Katie MacDonald - Bike the US for MS
Day 21 - June 17 - Bowling Green, OH to Monroeville, IN - 90.4miToday was going to be a long day, so Catherine and I headed out early after taking advantage of the donuts provided by Matt and Michelle. It was a hot day, but we cruised along to the first few rest stops, stopping at the third to grab lunch with everyone. We even had a bit of a tailwind at our backs! In Payne, we stopped to find ice cream and were directed to a great little place by some locals. After polishing off a delicious chocolate milkshake, we headed out to finish the last 13mi. We stopped along the way to take photos at the Indiana state line - our 7th state of the trip! Camp is fantastic. We could sleep inside or outside, so I set up my hammock between some trees. Hopefully tonight goes better than Geneva-on-the-Lake! Pizza dinner was provided, and then a bunch of us played a rather violent game of Egyptian Rat Slap. When I say violent, I mean blood was actually drawn. From me. Courtesy of Luke's fingernail. I must say though, it is pretty impressive that the first time I needed the first aid kit, it was because of a card game and not a bike related incident. Day 22 - June 18 - Monroeville, IN to Denver, IN - 80.4miToday was pretty hot, and pretty long, but it was also pretty great. I was a bit cold in the hammock overnight, but I stuck it out. I was on the slow side getting ready this morning, so I was one of the last to leave, and rode solo. Had some pretty quality podcast time before the first rest stop, and then caught up with the crew shortly after heading out again. I rode with Sharon, Catherine, Jen, Frank, and Kate until rest stop three. A bit after leaving R2, we encountered yet another dog that chased us along the road. Kate sprinted past us pretty quick as soon as it started barking and running! There wasn't any lunch food at rest stop three, but we were able to get milkshakes. We also happened to run into a fair in Largo, complete with elephant rides and hamburger eating contest. The announcer saw us walking by, and invited us to get on the mike and tell everyone what we were doing. I rode solo again for the last segment of the day, and then arrived to some pretty awesome accommodations in Denver. We are staying at another church, and it has an indoor basketball court! Literally the minute I walked in to the building to put my bike away, I grabbed a basketball and started shooting hoops with some of the guys. How I had the energy after that long of a day, I have no idea. The church and Chandler's mom provided an amazing dinner, probably one of the best so far. There was pulled pork, spaghetti bolognese, bacon wrapped chicken, salad, garlic bread, cookies, and best of all, peanut butter cake. They were so good, I snagged a couple extra pieces to put in my day bag tomorrow so I can eat them on the road. After dinner, we wandered around town and ended up watching a bit of a little league game. On the way home, we happened to come across a birthday party where they were playing slip-n-slide kickball, and asked if we could join. We had an absolute blast, and ended up staying out way later than we should have the night before a 7am departure. Totally worth it though! Day 23 - June 19 - Denver, IN to Iroquois, IL - 94.4mi - Happy Father's Day!High mileage, heat, headwinds, and hounds. These are the four words I came up with to describe the day. I woke up feeling a little sick (too much peanut butter cake perhaps?) and cycled on my own for most of the day. About halfway to the first rest stop, I had my scariest encounter with a dog to date. A little brown dog ran right up to my bike, barking, and managed to bite my back tire. Lucky it didn't flat, but it really gave me a good scare. Normally I like to ride on my own every so often, but today I started to get really bored by myself, and I am now pretty sick of every song on my iPhone. I caught up with Julia before rest stop three, and saw Ethan at the stop as well, but didn't really see anyone else besides the route leaders at the rest stops for the entire day. We passed through our first time zone, which was pretty exciting! We also crossed into our eighth state, Illinois. It felt like the cherry on top of a pretty bad day when there was no sign at the border to take a picture of. Before the state crossing though, I got chased by yet another dog. I also met two guys who are cycling self-supported from Iowa to Washington, DC. It was so hot, and I was so tired, that the last 30mi seemed to last forever. Eventually though, after about 10 hours of biking, I made it into camp. We're sleeping in the town park tonight, and the route leaders + Alison had ice cream waiting for us when we got back. Julia and I took a quick swim in a nearby pool, and then the whole team went for dinner at the town's only restaurant. Day 24 - June 20 - Iroquois, IL to Odell, IL - 63.2mi -Happy Birthday Mom!Early start today to try and beat the heat. Some of the worst headwinds we've had so far, all day long. I was also going through water like crazy, because it was so hot out. Alison rode with us today, first day back since her spill on the bridge. I rode with Sharon, Frank, Catherine, Alison, and Vikki for most of the day. Since Jen is away for a couple days with her family, we stopped to take pictures with lawn ornaments to tag her as on Facebook. The last 20mi were particularly tough, and it didn't help matters when a rude driver cut us off, and then got out of his car to yell and swear at us. Thankfully, as always, things got a lot better when we arrived at camp. We got to swim in the public pool, and played an hour long game of monkey-in-the-middle. I even managed to pull of a pretty epic back-flop when Eddie challenged me to represent Canada. This was all followed up by a fantastic dinner that Jen cooked for us. Thanks Jen! After dinner it was still really hot, so I decided to take down my tent and put up my hammock. This was short lived, as the bugs came out in full force, so I had to set up my tent again. Hopefully it'll cool down a bit over night! Day 25 - June 21 - Odell, IL to Henry, IL - 54.7miSo yesterday I said that everything gets better when I get to camp. Today I proved myself wrong. Today was a short day, so we (Sharon, Frank, Catherine, Alison, and I) left at 6am to beat the winds and heat. The first 35mi were a breeze, and we even stopped for 30 minutes to take some pictures in a cornfield. Sharon decided today's theme was cool mailboxes, so we stopped a couple time to take pictures. The wind picked up a bit after the rest stop, but we still made it to camp by 11:30. Upon arriving at camp, we discovered that the car battery that we keep in the trailer to charge our devices had leaked all over the floor. Unfortunately, the net on my cubby had also broken, and my laundry bag fell out and landed right in the acid. This resulted in about an hour of washing my clothes in the tiny sink of the laundromat with about 2 boxes of baking soda. My Harvard shorts took the brunt of it, and unfortunately I don't think they'll make it. On the plus side, I did learn an awful lot about chemistry today. After the laundromat, we grabbed lunch, and then went to DQ and got blizzards. I then read for a bit, and took a nap in my hammock. At around 5:30 we went to the Mexican restaurant, where a local man had offered to buy us all dinner. The tacos were amazing! We then went back to DQ, and got our second blizzards of the day. We decided to start a blizzard challenge to see who eats the most blizzards this summer. It's supposed to thunderstorm and hail tomorrow, but at least there won't be any headwinds! Day 26 - June 22 - Henry, IL to Orion, IL - 71.6miI woke up at 2:30am to the sound of rain and thunder. When I opened up my tent flap, I could see the lighting in the distance, as well as Sharon running to the van for shelter. The thunder kept me up for a while, wondering if I was safe where I was, or if I should move somewhere else. Eventually I went back to sleep. We woke up at 5am, aiming for a 6am departure. There was still thunder and lightning, so we gathered in the van to assess the weather and decide when we should leave. We decided that it would be better to go earlier than later, and left as soon as we were all ready to go. We rode through a bit of rain, but it cleared up pretty quickly, and we had some nice, cool weather for about 10mi. Then we caught back up with the storm, and could see the lightening again. I love thunderstorms, when I can watch them from inside, but being the tallest thing around while riding through corn fields is a different story. We booked it to a nearby farm, where we assessed our options again, and decided to ride the mile or so into town and find proper shelter. We met up with Sharon and Frank at a gas station, and waited for the route leaders to arrive. Eventually, it cleared up, and the radar map looked like we had enough of a break to make it to the next town. It started pouring again shortly before the next town, where we sought refuge on someone's porch. When it lightened up, we rode the 8mi into the next town. At this point, it completely cleared up, and we had sunny skies for the rest of the day, which was amazing. I was really worried that the weather would be too bad for us to ride, and we'd have to take the van instead and miss some miles. We are staying at a church in Orion tonight, and it is one of the nicest yet. We laid out our tents to dry, took advantage of the wifi, and then ate a fantastic meal prepared for us by the church. After dinner, the pastor showed us how to play an amazing game called 9 Square in the Air. It was super fun, and we played for over an hour, until the pastor told us that it was starting to thunder, so we ran outside to put our dry tents away. Later in the evening, we played a great game of scatergories.
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katie macdonald
Summer 2016, I biked 4,295 miles, coast to coast across the USA to raise money and awareness for MS. March 2017, I biked self-contained from San Francisco to San Diego with my friend Carissa. August 2017 I connected the dots and biked from Seattle to San Francisco. Summer 2018 I am heading to the UK! Follow my journey here! Miles biked for MS:
6,800.13
Updated August 27, 2018 Archives
January 2019
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