Below is an archive of guestbook entries I received and sent when this journal was posted at the Crazy Guy on a Bike website.

CycleBlaze (where this journal is now) allows comments for each day’s entry and for each individual picture, if you’d like to leave a note.

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#1: Great idea for a ride!
 By Aaron Bransky (arbransky) on Sat 4 May 2013 13:54 (US/Pacific)
Jeff, I bet you are going to like your new bike on this trip. Looks like a lot of fun, look forward to following along!
Aaron

#2: Re: Great idea for a ride!
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Sun 5 May 2013 16:43 in reply to #1
Aaron,
Thanks. I got the new chain and tires on the bike yesterday. Deciding what maps and print-outs to take, and packing is what’s left. It’s always a relief to finally be on the road with all the planning/packing behind me.
Jeff

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#3: Climbing out of the Illinois River Valley
 By Aaron Bransky (arbransky) on Wed 15 May 2013 07:46
Jeff, good to see you are now on the road after all of the preparations, hope you have a great trip. How was the climb out of the river valley on 116? Is the Trek working well for you?
Nice of the bartender to give you a place to camp; I bet you'll have many more examples of kindness from strangers throughout the trip.
Neat picture of the Illinois Terminal RR caboose.

#19: Re: Climbing out of the Illinois River Valley
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 21:20 in reply to #3
Aaron,
Yes, it was good to be on the road. The climb out of the Illinois River Valley included some walking, but I knew what to expect before I started. No problems with the bike (at that point).
I was overwhelmed by the kindness of the bartender at Spoonies. Camping worked out very well there, since a portable outhouse with hand-washing station was just down the road from his house. It had been placed there (and not picked up yet) when part of the town flooded a few weeks earlier.
Jeff

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#4: Congratulations!
 By Alan Legel on Wed 22 May 2013 12:07
Hey Jeff!
Congratulations on hitting the open road! One day I would like to do the same, though the dream seems to have slipped a bit from 35 years ago. I have been reading Crazy guy on a bike journals since the early days of the website. I have come to realize, from the posts, that most folks follow their adventures to the end while finding only the best in most people they encounter along the way. I have learned that paper clips make good emergency chain links when out in the middle of the Dakota's with 50 miles to go to the nearest town. How a dollar bill will make a temporary patch on a side wall split, protecting and keeping the inner tube from bulging out. How few flat tires folks have on Trans America rides and how nice strangers can be to a person riding a bike off the beaten path.
I wish you the Best and hope you continue to encounter the nicest of people around the next bend and over the next hill.
 
#20: Re: Congratulations!
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 21:30 in reply to #4
Alan,
Thanks for this entry to my guestbook. While I could read entries, answering them on-the-road was not practical, due to all the "certificate errors" I was getting trying to log into CGOAB with the outdated software on my friend’s BlackBerry.
CGOAB journals are fun to read, and you are the reason for my CGOAB addiction. I can’t remember if I shared this with you or not: (This happened on the day you told me about the CGOAB website.) I’m sure you remember that day you ran into me and my family at Cracker Barrel, and talked about my first bike trip, which I’d just completed. You knew about it thanks to your brother’s posting of my trip report on his blog site. My sons didn’t know that. They were amazingly impressed that, “Even strangers on the street know about Dad’s bike trip.”
I can believe using dollar bills as tire boots, but I haven’t heard of paper clips for chain links. I do know all options pass through your mind when something breaks.
I ready do meet nice people on the road.
I hope you go on a touring trip someday. I’ve found the gap between "dreaming about it" and "doing it" to not be that wide, though I’m always apprehensive the first day when I pedal away from home.
Jeff

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#5: Hi Jeff!
 By Shannon Killion on Thu 23 May 2013 11:50
Maury just told me and Kyle all about your trip! I am looking forward to following your fun and especially looking at your photos!
~Shannon

#21: Re: Hi Jeff!
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 21:31 in reply to #5
Shannon,
Now you have me nervous about my picture taking, knowing the photographer you are! Remember, the BlackBerry camera is all I have to work with ;-)
Jeff 

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#6: Go Jeff!
 By Ben Lowery on Sun 26 May 2013 19:44
We were all so impressed with your 1st ride to Springfield a few years ago, now it is just a stepping stone. Liking the flowers pics from today. Keep pedaling and safe travels.

#22: Re: Go Jeff!
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 21:33 in reply to #6
Ben,
Thanks for the encouragement. The problem with my flower pictures is that I don’t know the names of the flowers, which makes it harder to remember if I already have a photo of “new ones” I see.
Jeff

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#7: Tri-points are interesting waypoints
 By Dan` on Mon 3 Jun 2013 09:13
Great postings to read.
Appears you and I share common likes...ice cream, pm naps, electronics, riding off the beaten path, camping, and small town atmosphere. And some common dislikes...rain, headwind, and broken spokes.
Happy to read no flats as of yet. Why do you think the frequent spoke issue?
Is the tri-speed gear range working well?
Cheers

#23: Re: Tri-points are interesting waypoints
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 21:36 in reply to #7
Dan,
Thanks for your comments here. Yes, I’d agree we have similar likes and dislikes pertaining to bike trips. I’m not sure why my spokes are breaking, except I know I’m overloaded. The tri-speed gearing range is something I had to adjust to - and I did. I’m getting pretty good now at knowing when to shift, and using the appropriate gear for each situation. No problems at all with the mechanism.
Jeff

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#8: Medicine Lodge to Coldwater
 By Aaron Bransky (arbransky) on Fri 7 Jun 2013 10:23
We continue to enjoy reading of your travels. Your entry for the segment to Coldwater reminded me of when we drove in that area with our (then) infant son 20+ years ago. We too found US 160 to be a gorgeous ride, and we camped in the same park outside of Coldwater -- it was very nice.
Glad you were able to buy a lot of "new" spokes along the way to deal with the constant spoke breakage.

#24: Re: Medicine Lodge to Coldwater
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 21:39 in reply to #8
Aaron,
This ride to Coldwater did provide lots of opportunities for pictures. I wasn’t thinking of it as being a vacation location at the time, but I can see that now. In the evening, it was nice seeing a Kansas lake with water in it.
It was fortunate for me that the spokes were so easy to replace on my bike.
Jeff

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#9: fascinating trip
 By Joe Rich on Fri 7 Jun 2013 13:27
Jeff,
Many of your colleagues, myself included, are very much enjoying reading about your amazing trip. Please consider giving a seminar after you return, as I'm sure that everyone at NCAUR would be very interested to hear about it.
I hope that your travels go safely and that you have a fantastic remainder to your trip.
Joe Rich

#25: Re: fascinating trip
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 21:43 in reply to #9
Dr. Rich,
Your guestbook entry surprised me. News of my bike trip has apparently spread further than I expected. Makes it that much harder for my wife to keep my ego in check. Thanks for the offer to give a seminar on my trip, but I’m going to decline on that. I tried that once for a church group and found out how poor I am at delivering a story that way.
Thank you for the good wishes for the trip.
Jeff

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#10: spoke issues
 By Lyle Risius on Sun 9 Jun 2013 19:00
Hi Jeff,
Joe Rich put me onto your blog. I'm really enjoying it- what a trip! I suspect you may know all this already but I bike quite a bit and the conventional wisdom with broken spokes is insufficient tension. If you haven't tried this already you might try increasing the tension on all the spokes and see if that helps. When I first started riding I was quite a bit heavier and had quite a few spoke issues. Once I got the tension higher, they pretty much went away. Although I have gotten one bad brand of spokes that I just had to replace.
Hope you figure out what is going on, that many broken spokes wouldn't be fun.
Lyle Risius

#26: Re: spoke issues
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 21:47 in reply to #10
Lyle,
Thanks for the advice here. I didn’t know that about spokes. In fact, I've never had spoke issues before, so never bothered to learn anything about them. I had read that if a spoke breaks on the cassette side, you need to remove the cassette to replace it. Fortunately, my bike doesn't have a cassette. I'm holding onto the "bad batch of spokes" explanation (even though it's probably because I'm so overloaded).
Jeff

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#11: Great Read, Great Journal, Great Trip...
 By Steve Bradley (stevencbradley) on Tue 11 Jun 2013 11:28
I do have a question, though...
How do you like having a "tri-speed" bike rather than something more elaborate? I rode a three speed for many years as a young person, but after that all the bikes I rode had external derailleurs, and were 10 speeds or more. Just curious about your thinking, and what your experience has been.
Thanks again for the journal. I love traveling with all the folks who do it, just have a little bit more work, and then I can vacation as well.
Steve Bradley

#27: Re: Great Read, Great Journal, Great Trip...
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 21:55 in reply to #11
Steve,
This tri-speed is an improvement over the single-speed I had been using, though it took me a while to get used to using the "full range" of gears available to me. (I didn’t care much for first gear, initially.) The few times I've been on "derailleur bikes", I didn’t really know what I was doing, and therefore saw no great advantage in them.
Glad you're enjoying the journal. I love reading trip reports when I'm in-between rides myself. I'll look forward to reading about your future trip.
Jeff

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#12: About spokes...
 By Steve Bradley (stevencbradley) on Wed 12 Jun 2013 07:04
I don't know if this applies to you or not, but a number of years back, I had a Schwinn Super LeTour, which was "very light" (for the time, and within its price range); I found that one of the ways the folks at Schwinn made it light was to reduce the spoke diameter. In addition, the bike was manufactured before stainless steel became common on mid range bikes. So I broke quite a few spokes--until I had my wheel relaced (actually, I did it myself) with stainless spokes, two gauges thicker than the bike shop recommended. I used heavier spokes on the back than on the front, and I remember having to bore out the spoke holes on the back rim to accommodate the nipples. I never broke another spoke after that, no matter what I did to the bike. I also began to use 28mm tires (1-1/4"), where before the manufacturer had installed 23 mm tires (7/8"). While these two things changed the handling characteristics a lot, they also meant I didn't have to replace spokes or tires and tubes constantly. I imagine your "Belleville" has larger tires than I had, but the spoke diameter/quality is sometimes an issue on these types of bikes. I can't find spoke diameter/type anywhere (only took a cursory look), but I'm sure your owner's manual has it.
Great and interesting journal, btw.
Steve B.

#28: Re: About spokes...
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 22:01 in reply to #12
Steve,
While I could view guestbook entries on-the-road, I couldn't reply to them using my friend's BlackBerry. Also, on-the-road, I had no way to measure the diameter of the spokes. But now that I'm home, here's the information: The original stainless-steel spokes that came with the bike were marked with an "S". The replacement stainless-steel spokes that A&B Cycle (Springfield, MO) used/provided were marked with a "W" (or is it an "M"), and of course, there are the steel spokes salvaged from the Huffy bicycle. Surprisingly, they all measure 0.080-inch diameter (2-mm). The original tires were 35-mm, the ones I used on the trip were 37-mm. And I've yet to see if the Bontrager H5 38-mm tires will fit.
Thanks for sharing your experience with spoke diameters.
Jeff

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#13: Three speeds!
 By Dale Oswald (canalligators) on Fri 14 Jun 2013 05:24
I love hub gears, but I find three wide gears not enough. Which hub is fitted to your machine? I have two bikes I ride with some regularity which have old Sturmey Archer hubs, a Raleigh Folder with 3x2 (derailleur on the outside) and a Tourist rod brake retrofitted with a four-speed gear. I also have an old Raleigh International road bike now sporting a current SA five-speed hub.
I've done overnight trips on the Tourist. Unfortunately I can't ride a diamond frame more than about 15 miles due to nerve issues, so most of my touring is on recumbents. I'm not apologizing, I love all my bikes, but I'd like to be able to ride some of them farther.
My son just rode his Tour de Cure 100km on a Raleigh Superbe that I gave him, which also has 3x2 setup.
You've got to be an EE or the like. Most people would not consider your charging system "simple".
Hope the rest of the trip goes well.

#29: Re: Three speeds!
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 22:05 in reply to #13
Dale,
Thanks for the guestbook entry. Sounds like you have some good old bikes with interesting set-ups.
The hub on my Trek Belleville is Shimano Nexus Inter-3 (SG-3R40). I’m used to it now, and know what each gear selection will do for me.
OK, I do have an Electronics Engineering degree (from back in the days when vacuum tubes were still being used). The part that is "simple" with the battery charging system I'm using is it's just two diodes. However, with such a simple system, there's no over-charge/under-charge protection for the battery. I have to monitor/control that myself.
Jeff

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#14: You're on Bikeforums!
 By Gary Aslakson on Wed 3 Jul 2013 16:34
Just a quick note to let you know I enjoyed your other journals, and I have been following this one as well. Today, someone on the Touring Forum at Bikeforums mentioned your CGOAB journal with a link. You may get even more visitors.

#30: Re: You're on Bikeforums!
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 22:07 in reply to #14
Gary,
Thanks for letting me know. What a surprise! Though, I have an idea who may be behind that.
Jeff

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#15: Cool ride
 By Jerry Harp (cyclebum) on Thu 4 Jul 2013 06:57
Like your 'out-of-the-box' touring style Jeff, three speed Trek, baskets, foam pad, complicated electronics, route, etc. Interesting mix of low and high end gear.
I've done one survey post, at the corner of Texas and NM on a 5 states in 3 days tour. Never a 3 states corner. Have to put that on the bucket list.
Jerry

#31: Re: Cool ride
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 22:13 in reply to #15
Jerry,
Thanks for checking out my journal.
I studied your picture carefully and the text of your journal, comparing it to what I see using Google Earth and other internet sources. I believe you were actually at a tri-point (#15: NM-OK-TX), and not at the northwest corner of Texas, which is 2.2-miles to the west.
You and your colleagues sure get around!
Jeff

#35: Re: Cool ride
 By Jerry Harp (cyclebum) on Thu 11 Jul 2013 05:43 in reply to #31
Thanks Jeff for the info. Even better to know I did three states in a walk around.
Jerry

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#16: Thanks, Jeff
 By Michael Legel on Thu 4 Jul 2013 09:32
Hi Jeff,
I just wanted to let you know I have been posting links to my Blog every day and some of my readers have enjoyed following your adventures. Also wanted to comment about the doll you found and how you speak as if it is alive. Just a reminder ... it is OK to talk to the doll. It is OK to talk to yourself. If is not OK if you find yourself replying "What did you say?"
Hope your journey continues safe and thank you so much for letting us ride along!
Michael

#32: Re: Thanks, Jeff
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 22:16 in reply to #16
Michael,
Thanks for the note, and for continuing to feature my trips on your blog site.
I've been talking to more than dolls . . . cows, birds, flowers, road signs, the radio. The good thing is no one caught me doing it!
Jeff

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#17: My Condolences
 By Gary Aslakson on Mon 8 Jul 2013 17:21
I'm sorry to hear about your Dad.
I enjoyed the journal; hope you can finish this ride someday, or try another one like it.

#33: Re: My Condolences
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 22:19 in reply to #17
Gary,
Thank you for your kind note.
I'm trying to line-up a way to complete this trip. Iowa was to be the easy part of it, with many bike trails, and towns close together.
Jeff

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#18: My sympathies
 By April Nauman on Mon 8 Jul 2013 19:54
Hi Jeff,
Sorry to hear about the passing of your Dad, my sympathies to you & your family. Reading your journal for this trip has been part of my nightly routine since your journey began. Thanks for the "ride." :)

#34: Re: My sympathies
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Wed 10 Jul 2013 22:21 in reply to #18
April,
Thank you for the condolences.
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the journal entries each night. If I can work it out, I may be completing this trip before the summer ends.
Jeff
 
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#36: Thank you!
 By Douglas on Sat 20 May 2017 20:37
Don't know if you'll get this, but I wanted to say thank you for including how much your trip cost you, Thank you!! Im trying to plan for a bicycle tour and there's all kinds of information on bikes, bags, gear, tents, packing, ect..., but No one talks about the cost. So again Thank you for sharing! I realize I may spend more than you did, or I might spend less than you did, but seeing your cost for your trip helps. Thank you! 

#37: Re: Thank you!
 By Jeff Teel (map330) on Mon 22 May 2017 09:33 in reply to #36
Douglas,
I did receive your message. Thanks for sending it!
I figure my trips are on the slower, more expensive side. I used to tell folks it cost me a-dollar-a-mile, but I've gone above that lately. You should be able to average your expenses below that. My wife keeps suggesting I try ;-)
Best wishes to you with your planning, and your trip!
Jeff

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