FRIENDS IN THE HILLS - EAST TN

Greetings from Boone nc! Contrary to popular belief, vagabond Jordan and Israel are still alive and riding! After a much needed week off in Murfreesboro TN, the vagabonds have continued their way east. Riding out of Murfreesboro, Jordan and Israel were accompanied by their trusty friend Matt Tucker! Through lots of hills and hollows we made our way to Sparta, tn where we took shelter from a storm at a local Sonic. Tired, wet and famished we decided to take a small hobo nap in the middle of the city park. After siesta time, with some time to kill before turning in, we decided to visit Calfkiller brewery. At Calfkiller's head quarters we met one of the owners and were able to get a small private tour and some samples of their new brews. The brewery is by far the best experience that Sparta had to offer. Later that night we returned to our hobo camp, where we were visited  by some creepy teenage night owls. 

The following morning started with bad news... Jordan's phone had by stolen while we slept. Taken by one of Sparta's goons we were once again robbed blind, the loss was felt by all :( Out of Sparta, we climbed up Cumberland plateau towards Crossville.  The climb out of Sparta was probably the biggest elevation gain we'd had since the Rockies. Reaching Crossville after climbing forever, we made our way to a heaven sent Chinese buffet where we gorged ourselves into a food coma. Four  plates deep and a few strange looks later, we were back on the road after "cracking-out" in order to beat the "itis." With our Blood-caffeine-level way past the legal limit, we blasted to Kingston where Jordan convinced Israel to push towards Lenoir city with 1.5 hours of daylight left. Too caffeinated to know better, we continued to bike through some very dark, curvy, wooded roads.  In complete darkness and scared half to death we reached Lenoir city. Upon reaching Lenoir city the thought of showers  and beds being 20 miles away was way too tempting. Having wanted to complete a century ride the entire trip it made the most sense to go for it. It was at 10:30 pm, that we embarked on our last 20 miles into Knoxville. Shortly after reaching the 100 mile mark, we crashed with our good friend Sean Knox and his cousin Coleman Bradley. Our first off day In Knoxville we hung out with our good friends Nealy, Meagan, Emily and Sean.  Our second off day we visited with Jordan's family and Jordan got to see his dad for the first time since the beginning of the trip. 

Saturday morning we left Knoxville and headed towards Newport. On our way to Newport we crossed over the beautiful French Broad. Luckily after reaching newport,we were able to hook up with Jordan's old buddy Seth and were able to crash at his raft-guide pad for the night. 

Still skirting the Appalachian mountains we hopped over to Johnson city. The trek to Johnson city proved to one of the longest days ever. Despite the beautiful mountain scenery and wonderful road conditions, the mileage just couldn't be done fast enough.  Several hours later we arrived at JC and headed directly to The Acoustic Cafe for some local flavor. At the Cafe, we met up with the amazing Haley Traver/Casey for dinner and beers. Jordan also got to catch up with some old local friends who joined us later. Once out the cafe, we were In for a very dark cold  and sketchy ride back To Haley's mountain home. To our surprise,  Daniel "Shag" Casey (Haley's hubby) was there to greet us despite his night of heavy grad school work. After trying some of Haley's home made granola, stuffed we laid our weary heads to bed. 

Awaken by Haley's smiling face and delicious breakfast ready, our day was started off right at the Casey's. Sad to leave their  good friends, the vagabonds took to the mountains into the Cherokee national forest. The end of Tennessee marked the beginning of their last leg of their journey into North Carolina. That is all for now, we shall report back from NC in a few days!

Matt Tucker seeing of his boys!

Over the Caney Fork river

THIS IS SPARTAAAAA!

At Calfkiller's brewing operation

Christine's roadside big girl love depot ;)

Knoxville's "cloud factory"

Jordan's alma-mater, UT!

Exhausted century faces

Meagan and Nealy !!!

...

Always good to see this face !

Jasper and Coleman !

?

Lunchtime mustard fail :(

FRENCH BROAD!

NEWPORT !

Seth's place...

 Getting fancy 

Tennessee !!!

Classic!

The Acousic Cafe!

Sketchy ride to Haley's 

Shag and the vagabonds!

Into the mountains!

 We dare enter the forest !

HOME IS NOT PLACES KY/TN

As we last remembered, our story left us a the edge of the Ohio River crossing into the proud state of Kentucky.  From the new shores of Kentucky, we made way for the town of Grand Rivers on the north side of Land between the Lakes. We had 30 miles ahead and 3 hours of daylight before reaching our destination. A strong pace through the Kentucky hills left us at Birdville, a small town with a big southern presence. Our afternoon was cut short by our extended lunch, which left us biking after dark. It was then that only 5 miles from Grand Rivers that Jordan snapped his firsts chain. Luckily Jordan’s former NASCAR Pit Crew skills kicked into gear and he had his new chain popped in and ready within minutes. Landing in the dark town Grand Rivers was strangely comforting after all of our previous shenanigans. Weaving through the town, we finally found ourselves at Canal Campground where we snagged a sweet shelter to keep us out of the rain. In complete darkness we had our very first pasta night, which lifted our spirits beyond belief. After dinner, we crashed for the night smelling like wet dogs on our 4^th night of no showers…

The following morning we were woken up by a thunderstorm that kept us in the shelter till 11 AM. Two breakfasts and a morning nap later, we headed for the North entrance to Land Between the Lakes. The first 3 hours of our days ride were wet and a rollercoaster of hills. Rolling into our halfway  point at the Golden Pond Visitors center we binged on the free Powerades we’d scored the day before. Nothing has ever tasted so good! With only 9 miles to go, we made a beeline for the TN State line. After our stopover at the visitor’s center the weather shifted to our favor. Dry roads and sunshine marked the entrance into our great state, Tennessee. Once we had reached the state line a very interesting sensation ran through the vagabonds knowing we were almost home. Many  pictures and random cheers later we started to ride away but not 10 feet into TN Jordan got his first flat. This was a very significant moment since Jordan and Israel alike had 0 flats for over 3,000 miles.  While we changed Jordan’s flat, a forest ranger pull over to help us and get us on our way but not before he was moved by our mission (as well as our smell) and invited us to his guest home for the night. The last 13 miles put us outside of Dover, TN where we decided  it was time to take up Dickey on his hospitality and take showers.  The ride to his place was one of the most hilly roads that we have come across. Exhausted, burnt and greasy we pulled into Dickey’s guests home, which automatically felt like paradise with AC, Showers, Beds and a real kitchen!

The next day after a much-deserved long nights rest at Dickey’s we parted towards Nashville. We blew past the first 30 miles into Clarksville with lots ease. After lunch we zigzagged through Clarksville’s streets trying to out run the eminent rain. The clouds finally caught up to us just in time for us to take cover in under a hospital overhang. Once the storm passed and we had left Clarksville, Jordan had a second flat on a very high traffic road. All afternoon we had dodged after work traffic with a 6 inch shoulder lane with rumble strips, hoping none would do us in. Consequently, after Jordan’s second flat we decided to call in the cavalry and have his brother pick us up.  The rest of our night was spent catching up along with beers and burgers at Nashville’s own, Melrose.  Happy to be in Nashville but even more excited to get into Murfreesboro, we made our way out of the Metro area and unto Murfreesboro Road. Fired up we rode right through LaVergene and Smyrna pumping out 38 miles into the heart of Murfreesboro. Entering Murfreesboro we had to undoubtedly   ride through our local Greenway. Both excited and in disbelief we rode through our old streets smiling ear to ear. Headed towards our old town square we knew there was only one place to celebrate our contentment, Liquid Smoke. There we had many of our close friends meet us which made us feel incredible.  The next few days have been spent resting and catching up with family. We are very happy to be home but also keeping the road ahead in the back of our minds. The trip to the coast continues on the 18^th and we promise to keep you posted more often from here on out. Till next time!

Illinois from the Ferry

Daily dose of weird road kill

Lake Barkley, KY

Entering LBL

Official LBL Visitor Center

Yes We've ridden all the way here

Not sure whats happening here. about to Sneeze?

Dickey's Paradise

Yes, Forest service propaganda!

Taylor brothers reunite!

Escaping Nashville

Tunnel Time

Mandatory Greenway run

Too excited!

Beautiful Greenway 

Riding into the Square

Incredible friends...

Best part of coming home

RUNNING FOR THE SOUTH ILLINOIS/KY

Hello old friends! Many apologies for our very delayed blog post. For those concerned, we are still very much alive and kicking. Our last adventure left us in the town of Marion Illinois sleeping in a city park baseball dugout. After a great nights sleep in the five-star dugout. We took way towards the Garden of the Gods state park in Illinois. The days ride offered great weather with over cast skies and perfect riding temperatures. Fields of corn and soy beans laid in every direction filling the air with a quite sense of peace. As the day unfolded our picture perfect day turned into a rain ridden  trek to the "mythical" gardens. The last 5 miles were marked by strenuous uphills and raging descents as we entered our days destination. Hungry, cold and sopping wet we pulled into the smelliest out house in order to get out of the rain. There, we reached ultimate hobo status as we chose to ignore the foul fecal smell as we gorged ourselves with our canned lunch. We waited out the storm  and pitched camp for the night after the rain had stopped. That same night we were woken up by clattering and chattering outside of our tent. Israel's food had been raided by the most cunning and devious creature that resided in the Garden of the Gods. . . COONS!

 

  The following morning we attempted  to navigate our way  towards the ferry at Cave in a rock. Using google maps as our "trusty"guide we found ourselves in a sketchy gravel path deep in the woods.  A sense of trouble set In after we realized that we had no idea where we were. Just at that time that two rambunctious good ol' boys came tearing down the hill on their pickup truck. Upon explaining our current situation out new friends Dwayne and Tim agreed to get us out of  the sticks.  Once we'd loaded into the truck   Dwayne took off like a bat out of hell. Ripping through the windy wooded roads we finally reached the main road. As we said our goodbyes, Tim sent us on our way with a handshake and some "treats" from his neck of the woods. Out of respect we did not refuse. . . Down the road, we reached the city of Cave in the Rock, home of the Ohio River ferry. At Cave in the Rock we had phenomenal cornbread, met some Juggalos, visited an old pirate cave and crossed the Ohio  River.  Riding  a  ferry was a first for us vagabonds but proved to be a great way to enter Kentucky.  Crossing the Ohio gave way to the vagabond's stretch back to TN but more to come on that later...

Lunch In  gas chamber

Remains of the great coon raid!

Lost in the Illinois boonies

Cave in The Rock

Cave in the rock !!!

Yep bikes can ride on ferries

Vagabonds crossing the Ohio River!

Hello Kentucky !

REACHING THE MISSISSIPPI !

We rise to ride another day! The portion from Hermman to St. Charles was bitter sweet. The last 85 miles into St. Louis proved to have some of the best riding of the entire Katy Trail. We rode through many quaint and historical towns all along Missouri. A very necessary stop at the Augusta Brewery was in order. We enjoyed delicious food and heavenly beers for several hours while we hung out with our Texas friends from Cycledelic for the last time : /  The day also proved to be bitter sweet upon realizing that Israel had lost his helmet and that it was Natalee's last full day of riding. It was made official that Natalee would have to end her journey in St. Louis. Time constraints and other factors pressed Natalee to retire from the tour. Regardless of the less exciting news, we finished a great day of riding in St Charles. In St. Charles we were taken in by our wonderful Warmshowers host, Marty. We shared a great dinner and beers with his incredible family and two dogs. Also, Natalee had a crazy creepy night terror that night which woke Israel ad Jordan from their beauty sleep and made for great breakfast convo. 

       The next day took us to St. Louis, but not before spending a bit of time at an awesome bike/coffee shop in St Charles called The Bike Stop. The short ride from St. Charles to St.Louis to was hard to navigate but proved to be quite entertaining. From Israel nearly getting knocked into oncoming traffic, to Jordan's urban Mtn biking...things stayed pretty interesting. Upon reaching the outskirts of St. Louis, Jordan took off to stay with his hosts, Israel met up with his wonderful girlfriend and Natalee unexpectedly squeezed in a car with boyfriend, Brian, and his friend Jon to save her parents the drive the next day.

       The following day in St. Louis, Jordan visited the botanical gardens with his hosts while Israel and Caitlin enjoyed Forrest Park's art museum. A much deserved lunch took place at Shlafly's tap room. After many tales and tasty ales, the gang headed to City Museum for a night of ridiculous, childish fun. For those who have not heard of the City Museum, it is a huge building turned into an incredible life-sized playground. Check it out. Our night ended back at the hotel with Imos pizza take out. 

Our last day in St. Louis, we headed to the zoo because it is ranked as one of the country's best zoos, but mosty because it is free. (we love free ) There was an awesome top spin master that mesmerized Jordan with his skills. The Zoo turned out to be top notch and quite the treat. Our favorite animals turned out to be the lemurs, running giraffes, and the Andean bear! Our day came to an end by having Caitlin's give us a bump down the road to Marion Illinois. There we parted ways again and found an awesome baseball dug out to perch up on for the night! More to come stay put 

St Charles. Place of Lewis and Clark launch to the west. 

Saint Louis 

Familiar face in a different place

Schlafly lunch !

Museum arts!

Suspended in the air at city museum

Above the city lights ...

We've reached the Mississippi !!!

We're Not In Kansas Anymore

       And we are blazing right through Missouri! Missouri has been a pleasant change of pace for us. Actually, everything about Missouri has been pleasant for the most part. From Lone Jack we had to continue on highway 50 a little longer, which is probably the scariest road that we have ridden on during the whole trip. That was the only unpleasant part. Once we made it to Sedallia everything became smooth sailing. To start things off, we spotted something beautiful when we rolled into town. An ALDI grocery store. We didn't realize how much we missed it, but we definitely didn't hold back when it came to scoping out the deals. That alone was enough to satisfy us for the rest of the state of Missouri, little did we know that we had a lot more coming.  

      A nice lady named Wilma checked us out at the counter. It was obvious that she was trying to work quickly to get through the long line of customers and didn't have a lot of time to chat but she did ask about our ride and Ride for Reading. She seemed to appreciate what we were doing but still stayed very focused on what she was doing. Then as I was packing up my things she said to hold on for a second she had something for me. She ran in the back then came back with a donation for our ride. Once again we are amazed at the people we have encountered along our trip. We have seen very little greed and lots of very giving strangers. We are still blown away everyday. 

       Outside it was cool and raining. We sat on the sidewalk underneath the overhang, snacking on our new deals and trying to figure out where we could camp. We asked several people going in or out of the store about the best places.We had a lot of good suggestions but honestly, biking across town and setting up camp in the rain did not sound like a very fun time. That is when we met Nita. She originally gave us some camping suggestions, then after walking to her car, came back to tell us that she would like to put us up in a hotel. She did long motorcycle trips and said she understood what it was like to get caught in the rain. As we sat in the hotel and listened to the rain fall harder we became more and more thankful for Nita's kind deed. And it is especially nice to not have to pack up a wet tent in the morning.

        By the morning the rain was clearing out and it was mostly just overcast all day with a light shower here and there. It turned out to be a day of pretty much perfect riding conditions. Even better, this is where we started on the Katy Trail so we had no cars to worry about until nearly St. Louis. The trail is one of the most successful Rails-Trails projects and we could see why. The very mild terrain allowed us to cruise along easily under a tunnel of lush trees and other  vegetation. There are stops every so often with history about the area of the trail and quite a few neat towns along the way as well. It was a nice change of pace. We enjoyed riding the trail so much on Tuesday that we didn't decide to settle down in a campsite until it was nearly dark.

       We were all thrilled with the trail so far which had us excited to get back at it the next morning. We hopped on the trail and crunched out several miles before stopping for lunch in Jefferson City. It was getting hotter for sure and the humidity was leaving us constantly drenched, welcoming us back like we had missed it. Jefferson City had a neat little downtown area where we grabbed some lunch and took it easy in the air conditioning for a while. The rest of the day continued to be pleasant. The trail makes the miles go by really quickly since it is split up into short segments and you cannot see miles and miles in front of you like we could in Kansas. Our day stretched on and on and before we knew it we had done one of our biggest days at 80 miles. We rolled in late again to the city park in Hermann, a little town with a big German influence. We met a fun group of cyclists who were camping out there as well. It was the first bike tour for a company called Cycledellic out of Fort Worth, TX. They were doing the trail from end to end. As tired as we were, we chatted with them for quite a while before hitting the sack. The 80 miler left us with just one more day on the trail before heading into St. Louis. St. Louis is another mile marker for our trip. We will be in the biggest city of the trip and get to see a few friends but also loose a vagabond due to time constraints. However, we will have to update you guys about it later!

How's the weather up there?

The doctor said I could figure out how to do it myself...

Showing Sedallia's Ragtime love and history

Yay! No more highway!

This gnome memorial is measuring the height of the 1993 flood.

Jordan exploring a Lewis and Clark cave.