Xmas has come and gone......finally.

Good afternoon. Sorry for the long wait between updates. We've been busy getting jobs, digging through dumpsters, and finding places to stay. Things you may have missed:

Matt Moll went back to Michigan for X-Mas. His brother Phil has survived boot camp, so the family came to Nola to pick up Matt. They took a trip to Georgia to visit Phil for graduation. Hopefully Matt can make it back to Nola soon, for some much needed debauchery, but only time will tell.

Mike works at a pizza place now, called Naked Pizza. They are a small company, and specialize in "healthy" pizzas with wheat crust and gluten free blah blah blah and vegetables. Get yourself one, they're pretty tasty. He makes pizza, plays on the bongos, and chases girls. He enjoys it.

Alex has two jobs, one at a pizza place called Reginelli's and another at a French bakery called La Madeleine. He washes dishes, operates cash registers, and serves white people French pastries. It kind of sucks, but money is money, and we need some.

Beside searching the city for jobs, the boys have spent a good amount of time dumpster diving. The city is rich with waste, and in one day they were able to score a feast of sweet potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, apples, bananas, donuts, rice krispy bars, canned apple sauce, several loaves of bread, fig bars, and all sorts of other goodies. Paying for food is a sham, and I don't want anyone to do it ever again.


Before Matt took off we had a few opportunities to meet people and couchsurf around town. We hung out with some squatter kids in the Bywater area, and a math teacher who lives in Uptown. Morgan, our friend from Nashville, hooked us up with her friend Chad, who lives just outside of town, and he put us up for a few days. Thanks for the warm beds, everyone.

New Orleans has some of the shittiest roads we have ever ridden. Potholes and patchwork make up most of it. Mike had about half a dozen flat tires before he finally hit the big one (a crater three feet wide in the middle of the road) and it ate his bike. His handlebars snapped off, and Mike went over the top. He survived. Since his bike was now un-rideable, he got a replacement delivered via Matt's parents a week later. He now cruises these mean streets on his purple and turquoise single speed, a favorite from Chicago.

On Sunday night, all the locals head over to the Hare Krishna temple for free supper. They have the best Indian food in town, and it's no wonder that it feels like church social. All the people we've met in town so far show up, and it's a good chance to catch up.

While at Sunday Social, we ran into another guy named Chad, whom we met a week earlier in Baton Rouge. He lives here, and coincidentally has a big house he's fixing up. Chad's pretty busy with work, and we needed a semi-permanent living solution, so we offered to work on the house in exchange for low-income housing. We are now sanding walls, prepping for paint, and building gardens. There are chickens in the yard, and sometimes in the kitchen. There is a dog named Copper, and everyone gets along pretty well.




I think that's about all for now. Just wanted to get you caught up with where we are now. We'll try our best to post more often, now that we are situated and getting out.

Peace,
Almosis

December 2nd, as i write this.

Wow. much has happened since we last posted...Here's the text, photo's coming soon.

The last time we wrote about our adventures was when we were in Natchez. We had our night out, and nothing much was going on. The town is very quaint and quite charming, however, the social life does not exist during hunting season. The little city had plenty of antebellum homes, a few museums, and gambling on a river boat. While we were there, the weather could not have been better, it was our first really nice day in a long while (weather wise), and while we were the, we were able to secure some housing in a town 60 miles away, Jackson Louisiana.

We made our way down a moderately trafficked, but generously shouldered, slice of haven that is U.S. 61. This was a long day, that was broken up by a trip down some back roads and across state lines. A very pretty ride. we even stopped at Valhalla, and rode again.

We finally made it to our evenings destination, and we were very glad we did. Perry and Lep, our hosts, were very cool. big time cyclists who have been in the game of bicycle bossin for over 15 years. They fed us tasty snacks, and cool beverages, then let us use their outdoor shower. Our hosts definitely had a nice spread, we were all very envious. The a fore mentioned outdoor shower is located on a good size piece of land, comes complete with an awesome workshop/bunk house, hurricane shelter, eco friendly house, and pet deer. yeah, this place was cool fo sho.

After our night at Perry and Lep's, we were off to Baton Rouge. Louisiana is so interesting to look at, by really? All of these oil refineries and litter on the side of the road make it kind of hard too... its sad.

On the way into B.R. Michael got his first flat, thats was changed quickly, but not before he had a chance to sit in ANOTHER Fire Ant's nest. After that, it was a short ride to the next stop. We made it to our host's place on state st. which is a very cool part of town. we defiantly had a blast there! Karien was super cool and relaxed with everything, she let us come and go, showed us some cool things, and brought us tasty treats home from work! thanks!

Chris and Morgan, the guys upstairs were pretty cool too, the had us over for thanksgiving, which was really cool. We all just kind of came together as stragglers, and really brought something cool together. It wasn't the fanciest or anything, but it was good, and no one went hungry, which is the most imporant part.

The day after Thanksgiving was critical mass. This day was a cold and dreary day, but we still managed to make it. It was a small group of riders, but we still had a blast anyway! The Mass ended up snaking its way downtown, back to camput, and eventually to someones house, for a party! This was a really fun party, tons of awesome people, some snacks, drum circles, and then the DJ showed up... it quickly turned into a dance party, and it couldn't have been better!

We finally took off the next morning. minus one. While in Baton Rouge, Matt accidentally injured his ankle, rendering him incapable for a day. Alex and Michael felt it was best to take off and Matt agreed. So they did,their journey, which was quite some way out of the way, but a great ride non-the-less, took them to some pretty cool parts of the world. They followed the river for most of it, crossing twice, once by ferry and the other by moving truck. On their first day out, the made it 65 miles through the sugar cane fields and bayou all the way to the little town of Napoleanville, there the stayed in the Catholic church's Rec. hall.

The next morning started off early and was ended quickly by a bit of gear malfunction, as well as sore bodies. Mike and Alex were lucky enough to have hooked up the right people at the right time, not to long after the breakdown, we were picked up by a very nice guy and take to the hardware store to get it fixed. Shortly after repairs and the realization that they may not be able to make it the next 50 miles.

With plans to hitchhike the rest of the way in their heads, they sat down at a mall to gather their ideas and voila, like that they were on their way to the big easy with a nice guy whom the helped out with some work in exchange for a ride.

Matt's story is a different one, Matt got up early on Saturday, and set out to make it to New Orleans in one day. Thats not an easy ride, its about 85 miles and no other way but highways. It's even more difficult when you are on a bum ankle, but Matt made it, which was just crazy. crazy...

One way or another, and miles of beautiful country, we find ourselves here, in New Orleans. And we like it, we really do. There is just a feel about it that lets you know that you could get down on it. We have decided to stay her for a while, a month or two, just to give it a try (and gather up some moola). Y'all should come on down, its a cool place, and a good time. latter!

Cranksgiving in Baton Rouge

Just a quick note tonight, the laptop isn't working with the Internet here, so were writing this on a phone...
We just want to say how much we miss everyone whom we haven't seen in a long while, old friends, hometowns, and our folks. Be that as it may, we have found so Many kind people in our travels, that it isn't so bad. So for our néw friends, Brian, John, Lauren, Morgan, Kory, Dina, and our hosts here in Batin Rouge, thanks, alot.
Love, peace, and chain grease,
Michael, Alex, and Matt

We made it!

Today after a quick but climactic ten miles we completed the Natchez Trace. We ended up first heading to the visitor center to see if we could finagle some free camping around town, but without any leads and having a sense of accomplishment we decided to bunker down at the days in. Tonight we plan on taking to the streets in downtown Natchez to celebrate, hoping to find good times and others to share them with. There aren't a lot of new pictures to post but here are some that we may have skipped over.
















The Trace truly was an amazing experience and would recommend it to anyone. Now onto New Orleans!

Day 42 - Old Friends/New Friends

Hey suckers. We've been having a blast between updates and finally have a chance to post another. Prepare for a PHOTO BOMB!

Since we last checked in, we've traveled another 200+ miles down the trace. We are currently near Port Gibson, MS, at mile marker 55 on the trace. One more day of riding and we will be in Natchez, MS, where the trail terminates, forced back into the fierce world of highways and subdivisions.



What you've missed:
Last week we spent a few days panhandling in Tupelo, earning enough money for food and buffets, before heading down the road. Thanks to the cool kids at 212 Cafe for the sandwich and phone numbers. Best cafe in town.



A few days ago, just outside of Houston, Matt Moll met a preacher at Wal-Mart. Tom Skelton was kind enough to offer not only food, but church service and a warm bed to these weary travelers. Matt felt like adventuring, Alex and Mike wanted company, so we went separate ways for a day, and each had a blast.


On Sunday morning Mike and Alex attended service with Tom, then retreated to his house for lunch. Tom is an ex-marine/security professional/karate instructor, and he had more than enough stories to keep us entertained for the evening. Meanwhile, Matt had made it to the next campsite down the road and conveniently ran into our old friend Brian, whom we met days earlier at a previous campsite. Matt and Brian shared a meal while Mike and Alex shared a bed (not really). The next morning, Tom was traveling to Jackson, MS, so we loaded up our bikes, met with Matt further down the road, and cruised into Jackson early in the afternoon. Thanks a million for everything, Tom.


We ran into Brian again, at a Wendy's in Jackson, while we were hatching our plan for the evening. We chatted a bit, then the three cyclists rented a cheap hotel room for the night (since camping was less than available). We donned our speedos, took a dip in the freezing outdoor pool, then consumed pizza and beer that evening.

Continental breakfast then back to the trace. 45 miles down the road, we made it to Rocky Springs. We had been there for less than an hour before we were sharing drinks with our new friend, John from Canada. John is a retired english teacher, traveling to Texas/Mexico for the winter in his RV.


We shared food, stories, and wine that evening, eventually meeting up (again) with Brian and his friendly pitbull Gypsy. Paul, another Canadian traveler, has joined our crew as well, bringing with him a friendly black lab named Muddy. We've spent a few days in Rocky Springs, hanging out and hiking with our little commune, and today we ventured into town to do some blogging and research. Tomorrow we will be heading to Natchez, the last stop on the trace, before trekking to New Orleans.




It's been quite a trip so far, and we're looking forward to meeting new friends and re-uniting with old friends. Thank you everyone.

Day #? - Where ARE we?

Hey y'all. It's been a while since we've been able to update, so we thought we'd get you caught up real quick. Don't have a clue what day we're on, all we know is it's been more than a month and nearly 900 miles since we left Chicago. We're currently in Tishomingo, Mississippi and loving the Natchez Trace. We've traveled about 140 miles so far down the Trace, with another 300 to go.



The first three days on the Trace were hard. Everyone had partied hard in Nashville and now we all had head colds. To make matters worse, it rained for 2 days straight, and we stayed holed up at a rest area for a few days to nurse our health and wait out the weather. When we finally got moving again, we met the coldest nights we've had yet, with temperatures dropping down to 28 degrees at night. We had to sleep in a bathroom one night, just to keep warm. We met a cool guy named Brian, who drove us to a Chinese buffet. He is traveling as well, in a van with his dog, going West just like us.





Eventually we got to do some legit camping and hung out at Colbert Ferry for a few days because we enjoyed the scenery and our cozy little camp. Lots of scenic views, the Tennessee River, and some Indian Mounds are a few things we've encountered. There was a very special wall we saw. One man built it by hand as a memorial to his Indian Grandmother, who was forced to walk the trail of tears and came back. He placed a new stone for every step she took. Very moving.



We've been riding slowly, meeting people and taking in all the sights the Trace has to offer. Now we've stopped in Tishomingo to pick up supplies, panhandle for donuts, and blog. We crossed two state lines to get here, and have averaged a new state every week since we left. The weather is warming up and stays around 65-70 during the days. The south is going to be awesome.





Enjoy the pics, and keep in touch.

hitting the trace

hi everyone, were starting the Natchez Trace today, so we'll be away from the internet for a long while. we might be able to get a chance here and that to hop on, but thats highley unlikley. So if all y'all dont here from us in a while thats it, but hopefully well have some awesome stories when we get to New Orleans! Wish us luck!

old post. Halloween eve in Nashville.

After running amok in downtown Nashville, we spent this day lounging around the house, laughing, telling stories, reminiscing of the prior evenings events, and planning the debauchery that was to ensue.

Morgan made us some delicious turkey tacos for dinner and after the table was cleared we began to get ready. Lauren was busy with her Peg Bundy costume, Morgan was a Cupcake doll, Alex was Hipster wolf (he'll tell you otherwise, but thats whats up) Michael was a jumberjack/Youkon Cornelius/The Travelosity Gnome, and Matt was the chicken from devo, a cock goblin if you will.

Matts costume was the most simple to throw together, so he hung around and nursed a cocktail while the others prepared themselves. A lot of crafting and makeup was done before everything came together, but when it did, it was good.

Pause for portraits and hen it was off to the first party, which was just around the block. There we had good company and a spread that would put any restaurant to shame. I'm talking home smoked and BBQ'd ribs, sausage, chicken wings, gormet cupcakes, peanut butter rice krispies, and countless other tasty treats. We done got ourselves FED!

On to the next one... After a quick ride down to the local spot called 5 points, we found ourselves getting turned away from one of the bars due to Matt's and Alex's expired I.D.'s, which put an immediate damper on the party scene, but not to worry because we were able to find a bar that would let us in, expired and fake i.d.'s alike. Rock on Nashville.

The bars were pretty standard, but a good time none the less. On our way home, Alex decided to cut up the middle no-handed... going really fast, he somehow lost his balance and went head over heels into a mailbox. the laughter was immediate. Dont worry folks, Alex is fine, not five minutes latter we were back home and raving in the living room.

Morgan whipped us up some tasty nachos, we decompressed, and the sleep was soon to follow.

The next day was Halloween proper and silly michael forgot his camera..... :(
We definataly had a good time though, we hit up the bars again, but only briefly because our good frien Kory, from Clarksville, came down! After we met up with him, Kory, Michael, and Matt went to the far west side of Nashville and found ourselves in a bamboo forrest. At a party. In a Mansion. Bamboo forrest.

That party was one of the crazyiest things i have ever witnessed. And thats all i have to say about that.

21, 22, 23, 24 coming atcha!

Wow, sorry about the delay in updating, we have just been doing so much, we seemed to have lost track of our blog. After our big day in Nashville, we hung around the house a bit more. Cali made us feel really comfy, and with a big leather couch, climate control, and cable, we were hard pressed to get moving. Michael made his way to REI to check out some new panniers because his were blowing out and would have made the trip really frustrating to continue with. Long story short, he found some, got them ordered, and then did some grocery shopping.

Gymnasties in the back yard.


So much seems to happen everyday, that all of the times get blended together, so i apologize for the lack of detail... i just cant remember anything else from that day...

Michael's panniers arrived the next day so we all piled in Calis car again and set out to go get them. Cali had a long day of school so we took her car back in to Nashville and jammed out to tunes, got ice cream, and cruised around and oogled girls. On our way back home we remembered the tantalizing smells that we had noticed coming from a small BBQ joint on the way back to the burbs, so we stopped there and had some awesome BBQ. Spicy chicken, pork plate, and rib tips for Matt. all of which had been hickory smoked for a million hours.... amazing.

Driving....weird.


On day 23 we said our good by's to Cali and Justin, and leisurely made our way back to Nashville VIA bikes. We made it to our new host's place, but not before getting lost-ish on the way, going to the airport, getting angry with each other, and some minor bike issues. FUCK COMMUTING ON BIKES IN NASHVILE!!!!! Seriously, this city needs to get its act together, motorists, pay the fuck attention. Tennessee law gives bikes all of the rights that cars have while on the road, so black lady near the airport, fuck off and dont call us assholes, learn how to drive in the 21st century.

Wow, ok, sorry. Here we are now at Morgan's and L-l-l-l-aurens place, and its awesome. Both are amazing artists and kind, warm people. Morgan made us some amazing pasta while Lauren entertained us. We got fed, drank wine, and laughed at silly pets. then the sleep came.

Rasta Pasta


Turtle, the dog.



Good morning day 24. We made an early start of it, leaving with our hosts as they went off to their Jay-Oh-Bees. We rode our bikes around Nashville seeing, the Parthenon, dragon park, and heavy traffic. silly Michael forgot his camera so there are no photos from this day of adventure, but know that we saw some cool stuff.

back to the house to get ready for the night out!

We all had a great time sitting around the table playing card games and trying on wigs and fake mustaches. after more wine, laughter, and antics, we took to the streets by force, rolling five deep on bikes. I'm sure that we were quite the sight... We made it down to Roberts Western World and honky tonk'd like it was our 'ma fukin day job. it was truly ridiculous to texas swing looking like a lumberjack, animae girl, skelitor, the mad hatter, and captain mullet.

Trashy or classy.... you decide.




Roberts wacky western world!


Antics ensue...


Da club..


after the honky tonk, we went across the street to the Cadillac ranch where all the college kids who arent into country go. Alex grinded up on some ladies, Matt shook his groovethang like only he knows how, and Michael ran around telling people that he was from some scene website and snapped a million and a half pictures that we cant really show you, due to the questionable legality of how they were obtained...

Disco? Disco... DISCO!!!!



so around 2 we were wrecked enoough to leave and made our way back to the place. sleep quickly followed with thoughts of sleeping in and fried meats dancing in our heads...

Good person. One of our host's...

#20!

Mike took Callahan to class/work today so we could borrow her car for the afternoon. Sweet. Before coming back to the house, he did some quick recon at the REI Store for new bike bags. He found some, and ordered them. They will arrive tomorrow.

Mike came home, we dicked around for a bit, then DROVE to Nashville. The highways are much more comfortable in vehicles designed for them. Wondered around downtown for a few hours in sparse showers.




We saw buildings, country bars, mountains in the distance, and back alley strip joints. It was cool.



We headed back to Cali and Justin's. We jammed out in their car. The clouds were nice.




While hanging with Justin, we had the opportunity to hold some guns. Since it had been a while, we did it with intensity.