No. I was supposed to ride with someone for the first three days, but that did not happen for reasons that were out of my control. However, when I crossed into Arizona, I rode into one of the Bike and Build groups going from North Caroline to San Diego. Our routes overlapped for a week and they let me ride with them during that time.

Well, the highways were off limits for most states (although I did take I-40 and I-67 in Arizona and I-8 in Arizona and California). Besides that, I used a combination of goole maps, adventures cycling maps, and my spidey senses to navigate west. I had a GPS but only used it when I needed a general idea of where to head.

Most states have preferred biking routes on their respective DOT webpages. It was a difficult process trying to balance a direct route with a safe one.

I left Boston, MA on May 10th and made it to San Francisco, CA by August 14th. I did not take a direct route across the country so it took longer than a direct route would. The entire trip took 97 days; 75 days I biked, while 22 I took off to rest or explore the places I wanted to see.

• Food: I kept about 10-20 granola bars, 2-5 bananas, and usually a sandwich of some sort in my panniers. I also had peanut butter and jelly, but the bread usually got flattened and once it got hot, my container of jelly exploded. I was surprised how many places there were to get a meal along the way, and I was generally overpacked when it came to food.



• Water: This was vital. I carried three Nalgenes (max capacity: one liter) with me at all times. Each Nalgene was insulated to keep the water as cold as possible. When it was 90 degrees or above, I usually bought a bag of ice and filled the Nalgenes with it so the water would stay cold. On the hottest/longest days, I drank upwards of eight liters. In Southern California, I almost ran out of water. Luckily, there were state-supplied water jugs on the sides of the roads. Thank you, California.



• Showering: Every opportunity I got. The longest span without a shower was eight days. Two other times I went seven days without a shower. After roughly three or four days, you reach your maximum potency, in my opinion.

I didn't bring a laptop because the site could be updated without any specific software. All updates were posted to the blog. As I stopped at friend's places along the way, I'd use their computers. I also used computers in public libraries and computers of those nice strangers who hosted me for a night. In Virginia, I was able to use a laptop at a local restaurant!

Anywhere and everywhere - legally and illegally. I did not plan this part of the trip because I felt it would be easy to find somewhere to stay. This was true for a majority of the time. On a handful of nights, I was forced to sleep in random places that I would not have planned to stay. The most impressive part of this trip is: I stayed at a hotel for just one night during the entire 95 days.

During the trip, I slept in my tent at the following places: campsites, hostels, people's backyards, people's frontyards, truck stops, a McDonald's drive-through, sea-side cliffs, town parks, state parks, national parks, and the side of the road (not on abybody's property to my knowledge). I was awoken twice when I camped where I should not have been. Oddly enough, they were both when in state parks (one in Deleware and one in California). Both times, I was not given a ticket when I told them what I was doing, although the California trooper was an jerk about it.

The only places I knew I needed a sleeping arangement were the cities. For the locations where I did not know anybody, I used this awesome website, CouchSurfing.com. CS is a social networking site that helps connect traveling people with others who may share similar interests or want to meet new people. I used the site for Baltimore and Kansas City.

Countless hours. I started training and accumulating gear one year before the trip. The two months leading up to the trip I spent planning the route. When I left Boston, I had only planned the route out to Colorado. Once I got to Colorado, another week was spent finishing the trip. It took a long time, but was well worth it once I was on the road and had no Internet.

A year before I left, I biked as much as possible. I quickly chaulked up 600 miles over 2-3 weeks time. In 2007, when the weather began to warm up, I trained with half the gear loaded up and worked my way up to a full load. Every other day I biked 50-55 miles. This was decent training, however, nothing can prepare you for biking every single day besides biking every single day. A good idea is to do a test trip of 2-4 days. I did this andit was probably the single-most important thing I did to prepare. With a trip of this size, you will learn your pace as well as food rationing. It's also a good test of your equipment.

Every article/blog I read said the same thing: the more you train, the easier the trip will be. The people who do less training than they should either quit or just have a rough tiem for the first few weeks. I biked ten days in a row to start, then took four days off. The first 3 days off, I could hardly walk, but after that, I was in shape for the rest of the trip. I didn't stop for a full day from Washington, DC until St. Louis, MO.

Over $4,000. This is between the bike, the gear, and food/shelter. About 1,500-2,000 of the cost was the bike and gear. The rest was food and can be cut down much more if you decide to buy your own food and cook/eat on your own. I did this for a while and eventually gave into to eating at diners and restaurants. Check back for a more detailed breakdown of costs...

On average, 65 miles. The shortest day I had was 32 miles (in Virginia) while the longest day I had was 108 miles (California). During a continuous 28 hour period, I biked 197 miles (Kansas into Colorado). Mileage would vary based on terrain, wind, fatigue, bike issues, and whatever else came along the way. I had originally planned to bike between 50 and 60 miles per day, so I was pleased with the actual mileage.