My Route, More or Less (Red line, but starting in NY)

My Route, More or Less (Red line, but starting in NY)
NY NJ PA MD VA KY IL MO KS CO UT NV CA

Make a Difference

I'm pedaling for many reasons, the most important of which is to raise awareness and funds for Pedals For Progress. P4P is a non-profit that collects used bicycles and sewing machines in the US and donates them to poor people overseas. P4P combines my love of bicycling with my growing concern for those deprived of life's most basic necessities - sparked by a visit to the slums of Kibera in June '09 (pictures). P4P improves mobility and economic options for destitute people, opening pathways to greater dignity and opportunity.

Please make a donation, if you can (please write "TSQ2USQ" in the '...honor of' field). Remember, a bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses. :)

My Game Plan

I'm following portions or all of three routes mapped out by the Adventure Cycling Association: the Atlantic, TransAm, & Western Express. I'll cycle through thirteen states: NY, NJ, PA, MD, VA, KY, IL, MO, KS, CO, UT, NV & CA! I'm leaving on 4/17/10, and expect to return to New Jersey by mid June - back to my family, friends, & neighbors. I plan on cycling 5 - 6 hours per day, 6 days/week, usually starting in the early AM. My laptop and phone will allow me to work remotely most days, but I won't pass up opportunities to smell the roses along the way!


Saturday, October 2, 2010

Day 32


Dighton, KS to Leoti, KS. About 50 miles. Great weather; highs in the 70s or so.

Met some interesting people along the way, including a couple in a van who slowed down to invite me to stay at their place in Leoti. It's not unusual for people take in cyclists along this well established route, but I wasn't planning on staying in Leoti. When I arrived in town, their daughter, Abigail, flagged me down. She lead me to their home, where I met her two sisters and chatted w/ her dad for a bit before heading out towards my destination further west. Tire went flat again...

Nothing but tube problems all day. Patched my tire another 8 or so times today, the result of a faulty rim strip. I was a hair's width away from hitching to Pueblo again, but one call to Jim Vance turned everything around. He stopped whatever he was doing, cycled to James Vincent's bike shop, bought me two rim strips and other supplies then FedExed them. I checked into the Hi Plains Motel and settled in for the night. Thank you Jim!

Oh, these pictures really capture a part of my Kansas experience: "bull hauler" truck and horrible food. A disproportionate number of the bull hauling truckers, as Joe from Hornets Nest Cafe in Dighton calls them, find sport in buzzing bikers. Not motor cyclists, I'm certain. Their large, low to the ground rigs generate a powerful blast of air in their wake. One came so close to me while I was changing a tire today he knocked over my bike and pannier. Fortunately most drivers, especially truckers, fail to see the sport in dangerously hazing cyclists and tend to give wide berth.

Please donate to Pedals for Progress: https://payments.auctionpay.com/ver3/?id=w043522
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Another good reason to not eat cow.
Love, MOM

October 2, 2010 at 6:25 AM

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