The tour, whatever it ends up being (coast to coast, or something shorter) is much more likely to happen now, after I recently purchased a plane ticket to San Luis Obispo, California for June 13th. I talked to my local bike shop about boxing the bike and shipping it to a shop in Morro Bay. I also talked to the Morro Bay shop about reassembling it. I need to work out the details, but it sounds like shipping it will work. I prefer that to trying to take the bike on the plane.

I haven't done any more planning on the route itself, though. My idea is still to ride east from Morro Bay, skirting the Bakersfield area, attempting to find quiet farm roads, then climb up and over the Sequoia National Forest, then down to US-395, where I'd ride on the wide shoulder north to US-6, and a very empty part of Nevada.

I'd love to hear any routing suggestions.