We made it! Bonjour from Portland, Maine. 4,000 miles of effort, laughter, sweat and adventures lay to the west and the Atlantic Ocean stretches to the east with 101 days of bike touring at our backs. And now, it’s time to turn around and pedal back! We are gearing up for a winter assault through […]
If our trip is a three month study of cycle touring, Saturday in New Hampshire was the final exam. Quizzes of headwinds and prep tests of hills in the rain had us ready, and good thing. The White Mountains are famous for their fickle weather and steep climbs, both of which were thrown at us […]
“I always ride my bike to the trail head. Couple hundred miles on the bike, sleep in the bush on the way,” Steve told me as we pedaled next to him in the Adirondacks. He wore jean shorts and a beat-up hat and carried a huge backpack loaded with camping gear. “I just rest my […]
Ah, New York. What a great state. We absolutely will be back for more breathtaking outdoor fun. I suspect a month solely in the Adirondack Mountains would still feel fast and I’m positive we could spend an entire summer in the state no problemo. Yesterday marked three months on the road and three weeks in the […]
We hadn’t planned to spend the day boating and flying above lakes in the Adirondacks. It just worked out that way. Bike touring has a way of creating the unexpected though, and since we rarely book a place to stay, we’re always open for a random adventure. And of course those are always the most fun! […]
The Finger Lakes region in upstate New York is a hidden gem. People know the names of local famous institutions like Smith College in Geneva and Cornell in Ithaca, but I’d challenge them to place the towns on a map. (I sure couldn’t.) Beyond the prestigious schools, the landscape is stunning. Deep gorges split the […]
Last week was our first in fall weather. Heading east from Niagara Falls, we crossed a ten-lane-but-none-for-bikes bridge out of Canada (in the commercial truck lane) and rejoined America on 9/11. Crazy to think it was 13 years ago that day that I left for college, hopping into my little Corolla to drive to California. Ah […]
One of my creepy pleasures is checking out the interiors of giant mansions. Sure, there are the scowling stone lions and spiky fences to dodge. But once inside, scoping out luxury kitchens and looking out from patios at ocean views is an easy way to feel rich. From clifftop compounds in Carmel to palatial estates […]
Holy smokin’ frijoles, how did that happen? Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and back into Canada for the second time on this trip. I can’t believe we just biked to Niagara! I feel like a giant spring coiled in the Midwest and suddenly sproing we’re in New England overnight. Last Friday night near Cleveland, as if to […]
Howdy! This is the second of two posts with some day-to-day detail. If you missed the first, maybe go check it out, though this can stand alone. I don’t write much about our daily life on the bikes, but wanted to in order to give a taste of our experience. Also, for all you new readers to […]
It’s nice to know where you’re going to sleep at night. There’s comfort in planning, security in reservations. And yet the adventure of no plan or no clue where your head will lay has its charm. During this bike tour, I’ve felt exposed to the whim of the elements and people we meet and yet […]
We crossed the Mississippi! 2,500 miles into this journey already. It’s flying by, albeit ever-so-slowly some days. Every mile still takes effort; each hill is a challenge. Today is Day 62, exactly two months into our bike tour. And where the heck, you ask, are we? Northern Indiana! In the last few weeks, we’ve plowed […]
Wow, the last ten days have flown by! Go go go… We’re already practically across Iowa, even with a pause for a couple days to hang out with a high school friend in Omaha, Nebraska. I’ve had zero time to write for a variety of reasons, but before South Dakota is too far behind us, […]
We’re halfway to Maine! Omaha, Nebraska, to be exact, right at the 2,000 mile marker after 40 days of pedaling and 47 total days on this bike tour. In honor of the books that have powered me up mountains, across plains and through cornfields, I thought y’all might enjoy a curated list of my favorite books […]
“You know why they call this God’s country? Cuz no one else wants it!” joked Mike from Wood Lake, Nebraska, population 64. Chelsea and I are out of the rolling Sand Hills of Nebraska and into griddle-flat corn and cattle country. The kind of territory where you spot a green oasis of shady trees, then ride an […]
The ragged, messy edge of human interaction is my favorite. When people who might not cross paths do so, life gets interesting. Or perhaps annoying at the outset, then interesting. At the very least, it’s a fun story for later. A perfect example is the craziness surrounding the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota. This is […]
Montana is officially giant. Especially if you ride across it like a drunken sailor rollicking on a ship’s deck. Instead of a straight shot across and 500 miles, it took us 25 days and 1,080 miles of pedaling from the time we hit the border in the SW corner and then up into Canada before […]
The Earth may be huge, but the world is small and coincidence abounds. For example, take Henk, whom we met in Southern Utah in Escalante in May. He was halfway through a bike tour up through the national parks to Canada. I grilled him for info on our upcoming tour and then honked and waved as we […]
The day’s intensity ratcheted higher like a rising guillotine blade. 99 degrees. 25 mph headwinds with gusts. Nothing except barb wire fences whistling in the wind for 80 miles in front of us. The “town” we’d just passed through, Mosby, consisted of two houses, one abandoned with a roof caving in. A rippling series of […]