End of Week 1

After some riding through POURING rain and Pittsburg rush hour traffic (the traffic was crazy and we were moving faster than the cars!! It was amazing) we finally arrived at Phil's house where we were greeted by his amazing, loving, giving family. They had warm showers, clean beds, laundry (!!) and an amazing meal of salmon with a yummy spinach concoction on top, butternut squash, and couscous waiting for us -- and not to mention chocolate chip cookies for dessert! We had a wonderful time meeting and talking with his family. They were seriously generous and we feel so lucky to have stayed with them. We even woke up to a breakfast of fruit and blueberry pancakes. A huge thank you to the Duvall family -- we love you!

So with full stomachs we got started riding! We had a beautiful ride on some bike trails out of Pittsburg and rode through West Virginia, our 5th state!

Our ride was slightly unconventional.. we had to hike up a steep, very vegetated CLIFF to get back to the road..

And of course, I fell again. What's a day without me falling right over because I forgot to clip out of my pedals, while completely stopped!

We stopped into a "cafe" in West Virginia to warm up, and the lady working there was so nice and gave us free tea and good conversation. What we didn't realize was that in West Virginia cafe really means bar! It was interesting to see some regulars walking in at 11am..

After that we did some serious detouring/by accident/four-wheeling on an uphill gravel road past a landfill and an ATV race course. 

And finally crossed the river into Ohio, woohoo!

After climbing some seriously steep stairs next to the highway,

We had fun seeing my cousin/uncle Chris for some Italian food. It was very yummy and filling -- just what we needed after all that back roading. 

Upon arriving at our planned campsite (that we hasn't reserved oops) we found it to be completely full for Memorial Day weekend! We called EVERY CAMPSITE IN THE ENTIRE STATE (not really) and ended up staying in a hotel nearby, which was definitely nice! 

-AW