One ride ends, another ride begins.

I enjoyed a delicious lunch in Oregon of a bread bowel-movement.

We traveled in style- the Micheal Scott way. A 2008 Chrysler Sebring.

I decided to hang out at the Cool Zone, I felt very comfortable there almost as if it was home.

We had the rare privilege of visiting the Full House house in San Fransisco. They painted the door black to mix things up and keep people on their toes. And to keep Kimmy Gibbler out.

We spent a wild day in six flags. It was all fun and since it was a friday and winter and the economy is horrible the park was empty and we rode on 100% more rides than on a normal, packed day. We enjoyed the time traveling from the end and "coming home to Arizona," as Dave Mustaine famously put it in his hit classic, "Motopsycho." So now the trip has physically ended and the last post I forgot to include Lindsay's two-cents. So now she can tell what she thought of her 8-day adventure and wrapping up this chapter of my adventures. Ready? "Is everybody in? Is everybody in? Is everybody in????"(Guess which six flags ride that was said at.)

"Well, that was quite an adventure! Not that I have ever given birth before, but I think the ride can be compared to child birth. I know there was a lot of pain and pushing the whole time, but now that it is over, all of the bad memories seem to fade and I just remember the joy and memories I now have of the ride. Every night, though, there was some different "adventure" the scared me to near tears.

For instance, camping by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere amongst howling coyotes.

A few nights later: Riding on the back roads in the woods at 5000 feet as night fell and the temperature began dropping, the rain getting heavier. I had to ignore the freezing pain and ride as fast as I could to make it to the next destination - that we weren't really sure where it was (or else sleep in the dark, wet woods with the bears).

And then another night: trying to decide if we should trust our gut feeling to stop riding to a stranger's house deep in the woods - he had come up to us at a gas station after overhearing that we couldn't find any camping spots in town and invited us over for "pasta" and a place to sleep. He drew a map for us to his house and gave us candy, and we said we'd be there later. By the time we had ridden all the way out to the area he lived in, it was dark and we were getting further and further away from town and other houses, deeper and deeper into the woods. I just kept picturing us on Unsolved Mysteries and started getting really scared. Finally, I just told Kimball we had to get out of there, and despite the soreness and tiredness from the 10-hr day of riding, my legs pumped that bike away from there like they were in perfect condition for the next hour. I couldn't have gotten away from that place faster.

...And then to hear Kimball describe these races away from death as "neat" on the phone the next day to a friend.

Kimball is my little brother that I used to take care of, but he really took care of me on this trip. He is so strong - physically, mentally, spiritually. And he is so patient and funny! I really got to know him better, and I honestly thought I already knew him really well. The bike ride was really fun, yet really painful. Very scary, yet so beautiful. Extremely hard, but so worth it! I felt like I was a world away from my regular life! It was so challenging (physically and mentally). But I did it (I almost rented a car half-way through because I was so discouraged and my knees, hands and seat hurt so bad!). And I have to thank Kimball for inviting me and helping me through it all. He makes it all sound so easy on his blog. He is really tough. Or maybe I am just a wimp. :)"

Alright, well that was a classic ending to a classic story. I think it's time for lights out and time to leep cuz I haven't gotten much shut-eye in the past week, you know with riding and all and accually doing something with my life. It takes a toll on one. "For whom the bell tolls." Tune in next time for bonus never before seen footage of the trip and my final beech.

CASUALTIES

As we bike across the country, we misplace and lose lots of things cuz we're careless and sidetracked. So I've made a list of things lost and/or broken and/or repairs done:

8/11 Airport confiscated 2 butane cans.

8/12 Taylor lost toothbrush.

8/14 Left first helmet at fruit stand.

8/15 Taylor got flat tire.

8/18 I replaced back wheel.

8/23 1 spoke broke on Taylor's bike.

8/24 Other helmet gets lost at Niagara Falls.

8/28 Lost 2 rain jackets.

8/28 Lost big rambo knife, or was stolen.

8/30 Replaced back breakpads on Josh's bike.

8/30 1 broken spoke and chain on Josh's bike.

9/1 Replaced back panniers.

9/1 Jeremy lost toothbrush

9/1 Speed-o-metre breaks on Jeremy's bike for doing speeds too high to register.

9/1 Lost little visor to the helemt.

9/2 I got a flat.

9/2 Left Ohio map(still riding in Ohio) at Ice cream parlor.

9/4 Lost 1 water bottle on Jeremy's bike.

9/8 Mom got a flat tire.

9/11 Replaced front bearings in both junky ol' bikes.

9/14 Mom's back pannier rack broke.

9/16 Mom had 5 broken spokes on the back wheel.

9/18 Mom had another broken spoke on back wheel.

9/18 I had 3 broken spokes on back wheel.

9/18 Mom replaced front and rear brakes.

9/18 Mom replaced back tire.

9/18 Mom replaced both pedals.

9/21 Destroyed and over-flowed toilet at East Hill Motel.

9/24 Replaced back cogs, 2 spokes, chain and back brake pads on my bike.

9/24 Erin had 1 broken spoke.

9/25 I had a flat in rear tire.

9/26 I had another flat in rear tire.

9/27 I had 1 broken spoke.

9/28 Replaced 3 spokes.

10/1 I had 2 flats on rear wheel.

10/7 I had one broken spoke.

10/11 Back light broke.

10/13 I had 3 broken spokes.

10/14 I had one flat.

10/15 Replaced Kip bike with Wal-mart Special.

10/16 Lindsay had a flat on front tire.

10/16 I had 1 broken spoke.

10/18 I had 3 broken spokes.

10/18 I had a flat on back tire.

10/22 I had a flat and one broken spoke to end the trip.

Total number of Pantera's Cemetary Gates seen: 151

"Foreclosure of a Dream"

I love west Oregon. I also love Maine. The first and the last states were prolly the neatest scenery ever.

We made our delicious dinner in a laundromat this night. It was all good.

We're just walking all cool down highway 242. This highway was all fun to ride down. 20 miles of downhill descending more than 4000 feet. At the summit are lava rocks as seen in photo below.


I was on top of a lava castle and shot this picture. A long time ago Dante's Peak was here but it erupted.

Here we are at a rich ol' hot springs resort in the middle of nowhere and they had a secret garden. It was so neat, I could hardly eat strawberries. It was like Beep of the Rings.

"I beat it." We made it to the west coast. Dang it it's over. Now I'm all sad that the trip ended. The bike got all dirty from the sand and the chain and gears are a Rusty Johnson now. When I took this picture the camera was on top of Mitch's cool helmet and "the tide rushes in," and almost knocks it over and getting my camera ruined but good thing that I'm fast and picked up the camera like a fumble in the football game. The same fumble that Spencer recovered in '95 and scored a touchdown that beat Coolidge for the Conference Title. Josh's prophecy is now fulfilled when he said back in Ohio, that one of the Kip Bikes wouldn't live to see the West Coast. Poor Kip Bike, may he "Rust in Peace." But mine did and that's all that matters. Now as you read this post and look at the last picture, just sit back and listen to the song that's playing and note that R Kelly is talking about me. "I'm that star up in the sky, I'm that mountain peak up high, hey I made it. I'm the World's Greatest." You might need to grab a tissue cuz the room will all of a sudden get all dusty and your eyes will start to water for no particular reason.

"Do you take it off any sweet jumps?"

Hello Children this is for you to enjoy. I shouldn't be rewarding you but I'm a nice guy like Micheal Scott and I like to help people that's what I do. I wanted to take my ride off a sweet jump but I failed miserably and I got scared and crapped my drawers. I ended up breaking my elbow but it's ok. Tell me what you think. And don't say anything dumb either. Act your age not your IQ.

Thanks for the hot dog Mom!!!!

Lindsay's all surprised that they have phone booths still. It doesn't work without quarters though.

After we crossed the biggest 5 mile mountain Lindsay was excited for the rewarding 2 mile downhill. How does a hill go up 5 miles and down 2? I guess they can't all be like C Mountain in Coolidge which has a section corner on the very top.

This is Lindsay's idea of a joke. She thinks I love candy and sugar that much that I'd get a picture in front of the building that makes it.

It was cold in the night time and we failed our goal so we called it a day at a rest stop and cooked our din dins and breafast in the toilet.

It was foggy this morning when we woke up and here in Oregon the fog makes a rainbow. Use your bright eyes near my huge right shoulder and you can see the end with the white leprechan.

We had a day where we were passing through about 4 towns prolly. It showed something on the dang map but when we got there we didn't see jack rabbits crap (like shown in the foto.), except closed down gas stations and/or 1 or 2 houses and 2 cats that were trying to eat our smoked salmon, I hit them with boards to make them go away. we shouted out spanish swear words after the "towns"and continued down the road. east Oregon was nothing that I thought it would be. a deserted desert, but now west Oregon is pretty neat with the trees and the green and mountains. FYI I'll prolly do one more post for the end of the trip then I'll do my final speech at the end for all to indulge and share my thoughts and feelings of it all. Then we'll do the road trip home complete with interviews by Jay Leno. So get your comments/ questions in quick while supplies last for the grand final.

First and Last state. Rated R.

This was the state of mind Lindsay was in when I met here in Wam-mart.

After much debate and thinking, we settled on this clown bicycle for Lindsay to ride. I think it will hold up well.

Just getting the bike ready for this week's trek across Oregon. We'll see how long this Wal-Mart Special will last. Any Wagers/bets? Post them in the comment forum. Run!

I'm playing in the pumpkin patch. It reminds me of Halloween. I haven't had one for 3-4 years now so I miss it.

This was a neat bridge that was made out of real metal.

We've never been to Oregon before. There's always a first for everything right? And right before this picture a stupid dog chased me down and tried to bite me then when Lindsay went passed it didn't do jack. It's prolly cuz I'm all huge and look like a super hero with my new red dinghy. I'd say I look like Tony Stark. Yeah that fits perfect. "I'm the Iron Man." I'm Huge. Well Now that I finally have company with me, my other campanion (Diablo) finally went home. The story behind that is: In the MTC, o sea Missionary Training Center for the slow ones, they teach us never to be alone as missionaries. We should always be with our companion except for when in an interview or division or in the toilet. They ingrained that into our heads so that we were robots and couldn't think for ourselves. They said if we ever leave our companion that Satan IMMEADIATLY becomes your new companion. So after I left Bountiful when all my companions jumped ship, guess who came along for the ride? The Devil himself. And it is tradition to let the traveling companion to post something on here so here's what he said.

"Not even death can save you from me."

That's it. Ok we'll end it with that. I'll post again another time, "if I still have a job."

Blizzard of Oz

This is Max Adams, a nice old man that treated me like I was the grandson he never had. Kinda like how Josh D is the nephew uncle Eric never had. He let me sleep in his yard and he cooked me treats, breakfast, and took me to McDonalds before I left on I-84.

Here's Idaho for you all. I was really cold this day.

Yeah well I woke up one morning and it was snowing real bad. I think it was a blizzard. (see below)

This is a famous bridge on the Snake River at Twin Falls. I guess it's world famous but I had never heard nothing about it till then.

Here we are at a neat waterfall in Twin Falls.




My camera beeps at taking pictures sometimes. While on my travels I met up with the Altom family(old friends from Globe) and they let me stay with then for the weekend and it was all fun. I got to beat wild Ryan with the pillows a lot. Now for the story: So I was camping one night like I noted above and I woke up and it had beeen snowing throughout the night pues. I was about 5-6 inches. but I thought "who cares we're off the hook, I'll ride anyways I only have about 60 miles to make it to the Altoms house, I can do it." But nope no good. I underestimated it. I think that the only person that could have gotten out of there alive is Bear Grylls and his "sheeping bag." I started off and it was freezing cold with a 30 mile an hour head wind blowing snow stinging my face. I tried to cover it up with a hand-ker-chief but it got soaked from the moisture cuz I was just breathing in it, so I was freezing and there was no other town/shelter for the next 30 miles. After traveling a distance of about a mile, I decided to throw in the bowell movement and topo my pride and I called Brother Altom to come pick me up. I hid under a few trees and tried to do the robot for a hour to stay warm, waiting for them to come. While traveling back to their home, many cars/shag diesels had skidding off the road into the snow. So all of you pessimists out there: no I cannot say I biked coast to coast now, I missed it by 60 miles are you happy? It was worth it cuz I would have been dead had I not called and told him that I was cold.

I'm all alone now.

This looks like the US capitol.....maybe it is.

Well what do you know Jones' Goons are back. Maybe it's Hollerbacks Goons or Hackerthorns. Whoever they are they make work twice as hard for HES.

This was that good ol' dinner that i had 3 plates of. It consisted of Roast Beast, taters with gravy, peas and corn, rolls, and a pitcher of milk.

This is the cool Wright family that cooked the most delicious meal for me(see picture above). They treated me like royalty and it was pretty dang nice. Wright is an old friend from the mission and he invited me to stay for a night. I watched the new 007 movie and I'm still confused by it.

"Buffalo soldier in the heart of America." Kinda gets you ready for the elections this year. FYI I'm already registered to vote.

Here's a classic view of the scenery. I bet I could throw a football over them mountains.

"Lucky in love unlucky with fruit."

We made it to dang Utah. 2 more states to go. FYI I've abandoned the Nevado route and will now be going north to Idaho and west to Oregon. I'm glad I traveled fast and did those 100+miles days so I was able to make it to the 178th annual General Conference and listen to the words of the Prophet and Apostles of the Church. I also missed the blizzard that hit the Rockies. Another Bonus.

Here I am by a waterfall going down Provo Canyon. This was all fun to ride down and the colors and the trees and shrubs were neat. Come into the trees amongst the bushes. Come into the trees a monk eats the bushes.

This was Dad's final wave to the camera and packed his bags put it into reverse and left me with no company on this section corner of the trip.

I had to become a little begger cuz I didn't have a ticket to the Priesthood Session of General Conference, but right when I pulled out this sign someone gave me a floor seat ticket which got me a lot closer than Ben and his Daddy were sitting. FYI this is the backstabber that we've all come to know and despise, Ben.

We did another rondevoo with Uncle Paul and Aunt Nancy and this time Amy graced us with her presence. they've been following me literally on this trip. A lot more than others can say that won't even volunteer a small part of their life to join me. Where there's a will there's a way right? Also today I found some words to live by from Jan Levingston from the Office, when she said "You can always find a million reasons not to do something." I've been kicking back with Ben and he has the Office on DVD so I've been catching up on the last 3 years so I can be more like Micheal Scott. I already look like him when I have longer hair.

Uh would you like to put on your uh seatbelt uhhh?

This man had been following me for a few days, haulin' oats I mean windmill parts. His name was Larry. When he saw my Dad, they said "Hey Larry." "Hey Larry." It was kinda neat.

This was a big ol' oil refineryfor Sinclair. complete with a giant torch that burns the airplanes when they pass. It reeked when I rode passed it.

They had advertised this Hotel for about 100 miles on the freeway. That was the majority of the billboards I saw, and when I got to it, it was a hotel alright. Pretty rich though. But don't worry if you passed it, there's another one in Salt Lake.

If people want to know what I've seen the past week. This is it. Sagebrush and those wooden fences to block the snow when it blows all hard. Note to self: Don't travel through southern Wyoming again, go through the northern part.

These are a few behind the scenes pictures. People want to know what it is we do after a hard day's work- kick back den!

This is a classic shot of me bumming on the computes/posting on the stupid blog. It's nice to be able to re-wind after a long day of biking with a headwind and traveling along side of shaq-a-clauses for 10 hours on I-80. Yes Jeremy I'm wearing your shirt don't get all happy. Well now this week went by relatively fast and short. And I'm not sure why. The tradition is that I let the fellow companion right a few words and now the honors go to 2 Pop Security as Mckay calls him.

"I was able to accompany Kimball through Wyoming this week but I couldn't pedal because my foot was swollen and inflamed from a flare-up of Reiter's Syndrome which strikes me at random. Two of my kids have inherited this syndrome; Kimball who is now having a bout of Rider's Syndrome and Janalee who has chronic Writer's Syndome (See her Blog).

We saw many, many antelope grazing on the range along the highways acting like cows. Kimball did some tough days, four out of five were hundred+- milers with strong headwinds. I was fortunate to be with him and part of the great adventure."

And I've been really fortunate to be with Dad also on this crucial part of the US, where I was able to deposit my bags and bike really light to be able to go over the beep Rockies. I guess I've had kinda like an Onstar Roadside assistance, when I've had multile flats and needed quick bike repairs and supplies.

"I thought the rockies would be a little more rockier than this....."

Erin was a little upset cuz her airplane was delayed and she had to wait a while. It was nice having her as company for while, but as in the words of Haulin' Oats, "She's Gooone"

Here's Dad right off the airplane. He didn't get a lot of sleep, but he's excited for the upcoming week to join me on the trek.

It's a lot colder here in dang Wyoming, it's also a lot more barren. Look closely to see the wild deer behind me.

This is us in front of the neat windmills. Kinda like the ones on the way to San Diego.


At one of the rest stops right before I got onto the freeway They had a neat dinghy dedicated to cool Abraham Lincoln. We all remember his famous quote when he said "If you are a racist I will attack you with the North." Yep that's how he won the civil war. And we should all do the same.

We stayed the night at this neat family's house. They fed me a delicious fresh-caught fish dinner. And it was all good! They were very friendly and talkative and nice to be around. In the near future I hope to have a beard like Johnny as shown in the photo.