July 29, 2018
Utica – White Mills
129 km (80 miles)
1585 m (5199 feet) elevation
5:22 moving time
5511 km (3425 miles)

Yesterday’s blog was published late as we had no WIFI at the fire station. We walked around town and connected to some open network just to be able to say hi to the family but didn’t dare stand there for too long!

Today was another beautiful day for riding, especially in the morning. The scenery is still wonderful and some of the houses are amazing. There are obviously also less amazing houses and the disparity between rich and poor is very obvious.

We had two dog incidents today. The first was when three barking dogs came running towards us. We both yelled at them in our most commanding voices. Monika was in front and they soon backed away and started running along side Saemi who finally had a chance to try the air horn. The dog next to him was definitely surprised and backed off for a while before growling even more and coming back. By then we had ridden far enough from their home that they soon lost interest.

The next dog we knew about beforehand as some locals shouted at us to beware of the Rottweiler some 2 miles up the road. They said he was usually loose and chased cyclists. Jibby! Cycling those 2 miles was a bit nerveracking. We rode up a small hill to make a turn and there it came out of nowhere without barking so we noticed him later than we would have liked. Used the same technique which worked surprisingly well.

Why do the most aggressive dogs all live at the top of hills?!?!?

The hills were less steep today than yesterday which was nice. Hopefully is stays that way until we reach the Appalachian mountains. The roads are still fairly narrow with no real shoulder but there is little traffic and the drivers are super considerate.

We crossed over the last time zone and are now on Eastern Time Zone.

Monika did not have the best day today. She had an upset stomach and really had to fight hard to finish the riding today but she is a fighter and never complaints.

A gentleman by the name of Bruce who recently found our blog and lives in Kentucky contacted us and wanted to meet us and learn more about Iceland. We agreed to meet and he drove to where we planned on finishing today and as we weren’t there yet he drove towards us until he found us.

He took us to a great all-you-can-eat restaurant where we had some great food and dessert! We talked politics, religion, American and Icelandic culture and he tought us a lot about Kentucky and the settlement of America. He also brought us fruits and clif bars to get us going in the morning and Monika some airhorne to use on the dogs – how awesome is he!!! 🤗

Bruce was very fun, interesting, generous and informative. He used to serve in the army as a dentist. He is doing his own TransAm ride broken down into four parts.

Thanks Bruce for dinner and a great evening! Contact us if you plan in visiting Iceland!

We are staying in another volunteer fire station tonight and after dinner the chief of the station came by to talk to us. Real nice and friendly guy who is also planning in riding the TransAm someday.

It is amazing to meet so many friendly and fun people.