Thursday, July 26, 2007

Unrivaled Passion

/Users/nickjones/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2007/Roll 152/MVI_0654.AVI
check out this video of the better times
Good Evening from New York City!!!


John and i have made it safely to the big apple and our enjoying our first day since Nevada!!!! I think everyone would agree that we needed these days of rest. It will certainly rejuvenate us to spend some time with friends and share stories over beers and laughs....

Our trek up the Atlantic coast has been truly special. We cycled through northern Virginia and made our way to the nations capital!!! In DC we made a visit to the national monument and the lincoln memorial! It was a great place to visit, especially considering John and I had just seen the diverse communities and vast landscapes of the United States. To be honest, it was in DC that John and I finally felt that we actually biked across country, it was a remarkbale feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment....From DC we biked to my old hometown of Baltimore Maryland and got to go back to my old house and my old school. It was a special moment for me and it is exactly what this trip is all about!

Anyways, John and I are here in NYC and we will be heading to CT on saturday morning! Last nigh we went out to dinner at a resaurant where one of our friends works and another amazing moment occured. We sat down next to a couple who's daughter had cycled across the country. Immediately, they were interested in our travels, and we ended up having a great conversation with them throughout the entire meal. To our surprise, when the couple left, they ended up paying for our dinner! Can you believe that? It was such a mitzvah as we would say in Judaism, and it is one of the stories john and i will never forget. As some of you know, today is my birthday and i am being called away from the computer to celebrate!!!! John and I will keep treking to maine with passion and dedication!!!! We love ya all,


Noah & John


Weight Update:

John and I have officially lost 20 lbs on the trip.....However, we are very attractive/bearded men!!!! How you doin?

Thursday, July 19, 2007

A very happy hello from Charlottesville VA!

As some of you know, i was just in Charlottesville in April to visit my good friend Brian Katzenberg, and it is so good to be back here on the campus of University of Virginia! Thanks to Brian, John and I are staying at his old frat house (SPE) for the night and i promise i won't let John drink too many beers! We may even hit the town tonight.....it's been a while

We arrived today off of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is one of the most beautiful roads in the Appalachian mountains. As always in Virginia, we got rained on and it was quite a trek through the mountainous terrain with strong winds and heavy rain. The Appalachian mountains were very steep at times and offered a good challenge. As it turns out, i threw up some tomato juice as i was climbing one of the steep hills, but i made it to the top regardless(duh)....Be sure to check out the photos John puts up, they were taken right before it started to rain.....

I want to share with you another amazing story of generosity that occurred last night in Lexington Virginia. John and I had just finished our longest mileage day of the trip (116) and were sitting on the side of the road in Lexington trying to figure out where we were going to stay for the night. Before you know it, we were approached by a couple walking to dinner named David & Catherine. David is the head geology professor at Washington & Lee University and I am not really sure what Catherine does, but she was quite a cool chick. Anyways, they opened their homes to us, gave us showers and beds, and even took us out to dinner at a nice Bistro in Town!! I know i have said this before, but John and I continue to be amazed with the amount of gracious hospitality given by people all across the country. Strangers turn into people that John and i will remember forever. Moreover, John and I remain in their memories forever and the bond we shared for that one evening is what makes this kind of trip truly special and unique.....

I must say that John and I are amazed that we are in Virginia. Tomorrow we start our trek North up the Atlantic Coast and are trying to be in New York City by July 26th (My birthday by the way) We hope to see all of you soon, take good care.........


P.S. Mike---if you are reading this blog, we are taking the short cut and we printed out the route from your blog...thanks so much

---BDS-----thanks for all the messages.....we will see you in Boston soon enough...We hope you are having a wonderful summer!!!!

much love

NOah & John

Monday, July 16, 2007

Can you say Virginia?!!!!!!

I have to be quick as John and I are using the Internet in a Pizza Parlor in Damascus Virginia.....We spent the day climbing the steep but beautiful Appalachian mountains!!! We are spending the night at a hostel here in town known as "The Place." It is a house behind a church and is full of other hikers and bikers making their way through the Appalachian trail.....

It feels good to be on the east coast, John and I are baffled by our progress and stay by the phone as we will be making our way up the East Coast soon enough!!!!! We have to run as my calzone is hot out of the oven.....We miss you all

For the record, John and I still have not shaved.......be prepared.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Hello from Kentucky!!!

Currently John and I are staying at a Baptist Church in Sebree Kentucky. The pastor who runs the church, Bob, and his wife Violet have been housing cyclists for the past 28 years! We are staying in the youth center of the church and the children who belong to the church made us packed lunches for tomorrows ride and wrote us notes telling us how much Jesus loves us. I can't tell you how thrilled John and I are that Jesus loves us !!! What would we do without him? Ok...enough...

Our ride through Missouri finished off nicely and we left the Ozark mountains and ran into dogs and lots of them. Honestly, John has had it much worse then i have. He has been chased by many more dogs, and at times had to get off his bike and fight them off with water or even his own bike. I think it was a relief for both John and i to get out of Missouri!

We crossed the Mississippi river into Illinois and truly felt as though we were making progress on this journey. As of today, we have crossed the 2,800 mile marker and our about 250 miles away from Virginia! Can you believe it? Illinois was very short and sweet as our route took us by coal factories and back road farm country that was truly remarkable..Our last stop in Illinois was in Elizabethtown. It was right on the Ohio River and luckily we got to stay on the lawn of a hotel for free. We had a cool breeze off the river and watched the sunrise in the morning.....it was one of those mornings where we wouldn't have rather been anywhere else!

Now we will jam our way through Kentucky and make our way to Virginia. I really only have one last piece of information to share with you. That is that i started this trip at 162 pounds and now I weigh 151! John started this trip at 207 pounds and now he weighs a cool 193. When you finally see us in person, it may shock you. I hope you enjoyed the pictures above! Much love to everyone. We miss you......

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Hello Hello,

So good to be back writing again! It's tough to find Internet connection. Well, John and I cruised through eastern Colorado and left our girl Gillian(the prison guard) and jammed into Kansas...

Kansas was quite the experience. We rode right into harvest season, and wheat was being harvested all throughout the state! As a result, huge combine trucks blew by us and at times almost knocked us off the road.... The wheat fields were beautiful, as the golden hue gently hissed in the wind and gave off quite a hypnotic feeling. A lot of the cyclists we were meeting on the road had said that the difficulty of Kansas was dependent upon the wind. We got headwind pretty much the whole way and it made Kansas a pretty good work out even with the flat terrain. As i am sure you heard, John and i ran into rain, rain, rain, and more rain, which turned into flooding and detours!! Biking in the rain was awesome! The rain in Kansas was cool and it somehow has a invigorating effect on you while you are riding.

The flooding and rain caused problems in our route, and we would have not made it without the help of strangers! In small towns in Kansas families took us in, gave us showers, and showed us how remarkable the "American Spirit" can be. I can't tell you how incredible it is to be welcomed into peoples homes without any questions and feel immediately like family. Some memorable families include Bryan & Dulcie, who run their own Deli in Toronto Kansas. Byran put us up in his house and shared his life stories on his guitar.

For the 4th of July John and i jammed into Marshfield Missouri and attended our first Rodeo!!! Everyone was dressed in full cowboy/cowgirl outfits and we felt completely out of our element. It was right out of that scene in Borat, and john and i took the whole event in stride. The bull riding was very entertaining and the fireworks after were awesome. In my book, 4th of July at a rodeo in Missouri is too darn good.... Can you beat it?

As i write, John and I are in Houston Missouri making our way into the Ozark Mountains. The rain has finally stopped and the heat and humidity has settled in. We are staying the night at the Houston Motel, a mecca for cyclists cruising through the area.

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer. We love and miss all of you. Until next time, please keep thinking about us as much as we are thinking of you!