6/25/2022 0 Comments Snippet of IowaMy trip into Iowa was short lived. Nothing bad happened, I just biked exactly 20 miles in Iowa. Looking on the map, I biked a very, very, very small portion of Iowa. It's kind of funny, and that’s okay. Iowa was the 6th state I biked through. Although it might have been easy enough to go straight from Missouri to Nebraska, I decided to head further north into Iowa because of the campground. I didn’t have the energy to stealth camp, so campgrounds or motels it was. Waubonsie State Park in Iowa was essentially on the Iowa/Missouri border and the Iowa/Nebraska border, a win-win situation! The Iowa State Parks website was a little misleading – reservations aren’t made through the State, they’re made through recreation.gov, the same site used for federal campgrounds. I did not know that, and I was surprised when the Iowa SP site my email was already being used. Got it all figured out. Waubonsie State Park was cute. Scattered around the park, carved from tree stumps, were a turtle, Smokey bear, and an eagle to name a few. There were lots of caterpillars and bugs on my tent. I laid down in my tent and forced myself to stretch my legs before making dinner. My ride from Big Lake in Missouri to Waubonsie was physically easy but felt mentally taxing. I was tired and lonely and hungry and lonely. I forced myself to walk to the overlook to see this famed view and stretch my legs. Reviews on google say that people flock to the overlook to watch the sunset. I didn’t go at sunset, and I had the overlook all to myself. It was indeed cool. In the middle of the flats of the beginning of middle America, there was the Loess Hills. Would have been cooler with a friend. Iowa was short lived, but I hope to go back one day for the “Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa”
0 Comments
6/24/2022 0 Comments Part 2: MissouriBefore I recount Missouri post-Katy Trail, there's one story that's too good to pass up & can be used as a reference for a later encounter. My last night camping on the Katy Trail, the same evening Brontë and I watched the sunset. Around 2am I woke up to a sound only belonging to a raccoon rummaging through empty beer cans and a full garbage bag that was left outside by the site across from me. A few minutes later as I am trying to fall back asleep, I hear sniffing around the vestibule with my shoes. Me, knowing it's just a raccoon, I turn on my flashlight and tell it to go away (it does). Half hour it's back and sniffing, but on the other vestibule with my flat-rate package of food from Michigan (I know food isn't supposed to be so close to my tent but ... you probably would have done the same thing if you were out there). Again, I turn on my flashlight and tell him to go bother someone else. This raccoon decides to be bold and I see a singular paw reach under my vestibule and touch my box of food. I shake my tent, the raccoon is gone but the paw print remains. They didn't bother the campground for the rest of the night. I said goodbye to the Katy Trail in Sedalia and headed for the Missouri State Fairgrounds Campground. This campground was indeed a fairgrounds campground. Much better than the one I stayed at in Hartford, Kentucky. The electrical box didn't catch on fire! The bar is set so low. Surprisingly, I still felt alive after my longest ride of the trip so far - 70 miles. A shower, campground wide wifi, and $12 overnight fee helped. As I head west, the nicer people are. I was invited by the site next to me & fellow tent campers to a cold Gatorade. Regina and Bryan were refreshingly outdoorsy and beyond nice to talk to. Thanks for the Gatorade!! Missouri State Parks were gold star worthy starting with the Katy Trail State Park. Annie and Abel Van Meter State Park was no different. The park was so green and beautiful. Mac n cheese for dinner. Sorta cleaned my Mac n cheese cooking pot. Placed as much food as possible in my bear canister. Moved bear canister and Mac n cheese cooking pot outside of my site and farther away from my tent. I wake up at 1am to an animal walking through my site. You might be saying, Eryn, you can sleep through anything - thunderstorms, parties, people falling off bunk beds - but you woke up to ... sounds of an animal walking through grass?? That is correct. Your guess is as good as mine. ANYWAYS: I knew instantly this visitor wasn't a raccoon. My gut feeling said that it was a bear. I heard this animal walk and I swear I heard snorting and grunting. I forced myself to remain calm. Because like printers, bears can probably smell fear. I plugged my ears because if I can't hear it, there's nothing scary out there. Grass being pushed into the topsoil. The ting of my Mac n cheese cooking pot moving against rocks. The thud of my bear canister moving on soft earth. The very sudden realization of the food in every pannier and in my tent next to me. I am a soft taco with salsa. I heard the animal visit the RVer's site next to me - knocking a garbage bag off the bear hook. They were a crunchy taco. I found my headphones in the dark and put country music on Spotify with a 15 minute sleep timer and I was out before Maren Morris could finish singing; asleep until I woke up at 6am and excited to see the damage done. I was as excited as a kid on their birthday. I gingerly walked around my site scouring the ground for paw prints. The Mac n cheese cooking pot was unharmed. The bear canister was muddy, toppled, and moved 20ft. I couldn't find any paw prints, but there were sort of large and spread out claw marks in the mud. Once again, with evidence, I ruled out raccoons and their lil hands. I made a beeline for the garbage bag-pulled off-bear-hook RVer when I saw they were cleaning up. "Mornin'," I say as the RVer walks over to me with an inquisitive look. "What do ya think got into your garbage last night?" "Raccoon." He says crossing his arms. "Are you ... sure? How could a raccoon get your garbage bag off the hook? I think it was a bear." "Nope it wasn't a bear. Oh raccoons can get big," bringing his hand up to mid-thigh like you might reference how tall a toddler is, "and when they stand on their hind legs, they can reach -" "Yeah, but I heard this thing walking and breathing, I say cutting him off "I was visited by raccoons the other night and this was a totally different sound." "Look, I'm from here and there's no bears here. They're all further north. If they ventured this far south the DNR would be tracking them and ready to take them away." I didn't bother arguing because it wasn't worth it. I already had my evidence that it was a bear: claw marks, the fact that the garbage was off the bear hook, hearing walking, and grunts/huffing/snorting. I recounted my experience and interaction with the RVer to a few people. They all said the same thing: That guy kept saying it was a raccoon because he was scared that a bear had actually visited. That guy was a crunchy taco in his hard-sided teardrop camper. I was the one with soft walls who would have been in danger. Someone better call National Geographic to tell them that raccoons make new sounds. Pershing State Park was not nearly as exciting. It turns out I'm amazing at picking sites online, because I picked one in full sun and next to the highway. My tent was 20ft away from the two lane zoom zoom paved road that lead to the entrance of the park. A) poor campground planning, and B) poor site choice for me. Pershing was by no means full - especially in the primitive loop - I could have switched sites if I had asked the campground host. I rather chose to live with the consequences of my actions and unofficially occupied two sites. As in, all my stuff was on my registered site - but I journaled, talked on the phone, and cooked dinner in the shade of the site next to me. From Pershing State Park, it was essentially a straight shot to Cameron, Missouri. Huge but manageable hills that gave enough momentum to propel me up three quarters of the next hill. At a motel in Cameron, I took a rest day. Well-deserved after 366 miles of biking in 7 days from St. Louis. This rest day was actually a zero day. Zero miles and pretty close to zero steps. Only left my room to check out the complimentary breakfast and steal a bagel. I ate food while lounging on my bed while watching a muted HGTV and playing Xana Radio on Spotify. You know, questioned my whole ride and allowed myself to wallow and miss friends and home. From Cameron, it was a three day route to Lincoln, Nebraska with one final Missouri State Park campsite planned. Lincoln was my next big stop - staying with my cousin Kayla. My ride to Big Lake State Park held an important milestone that some wouldn't celebrate: my first flat tire. Picture this: Eryn blindly following google maps and strangers in gas stations saying the next road I'm taking is paved. Turning on to Co Rd T - it's paved. Then gravel. And back to pavement. The all too familiar feeling of metal grinding on pavement brings me to a stop and I'm grinning like a maniac. There's no use throwing a fit, this was bound to happen. Correlation isn't causation - my rear tire is wore down and threadbare at this point. Otherwise, my ride was going smoothly, my legs felt great, and it was still early in the day. You betcha I was giggling to myself as I unclipped everything, flipped over my bike, and got a handful of grease when removing my rear wheel. I learned how to change a bike tire days before my flight to Virginia. I channeled the memory from Michigan and even surprised myself with how fast the process went. As I was reaching for my bike pump, the farmer whose driveway I was next to pulls up in his Polaris. "So ... what are you doing? Are you okay?" "Oh yeah, I'm fine, my bike's not though. Got a flat and I'm just about to pump the tire." The farmer was astounded to say the least, that I already had the new tube on the rim and ready for air. Like a true person in rural America, he had been watching the cyclist stopped on the road from his house before checking on them. He offered to drive me and my tire to the air compressor in his barn, of which I agreed to. There were no stranger danger vibes from this man, only kindness. And another roadblock. My tires have presta valves rather than the more common Schrader valves. He had never seen the long presta valve before, ergo didn't have an adapter for the air compressor. I had been procrastinating buying a presta/Schrader adapter, and this sealed the deal, at the next opportunity I was going to buy one. In true farmer fashion, he jerry-rigged a similar yet different adapter with a large rubber band and managed to fill the tire to 60 psi. Godsend. Would have taken me at least a half hour to fill the tire with my tiny bike pump and it wouldn't have gotten anywhere near 60 psi. Instead, I had a full tire and a 45 minute turnaround time. From living in Michigan and close to the Great Lakes, we are spoiled with water sources. For the rest of the Untied States, I need to lower my expectations of rivers and lakes. Big Lake was ... big for the area. Murky. This state park was essentially empty as well, and I picked a site in the shade of a sycamore tree. The next morning: my sights set on Iowa. 6/18/2022 0 Comments Part 1: MissouriMissouri was fun to explore on multiple levels. From St. Louis with Brontë, to the Katy Trail and following the Lewis and Clark Expedition route along the Missouri River.
In St. Louis, I took an extra rest day to avoid the holiday crazies (Memorial Day weekend). Brontë and I wandered around Union Station, Build-A-Bear, and IKEA. I had never been to Build-A-Bear, and in dire need for a friend on my trip. There were so many options! After much deliberation, I picked a light brown original bear & named her Louisa. We went to Build-A-Bear first, so for the rest of the day, we carried her with us :) In the free portion of the aquarium, we learned about watersheds and our carbon footprints. From there, we got back on the metro and stopped at IKEA to wander around. Also, this was my first time at IKEA - pretty cool store. And their swedish meatballs are as good as people rave about them. We listen to a combined 3 hours of podcast episodes on Bats while sitting in the AC, based on a conversation the night before. From the Ologies Podcast with Alie Ward, Chiropterology (BATS) with Dr. Merlin Tuttle, was amazing as always. I've been listening to Ologies podcast episodes for a couple years now, and every single one had held my attention. Alie Ward does a great job of researching each subject, presenting the cold hard facts, and sprinkling in jokes to keep the information fun and relatable. Chiropterology was no different. We learned that most of the chatter high frequency microphones pick up in caves is simply gossip. Bats eat hundreds and thousands of bugs each night. You're more likely to get rabies from your dog than a bat - and no, they're not aggressive creatures. Bats can be trained. Some species can live for 40+ years. I'm now bats for bats ;) After St. Louis, I make my way west across the Missouri River for the first time. It was just one of the many times I crossed the river. I decided to take the Katy Trail across Missouri, and I'm so so glad I did. The Katy Trail is indeed a hard packed clay/pea gravel trail. It is open to biking and walking with horse allowed segments. The KT had some road crossings, but mostly went through public and private property. This took me a little bit to figure out, but the trail itself is a state park. The trail and 10ft on either side was state park property. On my first day on the KT I passed through Defiance, Missouri. There's a photo of my all-time favorite cyclist, Juliana Buhring, doing a similar pose with her bike and the Defiance road sign. Before looking at the Missouri state map, I had thought that Defiance was somewhere else in the world on one of Juliana's endurance races, not here in the US. I was on the KT trail, so I didn't pass the MODOT sign Juliana used, but this one worked as well. Defiance to the heteronormative, patriarchal, capitalistic, and consumerism society we're forced to participate in. Defiance to those who said my solo trip across the US wasn't practical. Defiance to my own brain, who on occasion, questions everything I've been doing since Virginia. Defiance to be me and not care what other people think. Defiance to blaze my own path and what is meant to be will be. The KT mostly followed the Missouri River across, and thus the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Me, still a nerd about history, took breaks to read historical markers on the trail and at trailheads. It astounded me and continues to that the Lewis and Clark Expedition paddled on the same river I biked next to - we saw the same water, we saw the same sunsets and sunrises, we saw the same bluffs and caves. At one trailhead, there was a map with a timeline of the Corps of Discovery's stops and ~ fun events west and then back east on the Missouri River. Here's one event that stuck out to me: "May 23, 1804: TAVERN CAVE, Clark explores Indian pictographs inside tavern cave. Lewis falls 20 feet down a 300-foot-tall bluff, but saves himself." Along the Katy Trail, I was able to up my mileage. Flat gravel and shade is the perfect combination. Along the trail, there were signs letting you know what towns were approaching and what amenities they held. I chose to camp each night at campgrounds along the Katy Trail. On the first night of camping on the KT, I was the only camper in my particular loop. I, myself am particular, I will talk to other people - I won't be straight up anti-social, but after so long on the road, I'm tired of talking to strangers and yearn to talk to people I already know. So, I was totally okay with being the only one in my loop. There were bat boxes on poles in the campground - pretty cool to see them in action after leaning about them! My second night camping on the KT, I met two other guys who were biking the KT to simply scope out the trail for part of a race - the nonstop from Oregon to DC. Third night camping I ended up at a campground that had local and live music. Lots of people were there, but not many campers. Due to holiday mail traffic, my food resupply box from Michigan arrived at Brontë's after I had already left. I gave her two options: mail it ahead of me, or drive it out to the campground. Ten text messages later and 2.5 hours of driving for Brontë, I now had a friend to hang out with and more 'free' food. We listened to the music from afar and watched the sun go down on the river. A beautiful evening. My last day on the Katy Trail was the longest. 75 miles, and I experienced my first hills of Missouri. The KT is not an accurate representation of the topography of Missouri, as it follows the old Katy Railroad - a rails to trails design - and is flat. I stopped at Lewis and Clark Cave alongside the trail. I did not enter the cave because it was on private property, and endangered gray bats use the cave as a summer roost. (See, the bats are following me at this point!!) As we acknowledged in Illinois, caves can't be in anything else but rock; and this cave was in the Missouri limestone bluffs. Bluffs were straight up and there were more little cracks/caverns where bats could fit and live. Also present on the bluffs above Lewis and Clark Cave were remains of Native American pictographs. From what I remember, the trailhead sign did not mention a specific Tribe. Something is better than nothing, but still not enough. Further down on the bluff, a former explosives storage bunker from the MTK railroad is built into the limestone, also now on private property. Between Booneville and Pilot Grove is Lard Hill. The legend of Lard Hill is as iconic-pioneer woman-power move as they come. "According to local legend, the hill was named after a Katy train killed a woman's pig but refused to pay her more than $5. To receive justice, she melted down the fat of the pig into lard. Each morning for weeks afterward, she and her children covered the tracks along the grade with the lard, forcing trains to slip and skate uphill. Needless to say, the railroad gave in and made full compensation." (Quote from Booneville Trailhead sign). The KT Booneville Trailhead was right next to a visitors center. I went inside to see if they had Katy Trail stickers (no, but they had fridge magnets). I grabbed a Missouri State Map, and placed a pin on Newberry and signed their guest book. I put us on the map! I was really and truly there in middle of Missouri. A few miles past Lard Hill, I crossed Clear Creek. This was indeed a clear creek, and the first to not look like chocolate milk that I've passed in my trip. History wise on the KT I was more focused on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but this [[[]translucent/transparent ]] water source really caught my eye. "During the Civil War, Clear Creek was a camp site during a march of Union Gen. Nathaniel Lyon and 2,400 troops." (Quote from Clifton City Trailhead sign). Time knows no bounds and the forest had recovered from the war and a sharp increase of people inhabiting the creek. 6/12/2022 0 Comments Land of LincolnIllinois was physically painless but mentally painful.
The topography of the southern tip of Illinois was hilly, and then it quickly became flat. The morning I left Cave-In-Rock, it was pouring. In a lull in the rain, I moved all my items to a pavilion to wait out the storm, eat breakfast out of the rain, and attempt to dry my tent a little bit before packing it into my pannier. Although I had slept through the thunderstorm, I was exhausted. Exhausted Eryn cries at minor inconveniences. So that's what I did. The sky was crying and so was I. The sky stopped the tears and so did I, she packed up the cloudy weather and I packed up my bike. I was on my way to Harrisburg, 36 miles away. There isn't much in southern Illinois, no camping and not much between towns either, so I opted for a motel for the night. Mr. Griffis offered to pay for it, and I didn't decline. Roughly halfway through my ride, I see a familiar motorhome pass me - it was Dave and Laurie - we happened to be going the same direction! A couple miles up the road I was greeted with waves, smiles, and an invitation for chocolate pie. We talked about bike touring, gear, food, and everything else related. It was so so nice to talk about bikes with other people who were also bike tourists. They gave me route recommendations, and reassured me that the Katy Trail from St.Louis to Kansas City was hard Missouri clay and hard packed pea gravel - and that my bike would be able to handle it. (take that, mean Troutdale AT hiker who said the Katy Trail was too rough for my bike) (side side note: take this into precaution when u speak to other ppl bc this man's unkind words from VIRGINIA are STILL WITH ME although I don't give them any weight) The chocolate pie was from a super small corner restaurant, and it was great. In Harrisburg I picked up some more food from Kroger. Real pre-made vanilla pudding as a do-over from my fail the night before. More protein bars. Popcorn deli chicken and a veggie platter for dinner. The next morning I headed out towards Du Quoin, 56 miles away. First 100% truly flat day. Okay, okay, Strava said I only had 594ft of elevation gain, for the whole day. That's really nothing. I usually don't double track my routes. However, today I was going to hit 1,000 miles and I wanted to as accurately as possible see where that would be. Garmin Tracking vs Strava: Garmin sends my location as a point on a map every 20 minutes. So if I go through 5 curves before it can send a dot, there'll just be a straight line from point A to point B. If I'm super slow going around a giant curve, the map will then show that. Meaning that the mileage is always a little off. Strava continuously tracks points, so on the map you're able to see what side of the road I'm on or if I make a circle in a gas station parking lot. Mileage is usually spot on. They both have their pluses and negatives for using as a route tracking service. Around noon, I biked into Energy, Illinois, my 1,000 mile mark for this trip. Energy gave me energy. As a mini reward, I stopped at a Casey's for chicken tenders and bbq sauce & then I was on my way. Again, there was no easy camping available around Du Quoin and I opted for another motel rather than stealth camping. The next day I was on a 60 mile ride (longest yet) to an American Legion Campground outside of Freeburg, IL. I had called a campground on Google maps that turned out to be closed, however the lady who answered gave me two other campgrounds to chose from in the area. I chose the American Legion Campground. That lady had obviously not been to it, because I would not have recommended it to me. To put it bluntly, it was the sketchiest place I've been thus far. As soon as I biked onto premises, I was like … something doesn't feel right. The vibes were off. I can do rural and no one around. But I can't do straight out creepy. Overgrown, underkept, rundown buildings, a camper that looked like it hasn't moved in 5 years in the absolute middle of cornfields as a young, solo, female traveler. Immediately in the campground I pull out my phone to see if I have service. Thankfully I do. Unfortunately however, my phone wasn't working to call nor answer calls. I remain calm. The last thing I want to do is make other people in the campground aware that I'm having a breakdown. I get me and my bike out of there, and park myself the farthest away from the campground part as possible (probably ¼ mi away) while still being on the property (it bordered on a private drive & private property). 20ft from the property line, I restarted my phone and pulled out my hotspot in an attempt to call someone and tell them my situation. The hotspot worked. Worst case scenario, I was 35 miles from St. Louis and Brontë could pick me up. I definitely felt safer 20ft from the property line, and I did not go back into the campground to get more water or use the outhouse. I rationed my water (roughly 90 oz) and peed in the woods. I was tired enough that I slept through the night, but before bed I took extra precautions in case something did happen. At daybreak I have renewed energy to get the heck outta dodge and zoom zoom towards St. Louis and did not look back. I even multitasked and ate breakfast while taking down my tent. Never had I been so happy to see a Circle K to fill up my water bottles. Near the Circle K, I got on a paved bike path - SCCTD MetroBikeLink Trail - that took me to the outskirts of East St. Louis. Some people the previous day told me about East St. Louis, but the American Legion campground was way more sketchy than the subdivisions I biked through in East St. Louis. I biked across the Mississippi River on the Eads Bridge & took the first exit for the Arch. My first time seeing the St. Louis Arch, and it was awesome. It's huge! Shiny! A landmark! Icon of the gateway to the west! Crazy to believe that I've biked all the way to St. Louis from the Atlantic Ocean! I do amaze myself sometimes. What a feat I'm undertaking. In St. Louis, I planned to stay with a friend, Brontë, the one who's so kindly posting these blogs for me :) A 45 minute bike ride later and with a confused google maps, I was excitedly on Brontë's doorstep, ready for a rest day and to hang out with a friend. All is well in the world. 6/7/2022 0 Comments FAQ's from the roadkey: bold = questions. Regular = my answers. (in parentheses) = extra context
yes, these are all questions people have asked me while on my trip so far. Where are you biking to? Oregon. Where are you from? Michigan. So, did you bike all the way here from Michigan? No, I took a flight to Richmond and a friend took me to Yorktown, Virginia to start. (People can't seem to understand that I flew to a different location to start my trip) Aren't you scared? No, I'm not scared. How many flat tires have you had? Zero, knock on wood! (No really, if you're reading this you better knock on wood so I don't get a flat tire) So you're camping all the way across? Yes, I'm trying to. I do stay at the occasional motel when there's nowhere else to stay or I don't feel like stealth camping. So … do you like biking? Yeah … (If I didn't like biking I wouldn't be doing this … this person asked me this stopped at a trailhead, so I was clearly with my bike and in cyclist gear.) Would you ever consider living on your bike full time? NO (the man who asked me this clearly lived on his bike, bike touring full time, and I did not hesitate saying no) What do you eat? a lot of instant mashed potatoes, Mac n cheese, variety of protein bars, peanut butter, pepperoni, tuna packets, granola, trail mix, baked beans ~ backpacking type food. Are you worried about biking on busy roads and drivers? Not really. I've been biking mainly on roads for years and I'll be fine. What's your timeline? Oregon by mid July. But I'm taking it one day at a time so I don't have to quite think about it yet. How much does your bike weigh? Don't know! (My bike itself weighs 20lbs; my guess is 40lbs added weight) Are you biking alone? Yep, couldn't find anyone to go with me. What made you want to bike across the US? I read Juliana Buhring's memoir about her GWR around the world and I was immediately inspired to try bike touring and endurance biking. And of course since reading her memoir I've extensively dot watched races such as the trans-am and I've found a lot of awesome women to look up to in the cycling world. What do you do when it rains? Bike in the rain. I'm waterproof and my bags are waterproof too. If I don't bike in the rain I'll never make it to Oregon. If the weather is too bad I'll wait it out a couple hours - but so far I haven't encountered too bad of weather. Do your legs hurt? Not when I stretch! I've been slightly conditioned to stretch when I talk to friends and family on the phone in the evenings. Two birds with one stone. When did you start? last week of April. How many miles do you do every day? Anywhere between 20 and 70 miles. Appalachia really gave me a run for my money and I had to take it slow. I hope to up my mileage in middle-america. Are you biking for a cause? Nope, I'm biking just for funsies. (I say "for funsies" every time. no need to be professional on a bike with helmet hair) How do your parents feel about you doing this? I've been talking about this trip for roughly 6 years so they've had time to be okay with it. Plus, they've got my location down to the 20 ft with this GPS. (So many people have asked me this, this is really what I say verbatim) How old are you? … 22 (A lady in Kentucky said I didn't look a day over 18) Is this your first bike tour? Nope, a few years ago I biked across Michigan's Upper Peninsula, about 320 miles. How are you going to reward yourself when you reach Oregon? You know, I haven't thought about that. (However, I don't see my trip in that lens. I see this trip in itself a reward of sorts. Maybe local Oregon beer and a pizza.) Is that your boyfriend behind you? Um, nO??! (At this Q I was stopped on the side of the road eating a snack, a guy pulled over and told me that I was going to get hit on the side of the road. I simply shrugged at his comment, and then he asked that question. I was simply in shock and looked at him with my mouth open waiting for flies. 1. Why does my adventure have to be tied to a MAN. 2. The old straight white male audacity strikes again.) What do you do when you bike? Listen to music? I have a lot of time to think. Sometimes I listen to music, but lately just on the last 10-15 miles because it drains my phone battery. Where are you going tomorrow? West. (If I'm talking to a library worker/someone trying to get a place to set up my tent, I'll give slightly more details. But a nosy guy at a campground doesn't need to know anything.) How do you charge your phone? I have a wall charger and a solar charger. Are you following a set route? How do you know where you're going each day? I am loosely following the Adventure Cycling Association's Trans-America Bicycle Route across America. I have someone I know in just about every state, so I try to make my way to them via campgrounds and motels if needed. What's your budget? Cheap. I don't have a set budget, but I do know I'm not extravagantly spending. What's your sleeping bag rating? … 55 degrees Fahrenheit. It's not a very good sleeping bag and I will get a better one if I choose to do any other bike tours, but it's what I had and it works. Is that a bear canister? Yes it is. I didn't feel like dealing with rope, finding a large tree every night, and a bear bag. |
Author: Eryn corinthCyclist. Feminist. Outdoor enthusiast. Tree hugger. Archives
October 2022
CategoriesAll College Colorado Gear Goals Illinois Iowa Kentucky Missouri Motivation Nebraska Ore To Shore Pandemic Rides TransAmerica Ride UP Cycle Virginia |