Woo Hoo!!!!!  Ryan is at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina!  He will complete this blog but I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who touched his life, through your thoughts, prayers, encouragement, hospitality, sharing, stories, traveling together, and celebrating his journey in so many ways.

Ryan is traveling through Tennessee. He stayed last night at a motel in Tazewell. He was waylaid a little short of that day's goal with 2 flat tires and dark and stormy weather. He hopes to get into Asheville, North Carolina by tomorrow afternoon.  He has biked about 3200 miles in 9 1/2 weeks. 

Ryan called today from Hartford, Kentucky (about halfway between Owensboro and Bowling Green). Last night he stayed with someone in Henderson, Kentucky just south of Evansville, Illinois. He's put in some long days of biking to make up for his layover for bike repair in Carbondale.  He is staying at a Methodist church tonight. He is noticing that there are less places to camp in the southeast and that more of the towns don't allow camping in city parks.  However people have been very generous about opening up their homes to him.  He has veered off the TransAmerica Trail now in an effort to make a beeline toward Asheville, N.C.  His college orientation begins on Tuesday August 20th. As he has begun to reflect on the whole of his trip, he has been grateful for the richness of experiences of people and places.  He hopes someday to get more of it written down, but it may take awhile, as he has a lot to do to settle into college (which at his college means not only studies but work and service to the community as well, and he's talking about running in cross country). 

Ryan is in Carbondale, Illinois where he plans to get into a bike shop tomorrow (all closed on Sundays) to fix a loose wheel (stripped nut).  He had another flat tire on Friday but was able to get help getting into Chester, IL. In both places he had places to stay out of the rain. We were out of cell phone range so we don't have more details of his latest adventures, just messages. 

Ryan called last night from west of Eminence, Missouri, near the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. The night before that he was in Houston, MO.  Earlier he said Missouri felt like a roller coaster ride of hills, (especially on the roads that had rumble strips less than a foot apart and narrow bike lanes). Now he likened it to Kipling's Just so Stories, with swampy areas, slow moving rivers, and lots of trees. He is enjoying the scenery a lot, despite all of the rain. He is also fascinated by the variety of conversations he's having with people. Recently he talked with someone who had a family history of people who raised sharks to feed royalty. 

Ryan called most recently when he was near Pittsburg, Kansas about 15 miles west of the Missouri border.  He was happy to see a few more trees and slightly hilly terrain ahead.  He talked a little about the huge amount of grasshoppers jumping around and landing on him and his bike as he bikes along. He isn't used to the noise of cicadas and grasshoppers yet and night times are a lot noisier than he is used to.  He's run into a lot of rain and thunderstorms lately.  He is trying to reach college for orientation by August 20th, so he is focusing more on routes and distance.  He hopes when he has time to process his trip to write down more about his adventures and post pictures.

Ryan called from Newton, Kansas this evening about 5pm. He had a long day yesterday with a series of mishaps including flat tires that wouldn't hold a patch. Before that he did get out to see the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center ( cosmo.org ) and had an interesting chat with an inventor. On the lighter side, he said he had breakfast at a senior center (he's done this a few times), played piano for them and chatted with the folks who were there. Today he got into town, got a new tire, was able to overhaul his bike in a local shop, and was hoping to get some good rest tonight after kind of a sleepless night yesterday near an Amtrack line. He sounds good but tired.
Love ya Ry!
-Dad