Our American Dream

5000 kms…

Maybe it’s time to write again a little bit…

Well, just a little then. Because… tomorrow, we will cross the Mexico border.

Let's reflect back on my american dream. After crossing the US border our first meeting with an American was with Mark at Whitefish. He gaves us his bed (even if we had our mattress) after an evening around a bonfire on his balcony. We talked a lot about american politic, music, skiing, travelling. We didn’t know this at the time but he was going to be the first of a long serie of americans surprising us by their open-mind and their kindness !

At this time, we were still with the temporary rear wheel given by Frank and his son, and still trying to reach Missoula where our new and better wheel was. But… (there is always a but)… less than 100kms away from Missoula, we hear the critical sounds and noises again ! Broken spokes agaaaaiiiin !! We changed it, and got back on Sublime… then 20kms away from Missoula… guess what… we suddenly hear the same horrible noise.

We decided to trust Sublime, we didn’t change the spoke, and we were right to do so ! We succeeded to reach the Adventure Cycling Association and our new wheel was beautiful. Full of spokes (48 instead of 36), it was almost perfect… almost. One small piece was left to machine. Okay… how can we find a machinist in Missoula ?? Well, the kindness of americans surprised us again. Luc from FreeCycle (an awesome community bike shop, with available tools, pieces and help) made some calls and found an address, they gave us some bikes to get there, and there we went. Our aluminium piece was machined by an old professional man.

All these adventures in Missoula took some time away from us, but it was not a problem at all since we were hosted by the most wonderful family, Ryan and Brandi. We met them a few days before on a dirty road, and after a little chat they told us : « Hey, if you go through Missoula, we can welcome you, nightlife is good, food is good, beer is good » ! How to refuse an offer like that ?? We tried the beer, in a micro-brewery where the deal was : you pick up the hop from the plant for us and you get a beer in exchange ! At Ryan's we have also watched… wait for it… Harry Potter, the first one ! And Superman !! I cannot believe how good it feels to sit in a couch, with popcorn, a warm blanket and nice people !

So, after this well deserved rest, let's go on the road again !! And we are not alone ! We took the same road as Davide, an italian guy cycling around the world (from Italy to east Asia, then Australia, and now America). He is also going to Argentina, so we cycled a little bit with him, and we exchanged our contact info to meet again elsewhere. It was great to exchange advices, habits, pain, joy, and anything that a cyclist can experience (yes we can call ourselves cyclists now).

A few days later, we ended up in the Big Hole Valley (no borderline jokes please). There, we met Lois and Larry, a super nice couple, used to cycle, super welcoming. They invited us to stay at their home in Dillon, a little further away (100km… easy). As travelers, they knew perfectly what we needed, a shower, some food, funny stories, the feeling to be home, but also some new warm clothes for the Yellowstone National Park. They had an incredible discount at the Patagonia outlet of Dillon. Those people were so interesting, nice, smart, helpful… we could have stayed there for way longer just to enjoy their presence... and the landscape. The Big Hole Valley is a huuuuge land, with horses and cattle in yellow fields, surrounded by mountains in each direction. The sunsets and sunrises were gorgeous there...

But we went on. As always, on the road again with motivation to reach Yellowstone.

We have been talking about the Yellowstone Park for soooooooo long… it was like a legend we wanted to see, but it was so far away then. And suddenly… you are there, no more a legend, but another beautiful step of the journey. How to describe it ? The Yellowstone National Park is an open sky laboratory. It is super interesting on a geological point of view, you can see acid or alkaline geysers, blue or orange lakes, mountains and plains, mud volcanos. You can smell the sulfur, you can have vertigo in the Yellowstone Grand canyon, you can meet bison, wolves, elks…Those meeting were a little bit scary, until we figured out that bisons are afraid of Sublime. We biked behind a horde of 50 running bisons. Unconscious or fun ? Anyway, we are still alive ! I think that the most dangerous thing in Yellowstone was not bisons… but the storm. We were pedaling, chilling, enjoying everything thrown at us when the sky became really dark. Then, ice-cube started to fall from the sky. I think it is called hail. I think I can explain why this word is so close to « hell ». They left some bruises on my legs and we were happy to wear helmets. But, every bad thing comes to an end, and we reached the campgrounds where Hunter and his dad offered us dinner and a huge blazing fire protected from the rain. The next (wet) morning, we had breakfast with all our friends to forget the difficulties of the previous day. Larry and Lois were there, enjoying the Yellowstone Park, as well as Hunter and his dad, and even Davide with whom we cycle again for some days.

The good thing about the bad weather is that I can tell you more about our material. My tent (Nordisk Halland 2) is super resistant to the wind, but it gets wet inside quite fast… however, my sleeping bag (Yeti Vib 400) is awesome, super warm, resistant, fluffy. For the clothes, no doubt, Patagonia is the best brand I will recommend, warm, beautiful, colourful, technical, light, and their philosophy is eco-friendly. Thank you again Christophe from Trakks (one of the best shop for running-enthusiasts in Belgium) for your precious tips ! In the bad weather, I also have to thanks Philippe from Lasne Optic, because my correctives glasses saved us even in the fog. And finally, about our Berghen shoes, they are so waterproof that they even keep water inside when it drops down from our ankles. No kidding, those shoes are really good.

By continuing South from Yellowstone, you end in Grand Teton national park, where you can find the Gros Ventre mountain. This is the American sense of humour I suppose ! We witnessed the real fall there. Beautifull orange-yellow-red birch, then a line of green pine and the white mountain behind, with (if you are lucky) the cold blue sky. The mix of color is a festival for your eyes.

After a small break in Rock springs (where we could not find any place to stay, so as a consolation we went to the cinema… 2 times in a row… Suicide Squad then The 7 Magnificients. Ask me if you have to choose !), we arrived at Vernal. All this time, we were still above 2000m above sea level, and people were always telling us : « oooh, but after this point, it is mostly down hill, it’s going to be an easy ride ! »… Never trust a car driver when they talk about elevation profile. They lie ! They know nothing ! So we had a hugely difficult climb just before Vernal but once there, we were hosted by a wonderful family, Kim and Aaron and their kids, Calvin, Jeyna and Beck. I think that Calvin (5 years) is now my best friend forever ! We laughed a lot him and me, talking about the dinosaurs bones we saw in the museum. Later we had a more grown-up kind of fun. We went shopping, bought some bullets and went to shoot some zucchinis. It was fun ! Violent, but fun since they were only zucchinis !

The next big step in our american dream was Moab and the famous Arches national park, symbol of the Utah state. The red rocks have been sculpted by the time, the wind, and the water to form spectacular arches far above your head. Again, the colors were gorgeous since the contrast between deep blue of the sky and the flamboyant red is so strong ! We stayed in Moab for 3 nights in an hostel called The Lazy Lizard, full of travelers from everywhere, going anywhere, with anyone by any way ! We talked with Mihai and Vincent (from Quebec) about all of the nice places to see in south america, we can’t wait to be there (but still, we are always super happy to be here now, don’t make me say what I didn’t !). Jeff from Oregon (I think) rode along Colorado with us. Mark went hiking during our day off (I mean… off the bike, because, when we take days off, we hike, we fix, we visit, we chat, we write these…) for 3 hours through the Arches. Timber and Sunny gave us a ride in their van and offered us to try some strange things (we refused, mum and dad).

Moab was full of emotion, sport, nice and young people, landscapes,…

So we were on the road again. Our rhythm is about between 80 and 120 km a day. We usually sleep in nature doing dispersed camping, or in city park (totally cool in USA… well, nobody bothered us anyway), or on some private parking, backyard,… it depends. It’s kind of funny to not really have a home (for us, as we know our luck and the temporary aspect of our experience). But anyway, we discovered amazing places ! We went through another park with natural stone bridges, on a gravel road going downhill literally on a cliff, called Moky Dugway. We went through a canyon slicing through grey stone in which a silver river runs (Gooseneck park), across legendary places on the John Wayne's tracks, the Monument Valley… All of this trip is wonderful (Waw… it’s getting harder and harder to find words to describe the beauty we see).

But finally, what had us the most surprised in this american dream was the diversity of people. We met a Navajo family, Kenneth and Alyce Davis and their kids, and their brothers and sisters, and their grand-kids, and a lot of people (we really didn’t understand who was who actually…). They also kinda adopted us, including us in their horse ride to the ceremonies of the fair of Tuba City. We were with them for 4 days, following the horses, camping with the group (more than 30 horses, plus families). We had the honor to butcher and eat a sheep, I mean, the whole sheep. They explained us about their traditions, their beliefs, their ceremonies, and their history. They are really funny people, making lots of jokes often about us… I think, maybe, Lio and I are married now, on a Navajo point of view. They wanted us to make… kids on the blanket they offered us. We didn’t…

Anyway, I will miss this bunch of incredible people, all generations mixed, super friendly, super familiar.

Since the beginning of the trip, when people asked us « where do you go, which road will you take ? », the answer was, as an old song, « we want to go to Yellowstone, then the Grand Canyon, then south to Mexico ». So… to the Grand Canyon we went ! Another place of legend. A place where humans tried to live, to exploit the grounds, but still certainly one of the wildest place I have ever seen. I could (and actually did) spend hours staring at the cliffs, the rocks, the plateau, the color line in the rocks, the sky… It is so impressive, making you feel like just a witness to what nature can do when and where it wants to…

To finish our amazing journey in United States of America, we stopped by Flagstaff, at the Wason's. John and his wife, Sharon, are climbers, travelers, parents. They seem to have found the good way of life. They took the habit to start a new job and quit it as often as they wanted to travel, having found the perfect balance between indoor and outdoor life… They were (aside of nice, funny) inspirational ! They also introduced us to Joe (an intarissable source of tips about Mexico) and Bill and Melanie. So after Flagstaff, we spent one night in Tucson. Bill, a photographer, took us to an exposition and an artist’s talk about the borderlands and their richness. As tired as we were, it was a really good evening ! And I can’t talk about Tucson without mentioning the Saguaro National Park (the last one !). This park is only about cactuses… Cactis ? Well they were huuuuge, and there are whole forests of them !!

Finaly our two last nights in USA were in Bisbee. How to describe Bisbee ? Even the name of this town is fun. It is an old town stuck between cliffs, built there because of the copper mine, which is closed now. But then, all kind of artists took possession of the place, and turned it into an open sky gallery during the day, and a giant bar at night ! Carl, playing banjolele with his band, played at the Grand Hotel while Steven, Janice, Yelsa, Lio and I (sorry for the spelling guys !) were enjoying beers from the local (of course) micro-brewery.

As of today, our American dream has taken us to the border. Thank you to all our americans friends, we are in Mexico !!! Other culture, other language, everything is different !

Everything, except… Sublime !

See you in another dream !

Thanks again to my sponsors :

TraKKs

Syemens cyclo Genval

Le journal du raid - 123Ecole

Berghen

Lasne Optic