Austin and the end of my trip.

So, I made it to Austin, after 25 days of riding, 1900 miles and 30 days being gone from Columbus, I made it. I headed out from the RV campground and started going down highway 290 towards Austin. It was roughly 75 miles to Austin and I started early so I had plenty of time to make it there. The road wasn't too bad, hairy at parts but overall 40 miles of the 70 miles was perfect riding. I rolled into Austin, after stopping at a DQ and a local artist in a rap group gave me a cd of his after hearing my story. I made it into the campus area by 5:00pm on Friday the 30th. While riding by a bar, I stopped and asked for directions to Clown Dog Bicycles, a bike shop that I had heard about from an employee at Michael's Bike Shop in New Orleans. They gave me directions, asked what I was doing and bought me a beer while the 4 of us talked. I left after about 45 minutes and headed to the bike shop. It was super close and easy to get there and upon arriving I thought the shop to be amazing. The guys were super cool and amazingly bearded. I hung out with them, drinking Texas' PBR, Lone Star beer. It was good to feel normal again. It was good to be able to talk about bikes and the like with people. 

My parents ended up taking some vacation time and drove down to vacation in Memphis and Austin and visit with my step-dad Mike's parents and his brothers. I stayed for a night with my uncle Bill and aunt Kate and  we stayed in a hotel for 3 nights and then stayed with my grandparents for 1 night before we drove back.

While we were there, hanging out and having fun we saw quite a bit of Austin, all of which I wanted to see. We saw the 1.5 million Congress St. bridge bats, who live in the cracks underneath the bridge during the spring and summer and then fly down to Mexico for fall and winter. They all fly out from under the bridge for the better part of an hour and it's quite the site to see. There were so many stinking (yes literally) bats it was crazy. When you thought there couldn't be any more bats, more would come. 

We saw 6th street, which reminded me a lot of the Park street area in Columbus, filled with bars, restaurants and more bars. We went to Guadalupe, which is the main drag for campus and it reminded me of High St. on campus, filled with random shops, cafes and restaurants. The coolest place we went to was on S. Congress, outside of downtown. It had some of the cooler shops and quite a few Mexican folk art and Day of the Dead art everywhere. It reminded me of the Short North in Columbus, the artsy neighborhood filled with similar shops. Overall, I loved Austin but it reminded me a lot of Columbus, just hotter and filled with more Hispanic people and Spanish being spoke around every corner. I loved it. It was bigger than Columbus, had a more integrated cycling system of transportation and a lot of music around every corner but it made me far more homesick for Columbus. If you live in Columbus, and you move away, you always realize how much you love it when you're away from it. 

I enjoyed hanging out with my family there in the Austin area and enjoyed seeing them and talking to them now that I'm an adult, now that I'm able to hold conversations with them. Especially considering it's been over a decade since I had really spent much time with them or had seen them. The ride back with my parents was a lot of fun and it was nice being able to actually bond with them and speak to them for more than just a short time while on my way to or from somewhere. It's crazy how much you let your life get away from you when you're caught up in the every day grind. 

Overall, I have to say that I haven't been living my life for the last couple years. I've been living but not to the fullest. If there's anything that I have learned from this trip is that time is not of the essence to obtain some sort of status or level at work or even money. Time is of the essence to not waste and not get caught up in. Even when the threat of daylight being lost and danger being within an hour away in the middle of nowhere, where you would never want to be caught out riding, time was never an issue. Even though you have just a few days worth of money left on your trip, time is not that big of an issue. You'll be fine. Plan for what you can and work hard but know that no matter what, where there is a will, there will always be some kind of way. 

It was an amazing trip overall and it feels weird to be done with it but I'm just a little bit away from my next trip and my next adventure. I've learned a lot, seen a lot and have met a lot of people.

I'll be starting school this January and will be taking my next step into my future. I'll be able to do it, you can do anything that you set your mind on doing. I'll just have to keep the bike balanced good, keep the pedals moving, think only moment by moment and there's nowhere I can't go. I'll be catching you out there.

Amazingness in the midst of pain:

These past few days have only followed suit with the entirety of my trip. Perfection is never something that can be planned and never what you originally expected.
My second day in Texas started off like my first, not so fun. Had a few honks and a bit of attitude from the store clerk but I wasn't about to let her ruin my day. I started riding and it ended up being a beautiful day, hot and windy, but beautiful. I got to this little place in rye, tx called the cookie jar and there were about 5 people eating in there, all of whom had questions for me. I talked openly and asked them.about their lives and it was great. A couple of the people cleared out and it was just me, 2 brothers in their 70's and this 40 year old man who had just quit his job after 22 years. I'm sitting there talking and the brothers get up to leave and one of them tells me that they paid for my meal, to have a safe trip and they leave. I'm completely blown away. Then the 40 year old guy leaves and wishes me luck and I wish him the same. I sit down and listen to the waitress and the cook, both cute younger women, talk about anything and everything. While I'm sitting there I start figuring out where I'm going to stay and try calling the shepherd sanctuary but there's no answer so I leave a message. Then the 2 girls come out from the back and start talking to me about my travels and give me a box and I stand there and look at them. Apparently the guy who just quit his job came up and tried to pay for my meal but found out that the brothers did and so he bought me my next meal of a turkey club and fries that could travel well. He didn't even mention it to me! He just walked out and without asking for anything or mentioning any financial burden, these guys completely hooked me up. It completely blew me away. I walk out front with the 2 of them while to smoke and here's where there's a little icing on the cake. We look to the left, coming from the west and we see a cyclist hiding from the sun under some tree limbs. I jump on my bike with my helmet still hanging from ny bars and ride over to where he is and invite him over. Nathan is in his early twenties and he only started the day before out of Houston. He's heading to the east coast and then back to Houston. The girls give us some lemonade and I give him the sandwich and fries so graciously given to me. He tells me that he started really late that say but stayed at shepherd sanctuary and that its awesome and for only 10 bucks! I always am happy when a camp site is 10 bucks or less. We part ways and I head to the most amazing little treasure in the world. Peaches is the owner and I don't share more than 5 minutes with her but she seems super nice. Lorin is the caretaker and I is absolutely one in a million. She has a heart of gold and I had a blast with her and their friend from when the were kids (Mr. Gates but I can't remember his first name) until around midnight. I could live in a place like that. There was decorations and amazing stuff everywhere you looked. 22 acres of paradise. I slept on the deck, under a blanket, looking at the stars.
The next day I rode out and again, didn't make it quite as far as I should've. I stopped in Richards, tx and stayed at a ranch with a pool and again, slept out underneath the stars. :) the owners are this precious couple who met in Germany while the husband was stationed over there and she was living over there. (She's German and he's American) they were just super sweet, she introduced me to all the animals (cows, bulls and donkeys) and let me help out with feeding time. Then I went swimming, made some dinner and went to bed.
Again, I didn't make the miles that I wanted to the 3rd day, (Thursday) but I found out from the owners of the rv park that I can shorten my trip by a day. Hopefully the next time you hear from me on here, i'll be in Austin.
The road can be brutal with the wind, hills and heat but I'm in love with it. It's such a freeing experience that I can't describe with words. Maybe you get an idea from reading this but I guess, if all else fails I'll catch ya on the road.

It's the final countdown!:

So I'm getting better. The day off at White Sand Canoes was well worth it. This 40-something year old officer in the army, Tim, came in to canoe and then spent the night on the grounds as well. Now here's the interesting part. Because of a pinched ghost nerve somewhere in his back that the doctors couldn't figure out, he was nearly paralyzed a few months ago after getting back from Iraq. Boy is he a go getter! He's moving around and with Rhett (the owner of white sands who I completely misunderstood his name for a day and a half) challenging TIM and vise versa, it got pretty intense at times that night. Beer and proud men often don't mix but by the end if the night, the three of us were like long lost brothers. It was completely crazy and wonderful. The next day, the last day of White Sand being open for the season, I hung out until 11:30 after helping with a load of canoes to go out, even though I told Rhett I was getting out of the business. I was half tempted to stay another day because I felt so much at home. It was one of those things that if I was a day sooner or a day later it wouldn't have happened at all which seems to be the entirety of the story of this trip.
I headed out and at around 3, after eating some Mexican and doing some laundry, tried calling for the 3rd time in a few days for my next stop and still didn't have an answer and so I just stayed about 30 miles from White Sand. I ended up getting a call at around 5:30 that I was able to stay in Merryville but decided to just stay put having set up camp.
Now let me interrupt myself to explain what I absolutely hate about my trip since I've told of so many great things and I don't want to rob you of the experience. I hate the love bugs that have been following me for 4 days, they fly around connected to each other and are the most annoying things to hit you in the face a billion times in one day. I hate the condensation that causes my sleeping bag and everything in my tent to get wet at night. I hate the moldy smell that I discovered on my sleeping bag at 8pm tonight, causing me to have to ride to get a small box of detergent after dusk and then stay up past 10pm doing laundry. I hate that I've now been chased by dogs in every state outside of Ohio on this trip. I hate the looks that people give me and the lack of response to simple greetings during my day. And the one that takes the cake are the fire ants that seem to love me and get all over my feet everyday no matter where I am.
Now, I don't want to discourage you from doing this if you are reading these posts wanting to do the same kind of thing. This just comes with the happenings and trust me when I say that it is completely worth it at multiple times in just one day. Just like today when I spoke with a man having just entered my final state, in some po-dunk town in the middle of nowhere. This man spoke to me for an hour and a half about his journeys, his music, the time he hitch hiked 250 miles to buy a horse and then after about a dozen attempts at breaking him in, rode him 500 miles south over the period of a few months and told me of how just 4 months prior, when he was driving a log truck, hit wrecked because of a strap snapping, throwing the weight all to one side. Some of the trees broke through the cockpit of the truck and nearly completely severed his right arm off at his bicep but how because of a 2 inch long piece of skin, they were able to sew it back on.
These are the stories that make this trip completely worth it along with the many sites, sounds and experiences along the way.
I got to Texas today and after 80 miles of wind blowing me all about, I made it to my camping spot and feel completely satisfied in today, despite being honked at and yelled at more than in any state prior. It makes sense that Texas has signs reminding them to drive with friendliness because its often forgotten. One plus is that there are plenty of share the road signs but they all have pictures of motorcycles. :)
It's a start I guess. 
I'm feeling loads better, still pretty stuffed up and coughing a bit but I'm doing quite well. Thanks for your concerns and calls and I can't wait to see you all soon. Just a few days left but I still hope to catch ya on the road.

Being sick on the road:

The past few days have been rough. Marie dropped me back off at where the southern tier maps pick up to take me west and I was feeling under the weather but nothing too bad. I figured a nice, short 50 mile day would be fine. We parted ways and I headed out. I was just drained after just a little bit of riding. I finished out the day in semisport, la at the state park to camp for free, which is always nice when you're on a really tight budget. There were hundreds of bugs out so I was sure to pick up some Off to get me through the next few days.
The next day I was planning on doing a long day of riding but boy was I hit with the sickness and knew I couldn't do it so I planned on doing a shorter, 50 mile day to Chicot park for $20, which is expensive but really nice because of the shower facilities. You end up really appreciating a well maintained bathroom when you spend so much time on the road. I went to bed at 8, which is early for me but I spent most of the night coughing up a storm. It was rough.
The next day, I planned for another short day and it was the worst that's it's been. I felt horrible and wanted to just curl up on the side of the road and die. I couldn't breathe through my nose at all, could barely breathe through my mouth and would cough my brains out about every two minutes. If that wasn't bad enough, I was biking the day away. Luckily, I was staying at this place called White Sand Canoes for free because, although it was set up prior to him buying the business, he still let's people stay there. Perfect hospitality for someone needing to get back on his feet after a killer cold. Now here's the catch, Rick who is the owner of white sand canoes, is a character. I ask him if it's ok if I stay for two nights and he says yes but he'll put me to work taking canoes down and putting them back up when people come back. Luckily I didn't plan on heading out because all of his employees that help him out didn't show up today, leaving him up the creek without a paddle. (Nice play on word for the situation, eh?) So I wake up and we hang out, have some coffee and he takes a bus load of people while I take the truck with canoes about 150 feet from the property to the drop zone. We do this about 5 times and its pretty easy, still leaving me my much needed rest time in between. 15 canoes are out and we pick up 13 tonight since 2 of them are staying out overnight.
Then, back on the road tomorrow to hopefully be in Texas in a day. Money is running out which worries me but it just means I have to be a little more frugal and hope to find some canoe companies to work for along the way. I hope for a fast recovery and I'll be seeing you on the road.

Some super chill time

I had a great time on Sunday and it was great having a pretty much full day to just chill instead of spending the entire day riding. Don't get me wrong, I love riding far and spending my days in the saddle, it's just nice to mix it up a little bit. I left Perry and Lep and rode to St. Francisville, about 20 miles away from where I was staying. The day before I had seen signs for 'CF' with a bunch of bicycle signs and directions and I finally found out what it was on Sunday. They had a charity ride with about 100 people riding to raise money and awareness for cystic fibrosis. This 24 year old guy named Josh(twin?) ran into me and we rode for around 5 miles until the finish. They invited me over to the after ride jambalaya and drinks and that was nice. I could eat jambalaya all day, it was so good! After around 20 minutes or so, I left to go to the Magnolia Cafe, which I was told about 3 times in 2 days that I needed to go there. It was great! I got some fried alligator and a great grilled chicken with feta salad. I still had quite a bit of time until Marie was in the area so I decided to look at some more stuff around St. Francisville.
Now, on a side note, there are some issues when you're riding a bike long distance, in parts of the country that aren't so bike friendly. The highways, although bikes are still aloud, are huge issues because the cars are flying down the road as fast as 70 or 80 mph at times and the berms are smaller than would be preferred and a lot of the time the area is taken up with broken debris and foot wide rumble strips everywhere. So, although I was planning on riding to Baton Rouge, I decided to stop where the route runs into the southern tier Adventure Cycling maps that will take me to Austin and just hang out in St. Francisville until Marie arrived.
I went and checked out the historical center for a bit, got a sticker and then rode out to the Myrtle plantation home that if you look up, you'll see it's on the list with some of the most haunted places in the world. It was very awesome hearing some of the history behind the culture and imagining being around in the period of time and experiencing some of the week long parties there on the plantation. I love how the further south I go, the more history these places hold and how nearly untouched everything seems. I hang out with this awesome couple for a bit after taking a tour of the plantation and then head out to meet up with Marie. She's been on the road for around 14 hours and is pretty tired but she's still happy to see me and it's quite nice seeing a familiar face after being out on the road by myself for so many hours. We drive to New Orleans, check in to the hotel and head out after a shower to check out Bourbon street, just two blocks from where we're staying.
Since we spent 3 nights here in New Orleans, I'll sum up everything for the sake of time.
I absolutely love this city. Everyone is friendly and the energy is always exciting yet relaxed. There are bicycles everywhere and I saw my first bicycle pizza delivery girl which was pretty cool. We checked out pretty much everything and I honestly think I could live here and somewhere in my future, it's definitely a possibility. We even went to this awesome brunch place that I was told about months ago called the Court of Two Sisters where this great jazz group was playing some amazing music. I love that when I walk down the street, I get to listen to an amazing jazz trio while drinking a beer on the street, watching a guy paint with style and watch tourists from around the world look walk around and enjoy themselves. Everyone's a people person and you can talk to pretty much everyone like you've known them for years and it's been so nice to feel at home as a guest in this city. The food is also amazing and I'm pretty sure I could eat po boys and pralines everyday for the rest of my life.
Tomorrow I head out for Austin and it's going to be amazing to have traveled from Columbus, OH to Austin, TX in a month. I look forward to the many more people that I will meet along the way and to truly experience more of the southern hospitality that I have grown to love.
Can't wait to get back in the saddle and I look forward to seeing you on the road.

Southern hospitality and the natchez trace.

Post for Sataurday 9/17/2011

On Friday it was a day that started out amazing and ended amazing with a couple freak out moments in-between. Started out from Jackson, mississippi and about 10 miles out, seeing that there wasn't a stop for the next 40 miles or so, I decided to ride about 4 miles off route to a small town to grab a bite to eat. I Hung out, ate a few chicken tenders and talked to a short, rather large man who rides around town all day on a purple beach cruiser. He was slightly mentally handicapped but absolutely awesome to talk to. I left there, having realized that I spent too much time talking and went back to the trace to continue on. Seeing as I was planning on only doing around 80 miles, I stopped at more places to see the sites and take in the history of the natchez trace and the Cherokee tribes who used to live there. I stopped once more along the way and hung out for a half hour, eating and charging my phone. I found out that the bed and breakfast that I was planning on staying at had a $150 rate and decided to camp at a camp ground a few miles further down the trace. It was 4:30 and I was about 17 miles from where I was going to camp when I called the park. I don't know whether it was the employee having a bad day or fate but I was told that I couldn't stay there if I didnt get there by 5 to pay. Then I started to freak, not knowing where I would stay or if I would be stranded for the evening. I wasn't planning on staying in natchez originally but I figured I would give it a shot and see if any ws hosts were there. To my surprise there was nichole. I called her and she was more than awesome and said I could stay but that she wouldn't be back until 10pm but I was more than welcome to a beer in the cooler and to hang out on the back porch until they got home. I got off the trace and headed to the Exxon to get a bite to eat and hang out for a bit and it ended up being amazing. After about an hour I see multiple cyclists getting out of cars and grabbing beer while I was on the phone with my mom. I wave but am enjoying the conversation so much that I don't get off. That is until I see Stan, the Schlitz jersey wearing, rattle snake herding cyclist. I get off the phone and find out that stan owns a music/bike store up the street and we get to talking and I end up loading up ny bike in his truck and we head there to see if he has tires in my size. One thing leads to another and we start playing music together there in the shop while drinking Mississippi brewed pecan honey nut brown ale. Now, if that wasn't crazy enough I find out that all of those cyclists are part of natchez bike club and they all did a ride that night and were heading to grill out and just hang for a few hours. Stan invited me out and I heard stories of bike rides where stan herded a rattle snake off the trail with his front wheel and really enjoyed everyone's company. I also met a girl who moved from san Francisco to natchez (which is awesome and random in its own rite) and used to be a bike messenger. We exchanged numbers and after a great evening stan took me back to the ws host and I then Hung out with them, drinking and talking until almost 1am, the latest I had been up the entire time.
I woke up at around 7:30 and adrienne (the girl from san fran) had agreed to show me around natchez and show me the Mississippi that morning so I called, we met up at 8:30 and I didn't end up leaving until around 11am after riding around almost 10 miles through natchez. She even showed me through the graveyard with tombstones from the early 1800's like Louise the unfortunate, the town prostitute. It was a lot later than I would normally start but completely worth it. 70 miles was easy after that point.
I made it to Louisiana today and it was perfect weather for it too. Got to Jackson, la and a ws host, potentially my last host for the trip outside of there in Austin. Perry and Lep Templeton (same last name as my step dad Mike!!!) are incredible. After 20 months of work, just last week they finished building their own house! I wish I would've taken pictures but I didn't feel right considering there are boxes everywhere still. You'll just have to take my word on this one. They've hosted so many cyclists through the years and looking over the comments of many others who have flew from further to ride in the us, ridden from shorter and were just starting out or are just passing through in one of their many journeys makes me wonder whether someone going to be sitting where I am, reading my comments and wondering when their trip is going to start seeming real like I've been wondering this entire time. I never would've thought I would've made it this far but it seems like such a blur and like I've been riding forever already. It's hard to believe It's been just over 2 weeks.
I have a few rest days in new Orleans (woot!) after I ride to st. Francisville and to baton rouge tomorrow. Marie is coming to hang out in new Orleans with me, which will be nice to have a little bit of home on my trip. I'm so excited to see these 3 places, you have no idea.
I'm sure i'll have loads to talk about but until then, ill catch ya on the road.

A new state and the natchez trace:

I'm in Mississippi now and It's absolutely delightful. I rode an extra 40 miles so I could camp for free in tupelo and it was worth it. As the first city with over 20,000 people living in it in over 600 miles it felt nice to be able to pick a restaurant to eat in. I ended up camping for free in a nearly abandoned camping site that the trace has to offer. A little creepy but it was nice to camp alone after having to camp with people around the last few sites.
The next day I finally met some more touring cyclists which was nice. The first guy had been travelling for a couple of years and was headed to D.C. to meet up with a friend. I wish I could remember the nick-name he had been given but it escaped me instantly. He told me of a 32 year old girl who I was sure to enjoy the company of just a few miles behind him. And so, as promised, a few miles later I met Alicia, a girl from san Diego who was headed to Nashville to see the classic country culture. We hung out for a little over an hour just talking and eating power bars and it was delightful. Despite my lack of water and my thirst, I stayed and listened to her rambling about everything on her mind. It was nice to meet someone close to my age and close to my life situation to talk about anything and everything with. She left and I went on my way. I finished out the day at Gary and donna's house and enjoyed an awesome shower and some laundry. The unfortunate thing is that, due to an emergency in a friends family, they had to drive up to Nashville the day of my arrival. Kevin, a close friend of theirs was there to save the day for me and I was able to stay. He's awesome and I was so happy to sleep in a bed instead of camping out. You'd be surprised about how much better you feel when you get a nice shower and get to sleep in a bed.
The next day I had a nice, short day (60 miles) and another ws host in Jackson, ms. The potts are absolutely delightful and after going to my first coffee shop and hanging out for an hour, I went back to their house where we headed to a friend of theirs house. We drank wine and talked about everything from politics to art and it was great. It was nice to feel normal again and not just hang out in poly-lycra skin tight clothes. It was nice to not feel dirty and sweaty all of the time. I'm happy for the break in new orleans coming up in a few days but tbh, I'm happy to keep riding and meeting more people. I did, however, make a decision that'll change the rest of my trip. I'm going to stop in Austin, tx and head home after that. As much as I'd love to finish out the trip to Mexico, I honestly don't see any point of going that far. In west Texas, I would be bypassing everything I want to see and would only be doing to prove something to myself when I've already proved so much. It's not about the end but about the trip and I don't want to rush through the remainder of my trip and miss out on what's right in front of my face.
So, as far as I'm concerned, cbus to Austin it is and I'm done. If you feel bad about it, sorry. I just gotta do what I gotta do. Until then folks and i'll catch ya on the road.