I'm Alive.

...hi.

Sorry.

A lot happened all at once. In six words or less:

Grad school acceptance trumps bike trip.

I'm back in DC, taking classes at GWU and getting ready to student teach in the fall. Also, I moved. 

Jon and Iris and Laura are continuing the TOEQFG. In the meantime, if anyone feels that they simply cannot live without a blog published by yours truly, I am considering continuing to update this masterpiece, mostly so that Val will have something to do at work. 

OH WAIT, WHAT'S THIS? 

http://surlylump.wordpress.com/

Fat Kids.

I get the same question from a lot of you: "How much weight have you guys lost? Do you all look amazing?"

Short answer: zero pounds. and no.

We eat CONSTANTLY. And I don't mean things like salads, and tofu, and organic Kansas-grown produce. I mean like Snickers bars, and burgers, and ice cream, and things that pack a LOT of calories into a small package for very little money. My favorite thing to buy, when I can find them, are these peanut bars that are made of only peanuts stuck together with melted sugar. They cost 25 cents and taste fantastic. I also really like breakfast sandwiches fromg as stations. Usually 2 or 3 at a time.

We are burning pretty massive amounts of calories every day, and I am constantly hungry, so I don't really worry about what I eat. I'm sure this will come back to haunt me at some point, when I'm not biking hundreds of miles every week, but right now, I don't care. Jon and I periodically look at each other when we're at restaurants and say, "Fat kids." Then we shake our heads.

Yesterday, we found a $4.99 salad bar for dinner. Dear God. At one point, Jon was consuming a bowl filled with black olives and bacon bits. See above.

Headwinds!

We had heard rumors about the winds in Kansas, but until today, we hadn't experienced them. I actually had to shift into an easier gear while going downhill because of how strong the wind was. We only did a 70-mile day today, but it felt longer because of how hard we had to work.

In other news: We did our first century yesterday! 105 miles, to be exact, with no backtracking. We rolled into Oberlin, KS, around 9PM and celebrated by checking into a motel and passing out. No camping.

Two nights ago, in Concordia, KS, we stayed in a fire station. This was actually the perfect place for the five of us, because it offered all the comforts of staying in a home (laundry, a kitchen) without the feeling that you were putting someone out. We stayed up late talking to the firefighters, and passed out in two of the empty bedrooms in the station. Pretty ideal.

We are currently 12 miles from the Colorado border, and will be in Denver by Saturday night. I'm psyched for civilization and bars that stay open past 10PM.

Updated Playlist Information

For those of you following along at home:

Push the Button - The Chemical Brothers
The Information - Beck
Illadelph Halflife - The Roots
Being There - Wilco
White Blood Cells - The White Stripes

Those are the albums getting me through the cornfields.

Backtracking: Larrytown

Quick recap of Lawrence, Kansas:

We stayed with Iris's former stepbrother, Brad, who is 23 and has lived in Kansas all his life. Iris's mom drove us to Lawrence from Fayetteville. All went well except for the demise of my helmet, which Jon left in someone's car on the way back from St. Louis, because he is a deadbeat. Sally (Iris's mom) was kind enough to lend me hers. It is large and blue.

We went out to dinner with Iris's mom, and then Brad took us (minus Thomas, obviously, and also minus Laura, who was tired) to a bar called Replay, a true hipster haven if I've ever seen one. However, the band playing was good enough to incite the hipsters to dance, and even though Jon and Iris and I declared that we could not have more than one beer, because we had to wake up early, we closed the bar, as usual. I took several gas station naps throughout the day on Sunday.

The band we saw really was amazing, especially the drummer. I love the faces drummers make when they are really going crazy.

The Chubby Pickle

I found internet access in Phillipsburg, Kansas, in a deli called the Chubby Pickle. The password for the free WiFi I'm using is "Little Chubby." It appears that Kansas has a sense of humor.

The terrain here is not flat. The roads roll and the entire state is a gradual uphill. I like this better than flat terrain, though, because it gives me something to do. Similar to driving, biking is more fun when you need to shift.

The colors here are really beautiful. Even though the scenery is slightly monotonous - mostly corn and wheat - the gold and green and blue are incredibly vibrant. Plus, the sky is HUGE.

One other thing that I am enjoying - we are now riding on Route 36, which heads true west. This means at some point every afternoon / evening, I get to ride toward a really awesome sunset.

Only two more days of Kansys, and then we cross the Colorado border. Apparently at some point today, we'll be able to see the Rockies. I can't wait.

Kansas.

1. We now have five people riding. Laura, Jon's friend from St. Louis, and Thomas, a 16 year old kid we found in Fayetteville, have joined up. Profiles to come.

2. I'm blogging from a Mexican restaurant

3. As Thomas put it, "Even the way 'Kansas' is SPELLED is boring." Henceforth: Kansys.

4. I hate Kansas, but I am looking at it as something to be conquered.

5. ETA for Colorado: Saturday, hopefully.

6. Fayetteville was wonderful. I rode in a boat and learned a fun new drinking game.

Last night we stayed with a man named Jeff and his two fantastic 12 year old twin daughters, Brook and Jaqui. Brook told Jon he was hot.

I will update with more details when I am not in a restaurant. Just know that I am alive, and wishing that I had endless amounts of time to blog.