About

My name is Tom Flournoy. I started my first blog in 2015 at age 59 (shortly before my 60th birthday!) and fell in love with documenting and recording my trips ever since. In fact, I often go back and re-read my blog/trip reports whenever something sparks a memory or I get an inquiry from someone making an observation or having a question about a particular section or route I took. It also allows me to make edits along the way and maybe add details here and there. I really treat my blog/trip report more like a diary . . . but also as an informative guide for others.

As background on me, I'm a Professional Engineer specializing in transportation projects from planning to final design. Hence you may notice a particular tint to my blogs as I often remark on transportation related issues. The projects I have worked on have varied over the course of my career to include roadways, highways, bridges, transit facilities, commuter rail, and bike and pedestrian facilities. Many of these projects are in the Washington Metropolitan Area but I have worked in many states including the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, and even Bermuda! But in spite of where I worked, over the course of my career, I have noticed the increased attention to the accommodation of bicyclists and thank all those who have worked hard to make that happen.

I have toured by bicycle since 1988 when I first went to France with my significant other and two other friends, all of whom have unfortunately passed on. But since then, I have returned to France and also toured in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and, more recently, Spain and Portugal. Closer to home, I have toured through Canada twice now. That said, New Zealand, Asia and South America are on the horizons. Within the United States, I have toured in Montana and Wyoming (an extension of Cycle Montana), Rhode Island and Massachusetts (Providence to Provincetown), Virginia and North Carolina (Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway), Tennessee to Louisiana (Natchez Trace and Mississippi River Trail), Vermont and New York (around Lake Champlain), and have done many shorter day rides and trips throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. But my trip up the east coast, done the year I went to part-time status at work (2015) was my longest trip ever, starting in Key West, FL and ending in Halifax, NS. That trip (Where's Tom?) picked up a lot of other states not mentioned above. But I mention them above only because they were tours from my pre-blog/pre-journal days. All total, I have toured in 31 states in the US. I'm not sure I will ever make it to all 50 but there is still time!

As mentioned above, I went part-time in 2015, and at the end of that year, decided to stop working all together. So on December 18, 2015, I 'retired' and coined a new phrase: rewiring. By rewiring, I mean changing up the circuits and rethinking how you think. As a trained engineer, I was taught to think a certain way, often to the detriment of my interaction with non-engineers. But I have often wandered from the narrow line of engineer-think. So I decided that with 'retirement,' a change in thinking is required . . . but not to abandon my old ways entirely, just rewire them a bit.

And not only will I rewire, I will do it (as is usual) self-contained. Self-contained is a great word. In bicycle touring it means you aren't dependent. You are self-contained and not relying on SAG (support and gear). So that is how I will approach the coming years, rewired and self-contained! This is not meant to exclude my great friends, past, present and future, but more the independent spirit that I learned a long time ago when I rode solo across Italy in 1991!

I have been very fortunate over my 36-year career. I learned a lot and was challenged to push my limits. As a Vice President with my last firm, I learned to push the limits of those around me on a regular basis. I often relay to others that the best places to work is akin to being given a book with blank pages where one is allowed to write their own story! And write I did . . . let it continue!