Next Mail Drop!!!!

Ok all you amazing supporters of the Zoo's journey across these United States of America.
First we would like to thank those of you who sent us AWESOME stuff that we were able to pick up in Dexter, MO. We are continuing to enjoy the plethora of goodies, thanks so much!!

If you would like to (not required, obviously, though STRONGLY encouraged) you may send some goodies to the following:

General Delivery C/O Ross Chillcoat <-- or other zoomate, but please use a real name
Alexander Post Office
103 Main St
Alexander, KS 67513-9700

We anticipate (again, based purely off scientific calculations) to be in Alexander , KS in 9 days which would be July 2. To be on the safe side, please ensure that your packages, letters, etc will arrive by July 1st at the latest.

Again, some desired items to help you:

1) Delicious homemade baked goods
2) Letters of adoration
3) Gatorade drink mix (little packets)
4) Surprises are encouraged

** We would request more Roman Candles, however, the US Postal Service prohibits such items from being sent.

Any questions will be answered if you call a Zoo member, or email chilcorl@gmail.com.

You all rock, we are having a blast as you can tell! Thanks again, hope to get some good stuff

Generosity, long horns, deep dish and more

After writing the last post we were rolled into Marion, KY. As we came into the town Boss said to Pick, "Nothing interesting has happened yet today, this is weird." That's when the most interesting night of the trip began.
Still 3 strong, we stopped at a local cafe which had just closed, but the owner got on the phones and started calling a church in town that was rumored to house cyclists for free. After 20 minutes of waiting with no luck, the Zoo was still HUNGRY so they went down to the only place still open in town for our first trip to a McDonalds. As we were finishing up a couple came up to us saying, "we've been looking all over town for you boys." Steve and Phyllis, from the Methodist Church in town, came and told us that they usually house bikers in the church, but that tonight the church was full with a youth group sleeping overnight. Then, they told us that they were going to put us up in a Bed and Breakfast!! Our jaws hit the floor and we all said "what!?" at the same time.
Myers Bed & Breakfast proved to be awesome as we slept in an air conditioned cottage and took showers (both of which have been rare). Thank you Steve and Phyllis for allowing us a little luxury on our journey. Around 5 am, the Zoo was joined by Davo, Ana, and Julie who arrived after a 13 hour drive (yikes) from Harrisonburg. The next morning we were treated to a delicious breakfast and then hit the road with Julie and Ana riding their own bikes with us. After about twelve miles we crossed the Ohio river on a ferry leaving Kentucky behind and entering the Land of Lincoln, Illinois. Once over the Ohio, we pushed on toward a town called Golconda. As the day wore on, the heat began to rise, but we were only getting a small taste of what was to come.
Once in Golconda we found a brief bit of shelter from the heat in the Golconda Gas Station Beer Cave. At a chilling 35 degrees we stood in the cave with only shorts and t-shirts on and felt totally content. While in the cave, we decided to end Prohibition on the trip and treated ourselves to a delicious six pack of Coors. Sadly, as the mountains on the bottle lost their blue tint, so too did we lose our chilled climate in the shelter of the gas station. That night we slept outside in a pool of our own sweat as a multitude of insects danced around our tents in the grass. In the morning we headed off toward Carbondale, home of the Southern Illinois Salukis. Along the route we came upon a very peculiar site. In a pen alongside the road were three cattle with the thickest horns we had ever seen! These bulls looked menacing as they stare at us and kicked their heels into the dirt as if to say "I dare you to jump this fence." Wisely, we didn't take their dare and continued on toward Carbondale. In Carbondale we treated ourselves to some Chicago style pizza recommended to us by a local along the route. Davo was preaching all about how much better NY pizza was then Chicago, but he ate his own words as he ate the slice of pie. It was written all over his face that he enjoyed each bite and afterward he admitted that Chicago has got something to boast. Now while we enjoyed a break from the ride and some delicious pizza, the humidity was still kicking strong. We spent our night at Carbondale on the SIU campus. Sadly we couldn't find any students to let us in the dorms and were relegated to sleeping on benches next to the campus lake. Barely any of us got any sleep as the temperatures still hovered around 72 degrees with 80% humidity. We would later find out from Jeff that CNN said that the temperatures during these last couple days had a heat index of 105 upwards to a 115 degrees. The next day of riding was a scorcher. Riding into the town of Chester we were hot, we were sweaty and we were tired. The thought of another sweaty night forced us to take action. Boss and Davo went to the local church and managed to get us access to their youth annex, fully furnished with A/C (our new favorite two words) blasting we were in heaven. Before we called it a night we headed to the local Chester pool where Pick described gleefully "this is the Perfect!" It was the perfect as Pick impressed the locals with his diving skills off the 1 meter board, Davo massaged his butt with one of the pool jets, and Ross did what he knows best...chilled. During our stay in Chester we also met a fella from Texas named Chase who was making the trip by himself. We invited him to join us at the youth annex and today he joined us as we headed across the mighty Mississippi river trading the heat of Southern Illinois for the heat of Missouri.

Kentucky: America's Only Natural Rainforest

The Zoo has been back on the road. Following our great stay with the Scotts we spent awhile at a bike shop in Danville doing some repairs and getting everything good to go as we made our way west. We rolled into Bardstown (the bourbon capital of the country) and enjoyed a great dinner, some bourbon, and cigars before camping behind a Catholic cathedral.

After Bardstown we made our way over to Hodgenville where we were allowed to shower and sleep at the community center. Our new friend Donald came and opened up the facilities for us (after he insulted every one of us), he was a character.

I think we got rained on 3 times in 24 hours... And we have found that Kentuckians are typically the most pessimistic people ever! We constantly talk to people at gas stations, and have even had people yell from their front porch, "YA'LL ARE GONNA GET WET!" I think one lady called us, "idiot youngins" as we pedaled towards certain death (aka a thunderstorm).

After Hodgenville, we made it to a picnic shelter at Rough River Dam as we dodged and outran 3 separate thunderstorms.

The next day we had to say goodbye to Jeff for a few days as he hopped on a flight to be with his grandfather who has been ill. Zoo thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Then, only 3 strong we got to Utica where we were able to shower, cook dinner, and sleep at a fire department, which was awesome! That brings us up to today, we are currently enjoying a heat index of 105 here in a public library in Dixon.

The good news is that we have the one and only Dave Peyser (sans tonsils) joining us for the rest of the trip tonight. I believe he is due to arrive around 3 AM tonight! We are stoked!!!

Mail Drop in Dexter, Missouri

So, we have finally tried to figure out when and where we will be more than 2 days from now. We have calculated (on a purely scientific basis) that we will arrive in Dexter, MO (which is where Stacy Robinson's Uncle Lee resides) on Sunday, June 21. We will use the Post Office there as our first official "Mail Drop" location. The address of the Post Office in Dexter, MO is:

General Delivery C/O Ross Chillcoat <-- or other zoomate, but please use a real name
Dexter Post Office
202 E Stoddard St
Dexter, MO 63841

Now obviously the mail does not run on Sundays, however, if you send stuff in order to get there by Saturday (at the LATEST), we will be able to pick it up Monday morning after breakfast on our way out of town.

suggestions include:
1)Delicious homemade baked goods
2)Letters of adoration
3)**If anyone has an old digital camera or Polaroid camera (or both)*******
We'd love to put it to good use! Doug is the only one with a lens, and he's good, but only takes landscapes, he can't help it. Pick would like to take a picture of every time we have fun... from 6 angles, and Jeff never develops film. Thus the requests. Don't buy anything, but If you've got a digital dust collector we'd love to have it.

A few photos

I just wanted to share a few photos with y'all...

Big Climbs, Coal Trucks, Soaking Rains, Dogs, Dogs, and more Dogs...

* Please note that while necessary or not, I use a lot of parentheses ().

**Please also note that the pictures are up for your interpretation unless caption is included and that we welcome any/all ideas as to what is going on (particularly in the one above).

The title doesn't lie as we made our way out of the southwest corner of the Virginia and on into the Unbridled Spirit (state slogan) that is Kentucky. We met up with a few other groups riding the Trans Am as well. One group was 'Biking the US for MS.' They are about 12 deep and they have a chase car with a trailer (lucky ducks) and virtually everything is provided by the MS Association. They were a great group to talk to and ride with. A few other guys we leap frogged with for a few days were from Illinois. They were riding light (didn't pack much stuff) and were a joy to ride with as well. Jeff and I tried to scheme as to how to light the Roman Candles and shoot them while riding (all in good fun), however, by the time we constructed a plan, they were about a day and a half ahead of us.

A highlight was spending a night at the Breaks Interstate Park which is on the border of Virginia and Kentucky. We really enjoyed our stay eating lots of food and socializing with the other cycling crews. We had ample time as the skies opened up and it began to rain, a lot.

As we headed into Kentucky, the coal truck traffic increased significantly. Much to our surprise, They did not run us off the road. They were very kind and often gave way to us. Another thing that increased drastically were the amount of dogs. It is uncanny as to how many people in Kentucky own dogs without leashes or fences to keep them in. We had about 5-10 dogs hot on our tail every mile for 2 days straight. Jeff had the dog repellent, however, we did not need to resort to that as we used our super human pedaling skills to out run them (even if they ran with us for a couple hundred yards)! The hills seemed to become a bit more difficult than those of Virginia as well.

So, picture this: Us (the Zoo) riding our fully loaded bikes (see pictures from Day 1) pedaling as hard as we can (really slowly), up unfathomable climbs, being passed by coal trucks (with no shoulder on the road), while trying to out run the most vicious dogs in America, all in the pouring rain, and that about sums up the past 3 days.

It is amazing how the beautiful valleys and mountains of Virginia can back up next to the coal towns of Eastern Kentucky and then turn back into rolling hills after 100 miles or so.

We made it to Danville, KY, which is where this post is hailing from. Charlie Chilcoat (Boss's father) had a former employee, Margaret Scott, who retired and moved here (she was originally from Danville and moved back after living in Maryland. Needless to say, the hospitality of Margaret and her husband, George, are greatly appreciated, as we enjoyed an incredible home cooked meal and a home movie theater for entertainment!

Pick looking sweet riding through the hills of Virginia
(Photo by Deigoguapo)

Old men on porches, Ford pickups, and Ross’s flat tires

These things characterized the events of June 8th aka Day 6. But first I’ll catch up on the days in between. We left Roanoke late on Saturday after driving around in circles with my Dad for the better part of an afternoon [those who have ridden with a Joyce who swears they know where they're going will understand this] But we were full, happy, and clean and the rest of the Zoo enjoyed the sight seeing tour of Roanoke. After being dropped off at the trail we made our way up the stunning Catawba valley and nestled in for the night behind Valley Presbyterian Church. They gave us free reign in their basement to coffee etc... A splendid night! Sunday held a long haul to Wytheville and the backyard of a farmhouse owned by a kind fellow who reported to have hosted many bikers in the 20 years he'd lived there.
Being along the trail is cool, kindof like being a pilgrim... folks sort of know what you're up to and look out for you. Tues. was Wythville to Damascus and a great time. As in the title, there were heaps of old fellas on porches who were happy to see us pass by and friendlier pickup drivers than expected. Ross got close to 600 flat tires and changed most of them himself, a regular mechanic our ol'Bossy. Lots of rivers to swim in! Met our first other trans-am bikers and a real highlight was meeting Appalachian Trail thur-hikers at "The Place" hostel. I don't envy them much, but they're an interesting lot. We astonish them by our carelessness of carrying unnecessary weight. It’s a valid point they have, I’ve carried several Roman Candle fireworks since H-burg. While not essential they are oh so fun when used!
We expect to be in Kentucky tomorrow, which will actually be the 3 state we hit after we took a short jaunt into Tenn. Last night just for kicks. All is well, mail drop info will be up soon! Hope that ya’ll are having fun too!

Day 5: Waynesboro to Roanoke

After setting out from Waynesboro we headed up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway where we met up with the TransAmerica Trail (commonly known as the '76 Route). This will be the route that will take us all the way out to Oregon. The Parkway was beautiful with tons of overlooks and some tough elevation climbs. We got about 30 miles on the Parkway before a thunderstorm rolled in and we decided to set up camp for the night.

The next morning we woke up at 5:15 to the sound of the LOUDEST BIRD EVER! After attempting to shoot it with roman candle fireworks, we just decided we were already awake and that we might as well get on the road. 50 miles later we found ourselves in Natural Bridge - one of the 7 natural wonders of the world... Needless to say we did not stop since rain was starting and we had plans to get into Troutville. Once we reached Troutville, we stopped for dinner, and after an impassioned speech from Doug (Davo, you would have been impressed), we decided that getting to Roanoke and the warmth of Jeff's house was the only option. AND IT WAS AWESOME! Warm showers, delicious food, nice beds. Yesterday afternoon we biked over to Jeff's dad's house and were greeted with more delicious food (steaks, potatoes, corn, bread, cookies!), and we enjoyed another awesome night in real beds. The royal treatment is soon coming to an end though, we leave for Christiansburg in just a few minutes.

So much thanks to Marji, Jim and Linda for their awesome hospitality this weekend!

Day 1: The Zoo to Waynesboro

Well, like our tonsil-less friend, we have now found ourselves at the end of an AWESOME day! The day began with last-minute preparations as we tried to figure out how we could fit all of our stuff into pannier bags and a trailer. Luckily, we succeeded and biked down to the Little Grille for a delicious send-off breakfast. Next stop we were back at the Zoo where we were surrounded by friends and family as we biked away from Harrisonburg (some even did the first few miles with us!).

The day was hot but we kept the water flowing and the sunscreen on (I reapplied three times, this might be a theme). A few churches provided us with great stopping points for water and a chance to eat some lunch in the shade. As we neared Waynesboro, our destination for the first night, we stopped at Hugh K. Cassell Elementary School for some water. Upon our arrival we were ushered into the cafeteria during which time an after-school care program was going on. Let me tell you: 4 dudes in neon yellow jerseys and spandex can really change the atmosphere of a room. As we filled up our bottles the supervisors came over and started asking us about our trip and before we knew it we were the Guest Speakers for the month! Now, most of you know but some of you do not, but our very own Pick graduated from JMU with a degree in elementary education. He was absolutely in his element and we went on to talk about bike safety and our trip for about 15 minutes! After that the kids came out to our bikes and asked all sorts of awesome questions. What an experience.

Earlier in the day Doug got in touch with the Sawyer family in Waynesboro, David Sawyer was Doug's spanish teacher in high school. They agreed to let us crash at their place and even left the doors unlocked while they were out to dinner for their son Jacob's birthday. Happy Birthday Jacob! We feasted on lemonade, pasta (thanks Mrs. Arms), and some delicious blueberry birthday cake. Hot showers were a great cap to an awesome first day.

Zoo Zoo Riot

Well ladies and gentlemen, as you can see now 4/5 of the Zoo departed our 11:35 South Main St. residence at precisely 12:05 PM today. Since I am the final missing piece of the Zoomerica Tour and will not be able to meet up with my Mates (sadly) until I recover from a recent tonsilectomy/adenoidectomy, I have decided for the time being that my contribution to the journey will be made by updating the blog for them when they cannot. I figure that there computer time could be infrequent and I'm sure that all of our readers would enjoy some updates. Let me first say to my best friends,that you guys look totally rad from the pictures I have seen taken by Mrs. Arms. I saw those photos and got so amped up that I never had a greater desire to be on my bike. I want you to know that I am very proud of each of you and think it is a huge accomplishment that you all are on your way down a road certainly less traveled. Its one thing to talk the talk, but you fellas are now walking the walk or I guess biking the bike would be more appropriate. Best of luck on your journey south and I will be counting down the dates until I meet up with you in Kentucky!

Days til departure: 0

We are 15 minutes away from our trip across the country. We will be leaving from our house: THE ZOO, and the first day will take us down 40 miles into Waynesboro.

More posts to come soon with detailed bios of the 5 riders.