When & Where...The Long and the Short of It.

On May 28th I will begin my journey across the United States on my TREK 7500 bicycle. I will begin the journey in Yorktown VA and hopefully finish no more than 65 days later in Anacortes WA. The route that I will be traveling on is not a direct route. I've always had 2 dream rides that I've wanted to complete. One is cycling the from the beginning of the Mississippi River in Northern MN and following the great river to it's mouth at the Gulf of Mexico. My second dream ride was to cross the United States. If I complete my goal I will complete one of my dream rides and partial of the second.

The first 3rd of the ride will take place on the TransAmerica bike route designed and mapped by Adventure Cycling. This part of the route will take me west through Virginia, Kentucky, the Southern tip of Illinois, and across the Mississippi River to Cape Girardeau MO.

The second 3rd of the trip will take me north on the Great Rivers bike route. For the most part I will stay on the west side of the Mississippi while I pedal through Missouri, Iowa, 12 miles into Wisconsin, and into Minnesota. I will say goodbye to the Mississippi River in Stillwater MN.
This is where the last 3rd and most difficult part of the ride begins.

I will cross Minnesota staying about 15-20 miles north of Interstate 94 until I reach Fargo ND. In Fargo I will start on the Northern Tier bike route crossing North Dakota and entering Montana near Bainville. In northwest Montana I'll pedal through Glacier National Park and then into the northern tip of Idaho. After Idaho...The home stretch, Washington where I will climb and descend 5 passes...The shortest being 4020 feet and the tallest being 5477 feet. Trust me...It will be fun! I will hopefully finish the ride 4213 miles later in Anacortes WA no later than July 31st.