Best Superlatives!

A lot of people have asked us things like, "What's the best place you stayed on your trip?," or "What was your favorite meal?" We are going to answer those questions and more in this post. It's superlatives time!

Most Beautiful State: Idaho (breathtaking every second we were riding, I highly recommend it for a vacation for anyone who loves the outdoors)

Worst State, All-Around: North Dakota (miles and miles of misery)

Best Value Motel: The Muskie Motel in Muscatine, IA ($35 a night for a motel that would cost easily $65 most other places)

Best Place We Stayed: Cyclists' Bunkhouse in Dalbo, MN (perfect for cyclists and Donn was great company!)

Worst Place We Stayed: it's a tie! Cormorant Inn in Cormorant, MN (over $100 per night to have bad rock covers blasted into our ears until 2 a.m.) tied with Oxford Junction Park Shelter in Oxford Junction, IA (the creepiest town in America, but at least it was free)

Best Meal: Meredith says it was spaghetti with garlic bread and chocolate milk at The Fountain Sandwich Fountain in Buchanan, VA; Dean says it was it was the Chipotle French Dip sandwich at O'Griff's Irish Pub and Grill in Quincy, IL -- Runner Up, The Piggy Bank in Oakville, IA

Worst Meal: Chinese food in Rainier, OR. (though the fresh cherries we got there kind of made up for it)

Best Essential Item Brought on Trip: Meredith's bike (1986 Miyata Six-Ten). It performed beautifully for basically the entire trip. I had one flat tire and one broken spoke on a 2300 mile trip. Not bad for a 25 year old bike! In fact, not bad for even a brand new bike! I am so grateful to Dean's friend, Benny, who gave us that awesome bike as a wedding gift!

Best Non-Essential Item Brought on Trip: Dean's Smartphone, to the point that I'm not sure I'd even call it non-essential, though we considered not bringing one at all. Runner up: my Camelbak backpack

Most Useless Item Brought on Trip: Bandanas. We thought we'd use them to keep sun and bugs off our necks (tied to our helmets -- a suggestion from another bike tourist's blog), but we didn't use them even one time for any reason. We should have used them as bike rags.

Best Brand of Bike Equipment/Clothing: Meredith says Bontrager, overall (everything they make is the best, except for gloves, for which I vote Specialized). Dean has no strong opinion, but wore Pearl Izumi clothing, mostly, and tried several different tire and glove brands. His Bontrager gloves worked the best for him (because Bontrager rules). I (Meredith) also like Twin Sixes clothing.

Most Beautiful Thing we Saw: It's a 4-way tie! Badlands in North Dakota, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho, the Mississippi River and bluffs in the morning in Wisconsin and Minnesota

Best Day: Lolo Hot Springs, MT to Lowell, ID -- our longest day. It's unanimous! This was a great day. We felt proud of climbing our first Rocky Mountain and going the farthest distance in one day, and it was also a beautiful, beautiful ride. Amazing!

Worst Day: Meredith says Lewiston, ID to Dayton, WA -- it was a long, long day, and hard with a lot of bad decisions and bad luck. Dean says Troutville, VA to Blacksburg, VA -- it was a short, really hard day with lots of tears and misery, plus is was hot and the hills were super steep.

Hardest Day: The reverse! Meredith says Troutville, VA to Blacksburg, VA was hardest -- those hills were just killer and I blew out a quad. It was pure torture every second. Dean says Lewiston, ID to Dayton, WA -- it just went on forever.

Nicest Town: Meredith says Stillwater, MN. It was adorable and the people were friendly. I could totally see myself living there. Dean says Troutville, VA, where everyone was super helpful, friendly and kind.

Nicest Person: Scott, of Ride On Bikes in Lewiston, ID. He drove 100 miles out of his way to fix a broken spoke for us when we were stranded in Kamiah, ID, and he wouldn't accept any payment. Wow!

Meanest Person: Random guy in a red truck in Idaho, who drove frighteningly near us in the bike lane, honked his horn as loud as possible to startle us (nearly to the point of crashing), and then sped off, while flipping the bird out of the window. Pure class. Also, interesting that both the nicest and meanest people we met on the trip were in Idaho. Huh.

Best "Twine Ball" (Dean and I called the fun detours we took to see odd things our "twine balls," since I told him at the beginning of the trip that if we saw a sign for the world's biggest twine ball, I wanted to go see it): MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) local / amateur expo in Kamiah, ID. Every guy there looked like an Eminem impersonator.

Most Vicious Dog Attack: Buford, the 20 year old Basset Hound with two teeth who was hot on our trail, near Troy, Missouri. He would not leave us alone! Thankfully, we never needed to use our Halt! Dog Repellent.

Most Inexplicable Roadside Display: 2-mile fence covered in shoes, near Downer, MN. What did it MEAN??? Honorable mentions: Dragon and unicorn painting on side of road, early on in the trip; "The Flamingos Are Coming!" warnings all over Cascade, IA; Lawn featuring Spongebob, Statue of Liberty, A Snail, and Uncle Sam in Cormorant, MN; giant man wearing green shoes and hat on side of mountain just outside Dayton, WA; and signs in Prescott, WI saying "Curb End," where the curb ends and "Curb Start," where the curb starts. Who paid for those?

Most Popular Blog Post: Day 3 - Richmond, VA to Charlottesville, VA, with 97 pageviews. I have no idea why this would be the most popular, but the stats don't lie!

Most Difficult-to-Identify Bird: Um, we still don't know. It's kind of purpley blue black, small, and hangs out by the Missouri River. Any ideas?

Other superlatives you're curious about? Just say so in comments and we'll post 'em!