WE ARE ACROSS AMERICA!!!! Seattle to NYC, on bicycles, unsupported, in 64 days.

Way to go!-- Matt, Kelley, Annalisa, Alex, Amos, Kate, and Mike (though we missed you through New York) !!!

Thanks to all the friendly, generous, kind, and helpful people we met along the way...you are a big part of why this adventure was possible and so amazing.

Matt and I are going to take a few days to relax and reflect and then revamp the blog with updates and pictures.

Cool bike shop in Minneapolis...

Riding over the bike highway/greenway bridge in Minneapolis.

Amos and Alex filling up at a sprinkler stop.

Kate and Matt enjoying a laundromat picnic of fresh and tasty treats from the co-op next door.

Camping outside of the RumShack after our first century...100 more miles outside of Minneapolis

Amos and Matt praying to the tailwind gods outside of Minneapolis...unfortunately it wasn't successful.

Day "I can't believe we're in New York!"

So we're a little behind on the whole blog thing, but that's because we've been biking, well, a lot...like over 3,000 miles and through a couple more states. We didn't know if Minneapolis could be beat, but Wisconsin proved to be especially enjoyable, taking some time to eat cheese curds, hang out at the HI in Madison, and ride up the coast of lake Michigan to the Mantiwoc ferry across. After a quick tour from Ludington to Port Huron, Michigan, we just spent 3 lovely days navigating through Ontario, hitting up Tim Horton's at least once a day, and after our third century ride yesterday, we are in Buffalo!!yay!

Minneapolis, MN

In the past month or so ....

month in...

day 31 - goodbye Montana

After spending the past fifteen days in Montana, we are finally across the state line into North Dakota and the central time zone. In Montana we met some amazingly friendly people, climbed the Rockies, saw Glacier Park, bought 25 cent hats at a rummage sale, and relaxed in a jacuzzi. It's a huge state and despite it's friendly citizens we are happy to be out of it. Tonight we are in Williston, ND camping out in the town park. Tomorrow it's 75 miles through the hilly badlands to New Town and the day after it's a quick 68 miles to the city of Minot. That brings us to the end of the third section of the Adventure Cycling map. After Minot it's four days to Fargo and then about four or five to Minneapolis. We are all looking forward to the twin cities because we haven't been to a large metro city since we left Seattle a month ago. We've had our ups and downs but we're all still pushing. Pictures coming soon.

Day 24--Oh, the Plains!

Hello friends! We are 7 strong, itchy, dirty, and still quite slow in the morning bike tourists, proud to be over 1,000 miles into our trip. Yay! We are currently in Havre, Montana, the most populous place we've been since Anacortes (day 3), with almost 10,000. Here's a wrap up by numbers:
Flat tires:
Matt (way to be a leader in the lead)-6, plus new tire and fork
Kelley-3, plus new rear wheel
Annalisa-3
Mike-3, plus 2 new tires (one in use, one for fun)
Kate-1
Alex-1
Amos-0!!!!
Mountain Passes:
6-Rainy, Washington, Loup Loup, Wauconda, Sherman, Marias
Accomodations:
Hotel-1, Sandpoint
Condo-1, Sandpoint
Hostel-2, Seattle, East Glacier
RV Parks-9
Campgrounds/Parks-10
F00d:
PB&J-a lot!
Nutella-2
Pizza (delivered to campground)-3
Ice cream- every other day
Watermellon-3
Miles per Day:
Highest-75
Lowest-20
Rest Days:
3-Sandpoint (Fourth of July), Glacier NP (2)
Wildlife:
Mountain goats-2
Bears-1
Deer-lots
Cattle crossing the road-1
Moose-1
Rabbits-4
Activities:
Campfires-8
Frisbee across the Continental Divide-2
Snowmen-2
Movies-2
Libraries-4
Walkie Talkies locked in the bathroom-1
Eating out-7

Day 18

It's hard to believe 18 days have past! As most tours would be wrapping up, we are just getting started! I'm pleased to say we have made it to Whitefish, Montana, after a heat wave in Washinton, a cracked fork, a busted spoke, and 12 flat tires between Idaho and today. We are 800 miles, three states and four mountain passes in, and getting pumped for our ride over Logan Pass in Glacier National Park in the very near future. The scenery has been amazing as we've biked often riverside, with big blue skies, fluffy white clouds, mountains and lakes in abundance. We've been lucky to find showers and even laundry at many of the campsites, as well as furry friends to visit with for those of us in withdrawal from our pets at home. We also celebrated Matt's birthday on the 5th with brownies and ice cream, and yesterday Amos blew out 16 candles on his cheesecake to ring in his birthday. More pics and details to come soon!

Day 7 - Winthrop, WA

After spending most of the first day in Seattle in an alley building our bikes, we left town for Bainbridge on a ferry. The view off the back of the boat is the city shrinking in the distance and the view to the front is the peaks of the Olympic mountains. We rode over the island to the Kitsap penninsula and up over Whidbey Island to Anacortes. We dipped our bikes in the harbor in Anacortes before setting out on the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier route with the expectation of dipping them again in the Atlantic in New York. Two days out from Anacortes we hit our first two mountain passes up to 5500 feet. The scenery was amazing and there was still snow on the ground. We spent the night near the top and rode down into the old west town of Winthrop today. Tomorrow we will be topping Loup Loup pass and then down into the Okanogan valley. The ride has been beautiful so far and there is plenty more to come.

tailwinds and toeclips!

Seattle

After some delays at the airport, Matt, Kelley, Alex, Michael and Amos made it with gear in tow to the Green Tortoise Hostel across from Pike Place Market. We met Annalisa and Ben there, along with their parents, then made it out for a late sushi dinner and check in with our bikes, boxed up and tucked away in the basement. We just enjoyed a free breakfast of waffles, eggs, fruit and brownies and bike assembly and our last trekker, Kate, are in our near future.