Total Mileage: 4,297 (start to finish, including official route, off-route excursions to reach a hotel or campsite, mileage to a restaurant, laundromat, etc.)

Number of Riding Days: 65

Number of Rest Days: 7

Miles per Riding Day: 66.1

The number of riding days listed above includes the 1st day of the 2nd half when all I did was ride 9 miles to the coast and back. If I omitted it (and disregarded that 18 miles), then the miles/day average would be about 67. As you can see from the list below, I rode 50 or more miles on 56 of the 65 riding days. The remaining short-mileage days were due to being shut down early because of the forest fire smoke, or being unable to travel further that day due to lodging restrictions, or such "special" needs as the 18 mile day to reach the coast and return. So make of it what you will, I felt like I was pushing pretty hard to average 66-67 mile days on a 100+ pound bike.

Number of 100+ Mile Days: 4

Number of 90+ Mile Days: 5

Number of 80+ Mile Days: 16

Number of 70+ Mile Days: 27

Number of 60+ Mile Days: 40

Number of 50+ Mile Days: 56

Number of 40+ Mile Days: 59

FWIW, my average on the 1st half was 69 miles/day, and the 2nd half was 65 miles/day. The 1st half included stretches across Kansas where I was traveling 80-90 miles per day.

Mechanical Problems: 5 or 6 Flat Tires

I only had 1 flat on the 2nd half of the journey after I put real touring tires on the bike (it was caused by a goathead, a nasty thorn - see day 51 for a picture). On the 1st half I was running supple tires that would have been better used for randonneuring as opposed to fully loaded touring. See the "Advice for Others" section of the Epilog for more discussion and a tire recommendation.

Water/Fluid Consumption: 1.5 - 2 ounces/mile on average

The fluid consumption is the total of all fluids consumed once I left on the day's journey up until I reached my destination. So it includes anything I drank with lunch during the day's travel, but does not include any fluid I may have had at breakfast before heading out or anything I may have drank at dinner after the day's ride. This became a reliable number for me to calculate how much fluid to carry when there was a long gap between services.

Total Climbing Elevation: 171,475 feet

That number comes from the profile generated from the maps. If you position your cursor at the end point of the profile on the "live" map, the elevation gained is shown on the bottom of the map along with other statistics. The maps and profiles shown in this journal are not interactive, just a screen shot, so you can't zoom or get the live interaction.  Since I did a "both ends to the middle" tour, I effectively lost about 5,500 feet of gain I had made from Virginia to Colorado, and had to start back at 0 when I began the 2nd half on the Oregon Coast. In other words, I had more climbing elevation than one would have by riding continuously from coast to coast.

Hotel Nights: 52

Hostel Nights: 7

Camping Nights: 6

"Other" Nights: 7

The hotel nights doesn't include the night I arrived in Yorktown before I started riding, or the night I stayed in Portland before I took the bus to the coast the following day; so consider that in your planning. The hotels were mostly modest but clean, with the exception that I noted 4 that I considered to be real dumps. The hostels were generally great places to stay. Many were free and asked for a donation only if you could afford it, and some had a small fee ($15 - $25). Some hotels say they have a hostel, when in reality it's just a cheap way to lodge in a down-graded hotel room. But as a rule, I enjoyed the hostels and recommend them. I intended to camp more, and some of the "other" category really amounts to a sort of upgraded camping inside in a "primitive" cabin for instance. On the 2nd half of the journey I would have camped more often but the forest fire smoke made for unhealthy air and I felt that I should stay inside at night since I was breathing the smoke all day.

The "other" category includes a pretty wild range of places I stayed. The Cookie Lady's house at the start of the Blue Ridge falls in this category. The place is getting a bit run-down, there's no shower or bath, but there's a restroom and a sink in the kitchen for water. It was free, and it is right on the route and there's not much else around there, so it was fine with me. The next "other" category place I stayed was the Double-L grocery. It's an abandoned grocery store that's full of a lot of junk, and the owners call it a hostel - but it's not really. But I got a shower there, I washed my clothes, the dryer didn't work so I dried them outside in the sun, and I slept inside on a couch. It's a bit strange, but it was OK. Running Springs Farm in Everton, MO also falls into the "other" category. It's a great place, very nice, and they charged cyclists only $25 if they promise to sleep in their sleeping bag and thereby not soil the linens. So, it's sort-of a hostel I suppose, but it's off the beaten path about a half-mile down a sandy road and folks don't realize it's there. In Stafford, KS I stayed inside the office building of the Pine Haven RV park with 2 other cyclists. The owner was surprised that anyone wanted to camp there in the summer heat (camping was our original plan) and offered to let us stay inside for the same fee; so that was an unexpected "other" category stay. Near Lamar, CO I intended to camp at the "Sportsman's R.V. Park & Horse Motel." However, they had a camper unit available for $25, so I opted for sleeping inside it instead of paying $10 for a tent site. Outside of Moran, WY I stayed at another RV park in a "primitive cabin" that had no running water, but it had lights and an electric heater. And in Hartsel, CO I was the only occupant of the Hartsel Springs Guest Lodge. The place was really nice, but it's fell on financial hard times and most folks don't even know it's an option. Other than being a little spooky to have the whole lodge to myself, it was great.

Days Riding in Smoky Conditions: 16

Actually, 2 of those days were rest days, so I guess I only rode 14 days in the smoke. One of the rest days was an unscheduled day forced on me because of the forest fire conditions ahead, and the other was necessary to recover from doing 2 days riding in 1 day in order to get out of the fire-restricted area where people couldn't camp or lodge overnight. It seems to be hard to ride across the country these days without dealing with forest fire smoke, so be prepared for that.

Average Speed While Biking: Approximately 10 mph

I recorded my average speed for each day on the second half, and the overall average for the second half was 10.4 mph. I didn't record it on the first half, but I earlier estimated (see the Intermission section on stats) that it was about 9 - 10 mph. So I think a good guess is that I rode across the entire continent at an average speed of 10 mph while biking. You aren't going to set a speed record for yourself when pedaling a loaded touring bike; not only is it heavy, it's also not very aerodynamic. I'm quite content with my 10 mph average speed.