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Introduction
This web page began July 24, 1997, one week before
my sixtieth birthday, as a way
to post my ride across the US for the children.
Since then it has grown to include
the trips listed above.
All the photos were taken with a digital camera
-- three different kinds, over
the years, which are described in the individual
trips. Daily updates to the web
page are made each evening of the trip with an
Apple Macintosh PowerBook using the
phone line in the motel room. My internet provider
(Earthlink) has an 800 number
which is used to access the web page area. Each
day's log is put into a FileMaker
Pro database along with the photo captions. After
the day's narrative is entered,
a database script is executed which causes the
database to generate the HTML for
the day's web page. The HTML and the photos are
then uploaded to the web page area.
This is reasonably painless. It has to be after a
day of bicycling.
Connie: What It's like to
Drive Sag Wagon
Each morning I sleep late, until
about 9 or so,"break camp"
[motel actually] load up, check out, and head for
the next town. In the course of
the experiences of the cross-country and subsequent
trips, we have established a
routine of pre-selecting a motel in the next town
the night before. For this, we
use the booklets that all the chains have listing
their motels around the country.
You can collect these as you go, but many have web
sites and would probably mail
you copies in advance, or you can look at the motel
chain web sites as you travel
if you have a laptop along.
We have done some B and B'ing
along the Natchez Trace because we
were traveling with another couple who preferred this. We lasted for
about four "charming"
places before we couldn't take it anymore. We have
found that B&B's tend to have
every available surface in a room covered with
knickknacks and stuff, and be completely
inconvenient for bicycles and necessary equipment,
as well as impossible for the
use of a computer requiring a phone for the modem.
Many B&Bs don't have phones
in the room.
Motels may be more sterile and
generic, but they usually have reasonably
sized rooms with phones. I've learned to
immediately ask for a "ground floor,
non-smoking room for two" with AARP or AAA
discount, if available. I had a stroke
10 years ago and am not as strong as I used to be,
so I can't haul all the stuff
up a flight of stairs. A very few multi-story
places have elevators and/or porter's
carts. We invested in a sort of dolly-cart thingy
with which I can haul all the stuff
down a hallway in those interior corridor places --
which we try to avoid. Outer
doors leading directly to the parking place are
much easier.
We've found that a couple of the
cheaper motel chains often have
split-level motel design. You must haul stuff
either up or down stairs. There's no
option. I have loaded things in and out through a
ground floor window of a subterranean
room on several occasions, which means shoving
furniture to the window and dismantling
screens and such. For that reason, we tend to avoid
these motels unless we can see
the actual building.
If they haven't got a non-smoking
room, I thank them, say it's
non-negotiable and go on to the next place. If I
can't get a room at the agreed-upon
place, I leave a message there at the desk for Ray
telling him where I'll be. I just
tell them that my sweaty bicyclist husband is
coming in -- they always pass the message
on.
Some motels don't like to rent
the rooms before 2PM. I've had to
wait in the car or cruise around town waiting for
check-in time in some places, but
no big deal. Motels in small towns seem to be more
willing to let you check in early.
We've also discovered that
Saturday nights can be full-up in many
towns, due to ball games, festivals,weddings, etc.,
so we try to make reservations
on Friday night for the Saturday night motel. Since
the ride is very much day-to-day
depending on weather, wind, and other
serendipities, we pretty much go only one day
at a time on reservations.
If Ray leaves about 6, 7 or 8AM,
depending on time of year, temperature
and weather, etc., I usually catch up with him
about 11AM. I figure about 10 miles
per hour for the cyclist. We stop and talk and I do
the "banana lady" thing
-- give him a banana for a snack. We've agreed that
I never pass him without stopping.
That way, he can get bananas, other food, water,
drop off early morning clothing,
get more clothing, and have a rest for a few
minutes, and I get to find out what
he's seen and done so far. Sometimes we can arrange
to meet at the next town for
lunch together which is a nice treat.
We have two cell phones for
emergencies. He can call me if he needs
a pick-up or anything. This can get pretty
important if bad weather is expected.
I try to remember to turn the phone on as soon as I
get in the car. Ray often writes
down the motel phone number just in case he has
trouble very early in the morning.
I travel with the CD's playing,
pretty loudly sometimes. After
all, the trees need musical stimulation and what
better than bagpipes, the San Francisco
Gay Mens' Chorus, Mariachi music, Beethoven, or
Willie Nelson "On the Road Again?"
Since it would be hard to hear the phone ring with
the music and the road noise if
the window is rolled down I put the phone on "vibrate" rather
than "ring"
and put it on my leg or occasionally in my bra The
latter caused a burned spot in
an inconvenient place from the metal contacts on
the back of the battery, so I don't
do that anymore. Ray's old phone battery didn't
last very well, so he rarely left
it on while riding, an inconvenience when I had to
change motels and couldn't let
him know, but we just got a new longer-lived
battery. However, the phones are pretty
much emergency only.
With our technique of
pre-selecting a motel in the next town, I
don't have to hang around the motel like I did in
the beginning of these trips. I
used to go to the next motel, "make a new
house," park the car in the front
of the lot so he could see it and then sit around
and read, watch TV or nap. Now,
he goes to the picked motel, asks the clerk -- who
knows he's coming -- for the key
and lets himself into the room. Meanwhile, I can go
out and explore the town/area,
go to the historical museum -- most places have one
-- or go shopping. It's kind
of fun to find the local mall or Wal-Mart or Ranch
and Home Store. Ranch & Home
stores are my favorite, but they 're mostly in
South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas
it seems.
I've never gotten bored, every
place is a new experience, and I
love to travel. You would think that by going only
100 or so miles a day, you would
remember all those places, but it doesn't happen
that way. It all runs together.
After a few days out, I don't know where I am, or
where I was last night. It doesn't
matter anyway. It's all about the traveling.
We have discovered that eating on
the road, especially in the Midwest,
is not necessarily a culinary adventure. I tend to
describe Midwestern restaurant
food preparation as "fry it, and if you can't
fry it, pour white glop on it,
or do both, but never, ever, add spices or herbs to
the food for extra flavor."
After a while Mc Donald's and Dairy Queen and
Waffle House seem like gourmet food.
You can always go to the local grocery store and
get fruit and deli stuff if you're
desperate. Most places have a Chinese restaurant
and often they're good.
If you think you'll be bored,
take along some books, needlework,
paper and paints or colored pencils (draw some of
each place you visit,) or whatever
will entertain you. I doubt you'll be bored, just
the breaking down and building
up of a "new house" each day will keep
you busy.
Postscript
Ray died after a long battle with cancer on March 12, 2002. Jonathan and
I (Ray's sons), along with Connie, Heather and Jim(Connie's daughter
and son) wanted to keep these pages up to show what Ray had accomplished
in his long bicycling career.
Needless to say, these pages reflect
only a small fraction of the interesting life he had—a nuclear
physicist (he worked with computers in the mid-60s, having
one of the
first email addresses on the
early form of the internet); database developer; had lived
in Germany and South Africa; was an artist, backpacker, amateur archaeologist
and fascinating person. He is greatly missed. —Robby Poore
Famous Bicycle Quotations
"Bicycle riding is kind of
like sex -- you never forget how,
and you don't want to always use the same
position."
-- Name withheld by request,
1998.
"Well Chuck, now that your
bicycle ride across the US is over,
I hope you have it out of your system." his
mother remarked. "No Mother,
it's worse." Chuck replied.
-- Chuck Tharp,1997.
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Some Images from My Travels...
(Click to
enlarge)
Abiquiu Lake
Black Footed Ferret sign
Chama River nr Abiquiu Dam
Country near Rapid City SD
Espanola Valley
Folks from Coatsville PA
Longhorn Saloon Scenic SD
Near Coyote NM
Post Office Regina NM
Ray at 7800ft pass Gallina
The Cheyenne River SD
The Road to Coyote
Towards Abiquiu Lake
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