Category: Ruth

Lava Point Campground, UT to Milford, UT — 89.5 mi, 3,849 ft

I’m exhausted when I wake up at 7:30am, which is entirely my fault because camping seems to bring out the insomnia demon within me. After packing up the tent and my belongings, I head to the campground table to make some brekkie. Greta has a terrible habit of THROWING AWAY avocado halves I’ve left in the cooler, so this time I leave nothing to chance: I make myself a scuffed avo toast using our overly crumbly marble rye bread because the ~artisanal~ bread I bought yesterday was devoured before I could have a piece. It was still quite yummy.

Now, Lava Point Campground has no service, as is expected of a campground. Greta and I were silly and did not upload navigation to our bike computers the day before, so we’re reliant on others to guide us today. We start off by following Charles, Ishaq, and Sarah, but I ditch them for Tian at the first rest stop because she doesn’t spend an eternity on her breaks. We descend upon a nasty gravel descent that I take slow and Tian takes slower. I resolve to meet her at the next intersection. Ramona does not take gravel descents slowly, so she zooms past the both of us. At the end of the worst part, I see Ramona sitting at an intersection in the distance. I assume it’s the second rest stop and sit down next to her, but she clarifies that she also does not have navigation. So we sit. And wait. We actually have service here, but can’t seem to upload the route to our bike computers. So we sit. And wait some more. A couple minutes later, Joseph, today’s driver, passes by us, explaining that Tian fell and he’s on his way back up to pick her up. He points out on RideWithGPS which direction we should go, then dips. This is when Ramona realizes that we can just navigate from our phones! Equipped with a bunch of screenshots of the route, we head to rest stop 3, a cafe in Cedar City.

When we get there, Tian and Joseph are inside. This is when I realize that Tian took a real beating. Like really bad. We get her some ice for her face and eat our lunches in silence. I was trying and failing to think of ways to make her feel better, when Charles pulls up and buys her a drink from the cafe. Very sweet. Despite the bruises, Tian manages to keep her sense of humor, joking that her “modeling career is ending before it began” (she’s probably only 50% joking though). Ramona and I head out shortly after, as we typically do, leaving as Greta starts doing her very legitimate tarot card readings. 

Over the next stretch, something magical happens, so faint that I barely even notice it. But Ramona’s spidey senses perk up. “Is that… a tailwind?” I gasp. Yes. Yes it is. It’s fleeting, which makes it all the sweeter. For the next five miles, I daydream of tailwinds carrying us to SF. Sigh.

Now sometimes (actually a lot), Ramona talks to me while we’re biking and I have no idea what she’s saying. This is partially because of the wind, partially because Ramona speaks quietly, and partially because I’m a little deaf. This time, I hear her mumble something incoherent then promptly swerve to the left side of the road. I’m slightly concerned because I see an oncoming car, but I trust Ramona with my life so I follow her anyway. Soon, I understand why. She’s led us right into some sprinkler mist! Slightly wet, she looks back at me with an evil grin, and I grin back. Typical Ramona shenanigans.

When we arrive at rest stop 4, I look at my phone and learn that Ishaq’s rear derailleur broke. Luckily, he was in a bike shop to look at the gash in his tire from an earlier ride. I’m pretty sure everyone but me and Ramona went to the bike shop to check out something or another, but I have no idea because we are far far away from them by this point. Ramona and I have enough water and snacks to keep biking, so we leave again.

Over the next 10 miles, very little happens. Ramona recites poetry to me, something about a dream in a dream. We point at a lone cow on the side of the road. We look in awe at the barren landscape around us, a landscape so desolate it’s hard to believe civilization was all around us only an hour ago. Where’d it all go?

At rest stop 5, Ramona and I are tired and have maybe 4 oz of water left each. Joseph would be there in 30 minutes. We both hate waiting, but not having water is a pretty big deterrent. Ramona is leaning towards staying, while I’m leaning towards biking the 11 miles and hoping not to get dehydrated. The next rest stop is a gas station we can refill at, and the next stretch is completely downhill, which is convincing enough that Ramona agrees to leave. We are the true elapsed time warriors.

While gravel downhills are the bane of my existence, paved downhills are quite the opposite. We max at 37 mph without pedaling. Impeccable. We get to the gas station in under half an hour with water to spare. After refilling and snacking, we head out for the last 18 miles. Mother nature decides to bless us again with tailwinds, and we arrive at the church slightly before 7pm.

The rest of the night is pretty boring. After showering and helping unload the car, I work on this blog. Others are washing bikes, calling family, sending emails, cleaning dishes, or napping. This might have been the quietest post-ride ever. Joseph makes quesadillas for dinner, but by the time they’re ready I’m utterly exhausted and have gone to bed. I’m sure your quesadillas were fire though, Joseph.

Green River State Park, UT to Capitol Reef National Park, UT — 94.4 mi, 4,440 ft

Ishaq is driving today, which means his strategy for waking people up is to yap loudly until we get too annoyed to stay in our tents. He’s been in his blasting Alvin and the Chipmunks out the speaker era, so I pop my AirPods in and start packing up.

Today is a slow morning. Tian’s missing a glove, so she goes back to the nearby laundromat to hunt for it. She finds her glove in the washer, which is totally not my fault since I totally was not in charge of laundry yesterday (I’m sorry). Meanwhile, Ishaq is complaining about the breakfast dishes not being clean and Sarah and Joseph’s tent not being taken down, then promptly starts dancing around. Ramona, the kindest soul, takes dishes into her own hands, while I take the tent down, which guilts Sarah into also helping take her tent down. Joseph is nowhere to be found.

Ramona and I finally leave once I assure her that she has contributed enough for the morning, and we embark on our 94 mile day. The beginning is uneventful, and we skip the first rest stop because Ishaq is slow. We continue biking, at some point passing a slightly concerning sign:

I decide to play a fun game with Ramona to make her stop asking me questions about credit cards: make her guess how far a geological structure is. I point out a massive pile of rocks in the distance and she guesses 6 miles. I mock what I think is a ridiculously small distance, so she modifies it to 3-30 miles, earning my agreement. After a couple miles, we turn right, and the rocks are still very much in the distance. I guess we’ll never know how far they really are 🤷‍♀

At the completely barren rest stop 2, I declare I’m going to pee in front of the car to shelter myself from potential highway peepers. After some debate (i.e. Charles loudly stating that he doesn’t want my pee to flow anywhere he’d have the slightest chance of seeing and/or stepping on it), I find the least sad bush around to cover me. Ramona later pees in the exact same spot, then proceeds to ask Charles questions about credit cards.

The day is long, and though all 10 of our climbs are very demure, it’s hot out and therefore easy for us to get dehydrated. We are also almost out of individual electrolytes. Luckily, we were gifted big packets of fruit punch electrolytes early on the trip, and the gallon batches have been carrying me for the past few days. I began to ponder: what percentage electrolyte am I? So, I did the math:

Charles and Greta + Sarah and Joseph catch up to us, and we do a rare 6 person bike ride (Tian is very far ahead of us, per usual). We debate about who would win a Spokes hunger games. Initially we decide that no one could kill Ramona because she’s Ramona, and ramona couldn’t kill anyone because she’s Ramona, so we introduce the caveat that everyone is definitely bloodthirsty. We still think Ramona would win because she’s basically Katniss (she did archery in middle school!!). Sarah would definitely die first while running to the cornucopia. Tian would win the hearts of the sponsors and silently kill people with her secret supplies. Ishaq would hide with his iPad and a sprite. Charles might make it far but would definitely forget some essential part of a not-so-very thought out attack plan. Greta is fast and would outrun all the crazy animals being released. She would also probably kill a lot of people. Joseph without sponsored tools is screwed, but Joseph with sponsored tools may be lethal. Apparently I would build a mightily fortified treehouse and hide there until falling victim to something or someone that causes me to die tragically in Ramona’s arms. All in all, an entertaining discussion.

I decide to induct Charles and Greta in the “how far is that geological structure” game. Charles guesses 20 miles, Ramona jokes 2 miles, and Greta unironically guesses 2.5 miles. I smartly avoid giving a number to avoid the unavoidable clowning of a terrible guess, which Charles received when we discover the rocks are a mere 3.5 miles away.

At the next rest stop at Bull’s market, we run into a fellow cross-country biker. He’s doing a solo self-supported trip from Denver to someplace near the Pacific, so his struggles are both similar and very different from ours. Our mouths were agape as he talked about camping on the side of the highway and biking starting at 3am. We could never.

After the next rest stop, Ramona and I separate from the rest of the group again and talk about our family. I discover that her dad has a slightly different last name due to gendered Latvian nouns, and she discovers that my middle name is my dad’s first name. Her uncle and his dad and his dad all have the same name (Arnolds Treimanis, if you were curious). I don’t tell her this, but there are actually 3 Ruth’s in my slightly extended family.

Since today is such a long day, we’re planning on eating out using money that Spokes 2019 graciously gave us. At the next rest stop, we’re informed that the restaurant closes at 9pm. It’s 6:30 and we have 10 miles left. Ishaq pushes me away from the car, literally, and Ramona and I lock in for the final stretch. I’ve gotta say, seeing the Capitol Reef sign after 90+ miles was such almost euphoric.

We enter the campgrounds and the first thing I notice is deer! There are so many deer! Deer here and deer there, deer deer everywhere.

After delighting over the deer, Ramona and I head to the car, where Ishaq and Tian have already put all our tents up—u da best. We’re informed that there are no showers. NO. SHOWERS. I’m stinky and sweaty, so Ramona and I head to the bathrooms and wash ourselves in the sink. A lot more effective than I expected. Once everyone arrives, we squish in the car with 5 other stinky bikers and head to the Mexican restaurant. The roof rack is empty and is flapping insanely in the wind, so we take it down as soon as we get there.

The restaurant was tons of fun. We have $25 to spent per person, which is enough for me to get a drink, dinner, and dessert. Sarah and I bond over our delicious horchatas. Thank you, Spokes 2019!

We leave at 9:30, meaning the restaurant should’ve kicked us out half an hour ago. We go to the grocery store to buy some ice, leave, realize we forgot firewood, drive back to the grocery store, and buy firewood (we’re not locked in). I’m extremely hyper at this point for no apparent reason, but I can already tell I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.

When we arrive back at the campground, the car starts beeping. More like shrieking. I’m pretty sure we woke everyone up. It stopped just as suddenly as it started, and we discretely continue driving to our area, hoping no one noticed.

We start prepping for bed when I discover a missing tent. I ask tian if she pitched all four tents and she says yes. If it’s gone, it’s gone. I sulk away, fairly certain I’ll have to sleep in the car. But alas, what’s that in the distance? A couple feet away, hiding in some tall grass, is a single tent, suspiciously isolated. Charles walks over, circles it, seems satisfied, then carries it back to our area. He seems to think the wind took it away, but I’m pretty sure it was the deer.

To wrap up the night, we sit around a campfire and contemplate life.

Ramona: Are we on Earth or Mars?
Charles: You know, it’s a cosmic coincidence that the sun and moon are same size—they’re different on other planets
Ishaq: The side of the moon we see is always the same
Ruth: 🎵the dark side of… the mooooon🎵
Ramona: Do you think the stars look the same from Mars as they do from Earth?
Greta and Ruth: No
Everyone else: Yes
Charles: The moon is proof we’re on Earth

Right at our peak philosophical moment, we hear scurrying. We whip our heads and shine a bright light on a guilty looking raccoon with a bag of bagels in its mouth. Our bagels. The raccoon stole our bagels. We might be hallucinating, so maybe it’s time to sleep. The festivities conclude, our fire dwindles, and we bid each other farewell until morn.

I’m unfortunately wide awake, so Charles and I end the night with our trusted camping card game, gin rummy, which I promptly lose so badly that he spares adding the loss to our ongoing record. I’m still not tired, but I let Charles sleep because I’m kind like that. I sit with my thoughts, which include wondering if we’ll all be stinky tomorrow, as well as debating whether the shuffling sound outside the tent was raccoons foraging through our belongings. I ultimately decide that, yes, we will all smell bad, and yes, those are raccoons. Too lazy to shoo them away, I finally drift to sleep.

Frisco, CO to Glenwood Springs, CO — 93.9 mi, 3,266 ft

The morning is uneventful. We wake up, take down the tents in the backyard we didn’t even end up using, and wash dishes we were too lazy to do last night. I clean the rice pot 😫(cleaning the rice pot is not fun).

The bike ride starts off with amazing mountain views, ones that rival those I’ve seen in Switzerland — yes I did study abroad there thanks for asking. I’ve loved biking through Colorado and would honestly consider moving here, which is a pretty big deal because I’ve only ever considered the coasts before. 

For our second rest stop, we enter an extreme tourist trap a cute market area called Vail Village.  We hop off our bikes and thread our way through the crowds. I love markets and I love crowds, so I’m very excited about this rest stop. Once we park the bikes, we disperse. Sarah consumes a $6 loaf of banana bread and a lemonade with berry tea and passionfruit boba of an undisclosed price. Ishaq also finds himself with a most definitely overpriced drink. I don’t think I see Tian but I’m sure she’s having a great time. 

I’m planning on laying in the sun and peacefully listening to the live music when Charles starts inquiring if anyone wants to play cornhole. I decide that yes, I do want to play cornhole, despite the fact that I suck at throwing and despite my fear of Charles trash-talking the fact that I suck at throwing.

Greta and I team up against Charles and Joseph. Ramona spectates. The rules are that a bean bag on the board is 1 point, and a bean bag in the hole is 3. The winner is the first to get 21, and opposing teams’ scores cancel each other out each round (e.g. if I get bean bag in hole but Joseph gets bean bag on board, the score is 2-0 not 3-1). Charles and Greta are standing across from me and Joseph. My memory is a bit foggy, but here is my best recollection of the events that took place:

1. Joseph starts out strong with bean bag straight in the hole. Greta and I think we’re cooked.
2. We shortly realize that was just a lucky shot and Joseph is in fact not good at cornhole.
3. Charles is also not good at cornhole.
4. Greta and I are good at cornhole.
5. Joseph almost gets bean bag in hole but it stops short. I shouldn’t be able to get my bean bag in hole without knocking his in, but against all odds I manage the impossible. 
6. Charles gets a rare bean bag in hole, but Greta follows through with her own bean bag in hole, cancelling out all of Charles’ effort.
7. The score is 18-? (some low number). Greta and I need exactly 3 points to win. Joseph shoots. Bean bag off board. I shoot. Bean bag on board. +1 point. Joseph shoots. Bean bag off board. I can’t get a bean bag in the hole without going over 21 points, so I aim for bean bag on board. I get bean bag on board. +2 points. Joseph needs to get something if his team wants any hope of winning. Bean bag off board. I breathe deep. I hope for bean bag on board… bean bag hits grass… bean bag BOUNCES ONTO BOARD! +3 POINTS!! WE WIN!!!

If you didn’t read any of that, all you need to know is that Greta and I crush Joseph and Charles at cornhole.

Honestly, the middle of the ride was kind of forgetful compared to the epicness that occurred at Vail Village. The scenery turned more desert-y, and the air got a little warmer. I call my dad at rest stop 3, and he watches me eat spaghetti in front of the massive USPS sign I’m sitting in front of. It’s his brother’s birthday tomorrow, so my parents are preemptively celebrating at his house. I wave hi to my uncle and cousins, and they also watch me eat spaghetti in front of the massive USPS sign. 

For the next stretch, I draft Greta for a while since I’m feeling lazy, then we catch up to Ishaq, and the three of us bike together.

I forgot to mention it’s Ishaq’s birthday!! Woo. We are secretly planning on getting him a cake, but Greta feels bad when Ishaq inquires about it. She cryptically responds with “good things come to those who wait,” which clearly indicates to Ishaq that we are in fact planning on getting him a cake. Good job, Greta👍

Rest stop 4 is actually laughable. We break at Dulce Tentacion, a very pink dessert shop. Everybody sits there silently for an uncomfortable amount of time, too tired to say anything. Except actually, Ishaq and I are full of energy so we’re just looking around and laughing at everyone else. I have no idea what’s wrong with the group but I’m having a great time.

Ramona and I continue biking together. We go through a tunnel with a sign that says “make noise through tunnel.” So of course we scream. (Since then Ramona and I shout anytime we’re in a tunnel together.)

Rest stop 5 is nearly is laughable as 4. Everybody is actually passed out, particularly Sarah and Joseph. Tian is nowhere to be found. I’m hungry so I eat mayo with rice — yes it was good. I have way too much energy for my own good, so Ramona and I head off again.

It’s so warm out that we start scheming to find a body of water to jump into. We did it yesterday, so why not two days in a row? We find a great spot to hop in the Colorado River. Unable to swim due to the speedy current, we resign ourselves to squatting. Ramona sees a fish, and I’m jealous so I also try to see a fish. Ramona is greedy so she wants to see another fish. We keep hearing splashing but turn our heads too late to see anything. After 5 minutes of fish hunting, we decide to give up on the elusive aquatic creatures and keep biking.

As we approach Glenwood Springs, Ramona expresses her disdain for the seven do not enter/one way/wrong way signs lined up next to each other at one road. I reply with “Americans are stupid.” She nods.

We finally arrive at Greta’s aunt’s house in Glenwood Springs. Barb and Lindsay greet us warmly, as well as their demure dog, Birdie. We have an incredible dinner of vegan quinoa curry, one that is also laughably silent and one that Ishaq yet again attempts, and fails, to revive. Oh, and apparently none of the nearby stores carry the type of fruit cake/tiramisu that picky Ishaq likes, so he actually will have to wait. Happy birthday, dude!

Lamar, CO to Fowler, CO — 86.3 mi, 1,542 ft

Today, I was hit with the big trifecta of chores: blogging, laundry, and driving tomorrow. Since a driver’s power unofficially begins at the end of the previous day’s bike ride, I had many tasks to accomplish tonight. Naturally, I had to slack on one of them — this meant publishing my blog the day after. Apologies.

I wake up at 7am to Tian shrieking (she’s today’s driver). I mumble a half-asleep complaint and tumble off the three chairs I slept on. I roll up the sleeping mat I didn’t end up using, then pause right before rolling up my sleeping bag. I usually have a specific order I do my morning tasks in (put away sleeping gear, change to biking clothes, pack my bags, eat, pump bikes…) but today I had a crazy thought — screw it. Let me try something new. I leave my sleeping bag unfurled, brush my teeth, then eat breakfast with Ramona, who always wakes up earlier than the rest of us. Doing things backwards is refreshing after over five weeks of the same exact morning routine, and yes I know the fact that this was so exhilarating to me is slightly concerning.

Ramona and I — the dynamic duo — head out with Sarah and Joseph — the equally dynamic, albeit newer, duo. Ishaq had already left, and Greta and Charles are shortly behind. The high for today was 83 °F, so naturally Sarah, our Vegas native, felt “cold.”

A bit into the ride, Ramona receives a phone call. She initially tries to talk through the wind, but pulls over once she realizes she can’t hear anything. I dutifully pull over too, while Sarah and Joseph abandon us. It sounds kind of urgent, and I realize what the fuss is about as soon as Charles sends a picture to the group chat.

Greta had called Ramona, the gear expert, to ask for her expert advice on Charles’ screw-in-tire situation. Ramona agrees that Tian should pick Charles up and go to a parking lot where he can attempt to patch up the hole with a plug kit. Ramona begs Tian to let us know where they pull over so she can spectate (nerd). Tian unfortunately opts for a grocery store we had already passed to kill two birds with one stone, so Ramona and I continue pedaling to rest stop 1. 

Rest stop 1 is short since Tian and Charles and the van with all our supplies are nowhere near. The unofficial dynamic trio of me, Ramona, and Greta, who we picked up at the rest stop, bike and chat. My dad calls me in the last 5 miles and I tell him how the day’s going so far. When I mention the lightning storm from two days ago, he mentions a similar story from his youth, when he walked for hours in torrential rain in the middle of a forest in Ethiopia. I love hearing stories from my parents’ youth. It’s almost like they lived full lives before I was born.

At rest stop 2, a trusty Dollar General, Ramona and I pull up to a loud POP. Charles is trying out a new plug kit combo, and it apparently burst at 45 PSI right as we arrive. Ramona is excited that she finally gets to witness the (attempted) repair of our worst bike damage yet, so while Sarah, Joseph, and Greta leave, I dutifully wait by Ramona for another half hour (spoiler alert: I do not see Ishaq the entire ride, he’s too far ahead). We come to the conclusion that Charles should in fact not bike for the rest of the day, and that he should try to fill his initially tubeless tire with a tube, which will supposedly provide an impermanent but stable solution to the screw issue. I suggest to Ramona that Charles ride my bike tomorrow, since I’m driving and he has pretty short legs, but this great solution is ignored.

By this point, everyone is wayyy ahead of us, so Tian, Ramona and I agree the van can skip rest stop 3 so the others don’t have to wait for supplies as long. Ramona and I pull up to the gas station rest stop anyway to refill our waters with ice, and to our surprise, the van is there! Apparently, Tian is easily susceptible to the whims of others. Specifically Charles and his lottery addiction. At least he wins $40.

Ramona and I leave rest stop 3 at 2:10pm. We are informed that rest stop 3, a cafe, closes at 3pm. There are 11.7 miles. I am determined to make it. We zoom there, our last 2 miles at an average speed of 20 mph. Ramona casually called her parents in the midst of this speedy ride, one-handed — they had just finished eating dinner after a fun day of mountain orienteering and quarrying. We make it to the cafe a minute before closing! Turns out the baristas do not care at all about us staying overtime, because I lounge on the couch far after 3pm. Also shoutout to Tian for letting me try her pear peach apricot smoothie 😌

The last 18 mile stretch is surprisingly quick. Ramona and I arrive at our church for the night, and find it entirely empty save for all the Spokies’ bikes and bags. Apparently Pastor Wayne graciously let everyone shower at his house, so we make the long, 5 minute trek to his place of residence. Everyone’s finished showering, except Greta and Charles who are crazy and decided to go on a run (more so Greta, Charles was a bum in the car today). Ishaq asked for the password at the door, Ramona correctly answered “password,” and we were allowed in. I stayed at the Pastor’s house until everyone was done showering so I could start the laundry, then Greta and I walked back to join some church members at dinner. We were greeted with burgers and a mix of freshly grown fruits and veggies, including Fowler’s very own cantaloupe specialty. Yum!

Post dinner, I unload our food from the cooler into the fridge. Then I walk back to the Pastor’s house to do some more laundry, and Greta graces me with her presence on the walk. We run into a bunch of cats on the way! The cats apparently all live in one house!! I count 16 total!!! I go back to the church to get my phone to take pictures of the cats, and Ramona follows me out. We squeal at how cute they are — fine, I squeal at how cute they are. At the same time, the sky starts looking like a renaissance painting, so we take flicks of that as well. I knock out at 9:30pm after a long day, gleefully knowing that I’d get to wake everyone up at 6:30am the next day, however I want 😈

Kansas City, MO to Overbrook, KS — 77.6 mi, 3,363 ft

Happy 4th of July!

The morning starts out normal. We say we’ll leave at 8am, and we actually do a pretty good job of it. At 8:30am, I see everyone except Joseph leave, and I hurry to get on my bike and catch them. Unfortunately, my bike computer is acting up. Charles helps me fix it, and I zoom ahead, two minutes behind the others, determined to catch up.

2.5 miles into my ride, I realize I am going in the COMPLETE OPPOSITE DIRECTION as everyone else. I only notice because some road blockage forces me to reroute, my bike computer glitches, and I check Life360 to see which direction to head. I slightly freak out once I see that everyone is miles to the south of me.

I decide to navigate with Google Maps instead, and head towards Joseph’s last known location. Sarah calls me to check in, I tell her that I’m probably fine, and I make my way to rest stop 1 alone. I’m convinced Charles sabotaged my bike computer ✋

On my solo ride, I get to see some cool things, like crazy Kansas City mansions and the start of the 4th of July bike parade.

I get to Krispy Kreme to several Spokies waiting for me. I rant about my defective bike computer, go pee, then head out with Ramona, who patiently waited for me. We spend the ride talking about Latvian rock operas, debating about school uniforms, and shouting in tunnels.

While biking to rest stop 3, we pass two small children sitting on the grass with bikes suspiciously similar to ours. I realize it’s Sarah and Joseph! Sarah tells me that everything is good, but I later find out that Joseph hurt his back (sounds like you need to work on your core, man).

While biking to rest stop 4, I see a cop car zoom by. Suspicious, I think.

I get to the rest stop, tired from the uphills and the heavy headwind, and confused why it’s a mile ahead of schedule. Ramona didn’t notice the change, so she blows by the rest stop, and a cop car chases her down to tell her to turn around. Why a cop car, you might be wondering. Boy, do I have a crazy story for you:

Apparently, Charles, Ishaq, and Greta arrive to rest stop 4, blissfully unaware. Charles peeks into all the windows of the glass blowing shop we decided to have a rest stop at. A couple minutes later, a sheriff pulls up. She tells them that the man who owns the shop got so freaked out by Charles looking inside that he got his gun ready and was prepared to shoot. They stood there in silence while the deputy sorted things out, then Charles moved the rest stop a mile forwards while Ishaq and Greta continued biking.

So now you know that the cop car was zooming after our resident Spokie delinquents. Also fun fact, remember how Charles sabotaged me? Well, this had lasting effects. Because of my 5 mile delay and the fact that Charles ditched us to go to Lawrence, KS, to visit his birth hospital, Greta and Ishaq were so far ahead of the rest of the group that they kept on leaving rest stops before Charles got there. Ishaq rationed his water, so when he got to rest stop 4, he chugged 2 Sprites and 2 bottles of water and an apple, and promptly puked.

Anyways, Ramona and I finally get to the Warmshowers host, and we shower and get settled. Our host, Scott, offers us pizza and wings. We get in the hot tub, relax, then watch fireworks in the driveway post-sunset. Great 4th of July 🙂

Mammoth Cave National Park, KY to Bowling Green, Kentucky — 32.7 mi, 1,342 ft

I woke up and gleefully announced my sleep score of 79 to the other campers. What changed, Ruth? you might be asking. Didn’t you have horrendous sleep for the past two weeks? How did your sleep score triple in a single day? The answer: sleeping in the car. I highly suggest you try it sometime.

In all seriousness, somehow sleeping upright was just what I needed to successfully sleep through the night without waking myself up in a coughing fit. I felt good enough that I was ready to tackle the day’s bike ride, all 33 miles of it. But first, we decided to do a self-guided tour of Mammoth Cave, totally not because we didn’t plan ahead enough to book a guided tour.

The cave was cool (literally) and had surprisingly more historical relevance than I would’ve expected. It contains minerals like saltpetre that are essential for gunpowder formation, and enslaved people were forced to mine it in the 1800s.

We waited in a line for 5 minutes to see some northern & southern cave fish, got to the front of the line, realized there were no fish, then left wondering about the human psychology of queues.

We left the cave, spent an absurdly long time getting ready to leave (Greta ate a whole sandwich), then finally got biking to our one and only rest stop. Although I was having difficulty breathing on the uphills, Greta and Ishaq were kind enough to bike with me for the 15 short miles. 

We made it to the vast expanse of the rest stop parking lot, found the bikers ahead of us, located Charles, our driver for the day, then all stared at the looming logo above us: we made it to BUC-EES.

Yooo it’s Charles, remember me? From yesterday? The poor guy whose blog got hijacked? Well I’m back to dish out some sweet revenge and, more importantly, write about my favorite place in the entire world¹ — the epitome of American consumerism — Buc-ees.

BUC-EE’S! BUC-EE’S! For the unenlightened, Buc-ee’s is a gas station chain known for its endless chain of gas station stalls, its huge convenience stores, and squeaky clean bathrooms. It’s Costco meets Disneyland meets gas station at the peak of the mountain that is modern Americana. They own world records for largest convenience store, longest car wash, most gas station stalls, etc. If the scale still isn’t setting in for you, let me add that it’s primarily a Texas chain. ‘Nuff said.

I’d been raving about Buc-ee’s to the team for like the past week, so everyone’s expectations were high. I was especially hyped for Ramona’s encounter with Buc-ee’s because she is very easily impressed by the US’ innovations in vice culture. S’mores, ice cream floats, scratch-off tickets, Camel Crushes. And… laundromats (“like they spin… and it’s so cool”)? Maybe she’s just easily impressed in general. I also secretly suspect word about the industrial revolution has not yet reached Latvia.

After locking up our bikes in a big bike pile, we go into the store, which is big enough to lose track of people very quickly. I use the wonderful restrooms, then pick up a triple meat sandwich (sausage + brisket + turkey). I devour the sandwich outside as everyone sits down at the spot with their Buc-ee’s purchases. I ask about everyone’s impressions. “Overstimulating,” “awesome,” and “MURICA” are common refrains.

Ishaq recaps his Buc-ee’s haul (“I went in and just went full consumer mode”) before I go in for a second time to buy a round of treats for myself. I wind up buying fresh glazed nuts, cherry maple jerky, assorted sours, peanut butter and caramel popcorn with cinnamon, and milk chocolate covered raisins 😋.

As the bikers get ready to leave, I go in for a *third* Buc-ee’s trip to buy some beer for our rest day chillaxing. (spoiler alert: they did not make it to the rest day). Ramona is in fact impressed by Buc-ee’s. So impressed she buys merch on the spot.

Ruth’s back! (wooo the crowd goes wild)

I’m feeling extremely stuffed from my brisket sandwich, but I gather myself and hop on my bike. Ishaq is feeling lazy and joins Charles in the car, but Greta’s vow to stay with me throughout the day doesn’t waver. She plays my 2000s hits playlist, “dancing in my room,” and we jam along for the next 17 miles. Somewhere along the way, Ramona joins us, and now all three of us are jamming. Per usual, flash rain about 3 miles out from our final destination attempts to derail us. We bike through the downpour and come out the other side completely soaked and smiling wildly – mostly Greta, who “loves this type of weather.” We play tag with the rain for a bit, see a ground rainbow, then finally make it to what I can only describe as the best Airbnb to ever exist.

We enter the glorious estate and lay claims to bedrooms and showers. Ramona and I struggle to work the record player, then realize Charles and Ishaq tried the same thing half an hour earlier with no success. 

After Charles and Ishaq return from grocery shopping, we start making dinner. Music is blasting (from a speaker😔) and spirits are high. The sun is setting, the sky is beautiful, and the fireflies come out.

We eat mac and cheese, turkey bacon, salad, watermelon, and banana/olive oil brownies, and stay up all night watching 21 Jump Street, playing card games, and just talking. It’s ok, we have a rest day tomorrow.

¹ I actually wrote a full essay praising Buc-ee’s my junior spring.