Up & down

Had a hard time to get up today; a hard time as well to get down on my bike seat. Took a run downhill from the campground to Jim Thorpe downtown.



Exiting this once coal mine city is a long way up the hill thru the curves, sweating in the morning sun. Little up, little down and thru the countryside,



... thru the woods,



... and thru this small town of Mainville.

And there are still a few hills to ride up and down as I go west thru the Apalachian Mountains.

Schedule & route

My departure is planned for Monday June 8th. My bike and trailer are almost ready.

With GoogleMaps, I have drafted my route to San Francisco: from New York directly towards the west (and not towards Niagara Falls as initially planned), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio... along Erie lake, keep going west little rider... Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon... make a left... California.


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Three months is 90 days. There are 5,000 km (3,100 mi) end to end. So, considering that I should not ride once a week, that's an average of 65 km (40 mi) per day.

More info:
* Actual - Detailed route & statistics
* Adventure Cycling Association
* Climate maps

Why go west?

I'm not used to living on the East side. I mean on the East side of a continent.

In Long Island, I often get confused between East and West. It doesn't match my instinct that you should go East to find the ocean.

Three months of spare time and a bicycle should be enough to go West and find the Pacific ocean.

Let's say, from New York to San Francisco; along the great lakes, thru the hills, plains and montains of this country with the size of a continent.



Ah New York ! The town where so many immigrants landed; and abroad the symbol of the American dream. San Francisco, the most European of American cities. It was the destination of so many of these immigrants, as Blaise Cendrars describes it in "L'Or" or John Steinbeck in "East of Eden".

The world has changed tremendously since. Traveling is easier and we move so fast that we miss so many of these little things that make a big difference. Inspired by Nicolas Bouvier, I want to offer me the luxury of slowness. If only I could be as sharp an observer as he was.

Continued:
* Ride for bone marrow donation