From Long Beach, Ca to Carroll, IA

Necessity is making me write a blog post. Everyone is wondering what happened, and what is going on, and I have been dragging my feet. Sorry SORRY.

First off, the kids are fine, I am fine and Chris is doing well.

Here is our catastrophic ending.

It was the first day we had actually ridden IN rain (April, 12th), and with the rain came more wind, but we trekked on in the weather for the last 20 of our 45 miles to Carroll. We biked through some beautiful trails on the Sauk Trail, starting in Lake View going all the way to Carroll. As we turned the last turn of the day, at an intersection in the town of Carroll, I heard a huge 'crack' come from behind me, followed by a grating sound. I got a crazy adrenaline rush just imagining what could have just happened, as Chris and I automatically got into the grass on the side of the road. Profanities were coming from both of us as we stood over his bike and saw that his derailleur was on the opposite side of the bike as it was supposed to be, jammed into his cassette. Due to a stupid little bungie cord. We immediately found help from some very kind individuals to the nearest hotel - which began our search of how to go about fixing this catastrophe.

Even though these don't even begin to capture the damage...they are better then nothing. Here are some pictures.

After two days of searching, (with the help of the hotel, and bike shops in different towns in Iowa - who then called practically every bike shop in the Iowa/midwest area), and Chris' back pain throbbing from being jolted by his chain, things were looking grim. On closer inspection even more of his bike was broken then we had first seen on the side of the road, his rear fender, tire and spokes were looking bad, as well as possible hub damage. Our lodging and food costs plus the loss of days we would have to take on were adding up to to much. Crunching numbers we were finding that even a last minute jump to get from Iowa to Maine was cheaper then staying for another two days looking for parts, not to mention the actual assembly and labor charges! The amount of money, time, and resources we needed to get the bike fixed in Iowa didn't work with our money, time, and resources. We would rather see it all go to charity, or to helping people.  Such little response for such a huge charity drive had been rubbing Chris the wrong way. Since he was the one who had put so much effort in getting the word out through different venues many months before we set out on the journey, his spirit was downcast. Our adventure however was just that - our adventure. So ultimately we chose to do what we found best.

Carroll, wasn't our intended stop, but apparently it was where we were ending. We had a good ride and a wonderful experience (weather aside), but we were sad to see it end when it did. I am secretly planning a "tour 2.0" to revisit the areas we missed by having to come to Maine earlier then we planned.  

But here were are, in northern Maine. Planning and plotting our next adventure. I will be updating our day trips and multi-day adventures in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes these coming months.

Q/A

Here is a Q/A blog post! Thanks to Yaribeth for the awesome questions. Hope it is informative!

What prompted you to go on this trip?
Long answer: I have wanted to travel. I have wanted to experience different ways of life, see the world as it truly is, and go to places other people don't or won't. Ever since I had my baby boy, Soeren, I have wanted him to see everything possible, and not be limited by living how a single society sees fit! Now that I have Ave this view still stands true! As long as we are all healthy and happy (which to me is partially reliant on what we do and how we do it!) I will keep bringing my children with me, and going on adventures of this magnitude. I discovered Charity: Water - which is the charity that we are riding cross country for, and it fell perfectly in place for a main reason for this trip. As the trip progresses our view of water is defining itself more and more, our personal intake of water is highlighted as we are on the road and have no regular source of water, and are much more conscious of when where and how we get water. We don't always know when we will be somewhere to shower, even just finding places to fill our 6 water bottles proves itself time consuming - imagine having to walk miles and miles to fill much more then 6 water bottles and carrying the water back over those same miles. (As well as not having handy bike bottle racks to place them in - let alone delicious clean water!) Luckily finding water in the U.S. this is not terribly hard for us.
Sorry about such a long answer! Short answer: This trip embodies what I strive for, for my children, my life and at the moment raising funds for Charity: Water.

Why now? having a baby and toddler in tow?
Why not? I mean really, there is no better time in my mind. We wanted this trip, and have been working toward it for plenty of time. Our children are still younger than school-age, which makes it easy in that aspect. I am no longer carrying Ave within my womb, so that right there is perfect to me! It is tough, I will not deny that, but it is a fun and rewarding tough - just like parenting itself. This is the way of life we want to embark on, so to me the question could be the same for anyone living the polar opposite of us.

How did you prepare for the journey?
Lots of talking, lots of research, and more; research. We researched many different routes, the perfect supplies to purchase, the safest carrier for the kids, the weather (which you can only take with a grain of salt), our charity, EVERYTHING! We also took quite a bit of time talking, planning, shopping, and working with the biking community in Seattle, they were behind our crazy adventure the whole time and knew what it was like to pursue something this large and important. The number one thing I suggest if anyone wants to bike, find a good bike shop, frequent it, and ask a million questions!!!! The Bicycle Repair Shop in Seattle was our savior on many occasions - for questions parts, ideas and more!

How did you prepare financially, and how is it working out?
Well we are still in the thick of it so this answer will be as complete as it can be with that in mind. Preparing was done by again, more research. Researching the right products to buy and finding exactly what we needed and nothing more. We already lived frugally, so saving enough for the trip just took patience, as well as executing the trip at the right time and place.
As for how it is working, we are doing well for how far into the trip we are. And I will give you this much; food is expensive no matter where you are, and on the road we need A LOT of it. :D

What did you do with all your things back in Washington?
We donated, donated, donated, donated, donated, donated, donated, and sold the rest. I emphasize the 'donated' because I cannot even count the amount of trips we (mostly Chris) took to the Goodwill Store. We also gave things to friends and family that were of very large sentimental value, as well as shipped a few flat rate boxes of items ahead to different spots on our route, and to our destination in Maine. Those boxes contained things like bigger clothes that were special for the kids to wear, important documents, items that belonged to Chris' parents, photographs that we wanted a physical copy of, a couple family heirlooms, and that is about all.

What did you pack?
OH wow. We originally packed the following in 6 bike saddlebags, two backpacks, and the chairot:
Sleep system: tent, tent footprint, double sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, two inflatable sleeping pads, two foam sleeping pads, four blankets, and a pillow. (We were trying to be prepared for cold nights.)
Clothing: both Chris and I have two sets of biking pants, long john pants, two biking tee-shirts, and a long sleeve tee-shirt, a long sleeve water resistant under-jacket, a windproof/waterproof jacket, 3 pairs of socks, 4 pairs of underwear (Chris has just 2 boxer briefs), a pair of tennis shoes, and a pair of waterproof hiking shoes , two pairs of padded biking shorts, - the kids have roughly the same amount of clothes as us.
Cook system: a lightweight cook stove, a pot and frying pan, two cups and two plates, a small set of utensils, several bags of dried foods,
Misc.: books for Soeren, playing cards, four stuffed animals (2 are real small), reflectors, bike lights, my violin, Chris' guitar, backpack, stuff sacks, diapers, tool bag with assorted bike tools, extras of bike parts, bike locks, camera, phone, assorted charging devices, medical bag, a slim amount of toiletries.
I am probably leaving something (or two) out, if I remember I will edit it in.
 
Is there anything you wished you would have packed or packed more of?
Definitely didn't need to pack more. Even though it may not seem like we packed much it was/is quite a bit of weight and takes up space. Since we set out on March first we have sifted through our gear and bags many times, and up till now we have eliminated 50+ pounds of stuff we didn't need and didn't use! That is a lot of weight, especially on bicycle.

How often do you stop to breastfeed, change diapers, eat, etc?
We usually stop after 2-3 hours in the morning, because the kids are still sleepy they pass out in the morning for awhile. Then after our first stop it is roughly 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours between stops. We don't have to go over 2 stops a day though, because we try not to plan out our days that long. We have had to take a couple weeks to get in a groove of what worked best for our family, now we have a good system down. The kids and us have adjusted and understand our limits better since we first started! Another thing we do is we group all the reasons for stopping into each stop, and we have gotten good at maximizing time on the road and during stops!

How are the kids on the ride?
They get better everyday. They have had to adjust a little bit to being on the road, but they are doing really well. Soeren understands that each time we stop he can raise hell and run wild, then when its time to get back on the road its time to get back on the road. We all have had to adjust to such a big trek, all morphing and adjusting to one others needs even more then if we are all just at home. On good days we are off the road by 2, in which case we can stroll, play, rest, eat, and whatever else we find to do together at the end of the road.

When you do stop, do you stay with family and friends?
Sometimes we do, but of course we don't have have family and friends evenly spread out every 50 miles for us. So we stay with them when and where we can, but we also camp at state parks, RV campgrounds, city parks that allow it (which is one nice thing about Kansas, it is allowed and is by donation only), inns, hotels, etc.


Do you miss home cooked meals? Being a Vegan is it hard to find food on the go?

Oh yes. We get home cooked meals anytime we stay with family and friends. As well as whenever we are staying places that have the amenities, and it is always a feast when we do! It is hard being vegan on the road, it is hard. We have to just grab whatever we can, and make sure we have enough to be eating constantly. It has been rough finding things in small town after small town, but we will be getting to bigger towns easier and faster the rest of the trip so that difficulty should ease up a little. Food is so important because it seems that is all we do on the road - eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat. To quote a great guy, "calories, calories, calories,... water, water, water".

Is there an end date in sight?
Yes, and no. Yes, there is an end date to our current cross country tour; we are ending the first week of June in the city of Bar Harbor, ME, on the southeast side of Maine.
No, because we are planning out more adventures to keep us busy after we are done with this one.

Tell me about the things you guys are seeing/experiencing in regards to the world around you that you never thought about in that way (being on bikes on the open road).
This is something I have wanted to write about so many times. Sometimes I catch myself just talking and thinking and coming up with answers for problems I see in my head, and seeing light bulbs turn on in my mind. As we pedal through towns, land, trees, plains, etc. I wish that I had some type of recorder to record all the things I come up with "on the road" because they certainly are fleeting once we stop somewhere and have other things to do.
BUT anyway, it is amazing how real and stark differences are, that were not so noticeable before looking out from the seat of a bicycle. Like how lower class communities look grouped up and 'stuck' on the outer-sides of the towns or cities. Like how much litter is REALLY on the street sides, everywhere, every town, every street! Even though there are "Adopted highways/roads" signs for litter control, it is still all over.
On this trip we get to experience 20x more then just driving through. For example the other day while riding through Kansas we had a group of antelope running along side us for a mile or so! They would get further ahead then stop and watch us till we caught up, then start running again; it was beautiful, and just one of the many things we get to experience each day we are on the road. I feel like we get to see a little glimpse of what attracted people to the different places we go.
Another thing that just makes my heart throb, is when Soeren-Raedek wakes up from a nap somewhere new and the first thing he says is "OHHhhh WOOWWW!" and begins looking around. I love that even though he is 2 years old and may not retain long-term memory of the events he sees and the things he gets to experience on this trip - he is still interacting with it now, and it is affecting his responses and development, and smiles, and it is shaping his character. I love it. Ave on the other hand is just a bundle of love and smooches :D.

That is all for now, I didn't receive any additional questions for this post. I thought the questions were great though. Thanks for taking the time to read, please leave a comment - let me know what I should do for other posts! Or what you liked/didn't like. Love feedback.