To answer both Doug and MD, there’s not a route as such.
We’re taking a mid-southerly approach…probably leaving CA via Yosemite National park, then obviously we’ll cross a little Nevada, and go along northern AZ & NM (we’re going to be crossing the Four Corners area I’m pretty sure). Then we may cross through the TX panhandle or maybe just go straight through OK. I know we’re aiming to cross Arkansas at its southern end as northern Arkansas is super hilly. I’m not sure what we’re doing after that, if we’ll go Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and on into North Carolina, or if we’ll start heading north in Mississippi and cut across Tennessee, or if we’ll hit TN via AR.
I don’t know for sure, but I’ll certainly post what’s up and where we’ve been along the way.
As you might gather, we’re not doing a set route. The plan is to buy state atlases along the way (the ones that show all of the roads – even the really puny ones, as well as topography) and choose our way by what looks the most attractive. We’re going by small “back roads” whenever possible, and traveling with an eye to sightseeing as well as manageable terrain.
More for MD – photo uploads – my phone isn’t the fancy picture-taking kind, and I don’t think my camera does that internet thing. We’re not taking a laptop, so my picture posting will have to wait until mid-to-late November when we get back home. I’m not too fussed – posting entries with a lot of photographic content can get pretty time-consuming and we’ll be doing our updates from public library computers. You usually don’t get a very lengthy time allotment on library computers so the on-the-road entries will necessarily be brief. I’ll do a much more in-depth write-up (most likely a series of write-ups) after we get back home.
Joel will be updating from the road too, over at Team Sexypants’s Hissyfits. Check it out for a Gonzo take on touring.
More for Doug: Why am I doing this? Um…pretty much because I can. Joel and I have planned and saved and made our respective job-related arrangements so that we can up and take off two months to ride across the country for no other reason than it is a grand and glorious adventure and something we’ve both dreamed of doing since we were kids. How many of us get to live out childhood dreams? I feel extraordinarily fortunate that I am able to act on this one.
A cross country tour sounds fun, I hope to do one someday. What is your final destination? NYC? If so, here are a few tips. Late November may be too late for NYC. It can get very cold, and even snow, that time of year. Second, cycling in North Jersey can be treacherous. The roads are not bike friendly, the traffic is bumper to bumper, the cagers can be psychotic, there on no camp grounds, and stealth camping is likely to get you arrested for vagrancy. If you are headed to NYC, my advice is to ride to Princeton, and get on the train for the final leg across Jersey to NYC.
Good luck to you, and I’m looking forward to reading about your adventure.
Nope, we’re not headed for NY or NYC. For all of the reasons you listed and then some. Since we’re taking a generally southerly route, we wouldn’t really have time enough to get that far North anyway…we’ve only got two months to do this in.