Check this out

Here is a journal about the comparisons between the Transamerica Route and the Northern Tier Route, which Don and biketheusforms completed summer of '07.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?page_id=69584

It's a fantastic and accurate description of what lays ahead for us. He talks about riding westbound, starting in Appalachia, prevailing winds and why they're a crock, and the toll the endless plains of the Midwest take on the psyche. I love this guy's attitude!

Man am I glad I get to train in the mountains so I don't completely freak out when we're in them for weeks!

Maiden Voyage!

65 degrees in early February?!? Boy, you have to love global warming. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to get the bike out on the open roads to stretch her legs. No less than a week ago did I stir her from her decade+ of hibernation, and here she is crushing 36 miles no problem. She loved it, and so did I. We couldn't get enough!
I headed over to Don's on Saturday morning to get the bike squared away. Greased her up, put the handle bars back on, put new tires on, tinkered with the cables and away we went.
Words do little to express, let alone compliment, the pure joy and freedom I felt as I peddled out of town and into the mountains. One mile outside of Blacksburg and we were in the open countryside that is Appalachia. Endless streams, grand pastures, flowing mountains, the occasional farm house. Am I really this lucky to see America's landscape from this perspective?!?
I took some pictures, not as many as I'd like to to show the world what I saw but in due time. Next time I'm going to take a GPS unit along so I can gain some experience geotagging my pictures. This will allow you to see my pictures from a map so as to identify where the pictures were taken. Exciting stuff!!
The bike definitely still needs some work. Next step is to replace all the tension cables (braking and shifting), among other things. I've never biked that far before, but it felt great, and the bike was a champion, so overall this trip was a very promising preface for the adventures to come.

I've never done anything like this

I added a few more goodies, gizmos, and gadgets to my page. Today in class we looked further into manipulating personalized Google maps; adding markers, overlays, etc. That stuff will come in handy later on when I start adding my maps of the route and related data to the site.

Don sent me the source code for a donation button which routes a donation directly to MS Cure Fund through my name. So in essence, you're the one donating, and it states you as the sponsor, and I am simply the sponsoree. I changed a few other things around on the layout aswell.

The cool thing about donating through me is that it's tax deductible. MS Cure Fund is a 804... something or other. I forget what you call it. I'll change it later.

Boss, zee Bike zee Bike!!

She finally arrived. I had already left for class but FedEx delivered the bike at 9:30 this morning. My buddy signed for it and texted me that it had arrived while I was on campus so I had to sit anxiously, but patiently, all day till I could come home and open my giant box. It felt like Christmas, as if pretending not to know what lay beyond the 1/4 inch brown barrier of the cardboard box. I cut the tape, sliced the edges, and through the blizzard of packing peanuts there she lay. Like a gorgeous beast stirring from her 14 year slumber. It was beautiful! I immidiately threw it in the trunk of my jeep and headed off to Don's to throw it up on the rack and have a real look at her. The only dirt on it was the dust that collected on it from inactivity. Over the course of the next month I'll be taking it apart piece by piece, learning the physical chemistry of my bike inside and out, cleaning everything, and finally regreasing and prepping her for the open road.

Bike comes tomorrow

Well my bike is almost here. I just tracked the package on Fedex's home page and it says it's arriving tomorrow. I sure hope someone is at the house to sign for it. I've been on the hunt for a bike for a while, exploring nationwide on Craigslist, Ebay, bikesdirect, bike shops in VA, CT, and even MN. It wasn't until I was visiting my grandparents in Minnesota over the holidays that I stumbled across a sweet looking vintage 1994 Trek 520 on Craigslist, Trek's touring bike, out of the Miami area. There were a few crucial bikes here and there online but between type, size, and cost, my options were limited. The seller was a very sweet woman who I can only imagine was just trying to clear out here garage and the bike was just collecting dust. Thanks so much Marilyn for staying patient with me in this whole process! I've never done anything like this before and have always been leery of being able to trust anyone when it comes to this kind of thing but in the end it couldn't have worked out better. Shipping costs were rough but atleast it's here!

Blog me up Scotty

Hey everybody!  The next step in my list of things to do can now be crossed off.  I'm Online!! Now you all can check in on my progress and follow me on this amazing journey.  I'm really pumped about all of this, especially the capabilities and the power of the internet and google, that I'm learning about everyday.  

Stay tuned folks, you're in for some neat surprises!!