June 18 - 60 miles 5 hours seat time. Eventually this trip will involve Ragbrai, which was a bucket list item in and of itself. But this means that I need to be in Onawa, IA on, or preferably before July 18, 2026. At the end of today, I will have 28 days to get to Onawa. I have about 1250 miles to get there. If I ride every day, I must average 44 miles. to get rest days I must average 55-60 miles. Or I could just ride my ride and whatever happens....happens. Weather has been

June 17 - 57 miles. 4.5 hours of seat time. Dissonance of Speed Traveling faster is Not A journey well spent When we left Missoula 16 days ago, we had originally thought the trip home by van would take 2 days. But as we got onto I90 we realized we could make the trip in a day. Though we didn't follow the whole of the ridden route, we traveled through so many different points that I had previously ridden through slowly and it struck me that traveling by car can give you a sort

I had intended to write something like this on the evening I finished Washington, but that day had its own little exhausting drama. We are back at home to do some family things, some of which were planned for before this all started and some that were not. The point is family comes first, and always should. Still, there has been down time to finish that last post for Montana and reflect on lessons learned. Don't overthink the bike. I know I'm not doing this the way a true bik

June 1 - 47 miles - 4ish hours of seat time Rain taps on van roof The will to ride wavers now It's warm in the bed The stretch goal for this time period was to get to Butte, MT. There are two or three more large hill climbs like Snoqualmie before I get to the Midwest plains, and knocking one more of them out would be a great accomplishment. That said, the minimum bar is to get to Missoula. This will be almost 750 miles since the beginning of the trip and a decent stop/start

May 31 - 49 miles, 4.25 hours of seat time. The inclement weather persisted, but the beauty just continues on and on. The road surfaces on the dirt roads were ever so slightly greasy/muddy but it wasn't wet enough to become sloppy. The trail out of Haugan Over the next couple of days I would encounter places where local landowners felt they should be able to block the rail trail. It's not clear to me whether this is legal or not, and frankly the only time I hop fences/gates i

May 30 - 52 miles - 6+ hours seat time The weather turned a little over night. There was a light drizzle in the air. When we started to move around, a group of boys and a couple of middle aged chaperones were unloading a trailer full of bikes and getting ready to head out on an adventure for the day. I got into colder weather gear and headed out to finish up the Trail de Coeur d'Alenes. Shortly after passing through the town of Kellogg, ID the trail starts to parallel I-90 pr

May 29 - 59 miles 4.5 hours of seat time. The trailhead in Plummer, ID I wish all days could be like this one. After some discussion over dinner, a fabulous taco salad that was exactly the same as we would make at home base, it was decided that Bunny would take me back to the pick-up point and I would ride back to the campground. Then we would go out for a big breakfast at the Gateway Cafe in Plummer, before returning to Heyburn State Park, where Bunny and Poodle would have a

May 28 - 55 miles 6 hours of seat time. Sometimes you get support in best and most unlooked for ways. There were a lot of ways I could rejoin the trail. The original goal had been to get to Rosalia. Marshal and Amy had mentioned a bar where they got trail magic for a place to stay, and the owner going through some stuff, and I wanted to pay it forward by stopping in and getting a slice. This would have been the plan if I had worked the whole day Wednesday. Get up Thursday mor

May 17 - 40 Miles - 4.5 hours of seat time. The day started with all the ambition in the world. I intended to ride to Rosalia, WA which is sort of the last big town in Washington before heading into Idaho and the beginning of the Trail de Coeur D'Alenes. Having beaten myself up the day before I studied the alternative routes and opted for some pavement again. Google Maps had indicated that I'd be riding roads until I got back to an intersection with the Palouse to Cascades ne

May 16 - 39 miles. 4 hours of seat time. The showers in the clubhouse at the Lake Warden RN resort are tepid, but effective. 'Hypothermia' caused by the showers was warded off with a comfy night of sleep. Poodle, who normally tucks us in at home and then escapes to the couch in the living room, has taken to sleeping on the bed in the van all night. The van makes Poodle nervous for some reason. She's getting more used to it, but she pants and occasionally shivers when the road

May 15 - 54 miles - 4.5 hours of seat time I think I mentioned this in a previous post, but the reason for using the GART as the route for riding across the US, is that it provides safety from cars. Motorized vehicles are generally excluded from using the GART. However, the trail surface can be inconsistent, and as the previous blog entry should have made clear, the trail surface can make the ride downright uncomfortable. While I would like to use the trail as much as possibl

May 14 - 64 miles - 6.5 hours of seat time Thursday started with a very early drive to Cle Elum. I wanted to get on the trail by 9:00 AM to give me the best chance to make the planned distance to Beverly, WA. The route didn't have anything like Snoqualmie bass on it, but it did drop into the Columbia river basin. The trail surface between Cle Elum and Ellensburg is mostly compacted sand and dirt with the occasional section of looser gravel, but nothing the new rear tire can't

May 9 - 15 miles. 1.5 hours of seat time. I spent a few minutes and a couple of beers contemplating the challenges that had occurred. Clearly, I needed to resolve the tire situation. I searched around and determined that while Cle Eum is the larger town, Roslyn has the better bike shop. Also, Roslyn had a well rated breakfast place, and so a plan was made. Go to Roslyn in the morning, have a leisurely breakfast, wander across the road to the bike shop. Resolve the tire/inner

May 8 - 47 miles. 7 hours. Yes......7 hours. The next morning Bunny and Poodle took me back to the scene of the blood sacrifice. I got back on the bike and rapidly descended from Snoqualmie Ridge into North Bend. In an ideal world I would have had enough time and energy to finish yesterday's ride here. If you haven't spent any time in North Bend, please make time. The downtown corridor is idyllic with its boardwalks and shops. I highly recommend making time/planning to stop

May 7 - 50.5 miles - 5 hours of seat time. If anyone who is contemplating doing the GART is reading this, I highly recommend you follow the posted route through downtown Seattle. Not to see a flying fish at the Pike Place Market, but to experience the Burke-Gilman trail in all its glory. Don't get me wrong, downtown Seattle is glorious, in particular the waterfront district is in amazing shape after a decade of recent work removing the old viaduct. But 'The Burke' has been ar

May 2 - 47 miles - 5 hours of seat time. The final day on the Olympic peninsula started out a little colder. Mostly because we didn't want to wait around. Washington ferries can get really popular in the afternoon, particularly on weekends, leading to incredibly long wait times. Poodle is disappointed she isn't allowed to run free in that field. So the objective would be to try to make it to Kingston by lunch time to have lunch with friends, and then get back to Seattle prope

May 1 - 60 miles - 5.5. hours of seat time. I had taken the van on a couple of shakedown trips last year so I kind of knew what it was like to sleep in it, although during those trips I was sleeping on an inflatable mattress. This was the first night that the entire Poodle, Buddy, Squid team would be sharing the bed and I'm pleased to say that we all slept well. The Poodle is still suspicious of the van in general. She doesn't mind being in it when it's sitting still, but whe

April 30 - 47 miles - 4.5 hours of seat time. The Great American Rail Trail, here after referred to as GART, begins in La Push, Washington. La Push is a coastal community and the seat of the Quileute Indian Tribe. Due to logistical issues we couldn't stay in La Push and arrived there on April 30 after a ferry ride and a long drive. Getting a view out of the front of a Washington Ferry never gets old. The initial trail out of La Push is a gentle grade on paved surfaces going f

This is all Roger’s fault if I’m being honest. I’ve been around. I’ve done a couple of things in my time, but the seed that started this whole process was planted in approximately 2000 when a former colleague informed me that he was going to ride a bicycle across the country. His blog was a practical sort of thing, in that he simply wrote in a regular journal, and then when he got to places with internet, he would post pictures of not only the things he had seen, but pictures

It's been a long build. It's almost done. Maybe it will be complete by the time we finish our first long trip. November 2024 - Van Acquisition First night home December 2024 - Clean....a lot. Rip out the interior, remove the bulkhead, and ramp. Seal up the holes in the floor from the said ramp. Eventually paint the floor. March & April 2025 - Start exterior upgrades Running boards and a first take on roof rack. April & May 2025 - Holey Van Bat Man! Making these cuts became ea