Getting started
This is the blog* I'll use to keep anyone interested in following my bike ride across the United States informed about my progress. I selected a route called the Northern Tier. This is a route put together by Adventure Cycling, the group that arose from the Bike Centennial trip across the US to celebrate the Bicentennial. They have several routes, each of which is crowdsourced over decades of suggestions of people who have ridden the route. Gradually a route becomes the consensus best way to go and the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) publishes maps that show it. There are lots of blogs on this route—see below—and many more bike blogs including my own describing my bike trip from Seattle to San Francisco. I find them helpful and sometimes inspiring. I hope this one helps you!
The Northern Tier starts in Anacortes, Washington, passes through Mazama where our cabin is, and ends in Bar Harbor, Maine. So it is the logical choice for me. It is also the route that Jenny, our oldest daughter, took in 2016.
I'll start June 9 2024, a few days after my teaching commitments for the last spring quarter I will teach are completed. It will take me between 2 and 3 months to finish. How long depends on the number of miles I bike each day, how many rest days I take, and any side trips I fit in.
Can I do it? We'll see. Many people older than I am (69 as I write this, turning 70 during the trip) have done this. It will take me longer, but I'm not in a hurry.
One of the reasons for this trip is to see parts of the country that are completely new to me. Not only eastern Montana but the smallest towns and quietest roads. Rural North Dakota. And also to meet the people there whose life experience and outlook on the world may be very different than my own. I've only lived in large urban areas such as Seattle, the Bay Area, Denver, Boston, and one year in Alaska. Those areas aren't typical of our country and I want to see more.
I've been reading lots of books and blogs. Here is a sample:
Books
Listening to a Continent Sing by Donald Kroodsma. An incredible book that opens up (to me) the world of birdsong. He documents all the songs he heard, and much else, on the Transamerica trail east to west. I loved it.
Bicycling the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier Trail Across America, Tour Story of Two Sometimes Grumpy Old Men. Siskind, David E. The title tells it all
Old Men Bicycling Across America: A Journey Beyond Old Age (Kindle Books) Wooldridge, Frosty. Catching a theme here?
Blogs
Day 1 - May 4 - Bethesda to Brunswick - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent - CycleBlaze
Culmination of a Goal via the Northern Tier over 39 days: Introduction: My reward for faithful service - the ACA Northern Tier route
The Metal Hip Club attempt the Northern Tier. - CycleBlaze
Jim's Northern Tier – Page 5 – Biking across America taking the Northern Route
Seeking a Bicycle Warrior's Death, Part I: The Northern Tier - CycleBlaze
*Detail on how I made my blog
I'm new to this. Long ago I used Apple's iWeb to make my websites but it is long gone and unsupported. So I looked around for a new package. I use Little Oak web hosting and they discussed RapidWeaver. I'm shooting for simplicity so I checked it out and installed it. There is a fair learning curve but I began to get a feel for how to use RapidWeaver. However one thing I noticed was I couldn't add a 'next post' button to permit stepping from one post to the next. I registered for RapidWeaver's community and asked how to do this, and one person gave a strong recommendation for Poster 2 and offered a link. I bought it—it's an add-on to RapidWeaver—and then learned that in order to use Poster 2 I also needed to add a package called Stacks. What are Stacks I wondered? After web searches and youtube tutorials I figured out that stacks allow one to build layers of software, one on top of the other. So I bought Stacks, added on Poster 2, and that's what I'm using.
Those of you who know about blog and web software may be chuckling, but this was new to me. If you have suggestions on how I can make this blog better, please let me know!
Thanks to Jay Crosley for figuring out what was wrong (both an index.php and index.html) and fixing it!
The Northern Tier starts in Anacortes, Washington, passes through Mazama where our cabin is, and ends in Bar Harbor, Maine. So it is the logical choice for me. It is also the route that Jenny, our oldest daughter, took in 2016.
I'll start June 9 2024, a few days after my teaching commitments for the last spring quarter I will teach are completed. It will take me between 2 and 3 months to finish. How long depends on the number of miles I bike each day, how many rest days I take, and any side trips I fit in.
Can I do it? We'll see. Many people older than I am (69 as I write this, turning 70 during the trip) have done this. It will take me longer, but I'm not in a hurry.
One of the reasons for this trip is to see parts of the country that are completely new to me. Not only eastern Montana but the smallest towns and quietest roads. Rural North Dakota. And also to meet the people there whose life experience and outlook on the world may be very different than my own. I've only lived in large urban areas such as Seattle, the Bay Area, Denver, Boston, and one year in Alaska. Those areas aren't typical of our country and I want to see more.
I've been reading lots of books and blogs. Here is a sample:
Books
Listening to a Continent Sing by Donald Kroodsma. An incredible book that opens up (to me) the world of birdsong. He documents all the songs he heard, and much else, on the Transamerica trail east to west. I loved it.
Bicycling the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier Trail Across America, Tour Story of Two Sometimes Grumpy Old Men. Siskind, David E. The title tells it all
Old Men Bicycling Across America: A Journey Beyond Old Age (Kindle Books) Wooldridge, Frosty. Catching a theme here?
Blogs
Day 1 - May 4 - Bethesda to Brunswick - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent - CycleBlaze
Culmination of a Goal via the Northern Tier over 39 days: Introduction: My reward for faithful service - the ACA Northern Tier route
The Metal Hip Club attempt the Northern Tier. - CycleBlaze
Jim's Northern Tier – Page 5 – Biking across America taking the Northern Route
Seeking a Bicycle Warrior's Death, Part I: The Northern Tier - CycleBlaze
*Detail on how I made my blog
I'm new to this. Long ago I used Apple's iWeb to make my websites but it is long gone and unsupported. So I looked around for a new package. I use Little Oak web hosting and they discussed RapidWeaver. I'm shooting for simplicity so I checked it out and installed it. There is a fair learning curve but I began to get a feel for how to use RapidWeaver. However one thing I noticed was I couldn't add a 'next post' button to permit stepping from one post to the next. I registered for RapidWeaver's community and asked how to do this, and one person gave a strong recommendation for Poster 2 and offered a link. I bought it—it's an add-on to RapidWeaver—and then learned that in order to use Poster 2 I also needed to add a package called Stacks. What are Stacks I wondered? After web searches and youtube tutorials I figured out that stacks allow one to build layers of software, one on top of the other. So I bought Stacks, added on Poster 2, and that's what I'm using.
Those of you who know about blog and web software may be chuckling, but this was new to me. If you have suggestions on how I can make this blog better, please let me know!
Thanks to Jay Crosley for figuring out what was wrong (both an index.php and index.html) and fixing it!
