Everton MO to Springfield MO

Day 37, May 31, Everton Missouri to Springfield Missouri.
The van overheated yesterday, so we took a detour down to Springfield to get it fixed.

NEW VIDEOS POSTED: Videos are updated now, through day 18 (May 12).

Pittsburg KS to Everton MO

Day 36, May 30, Pittsburg Kansas to Everton Missouri.
Forgive me, but:
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas any more."
The wind remains incessant, powerful, and from the south. Thankfully only had to go south for 8 miles or so. As we left Kansas and entered Missouri, we left some of the wind, but picked up rolling terrain.
(64.7 miles, 3283 ft elevation gain)

Chanute KS to Pittsburg KS

Day 35, May 29, Chanute Kansas to Pittsburg Kansas.
Strong winds out of the South all day long, making all southbound travel all but impossible, but eastbound tolerable. Skipped one 8 mile segment. First hot day - 93 degrees at the end of the day.
(58.6 miles, 2463 ft elevation gain.)

Interview with Pam Harjo of Hunter Health Clinic

Pam Harjo, Director of HIV and Diabetes Services, Hunter Health Clinic.
Friday, May 27, 2011, Wichita, Kansas.

Cassoday KS to Chanute KS

Day 34, May 28, Cassoday Kansas to Chanute Kansas.
Rain overnight where we camped in Cassoday, heavy mist in the morning (with unrelenting wind, of course), turning into high humidity in the afternoon.
(88 miles, 2517 ft elevation gain)

Newton KS to Cassoday KS

Day 33, May 27, Newton Kansas to Cassoday Kansas.
Did a presentation in the morning in Wichita, so it was a short day. Humid, and once out of Newton, the wind came up and stayed up.
(38.5 miles, 1129 ft elevation gain)

Larned KS to Newton KS

Day 32, May 26, Larned Kansas to Newton Kansas.
Overall an enjoyable day, still some wind in my face, but less than half what it was the last few days. A beautiful day.
(105 miles, 1330 ft elevation gain)

Tribune KS to Larned KS

Day 31, May 25, Tribune Kansas to Larned Kansas.
Hopefully our last day of high winds. Traveled by vehicle to stay on schedule for our next presentation.
(0 miles, 0 ft)

Eads CO to Tribune KS

Day 30, May 24, Eads Colorado to Tribune Kansas.
This was not a good day. It started out windy, ended up extremely windy, and tornado warnings up ahead. Stopped early, at Sheridan Lake, hunkered down in the next available lodging in Tribune Kansas.
(26.5 miles, 2884 ft elevation gain)

Pueblo CO to Eads CO

Day 29, May 23, Pueblo Colorado to Eads Colorado.
Got the earliest start so far - 6 am - and needed it. Windy most of the day, and many, many miles to cover. Otherwise a great day.
(112.3 miles, 5866 ft elevation gain)

Interview with Richard Blair of Southern Colorado AIDS Project

Richard Blair, Executive Director, Southern Colorado AIDS Project (S-CAP).
Saturday, May 21, 2011, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Interview with Anthony Sacco

Interviewed Saturday, May 21, 2011, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Castle Rock CO to Pueblo CO

Day 27, May 21, Castle Rock Colorado to Pueblo Colorado.
Finally the winds are shifting in our favor, and a beautiful day it was. Travelling in a high-population density area is much different than the countryside, where you can focus on enjoying nature and the scenery.
(83.5 miles, 2605 ft elevation gain)

Interview with Tim Schuetz of Colorado AIDS Project

Tim Scheutz, Director of Development and Marketing, Colorado AIDS Project (CAP).
Friday, May 20, 2011, Denver, Colorado.

Loveland CO to Castle Rock CO

Day 26, May 20, Loveland Colorado to Castle Rock Colorado.
Since this was not a prescribed bicycle route, and we were on a major highway i
n a high-population area, traffic was more of an issue than wind. Going through
Denver was tedious because roads were not really suited for bicycling.
(81.4 miles, 5563 ft elevation gain)

Laramie WY to Loveland CO

Day 25, May 19, Laramie Wyoming to Loveland Colorado.
Started off raining and cool, turned into a decent day, ended with a bit of rain. Finally, a day when wind was not of major consequence.
(80.9 miles, 3225 ft elevation gain)

Panel at Memorial Hospital of Carbon County - Rawlins WY

Dawn Dingman, Director of Nursing,
Kelli Vandiver, Nurse Educator, and
Karran Bedwell, V.P. of Quality,
(right to left) of Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, Wyoming,
discuss health challenges in a sparsely-populated county.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011, Rawlins, Wyoming.

Rawlins WY to Laramie WY

Day 24, May 18, Rawlins Wyoming to Laramie Wyoming.

Whoa! What happened? What is that glitch on the progress map???

Two things: first, we found out that our planned route from Rawlins south to Pueblo, Colorado was impossible, because many of the passes involved are still blocked with snow, requiring us to re-route through Laramie, Wyoming, and second, amazingly sadistic headwinds. Every time we changed direction, the wind changed to stay in our face. Fred had to be in low gears to make 3 mph of headway DOWNHILL at some points, and we finally threw in the towel around 6 pm.

We always knew this was a possibility - that there would be a conflict between scheduled presentations and the physical and environmental challenges in getting to them, so we agreed at the outset to skip sections of the route as necessary to keep our commitments. We will always report when this happens and show the actual miles and elevation gains in the daily updates, and the progress map will show gaps in the "green worm" where Fred did not travel by bike.

Jeffrey City WY to Rawlins WY

Day 23, May 17, Jeffrey City Wyoming to Rawlins Wyoming.
Started out nice enough, but as usual, along came the wind. The day ended up with rain and hail and sleet.
(67.5 miles, 2700 ft elevation gain)

Lander WY to Jeffrey City WY

Day 22, May 16, Lander Wyoming to Jeffrey City Wyoming.
Two thirds of the day spent fighting headwinds, which finally let up the last few miles.
(59.5 miles, 4449 ft elevation gain)

Dubois WY to Lander WY

Day 21, May 15, Dubois Wyoming to Lander Wyoming.
Started out warm, but strong winds added a lot of chill factor.
(87.5 miles, 2925 ft elevation gain)

Yellowstone National Park WY to Dubois WY

Day 20, May 14, South entrance of Yellowstone National Park to Dubois Wyoming.
Started cool and sunny, ended up windy and overcast, with rain and snow, and side- and head-winds over 40 mph at Togwotee pass.
(83.7 miles, 6234 ft elevation gain)

West Yellowstone MT to Yellowstone National Park WY

Day 19, May 13, West Yellowstone to Yellowstone National Park south entrance.
All day in Yellowstone National Park!
(72.5 miles, 4322 ft elevation gain)

Ennis MT to West Yellowstone MT

Day 18, May 12, Ennis Montana to West Yellowstone Montana.
(72.6 miles, 4477 ft elevation gain)

Dillon MT to Ennis MT

Day 17, May 11, Dillon Montana to Ennis Montana.
An absolutely beautiful day. Slight headwind, but overall one of the best days so far.
(73.2 miles, 2830 ft estimated elevation gain. This is estimated because the Garmin went slightly mad and halfway through the day claimed a total ascent of around 19,000 ft. So the first half of the day is calculated from elevation profiles on our map, and the second half from the Garmin after a reboot.)

Jackson MT to Dillon MT

Day 15, May 9, Jackson Hot Springs Montana to Dillon Montana.
The day started with 3 inches of snow, and falling, then rain, then 35 mph wind. A challenging day.
(42.6 miles, 2728 ft elevation gain)

What? No video?

Starting here, we will be posting the daily status (the start and end points and a brief summary of the day) at the end of each day, and adding the daily videos and pictures later. I know this isn't quite kosher, since you won't be notified when the videos are added, but it will allow us to keep our status reports up-to-date and keep the status reports, daily videos, and interviews in order.

We will mention in the daily status posts, what videos have been added, so you won't miss any.

Rocky Knob MT to Jackson MT

Day 14, May 8, Rocky Knob Montana to Jackson Hot Springs Montana.
great beginning of the day, but deteriorated to hail on Chief Joseph Pass, and rain all the way to Jackson.
(62.3 miles, 4651 ft elevation gain)

Missoula MT to Rocky Knob MT

Day 13, May 7, Missoula Montana to Rocky Knob, near Sula Montana.
A cool start with a threat of rain, views of snowy mountains and burned forest from 2000 fire.
(70.5 miles, 2656 ft elevation gain)

Interview with Winona Bateman of Adventure Cycling

Friday, May 6, 2011, in Missoula, Montana.

Interview with Ben Weiss of Missoula in Motion

Friday, May 6, 2011, in Missoula, Montana.

A Day in Missoula MT

Day 12, May 6, Presentation and interviews in Missoula.
(0 miles)

Interview with Bob Munk of AIDS InfoNet

Interviewed during the 17th Conference on Retroviruses in Boston, Massachusetts, February 2011.

Waterspouts near Patterson WA

An earlier post (Maryhill to Umatilla) includes some video of a storm near Patterson, Washington, which I showed at 32x real-time speed. For those interested in seeing the waterspouts in a bit more detail, this is a 4x version of the storm. The first waterspout we didn't even notice until I saw it in the video, and it was right across the road from where we stopped! It's only there for a few seconds, starting ten seconds into this clip. The second one starts at about 57 seconds in, about 1/3 the way from the right edge of the screen, starting at the ground and growing upward.

It's amazing what you can see right in front of you, when you slow down to bicycle speed!

Lochsa Ranger Station ID to Missoula MT

Day 11, May 5, from a campsite on the Lochsa River in Idaho, to Missoula Montana.
(88.3 miles, 4499 ft elevation gain)

Kamiah ID to Lochsa Ranger Station ID

Day 10, May 4, Kamiah Idaho to Locsa Ranger Station on the Lochsa River, Idaho.
An Excellent day!
(55.7 miles, 2458 ft elevation gain)

Clarkston WA to Kamiah ID

Day 9, May 3, Clarkston Washington to Kamiah Idaho.
Pleasant views and mild weather all along the Clearwater River. Just a few sprinkles.
(71.2 miles, 2307 ft elevation gain)

Interview with Jill Dickey of Blue Mountain Heart to Heart, in Walla Walla, WA

Jill Dickey, Program Director/Case Manager, Blue Mountain Heart to Heart, Walla Walla, Washington.
Saturday, April 30, 2011, in Walla Walla, Washington.

Walla Walla WA to Clarkston WA

Day 7, May 1, Walla Walla Washington to Clarkston Washington.
VERY long day, but a beautiful day.
(95.2 miles, 4947 ft elevation gain)