I'm not the first.  The first person to cycle across America was an Englishman named Thomas Stevens, who did it in 1884.  It took him 103 days: he was riding a penny-farthing and had to walk more than a third of the way.  He rode from San Francisco to Boston.  Taking steam ships and ferries when necessary, he completed a ride around the world--London to Shanghai--by 1886.  While Stevens was riding through Asia, Louis de Franklin "Birdie" Munger rode from San Francisco to New York City.  He took a somewhat different route from Stevens--he tried to follow railroad tracks.  Still it was a lot of hiking and took 111 days.  Now, during the annual Race Across America, some riders complete the journey in less than ten days.  The race was founded in 1982.  This year's contest begins in mid-June, in Oceanside, CA and ends in Atlantic City, NJ.  Christoph Strasser set the current record of less than 8 days in 2014.  Stevens and Munger did not have a paved road to follow across the country: the Lincoln Highway--the first transcontinental road--was not established until 1913.  That's the route I'll be following.  In 2022, Gregory Maassen, rode the Lincoln Highway on an e-bike.  His ride raised money for research on neuropathy.   A dear old friend, who generously donated to my ride, suffers from the disease, so I am grateful to Maassen on two counts.  I ride on the shoulders of those who paved the way.