REMINDER: FOOD AT FIRST

The ride is over, but if you would like to make a donation you still can. If you go to http://www.foodatfirst.com/ and then look about the 6th line down, you will see a bar that you can click on that says "Make a Donation." If you would like to you can make donations that follow along with the miles that I put forth along this trip. Example: 1 penny for every 100 miles=$.62, 1 penny for every 10 miles=$6.15, 1 penny for every mile=$61.50. All donations are welcome and all the help is appreciated to help support the hungry. Thanks for following the ride and I hope that I have inspired more rides out of some or more people to get out and see our beautiful country.
Gump On Wheels

Day 101, November 10th 2007 (Athens,GA)

This was it. The day that I had biked all the way around the country for. The one day that I had been waiting to get get to Georgia for. The big SEC match of Georgia against Auburn. This game had a lot more riding on it then just pulling out a victory for Georgia. If Georgia won this game then it would be the first time that Georgia had been able to beat both Florida and Auburn in the same year since 1982. Before we could make our way to the game we first started indulging in a monster of a breakfast. Everything that you could think of was on the table for the morning. Eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage, bacon, and the great southern classic grits. Everything was steaming hot on the table and was delicious. We sat around the table and ate until we couldn't move. We had so much food that when we left the house to go and tailgate I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to eat any food before the game. We had a about an hour to drive to get to Athens, where the University of Georgia was located. As we approached Athens, the traffic was growing heavier and heavier in the area. I had never been to a stadium in the south where the capacity was almost 93,000 people. This was going to be a new experience for me in the area of college football. Seeing Iowa State play football in Iowa was a stadium of 55,000 people and it wasn't always full. Here in Georgia, the stadium was always filled to capacity and everyone, I was told, was very strong towards their team. When we were able to park the car behind a church on campus, I started to see some of the tailgating. We were a good mile away from the stadium and people were parked everywhere and were preparing for the game ahead. Food was being grilled almost everywhere and people were everywhere. It was already something else to me that I hadn't witnessed before. the campus seemed beautiful for the small section that i was able to witness and then before I knew it, we were walking on a road that took us directly beside the stadium. It was very cool how everything was laid out in the area and how the stadium seemed to be in the middle of the campus. Everyone was tailgating around campus, in front of different buildings, and we all had a great day for it. Another thing that seemed amazing about walking around was the color of everyone's shirts. Every game the fans would wear red for the games except for this game. The seniors had told everyone to wear black and so everyone did. Billy had purchased a black Georgia hat and a black Georgia shirt for me to wear to the game, and with these products I was able to fit in with everyone else. We moved away from the stadium about one block before we made it to some of Billy and Amy's friends to tailgate with. They had all sorts of foods to eat and by this time I was actually hungry again. There were chicken strips, little sandwiches, and a lot of other little snacks to tide my stomach over for the course of the next couple of hours. After chatting for a little while, my cousin Matt came over to the tailgate area and joined us before we headed into the game. He was currently attending a college in northern Georgia and was playing baseball. He wasn't but a couple of years younger than I was and he offered some conversation while we were in the tailgate area. Together we continued to shovel more food in our faces before we finally started to walk some food off towards the stadium. It was still a good hour before the game when we arrived in the stadium, but the stadium was not empty. There were people filling up the seats and by the time it was 15 minutes before play time, the stadium was full. No one wanted to miss a second of this game and everyone was fired up. Everyone was wearing black except for one little section in the stadium where the Auburn fans were wearing orange. The Georgia players came out to practice and they were also not wearing black. I think that everyone was a little surprised that the players weren't in black jerseys, but the coach had mentioned that it was going to be difficult to pick up the jerseys. The Georgia Bulldogs had never worn black in the stadium before so it seemed like it was going to be a little difficult to make the senior's dreams of wanting to wear black jerseys come true. As the game came closer to starting the fire was growing all around. The bulldogs were just about to run out of the locker room and anything was possible. Everyone wanted to know if they were going to come out in black, but no one knew what was going to happen. Then they came out of the locker room. Everyone was wearing black and the crowd was going crazy and the game hadn't even started yet. From what I was told afterwards, the black jerseys were a surprise to even the players. When the players went into the locker room they always had a moment for prayer where they would turn off the lights. When they turned the lights on after the prayer, the jerseys were laid out behind the players and everyone in the locker room was going crazy. They had no idea they were going to be wearing black jerseys, but the fact that they had wanted them for so long they were all excited for the game ahead. The coach said that when he walked back into the locker room after chanfing into black, the room had gone up about 15 degrees warmer. The game was on its' way at this point and everyone was waiting to see what would happen. The Bulldogs started by kicking the ball off to Auburn and there was a cheer that i think I'm going to have a tough time forgetting at this point. Goooooooo Dawgs.... Sic em...Woof Woof Woof. The first play that Auburn had was an interception in to the Bulldog's hands and everyone was on their feet. The energy was explosive in the stadium and things started out with a Bulldog touchdown. The game seemed to be very close for most of the afternoon and at half it was 17 to 20. the Bulldogs were behind with 17, but not for long. They came back out and everything started to turn around. One play after another and the Bulldogs were back to where they had started the game, ahead. With a good runnning game, some great 3rd and long plays, and some excellent interceptions, the Bulldogs pulled ahead at the end with a final score of 45 to 20. I couldn't have shown up to see a better SEC game. This was an incredible show of the fans and the Bulldog nation. For a final day of the entire trip, this was the greatest ending that I could have asked for. THANK YOU BILLY AND AMY.

Daily mileage: 0.0 miles
Total mileage: 6,150.0 miles

Day 100, November 9th 2007 (Moultrie,GA)

Today was the day that we were going to travel north and closer to the big game. I had some time before we travelled to do some things in the afternoon. We weren't going to leave until 4 in the afternoon so I had all day to experience more of Moultrie. I started with a bowl of cereal and then I went for a bike ride. I was anxious to see how well I could ride now that I wasn't carrying an extra 35 lbs on my bike. I had a couple of different routes to choose from that Bill had told me would be good places to ride. I went down the road and continued as far as i could go. When I reached the end of the road I turned around and I started to come back. There was some beautiful country in the area and it was a nice joy ride. The wind was a strong cross wind, but the temperature was right where it should be. With rolling hills taking me further and further along my way, the road was in perfect condition. It was still awkward riding and trying to balance the bike, but I managed to move along at a fairly good pace. I was going to try and put in some good miles for the day. When I returned to the house on my way back on the road I went in to fill up with more water. My odometer read 18.9 miles and having looked at my total mileage before hand, I figured this would be a good place to stop riding. I was at exactly 6,150.0 miles and it seemed like I couldn't have stopped at a better point. I still wanted to get myself to the pool and swim before we took off this afternoon. So I grabbed my running shoes and I started to jog to the YMCA. I was able to swim when I arrived and then enjoy some more of the hot tub before I started my trip back to the house. Needless to say, by the time we were ready to get on the road and start to travel I was pretty exhausted from the afternoon. I was feeling good after we stopped and picked up some food and it was a good energy boost that I had needed. Before we continued to ride straight to Grandpa Bill and Perlease's house we pulled over at one stop along the way. It was about half way to the house and a good two hours into the drive. Amy's daughter Shelley and her husband Michael had a 10 week old baby and it made for a perfect stop on the way up to Bill and Perlease's house. I had never met Michael or seen their baby, Taylor, and I can't say that I even remember the last time that I saw Shelley. It was great to see more of family while I was in the area and it was fun to be able to talk with them at their house. Shelley had made an incredible cake over the course of the day and it tasted just as good as it looked. We filled up and took a little time to visit before we headed back out on the road to finish our journey north for the day. It was pretty late by the time we made it to the house, but Bill and Perlease were still up and awake. We went in and the first thing we were offered were milkshakes. Everyone had to have a milkshake upon entering the household and I was ready for the calories. Bill made sure to top me off with a large milkshake and it tasted great. We were able to catch up since the last time that we had been with eachother and it sounded like things could have been better in the area of Gainesville,GA. There was a beautiful lake that the house was set along and since there had been no rain for such a long time, the lake had lost a lot of water. The city of Atlanta and a lot of surrounding cities all used the water out of Lake Lanier and with no rain going into north Georgia for such a long period of time, it was a large drought that they were currently having to deal with. It was sad to see when I went down to look at the lake because it was very obvious that it had lost a lot of water. It used to be a large and full lake, but now with the drought it was just extremely low. The rest of the evening was great and was leading up to the big game tomorrow.

Daily mileage: 18.9 miles
Average speed: 19.4 mph
Total mileage: 6,150.0 miles

Day 99, November 8th 2007 (Moultrie,GA)

I was up in the morning and I had been able to sleep in for a little while. It was about 8 when I woke up and Amy had taken off for work at the high school, but Billy was still at home. He let me know where everything was for breakfast in the morning and I was set back with all of the options. It seemed like anything that I wanted to eat was a possibilities for the morning and I couldn't wait to fill up on a few calories. Although it may not seem like much, cereal was great to eat. I had plenty of options, but cereal was probably my favorite choice at this point. It was always difficult to drink milk on the road and so anything with milk in it was nearly impossible to eat over the course of my trip. Bill told me that he was going to be back from his office around noon to pick me up and then he was going to drive me around Moultrie. It sounded great and I was looking forward to the tour. I was able to get a hold of my mom in the morning and she was able to tell me some great news. My step-dad, Jim, had racked up quite a few frequent flyer miles and so I was going to be able to get a flight back from Georgia for free. Good things continued to roll on and it was a blessing to see everything fall in place how it did. I couldn't have been happier with how the trip had ended and now I was going to be able to stay in Moultrie for about a week before my plane took off to go back to Ames,IA. Instead of having to deal with any cold weather on my trip, I was going to be able to enjoy the warm weather for a little while before I went home. When Billy came to pick me up and show me Moultrie, I had just finished relaxing for the morning. It was unusual to not jump back on the bike and I knew I was going to be able to get used to it. We drove through the city and it was a beautiful town. About 20,000 people lived in the town and anything and everything was in the area. Billy was an attorney and he had his own office in Moultrie that I was anxious to see. We went to Billy's office where I was able to meet his two secretaries, and then we went out to eat. There was a little Barbecue place along restaurant lane and it was supposed to be a worth while stop while in town. It was definitely worth stopping at. Family owned and operated, most everything was made from scratch. There were a few different flavors of barbecue sauce and each one was amazing. The medium sauce was probably the best, but each one made the pork superb. After filling up we went to the one other place that I was going to spend most of my time while in the area. The YMCA. I had dreams while on the road about swimming and would have done just about anything to get in a pool. I was told that I could come in at any point as a guest and use anything in the building. The lifting weights sounded pretty good, but as soon as I was able to see the pool it was a great tease. We left the YMCA and went back to the house where I was dropped off and where Bill went back to work. I was inside the house for only a couple of minutes before I had gathered everything up that I needed to swim and I was out the door. I couldn't wait any longer. The thought that the pool was so close, I needed to be in it. It was weird being back on my bike without all of the extra luggage and it was difficult to balance. I had trouble riding standing up because I didn't have the extra weight on the rear, but I was flying. I made it the three miles to the pool and I was ready. The pool wasn't going to be open for another hour, so I kept myself busy by lifting weights. I did all sorts of different things to keep myself busy until the time arrived. I went to the pool and getting in was refreshing. I had no idea that this was going to be such an incredible thing to jump into at the end of my trip, but it was. I swam for awhile and got my fix in. I was going to be able to come back any day for the next week and I couldn't have been happier with where I was at this point in time. When I was out of the pool I went up the stairs to the men's locker room and found one other tool that made me feel more at peace. A giant hot tub was in the locker room and it was everything my body had been asking for. I soaked for a good while before I decided that I should probably start to head back to the house. I didn't want to be late for my first dinner at the house. It was a little before dark when I arrived and Bill was in the process of making a great meal. His daughter and my cousin, Kara, had made it over to the house for the evening and it had been about 8 years since I had last seen her. So now that she was 16 years old, she had grown up a lot. Probably about twice as tall as I last remembered her. Amy arrived home from work not long after and the food seemed to fall in front of our faces. Some great grilled chicken with cheesy potatoes, fresh broccoli, and some good rolls. It was an excellent meal and tasted great after the work-out I had put in for the day. It was a blessing to spend the rest of the evening in good conversation with family and to enjoy each other's presence with where we were.

Daily mileage: 6.4 miles
Total mileage: 6,131.1 miles

Day 98, November 7th 2007 (Daphne,AL to Moultrie,GA)

It seemed like it was growing harder and harder to wake up each morning. With each days ride being more of a survival ride, I was ready to get things over with. My wisdom teeth were continuing to hurt, the weather was growing colder, and the days were shorter and shorter. The views were beautiful though, and that's probably why I continued to get on my bike and ride. The weather was absolutely perfect, and I was on the road around 9. The sun was coming up fairly early in the morning, but the morning wasn't warm until around 8. I started my ride on a detour route that took me away from most of the traffic and was fairly scenic. I was away from most of the flat land that I had been riding on, and I was cycling through some rolling hills and through the woods. Trees were everywhere. With all sorts of colors and with a great scent in the air. It was a ride like this morning that set me away from most of the rude drivers for a moment's time. Things were good for the beginning of the morning and then the detour ended. I was back to some riding with traffic. There were some country homes and some farms, and cars. The traffic seemed about impossible to avoid and by the time I had cycled about 60 miles I stopped just outside of Pensacola,FL. I was looking at cycling a little further for the day and then putting in two monster rides for the two following days to make it to Billy's house. He had told me to call him today to let him know where I was and how I was doing. So I called him and I had the best surprise of my trip. At this point I was exhausted from just about everything and I was ready to be in Moultrie,GA. When I talked to Billy and told him that I was in Pensacola,FL, he asked me if I wanted a ride to Moultrie. I thought all of 2 seconds before I said yes. He had a friend that was in Pensacola,FL for some business for the day and he was going to be heading back towards Moultrie. It was such a relief to say that this was going to be the end. I had thought a lot about it while I was on the road during the past week, and the idea of cyling more through the south sounded like a bad idea. With the drivers and the roads, I was ready to call this trip over. I had seen a lot of amazing things over the course of the trip and I was plenty satisfied with all of the great people I was able to see. The joy rides were everywhere in the west and now I was in survival-ride-territory. I was told from Billy to meet David at the Outback Steakhouse, downtown. I only had a few miles to ride before I made it to the Outback and I couldn't have been happier to see the sign. This was it. The end of all of the crazy drivers and the end to sleeping outdoors. I had wanted to put in 6,000 miles over the course of the trip, and that ghoal had been reached. I had wanted to be on the road for three months, and that goal had been reached. I had done the coast to coast trip and I had biked from Washington down to Florida. I was now at the end of the journey on the road and just as Forrest Gump had said on the road, I was feeling the same way. "I'm tired now, I think I'm going to go home." When David arrived, I loaded my bike in his vehicle and we headed down the road. We drove for about 30 minutes before we pulled over to eat at a buffet. I was glad that we had only been driving for a short while before we pulled over to eat. Not only was I starving for a good meal, but the car was so awkward to me. It had been quite awhile since I had been in a car, and to be travelling at the speed we were going was almost overwhelming. When I first got in the car and we started moving with the rest of the traffic I could have sworn we were going to start to lift off at the speed we were going. It turned out that we were only going about 65 mph. I had my hands gripped on both sides of my seat as we travelled along and I knew that this was going to take a little while to adjust to. So with the Ryan's Buffet now in our reach I was ready to eat about everythinig in sight. They had fresh food off of the grill and all sorts of other foods. David had a couple of plates and was very patient. After we ate our plates together at the same pace, he looked at me and told me to go back for another. I felt bad that I was probably going to eat a good couple of plates more while he sat and watched me eat, but he was very persistant that i continued to eat. He knew that i was burning up a lot of calories on the bike and so his understanding as to how hungry I was was great. After a good couple of plates more I was beginning to feel normal again. I had all of the calories that I had needed and probably a few more. It was such a great stop and now we were off to travel at lightning speed. The food managed to settle fairly well as I adjusted to the speed, and I was able to visit some more with David. After he had asked about everything from my trip I was able to learn that he was a broker. He sold convenience stores along the coast and all over. He said that he mostly drove for his job and with all of his driving he had plenty of miles racked up each year. One funny story he shared with me was when he was sitting next to another dad at his son's basketball game. As they started to get to know eachother a little he was able to find out that this guy was a truck driver. Interested in how many miles a truck driver would put on in a year, David asked himwhat his yearly mileage was. The truck driver responded that he would put on around 50,000 miles a year. David then sat very quietly for most of the rest of the game. David wasn't a truck driver, but with the miles he put on each year he had totaled around 100,000 miles each year. I couldn't believe that it was possible, but it must have been. In only today, david had been driving from his home to Pensacola and back which totaled around 600 miles in one day. It seemed like an exhausting way of life, but it probably paid the bills. We drove through the night and I didn't feel like I was missing very much at all from the ride that i would have taken. I was able to escape from the drivers on the road and I was only passing by more and more trees to get closer to Moultrie. When we arrived in Moultrie, Billy was waiting to take me the rest of the way to the house. David still had a good hour to drive ahead of him, but this was my dropoff point. I was so thankful for David being where he was when he was and how things had continued to fall in place for me on the road all the way to the end. After placing my bike and things into Billy's car we went to what was going to be home for me for a little while. It was great to see that both Billy and Amy had stayed up and had waityed for me to arrive and I knew that they both must have been exhausted at this point. I was able to say hello and then we all went off to bed. We were all exhausted and for good reason. It was about 11 at night and we all had a long day. I was able to have a room to myself, with a bathroom, cable television, and last and certainly most important, a nice big bed to sleep on.

BICYCLE
(Daphne,AL to Pensacola,FL)
Daily mileage: 64.4 miles
Average speed: 12.5 mph
Total mileage: 6,125.7 miles

AUTOMOBILE
(Pensacola,FL to Moultrie,GA)
Average speed: 80.0 mph
Total mileage: 240.0 miles

Day 97, November 6th 2007 (Biloxi,MS to Daphne,AL)

The motel offered an excellent continental breakfast. Full of cereal, toast, pancakes, juice, and coffee. It blew my oatmeal straight out of the water. I was able to enjoy my second great meal in a row and was looking forward to the great day ahead of me. As I started to exit Biloxi, I ran into more of the downtown traffic. It seemed like a very large city and with all of the traffic I didn't recieve to much special attention as a cyclist. No shoulder to ride on and with a large bridge approaching things weren't looking good. The bridge was recieving some road work and usually this was a problem that I had to face on a bad day. This was a good day though. The road was recieving some special attention and I was able to have an entire lane to myself on the bridge. It was an excellent way to cross a large body of water. Truly a beautiful city and it seemed like the casinos in the area probably had a lot to do with it. When I crossed the bridge I couldn't have been more than 10 miles into my ride when a driver slowed down beside me and told me to get one road over and I wouldn't regret it. This was the first good person I had met on the road. As soo as I went one road over I was travelling on a much nicer piece of asphalt. The traffic had practically ceased to exist and I was thankful for the input he had given me. Then I saw the same guy and he was flagging me down on the side of the road. He had a Mississippi road book out and was ready to show me where I needed to go. His name was Barry and he continued to be more and more helpful. His office was located directly where we were and so he let me come in and went to work. He had road maps of just about everything near where I was. He started printing things out and copying things on his copy machine. By the time I left his office, I had about 10 maps printed on paper with a direct route highlighted to get me across the Gulf. It was an excellent way to start the day in the right direction. He warned me about the drivers, and I wish I could have told him that I had no idea that they were so rude. I started riding off on the course that had been layed out for me and I was looking forward to getting myself closer and closer to the game that lay ahead this weekend. Being away from most of the traffic I was able to enjoy a little more of the great outdoors. The trees were truly amazing and that is about all that I was really looking at until I made my way into one of the larger and scarier cities in the south. I had just crossed over into Alabama and the first big city I had to get across was Mobile,AL. I was on a continous route without a shoulder and to go through a city of this size was suicide. I made it all the way to downtown and after almost being run over a few times I ran into what seemed like an even larger problem. Ahead of me I had three options to get across the city. There were two tunnels that stretched across about 4 miles to get across the city. They consisted of no shoulders and were prohibited for bikers and pedestrians. So really I only had one other option. I was going to have to bike about 15 miles north of the city to get on another road to start going east. Then to travel along the Gulf I would have to go back south that 15 miles and then continue along my merry way. Well I didn't really feel like going that far out of my way so I tried another option. I stuck my thumb out to see how well the hitchhiking worked to get across. I guess my think looked fairly well, because in a matter of thirty seconds I had a truck pulled over and he was ready to carry me across. I put my bike in the back of his truck and he carried me acroos the tunnel and then across a very long bridge that had no shoulder on it. It was a good lift and he helped me out a lot. Before I was out of his car and on my way, he made sure to let me in on a story. He told me that the road that I was headed down had recently been a road that two cyclists had been run over on. I thanked him for his excellent story and then I started to head down the road. The traffic was fairly busy as the sun was setting, and I didn't want to ride on it while it was dark. I had no problem finding a piece of land at a church, and that is where I called home for the evening. I had quite a few close calls through out the day and I was starting to get more and more tired of riding my bike in the south. Each day wasn't a scenic ride any longer. I was now on a quest to stay alive on my bicycle. Each day was another day to see if I would come out alive at the end of the day. Looking on my map and seeing how far I had to get to Billys, I knew I still had a good three days ahed of me. The game sounded to good to miss, so I was going to have to make more progress than what I was currently making.

Daily mileage: 71.8 miles
Average speed: 13.0 mph
Total mileage: 6,061.3 miles

Day 96, November 5th 2007 (New Orleans,LA to Biloxi,MS)

I woke up early and at the same time as Anna was walking out to go to work. She told me to eat whatever I pleased in the kitchen and showed me where things were as quickly as she could. Cereal sounded great for the morning and so I helped myself to a bowl before I headed out of the city of New Orleans. It was nice to have been able to have someone to stay with to show me around the city and now I was going to try and navigate myself out of it. I was told that most of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina would be visible as I headed out of the city. Besides the interstate there was one other road to get myself out of the city and so I started to head out on that road. The traffic seemed very minimal and I think since the interstate and this road ran so closely together that is why no one was on the road. There weren't very many houses on the road as I headed out of the city and if there were any houses it seemed that they were new houses that had just been built up. It's hard to say what the destruction of the hurricane did to the area since I had never seen the area before the hurricane, but it seemed like quite a bit had been wiped out of this area. The road was a 4 lane divided road and I was practically the only one on the road. For a good 30 miles it was me and the road and the only traffic I saw was going in the other direction, if I saw any at all. It was a new feeling to me and it was just the thing that I needed after I had been riding through so much bad traffic for so long. I went along this great road and I was able to see some of my first views of the Gulf of Mexico. There weren't any beautiful beaches in this area, but there was a lot of tall grass leading into the ocean. It was great to have taken myself from one coast to another and to be able to see another ocean in what had seemed like forever. I didn't even think about it before I took off on my trip, but there was one problem about going along the Gulf of Mexico after a hurricane had swept through the area. I came to a bridge that was under construction and there was a smaller bridge next to it that was closed for a ship to go through. It was about noon and the people were telling me that the bridge was going to be closed until 3 pm. I didn't understand how it would take 3 hours to allow one ship through and then be able to close the bridge for others to pass over, but having never run into this problem I had no idea how long these things would take. So I saw a little restaurant about one block back that I had passed and I was going to go sit in there for about 3 hours before i passed over the bridge. As I turned my bike around to start pedalling, I went over a pothole and my rear tire went flat right away. So instead of making my way back, I first spent a good half hour to fix my flat. I was surprised that when I finished my fix on my tire that the bridge had let the boat pass through and the bridge was now open for people to pass over. I wasn't happy about the flat tire, but seeing as how I was now able to pass over the bridge much earlier I was very happy. Now I might be able to put in some more miles for the day then what I had been looking at if I had to wait three hours for the bridge. So I passed over the bridge and I was in Mississippi. As I went along the road and dealt with more cars and more rude drivers, it seemed very apparent to me that the only reason I hadn't seen any cars earlier was because the bridge was closed. Now I was on the other side of the bridge and cars were moving in both directions. There wasn't a shoulder for me to ride on for the remainder of the day and this made a lot of drivers very angry. I wasn't too happy about the entire deal as well. After riding for a good 30 miles through some wooded areas the scenery opened up to the beautiful ocean with some great white sand beaches. I tried to take in as much as I could of what were some of the most beautiful beaches I had seen since I had left on my trip and I couldn't help but continue and look in my rear view mirror at these crazy drivers. I had no shoulder to ride on and instead of the drivers going around me, they waited and waited. When they had a good 15 cars piled up behind them then they would go around me and then I had 15 very angry cars that would pass by me. With the ocean waves on one side and the honking of horns on the other, I didn't feel at home at all. I didn't think any thing was going to change as I continued to ride through the south and I was really starting to get pretty frustrated with the situation I was in. I had finally made it to some beautiful country, but with all of the chaos on the road I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. I made it to a town called Biloxi,MS and the sun was going down so I pulled over to find a place to stay. There seemed to be casinos at about every corner of the city and finding a place to set up camp seemed almost impossible, so I started to look for a cheap motel. It didn't take long to find a cheap motel and then my next concern was going to be dinner. I chatted with the guy at the motel to ask where the nearest grocery store was to pick up a few things and he let me know that if I was looking for a place to eat dinner he had a great place for me to stop. He told me that all I had to do was go into one of the casinos that I wanted to and then sign up in their player's club. As soon as I signed up to be in their player's club I would be able to have a free buffet. It sounded too good to be true, but I figured it was at least worth a shot. So I went to the casino that was located nearest to the motel and I singed up in their player's club. Sure enough, they gave me a ticket to go through their buffet for free. Looking at the sign of the buffet I could see that the buffet was usually about 20 dollars, but I was in store for a free ride. There was fresh seafood galore. We were on the coast and everything was as fresh as possible. Lobster, crab, shrimp, oysters, and some excellent prime rib. It was the best free buffet I have eaten at. For desert there were options of cake, pie, pudding, and everything else that my little heart desired. It was an exceptional way to finish the evening. I was able to leave the casino on a very happy and full stomach and then rest on a mattress in the hotel room. I was going to try and find this deal as much as possible from this point forward. If I saw a casino I was going to have to see if they extended the same deal to me from hereon out.

Daily mileage: 86.8 miles
Average speed: 13.6 mph
Total mileage: 5,989.5 miles

Day 95, November 4th 2007 (Baton Rouge,LA to New Orleans,LA)

I was going to New Orleans today and thought that I was going to have to bite the bullet and pay for a motel in the area, but I had received much better news before I went to bed last night. Ryan had a few friends from New Orleans and had been able to contact one of them for me to stay with. I was so relieved that I wasn't going to have to worry about finding a cheap place to stay at, and that I was going to be able to stay with someone in the area. It was always a plus to hang out with someone who knew the area well when I was in a big city. The ride ahead was going to be a little over 80 miles and I was looking forward to getting to where I was going. I had talked with my Uncle Billy just last night and he had told me that if I made it to his place in Georgia by Friday there would be a great reward. The Georgia Bulldogs were playing Auburn on Saturday and it sounded like a great game. They were both doing very well for the season as far as I had seen, and I really wanted to experience a game in the south. With a stadium that holds 90,000 people, this was something that sounded too good to pass up. I was now on a mission to make it to Moultrie, GA over the course of 6 days and it was going to be about 600 miles. For the day ahead I was feeling in great condition for the road and the only trouble I was having was far away from my legs and was in my mouth. I had two wisdom teeth that I had felt growing in over the course of the trip and now I had one on the right side of my mouth that was starting to hurt a little. I couldn't only open my mouth so far before I started to feel a pain on the right side of my mouth. It made eating difficult and was something I was going to have to deal with for another month ahead. It was a curve ball that I hadn't expected, but I guess curve balls are thrown at you from all directions when you partake on a long journey. Some were bad, most were good, and dealing with them over the course of the journey was the name of the game. I cooked some great eggs and toast for the morning, and managed to put it down over some time. It was everything I needed to get me going and it sent me out of the door in a good mood. I was thankful for the great stay I had been able to have while in the area and how well things had been placed for me down the road. It was another great day outside and I couldn't wait to put in some miles. I think the traffic would have been busy on any other day, but since it was a Sunday it wasn't very difficult. The fact that the highway ran parallel with the interstate also made it a nicer day to ride. Without so many crazy drivers on the road I had a lot less to worry about, and was able to put in a fair amount of miles fairly quick. I had woken up with one extra hour for the morning because of the daylight savings, and had manged to make it to New Orleans at about 3 pm. I found the house I was looking for without a problem and was welcomed at the door by Anna, Richard's roommate. She helped me to get straightened away with a shower and then to get some laundry done as well. Richard wasn't getting off of work until 7, so we had a good 4 hours where we were able to chat and relax in a comfortable living room. It was a good place to relax for the afternoon before Richard came home. When he was off work we gathered up our things and headed downtown. Richard and Anna were both nurses and that is how they had met. So I headed downtown with two staff members from a hospital towards Bourbon Street. I felt like everything was under control and we stopped at a place called ACME Oyster House. It was a restaurant where they sold po-boys and a lot of oysters. Po-boys were very popular in the area and I had never heard of them. They were basically sub sandwiches with a seafood on them. You could choose between all sorts of seafood and so I went with the catfish and oyster. For an appetizer we picked up raw oysters and cooked oysters. It was an excellent dinner and I ate like I had never eaten before. One thing after another, from the appetizer all the way to a bread pudding desert at the end of the meal. It was great seafood and it was clearly obvious that we were now eating some fresh food from the Gulf. Oh how sweet it is to be able to eat some fresh seafood again. Once we finished at the restaurant, we went down the famous Bourbon Street and I was able to see the chaos that filled the area. From one bar to another and then every once and awhile there would be a gentleman's club. At the end of the few blocks of Bourbon Street it ran directly into the gay-bars on the street. It was a very different area to be walking down and I felt a lot better when we walked away from the road and went back in the car to go back to the house. I was so stuffed and feeling exhausted from the day. A good sleep was going to be nice for the evening and I was ready for it.

Daily mileage: 83.7 miles

Average speed: 14.8 mph

Total mileage: 5,902.7 miles

Day 94, November 3rd 2007 (Baton Rouge,LA to Baton Rouge,LA)

I had no particular time that I had to wake up in the morning, but I woke up around 8. I had slept for a good amount of time and was surprisingly still feeling very well, even after all of the miles I had been putting in. I had an entire day ahead of me and all that I wanted to do was rest. This was a great place to take of that it seemed. I spent some time on the computer in the morning and then spent some time watching some television. With an enormous t.v. hanging on the wall, it was difficult not to spend some time with it. I was able to play some guitar and then as 4 pm approached everyone started to gather in the living room. Seth's dad had come over to the house and we all fixed ourselves around the big game. Louisiana State University was playing Alabama and it turned out to be a great game. We had a huge slab of salmon on a table that we used to munch on with crackers, some chips and salsa, and then followed everything with a pizza. The game went down to the wire and LSU managed to pull out a victory in the end. It was really an incredible game all the way to the end and it was very intense in the living room. It was very emotional at times and I was glad that I was able to see everyone happy in the end, because if things had gone the other way.....I'm just glad it didn't. After the game I was able to fix a few things with my bike and change out my rear tire, which I hadn't changed in the longest time on this trip so far. having gone over 2,000 miles on this set of tires from California and for them to still be riding was very impressive. I was glad to have pulled them along as far as I had. I was able to spend more time chatting with Ryan after the game and it was great to hear about a journey he had ventured on not to long ago. He had left from Alaska and had gone to Sand Diego. He said he had gone about 4,000 miles over the course of three months and it sounded like Alaska was unbelievable. I was able to see a lot of pictures of the area and it was inspiring to say the least. I loved hearing about some of the experiences he had been able to have on his journey and to hear how well he had been treated on the road. We both agreed that the people made the trip and to have so many great people to run into was phenomenal. With all of this for one day, I decided to call it a night and to prepare myself for New Orleans.

Daily mileage: 0.0 miles

Total mileage: 5,819.0 miles

Day 93, November 2nd 2007 (Oberlin,LA to Baton Rouge,LA)

I had a good distance in front of me to start the day, but I was determined to make it to another place to stay at for the evening.  I was trying to stay on the road as much as possible, but as before, it wasn't always possible. I was headed towards Baton Rouge, the capital city of Louisiana.  I knew it wasn't going to be a day of easy riding, but filled with a lot of traffic.  Things really started to open up as I went forth in the afternoon, and I started to see more of Louisiana.  It was very green and with all of the changes of colors it was a great ride.  Some of the cities along the way were full of potholes and it seemed fairly obvious that the roads were not the first priority.  I was starting to accept the fact that I was hated by most of the drivers on the road, and I was doing my best to ignore their actions.  I was continually being blessed with great weather on my trip and I was using that s a good counter for the rest of the things that happened throughout the day. No matter how bad things were on the road, the weather was great and easily much better than Iowa's current temperatures.  This was easily the flattest road that i had been on in a long while.  The entire day was completely flat and the only hills that I climbed were when I went up and over a bridge.  There were only a few bridges that I had to go over for the day, so the rest of the day was riding on a flat piece of land.  I think the wind may have been in my face or at a cross wind, but it wasn't blowing very hard and so I was cruising fairly well through the day.  As I approached the capital city of Louisiana, the traffic was constantly growing.  I had a horrible shoulder to ride on, but it was what was available.  I was happy when I was only about 15 miles out of the city and made a phone call to Ryan.   He lived a little ways in the city and on the southern edge of the city.  When I told him that I was just starting to approach the city from the west, he offered to come and pick me up.  It sounded great because I was not incredibly excited about riding in the city at the time that I was.  It was about 5 pm and with it being a Friday, everyone was cruising around in the city.  On top of that, there was a huge bridge that I was going to have to go over in order to get in the city.  I rode for about another 5 miles, when Ryan pulled over in front of me and picked me up.  I wasn't far from the bridge, but when we crossed it, it seemed apparent that there was no room for a bicycle on the road.  it would have been interesting to travel across with my bike and I was very fortunate to have received a ride.  It was great to have such an incredible service delivered to me at this hour on a Friday.  As we took the bridge into the city, it was enormous.  The campus of Louisiana State University was in the city and it was an enormous city by itself.  With the college having around 40,000 students and the city having doubled because of Hurricane Katrina, it was very crowded.  Ryan said that the city had gone from about 400,000 to about 800,000 during the time of the hurricane and although a few families had left, most remained.  It was incredible to see a town having doubled and everything had been taken care of over time.  With more places to live and with newer roads being placed, everything managed to change on a new course. We went on campus and in the center of the campus next to the football stadium was a live tiger.  Since the tiger was the mascot, they had a tiger caged up in the middle of the campus with enough room to put on a good show.  I thought it was a pretty wild idea, but it was very cool.  Easily something I had never seen before and definitely something original to have on a campus.  The campus was very spread out and from here we went to Ryan's house.   For dinner we had some large shrimp sandwiches on a loaf of Italian bread.  It tasted incredible and filled me up to the point where I was full of all the calories I was looking for.  The idea of me staying for another day had been mentioned from both Ryan and his roommate Seth and I couldn't turn it down.  The house was enormous and with Ryan's brother being gone for the weekend I had a room to myself with a television and computer.  They played a few instruments and it was nice to be able to play a little guitar for my first time in a long time.  I also had put a few miles on since my last stop and it was a good time to take a break before continuing to the east coast.  With an incredible bed I enjoyed my rest.

Daily mileage: 100.9 miles 
Average speed: 14.3 mph
Total mileage: 5,819.0 miles

Day 92, November 1st 2007 (Jasper,TX to Oberlin,LA)

I was able to run the lines with Michael in the morning.  I had woken up and after eating a breakfast we scooted out the door and jumped in the boat to see what we had caught.  It was a much more effective style of fishing that required a lot less time.  We checked the first line and since it was so close to the shore we had caught nothing.  The next line though was a completely different story.  We had caught two catfish that were about 3 lbs in size for each one.  They looked like great catches and all that we had to do was place a new minnow on the end of te hook and then later in the day hope for another fish to catch the line.  It was a fun and new lifestyle hanging out at Lichael's place and when I took off on the road I knew I would never forget the experience he had left with me.  I took the same beautiful road out that I had come in on and was still amazed with its' beauty.  I was planning on making it to Baton Rouge to stay with someone off of the warm shower's list named Ryan, in only two days.  I had about 220 miles ahead of me and although it wasn't going to be easy, I knew it was doable.  Leaving the small highway out of Jasper I was headed on a much busier and worse road.  Again I was dealing with fairly busy traffic, angry drivers, and bad roads.  I didn't like the feel that I was getting from riding in the south, but the country was worth the trip at this point.  I continued to truck on and put in the miles that were ahead of me.  The scenery around me seemed like it was the usual open road surrounded by the heavy trees.  Every once and a while I would see an opening and it was usually someone's small house in the midst of large land.  Maybe there would be a field that they would farm, but it seemed like only every once and a while.  So I continued the journey east at this point and I was only about 50 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico.  The ocean was so near and yet I was still a few days away from being able to see it.  It was going to wait, but when I made it to the Gulf of Mexico I planned on spending a good prtion of my ride staying near the coast.  I was riding and although it was starting to get dark I didn't feel like stopping.  I figured if I wanted to make it to Baton Rouge the following day, I was going to have to put in a few more miles.  I was still riding and it was pitch black.  It was a perfect temperature and the only thing that really concerned me were the yahoos out driving in the area. I had a light on the front and the rear f my bike and I rode for about an hour in the dark and was able to put in an extra 15 miles before I pulled over for the evening.  It was a very small town and it was easy to find a small patch of land to call my own for the evening.

Daily mileage: 102.1 miles
Average speed: 13.1 mph
Total mileage: 5,718.1 miles