Since a few folks expressed interest in the coast-to-coast trip I mentioned in my last journal, here's how it's done:

- Choose a route and buy a set of maps from these good people. I opted for the Transamerica route.

- You may already have a fantastically dependable bicycle capable of carrying a lot of extra weight, but if you don't, and you don't mind laying down some dosh, I can recommend one of these.

- Since you've now blown a quite extraordinary chunk of your savings on your shiny new machine, buy a set of cheap, nasty front and rear luggage racks for your bike. You will come to regret this when both racks fail simultaneously on a backwoods mountain bike trail in Idaho.

- Load the bike with camping gear. Your once elegantly minimalistic setup will now resemble one of these.

- Decide not to train beforehand, figuring that you'll get fit as you go along. You may question the wisdom of this decision when you have to climb about 5000 ft up a snow-capped mountain on the second day. Surprisingly, you will go on to complete the entire ~4000 mile trip while still retaining the build of a strand of wet spaghetti.

- After many adventures, you will reach the Atlantic Ocean. Probably best to stop at this point.



(And once there, don't take a photo like the one above. You'll get sand in your drivetrain).

Hope this helps!