helping to begin the bridge of understanding between western (mostly christian) and Eastern (mostly buddhist) religions.  At the time of his death, he was on a tour in Asia, speaking with many different religious groups and leaders, including the Dalai Lama.  When I studied Merton, I was immdiately drawn in to his lifestyle in his hermitage in Gethsemani and my whole reason for wanting to go to Gethsamani was to see his hermitage.  When we got there, however, we found out that monks still do retreat there and the public may not tour the hermitage or the site.  I was tipped off, however, on the way to get in and took a personal pilgramage to his hermitage site and it turned out to be a very important and powerful pilgramage for me that day.  OUr time at Gethsemani and Bethany Springs was amazing and powerful, making us feel recharged and spiritually renewed.  There was even talk about a young people’s conference East meets West…in the future. At the end of our stay, Jonathon told us not to pay.  He said that we added so much to the weekend, and helped so much with the house blessing, that we should not worry about it.  The generosity offered to us was outstanding.  Not only that, but he shared his knowledge about THomas Merton with us all weekend long, the extent to his sharing just wouldn’t end.  He said he hoped we would be back, and we rode away discussing not if, but when we would return.  It was an amazing experience.  Thank you Alida, and Jonathan and eveyone at Bethany Springs! 

As I write this, I am remembering last weekend, and it helps make the memories of the past few days, the rain, the stuck-feeling, the uncertainty of the route home, seem unimportant.  We have received so many blessings on this trip, we have come so far, and are filled with gratitude.  

So as I type this blog, Anthony is using is expertise in putting together a safe route to Nashville, with an estimated arrival date of Saturday, and today it did not rain.

So…we are in Harrodsburg, Kentucky and we go into the antique store/used book store to get a new book because we are just about done with Love in The Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which we have been reading outloud for the whole trip.  Just as we are purchasing, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, I see the word, Portsmouth, on this little card.  I pick it up and it is a golf card from the fiftees or sixtees for a golf course in Portsmouth, NH…where I’m from.  The man said I should have that card and he gave it to me.

But that’s not all…the past two days the most bizarre coincidence of all occurred.  I’ll tell the story through our journal entries from the past couple of days.

10/15/07

The view from our Breaks hotel room 

It’s Monday, and we are at Breaks Interstate park on the border of Virginia and Kentucky.  This park claims to be the Grand Canyon of the South.  The view from our room is beautiful.  There is a large canyon that forms a U-shape with a large formation coming up on the sides of the river.  It’s great, and its really wooded so although there are steep cliffs and mountains all around, there are trees covering almost every surface.  The autumn trees aren’t as colorful as usual because the weather has been so dry.

Anthony journaling on the balcony at the Breaks 

Today’s ride was very difficult.  We only went about 30 miles, but there were 3 large, steep climbs that we steeper than all of the climbs that we’ve seen recently.  They were hard but Alexa and I made it up.

Tommorro we have to go about 60-65 miles in order to get to Pippa Passes, KY, where there is suppossed to be a home/hostel.  It’s suppossed to be a very hilly ride.  If it is the same inclines as today, then it will be pretty difficult. 

10/17/07

Stuck in the middle of nowhere in eastern Kentucky, where no one seems friendly and the air is sticky, rain forecasted for the rest of hte week, and a broken wheel – again.  I popped a spoke yesterday and we had to ride 10 miles on a 4 lane highway just to get to a motel to figure out what to do next – the nearest bike store is hours away – by car.

Just when we thought we had it all figured out – renting a car through enterprise, a truck even, getting the bike fixed in lexington and dropping it back in Berea, which is en route, we couldn’t becuase we don’t have a credit card that isn’t a debit card.  Par of me feels like I have failed the adventure part of it – that I should be hitchhiking my way to a solution rather than spending money on hotels and cars and gas and such, but people here aren’t very nice…some guys were shouting nasty things at us out their truck window on the high way, and like this man told us the other day “that area is steep as hell and loaded with rednecks…”  what a warning.  I’d either have to ride for four days on a bum wheel, which is only going to get worse, or try to hitch over 150 miles on back roads with who knows who would pick us up.

The local rental car place is suppossed to be open by now – but they’re not. And last night the delivery person dropped our pizza, which caused a fight between Anthony and I because he thought I should just be grateful for dinner and I was just upset about the principle of the whole thing, paying for a dropped pizza, and all.  And just as we were about to fall asleep the smoke alarm started chirping loudly and we had to pack all of our stuff and carry our bikes up the stairs to another room – at midnight.  And now we’re just waiting.  Waiting. waiting. waiting.  In Pikeville. oh update. now the other rental car place won’t rent to us because we don’t have liablilty insurance.  stuck. stuck. stuck.

10/18/07

Here we are in a shaggy old motel with burn marks on the floor and stucks cup marks on teh nightstand.  But it doesn’t matter – because we’re back on route and have a shelter over our heads.  Gratitude. 

The winds today were strong – almost knocking us over sideways, but we only rode about 7 miles.  Last night everything unfolded so perfectly.  We paid a lot of money to get a ride to Lexington, KY and the guy who drove us there was a trip – a whole story in his own right…but he got us there, chain smoking the whole way.  But it was like a fairy tale, the bike mechanic whisked my bike away as soon as I walked in the door (i had called him the day before and told him I would try to get there).  He fixed it in under a half an hour and just as he was about to help give us directions, he looked up and said, “this might sound crazy, but I think I met you guys in Maine.”  Two months ago, on our 3rd day on the road, Anthony’s birthday, we were stopped in Freeport for ice cream.  A couple and their new born baby came over to us and asked us all about our trip.  They said they were from Lexington, KY and we could stay with them if we were passing through.  We said we would love to, but that it might be out of our way.  Then a few of their friends came over and they said, “hey guys, these two are riding their bikes to Nashville”  Well, as it turns out, one of those guys was Brad, the man at Pedal Power who fixed my bike.  He said he remembered looking at Anthony’s single speed and thinking, “that guy is crazy.”

Not only did Brad fix Lolly’s wheel for $10, but he also gave us directions to his empty house that he had just sold but was empty and said we could camp out in it for the night.  And we did, and we stayed dry, and it was great.  He even gave us directions to get us back on route…

Camping out in Brad’s empty house

…only this morning, as we were riding that road he pointed us to, the shoulder ended and there was so much traffic and a ridiculous headwind of 30 miles an hour.  We knew the road was unsafe.  So we turned around and came up on a fire station with 3 fireman sitting around outside.  We thought to ask them for directions.  After about a half an hour of studying maps, they concluded there was no safe way to get to Harrodsburg from there…so we started calling cabs.  One of the fireman even talked to the Cab guy for me.  They sort of took us under their wings, like fathers. 

Jessamine county firemen

 The cab ride was expensive.  Then one of the fireman said, ” I have a truck, I’d take you myself if I weren’t on duty.  I wish I knew someone with a truck who wasn’t doing anything.”  Then he said, “Wait a minuete, I do.”  He called his son and said, “common down here, I got an errand for you, I’ll give you gas money and a pack of cigarettes.” 

Well, his 19 year old son Anthony, a volunteer fireman and 911 dispatcher drove us in his father’s truck all the way back to a safe road that would join our route…he wouldn’t even accept gas money from us.  It was amazing.  There are good people all around.  The generosity and helping spirit and smiles…so here we are.  Fixed bike.  Back on route, 30 mile an hour winds and severe thunderstorms tonight.

 Morning light from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Relaxing in the midst of decades of bike memorabilia at the Cookie Lady’s 

Listening to the Cookie Lady as she tells us the one about the Dancing Santa 

One of the many overlooks from the Blue Ridge Parkway

A week ago, we were approaching the Blue Ridge Parkway in 90 degree weather.  The last few days we have woken up to temperatures in the high 30’s or low 40’s and have finished climbing (and descending) the Appalachians.  Yesterday, our route went over two seperate mountain ridges that each included 4 to 5 mile climbs.  The day before we had entered Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area (Mt. Rogers is the highest point in Virginia) and found ourselves climbing for about six miles.  As we enter Kentucky tomorrow we will begin travelling through the endless rolling hills.

We have been staying at some great places recently.  After staying with the Lee family in Radford, VA, we arrived in Wytheville, VA where we visited the library and had a large dinner, and then we stayed in the downtown park after checking in with the local police.  The next night we stopped in Damascus, VA where we stayed at a hostel ran by the United Methodist Church.  It is there to support the travels of Appalachian Trail hikers and long-distance bikers and it had several rooms full of bunkbeds.  There was only one or two other people staying there and then a group of boyscouts camping out in the yard.  Lucky for us, the boyscouts had brought back leftover pizza and offered it to us.  It was great timing, because at that moment we were scanning the table full of junkfood that had been donated.  The people in Damascus seemed great.  We asked a few people how to get to the nearest grocery store and then the next thing we knew, one of them was driving us to the store.

When we left Damascus, we knew we had a lot of climbing ahead of us.  Actually, Alexa and I must be in pretty good shape because the climbs that had been described to us as ‘hellish’ were not too bad.  The bike store in Wytheville had discouraged us from following our route to Damascus because they said the hills would be too rough.  We travelled at least sixty miles on Saturday to Damascus and then at least 50 miles on Sunday, and honestly, our main concern has been the constant flow of pickup trucks rather than the steepness of the hills.

Today, we are taking a short day and going around 30 miles to the Breaks Interstate Park on the border of Virginia and Kentucky.  We are going to stay in a hotel and take it easy and hopefully enjoy the park that claims to be the ‘Grand Canyon of the South’.

 And just as a note, our cell phones have not received service very often at all, so hopefully we’ll be in an area soon where we can check our messages and make some calls.

The hills have become steeper, the headwind strong, the miles go on forever, it has gotten quite cold, but the people in the south make it all so amazing!  After we descended the Blue Ridge Parkway, our maps told us that we could find a place to camp at the Troutville town baseball park.  We called the number listed and the woman at the town hall informed us that Cecil would be waiting for us at the park.  Not only was Cecil waiting for us at the park, but we would escorted into town following a fellow cyclist named Greg who is retired and rides his bike at least 96 miles a day.  He showed us where to find everything.  He spoke to us of his dream of riding cross country, but that his wife wouldn’t let him.  He is retired and she is not. Anyway, Cecil showed us where to pitch our tent for the night and proceeded to take us to Country Cooking an all you can eat buffet for dinner.  He had already eaten, but drank coffee with us while we scarfed down all we could eat.  We spent the next 3 hours with him at the park.  Like the cookie lady, he has let people stay in the park since the seventies, meeting thousands of cyclists each summer.  He told us a milllion stories and even gave us a tour of the caboose train musuem (a very special privilege).  We had such wonderful conversations with him.  He told us of his time managing McDonalds back in the fiftees when they still used real potatoes for the French Fries. He even went to Hamburger University, a real place, in Illinois.  He told us of his cross country motorcycle adventure, he told us just about everything.  Cecil is so cool.  He even told us we would be staying with the Lee family tonight.

Like the Cookie Lady, and Cecil, the Lee family has also been taking in adventure cyclists for many years.  Dr. Lee and his two sons Daniel and Peter did the Trans America Route (which we are now on and which was made popular in 1976 when it first was created) in 1998.  I am writing this blog from their house.  They are also famous around here like Cecil and the Cookie Lady.  When Anthony talked to them last night they told us to just come right in the house even if they weren’t here and to make ourselves at home, to do laundry, take showers, use the computer, whatever we needed.  We arrived here just as they were getting home from work, we showed, looked at photos of Dr. Lee’s trip, swapped stories, as Sarah made us a beautiful dinner, with desert, to boot!  They told us to sleep in, and asked Anthony to please play the piano.  It has been so sweet.  The generosity of the people we have met in Virginia this week as been overwhelming and beautiful.  Today was a hard ride.  Cold, hilly, with a strong headwind, but to know that we were headed to a hot shower and a bed was a great feeling.  And indeed we feel right at home!

Last night and today have been so wonderful.  Meeting and staying with the cookie lady, in teh bike house was so wonderful and inspiring.  Hearing so many stories of bike tourists, seeing all the love and gratitude poured out to June for all of her generosity was amazing.  I really felt a part of something amazing.  It’s like if you have met the cookie lady, you become part of a secret society or something.

I was all revved up for the day’s ride on the blue ridge parkway.  The sun was rising as we climbed up to the ridge.  It was so round and fiercly magenta, casting a pastel light over the truly blue mountains.  When we finally reached the parkway, I was overcome with emotion.  The blue mountains, softly rolling for hundreds of miles, so silent underneath the wild sunrise brought a lump in my throat as it hit me – look how far we have come on two bicycles…

We are now at the base of the blue ridge mountains in Virginia.  It is beautiful all around, and the mountains really are blue!  We are having extremely hot weather and it makes it difficult to ride, but we are continuing along. Tommorrow we ascend the Blue Ridge Parkway.

In the last week we have had a quite eventful time.  We left Fredericksburg, VA on Wednesday after spending a few days with my (Anthony) mother and her friend Kay.  It was great and we likely gained several pounds back. 

 We stayed in a KOA campsite on Wednesday night that was only about 15 miles outside of Fred…, it was nice to have a short day after the days off.  Oh, and the KOA campground wasn’t too bad, despite our initial concerns.

The next day was a rough one.  We started out in the morning and had to stop for about an hour because there was fairly dense fog, and we didn’t think it was a good idea to ride.  So, when the fog cleared it warmed up and we rode about ten miles before my (Anthony) rear tire went flat.  I noticed that the rim tape on my wheel had moved and caused the inside of my tube to puncture.  I tried to patch the tire and as we were doing the work a couple pulled to the side of the road with their touring gear. 

They (Karen and Joe) were on their way from Wells, Maine to Fort Myers, FL.  We talked for a while as I finished fixing the tire, and then we all rode together for about 25 miles before going our separate ways.  It was great to meet this couple and to share some time with them.

After leaving them, my tire went flat again.  I wasn’t sure if it was possible to patch a tire on the inner side of the tube, but it wasn’t working.  I decided to just replace the tube only to find that the salesperson at a bikeshop in PA had given us a tube too small.  Uh-oh, it was our last tube (without holes in it).  I tried patching one of our old tubes and we went on our way.  About a mile down the road. pppppppppssssssssssssssssssssttttttttttttttttttttttt.

Well, things were not going well.  After talking over options, we decided to put in the too-small tube and see what happens.  We knew we had about 70 miles to cover by the next evening to get to Charlottesville where we had a night in a hostel to look forward to.  Anyways, the tube held up.  We arrived in Charlottesville the next afternoon, went to a bike store, showered and did laundry at the hostel, and went and had dinner downtown.

Saturday, we had made plans to travel about 25 miles northeast to Montpelier Station, VA in order to meet Alexa’s friend, and fiber mentor, Phylleri. It was a pretty hilly ride, but we got there and it was great to spend a day and night with Phylleri. She’s fantastic. We were able to camp next to her trailer at the festival and she gave us some homegrown vegetables and homemade cheese, and other great-tasting treats.

The next day we had to get back to Charlottesville, and the route, in order to visit Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s plantation).  We had ridden to Monticello on Friday but we didn’t have enough time to stop then, so we returned on Sunday.  It was hot and crowded, but it was good to see Monticello.  We also heard several stories by guides about Thomas Jefferson and slavery.  It was good to hear the full story about one of the founding fathers of our nation.

Last night, we arrived in White Hall, VA after about 55 miles of riding, a few hours of being at Monticello, and one flat tire.  (I had finally replaced the small tube, the rim tape, and my rear tire on our way to Charlottesville that morning.)  We camped in the backyard of the White Hall Community Building (with permission) and finally were able to go to sleep, somewhat covered in sweat.  It was a hot day and night.

Today (Monday), we have ridden about 5 miles to Crozet, VA where we have been given access to the library although they are closed.  We have much appreciation for libraries and librarians, especially after this trip.  We are going to try to ride almost up to the access to the Blue Ridge Parkway today.  It is really hot (low 90’s) and we have a place to stay with a lady who is known as ‘the cookie lady’ in our map info.  She lets out a house by donation, and hopefully we can get there and showered.  Tomorrow, the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Despite the many trials this week, we still have been seeing the beautiful countryside.  We pedaled through Lancaster county and were amazed at the Mennonite and Amish families working the fields with horse power.  Many people waved at us going by, it was so neat to see such a diverse culture right here in the same country.

We are in the south now.  We crossed the Mason Dixon line a couple of days ago! 

When we got back on the road after being at the hotel for our day off, we met another touring parternship, two young women riding from Rhode Island to Austin, Texas, where they are going to discover and live in the city for awhile.  We sat and shared stories in a small cafe in Maryland for about an hour, sharing similarities and differences.  They didn’t stay dry the night before in their tent and are mostly camping out in woods that look safe or ask people to camp out on their land.  They don’t have a stove and eat more simply than we do.  They also have puppets with them and are earing some cash doing street perfoming in cities along the way.  I was inspired by the strength and resolve of this young women.  They are on the same route as us all the way to Nashville, and we will be leap-frogging with them for the next few weeks, and I would not be surprised if we see them again!

We are now in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  We biked here yesterday and met Teena and Kay in the back veranda of the Richard Johnston Inn.  Coming in through Historic downtown, Fredericksburg, I was immediately struck at the beauty and history of this town, and our jaws dropped when we entered into this beautiful B and B.  We are being spoiled rotten during our time here already (even though we ended up in the room that the two ghosts David and Margaret frequent most.)  Last night we had a wonderful Italian dinner with Uncle Bob and Aunt Betsy and cousin Melanie.  It was great for me (Alexa) to see the other side of Anthony’s family.  Uncle Bob and Teena look soooo much alike!

This morning we had a wonderful breakfast in the big fancy room with the big fancy table and brought our bikes to the bike store for a tune up and now are just hanging out in headquarters (teena’s room) having conversation and sharing from our hearts.

.

We are in Maryland, where in Maryland, who knows.  Its been three days of riding in hot, hot, hot weather.  There are basically no pictures to show right now, it has been intense these past few days.  Witnessing the car accident, with the three flat tires that followed immediately after, has set us off course.  There aren’t many campgrounds or hotels in the are we are in right now, which has added much tension to our riding.  I (Alexa) had to be in cell phone range today to conclude a five year legal situation, with a telephone mediation to settle the case today.  We thought we would be right near D.C., but it turns out we are not…and so we have been forced to stay in the place we knew for sure we would have service, but the only hotel here is VERY expensive…and we had to ride 5 miles on sidewalks next to a highway to get here…after riding 60 miles.  We are tired, frustrated, and not exactly sure where we will sleep tonight…but on the upside…free breakfast.

Some people may think that the word ‘mindfullness’ is merely a spiritual catch phrase, but I’ve come to realize after yesterday’s events, that it is more than that, using your mind to be completely aware of what is happening in the present moment can save your life.

Yesterday we witnessed a fatal car accident.  A person was driving too fast around a curve before a one lane bridge and hit a tree.  The car then lit up in flames.  There was nothing any of us could do.  Two people who got there before us tried to pry the door open, but they couldn’t and the emergency people on the phone told everyone to get away from the car because it might explode any second.  It did shoot up in flames.

We need to be so careful when we are manuevering our way around this world.  Life is so precious.  May everyone be mindful of what they are doing in each moment.  May we all be safe and protected from harm.