Introduction & Links
My
wife Carol and I wrote these reflections as we pursued our long-held
dream of bicycling across the USA. This trip was sort of an
unnatural act for me; my previous 30 years had been spent at a desk
job. So if there is one message you could take away from this,
it is that if I can do it, so can you! All you have to do it
take your time and have a place to stay each night that's within
your biking range.
People ask if we didn't get bored all those hours on bikes, going
so slowly. The deserts must have been especially boring, they
expect. Our answer: Not at all! Going at bike
speed gives you time to think about what you're seeing. You
see a desert plant in bloom, and you have time to really admire it
and perhaps even think to be thankful for it. You see an
abandoned farm--or perhaps several abandoned farms--and you thoughts
can go in several directions: who used to live there?
why did they come? why did they leave? did the climate
change? or the economy? or the government?
I had always wanted to write a journal but had never quite gotten
around to doing it. Several journals on my book shelf with one or
two pages worth of entries attest to that. To provide the
motivation to start this journal, I promised my friends and anyone
else who evinced any interest at all that I'd stay in touch via
email while I was on the trip. The positive feedback I received, and
the fact that the distribution list for these ramblings grew to
several hundred people, kept me writing.
Carol initially thought this was a dumb idea, but, as you will
see, she later became a real contributor.
Our journey starts here. Enjoy!
Ken Lyon
Links to Other Tour Journals and
Information
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We thank those who have linked to our Rambles from their sites.
If you know of other links, or if you add a link to your site,
please let me know at
ken@lyonhouse.us and I'll reciprocate below. |
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crazyguyonabike |
See about 2000 journals and articles about bicycle
touring at at
crazyguyonabike, "A place for bicycle tourists and
their journals." |
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Fellow Cincinnatians Joan & Mike biked the new
Adventure
Cycling
Underground Railroad Bicycle Route from Mobile,
AL, to Owen Sound, Ontario, in 2007. Read about
their adventures in their
blog. |
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You can read about lots & lots of rides (including ours)
on Adventure Cycling's
Ride Registry. |
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John Dorsey, who did his own cross-country ramble,
links to us in his
Biking across the United States site. His subtitle, "My
friends had been telling me to get a life and so for 8 weeks I
did" gives a taste of the flavor of his writing. |
| Howard Pulver, self-guided bike tour expert for Ontario &
Quebec, quotes Carol's Drivers Ramble
in his
Bike On Tours site. |
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Adventure Cycling Magazine's
Ride Registry provides summaries of many tours, including
ours. |
| Mike Bentley lists us on the
Bicycle Touring and Travelogue Links page of his Mega Bicycle
Links site. |
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We're listed on the
OzHPV
site, which organizes and coordinates Human Power
Vehicle events in Australia. |
| Brian Nelson's
Friends and Family Recumbent Bike Riders includes us. |
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So does Kathy Bilton's huge list of
'Bent Folks 'Round the Globe. |
| Jesse McCormack started up a new
Bicycling Road Reports site in 2007
and included our tour. |
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