Angels of Worthington Minnesota

So I lost (it was stolen!!! sort of) my wallet in Worthington Minnesota. 10-15 miles away from Worthington, MN I realized that I didn't have my wallet and this was a huge problem. No cash, no ATM, no credit cards, no ID, I even lost my SCUBA certification card (gasp). I raced back to the gas station I left it at hoping a Good Samaritan returned it to the gas attendants. Considering I was in the Bible Belt I thought my chances were decent. No dice. I took off back up the interstate hoping that maybe it dropped out of my pocket while I was riding. Again, no luck. Back to Worthington, once more I asked at the gas station if someone had returned my wallet and to cover all my bases I went next door to the KFC to see if somehow, somebody, had returned it there, nothing. I was getting exasperated (just wanted to get that word in).

Out of ideas (not really, I was just out of good ideas, I was planning on heading to a local bank to see if I could get some cash) I called pops, hoping he would have a better assesment on my plight. After letting him know what happened he responded simply with an expletive, not very reassuring. In his defense I had the same reaction when I discovered I had lost my wallet. I told him my bank idea, but he pointed out that they are not just handing money out at a bank to some guy without ID.

(probably the guy who didn't return my wallet. Most likely using my ID to buy cigarettes)

So I'm screwed right? I had about a half to 3/4 full gas tank and I was still 330 miles away from Baraboo, WI, my next stop. If I was able to get there I could get to a Chase bank or borrow some cash from my buddy Wade who I'd be staying with, but how on a bike with no cash? (Are you in a cold fearfull sweat?) Well, in the midst of the moment that I was aptly realizing the full extent of my sorrowful situation a lady who happened to overhear my crisis walked over to me and intervened. While I was still on the phone with my dad this lady with no name handed me $100 in cash. Naturally, I was in shock. I asked her if I could get her address and send her a check and she said no need and walked away. Another woman standing near by gave me a few bucks and offered give me a ride (not really helpful but her heart was in the right place). Still in shock and holding over a 100 bucks I told her I was fine and thank you very much. I mean wow. I don't even know what to say, what a blessing for sure, out of no where.

I just think its crazy how one person found my wallet and decided to keep it and the cash where simple decency would have led the person to returning it, meanwhile another person goes well above and beyond a simple act of kindness and saved me on my trip. Well thank you very much random lady. By the way, I included the Mary McDonnell picture (of Dances With Wolves fame) because the woman who helped me out looked like an older actress who I couldn't place. McDonnell was the closest I could find but the woman who helped me was a brunette. Regardless thank you very much.




The other girl was a bit younger, probably in her 20s and her name was Rachel. Unfortunately she didn't look like anyone famous. I would describe her as normal-looking-cute-brunette, sort of like the girl pictured. That's the best I can do to praise these two women who helped me out big time in a moment of crises. So thanks.

This was the only song I could think of with Angel in the title (just kidding, I'm just messin with my mom). But it does bring up a valid consideration; that girl your checking out across the room who you think might just be an angel is probably actually pretty shady (still kidding, totally kidding).

I think you missed a spot

I feel this is particularly appropriate here, I did a lot of of riding on the open road through Wyoming and South Dakota.

My drive and time in Wyoming and South Dakota were great, just a lot (emphasis a lot) of scenery. It's so green with rolling hills and some cool wildlife. I rolled through fairly quickly considering the mileage I covered, but that was mostly because I didn't have any friends to hang with in SD, so I just rolled on through. But I did see Mount Rushmore and the Corn Palace, the pride of Mitchell SD. (it's real. My favorite part is it's proud claim that it is the ONLY Corn Palace in the world). I have to pay compliments to Jeremy for this one who kept talking about it. I happened to stay in Mitchell and still would have likely passed on the opportunity to see the Corn Palace had it not been for Jeremy talking about it so much (admittedly, jokingly) while we were in Utah (I know, you thought we were done with Jeremy and Dom until Chicago, sorry).

(really, it's real)

(see, world's only. A lady working at the Corn Palace was ever so nice to take this picture for me, I feel kind of bad making fun of it, but it's a Corn Palace).



Unfortunately, my camera still wasn't working when I passed through Mount Rushmore, so instead of stealing a nice pick of Mount Rushmore, from the internets I've decided to post my favorite parodies of Mount Rushmore (I mean, if you haven't seen Mount Rushmore I don't know what to say).



Ok, I searched for parodies and that did not work out as I had dreamed, so here are some classic Simpson parodies, I refuse to put up a picture of Mount Rushmore:

See. Simpson paradies cover art, pop culture, movies, music and even politics, but alas no Mount Rushmore.

And, South Dakota (and a little bit of Wyoming) also offered me my first taste of riding in the rain.

About the last 30-40 miles or so of Wyoming and the first 30-40 miles of South Dakota I received my first taste of riding in rain. This picture may appear a significant exaggeration, but it really is just a slight one (and I didn't have the cool yellow rain suit). When the rain is coming down hard it feels a lot like white water rafting. Passing a semi coming in the opposite direction on a one lane highway feels a bit like rolling through a rapid, you get covered by water from head to toe. The spray covers you and makes a fairly significant physical impact. But for the most part the ride was pretty sweet. It's funny to think that you could have thrown me in a lake and I still wouldn't have been more wet.

Memorial Day in Moab means art festival

Moab was cool and it was a nice little break from the travelling because we actually stayed in the same place for more than one night. For our big day in Moab, Jeremy and Dom went on a chill rafting ride that I bowed out on because I wasn't interested in a lazy stroll down a stream (which will become ironic once I post my visit to Wisconsin where I thoroughly enjoyed a lazy stroll down a stream). Not to worry though, Moab is a cool little town that happened to be having a music and arts festival.


(part of an Afro-Brazil dance group, pretty cool. It mixes music, martial arts and dance. It was a style of dance slaves used to practice fighting without letting the slave-owners realize what they were doing, to get more information than you would ever want check out www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capoeira, or simply check out the youtube link at the end to see it in action).

After checking out the festival and walking around a bit I met up with Jeremy and Dom and we grabbed some dinner while watching the Lakers play some ball (Western Conference Finals v. the Suns, a close close-out victory to send the Lakes to the Finals).

The next day we headed out to Arches National Park where we went on a couple of short hikes, including visiting the most famous landmark in Arches. The whole area is pretty cool, including "the delicate arches." Unfortunately my camera ran out of juice at this point and I only have a couple pics of the arch and lack pics of some of the other cool stuff we saw. Like Bryce Canyon, it felt like being in a whole different world.






Arches also marked the end of my travelling with Doll (Dom and Hall) until reaching Chicago where we were able to hang out a little bit more. For the next few days of the trip I would be travelling solo.




Next stop Colorado, special guests - my bro and his lovely bride.

Making it happen in Bryce Canyon

I know it has been a while since my last post, but I'm hoping to hit up a few in a row. Bryce Canyon was great although it was slightly lost in the middle of Zion and Moab/Arches. Bryce was a bit like being taken to a different planet. The scenery was a trip.


(Jeremy in foreground, me in background).


We didn't do too much hiking in Bryce although the hiking we did do was adventurous. We wandered around a bit in the valley seeing interesting rock formations caused by erosion. Pretty chill stuff to check out. The adventure part took place when we hiked to check out "two bridges." It was a bunch of loose rock that was pretty difficult to climb but we all figured it would be worth it because we assumed (incorrectly) that it would lead us to the end of the trail.

(see, two bridges, neither of which take you anywhere. Sounds like a U2 song). At the top though it's just a dead end meaning I had to come all the way back down along the trecherous worthless rock.




(me trying to figure out how to get back down and not doing a good job of it. I think I look like Obi - Wan in the original Star Wars turning off the shields on the Death Star (how big of a nerd am I) (rhetorical question)).

(me at "two bridges" more or less)


I considered just climbing up the rock wall at the end. Jeremy and Dom strongly suggested that would be a bad idea but I didn't want to come back down the way I had come. It turned out to be very sound advice since climbing up would have just put me in the middle of nowhere far above the path I had just abandoned; meaning I would have had to somehow scale back down the "cliff" and still slide down the devilish two bridges path I so passionately wanted to avoid. Although it would have been a good picture seeing me at the top of a cliff in the middle of nowhere good with nowhere to go.

Just a big mess all around.


Although I apologize for the crudeness of this picture, it pretty much summed up our feelings very well of how we felt towards the two bridges path and how there was no mention that it was a pain in the butt dead end. You can sort of see someone scratched into the sign in the top left the words "dead end." Um, we missed that. "That's something you could have told me yesterday!!!" (anyone? anyone?). You can also see the wound one of us suffered (I'm not allowed to say who this is because it may be considered defamation, which I was warned against) heading back down the path.

(a little worn out after our hiking, waiting for the shuttle back to the camp site).

We also decided to get up at 430 (not a typo) and go to sunrise point to watch the sunrise. It was a bit of a disappointment, nothing much to speak of, but on the flip side it was freezing cold and I think my heart stopped a couple times.

(this is about as pretty as it got)

(Or more accurately "overstated tourist attraction point")