1. Glacier National Park.
1. Glacier National Park.
2. Glacier National Park.
3. Glacier National Park.
4. Glacier National Park.
5. Many thanks to Sammy (left) and Bob (right). Bob ferried me most of the way across the construction just outside of Libby, Montana in his pickup, and Sammy got me the ride the rest of the way.
6. Dinosaur statute on a hilltop just outside of Glasgow, Montana. Note painted footprints crossing the road and going up the hill.
Last Modified on 9/30/97 at 9:13:17
Day's Narrative: Starting off in Ray's home town of Munfordville was a really wonderful experience, especially so because they were celebrating the battle of Munfordville, which took place during the American Civil war. Ray's brother, Jim, who was a vocational guidance teacher is quite a history buff and added an extra dimension to the day. Kentucky was officially neutral because they were split down the middle and could not decide which side to join, so decided to stay neutral. That did not stop both sides tramping through Kentucky and fighting there. It also did not stop locals joining up, some by choice and some by a gun in the back. Ray's great grandfather for example and his twin brother joined up and fought for the South. They were captured by their uncle who took them to POW camp in Chicago. His grandfather survived but the twin died. I don't know if you saw it on Ray's pictures, but the pageant put on by the local schools for the day included a high school band whose uniforms were split down the centre. One side was Union and the other was Confederate. This is very PC. So called rural Kentucky is not rural in the sense that we know it in most of South Africa. One reason is that most farms are no more than between 100 and 200 acres on average, and are run for the most part without farm hands. Excellent rainfall, fertile soil and mechanisation to a large extent helps them do this. With the farms fairly small and close together you are never far from a house as you ride along on your bicycle. But non-farm housing spread into the farm lands also means that at any one time you are probably within sight of a house. That's because of lax zoning and the extension of services such as city water, electricity, phone, and very importantly, the school bus system which ensures that no matter where you live your kid will get to school and be brought home. However with all these houses in sight you may not be able to get help from many of them. That's because everybody is out at work. Sometimes it feels a little weird riding past all these homes with no sign of life. You get that feeling in the cities. In Greensboro, North Carolina I rode into the central business district among the office blocks during working hours. At street level there were no shops. There was no pedestrian traffic. No sign of life. I just had this knowledge that there were thousands and thousands of people entombed in these steel and glass structures. At go-home time they would emerge in their cars from the parking garages and clog the highways. There is an interesting thing about the post boxes that line the roads of the US. Every post box has a street number, identifying that person's mail address. In Kentucky, there seems to be a lot more husband and wife as a team approach. You'll see most of them also marked, for e.g.. "John and Patty Jones". But the pattern changes. In Western Virginia it appears a lot more patriarchal, boxes there are marked for e.g. "James Watson". Are they not married? Or, don't their womenfolk count? Store sign seen along the way near Clinton, "Tart Town - fine ladies apparel" Some Final Remarks [Ray] One of the more difficult things will be adjusting to the real world again. I mean, I actually have other things I have to do besides bicycle. I believe that my sons Jonathan and Robby really made this trip and the web page log fantastic when they gave me the digital camera for my birthday just before I left. All the pictures you have seen on this web page were done with it, a Kodak DC20. It will hold 8 high resolution photos (about 640 X 480) before it has to be unloaded, and it can be used with a PC or a Macintosh. In Kentucky when Steve and I were bicycling alone we had a unique problem. Steve couldn't understand what people were saying (because of the accent), and I couldn't hear them (because I damaged my hearing on a shooting range many years ago). So when a car passed and someone yelled something we had no idea what was said. We would just wave back. In Virginia Steve and I were having breakfast at a small town cafe dressed in full bicycle regalia. I was explaining to the waitress that Steve had come over from South Africa to ride with me and she said quite seriously, "Oh, did you bicycle over?" Steve was very polite and answered seriously, "No, I took a plane over." I almost couldn't contain myself. The most beautiful part was definitely Glacier National Park. See photos 1-4 above. The saddest part of the trip was when Jonathan had to stop cycling south of Chapel Hill, NC because of his knee. Photo 5. I really appreciate Bob giving me a ride part way across the construction just outside of Libby, Montana. Sammy was really helpful finding the family in a pickup who carried me the rest of the way. One of the funniest things was the dinosaur statue on the outskirts of Glasgow, Montana where someone had painted footprints on the road, across the fence and up the hill to the statue (photo 6). I was really glad my good friend Steve Maister came over from South Africa to bicycle with me. We have bicycled together a lot on the roads east of Johannesburg, and the riding with him here was very enjoyable. My sons Jonathan and Robby wanted to to bicycle more of the trip than they did, but had trouble getting more time off from work. They are really easy companions, and I always have fun riding with them. Statistics There were 58 days in the trip. I took off 15 days, leaving 43 riding days. The distance covered was 3517 miles or 5659 km. That comes out to be an average of 81.8 miles per day or 131.6 km per day for the 43 riding days. The largest distance covered in a day was between Glasgow, Montana and Williston, North Dakota with Neville Richter. That day we rode 149 miles or 240 km. We had a 30 mph (50 km/hr) tailwind. At noon that day we had already ridden 100 miles (162 km). There were 7 days when the distance ridden was greater than 100 miles (162 km), and 15 days when the distance was greater than 90 miles (145 km). Steve rode 1145 km from Kentucky to the beach. Jonathan rode about 300 miles and Robby rode 395 miles from Abington, VA to the beach. Great Unsolved Bicycle Problem How can one avoid a sore bottom caused by the bicycle seat? Conditioning doesn't seem to be the answer. I rode 12,000 miles (19,300 km) in three years getting ready for this trip, and 457 miles (735 km) the three weeks prior to leaving. That did not seem to do it. Some Final Remarks [Connie] In this journey, we have stayed in numerous towns and an equal number of motels. One or two have been quite grand and convenient--very clean (if multi-story places--with elevators and porter's carts) rate the most points. Our current motel has two stories and when I asked the desk clerk if there was an elevator, she said, "We only have two stories." I took that to imply that anyone could get stuff up a flight of stairs. Not so. At 30, I could have done it well enough and did at least that and more (mostly with full diaper pails on the way to the washer in the basement.) With a sprained ankle, ground floor is difficult enough, second floor is virtually impossible. The disability act has apparently not been given even remote consideration here. She did find me a ground floor room however. The staff everywhere unfailingly have been helpful and courteous, but they must work within the constraints of their facility. There is no porter's cart here either. If you have looked at the location of our stay, you know it is a Holiday Inn--this chain consistently has gotten my highest ratings--they are in the process of renovating all their establishments so that each will be as good as the rest. Further motel impressions. My first impression of a room is its smell. It colors every remaining reaction to the motel. We have always insisted on non-smoking rooms. In one month-old motel, the room was non-smoking from the beginning. In every other case, it was a converted smoking room and there is always a residual odor which, I think, could only be removed by gutting the room, stripping off wallpaper and replacing every porous surface, an endeavor too expensive for any motel, I would think. We have noticed that more and more motels are adding additional nonsmoking rooms to their room inventory. As an aside, Steve is getting ready to part from us and fly to Atlanta to visit a cousin. In the process of packing, he is getting his bike ready and just brought down the luggage rack that we loaned him with the comment that his bike is now "free from oppression and ready to race again." We will miss Steve's company. Ray has had a congenial riding partner and we both -- along with the boys since they joined us -- have enjoyed his perceptions of the country and country-side. When one lives with something all the time, one doesn't see things that were "always there." It takes a visitor to lead one's thinking into other paths. Food is another topic. While riding, Ray found it to be an all-consuming (not a pun, just the words I could think of) worry every day. Where could he find the next meal, or coke, or other source of energy replacement. At nighttime, we were usually too tired to go exploring the town for "that nice Italian, Greek, barbecue, etc. etc." and ate what was close-by. Most so-called "country food" in the Midwestern areas should be banned. Real flavorful, well-cooked, country food, like that cooked by JoAnn Spratt and Inez van Arsdall seems not to make it to the eating-out public. We've discussed this previously. No amount of Tabasco, Worcestershire, or other flavoring added to over-cooked bland glop can make it palatable. We've aimed toward Chinese food in many places and, except for the carry-out meal we had in Greensboro, NC, it too has been bland, possibly because it has been flavored-down for timid tastes. It's time for us to have some real New Mexican green chile. Places that serve breakfast all day are good because bacon, eggs, potatoes all have pleasant intrinsic flavors. Since the need for huge amounts of food has passed with the passing of the ride, we will try to return to our regime of small, or no breakfast, reasonable lunch, and fruit for dinner. Some Final Remarks [Robby] It was really quite remarkable that my father took this ride. He has been threatening to do this since I was little. I don't know when he got the idea, maybe back in 1961 when he took his first long bicycle trip from Chapel Hill to here in Wilmington, North Carolina. I am both proud and amazed, and I hope that I can do the same when I am 60. Bicycling is, I believe, the best form of transportation. Traveling at 12 miles an hour is a great way to see the country. There are pains involved; flat tires, lots of sweat, sore knees and aching muscles, but through it all bicycling is still the best way to see the world. It was really great to ride at least a little portion of my father's cross-country trip. I am sorry that I was not able to ride the whole thing. This was, as I have stated before, a once-in-a-lifetime ride. I am happy that Jonathan, Dad and I had this great trip together. It is important for people to do things like this in their lives, to take chances and explore the world. I will remember this ride for the rest of my life. This is all folks [Ray] The trip was about bicycling, of course. However it was also about adventure. I always kept looking for the uneventful day, but it never came. I mean, there were days when I was really tired and spent so much time in the shower that I expected the motel management to come by and say the other guests wanted some hot water too. Those days I didn't put as much on the web page, perhaps. The whole trip sort of jams a tremendous amount of experience into a very short time. I still remember the automobile accident I came upon in Wax, Kentucky, and the body lying by the side of the road with the sheet over it. I could not bring myself to stop and take a picture. It was too grim and sad. There was no way a photo could capture the emotion of the moment, and it didn't seem like it was respectful to take the picture either. Anyway, for me the trip did not satisfy the desire for the adventure that led me to do it. That desire is now worse. I suspect that this kind of trip is addictive. Neville Richter and I seem to have found a common interest or goal in the few short days we rode together. We have been in contact since parting in North Dakota, and just last night were discussing where we might ride together next year. So it goes on and on. © Ray & Connie Poore, 1997
Some general notes from Steve
Strange emphasis on certain words in the US. One has heard of the conservatives talking about family values. But the use of the word family goes further. You get, especially in rural parts, restaurants advertised as "family restaurants". This means they don't serve liquor. There are lots of them, especially in Kentucky because most of the state is dry. So, then, what do you make of the term "family dentistry practice"? Return