Ed and I met in chemistry class as sophomores. It didn't take long before he and I to hatch a plan for a summer bike ride from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, which quickly was extended to more heroic proportions from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and then extended again to Ed's home in San Diego.  We had several friends who were also in on the planning.  Then Ed suggested we ride from Seattle where the World Fair and the Space Needle were.  The enthusiasm of our friends and their parents dropped off immediately and completely.  Then I suggested we ride from border to border, British Columbia to Baja California or BC to BC.  Thus the TCCA, Trans-Continental Cycling Association, was formed by its two co-presidents and only members.  

We briefly tossed around riding from coast to coast, but that was more than we could afford or get out parents to sign off on.  Beside we had heard that a cyclist had already ridden across the country and no one we had talked with knew of anyone who had ridden from border to border of the country, and we ask everyone who we thought might know.  We were going to be the first and most probably the only ones ever to ride our route (Much of our route is now freeways, which exclude bicycles.  Parts were torn up as we rode to make way for Interstate 5 and still other major stretches were changed from Hwy 101 to Hwy 1.).  Our route was to include the entire length of US Highway 101 from its northern beginning in Washington State to its southern terminus at the Tijuana, Mexico frontier.