Oh my...I thought I knew what steep was! We have officially entered the Ozarks. The hills are steep but very fun. I was getting bored of the flats of Kansas anyway. I was running out of things to think about. There are only so many variations on pirate outfits. Yonah was beginning to come up with statistical calculations related to things like the inverse relationship between his ave. speed and his max. speed...or something like that..I didn't quite follow them all. He is diligent about writing down all his daily cyclometer stats and then drawing mathmatical conclusions!!
Hey!!!!! Speaking of which....Professor Sharon Strauss, PhD (who you can see sporting a lovely lame' outfit if you scroll down to the first blog from Placerville) just got a paper published in the oh so prestigious journal Science!!!!!! Look for it at your local newstand!!!!
ok, back to the blog.
Back to the hills. The "self-propelled rollercoaster" that is Southern Missouri, is never boring. You are always working and thinking. You struggle to the top and race down the other side. We mostly use two gears, 1st and 21st. Normally I am pretty conservative going downhill and my rule is "don't go faster than you can survive off life support if you crash", but these gradients changed all that. Today it was "don't go slower than you can survive if you have to climb the next hill without any momentum". So I race down the hill as fast as I can, in a gear that lets me pedal @ 30-37 mph, then I pedal furiously up the next hill, using momentum and clever gear shifting, going through all the gears on the cassette until I either reach the top or end up in my highest gear, mashing and straining and sucking in air, hoping I don't go below 2.3 mph because at that point I would just fall over. There was one hill that was so steep I thought "I don't even think I can walk up that!". But, in the end, we had a great ride...58 miles. We ended up at this campground with an actual flush toilet, showers (albeit cold water only), and a picnic table.
Next stop.....I forget. Someplace in Missouri...I'll have to ask Yonah.
L,
Djina
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Hey Djina,
Thanks for the little note. I do read the comments every time I read the blogs, but the blogs are sometimes posted funny (for example the date for this last blog says July 27, but the title says July 23), and I wasn't sure you got my messages. I would love to meet aunt Yvette by the way, she seems like the aunt anyone would love to have.
Just to say it again, you guys are amazing, all four of you. Matt better be working on the next book about this adventure! You should be writing it with him. I love your sense of humor, honesty, and insights. We have all adopted "Volder-Mart" over here by the way. it is very fitting.
Love
Juana
you guys(and gal) are so inspiring that chris is thinking of riding his bike to south dakota next summer, you'll have to give him lots of good tips.
Hello,
Solly,Yonah,Djina and Matt.
We got your postcard,but we can barely read it.Solly don't make your dad pedal all the time.
your friends,
Andrew and Eric
Julie Kilger gave me your blog address and what a pleasure I have had reading. You are a real inspiration and I salute your use of the trip to give the boys a real education of life outside Davis. We are in a bubble.
Tailwinds and good food to you.
Will this be a book when you finish?
"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none"-- Shakespeare, "All's Well That Ends Well"
Peace and blessings,
Barry
I'm starting to hear Judy Garland
singing now.."the road gets tougher, its longer and its rougher,..blah blah blah, the live long night and day" hands up and
belt it out now...oh well I can't
remember the rest..I just keep seeing her singing in A Star is Born--and I think we got four weary stars on our hand...generally around 3 PM.
So I learned something..I didn't realize Missouri was Deliverance country.
The East Coast is starting to feel like summer..humid and in the 80s
which isn't bad, but I really liked our 70 degree days much better.
So where are you now? Can you hear me? Because on the 27th, Friday, you said you were in Bendavis,Eminence on Monday..so what happened to the rest of the week..nothing much? but that means by Friday you were somewhere else..and now you are still further. A friend of mine who travels has a picture on his bathroom wall saying, "He travelled all around the world and next year he is going somewhere else.
Love Yvette
Hi Solomon,
This is Willie Hall from your soccer team. My mom and I have been reading about your trip across the USA and I think it would be really hard. My dad and I rode to Vacaville last Sunday and I thought that was long!!! I think you will have great stories to tell to our class because I am pretty sure I am in your class this year. Maybe we are going to be on the same soccer team again too.
Willie
Note the quick note in Farmington on July 25-Wednesday. From there---? The journey must be filling the journels with adventures. We are the lucky ones who to get to read about them when the amazing Ariels have time to catch their breath and find a computer to tell their stories.
For anyone who needs to know, the titles are the days adventures took place. The date of the blog is the date that the story was posted on the computer.
This is for Juana, look at the comment section where you left messages for Djina. Djina left messages for you following yours. I think that is what she was trying to tell you as fast she could.
This is the first blog that has ever caught my interest, much less held it too. I hope I am not intruding and my posts have been received with the good tidings that they have been written with.
May your days be full of enjoyable adventure and your nights be restful.
LJ - Bee Reader
Your Ozarks experience reminds me of an Irish blessing:
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always with you,
May the sunshine warm you always,
'Til we meet again.
Sounds like the Missouri roads are rising (and falling) more than you expected. one long metaphor for life?
keep pedaling, you guys are awesome!
Ramona
We love hearing from all of you, even LJ...you seem like part of the family by now. So glad we could keep you entertained this summer.
Aunt Yvette IS an amazing person..you would all love her even more than you think. She has been an inspiration to me all my life.
I've got 1 hr. to blog so I'm going to cut the comments short. I'll give Solomon all the messages. He will be very happy to hear that you, Willie, are going to be in his class....Mr. Reevesman!!!! We LOVE Mr. Reevesman!!!!!
Eric, Andrew, and the Daniels (L & H), he misses you like the dickens and talks about all of you...ALL the time.
Love,
Djina
Djina,
What a nice thing to say! Thank you very much.
LJ - Bee Reader
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