4200Miles

8/4 Day 13: Norriton Presbyterian Church, Trooper, PA to Old Mennonite Hall, Churchtown, PA   46 miles (575 miles total)        We were up and out of the church grounds today as quickly as we could be, since we didn't want to have to stop to talk to anyone lest they be annoyed at our stay. The steady, light rain that kept us company for dinner the night before hadn't gone anywhere by the time we were breaking camp in the morning, so we decided to skip what promised to be a rather depressing and wet oatmeal breakfast for a trip to Burger King for 2 for $3 breakfast sandwiches and some blogging/device charging. We each took full advantage and scarfed our pair of sandwiches, then everyone caught up with the world for a bit while we waited out the rain for a good little chunk of the morning. Post-breakfast I realized that something was wrong with Hobo-Bike, what my bike has been affectionately dubbed by the group for its preponderance of hobosity: mismatched pannie...

To everyone that has been clicking on our day to day map tab, we have finally got around to updating it. It now shows where we started and if we either camped or slept in a bed. We will try to stay on top of the map updating from this point on. Day to day map

8/1 Day 10: Turtle Beach, Del. Water Gap Rec. Area, NJ to Easton, PA 46 miles There is a traffic light in this park. However, there is no traffic.                       We woke up today a bit before dawn, fearing that since the park opened at sunrise we would be rousted out by militant rangers. We ended up being wrong on that score, thankfully, and had a quiet oatmeal breakfast next to the fog shrouded Delaware River with the odd deer here and there for company.  We managed to reap an unexpected benefit from our early rise in that we could hit the road early and ride before the day really started to heat up. The day flew by as we crossed the Delaware back and forth from NJ to PA a few times, passed the actual Water Gap, and generally cruised along the relatively flat banks of the river. We stopped in Belvidere, NJ at Uncle Buck's Diner and had our inaugural second breakfast snack. We all ordered the #1: 3 eggs any style, h...

If anyone wants to mail us anything, we will be stopping at the post office in Houston, PA probably on Aug 11. Feel free to send us baked goods, snacks, sunblock and nothing heavy because we will not want to carry it. Send everything addressed to Mandi, since the post office is keeping an eye out for packages with my name. MANDI BLEIDORN GENERAL DELIVERY HOUSTON, PA 15342-9999

7/30 Day 8: Mohonk Preserve to Oakland Valley Campground, Cuddebackville, NY 38 miles We are slowly getting used to tenting it nightly and breaking down camp in the morning. We slept in a bit today and didn't really get out of our tents til 7AM or so. We knew we had a little extra time because when I scouted out the area for beers last night, I saw a nice little place to get breakfast sandwiches that opened early for all the climbers. There were tons of climbers up there today, primarily because of two reasons: there are literally miles of vertical, exposed rock faces in the Shawangunk Mounains where we are, and there is an EMS Climbing School next door to our breakfast spot. Once we'd gotten our fill, we began our ride west, not exactly sure where we would end up for the night because of everyone's various maladies. We ended up really tearing up the miles as we cruised through some quiet rural New York towns, and the whole day was basically flat except for one big climb...

I think the cloud cover blocked our check-in last night, or I may have forgotten to hit the button in the scramble to set up camp. We're alive though!

7/28 Day 6: Lakeville, CT to Lloyd, NY      Bad news this morning: Dustin and Beth are calling it quits for the ride. They stalled out by the Barkhamsted Reservoir in CT and couldn't make their beat-up legs go any further. I feel badly that their trip and all of our big plans to get to the west coast together will not end as planned. We all wish they could ride on with us, as their company and positive energy will be missed. Good luck guys!      After hearing from Dustin, we set out and were shortly greeted by the border of New York state, our fourth (counting Mass.) so far. It was a pretty quick-paced ride for the four of us, and before we knew it we had shot up another big climb of about 800 feet. Our reward at the top was a great view of the Hudson River Valley with rolling corn fields dotted by farm houses. One thing that has really amazed me is how quickly the urban sprawl gives way to some very pretty rural scenes. It sounds obvious, but nothing drill...