Road Bumps

We had the longest day yet on bikes yet from the town of Teotihuatan to Puebla, covering approximately 78 miles at about 8300 ft of elevation. Not a bad day considering the bikes alone weigh about 30 lbs with an additional 50lbs of gear strapped to them. After spending two weeks on pavement, covering distance I realized bikes are a fantastic form of transportation; it turns food objects such as snickers bars, tacos, and rice into energy which allows for the begrudging traveler to cover immense distance (if they only have the determination to do so). But just like a car, guzzling in fuel with an energy output, sometimes you fill up with a bad tank of gas, and the car doesn't run quite right. For us, we think it was a bowl of soup, with juice, and a enchilada combo we all got for dinner one night in Teotihaucan. Luckily, we had a planned two days rest in Puebla, where we envisioned ourselves climbing volcanoes near the city, meeting locals, and exploring the city. Instead the three of us have been relatively holed up in a room much to small for three men, three bikes, and gear strewn everywhere. To make matters worse our "economical hotel" comes complete without a toilet seat, and a sink which drains onto the floor to flow into the shower drain.

The Final Countdown

Jon 

We are finally within the 24 hour countdown to crossing the Mexico border and thus the beginning of our adventure. It seems like a long time ago that I propositioned Ben the idea to take bicycles down Central and South America. We agreed to go even if we had to work crap jobs and pick up extra shifts to make it happen; knowing we would be leaving friends, families and, at least temporarily limiting our access to ‘comfort’, ‘stable incomes’, ‘cell phone plans‘, ‘good night sleep’, ‘careers’. A.K.A. ‘normal lives’; we thought we knew what to expect and figured our intermediate college level Spanish would see us through.

Career Fair

It has been fun and exciting figuring out how to best structure our trip, To the End of the Earth. We do a lot of brainstorming, a.k.a. think-tank sessions, a.k.a. war council meetings, to determine our next course of action. We do our best thinking on the lawn adjacent to Baker Village (Upperclassmen housing at Luther College), with a beer in hand, possibly a guitar, and a notepad. It has been amazing to see the progress we have made, both exciting and daunting, and to see how much we have left to do. Making the blog, video, and facebook page are all an attempt for us to connect with people interested in what we are doing and share our trip.