# how my bike trip ended a month sooner than expected



## streetrat (Nov 11, 2008)

heres some journal notes for my bike trip i took a month ago

oct1
so were stuck at the squat tonight, too many things went wrong today, im hoping we run out of badluck soon and get going. 2881 miles, this is going to be an intense trip. theres 4 of us, myself, ben, dayle, and mallory.
for having such good luck in the last month leading up to this, its no suprise so much is going wrong now. the day started off,8am, landon wants to talk to mallory... skip one hour forward past loads of drama and were at breakfast with friends, seeing us off, wishing us goodluck, and enjoying our last moments together. all is great as it seems, however mine and malls boss is in the hospital, fluid in his lungs. so now were out 200 bones each.
we find ourselves back at the house, cleaning and getting ready for our landlord to come give us our security deposit. the thing out the landlord.. hes greek, he owns a multitude of restaurants and houses, and is a completely corrupt, greedy, scumbag. his name is pano and he may be the spawn of satan, with that said you can imagine things didnt go to well when he came to check things out. in his eyes were all just a bunch of crusty hippy/punk kids, which we are, but in his narrow minded eyes, thats a bad thing. so pano, satan spawn bitches and about everything and with assistance from nobody, he robs us 400$
somehow mallory manages to get our checks, so now we're only down 400 instead of 800. just gonna have to be happy with that. in the time all this takes, our 9:30am departure is shattered. its about 6pm when were finnaly ready. theres no point in biking 2 hours so we opt to stay at the squat tonight, rest up and leave early. but yet again more problems.. a)i lost y phone(not so important) b) dayles backrack is broken.
and now is prest time. everyone is resting, backrack still broken. its about midnight, im unsure of the exact plan at this point but i have full confidence in my friends, and im sure thigns will work out. just a slow rough start. 



oct 2
so thigns arent looking to good. wind and rain are destroying our hoped for 80-90 miles a day. today we biked 29... were currently sitting in a diner waiting out the weather, which according to local news broadcasts isnt going to be getting any better and time soon. its been a pretty rough day so far... a recap;
i awoke to a cheerfull dayle excited to finally be getting on our way. we get our packs and bikes ready and check the route. . . were off, and all is looking suprisingly good, the weather isnt so bad and keeping a solid 14 mph is cake. but unfortunately it doasnt stay this nice. riding by the great lake bring terrible wind slowing us down and wearing us out. countless hills and miles later we spot a cornfield and stop to pick some corn. almost immediatly ben says "looks like it might rain soon" literally 2 seconds later water pours from the sky.
we scramble to throw up a tarp and get out of the rain, but thanks to my father were stuck with a 4 sq foot tarp littered with holes.. so by the time the rain stops we have a small fire going and decide to try and cook some corn for lunch but the lack of foil and taht dreaded wind knocking our fire over again, and again, proved our failure there.- we decide to continue
unfortunatly our problems still arent over. after multiple agonizing hills my tire pops. a short while later with bens help my bike is back on the road and were continuing our journey, hoping to kill a good 20-30miles before sunset.
about 10 miles later we come across a native diner and stop to eat. and this point were all hugry and eager to get some good food in us. . and this is where things get real shit. more rain and more wind. now were stuck in this diner waiting for a small break in the rain so we can set up camp in a near by forest. spirits are still high even with all the shit thats happened. finally starting this journey is exciting, and being on the road feels awesome. lets just hope we get a little luck and the weather gets better.

the rain is only getting worse and were stranded in this diner while the end of the world takes place outside. sleep will feel good tonight. that and the joint were gonna smoke when camp is set. i need some relaxing~~~~dayle and ben and ben have ventured out to try and set up the tent.. its still pouring. who knows how this will turn out.




oct 4
yesterday was one of the hardest things iv ever done. but skip that. today we dosed.
its beautifull oustide and were making pretty good time. over 20 miles already. i had some serious doubts last night, but today i feel euphoric. wonderful.the hills still suck. but the experience is worth it. meow

so were set up in a dead forest next to a dirt road. theres hicks and cowboy hats everywhere. we biked on said dirt road for about 5 miles and still have more to go. today was/ is really nice. it feel good to be out exploring, i feel more alive than i have in months. im pretty sure were in ohio now? well prolly be in this state for a couple days. were not making the pace we were looking to but im feelin pretty good. 
dayles confirmed were in ohio, hopefully ohio brings us more luck. one thing im worried about is money. im down to 76 dollars. i started with a lil over 120. in days somehow i managed to spend all that. but im gonna go enjoy camp, ill write more tomarrow : )

oct8
somehow 4 days have disappeared. i dont know how. today sucks. ist raining windy and my body is completely drained. im in a terrible mood, im wet, and hungry and to top it of were trapped ina hicks garage, with shitty music playing. its not even noon. wtf are going to do.
the past 2 days have been really good so i guess the good outways the bad. weve been making good time and having a blast. iv swung from vines, swam in creeks, cooked rice over the fire. the feeling of freedom feels amazing. weve met some extremely generous people. trevor, who gave us cupcakes, water, gateraid, oatmeal cookies, and apples. some old thai folk who own a resturant made us each fried rice meals, egg rolls, red pears, apples, and manderans, all while the resturant was closed. a potato chip truck driver gave us bags of potato chips. a gas station attendant gave us beef jerky, peanuts and personaly paid for everything we were going to buy.i feel bad stealing from him. the hicks who own the garage just made us pizza and gave us pepsi.... its awesome to meet people who dont just think of themselves. drinking soda is really strange. its been a long time. the carbination burns. being wet is making me cold, but one day wont bring me down, the next week is supposed to be great weather the whole week. i have twenty dollars left.. how i ended up with only 20 is pretty stupid...
the bike seat i was using sucked, so i decided to buy a new one. unfortunatly it didnt work... at all. looked comfy but no. so that was a total waste of 20 dollars. next thing i know theres a hole in my sidewall. so i have to buy a new tire.. another 20 bucks gone. i lucked out thoguh, a kevlar inforced tire for 20, which is rad. and mall managed to gank 2 other tires.
iv been having some strange dreams lately too, soace prisons, cyborgs and such.. wierd.


oct 9
well today has been a stange day. its still early, weve been biking for about an hour or so. almost every hill mallory has to stop to walk up. her knee is sore apparently. when she gets to seattle she gets 55,000 dollars. she was doored a year ago on her bike. so yeah who knows how today will go. oh and we might be lost too. who knows. currently were at a camp ground. the shittiest "campground" iv ever seen. nothign but mobil homes everywhere, no more than 8 ft apart. pathetic. thats not camping at all. but whatever. at the store here i was eying up these cherry danishes and i spotted a tiny lil fruit fly in the bag so i scored them for free. the proved to be a delicious breakfast for everyone. 
were kinda just waiting around now. dayle and mall are showing. me and ben are sitting. it was freeezing this morning but now i feel like a piece of bacon, sizzling in a hot pan. i slept like a rock last night, prolly ther best sleep iv had yet  feelin good, feelin free


so the trips over. mall's bum knee killed it. dayles mom is coming to get us. shes about 2 days away ina car. so were gonna pool our money and geta hotel. were in tiffin ohio, college hick town, for the next 2 days. i cant wait to get my bags and rack off and go ride around town, tomorrow were gonna dose 2.25 should be fun. but yeah... journeys over,
best week of my life.



if anyone read all that ill be amazed..


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## Benny (Nov 11, 2008)

Great story. My girlfriend and I were just talking about a long bike trip. Now I seriously inspired to do it. Thanks!


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## Tailz (Nov 11, 2008)

yeah bike trips are way cool. altho ive gone from like malnurished starvation to 30 pounds heavier than when i was on the road, now that im chillin in LR. so bikin would give me a heart attack if i were to go as is haha. but then again, itd probably help, i prefer the starvation haha.


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## Double-A (Nov 12, 2008)

my friend and i were planning a bike trip from Wi to nawlins, but he went to CNA classes and i got a job to pay some bills. but next spring or summer, i have my heart set on a trip. i can't wait to feel pedals under my feet again.


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## bikegeek666 (Dec 13, 2008)

i've done a couple of bike trips but nothing as intense as that. thinking about it when it gets warmer, though. the hard part is there are so many things that could go wrong, and being prepared for them all...kinda difficult.


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