Dayton

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Between Indianapolis and Bloomington




Roadkill

Yeah, its a crayfish. On the highway.



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In Bloomington, I stayed at Edwin's house










One of these humans is a mad scientist.




rad.

Now I'm in Chicago. Michelle & I rode in Critical Mass yesterday, I think there were over 300 bikes. In all the neighborhoods we went through, people were waiting on their porches to watch us go by. Little kids stood on the curb to give us high fives.

In the coming weeks, I'm going to volunteer at an all girl courier service that delivers love letters! Yeah!

I want to stay in chicago until the end of august for the hoopla. Maybe I'll see you up here!

I Drank a 40 of steel reserve last night, sorry if you got crazy text messages from me.

I didnt have my camera with me yesterday, but its my mission to take a lot more pictures.

sorry I've been such a shitty documentor.

Miss ya!

Back from Tennesse. I found a bunch of cool dead bugs, but had kind of a sucky time due to my own weariness/difficulty communicating what I wanted/altitude fatigue.
DEAD BUGGGGGSS!

I'm kind of having touble finding people in Bton to get rowdy with, yo. I cant wait to hook up with michelle in chicago & ride a whiskey rocket to the moon.

I drank a lot of coffee today & I'm trying to figure out whether to bike there or accept a ride from michelle. Gotta pee! Gotta go! Hope you kids are doing well! Get ready for some motherfucking bugs in the mail!

Bloomington

I left Indianapolis on Sunday. The road out of Indy for about 50 miles was flat & smooth & I made the best time as of yet, but then about 10 miles out of Bloomington it became these giant hills. I pulled over when it got dark because I couldnt see the shoulder on the road anymore, even though I was only 5 miles outside of Bloomington. (literally!) I slept in this thorny-ass field where I could hear all these coyotes howling & there were definitely ticks on me. guh

When I first arrived in Bton, I was tired & cranky & awkward & I had difficulty making things happen smoothly, but I took a nap in a park, hung out outside the food co-op near the waiting for the bike project to open. After several hours, one of the guys who volunteers at the bike project sat down next to me & offered me a place to stay. Yesssss
They build tall bikes & long bikes & Edwin has turned his handlebars into a SLINGSHOT, capable of firing mini projectiles at asshole drivers.

& now... In Dayton, there was a show at the DDC where I met a bunch of awesome ladies from a Bton band, & now that I'm here, Leah is hanging out with me & showing me around. I think I'm going to go on a mini (de)tour with her to Tennessee, a little road trip will be a nice change of pace. I think the plan is: pile five ladies into a car & take everything by storm. Deadly force will be used.
I miss you guys! I collected a lot of awesome butterflies, & I did start rdkl diary, but I dont have my camera with me. I dont know when I'm leaving Bton. I'll ride to chicago next.
Hey! This trip is awesome! I've been on the road over a month now, & ridden almost 500 miles. Thanks so much to everyone who helped me!

Hola! recap:

Tuesday night: Rode around dayton with some cool people. Dayton is a surprising place. I never thought there would be so many genuinely interesting people. There are! I found them!
Drinks were had. I learned...in Cleveland, Black Label is a cheap beer. In Dayton, it's a $7 shot. Oh well. True to form, I left on Wednesday with a hangover. Thanks, Dayton!

Wednesday: Left Dayton at 4pm. Rode 50 miles to Indiana border, the day was beautiful & flat & I think I got choked up a couple of times just because I was so goddamn happy. Hunkered down in a field bordered by highways. Kind of okay. Lots of cool fireflies.

Thursday: Woke up at 7 am. Got coffee in a little diner at about 10, (in the smoking section holyshit) Trucking continued. Man, Indiana is not as flat as I was led to believe. I mean, it's okay, but it's not like, see for 15 miles ahead of you flat. I stopped a bunch of times to rest. Breakfast lunch dinner icecream just cause. I layed on the side of the road & watched horses for about an hour. The sun baked me, I sweated out about 10 waterbottles, & broke the cleat off of my shoe. It didnt rain, & I was mostly happy. rode 70 miles. Slept in a motel for 30 bucks, someone opened the door to my room at 4:30 am & before I was even awake I was screaming, "Get the hell out, motherfucker!". They booked.

Today! I'm in indianapolis, got my shoe fixed, got a place to stay, I think there's a cool art opening in broadripple. Uh... Yeah! My knees still hurt, my butt hurts, but I feel good. Definitely getting into better shape, & very dark as well.

I found a cool dead bug, but I'm having trouble saving the butterflies without them getting moldy. I cant put them into airtight containers, or their own dead body fluid will mold them, but putting them in cigarette packs & stuff exposes them to too much water. hrrrm. I had some pretty cool ones. Havent started roadkill photodiary yet, but I will! Promise! Thanks so much everyone! I miss you!

rarrrrrrrrgh!

I'm in Dayton. I got in on the 3rd. Fatty's been so awesome in helping me find places in Dayton, he directed me to one of his friends, Ryan, within 5 minutes of my call. I stayed at Ryan's house till morning, took a nap in a gazebo, woke up on the 4th of July & crawled to a coffee house.

I dont know if I've developed some kind of traveler's intuition, gotten sucked into some kind of punk rock orbit, or have been graced with sheer dumb luck, but managed to find the coolest people in dayton within hours. I ran into a guy, Nick, who runs an all ages punk venue (the only one in dayton?) with his awesome lady, Mindy, & they've let me stay in their house & butt in to their projects. There's a show tonight, we made this badass pinata to put all the merch into & BLAMMM bust it open. (pictures later)

The only thing that sucks is; my knees feel totally fucked. Crunching up hills is excruciating. I'm trying to rest up for a few days, take vitamins, but if it continues, I'm going to have to fly to san fran & rethink my strategy for biking up the coast. I feel fine biking on flat land, its just the hills that get me. Feels like my knees are ripping inside, a sharp pain, not a dull one. All advice appreciated.
I'm only 40 miles from the Indiana border, maybe 120 from indianapolis.
Let me go, Ohio! Let me go!

Thanks to Cleveo & Cbus for helping me out so so much! This trip has been GREAT so far! I want more more more!

Thanks so much to all the people who've made these last weeks great! I'll miss you, Columbus!

Still in Columbus. The band I was planning to leave with couldnt get their veggie van fixed. There's a festival this weekend (ComFest, which is seriously some kind of big deal), & I plan to be leaving on wednesday (there's a going away party on tuesday at Cora's). This trip is so awesome so far, everything feels so natural & normal & good. I've made lots of friends. I've fallen under a rockslide of love. I do not need help.

Miss you, Cleveland!

I'm in Columbus right now, at the Legion of Doom house. I'm having a fucking blast! I'll try to recollect the previous days for you.

After waking up drenched in whiskey sweat, breakfast at Global Dish Deli with Michelle & Shawn. Michelle rode with me to the end of Parma, & then I set out alone.
I've always thought cars & motorists were my enemies, but it turns out...no. LOGGING TRUCKS. In the Ohio Valley this GIANT logging truck blows by me at a billion miles an hour within like a foot of my body. terrifying.
Riding was easy till I got on rt 3, then it was just nothing but hills. I set up camp at like 8:30 pm on friday in the pouring rain after getting a flat. Everything I owned was soaked & my sleeping bag was sticking to me in a disgusting humid suffocating way. I camped too close to the road, got very little sleep. 50 miles for friday.

I woke up at 6:30 am on Saturday & climbed hills for 13 hours.
Like, GIANT ones. See those cars there, waaaaay at the top? Yeah. It'd take me like 20 minutes walk them. & it was just one after another. They NEVER stopped. it rained more in the morning, when I got to mohican national park I walked half way up an enormous hill then laid myself & my belongings in the sun to dry. Even though I only made 50 miles in 13 hours, it was a good day for experience. I'd feel so proud of myself after getting to the top of a hill that looked too big to climb, & I learned to let myself rest whenever I need to, even if its literally every 5 minutes.
I also went to funk street. (at the base of this huge hill)





Saturday was so hard, & when I rolled into Mt. Vernon at about 7:30pm, I booked a cheap hotel room & passed out for 12 hours.







Sunday, though...

I think sunday was one of the best days of my whole life. It was like 50 miles of flat ground, beautiful roads & clear skies. I rolled in to Columbus at about 6:30, I met some awesome punk kids. I met a band thats traveling to the west coast tomorrow. They offered to drive me to San Fran, I told them I'd take a ride to Indianapolis. I'll probably be leaving Columbus tomorrow. I like it here! I got three awesome free meals yesterday, one huge delicious salad at a vegan restaurant, pizza & beer from used kids records, & late night pizza at a bar. There's so much free food, & kids are so cool! I'm finding it really easy to meet people & make friends. I got invited to a vegan potluck & bike ride tonight.

I have a couple questions.
One: Do you think it's macabre to take a roadkill photodiary? I've seen some really gross stuff. Would you still read my blog if I posted it here?
Two: Is it weird to collect the dead butterflies I see on the side of the road? Maybe I'll send them to you instead of postcards.

Sorry this isnt better composed, I'm kind of too busy having so much fun.
Thanks, Cleveland!

Dear Cleveland

I want to address why I'm leaving you. This may be hard for you to understand but, Cleveland, dont you think for a second that I am not helplessly in love with you. Today, for perhaps the last time in a long while, I rode through your downtown streets, looked at your boring tall buildings, cursed your unnavigable construction sites & almost cried for love of you.

When one falls in love, it is not for physical beauty. Lets face it. You are grey, old, & hideous. Even your pigeons are in crappy shape. You smell like a sewer, even in winter. & I know you're no good for me, cause I've crashed on yr streets & almost killed myself like nowhere else. But still, I feel an uncontrollable swell of love & pride when I see the night line of yr ugly buildings, yr smelly streets. This is because I love you. But I am running away from you, Cleveland. There are many things unhealthy about a relationship that stagnates on familiarity, & I cannot help but think you have no more to offer me now. I have other places to go, other people to meet. Even though I feel this will help us, both of us, grow; I cant help but feel guilty, like I'm running off with the Vapid Hot Chick. She doesnt mean anything to me, I swear. She's a momentary distraction. & when I return from my cheatin' ways, I'll show you all the dirty tricks that ho taught me. Because, Cleveland, no matter what I say, no matter how far I wander, you'll always be my home. I will always come back to you, & you'll always be as glad to see me as I am to leave you.

I love you.

Really.

Cari 

I will

put something here soon.