San Francisco, California to Yorktown, Virginia.
Started June 05, 2010, complete August 05, 2010.
Odometer reads 3994.8 miles.
This was a trip I had in the making for two years. I befriended Demetri (Surly, Long Haul Trucker Touring Bicycle) the summer of 2008. I began to acquire gear and save for the trip as I finished school, then took on a full time job working graveyard shift for nearly a year to accomplish my short two-year dream. With that said...I can't believe how fast it was over. I have absolutely no regrets though, and I'd do it again in an instant if I had the choice. I am so thankful everything came together and I made it through safely. Each day on the road was a full adventure in itself. Before I started the trip it felt huge and then only got larger as I rode through the first few states with knee issues. Now that I have finished the journey it feels relatively small in comparison. I challenged myself and won, and now I am ready for something even larger. What that entails, I am not yet sure.
Why did I decide to do this trip in the first place? I don't think I can give a definitive answer, really. I imagine mostly just for the sake of going on a grand adventure, though. Walking or running was too slow, driving was too easy, I don't know how to sail or fly, so I chose to ride a bicycle. It seemed like it would give me the breath of fresh air I needed, let me just get away for a while and try something new. While I was still contemplating the trip a couple years ago, I watched an animated series called "Honey and Clover" that depicted the journey of one character riding his bicycle across part of Japan. I had already been considering doing a bicycle trip, but that was when I knew for certain that it was what I wanted.
And I must say, it really did feel like an adventure during much of it. I felt like I was "Link" from the "Legend of Zelda." People would give me hints and clues that would help me along. For example, "Get out of Vallejo, last night an ice cream man was robbed and killed," or "If you eat at the 'Silver Jack Inn' they will let you camp in back for free." Each day I'd defeat a boss (climbing mountains) and become stronger. I had to acquire items and food by searching around (no, I didn't walk into houses and start breaking pots). It was really magical feeling.
In doing this trip, there are many things I learned that I would never have known otherwise. Here are the two that stand out the most:
There is far more roadkill on and around the road than I thought, and it smells completely awful.
99% of people in the U.S. are good honest people, especially in the Midwest.
Meeting people wasn't really something I thought I'd really appreciate when I started this trip. I wanted to see different landscapes, different animals, and different weather. I wanted hard physical challenges and to rest in the cool air of the night at the end of the day. I wanted to feel alone and I wanted the adrenaline of being scared of the unknown. These were all things I still did or saw, but meeting people? I figured I could do that anytime. By the end of the trip though, meeting people had become one of my favorite parts of travel, and each day I usually met at least a few kind strangers. When people saw the bags, bike, and beard, they were almost always curious enough to start talking to me about my trip. It was enjoyable trading stories with so many strangers. Being witness to some of these people's kindness blew me away, too. I stayed with so many strangers that invited me into their home and fed me at their dinner table that I lost count. It actually really inspired me to be a nicer person, to help out a stranger when the time is right instead of worrying about whether or not they want to stab me. Some of the friends and family I have talked to before and after the trip expected like something like this might change me as a person. Honestly, I did not have a life-changing experience, I didn't "figure myself out" or have any major epiphanies. I still don't know what I want to do in life, or where to go from here. I know it's a part of me though, and while I may not be able to put words to describe what exactly I took from this experience, I know that I can call it my own. I'd like to believe though, that in some small way a part of my character has changed for the better.
One thing I know I took away is that I absolutely love cyclotouring and adventure type traveling in general. Any trips that I do in the near future though, will be shorter. Two and a half months of travel by bicycle is a long time. There was much I learned about touring by bicycle, the most important being how great it feels. There's nothing like it. At the top of every mountain, I felt like I had climbed a mountain. At the end of every day I knew I was that much closer to wherever I was going. Every time I saw something amazing or beautiful, I realized that I got there by my own strength. Traveling like this I felt closer to nature, at least far more so than by motor vehicle. I also learned the technical aspects of bicycle touring. I know how to fix my bike. I know how to pack, how to climb, how to plan the day, how to plan a route, and how far I can go. So anyone nearby who wants to do a tour of any sort, I'd be glad to go with you or at least share whatever useful knowledge I can.
On any of my next tours I am going to plan my own route. For this first trip, using the Adventure Cycling maps was simply amazing. The maps show where the campsites are, they list motels, they show where there are restaurants and bike shops, they show the elevations, and they are very clear and easy to use. If I had not had them for my first trip, it would have been so very much harder. The ride from San Francisco, CA to Pueblo, Colorado was awesome. Not many cyclists take that route because it goes through some extremely harsh desert. People in town were really surprised when I showed up, always in amazement about how someone could travel so far by bicycle, and through such conditions. I have never been one to seek attention, but honestly, it felt pretty great. I think it was a nice motivator too.
The normal Transamerica bicycle route starts in Oregon and goes through Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, then meets up with the route I took in Pueblo, Colorado. At that point, I started to run into many more cyclists. As a result, sometimes people in the towns I went through were completely jaded to cyclists coming through. I would sometimes tell people, feeling accomplished and with a huge smile on my face of course, that I rode from San Francisco to their tiny town in Missouri, and they would remain completely impassive. Knowing so many cyclists had already come through really gave it a "beaten path" feeling, and after Pueblo the adventurous feeling started fading away.
Planning my route from Yorktown to D.C. by myself felt so rewarding though, and really rekindled the adventurous feeling. I chose my own roads, I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't know where anything was. Usually to get the best route I'd have to ask the locals, which was really fun. Most would usually offer details of lovely scenic shortcuts. For any future tours, this is totally the way to go. Google maps + state map + compass + locals + bicycle = super-rad-adventure-time.
Something I really enjoyed this tour was seeing the differences between each state.
California: Wineries, busy, somewhat humid, people are in a hurry.
Nevada: Dry, mountainous, empty, sagebrush, secret abundant wildlife.
Utah: Red soil, canyons, state parks, dry, windy, Mormon churches.
Colorado: Rainy, forested, mountains, friendly people.
Kansas: Flat, wheat and corn fields, amazingly hospitable people, windy, hot.
Missouri: Very humid, hot, logging/coal trucks, angry drivers, jagged hills.
Illinois: Rivers (not enough time to determine)
Kentucky: Leafy forests, coal plants, stray dogs, hillbillies, very hospitable.
Virginia: Heavy traffic, scenic
On the road I saw pictures of one guy going West, Sky Horne, traveling Transamerica by unicycle. I heard stories of a full family doing the ride, stories of one man on a high wheeler from a couple years past going around the world. I had the pleasure of meeting Mike, a 68 year old cyclist making the journey across America, as well as a rugged young man doing it on foot, Jed. It was great reading what other cyclists and adventurists wrote in the log books at some of the houses and hostels I stayed at, some very inspiring stories. All these people were very inspiring to anyone seeking adventure. I strongly believe that anyone with determination can accomplish something like this if it's something they want to do.
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