Portland & Hood River Oregon - time to relax and do some mountain biking!

Brother Mark made the journey from Michigan to Oregon this week to Scoop me up, and capitalize on some super sweet Pacific Northwest mountain biking.   Oh yeah..... He brought Buddy 2500 miles for the journey!

Mark, Buddy and I checking out Portland

Spent a a day in Portland gathering gear before we headed to Hood River to post up and camp and checkout the local scene.   Portland's a pretty cool town with lots to offer - they have their local bike scene pretty dialed in with tons of bike lanes and rider friendly zones.....beyond that, everyone's super fit and into nature and such!!!

Biker and walker specific lanes

Willamette River running through the city center

After Portland, we made the jaunt to Hood River.  The area is super dry though, they haven't got rain since March.  We spent a two days at Post Canyon (getting lost mostly), but still enjoying the vistas! 

Navigational issues at Post Canyon

Mechanical issues at Post Canyon

Post Canyon vista view  

Earning it

Dusty

 Mark getting the local knowledge from Emilion while plowing some delicious street tacos.  

The area is pretty amazing and filled with adventure seeking folk!  Never before have I seen so many vans/trucks/cars outfitted with travel boxes and adventure gear.    

Stoked.......Literally & Figuratively!!!!!

Pimped out sprinter

Wind surfing Westfalia

Home made bike rack

Primo condition AWD VW

Leaving Hood River, we made our way to Bend which is also another super cool meca city which is very bike and adventure conscious......but details will need to wait for another blog post!!!

Buddy's impatiently waiting for me to finish a long over due phone call

Cross country bike ride complete....Thanks for everyone's support along the way!

I'm happy to say I completed my cross country bike ride yesterday.  

Baptized in the Pacific

The 50 yard walk to the Pacific

Interestingly not as salty as I thought it would be! Pretty chilly though........ 

Murphy law in effect.  I went 3500 miles without an accident, then in the last 2 miles had a wipe out.  

My favorite red shirt.....sad face

Thanks to everyone that supported me along way! Words can't explain How cool of a trip it was.  Slowly meandering across the country allowed me to meet so many amazing people I otherwise never would have met. 

Met Charles and October in Walla Walla for a music festival and met these awesome peeps from Washington (from left: October, Charles, Trina, Holly, Doug and Cory)..... They were trying to get me drunk!

Rode with these guys for three or four days (from left: Martin, Dylan, Chris, Michael, Cody).  

Laney, Chelsey and Stevo hosted me in St Louis and showed me how "hustle city" does it! 

Child hood friend - Mike Kuchar - showed up for my finish....he randomly was vacationing with his family 15 miles away! 

Cool week in Portland learning how the Pacific Northwest works

Rock creek trail road south of Missoula Montana.  

Complete

Sent from my iPhone

Kansas.....Thanks for the views!

Eastern Kansas

Black Angus country.  

Without a doubt, since I've started touring across the country, Kansas has offered the most interesting landscape to date.  Interesting in a good way....as in "I'm relaxed when I travel through this part of the country!".  Obviously, it's totally different than the mountains, or the ocean, but it's not that it doesn't have great things to offer, the expansive views and wide open landscape are incredible to slowly pass through! The vast wide open views are unlike anything I've ever witnessed, and seeing that horizon span for miles and miles was something that provides a great sense of  tranquility.   

Caitlin & Casey in Kansas City.   

I also had a great opportunity to cross paths with my cousin Caitlin and her boyfriend Casey that live(d) in Kansas City.  It was cool that I had a chance to see Kansas City from the perspective of the locals, and they were able to show me the best parts of the city before they move back to Michigan (ironically the following week).  On the first night, we went to Joe's barbecue and had an amazing barbecue dinner.  We even had a chance to go to their friends Fourth of July party and go through a pretty thorough brewery tasting session, in which he converted his basement into a a man-cave-home-brew-tasting-room.  . It's probably not the right medium to discuss via a blog post, but there were some interesting conversations regarding patriotism and Edward Snowden that ended with a couple of people leaving the party!  No harm....No foul!  

Joes BBQ of Kansas City. Yeah!!! I ordered all the meats! 

The day after Joe's, Caitlin made a scrumptious breakfast utilizing the leftover barbecue from Joes. 

On my first ride out of Kansas City I cross paths with Frank Dorsey, owner of Frank's bar in Lawrence Kansas. He was awesome and offered to take me out for a beer once I settled for the night, to which I responded "Hell Yeah!".  We discussed the local cycling scene, and he told me about some great podcast that have change the trip for me....not sure how I listened to 16 episodes of 'Serial' in three days, but it happened! 

Frank and his proud crew at Frank's bar in Lawerence Kansas

Frank Dorsey in Lawerence Kansas.  

Happy customers at Franks Bar enjoying the women's World Cup 

As I moved through Eastern Kansas, the heat was incredible.  I tried to get an early start (7ish) to get the majority of the riding done prior to when the mid-day heat and humidity settled in.  On one of these days, i got lost trying to take a short cut, and I found myself in 'Dirt Road Purgatory' (unable to find pavement).  After 15+ miles of gravel roads, I finally found pavement and a place for lunch.  As I prepared for the final push to the campsite, I realized I wasn't going to make it before a crazy storm hit.  Stranded, I humbly asked a local rancher for a place to camp in his barn, to which he laughed and said, "Come up on the porch and tell me your story". After looking on the "www." we realized the storm was going to be in effect till midnight, So, Bill Bailey and his family took me, and allowed me to share dinner and the celebration of his first Great Grand Childs Nathaniel's 1st Birthday.  

Carrie &  Bill Bailey, and their grand daughters Ashley & Katherine

the storm front that approached and grounded me in central kansas

The bailey ranch

I also met Peg & Scott Garber in Council Grove as they hosted me one night as I hauled-ass across Kansas. It was really cool to meet them and spend some quality time with their son Todd (they had a group ride that night, so we only had a few minutes to chat before and after). Regardless, their son Todd took me out to dinner, and helped me restock my food supplies. Come to find out, the family does a really cool thing every year, and they pick a state and spend a week riding bikes through some picturesque areas of the US.  

Peg & Scott Garber

Hank Garber - 120 Lb. lab that I befriended at the Garber's in Council Grove.  He's awesome - he wanted to play as I laid on the floor, but he was so large he couldn't fit into where I was at, so I picked him up and laid him on top of me....I don't think the Garber's realized I had that in me!!!!!

On my last night in Great Bend Kansas, I randomly crossed paths with Chantel Mosher.  She's a 20 year old college student / fashion & travel blogger.  I ended up spending a couple hours chatting with her on my last day, discussing our adventures & aspirations.  It was cool chatting with her.  She's takes her blogging pretty serious, and is striving to make a career of it.  Not that fashion blogging is really my thing (maybe 'Beard-Vogue' at this present time), but she has some great photos that can be used for inspiration at http://www.wanderingwithc.com.  It was eye opening to spend time chatting with her, and seeing how professional she was in seeking an article for her blog.  Thanks Chantel for the vision.......you're pretty badass!

On a lonely ride across the plains of Hillsboro Kansas, I had the opportunity to meet Jason Sjorlund, the owner of the Hillsboro Sonic.  We chatted while my meal was prepared, and he end up buying me lunch, helped locate a youtube video on how to apply KT tape for an achilles (thats been bothering me for a couple weeks), and sending me off recharged.   It was a brief stop, but I exchange contact info with him, not thinking we'd ever cross paths again.  He wrote me a great email explaining how I was inspirational as he was having a touch day at work, and was getting pretty irritable with the team.  It's easy to go long stretches on the rode and become indifferent to the places and people you meet, but I found an unsuspecting rejuvenation from meeting Jason. Thanks for spicing up the plains of Kansas Jason!

Jason Sjorlund in front of his Hillsboro Kansas Sonic

UnReal - A 4k MTB Film

I don't typically repost this stuff, but everything from Teton gravity research and the crew at Anthill Films note worthy!