I’ll be climbing those hazy mountains with Toby in three days.
2,571 miles
That’s the computer’s best guess at the total mileage for my trek. After painstakingly tracing my day-by-day route on www.mapmyride.com, importing the tracks into Google Maps and combining them to form a single mega-map, the whole route can be viewed at http://daniel.sheeter.me/route. There’s also a very tentative schedule at http://daniel.sheeter.me/plan with links to each day’s route.
I don’t want to spend more than two months on the road so you will notice there are four segments where I have opted to take Amtrak for the sake of speed. Taking my time through Nevada, the Utah Cliffs and the Grand Canyon meant sacrificing riding through almost all of Texas and Louisiana. However, the total trip length is still more than 2,000 miles[1]. While I don’t consider this a true cross-country ride, the mileage is definitely equivalent to a coast-to-coast ride. Maybe someday I’ll have the urge to go ocean-to-ocean.
-
The shortest distance between the East Coast and West Coast is 2,092 miles from Jacksonville, FL to San Diego, CA. ↩
Spring Storm
A spring storm dropped 1-6 inches of snow in the Sierras over the past two days. Without a definitive update from the National Park Service on the condition of Tioga Road, my trek’s departure has been pushed back one week to ensure that the highway is clear of snow. I would have been hard pressed to get everything ready if I left tomorrow. The extra week will allow me to fine-tune my gear and do a bit more training. There’s also a good chance my buddy Ryan Doyle will be able to join me for the Yosemite to Carson City leg. I will post my planned route and schedule tomorrow.
Departure Forecast
Above is the current 7-day forecast for Tioga Pass (elevation 9,945 feet) via the National Weather Service. I’ve been keeping a close eye on it because Highway 120 (aka Tioga Road) is still closed to through traffic. The National Park Service has been working to the clear the road of snow and debris for the past two weeks. The tentative opening date is set for May 11th but the stormy weather could delay work this week. I want to hit the road as soon as Tioga is opened but there is a good possibility this storm could bump me back a few days. Toby got a final tune-up yesterday so he is good to go. I just need the weather to cooperate!
Only One Keeper
This past Saturday, my brother Isaac and I jumped at the chance to go bass fishing with our dad’s good friend Flint. He picked us up from the ranch before sunrise and we received a schooling in large-mouth bass behavior on the drive to Eastman Lake. Flint believed the conditions were perfect to catch a few large bass (full moon, warm surface temperatures and breeding season) as they sat on their spawning grounds. As the morning wore on, we were pulling in a lot of small bass along the shoreline but nothing over the 22 inch limit required for a keeper. Isaac got lucky when we motored over to a submerged island in the middle of lake and reeled in a whopper of a Rainbow Trout (19.5 inches!). It turned out to be the lone keeper for the day so Isaac was the only real fisherman! Flint helped us fillet him when we returned to the ranch and we barbecued her 1 with Crazy Jane’s, lemon and an herb blend. I even got Isaac to eat the eyeballs with me! We made plans to return to the lake with Flint at the end of April. Hopefully we can catch at least one big bass then!
-
We discovered roe while filleting her. ↩
Chased by Dogs
Went on a quick ride east of the ranch this morning and had to race away from unleashed dogs twice. I hit my two top speeds for the day (besides coming down the overpass) during those sprints.
Toby the Trucker
Thanks to Rubber Soul Bicycles in Fresno for setting me with this Surly Disc Trucker for my cross-country trek. It’ll be a different looking bike in a few weeks—racks, panniers, fenders and lights are all being researched and ordered.