“Today is our first whole day in Minnesota. We rolled into the state late last night
along a nice country road. The first
fireflies we have seen on the trip ushered us in. We went 89 miles today. It seemed effortless, as if we floated across
the ground. This surely has to do with
the fact that today was the first day in two weeks under ninety degrees. All through the heat wave people praised our
courage. One lady saw us riding down the
road and immediately offered us ice water and freeze pops. Let me tell you, when you have been riding in
the heat a purple freeze pop tastes like divine ambrosia. Yesterday we saw the
new batman movie in Sioux Falls South Dakota.
Everyone loved it. Afterwards we
hung out in a Barnes and noble to beat the heat. Over the last few days we have been hanging
out with another group of bike tourists.
We rode with them for a while.
There were 6 of them and 9 of us.
We were quite a sight to see riding fifteen strong down the back roads
of South Dakota. We met another guy
named john who had been riding since New Years day 2011. He was 8000 miles into a 12000 mile bike
ride. We had fun sharing food and
stories. Tonight we are camping in a
city park in Sherburn Minnesota. There
are some big cities coming up. We plan
to stay in a hostel in Chicago and take a rest day to explore the city.” –
Jacob, Trip Leader
“It is amazing how the community of cyclist are so friendly
compared to other activities. I have come to recognize that majority of bikers
support other bikers. While we are cruising down a street another biker will
pass and honk to show support. Or like yesterday, a group of cyclist joined us
for our 75 mile day.
"Because of the humidity, the group woke up this
morning practically sweating. However, to our great pleasure our route took us
onto a nicely shaded bike path for about 14 miles! After stopping for some
Italian ice we made our way to our new camp where we had to quickly set up
tents before inclement weather came in. Seemingly in the nick of time we
managed to get all the tents up and the gear inside before the downpour. So now
the question: what do we do now that it's raining? How about dinner in an old
time diner and a movie (the amazing spider man)? Sounds good to me!” – Kyle Trek
Leader
"The Great Allegheny Trail is so much fun. Woke up, had breakfast and packed.
Rode 30 or so miles to Riverside Campground. In the meantime, we swam several
times in the river alongside the trail. We ate burritos for lunch by the trail,
and we are looking forward to biking more tomorrow." --Gustav, Teen Trekker 
“Greetings from the Netherworld! Two days ago we visited a lighthouse in Haarlem. It originally was built in the 1600s, but burned down in 1938. It was reconstructed a few years ago but a handful of volunteers who wanted to preserve the Old knowledge on wind power. It was really cool to see the inner workings and learn about the way of life of the miller. Afterwards we rode to Zandvoort for a fun afternoon at the beach, swimming in the North Sea! Yesterday it was cold and rainy all day and spirits were pretty low when we arrived at our campsite at the thoughts of pitching our tents in the driving rain. So we decided to stay in a nice dry cabin! After a good night’s sleep, we're ready to head for the ferry that will take us back to England. So long, Holland!” – Bryan, Trip Leader
“Today we
woke up near the canal trail and after getting all of our stuff together set
out on it. The trail was very flat and wonderful except for an annoying
headwind. We got to Brockport almost out of water and were able to fill up in
their Welcome center and do laundry. We explored some and got a few HUGE slices
of pizza as a snack. We are now off to lunch (Maybe more pizza). Just 20 more
miles left today.We will be
near Albion.” – Megan, Teen Trekker 
“Yesterday we started in Martha’s Vineyard and we just made
it to the ferry! We then biked a few miles on a bike path. Later we stopped at
Rainbow Fruit Market where we got a lot of different fruit, it was very good.
After that we had my favorite part of the day when we stopped for ice cream. We
got to stay at a hotel for the night. We started a game where we compare our
leaders to animals, it was really funny!” -- Jack, Teen Trekker
“The bike trip of the C&O Canal is a blast! We all are
having so much fun and we are looking forward to Washington, DC! Today we got
American flags and placed them on our bikes. Now people will watch us with the
flags soaring behind us! We are getting to camp early so we can jump in the
river and take some time to swim. Everyone is getting along great. Who knows
how awesome the trip will be with these guys!” – Tyler, Trip Leader 
“The lasagna in Amsterdam is awesome. Yesterday, we went for a walking tour of the
city. Our guide was so animated that we
began to wonder if she had visited a coffee shop right before the tour
began. We learned that the Dutch have a
long history of social reform. We crossed canals, sampled fine cheeses, and saw
a house just 1.8 meters wide (the man who lives inside is taller than that!) After
the tour we wandered around for a while to soak up the city, exploring shops,
books, chocolate, bridges and other neat stuff. This morning we mustered the
courage to enter the Anne Frank house.
It was really intense and quite sobering to reflect on the atrocities
committed during the war. Afterwards we
cheered ourselves up with a visit to the site of the first flea market (there's
still one I operation today) and some warm coffee in a leaning rickety old
building that was once a gatehouse for a canal.
After that, we visited the waterfront to see Renzo Piano's Nemo. Then we went for a ride on a canal boat
before winding down at the hostel over some delicious nachos. Life is good.” – Bryan, Trip Leader 
“We are in Hill City, SD! We are right next to Mount Rushmore;
we’re going to go see it tomorrow morning. Today we didn’t get very far, only
about 45 miles because it was all up hill and into the wind. It was a tough day
but we were all looking forward to seeing Mount Rushmore, so it was worth it.” --
Jacob, Trip Leader
