Across the Middle and Down
 

So my departure date is set!

03/31/07: Get a ride to Yorktown, VA
04/01/07: Start pedalling!

First the TransAmerican Trail, East to West from Yorktown, VA to Astoria, OR:
Attachment 12050
And part of the Pacific Coast Route, North to South from Astoria, OR to San Diego, CA:
Attachment 12052

More to come!

Wowee wow wow!

It's cute how it carefully avoids West Virginia and Indiana. There'll be this big stretch of boring in the middle, and then you've got to do the Rockies. Wowee wow wow.

Dude, it's gonna be fun! I'm so pumped it's not even funny.

This doesn't belong anywhere, but it made me giggle:
"The eating method of cyclists...: a) Press food against face, b) suck, c) keep fingers out of the way, d) repeat." from here.

going solo? how long do you expect it to take you?

take your camera

Yeah, I'm going solo. But there are always other folks out touring, so I'm sure to run into some of them. It should take about 90 days, plus whatever time I stop off in St. Louis and Kansas City to see family (two weeks or so).

I've got my camera all lined up. I'm going to take crap-tons of pictures. I'll try and upload them along the way at public libraries (I'm still looking for a reasonable solution to this problem).

I'm going to be posting some pictures of equipment and load-out here in a week or two. Probably a list of links to my favorite touring journals, too.

Uh, to clarify: 90 days for the VA to OR leg and 25-30 for OR to San Diego, CA.

So with family and friend stops I would say 4.5-5 months. Unless money runs out.

I kind of left that second leg out above...:redface:

how much do you plan to spend? where will you be sleeping at night? In 1991, we made $1200 last 3.5 months, but we had camping gear, and a van/car to sleep in. and it was late summer/early fall, and we stayed mainly in the south.......

I'll have a little over $4k, but it'd be nice to have some left at the end so I can fly home if I want to. And not be totally broke at the end of the road.

I plan to free-camp as much as possible. I need to get better at having spontaneous conversations that end positively, so I'm going to try and talk likely-looking folk into letting me camp in their yards or wherever. Some town parks let you camp for free, and I have a golden access pass for the National Park System, so I get great deals there (it's my Dad's). If worse comes to worst I'll stealth camp.

I'm also going to take my St. Christopher-on-a-chain with me so I can convince churches to make exceptions for me a bit easier.

I'm also going to look into using hospitality services* like WarmShowers and Servas.

Depending on how well I take to sleeping outdoors every night I might get a motel from time to time.

I plan to cook my own meals, but I'm sure that I'll stop for a restaurant meal occasionally (it's hard to do sausage, pancakes and french toast, etc. on a backpacking stove; though I'll probably give it a shot).

It'll be kind of chilly for the first month or so, though by high summer I should be getting into higher elevations and the northwest...

* These services connect cyclists/hikers with volunteer hosts that are willing to provide a meal or a place to sleep/camp.

Ha, I knew you were a slut. Peddling your ass all over the country, you'll break your sainted mother's heart. :smack:

Awesome Grant! I recently tricked lil' Pete into agreeing to do the Trans Am when she graduates from high school.

I'm not telling if you're not.

That'll be awesome! How long does she have to forget about ever having made this promise?

5 years but maybe every time I buy her a new fencing weapon I'll bring it up. :)

I was going to offer a place here in Lawrence, but I see you've got a stop in KC.

And just a note: you do realize that the prevailing winds -- especially across the plains -- are W to SW? If I was going to do it, I'd most likely go from W to E.

Kansas wind is supposed to be relentless.

Call in advance.

Wow, this is awesome. I would love to do this trip. I mean, not on a bike, I wouldn't be able to do that, but the general idea of a trans-American trip is great.

Agreed.

It's threads like this that make me wish I was a teacher with summers off. My dad is a prof, and when we were kids we did the cross USA road trip thing a few times. Even drove across Canada once. I feel like I'm abusing my own kids by not doing the same thing with them.

I'm pretty set with people to stay with in the KCMO and St. Louis areas. Thanks for the almost offer :)

Most people do go west to east, but since I'm already on the east coast I figure I'll just go from here. I've got low-gears and time! :earth:

Thanks for the offer, I'll let ya know if I get up to Seattle. I know the route map I posted shows a line from Vancouver to Mexico, but I'm still not sure exactly where I'm going once I hit the west coast.

North to Alaska? South to San Diego? I've never been to Washington, so it'd be a shame to miss Seattle (a place I hear I'd probably really like).

For the curious, here's some of the best long-distance cycling journals I've come across:

Chuck/Charlie, a 23ish year old IT consultant rides down the east coast, west to California, then north to wherever he ends up. I think he snapped something in his head a ways back.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/conq

Jamie, 25 year old line cook rides the TransAmerican route and down the Pacific Coast to San Francisco. He doesn't come off as real likable, but his skill at relating his trip improves drastically.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/jamie2006

Neil Gunton, founder of CrazyGuyOnABike. A really good journal.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/neil98

It's 1986 and Dave is 20, he's riding across the country, this is his journal and commentary from 20 years later. Excellent.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Tuz1986

This one is by a middle-aged guy from France (one parent was British the other was French) who makes it to Kansas and has to pack it in due to an injury. It's one of the most charming and readable of the journals, and probably my favorite.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/2189

If I apologize for the deep throating joke, will you join me for darts and beer while you're in town? You're bound to need the rest by then. We could get barefoot serpent to join us. He's also a prodigious peddler.

I'm not real sure I could peddle all the way to the grocery store right now, let alone across the entire country.

No need for an apology. I'm always up for good oral sex jokes, no matter what light they cast me in.

I'll definitely be up for drunken darting.

I'm betting I'll spend a few days south of the river (Lee's Summit) with friends and maybe venture up to Happyrock to see my 85 year old grandpa.

I also want to go check out KU as a grad-school possibility if I get a chance. I haven't been there in 10+ years.

Like a lot of things, pedaling across the country just takes time and a tough ass.

Well, as luck would have it, Lee's Summit is just next door, suburb-wise. I live right off of 350 Highway, which turns into 50 Highway when it enters Lee's Summit just East of here.

Hah, I don't think I ever noticed that you live in Raytown. I'm blind to those under-the-name boxes.

I lived in Lee's Summit from 6th to 10th grade, and lived in Liberty before that. I still dream of living in Westport someday, just a couple blocks from Mario's grinder joint if possible.

Fantastic! I'd offer you a place to stop, but it looks like we're a little off your path.

then you need to pm me when you get into the 'hood and stay at my place.

By that time she'll have so many weapons she can do what she damn well pleases. :D

Yes the Kansas wind can be relentless....not just Kansas. It's weird to pass a truck or go under an overpass, that breaks the wind, and your vehicle actually veers enough you have to make a course correction with the wheel. Motorcycles get pushed around too. It's worst when it's gusting
I remember in Montana the wind blowing so hard, I just put the van (3 tons) in neutral at a dead stop and it pushed us out of the parking lot and a half mile up a very slight incline. :eek:

Holy crap.

I'm actually sort of nervous about the first time I get passed by a semi. Apparently their draft tries to suck you out into the road after them. I have visions of being sucked out behind a big truck only to be hit by a tail-gating Geo.

But if you get into one of those drafts, you won't have to peddle until you get to the Rockies. :D

Grant, if you get a chance, look me up when you get to St. Louis. I PM'd you my phone number.

But if you get into one of those drafts, you won't have to peddle until you get to the Rockies.

I drafted off 18 wheelers all the way to Cali once , they HATED it but I could push in my clutch and they would just drag me along !!

Got it, will do.

I wonder how close you have to be to draft on a bike. The thing I'd be worried about is stopping in a hurry. I'm not sure how bike brakes are rated...

I used to spin wrenches with this guy 20 sumpin years ago. I'll try to find a link to his journal
http://www.tour-tales.com/romp.html

A quad tandem!? That's so awesome.

audio clip http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/19990824.atc.09.ram

It seems they let their domain name registration lapse. I think his phone# is still good.

Ok, I've decided to keep an online journal of a sort. You can find it here.

I can't promise frequent updates, but what there is will be there primarily.

I leave Saturday! Woohooooo!

Go go go go go go go go go!

Have fun Grant!!! Dont forget us and send me a postcard!!!

I mean it

If anyone wants a postcard send me an address at: moc.liamg@nitsuag (backwards!).

I'm leaving wicked early tomorrow so this is my official "see you on the other side" message.

TTFN...

Tailwinds to you!

I started a thread on his contact link called "Cellar's pulling for you", if anyone wants to break his.....ah, wish him luck.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/g...c_id=2285&v=73

Just go to the link and hit reply.

Good luck, grant.

One of the people on Grant's link gave him some good advice for you people in MO.
"A quick bit of info for you about going across Missouri. The Katy trail will take you from the St. Louis area almost to KC with NO, yes I said NO!!! traffic. It is a rails to trails and is an easy way to cross Missouri."

That's good info for you people peddling your ass in MO.

This is very cool. Traveling mercies kid.

250 miles in 5 days. That's further than I've pedaled in my entire life combined.

I'm taking a bit of a break. The weather is going to be snowy and sub-freezing for the next several days and I didn't really bring any cold weather gear. Luckily, my dad was kind enough to run down to Charlottesville and give me a ride home (<2hr. drive).

My legs are a bit tired, I'm even hungrier than normal, bits of me are numb, and my ass is just a tad sore.

I'm going to go sleep now. Expect mildly more juicy updates as I cool my heels.

Time to catch a nap and do laundry...maybe a shower. Any idea what I smell like after 3 days without a real shower?

Yes, I'm afraid I do. Nice work man keep moving!

I'm confused -are you still on this mission or is it on hold?

Pretty much on hold indefinitely. My knees have gone from bad to worse, and my hip is starting to ache a good bit of the time. Also, there's a lady I should tell you all about. She's not a reason for me to stay off the bike, but she makes sore nuts, sunburn and sleeping alone in fields a lot less appealing than it was two weeks ago.

Holy shit. I just realized it's been 12 days since I got off the bike. FUCK.

:eyebrow: Should we pry?

"That's minus five fer bein' a poose." - my old gym teacher

That made me giggle. For a second I thought I'd made a mortifying typo. Seriously. And no, you shouldn't. I'll tell ya when I'm good and ready.

We must have had the same gym teacher. Grad school and job applications and days at the zoo instead of the open road and a serious chafe. Definitely a "poose." At least I'll be able to walk when I'm 50...

I should record the sounds my joints are making. They're quite...unpleasant.

Isnt this one of those *work through the pain* things? Thats what my boot camp dude is always barking at me. :p

Although, the chickie babe is the real reason huh? Good enough reason too.

Ahh the power of poose!!!

She's one of the things that goes to make up the "real reason." Among the other factors are: being able to run and play with my baby (nth-)cousins and any children I might someday beget, and camping for more than a week or so becomes less fun and more chore.