Let me start by stating this: anyone who says Kansas is flat has either never been to Kansas or is full of it. I'll accept that there may very well be flat parts of the state, but the several hundred miles that I cycled through were long, large rolling hills known as the High Plains.

After leaving Manhattan, I set out on my longest day yet. By nightfall I had gone over 111 miles and set up camp in Glen Elder State Park. They had called for rain that night, so I put the cover up over my tent, but like a dummy I forgot to anchor in my guy-lines. At five o'clock the next morning I awoke to my tent nearly shredding to pieces and collapsing all around me due to the storm that blew in with sustained 30+ mile an hour winds. For an hour I sat Indian-style inside my tent with arms outstretched holding my crossing tent poles in place so they wouldn't snap. Eventually the storm passed and I was able to relax. It was a rough morning, followed by a 72 mile ride up to Philipsburg, KS. I smiled a lot that day. It was a beautiful, sunny day and while on the road I saw a coyote in one field and a doe with her fawn running in another. In Cawker City, I was lucky enough to see the World's Largest Ball of Twine. I had heard about this amazing feet of true mid-Western bordem many times in my life and didn't even realize I had chosen the road it's home was on until I saw the signs. Check out my photo album if you want to see pictures. Up in Smith Center, KS I was given a free lunch at this little dinner on the main street of this tiny town. I loved how in many of the tiny towns I passed through in Kansas they played oldies music over speakers throughout the town. Very quaint. It also made me smile knowing that I started cycling from the Southernmost point in America, and just a couple miles from Smith Center is the geographic center of the United States. After lunch I finished out the day making it to Philipsburg and deciding to spring for a motel room to rest better than the stormy night before.

My next destination was Oberlin, KS. I had a scheduled Rotary club meeting there the next day and cycled a standard day's 68 miles to get there. When I arrived in town, I met the president of the club and was expecting him to tell me where the best place for me to camp would be, or maybe if I was lucky that I could stay at his house. Amazingly, he explained how I was going to be spending the next two nights in the historic Landmark Inn courtesy of their club. It was a really nice bed&breakfast and I was so thankful and lucky for this hospitality. So the next day I attended the Oberlin Rotary Club meeting, and met some very kind people. It's great to visit and compare big city large clubs with the little town small clubs. I enjoy the ease of connecting with the smaller clubs, and being able to interest and inspire a room of people rather than trying to keep the attention of an entire ballroom. Though, the giant clubs are great experiences too, with their many members they are like a well oiled machine, all pistons firing to provide money to important projects and foundations. They usually have really good meals too. The afternoon after my Oberlin meeting, I went with several of the Rotarians to help out with their 2 mile stretch of "Adopt a Highway" clean up. I figured, they put me up in a B&B and I'm using the highway so much, time to give a little more back. The next morning I packed up and got ready for my last day in Kansas. I had planned on stopping 70 miles down the road in St. Francis, but when I arrived at 4 o'clock in the afternoon with four more hours of light left, I decided to cross into mountain time, and enter Colorado. It was another 30 miles stretch of nothing till Idalia, CO....so I pressed on.

I just wanted to write a quick update for the past week before I travel into rural central Kansas and Eastern Colorado, where I will probably not have a chance to blog again until Denver, CO.

I spent an extra couple days in Kansas City after my last blog. The first day was to wait and catch up with the Rotary club meetings scheduled this week. And the second day was because there were severe thunderstorms with strong winds and large hail. Anytime I have a safe, comfortable house and hosts that don't mind me sticking around, I'm gonna wait that kind of weather out. Rain is one thing, but taking falling balls of ice from the heavens on my bare body is not something I want to do.

Tuesday night, my hosts (Tom and Jennifer) took me out with some of their friends to Kite's Grille and Bar to eat, drink and watch the NBA finals game. I didn't want to drink very much because I didn't want to be dehydrated for the next day, but I figured a few pints couldn't hurt. I ordered a Guiness, one of my favorite beers, and opened the menu. The first thing I saw was too ridiculous and I couldn't look away. I was staring at a picture of Will Ferrel putting a huge sandwich to his face and next to that photo was the description: Will Ferrel's 3-pound Cheeseburger...We DARE you!. I had traveled over 2,300 miles at this point and this was the first 'food challenge' I had come across. I was more unsure about the price rather than my ability to actually eat this gargantuan burger. It was $34.95, and if you finished it they didn't give it to you free, the simply gave you a t-shirt. After a few moments of contemplation, I decided the opportunity for something like this, to make an unforgettable memory and story, was more important than money or prizes.

When they brought out the platter that this cheeseburger sat on the whole table and myself were stuck with uncontrollable laughter and disbelief. I don't know if Will Ferrel created this thing, or simply was the first to order it, but he was a madman. There were two gigantic beef patties, a whole tomato, half a red onion, a load of iceburg lettuce and lots of cheese. The bun was one of the most absurd parts to this monstrosity. They said that they have to run over to the Walmart bakery to buy this loaf of bread they use as the bun when someone orders it because it would go stale otherwise in between orders. To make sure the cow wasn't actually still alive they had a huge steak knife buried to the handle through the top bun. And as if this weren't enough, they include a big pile of hand-cut French fries, two whole Idaho potatoes worth. We took pictures, I'll post them soon hopefully, then I cut my sandwich into 1/4ths, each one the size of a giant double cheeseburger. And so I began. It wasn't until the third 1/4th that I was noticing how totally full I was. But it was a good burger and I wasn't backing down. I started at tip off of the basketball game and was finished during half-time. The bartender was so impressed he gave me two t-shirts, one in each color. Apparently, Kite's originated in Manhattan, Kansas and this particular Kite's had been open over two years and no one had finished the challenge without getting sick. The general manager came over to the table and had me autograph a t-shirt and took my picture. They're putting that up on their wall. My host, Tom, was so entertained by the whole spectacle that he picked up my tab. After it was all over, I felt extremely sleepy and terribly full. Never got sick or even close though.

The next day, I left KC and headed West. After 64 miles I reached my next host's house in Topeka, KS, the capital. One of the girls I played volleyball with on my first night in KC had contacted her college friend, Patrick, and he offered me his spare bedroom. Not only was the 10th my dad's birthday, but it was also Patrick's. He had gone out with friends the night before so he was playing it low key that night and we went to eat Thai food at a nice little place, and it was delicious. Afterward, I had an amazing night of movie watching and laying in bed. The following morning I packed up and cycled over to the Downtown Topeka Rotary club's lunch meeting. They had very good food, and they were very welcoming and generous. Once the meeting was over, I cycled 67 miles that afternoon to Manhattan, KS where I am staying with the president of the Manhattan Konza Rotary club. I spoke to their club this morning, and was greeted by several very nice people with lots of questions. Rotarians are some of the nicest people I've met, and I enjoy most every meeting I attend. I am relaxing today, and tomorrow I set out on what will be one of the hardest days so far. I'm trying to reach Glen Elder State Park 106 miles away, and there will be a section of around 54 miles where there will be no service or gas stations for me to refill my water. I'm going to fill up my Arizona Iced Tea jug that I've been carrying as a reserve reservoir, but have yet had to fill. This will make my trailer around 10 lbs heavier which will be just lovely, I'm sure. I'm going to try and get an early start and just get through it. This next week will be some of the hardest days, as I travel through the prairie and plains of Kansas and East Colorado. I'm not sure how good my cell coverage will be, or when I'll be able to be on the internet again. But I am glad I have my SPOT GPS tracker that I can keep everyone updated on where I am and let ya'll know I'm okay. My SPOT maps on my website aren't working properly right now, but if you want to track me you can find my One Man, One Bike, One Fight on www.spotadventures.com So until next time, keep your fingers crossed for me missing all the tornadoes and hail storms.

Before leaving St. Louis, I listened to the advice of a local and took Hwy 94 that ran North of the Missouri River. After taking this route I realized that the wise local's directions were for someone on a motorcycle, not a bicycle. I went a little over twenty miles across some flat fields and farms with a gusting headwind of at least 20mph which kept me at a grueling 9mph on my bicycle. After slowly making past the flat lands, I re-entered the Ozarks and had some of the steepest climbs that can safely exist for any vehicle. I had shifted into my highest gear and I still almost had to get off and push my bike. They were truly brutal climbs which quickly turned into super fast and dangerous decents. I hit a top speed of around 38 mph, and had to work my brakes just to keep in control. It was obvious that hwy 94 was the scenic route. I camped out at a checkpoint along the Katy Trail, which is a long hiking and cycling trail that used to be a railroad, after an 82 mile ride. The mosquitoes in this very rural central Missouri area were ridiculous. I was quite literally under siege by a few hundred of these blood suckers after I entered my tent for the first time. I didn't even get out to use the bathroom during the night because simply opening the door flap would have inundated me with mosquitoes.

The next day I had a short leg of around 40 miles to reach Jefferson City, one of the smallest state capitals in America. I made it to "Jeff City" around lunch and spent the entire afternoon hanging out in a Panera Bread Company using their wireless internet and eating some delicious food. That night I cycled out of town about six miles to the West to Binder State Park where I set up camp. The next day I went back into town and spoke to the Jefferson City Rotary club and met several very nice people. One man in particular, David Turner, sat next to me offered to host me for that evening instead of me having to camp again. So I went and stayed at the Turner's beautiful big house, and they took me out for an awesome steak dinner. The following day the weather service was calling for afternoon and evening thunderstorms, and since my next destination was a state park over 80 miles away, I decided to hang out in Jeff City for one more day instead of riding into bad weather and having to set up camp in a downpour. That day turned out to be beautiful and we hung out at the country club pool. When the clouds rolled in that afternoon we went to a county sheriff's bbq, then to the oldest bar (Irish pub) West of the Mississippi River for a few pints with the Turner's friends.

I awoke the next day to a cold, windy and rainy morning that was predicted to clear up in the afternoon. I cycled 81 miles to Knob Noster State Park and prepared my tent for the night. That evening I was stealth attacked by a few ninja like raccoons. I was woken several times by the sound of my trailer being broken into and pillaged by the furry bandits. By morning I was packed up and ready to head on to Kansas City with a slightly lighter trailer in  tow. They managed to make off with my Gatorade powder, and some Powerbars. They even pulled out the Ziplock baggy with my Nigerien jewelry and tried to chew up the leather. It was a frustrating evening to say the least.

I arrived in Kansas City around 4 o'clock on Thursday after cycling 76 miles. Nate, Piper's fiance in St. Louis, hooked me up with his college friend in KC and I am again lucky enough to have a host. That evening my hosts played in an intramural beach volleyball league and invited me along. My legs were very tired, but it was a lot of fun doing a sport/activity that wasn't cycling. Friday morning I woke up super early and got a ride from Tom, my host, to the KC Plaza Rotary club's breakfast meeting. It was a very good meeting and a very generous club. I took my time cycling back "home" from the meeting through town and stopped at a Chic Fila for some food along the way. Soon after I got back to my host's house I received a phone call from a woman who was the wife of a man that I had met in the Chic Fila. She asked if I would be interested in coming to speak with her kids camp/daycare about my time in West Africa and my bike trip. I, of course, agreed and met her and all the kids at a local church gymnasium where they were playing. I spoke to around 25 six to eight year olds, and had a good time answering their questions. That afternoon my hosts left to attend a wedding in St. Louis and allowed me to house sit for them for the weekend. One of the Rotarians I met that morning had invited me to his house for some home cooked pizza and it was delicious. I am constantly thankful for the kindness shown to me by complete strangers. Saturday I slept late, then went to see the new movie, The Hangover, before meeting up with one of the volleyball teammates from Thursday night and a bunch of her friends. The movie was hilarious and the night was loads of fun. I got to meet even more really sweet and cool people. Today, I'm am wrapping up "chores" and preparing to set out across Kansas. I head out to Topeka tomorrow where one of the people I met here in KC has connected me with a friend for a place to stay. This next week and a half are going to be some of the most unenjoyable days on this whole trip so far. Kansas, with it's endless farm fields with no tree and strong NNW winds will make cycling more work than play. But soon I will be in Denver, past half way of my total distance and be able to rest with friends for a spell. So far I've gone a little over 2,300 miles and have around 3,600 more to go. After tomorrow I will have visited five state capitals and seven states. It's been a blast so far, and I'm truly thankful for all the amazing people that I've met and for all the support I've received along the way.

...and pedaled until I made it to the Poplar Bluff, Missouri Rotary club meeting twenty minutes before the starting bell at noon. The members of this club were very kind and allowed me to be the main speaker that day, so I stood for around 20 minutes and shared my experiences and campaign mission with them. At the end of the meeting a lady, Sandy Wood, offered her spare bedroom to me and asked if I would speak with her daughter who was interested in joining the Peace Corps. Of course I agreed, and she went back to work. The assistant principal of the local high school loaded my trailer and bike into his truck and took me to his school to introduce me around. After a fun meet-and-greet of the staff and some faculty, I was taken to the newly renovated town library to rest and wait for Sandy to get off work. While at the library I received a phone call telling me to walk a couple blocks down the street and be interviewed by the local newspaper. The reporter was a very nice guy and we had a good conversation about my project. Yet again, for the third time, I never heard anything from him afterwards and he didn't send me the article. I'm still working on getting the three pieces and linking them on my website. Sandy scooped me up after work and we went back to her house, and gave the spare bedroom and introduced me to her curious daughter and her boyfriend who were full of questions about the Peace Corps. The parents went to a dinner party, and the youths took me out to dinner and we talked about my time in Africa. I spent the rest of the evening resting, and working on the internet, and going to bed early. The next day was planned to be a doozy.

I left Poplar Bluff around 9:45 and headed North up Highway 67 which was a major trucking route through the Ozarks. So not only did I have to deal with the long, steep climbs of the Ozark mountains, but I was dodging 18-wheelers all day, as well as about a 40 mile stretch of construction. By the day's end I had made it 104 miles and reached my campsite in St. Francois State Park. I was so happy to finally make it there, my body was exhausted. The camp site was fully equipped and I was able to take a hot shower and fill up on water. I called my family, ate some food I bought in a Walgreen's in the town before the park, and feel into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next morning was supposed to be easy compared to the day before at only 50+ miles, but it turned out to be anything but easy. In the first five miles I had to stop on the upslope of a major hill cause my trailer tire was flat. I forgot to mention the first two in my last entry, but since leaving Little Rock, AR this was my third flat trailer tire. I had gone over 1500 miles without a single problem with my two little back tires, then, within a week, I came up lame three times. Since I only carry two spares and had already used them back in Arkansas, I had to use my patch kit and fix the puncture. I used what I had learned from the many flats I had in Niger (they have lots of thorns in the desert) and mended my inner tube. I continued on, going much slower than the day before due to a slight head-wind and the overall exhausted state of my legs. I can't be sure but I also felt that the climbs closer to St. Louis were much larger and more difficult. It was an especially hot day, and I stopped more times than average to refill water and drink some Gatorade. I had finally made it into the suburbs of St. Louis, where my Peace Corps teammate Piper Krausch lives with her fiance, when the same trailer tire I patched earlier in the day goes flat again. So I'm only a couple miles away from "home" on a very busy highway and I have to patch my inner tube again. I eventually rolled into my resting place for the next week two and a half hours later than I should have. I was so happy to be somewhere I could recuperate.

I arrived on Friday of Memorial Weekend and had a great time relaxing. We went to see the huge Arch, and went up 630 ft in the little "tram" elevator to the top and looked out and took pictures. (I'll post them soon, I promise). Afterwards we were going to walk around, but a storm had blown in. The next day Nate, Piper's fiance, and I went to the St. Louis Zoo, which is apparently the 3rd nicest zoo in America. We tried to go to the art museum and planetarium afterwards but they were closed. So we went to eat at the Italian restaurant Rigazzi's which had been in "The Hill", the Italian neighborhood of St. Louis since 1957. Very good food and their famous fish-bowl beers. On Wednesday I was able to do a thirty minute radio interview with Dana Daniels on 102.5 FM in St. Louis which airs Sunday the 31st. After the interview I spoke to the 20 member St. Louis County Rotary club about my project and was totally blown away when they wrote out a check for $400 to fund me through the midWest. I was down to running on fumes and worrying about continuing on, but they gave a much needed jolt to my campaign. I was feeling so good after that Piper and I went on the Anheiser-Busch Brewery tour and I learned a lot about beer, the company and St. Louis. There is a huge amount of history tied in with Anheiser-Busch and St. Louis, and I was very impressed. The only other brewery tour I've taken was the Biere Niger brewery in Niamey, Niger and it was NOTHING compared to this place. The factory complex is so nice and there is soooo much money put back into the company. The tour itself is run all day almost every day and has a lot of money put into it. Like I said, very impressed. The next day I went to speak at the much larger 200+ member St. Louis Rotary Club where I had only a few moments to address and explain my project. With the bigger clubs there is more bureaucracy so I didn't walk out of there with a check, but the president said they'd send something back to South Carolina to my Rotary point people. We'll see if they make good on their promise. I was able to walk around downtown for a bit after the meeting and I must say, St. Louis is a very beautiful city. I love the arcitechture and the history with so many of the buildings.

And now, I'm wrapping up my latest blog entry, packing my bags and trailer, and preparing to head out for the next leg of my journey, West across Missouri then through the vast plains of Kansas and the Eastern one third of Colorado up into Denver. I am planning on stopping in Kansas City for a few days to speak with Rotary clubs and I will do my best to chronicle my trip across the Show Me State (Missouri). Until then, thanks for reading and write or call me anytime!

It's been a while since my last entry, so I'm going to break up the past couple weeks into two blogs to ease your reading.

Leaving Little Rock was really tough. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy my time there and everyone that I was able to meet, but the actual travel that day was very difficult. Highway 67 leaving Little Rock is basically an interstate with a 70 mph speed limit and a very rough gravel shoulder with tons of debris. I went 93 miles that day.  Exhausted and sore I finally made it to my contact's house in Newport, AR early that evening. Brent, childhood friend of my host Ben in Little Rock, is a teacher at the local public school teaching 4th grade and an honors high school English class. The following morning he invited me to speak to his 4th grade class about my experience in the Peace Corps and my bicycle trip. One his student's mom worked for the local newspaper and came to observe and ask a couple questions. I asked her to send me the article when it came out, but I never heard from her. Today, I was blown away to see that Chris Gilson, a returned Peace Corps volunteer from the 80's who works for the Peace Corps in D.C., saw that article online and decided to donate $300 to me to help keep me on the road. Needless to say I am so thankful for that opportunity to speak to Brent's class. When the 4th grade class ended, I also went upstairs and spoke to two 11th grade classes.

After I did my talks and had a little high school cafeteria lunch I got back out on the road and headed 57 miles up the road to Pocahontus, AR where Ben's family offered to shelter me. Ben's family was huge and they had a big cookout when I arrived. One of their friends was a reporter for the local paper there and she did a quick interview, but I also never heard back from her or how the article went. This time no random donors resulted in the printing.  Pocahontus is a small farming town, and Ben's parent's are some of the larger rice and chicken farmers in the area and do very well. I spent the night in a beautiful, giant house and got a good nights rest. The next morning before leaving I was speaking to Ben's mom about how my camera had broken in Niger and that I was using disposables on my trip. As I was walking out the door, she reached into her purse and hands me her 7 megapixel HP digital camera. I was totally taken back, and immediately said that I couldn't accept it. She insisted and I left the house with a new camera. Ben's dad and I went back over to his grandma's house (where the cookout the night before happened) and had an amazing country breakfast. We woke and ate by 6:30am first because farmers wake up at dawn, and second because I had to cycle 57 miles before noon in order to make it to the Poplar Bluff, Missouri Rotary club meeting. So I pedaled, and pedaled, and pedaled....

As I left Baton Rouge, I was greeted by an awesome tail wind allowing me to keep up a very easy and fast speed up and out of Louisiana. As soon as I was coming to the border of Mississippi, however, I was greeted by what seemed to be foothills of some mountains. Long, rolling hills.  I kept pedaling till I came to historic Natchez, MS 100.5 miles later. I stopped at a fire station to ask if it would be alright if I camped out in their back yard, but after a quick recon I realized there were no fire fighters in the building. One of the two trucks was missing, so I assumed there was a big call and they all went. I sat and waited there for over an hour but the sun was setting and I couldn't wait any longer. I had noticed that across the street way up on a hill was a building with a big "For Lease" banner waving in front of it. I decided to investigate further and hope the fire truck came back in the mean time. The building turned out to be an old funeral parlor and the truck did not return. I set up my tent behind the funeral parlor with only the slightest sense of creepiness and worry of zombie attack. Luckily I made it through the night, and was able to head out on the road again the next morning.

Crossing over the Mississippi river was a pretty cool experience. It was a big, old steel bridge that I went over and I saw a couple barges being pushed by tugboats and even a classic casino river boat. She was a wide river for sure, and it made me feel accomplished to have made it this far on my bicycle. I continued on through rural Louisiana fighting a sadistically strong head wind. After several hours of head wind I finally found what was driving the pressure difference and got caught in a decent storm for about an hour and a half as I continued down the back roads of the deep South. Eventually the rain let up, and I made it to my destination of Monroe, LA nearly another hundred miles away. I had made a contact here through the online traveler-hosting network couchsurfing.com and headed to the University of Louisiana Monroe campus to meet Thomas and fall onto my couch for the evening. About a mile and a half before reaching his apartment, coming down an offramp going about 20 miles per hour I felt like I hit a rock, but immediately noticed my back wheel sliding wildly to the left and right. I had a complete blow out of my tire. So I stopped, fixed the flat, and finally made it to shelter. Thomas was a really nice college senior, about to graduate and take the LSAT in order to hopefully go into environmental law. The next morning after crashing pretty hard from back-to-back 100 mile days, I woke up still really tired and packed up to leave. I called my Rotary club contact in South Carolina before heading out and realized that I was a day ahead of schedule for the upcoming meetings. I quickly decided to spend a day resting and head out the next morning, and Thomas was totally fine with sharing his couch one more night. This was so perfect because my legs were actually shaky getting back onto the bike. So I rested. And the next morning felt so much better. Leaving Monroe, I was once again greeted by a friendly tail wind that made cycling so enjoyable. It was a beautiful, sunny day through a lot of no-mans land Northern Louisiana and Southern Arkansas. I arrived at my destination of Monticello, AR after 90 miles in really good time and had enough light in the day to hang out in a coffee shop and play on the computer. I eventually had to find a place to camp and the coffee shop manager was kind enought  point me in the direction of a small lake up the road a few miles. I made it to Lake Monticello when the sun was just perfectly setting over the water and I dragged my bike and trailer into the woods out of park ranger view and set up camp.

Thursday morning I packed up and headed for my weekend resting point of Little Rock, Arkansas. Almost 90 miles to my contacts house, I made it there around 4:30, very tired due to a decent head wind. Thanks to a series of contacts made by my friend Renie in Mobile, AL that I can still barely follow, I was connected with several extremely nice people who opened their homes, work, and lives to me. Two women in particular were super excited to meet me and use all their networking power to help me in my journey. They call themselves my "ground crew" since I'm always on the move. Friday, May 15th, I went to pick up my SPOT GPS tracking unit that Thomas Fowlkes with MDi in Mobile had secured for me as a sponsorship from California. I can now be tracked throughout my journey and even press a button if I need help or emergency rescue, though I hope I never need that option. I'm still working on putting the GPS map up on my website, but it will be there soon. Thomas also tells me that soon I will have a few different "refueling stations" on my trip where Clif Bar will be sending me food. On Saturday I was able to help out with an Americorps community outreach program where we worked with around 60 middle school kids to spruce up a local alternative school. It was a great experience meeting all the volunteers and kids. After we finished there, a bunch of the volunteers and I went to a Greek Orthodox food festival where I devoured a gyro and some awesome baklava, while watching some traditional greek dancing. That evening I went to the Little Rock Film Festival and watched two movies. The first one, 500 Days of Summer, was a really good love story and I recommend that to everyone. The second was a Russian rendition of 12 Angry Men called "12" and was two hours and forty minutes of Russian with subtitles that nearly dragged on forever. I do not recommend this one. The theater luckily served beer and I took advantage of the long winded commrads to enjoy a few beers. Yesterday, Sunday May 17th, the Americorps volunteer who is hosting me, Kristin Pederson, one of her coworkers and I went down to Hot Springs, AR about an hour away. It was a cool little town nestled in the foothills of the Ozarks where waters averaging 135 degrees flow out of the ground. There was a lot of history there with cool old bathhouses and huge old hotels that didn't quite seem to fit in the scenery. We sat next to a spring for a while and tried to soak our hands and feet as much as we could, but the waters were almost scalding hot. I had never seen a hot spring before and really enjoyed the relaxing day. After returning to Little Rock we made a little dinner then went to a screening of Field of Dreams that was playing in an open baseball stadium. It was fun to bring a blanket and sit in the outfield grass watching the big screen on the score board. And that was the wrap up of my resting time in Little Rock, Arkansas.

I woke this morning a little later than planned, but am heading out on a 90 mile day up to Newport, AR where I've been connected with a family of a guy here in Little Rock to spend the night. Then Tuesday I head up to Pochahontus, AR to another guy's family's place for a nights rest before heading into Missouri. I'll have two nights of camping in state parks in Missouri before I reach St. Louis hopefully Friday. I plan on spending at least the weekend resting and visiting a Peace Corps friend in St. Louis before turning back West. Until then, I thank you all for keeping up with my journey, and if you want a more often update of where I am and what I'm doing, I've started Twittering. So you can either log onto Twitter.com and follow me, or you can see my updates on the home page of my website.

After making it to Biloxi, MS and passing all the big casino/resort hotels, including the new Hard Rock Casino with the giant neon lit guitar sign and the obscenely huge Beau Rivage,  I made it to my particular hotel and got checked in. My room was on the 19th floor and I had a decent view of the ocean front strip as my hotel was back on the bay. Everything in "resort" hotels are overly priced, and after buying a deli sandwich, a muffin and a little bottle of milk for almost twenty dollars, I was still hungry. But there was no microwave in my room, so I used my dad's old technique and heated up my can of Ravioli in the bathroom sink with the hot water. Worked like a charm too, thanks dad. Before going to bed, I decided to walk the casino floor just too see what kind of action was happening. For someone like me, with NO money, casinos aren't really set up for you to win. So I followed Renie, from Mobile's, advice and found the Double Diamond slot machine, put in five dollars and pulled the handle. On the first pull I won 20 bucks. I couldn't help but laugh at how right Renie was, but like a true sucker, I continued to play and of course the house won, taking back everything.  So I got an ice cream cone and went back to my room. The next morning when checking out, the front desk clerk tried to charge me four dollars for a Gatorade out of the mini fridge that I didn't drink. I quickly realized that even though there was no microwave in my room, the mini fridge was equipped with sensors that registered if you moved anything (I switched my milk into the Gatorade's spot to keep cold). So I explained and he removed the charge.

That morning was one of the more difficult morning rides I'd had since the Florida Keys. The first 25 miles were on a beach front highway and there was a stiff wind blowing right off the water which blasted me with sand the whole way, and kept me at an average speed of 11 mph. Eventually, after 88 miles, I made it to Mandeville, LA, where Renie's mom had contacted an old friend and secured me a place to crash for the evening. They were very nice people, fed me very well, and gave me an interesting bed that looked a little like a grownup's baby crib. As I was exhausted, I slept like a baby too.

I woke up Thursday, May 7th, and set out for Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I had an old friend from college who is in grad school at LSU so I was excited to see her and have a place to rest for a few days. Coming into town was a little nuts because it was very quickly evident that Baton Rouge is a very unbike-friendly city. There is serious over-crowding of vehicles on the roads due to the great influx of people from New Orleans that left after hurricane Katrina, and the roads themselves are pretty terrible, with large cracks and holes that are unavoidable, painful to ride over, and bad for your bike. I eventually made it to Liz Larrimore's apartment, and got settled in. She was a great hostess, taking me an 80's night, a backyard bbq, and introducing me to a bunch of her really nice friends. My time or rest in Baton Rouge was both very appreciated and very needed.

I set out today into the rural lands of Mississippi, Northern Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri. I am rather astonished with myself as I've completed the first leg of my journey up Florida and along the Gulf coast.  After cycling 1225 miles so far, I am turning North into landlocked America for the next six or eight states, and heading to Little Rock, AR and then on to St. Louis, MO where a good Peace Corps friend of mine lives. I've mapped out the next week or two of cycling and it looks to be nothing less that exhausting as I am going to try to do 80 and 90+ mile days each day. We'll see if I can keep that up, but I want to get ahead of schedule. Since I don't know anyone between Baton Rouge and St. Louis, I've already lined up a couple of places to stay through CouchSurfing.com. So hopefully half the time I'll be camping and the other half I can be resting on a soft couch. Not sure when I'll be able to Blog again, but I'll keep Twittering on my home page till then if you want to keep up with me. Deep South, here I come!

My time in Mobile, Alabama will never be forgotten. What started as a simple one night layover city on my way to Baton Rouge, has turned into four of the most random, fun, and memorable days of my trip so far.

It all started on the outskirts of Mobile as I rode into town on Highway 98. I stopped and leaned my bike against a parked truck boat trailer in order to walk across four lanes of traffic in order to take a picture of the USS Alabama battleship with the downtown Mobile skyline in the background. I hope the picture develops well, it was an awesome view. Not far after the battleship was the Bankhead Tunnel that went under the bay in order to enter the downtown area, where my hotel was located. I was warned by an employee of James Ellis, my contact in Mobile, prior to my arrival that though it was only a couple hundred yards long  it was a.) illegal to bicycle through the Bankhead Tunnel and b.) rather dangerous. Well, based on the fact that as I approached the tunnel the traffic lights were with me, there were no cars behind me, and the tunnel was supposedly quite short, I decided to go for it. I immediately regretted the decision. First of all, the tunnel was more like a couple thousand yards long, and went down at a very steep grade as well as up on the other side at a very steep grade. Second, the asphalt paving inside the tunnel had raised up into continuous little moguls that created a very bumpy ride. I had been going up and down Alabama foothills all day and only topped out at a max speed of around 25 mph, but flying into the belly of this subterranean tube I reached a hair-raising 33 mph, all while trying not to hit the storm drains in the middle of the lane as well as not lose control because of the bumpy paving. When I came to the second half of the tunnel and had to begin my assent up the unexpected steep slope, I stood up and pumped as hard and as long as I could in a low gear. After over 60 miles of riding I had only enough strength left to climb about half way up the exit of the tunnel before my legs turned into butter and I had to sit down, drop my bike into a high gear and pedal fast while only climbing at around 8 mph. It was at this point when all the cars had sat through their signal and caught up with me.  Eventually I emerged from the depths of Mobile Bay and the Bankhead Tunnel in downtown Mobile safely and without confrontation with the authorities. Thankfully, the hotel where James and his company the MDi Media Group had arranged accommodation for me, was only a few blocks away. So, I checked in, showered, and called my liaison for the weekend, Renie Baya, MDi's "Agency Facilitator". Or as James' wife says, "The one who runs the business."

Renie, I must say first of all, was an amazing hostess for my stay in Mobile. For three days straight she showed me around, took me to events, and exposed me to a series of perfect and pure examples of Southern culture and hospitality. On Friday evening, after I was settled in at the hotel, she took me a Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) charity Crawfish Boil. At a truly beautiful venue right on the marsh waters of the bay, there were couple hundred of the most Southern people I'd seen since being back in the US, all drinking, listening to the live band, and crowding around big tables with trashcan cut-outs in the middle where you toss all of the scraps of the crawfish. Elbow-to-elbow and joking about the lack of "Swine Flu" security, we pulled off tails and sucked the niblet sized tail meat from the brightly red colored creek dwellers. I don't know how many pounds of crawfish were boiled, but they had a full sized canoe filled to the brim with buckets and buckets of these tasty guys, and had to refill the vessel a few times. Well, I ate bunches of crawfish, and several servings of jambalaya to refuel after my day of riding, and it was gooooood. I had a great time talking with Renie and her brother, Ryan, meeting loads of their friends. Everyone was excited to meet me and hear about what a crazy adventure I was in the middle of and just passing through their town, and I handed out several of my "business cards." It was overall a great experience to be reminded, all in one location, of the many cultural quirks, fashions, and norms of my fellow Southerners.

On Saturday, Renie had promised and warned me of the wild bunch she had me planned to meet and spend the day with, most being her family and their close friends. Renie is part of Team in Training which is a group who trains for triathlons while raising money for Leukemia and Lymphoma relief and research. Saturday afternoon, a teammate of hers had organized a small poker tournament at Renie's dad's house, and kindly invited me to play. On the way down to Dauphin Island, a beautiful barrier island where her dad lives, we stopped at her mom and step-dad's house to pick up some party supplies. While visiting, Ed, her step dad, took us out on his boat through the Fowl River and out into the bay. It was a gorgeous area, with really nice homes along the shore. After tying off at the dock, and before heading to the poker tournament, Renie and I had to go next door to greet the neighbors during their Kentucky Dirby party, which happened to also be a crawfish boil. We eventually made it to her dad's house and set up the poker tables, served some dinner, watched the Kentucky Dirby (which was an awesome race this year and I picked the 8 horse to win, but like a dummy didn't put any money on it...going off 50-1 I could have made a nice profit) then started the card playing. With three tables, and 18 players it was a little work to reach the final table, but patience is the key to Texas Hold'em. With four players left, I had King/Queen suited in my hand and a King on the flop. I eventually went all in, and lost to Sweety (yes her name was Sweety) who had made two pair. I was happy with my play that evening and walked away with a $20 gift certificate to a local restaurant.

Sunday, as if it couldn't get any more random and Southern, I helped Renie out with her own personal fundraiser for Team in Training, a "Purse Swap" at a historic bed&breakfast in Mobile. All the fancy-hat ladies came and ate great snack foods while I poured them glasses of champaign and wine.  At the end of the event, Renie had been able to raise over a thousand dollars, but somehow she and one of her bosses, Don Davis, had enough fundraising spirit to announce to the party who their bartender was and what I was doing in Mobile. I was able to walk out of there with $150 in donations to me and $150 for the World Food Program. After cleaning up the party, a bunch of us went a local Irish pub that had been there since the 1930's and ate an awesome cheeseburger, listened to some live music and drank a few pints. All in all, a great end to a great weekend.

Monday, I had planned on heading out of town for Biloxi, Mississippi in the afternoon after working with James, Renie, Don and the MDi group on PR and marketing ideas to improve my campaign, but the weather was rather awful and I decided to spend one more night in Mobile. The people at MDi are simply amazing. James and Don are great bosses, and everyone was very supportive and helpful in coming up with simple ideas to interest more media, reach more people, and gain possible sponsorship. I don't even know how to thank all of those people, especially James, Renie, and Don for all that they've done for me these past four days. It has truly been an honor and a pleasure getting to know and work with them.

Today, Cinco de Mayo, I am heading out for Biloxi, MS. A little over 60 miles away, James has continued his unbridled generosity and contacted a friend who has comp-ed me a room at the IP Casino and Resort. The hotel website paints a pretty picture of the place, and several good reviews from people I've met have me excited to stay there, but happy it'll only be for one night. I seriously don't need to be in a casino, especially with my limited budget. But who knows, maybe I'll hit the jackpot on the 25 cent slots and reach my campaign goal. Wish me luck everyone!

KNOCK ON WOOD!

Thanks to a series of contacts starting from my Sunday evening news spot in Panama City, I have been accommodated and will continue to be hooked up for most of my remaining time along the Gulf.  Jeff Ellis, the local tri-athlete who saw me on the news, and his wife hosted me for an evening in Seagrove, FL and took very good care of me. Before even setting foot in his beautiful beach bungalow, Jeff had welcomed me warmly and offered me cold water and a beer.  After a much needed shower, we sat around talking, watching the news, and eating every snack he could find in his cupboard (chips&salsa, pretzels, powerbar, chocolate covered prunes). After his wife got home, we had an awesome dinner and talked all about their lives and my experiences in West Africa.  It was an early evening as I had a decent ride ahead of me the next morning, and I slept like a baby.

The next morning, Jeff continuing in his hospitable fashion, offered me cereal, a BLT, and a power smoothie for breakfast. Being a competitive cyclist, Jeff planned to ride with me about half way to Pensacola. This was a nice change of pace as I haven't had any company on the road since starting in Key West. About six miles down the road we stopped at his friend's bike shop, Big Daddy Cycling, and they gave me a free bike tune up.  After cycling 37 miles that morning, Jeff turned back at the Destin Bridge and I pedaled on. In Fort Walton, I was treated to a very nice lunch by Linda Swaney and her husband Joe. Jeff had met Linda on the side of the road only a few days earlier while she was cycling and training for her upcoming cross country bike ride. A retiring soldier of 23 years, as a present to herself she's finally going on a bicycle tour of the US like she's always wanted to, while her husband provides support from the car. Check out her journey at www.crazyguyonabike.com/globetrotter. Joe was kind enough to "stalk" me after lunch at several spots down the highway to take pictures with his really nice camera. You can see these on my website and album that I will be linking.  After our lunch I finished my day by reaching Pensacola around rush hour, completing a 75 miles day. I am being hosted here by Christian Wagley, a friend of Jeff's, and a local environmental scientist working with Sustainable Town Concepts toward a greener world. He did a nearly 2,000 mile bike ride from Florida to Maryland and knew how great it was when kind people gave him a roof over his head. So he's been kind enough to spare his couch for two nights until I continue on to Mobile, Alabama tomorrow and finally leave the seemingly never-ending state of Florida.

In Mobile I've been connected with Jeff Ellis' brother, James, who is the president of the MDi Media Group which does a lot of public relations work. James has gone above and beyond by gaining media interest in more than one outlet around Mobile, connecting me with two of his coworkers who are going to work with me to develop media and press release packages that I can use along my route, as well as accommodating me with a hotel room for a night or two then his home if need be. Once I'm done in Mobile, James has gone even further and contacted a friend of his in the PR world, Elaine Stevens, who will be comp-ing me a hotel room at the IP Casino-Resort-Spa in Biloxi, MS. It is at this point that I am almost in disbelief at the kindness of strangers. I am excited about these coming days and will definitely keep you posted on how it all goes. Hopefully some more media links to come. Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you next from Mobile!

Leaving Tallahassee was tough for a couple of reasons. One, I really enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and getting closer with an old friend's "old lady" and two, because there was a brutal head wind the entire day and kept me at an average of 11mph. My destination was Apalachicola, 80 miles away, where I was to meet up with two Rotarians I had met while speaking to their club in Gainesville. Bob Rella and Hal Kennedy had contacted me and invited me down to their cabin in St. Joseph Peninsula State Park for a couple of nights, where they were finishing up a week vacation with their wives. This being an opportunity I would otherwise have never had, I of course accepted. I had never been to the "pan handle" of Florida or the Gulf of Mexico, except to Naples, FL two weeks before starting this trip, and this was completely different. The sand was pure white and only one type of mineral. The beaches of SC are made up of many different minerals and crushed sea shells, while these were soft, and brilliant white. The Bahamas are the only other place I've seen sand like this. I was able to take a nice three or four mile stroll down the quiet beach, watch dolphins, saw a couple sharks, took Bob's boat out in the bay to the point of the Peninsula where we fished. I caught a nice Pompano, a good Whiting, a catfish, a couple lady fish, and several Croakers. Those last three are just junk fish. After getting the boat unstuck from the sand we realized the steering cable was broken, so Bob and I took turns hand steering his 200 Yamaha motor back the ten miles to the boat dock.  Definitely worth a few laughs. That night we had some amazing baked Red Snapper that Bob and Hal had caught the day before. Mmm Mmmmm.

The next morning, after a glorious breakfast, Bob and Hal dropped me off back on the main Florida highway and I set off to Panama City Beach. Through a serious of contacts starting in SC I was lucky to be offered three free nights in a fully equipped condo across the street from the beach, an interview with the local NBC affiliate news channel, and a chance to speak at the main Rotary club at the Panama City St. Andrew's Bay Yacht Club. After checking into my condo, thanks to Counts-Oaks Resort Properties, I immediately called my friends J.C. and Sara (they hosted me in Tallahassee) and told them to take a day off and drive down to hang out on the beach. It didn't take much convincing, the next day we were sunning it up on white sandy beaches. I did the interview and appeared on the evening news Sunday, April 26th. If you want to read the story and see the video you can go to http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/43744522.html the video link is just above the story text. I gotta warn you though, I was pretty badly misquoted by a direct translation of Hausa (my local language I learned in Niger) and made to look like I have the speech skills of a fourth grader. It did have an immediate positive result though. A local tri-athlete saw the report and emailed me offering me a place to stay up the road between me and Pensacola. He also connected me with a friend of his in Pensacola for another place to lay my head while traveling through. Things have worked out nicely for the most part throughout these first few weeks of cycling, I truly hope they continue to farther down the road. I've gone over 800 miles so far and haven't left the state of Florida yet. It's definitely been a learning curve for me, and I definitely have felt my legs and will grow stronger while traversing the Sunshine State. Tomorrow I'm speaking at the Panama City Rotary Club then heading West. If the weather channel is correct I should have a tail wind and a nice ride along the coast. Thanks for catching up with me, I'll have more stories once I'm in Pensacola I'm sure.