craft messenger

the show in chattanooga was starting at 9 30 or 10 pm, and we had a few hours to kill. we didnt really want to ride to the north side of town and back down, so we hung out downtown. we bought a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and bananas, and we each sat down and ate five (5!) sandwiche. each! we then went back to the library to hang out until the show. when the library closed, we went a few blocks down to the starbucks patio, which was closing, but a guy who worked there gave us some cookies that were getting thrown out. awesome! we went to the show at bohemia jj's, which was a lot of fun, definitely different from other shows id been to. the band future virgins was awesome -- they actually played in atlanta the following night. unfortunately, they beat us here! we rode our bikes up a huge hill to this guy brad's house, who had done a bike trip from canada to memphis TN (wow!) and had travelled extensively in asia and south america. he let us sleep on his couch/floor, and the next morning he let us shower and made us homemade oatmeal with peaches (thanks brad!). we left chattanooga at around 9 a.m. and in less than 6 miles were on rt 41 for atlanta, georgia. within the first hour we had crossed the state line and had taken a picture of our bikes against a "georgia welcomes you" type sign. we stopped in the city of ringgold, ga, at a bike shop called 'chain reaction.' the man there fixed kyle's derailleur and adjusted his brakes, and hung out and chatted with us for a few. he actually let me ride a $5000 jamis road bike. crazy! the whole thing weighed 14 pounds, which is absurd compared to the weight of our touring bikes at the time. i felt nervous riding it (since it is worth more than any car id ever owned, geesh), but it was awesome. we went out to a small fountain and ate the rest of our peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies. we hopped back on rt 41 and continued on to dalton, where the ride got unbearably ugly. we accidentally got on the dalton bypass, which is designed mainly for semi trucks. it was a 16 mile stretch of bumpy asphalt, with the same view the entire duration. semi trucks were passing us about 2 feet away, which is always terrifying. frazzled, we pulled over and asked someone at a loading dock about an alternate route, and he told us to take old dixie highway to tilton to 41. it worked, and we had a comparatively less stressful route to resaca. the road became very relaxed as we rode the final leg of the day to calhoun, ga. we asked a lady in a funeral home parking lot if she knew where we could set up a tent, and she said there was a state park up the road. riding past it, we saw it was about 30x70 ft, a statue in the middle and chained off to the public. we later learned that its the smallest state park in the entire u.s. riding further, we saw a house with a huge back yard with tree cover -- better yet, there were people in the driveway! we pulled up to ask if we could potentially set up a tent in the yard. ironically, they didnt even live there, and the house had been for rent for the past 8 years! the son (tory) said they didnt live there, but that we could camp 2 miles back at their house near the state park. we followed them there, up big hills, and got to there house around 7 30. they cooked us dinner, let us shower, and let us sleep in their air conditioned living room (more than i can say ive ever had in columbus, haha). we even stayed up and played guitar with them! thanks tamela tory and jessie! the next morning we finished the rest of our food (a cliff bar, a bag of peanuts, and peanut butter crackers each) and hit the road. the road was a lot hillier than the previous day, and we had a lot of big hills to slowly ascend, hitting 30 mph on the downside. we made it to cartsville, ga, where the traffic was getting gross and dangerous. we ate at a subway (free cheeze pizza, score!) and took an hour break there. we went back outside and the sun was beating, traffic was horrendous. we rode on the road which became increasly dangerous, with no shoulder and semis driving by. eventually we got to acworth, which was the worst we'd yet seen. it was like driving through easton or fairfield, but on a much larger scale. after being passed by countless semis and other hurried drivers, we pulled over at a books a million right outside of atlanta to see if my dad could pick us up. we had the sad realization there isnt necessarily a safe bike route into one of the biggest cities in the u.s. at rush hour on a friday. anyways, my dad showed up, we loaded up the bikes, and arrived here at 7. though we didnt do the last 3% of our trip, im still very happy for what we've done! we left springfield oh on july 5th at 12 30, and arrived at my dads on july 18th at 7 or 8 p.m. its been an awesome trip, and id like to sincerely thank everyone who helped us along the way. you gave us the comfort and confidence necessary for successful travelling, and you helped us greatly on our way. heres a link to my photobucket, which has about 120 pictures from our trip. you can email me at joshuadaraja@gmail.com if you have any questions about any of them.

http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/joshuawalden/Springfield%20Atlanta%20Bike%20Trip%2008/

anyways, ill continue using this blog, but not exclusively for the bike trip. check back periodically! :D