Prague - Lucia and me, together again!

Here I am, taking a vacation from my vacation! What a great concept! Lucia and I arrived in Prague this past Saturday and have been on the move ever since. We've been having a lot of fun seeing the sights of the city and some of the surrounding areas. We've walked around the "old city" quite a bit and seen some of the famous town squares, churches and the large town clock which produces a display of the 12 apostles every hour. On Tuesday we went about 2 hours out of town to visit the hot springs area called Karlovy Vary (also called "Carlsbad" and named for King Charles IV who discovered the springs in the 14th century). This area is known mostly for the health benefits of drinking the water which contains lots of minerals. There are 12 different springs and you can actually visit a local doctor who will tell you which springs to drink from depending on your particular medical problem. Yesterday we had lunch with Lucia's cousin. Then, today, we took another tour and bicycled about 20 miles out of town to visit the castle of King Charles IV known as Karlstejn. After the ride we had to climb all the way up to the castle entrance at the top of a steep hill but the tour was worth it. The castle has been restored in fantastic detail and you can really get a sense of how it must have looked in the late 1300's. Once we were done with the tour and with all of the hundreds of gift shops which line the long road back down, we took a train back into the city. Now we're pretty exhausted but it's all been worth it. Tomorrow we hope to visit the Charles Bridge (have you noticed the pattern here regarding old Charles?) and perhaps Prague Castle. Lucia speaks fluent Czech and has been a fantastic tour guide even though she hasn't been back here for many years. This trip wouldn't have been half as rich otherwise.

Please consider making a small donation to help cancer survivors (sadly, my mom was not one of them) http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2008/steveonhisbike

Old friends and new

Well, all good things must come to an end. A couple of days ago Brent (the fellow riding with his dog) announced to our group that he had decided to take a short break from his cross-country dream and fly out to visit a friend for a while. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to him after a fantastic lunch at Cookies Cafe in Golden City, MO, a place which is legendary amongst cyclists for its homemade pies. After Brent rode off directly for his flight from Springfield, me, Todd, Heather and Hazel continued on in the oppressive heat and humidity (it was especially bad that day) to a small town called Everton, MO where we found "The Dip", the only bar in town. Seems this place is used to having cyclists visit since they actually had a sign outside that read "Welcome Bikers." We met a number of local characters at the Dip and were treated like old friends with folks buying us drinks, jukebox songs and even a pizza! Thankfully, one of the folks there offered to let us use his shower since there were no facilities in the town park. We then headed over to the park to camp for the night but it was so humid and hot that it still felt like wearing a raincoat in a sauna! Somehow we managed to get some sleep and then head out around 6:00AM the next morning. At that point Todd announced that thought he had left his expensive sunglasses at the bar the night before. Since they didn't open again until 11:00AM he decided to stay behind and see if they were there. So I took off down the road with Heather and Hazel to the nearby town of Ash Creek. We had some fun chatting with a few cyclists there who had ridden out from Springfield as part of a training ride. I also called Gary Summers, a fellow I had met through the Warmshowers.org website, a site dedicated to hosting passing cyclists for the night. Seems Gary had actually ridden out towards where we were and, when we met him on the road, he turned around and lead us back to Springfield. Both he and his wife, RaeLynn, have been fantastic hosts and have taken us out for ice cream and a night on the town and have also been kind enough to give us a private yoga class (RaeLynn is a certified teacher!), take us to an art museum today and now dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I am awestruck by the generosity and kindness of these folks. Perhaps some day I can repay them or at least do the same for someone else. Tomorrow I head up to Kansas City and then on to Philly.

Total mileage so far: 2,440

Please consider making a small donation to help cancer survivors (sadly, my mom was not one of them) http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2008/steveonhisbike

Pittsburg???

Well, another new state! Seems they use both numbers and letters for the roads out here. Crazy! But it never gets boring seeing that "Welcome To ...." sign! Kansas was longer and a bit tougher than I thought it would be, mostly due to the heat, but the people there were some of the most friendly I've seen anywhere on the trip. Yesterday we arrived at our last city in Kansas and it felt very strange since it's called Pittsburg! (without the "h"). They even have a university called Pitt State. Last night we treated ourselves to an air conditioned movie at the local theater and then we all had dinner together at a Mexican restaurant - margaritas and all! This has been such a great group of people to ride with and I'm sad since today is likely our last full day together. Unfortunately, after the movie and dinner we had to ride to the city park and find a place to camp in the dark. Fortunately, we came upon a police officer who lead us right to the spot. Unfortunately, the bathrooms were locked. Fortunately, the local YMCA was still open and had bathrooms and then opened again this morning at 5:00AM. Unfortunately, it was the most hot and humid night of the entire trip so far so we were all feeling terribly sweaty and couldn't sleep well. This trend continued today and we were all just dripping with sweat. When we're riding at least there's some breeze, but when we stop it feels like standing in a steam room! Ugh! Right now we're at a library in the town of Golden City and about to head over to Cookie's Cafe. I've been hearing about this place for the last three states from west-bound cyclists and the pies there are supposed to be fantastic. I can really use it right about now. I'm almost dreading riding on this afternoon but now I have a deadline to catch a Greyhound bus in Springfield, MO for my flight on Wednesday from Kansas City. Hopefully I won't melt away before then!

Total mileage so far: 2,388

Please consider making a small donation to help cancer survivors (sadly, my mom was not one of them) http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2008/steveonhisbike