Practice Retirement Part 3

September 2, 1989 to October 25, 1989

Bar Harbor, Maine to Fort Worth, Texas

The third segment of the Practice Retirement tour was a solo ride from Bar Harbor, Maine to Fort Worth, Texas.

September 2 to October 25, 1989. More than 3000 miles (4800 km).

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I mostly followed the BikeCentennial Atlantic Coast bike route from Bar Harbor to Washington, D.C. The route stays near the coast on busy US 1 in Maine but most of the route is far inland on country roads.

I took tourist days off in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. I'm glad I did. All these years later I have never visited those cities again.

View through the tiny window at the top of the Washington monument.

Besides the cities, one of the most memorable parts of the route was cycling through the Amish countryside in southeast Pennsylvania. Delaware Water Gap was also great.

I plotted my own route from D.C. to Fort Worth using state maps. I went most of the way from D.C. to the mountains on the paved Washington and Old Dominion bike trail. Then the highlight, Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge parkway in the Appalachian mountains, 550 miles (880 km) of park roads. It has more climbing per mile than any other route I have pedaled.

I pedaled 550 miles on park roads on the spine of the Appalachian mountains.

Blue sky and great visibility motivated me to take the steep spur road to 6684-foot Mt. Mitchell, the highest mountain in the eastern U.S.

The summit is 4 feet higher than where I crossed the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina was the highest point of the Practice Retirement tour.

At the summit I met a couple who invited me to stay at their house in Ashville where I took my last rest day. I pedaled across town to Biltmore Estate and took the tour.

After crossing the Great Smoky mountains and Cumberland plateau I pedaled the entire 444 mile (710 km) length of Natchez Trace Parkway. The scenery is mostly a tunnel of trees but I appreciated the low speed limit, smooth pavement, low traffic, absence of trucks, and occasional interpretive exhibits.

I felt like Superman when the terrain became flatter west of the Cumberland plateau. Days are short in late October but I pedaled 910 miles the last 10 days.

The route I plotted from D.C. to Fort Worth is simpler and more direct than the mapped bike routes. It has more traffic in some places. The worst was US 84 across Louisiana. I don't recommend it.

CONCLUSION

The Practice Retirement tour took me to 29 states and 6 national parks (Redwood, Olympic, North Cascades, Glacier, Acadia, and Great Smoky Mountains). It kindled an interest to pedal to all 50 states and visit more national parks. In 2017 I pedaled to my 50th state and so far I have pedaled to 38 U.S. national parks.

By the end of the tour I was tired of camping and constant packing/unpacking. But I wasn't tired of the cycling.

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