Day 11

Well, we rolled in yesterday to Carlisle, PA in just under 3000 miles...

WAIT! Where have we been the last few days? When last we left our heroes, we were getting new tires and staying in the Metro KOA of St. Louis. Right! From there, we headed out of IN and into KY on I-64. The guys at LaMond were right, even on the freeway, the roads were twistier and as we progressed, the hills got rollier and the trees got taller and more lush. Still, you can see the effects of all the rains we heard so much about: there were sections of the freeway where both sides were under a few feet of water AND lots of farmland has all but disappeared. I don't know much about farming, but I hope all those folks are doing alright.I remember seeing a billboard that said, "One Kentucky farmer feeds 126 people AND YOU." That seems like alot of responsibility for one farmer under four feet of water. Still, I can't help think about all the movies Gosh has been watching about, well, basically, about how nothing is really as it seems. Kinda conspiracy stuff, really. Think Michael Moore. Anyway- we say ALOT of corn and soybeans. We smelled ALOT of cows and chickens. Where is the artichokes, brocoli, and spinach? Where is the variety? (See disclaimer above, I do not know much about farming... someone else is probably blogging right now about how all they saw on their trip was spinach! Where's the beef?)

Anyway... we planned to get into WV and stay at Tygart Lake State Park. We did it, but only after missing the turn by about 15 miles and having to turn back. Whoops! This is what a long run without stopping for a snack will do to you at the end of the day. We know better, too, but we were trying to stay our of the thunderstorms that were threatening to happen all day. We stayed dry but we got a bit slappy at the end there. We pulled off the freeway to get back on highway 50 and found a Kroger's market. I headed in- ahhh! air conditioning! and found sandwich meat, Utz's potato chips and Yuengling beer- PERFECT! I headed out with the goods and was again slammed with the humidity- we probably could have just eaten that!

Like I said, we missed the turn the first time but it was SO worth the stop! (We joked how beautiful that part of the ride was and how much we were looking forward to doing it a third time, but well rested.) We picked out campsite, unloaded our gear and headed down to the water for a dip. AHHHH! Sweet! We headed back to our site, fixed sandwiches and Gosh commented on how luscious the chips were. As he was looking at the bag, he noticed they are made with lard. I knew it! Fat IS flavor! We watched the fireflies wake up and the heat lightening off in the distance. But wait! It's real lightening and the rolling thunder is bringing the winds. We batten down the hatches- remember the hatches we though we hadn't packed? Well, we found them and secured them and headed into the tent. We stayed dry! At this point, the bikes had been rained on twice but we and our gear stayed (mostly) dry.

We stayed in bed pretty late the next morning. First, because it was still raining, and second because it was a pretty short day- a little over 200 miles. But now I must ready myself to head out with my sister on a few errands... Gosh will be taking over from here...

Wow, this is the first day we got to sleep in and not worry about packing the bikes and hitting the road. As Alissa said, the last couple of days were through some beautiful country. but yesterday was probably the best of the two days. We had to run on I-64 for a while to make up for the time lost for new tires, but it was worth the piece of mind if we encounter rain in our travels. Tygert Lake State Park is just off of Highway 50, so we were able to get back to our original route for a good portion of our ride yesterday. What a ride! 100 miles of some serious twisty-turnies, which were a very fun change from the Midwestern plains. We ended up in Winchester, Virginia, and rode right past Stonewall Jackson's house. Weird state lines too; within 150 miles we went from West Virginia to Maryland to West Virginia to Virginia to Maryland to Pennsylvania! Alissa was getting something from each state for her sister's wedding gift, but we were only in Maryland for a total of 25 miles. We stopped multiple times, but we could not find any Maryland souvenirs.

 Now some rest and relaxation and a wedding to attend. after that we will head north to Alissa's parent's place in Hop Bottom, PA, which is about 45 minutes North of Scranton. After a few days there, we will begin our journey home. Now, about our return route...

P.S. Alissa will add the pictures later today.