Wide Open Spaces

We made it to San Diego, and so did our bikes--no problems at all.   Sure is nice to move around!!  Train feels cramped after a while.
  Had a 5 mile bike ride to our beachside motel,  where we'll hang out for a day till we roll out Sunday morning.  Saturday we check out the town.
Doug

Map meister Doug

Carbon loading in the Dining Car

Lazy days

I'm not very good at the level of inactivity long distance train travel requires.  A long, long day just reading and watching the countryside.  3snow squalls in the rockies made us nervous but its two weeks till we'll be back on bikes. Train stopped for an hour in Albuquerque so we went for a long walk.  We get to LA tomorrow morning then switch trains for the final 3 hour ride to San Diego.  We'll stay there a day and begin pedaling Sunday morning.
Doug

Getting High

We are at 6000 ft at Trinadad, Colo. Two inches of fresh snow seems a poor fit considering the name of the place.
No more dry plains.
It's odd that we are so sedentary on the train since soon we'll be on the bike 6 hours or more a day.
The train is fun but both the tracks and the condition of our sleeper car highlight need for infrastructure repair.
Doug

In La Junta, Colorado

Amtrak

This train rocks...literally and figuratively!
Doug

Ridin' the Rails

As the pictures show, we made it to Union Station and I'm enjoying the company of my two lovely companions. Bikes are boxed and hopefully aboard. Weather was so nice in Michigan today maybe we should have started the ride from home. Good food and beer and ice cream for desert. Already in Iowa.
Doug

Doug and Cheryl in Union Station.

Doug and Kathy on our way to California!

Getting in those training miles

Our Cross Country Route

We'll be following Adventure Cycling's Souther Tier route across California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Texas, Texas, Texas, Texas...Mississippi, Alabama, Florida. Okay, just once across Texas, it just seems like it's more than one state. The maps we'll be using are designed for cyclists with information on climate, terrain, riding conditions, services available in towns we'll ride through all printed on water proof (and sweat proof!) paper.

Here's a link to the Adventure Cycling web site where you can see in greater detail the route we'll be following. Just click on 'detail' to the right of each section.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/southerntier.cfm

We're riding self-supported and packing light, carrying about 15 pounds in panniers on each of our single touring bikes and staying in motels along the way. Our good friend, Cheryl Olson, will join us for the San Diego to Phoenix stint, then we'll be on our own. We hope to hook up with high school friend Dave Fisher who is riding solo with about a week's head start on our very route!

Alabama Cycling Camp

After a week of riding with Renee and the gang, my legs are ready!

January 23, 2010

Kathy and Doug are about to begin our biggest adventure yet. Just six weeks until we dip our rear wheels in the Pacific in San Diego. If all goes well, six weeks later we'll take a dip in the Atlantic at St. Augustine. It's a cycling adventure we've dreamed about for years. Stay tuned...