Puebla and Oaxaca, Mexico - Pictures

Colonial Puebla

one of the supposed 365 churches of Cholula

Grillin' papas

Road side Comedor (food stop)

Elotes

Fried grasshoppers

Luche Libre Mexican wrestling masks

Carne Asada!

The Ruins of Monte Alban, Oaxaca

Crossing the Sierra Madres

Crossing the Sierra Madre range......up, up and more up. We had been warned by all those we came across that getting over the Sierra Madres was A LOT of climbing. We also emailed with a guy who has spent almost two years on his bike who suggested this route rather than taking the highway, stating somewhere in the email that this climb in "rewarding". I think his idea of an award and our idea of an award are two very different things. The sun was blazing and we hit the major ups in the dead heat of the afternoon. Not quite knowing what we were getting into, and up until this point we had come across a town with at least a small shop and often a food stand, we were not prepared with food and water. Not in the least. Three hours into climbing and we were exhausted, hot, even more burnt than yesterday, thirsty and out of water. Because of the way the road twisted and turned around every canyon and ridge, we were never quite sure what lie ahead or where the top would be and the climbing would stop. Hitting our maxed out point and then some with night falling, we came across one house being build on a papaya farm high on a ridge. Two men were just finishing their days labor when we asked for water and they gladly filled our bottles. They rode off on a donkey and we were left to figure out where to sleep. Two dogs barked at our presence in the backyard, but with nowhere to go and no place to hide our tent, we swept a small space in the unfinished shelter under the stars. After a quick dinner of our emergency supply of ramen (that has never before tasted so good), we were on our backs hoping it wouldn't rain and we wouldn't be discovered. I do not think I have ever been so nervous during a nights "sleep" and hope to never feel that way again.

Puebla into Oaxaca, changing states

The second day out is always enjoyable. Our butts don't hurt, our endurance is kicking and we are excited to be back on the bikes, making for a touch longer day. As the sun began to set and thunder booming all all around, we found ourselves in the town of Cocaxtalan, at a quaint little place called the Cazadores hotel that was in the process of being newly renovated. A quick shower and we were out through the alley and across the street ready for dinner. Not knowing what we were getting, simply pointing to the torta the woman was making for the other customer, we happily devoured our crispy pork filled sandwich and guzzled down a family size corona. Life is good.

After 9 hours on the bike, I was asleep just after 8 and Ryan 9, barely budging until 8am. 12 hours of sleep a night is fairly typical when we are riding long days. I guess our life mainly consists of riding, eating and sleeping. That morning, we were enjoying the nice, clean hotel, reading our books when I noticed there was not any noise coming from the remodeling. Odd because Mexicans start work early and work hard throughout the day. The amount of manual labor here is unlike anything I have seen. They do not sit around like we often see at construction sites in the states. I peeked out the window and sure enough, 5 guys were sitting in the 2 feet of shade along the wall waiting for us to rise. How thoughtful. I instantly opened our door to let them know we were up and about which worked out perfectly because we needed to start moving the pedals before the sun was too hot.

Puebla, Mexico for an extra 3 days

The weather was due to set in for the weekend, so we contacted someone on warmshowers.com, the wonderful website we discovered in the states that hosts bicycle tourers, offering a bed, laundry, kitchen and the obvious one, a shower. Luck was on our side and we were fortunate to get in touch with Ricardo and Juli who opened their home (technically Ricardo's father's home, but he was away for most of the weekend) and their company. Ricardo is Mexican and Juli is German. Although a fairly uncommon match within the Mexican culture, they have formed a beautiful relationship. We talked for hours and had spectacular conversations, talking about everything from everyday life to illegal immigrants in the US to the world as a whole. We thoroughly enjoyed the weekend just cruising around Puebla and Cholula as well as spending time with Ricardo, Juli and Ernesto (Ricardo's father, a great man who has worked very hard to provide his family with so much and encouraged them to make Mexico and the world a better place).

After 3 extra days in Puebla, we were off early Monday morning, our first official day back on the bikes. Next major destination: Oaxaca City (pronounced: Wa-ha-ka). Dodging traffic until the outskirts of the city, we were on our way. The roads are quite different here. Rules do not necessarily apply and as much as I wanted to always be looking around at the people and scenery, my head was down trying to avoid unsigned potholes as wide as car doors.

Back in the saddle again

We spent the winter months in beautiful San Diego, CA hanging Christmas lights and picking up shifts bartending or serving whenever possible. A few months spending time with my brothers Joe and CJ and making a few dollars to enable us to get back on our bikes for another adventure. Ryan spent our last days in San Diego in his typical departure ritual of preparing the bikes for travel (finding boxes and packing material and breaking them down to their smallest capacity), going through all of our gear, and simply tying up all lose ends. I was lucky enough to have a few days work-free to soak up as much time as possible with my brothers. The last two weeks, we managed to kayak (and were lucky enough to see dolphins, sea lions and whales), camp in the desert, watch CJ's new band The Deadly Birds perform and sailed. A great way to end a two+ month stretch of hard work. I will miss my brothers so much as they are both such fantastic people and we all have a great time together. I am so lucky.

Oregon into California

Since we are not ever really in a hurry, we always always opt for the less busy roads. This often means more hills, less towns (so we need to carry more water and food), less cars and longer routes. Some people ride from point A to B with their miles per day preplanned because that is either just how they are or that is all the time allotted, therefore not giving them a choice. Riding as we have, I would definitely recommend going each day with how you feel. This leads to many experiences that may not have occurred otherwise when there are "have-to's" involved. Head down and pedaling to knock out miles to your destination rather than taking the time to explore or chat with the locals, I think you miss out.

Through the heart of Oregon south to California

Extending our stay in Portland to have more time with dad and Gina, we got a ride up to Mt. Hood, saving us two days of uphills riding. The route we took south was simply stunning, that is the best word I can come up with when trying to describe the next two weeks of our ride. The trees surrounding us were mostly pine with an occasional clump of fall turning Aspens thrown in. Neither of us could get over the beauty of the fall colors. Probably because of the time of year, we were often the only ones on these curvy roads, the only sound coming from the spin of our tires on the pavement, and an occasional gust of wind. It was so calming and is now near the top of our list for best rides since we started riding a year and a half ago. Cruising through little towns, we would stop for a bite whenever we could and loaded up on meals to fix on our campstove because of the great distances between places. Topping off our water is always something we do with each faucet we see.

Eastern Washington to Portland, OR

Taking the 20 east to west across Washington, we followed a beautiful road with a more than decent bike lane, courteous cars and a lot of up and down riding. 5 passes in 5 days, climbing anywhere from 2500 feet to just over 4000 feet. People are often most amazed that we make these long climbs, but to be honest, getting it all over with and ending with a cruisey, long decent, passes are preferable compared to the rolling hills of long climbs and little decent.

Washington - Pictures

Wild camping

Little house on the prairie

The Methow Valley

Climbing up Washington Pass

North Cascades National Park

Lisa finds another blackberry patch

We love bakeries...  a great one on Whidbey Island

Seattle icons

Traffic and exhaust...  gotta take the bad with good

Wow...

Loved riding in Washington

Montana - Pictures

Whats important in Montana

Best Bakery in the middle of Nowhere

Rest day activities

Fishing the north fork of the Flathead river

Nice little rainbow

??  "Stop Meth"  or  "Meth Stop" ??

Fat tire riding across the whitefish range

Mountain pass raspberry break

Where does this "road" go again?

Living the high life

Already in Eastern Washington

We are heading off to a really late start, especially considering we have a 4000ft climb up Sherman Pass ahead of us with temperatures reaching almost 100 today. Yikes! I promise we will post pictures soon, I know, we are not very good at updating our blog on a consistent basis. A short blurb is that we have had an amazing ride thus far and there is definitely something to say about small town America. We have run into some of the most genuinely nice people and feel so fortunate to have had these experiences. A few days ago, after riding through the rough Forest Service roads (thank goodness for fat tires.....that are also the orginals if you can believe it, 15,000+ miles and they are still running strong) and sleeping in the woods, we were a bit beyond dirty and definitely ready for a shower. It was our first day in Idaho and a truck pulled off onto a road and stepped into our view to flag us down. He briefly asked where we were headed before offering us a hot shower and roof over our heads. Thank you nice man! Bob and Diane welcomed us into their home with our own little apartment over their garage, a few beers, a hot shower which was beyond spectacular, dinner out (which was definitely a treat as we rarely do that), fantastic conversation and just a chance for some basic interaction. We had such an amazing time and were once again reminded to pay these kind gestures forward whenever we have the chance.

Our next night was spent in beautiful Sandpoint visiting some of Gina's (my stepmom) cousins. They have two adorable children and gorgeous home that overlooks the spectacular town of Sandpoint. They fixed us a salmon dinner with a few beers and we laughed quite a bit. Again, such a treat to be able to spend time with these people. We are two lucky, go by the seat of their pants people.

Beautiful Montana

Initially heading west out of Bozeman, we soon turned north to follow the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains up to Glacier. We were often the highest point around, riding with blue skies and temperatures in the low 90's. We were hot, sticky and sunburnt! The heat was so intense at one point that we took shade beside an electrical box that gave off a small rectangle of shade. Reaching Glacier National Park, we climbed the long anticipated Going-to-the-Sun road over the continental divide. The views were beyond specacular and the 26 mile downhill wasn't bad either. Spotting a few bears (one of which swam across the Missouri River in hopes of tasting our hamburger dinner) and moose along the way, we were always on the lookout for wildlife. We have had an amazing ride thus far up to Polebridge (taking the kind woman's offer of her cabin up here in the middle of nowhere) and will continue on the forest service roads over to Eureka before making our way to Sandpoint, ID.

Can you spot the bear in the river?

We could!

Glacier National Park

The long way down Going-to-the-Sun road

Our cabin for a few nights

Breakfast of champions...  or at least breakfast for us!  Polebridge Mercantile

Our Radio Interview

While in Ohio, Ryan and I were interviewed on a radio show called the Outspoken Cyclist on the 9/3/11 show. We are interviewed within the first 5 minutes. Click on the link below to listen (which is at the bottom of the shows description):

http://www.wjcu.org/media/audio/shows/outspokencyclist

Last night in Bozeman

Setting up camp by the light of the moon in a city park, tucked just inside a small patch of bushes, we thought we would sleep tight. 3:30am, a sprinkle of liquid hits our tent, similar sound to someone/something peeing on our fly. Maybe a spit of rain? Hopefully not a grizzy. Hopefully not wolves marking their territory. I freeze and my stomach turns to knots as my imagination turns to the worst. 10 minutes later, staying as quiet as possible, spit spit spit spit spit spit spit.....faster and faster. Ryan cracks up as the sprinklers shoot right at our tent. Thank goodness for our new fly! It lasted about an hour, every 5 minutes hitting the tent.

2 hours later, Ryan woke to a soaked left side. The water had pooled beneath the tent and forced its way through the floor. It's quite cold out, 30 or so degrees, still dark. Not much we can do. The sun started to rise around 6:30 and so did we. Packing up was quite a challenge, opting to put our wet possessions in our outside bags until we can spread out and dry with the sun. Cold fingers and toes, we rode to a great little coffee shop a few miles away where we were briefly approached by a fellow bicycle touring who has a cabin in Glacier. She quickly told us of her travels on a bike and gave us the address and code of her cabin to stay in. Every situation leads to something great. Some just take longer to come into fruition.

The kindness of a police officer - Writing

Tucked in the corner at the airport with our gear spread out, a police officer walked up and asked us if we were planning on camping out here. It started a conversation of the area, giving us tips of roads to travel and advice regarding the grizzlies. We are in grizzly country. He asked if we had bear spray, which we do not at the moment but I had every intention of buying some in town. Flying with it is illegal and is often confiscated at the airport. He went to his office and returned with two cans of bear spray, saving us over $100. Ryan was shocked that the police actually gave him a weapon! Thank you friendly polieman. I feel safer already!

Unexpected turns in life - Writing

June 20, 2011, I had a flight leaving from Detroit (where I was able to visit my sister and her family-extremely great to see them!) up to Anchorage. I would meet back up with Ryan to begin our ride from Anchorage down to San Diego. Our initial thoughts going into this bike touring lifestyle were to truly embrace the no destination, no agenda, no timeline motto. These next few months were a true testament of our words.

Ryan's mom has not been feeling well since back in March. June 19 she was told she needed invasive surgery to remove a section of her intestines. Our luxury in life of not having a job, rent, or any real have-to's, we completely changed gears and both made last minute plans to head to Ohio. It worked out very well and we both feel so fortunate that we were at a point in our lives where we could be there for them and help.