SHAKE N' BAKE!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!!

so first i wanna say that Chief Ladiga was more than just the name of a trail we rode, but also the chief of the creek nation before the trail of tears, and i still think its pretty F@#$ed up that the gov't kicked them off their land. but anyway, we rode into Alabama like it was a nature tour. the first 8 miles into this wonderful state was a constant cruising downhill past beautiful mountains that looked almost like camoflauge with their integration of dark green, light green and brown trees on the mountains. add that to the tree blossoms that adorn the trail and you have an amazing view and the only thing that spoiled it was the mass amounts of pollen. there were literally clouds of pollen blowing past us like some sort of chemical weapon aimed at my olfactories. after a few miles we ran out of water so josh dicided to go down off the path to gather some fresh water from the stream nearby but didnt think to examine his path down the slope. after pushing through masses of thorn bushes he got to the stream and filled a few bottles and climbed back up to the trail. a few miles later we reached the town of Piedmont (foot of the mountain) Alabama where we met with some locals in the welcome center and i learned a little local history. after being there for a little while Jack (one of the fellas i was talking to) made a call to Rebecca Walker from the Anniston Star (a local paper). that evening we camped out by a naturally flowing stream that bubbles out of an underground location. the next morning we packed up and headed to Anniston along the Chief Ladiga trail and met with Ms. Walker for an interview for the Star and she ended up pointing us towards Wigs Wheels, a cool ass bike/skateboard shop in Anniston where we met Robert Smith who decided to let us stay the night at his house. he and his wife Ridgely treated us very kindly and even cooked us eggs in the moring before we headed into town. in town we were treated to a tour of the local veterenary hospital and we were excited to meet the doctors who patch up the animals. the Anniston Veterinary Hospital also happens to be the meeting place for a group of professional bicyclists who were meeting for a yearly competition where they ride through the town, and the day after is an event that is a 102 mile ride out of town, up the biggest mountain in Alabama, back down, and back to town, called the Cheehaw Challenge. After leaving Anniston that day we made it to Talladega Super Speedway where we got to take a tour of the track as well as the International Motorsports Museum next to the track. after leaving Talladega (Shake n' Bake) we made it to the Cahaba River where we camped next to cool flowing waters. upon waking the next morning we headed into Birmingham where we met with Andy Bell who is a kick ass dude, and he showed us arouna nd introduced us to Jan Bell, the chapter president. shortly afterward they called CBS 42 to come interview us, and we made it onto the nightly news! teres even a 17 minute online video interview, that i will post the link for. later in the afternoon we got to visit Faith Skate Supply in the city and hang out there for a bit. that night we stayed with Taylor Lander who took us out for drinks and so forth for a very enjoyable night on the town. today is Saturday the 17th and we are going to BBQ and it will kick ass! anyway its party time, Y'all take care!!!