Somehow we have managed to transport ourselves and our mountain of gear over 4000 km from Key West, Florida to cousin Ronni's floor in Tucson, Arizona. It's not the longest distance we have done, by far. But certainly it has been the toughest. We ask ourselves why that might be. On the one hand, this is acknowledged through the South as having been one of the toughest winters in a long time.So that added some rain and a lot of cold to the mix. But rain and cold are not really what made this tough for us. The main factors (not really in order and not in every section of the ride) were:

No shoulder roads, traffic, and dominance of the car over everything
Long distances between services
Hills and wind
Lack of organized campgrounds for tents
Lack of spots for wild camps
Poor food
Aggressive uncontrolled dogs
Lack of bike shops or real camping/outdoor shops

Counterbalancing these seven factors were some positive, related things:

A good number of large roads with good shoulders
Many churches in the East, which are good prospects for a camping spot or a chance to be inside at night.
Many motels, which offer indoor accommodation if you have the budget for it
Picnic spots, shown on map of Texas, where wild camping is possible
Mexican restaurants

Quite aside from how tough it was to cover the distance, or not, is the interest and attractiveness of the route.

On the negative side, you have:

Long distances with nothing much to see
Industrial, slum, or degraded landscapes
American standard McDonalds, Walmart, Home Depot type areas

However, there also was:

Beautiful ocean and beach areas
Palm trees, pine trees, mesquite trees, and more
Desert plants, mountains, geology
New Orleans
Mississippi River
Florida cycle paths

And finally, chance to lose weight and gain strength through pain!

So what does it boil down to. Would we go again? No. Was it worth it to go once? Steve says yes. Dodie says no.

We wonder what others who have done the route would say. We think that most are younger and stronger than us, so they would probably just have enjoyed the challenge. Maybe some of our age are also less wimpy. Certainly 70+ year old Henk, from Friesland, who we met the other day, is in that category. But for others, this would be somewhere between no fun and a downright danger from exhaustion or exposure.

One key probably lies in the strength of the rider- if someone can reliably cover 60-90 km in a day, regardless of winds or hills, then they will have a much better chance of reaching a stopping place and/or food than we did. Maybe that would have tipped the balance for us, considering all the other pluses and minuses listed above. I any event, it was a hell of an experience, and that's for sure!

There has been really unprecedented interest in this current blog, and we hope you will continue to follow and encourage us for the next one. CLICK HERE to go to that blog, just to get in the habit. There is not much there right now, but there will be!

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply