Today is a day of packing and running last minute errands.  I heard from Barb this morning.  She's currently on a flight from Minneapolis to Dallas-Fort Worth with a connection to Raleigh.  Flights are on schedule and things seem to be progressing smoothly (This was an edit.  I had originally used the word normally, but then on reflection of some of my travels decided another word would better describe her ease of travel.)

My bags are basically packed and ready add to the pile of Barb's gear that we brought back with us from our summer visit.  I've considered surreptitiously packing a few of my heavy objects in her bags, but know she weighed them before she turned them over, and I'd soon be discovered.  :)

Personally, I didn't sleep all that well last night, a result of a combination of excitement and trepidation of the unknown part of our journey.  But as soon as we begin pedalling, I'm sure sleep will easily find me.

I did look up the St. Augustine weather forecast for Tuesday, as well as checked out elevation changes for the first few days of the ride.  It seems we may be blessed with some light tailwinds and the ride is mostly downhill for the first few days.  :)  Those of you who have ridden with me before can interpret my report based on previous experience.  :)

A few of you have suggested that we attach a map of our proposed route.  So here it is.

We begin in St. Augustine and travel through Gainesville and Tallahasee FL,  Mobile AL, Austin and El Paso TX, and Tempe AZ before arriving in San Diego.  The listed mileage is about 3100 miles and we expect it to take us about 2 months to complete.  Of course the larger part of the trip is the open road and so many unnamed small towns and people we will meet.

Mostly we hope to be camping, but I'm sure there will be some motel stops as well, and we've been actively using a site called warmshowers.org for a few of our shorter tours.  It's a site that helps connect touring cyclists and hikers with people willing to provide some level of accommodations.  Outside major cities, there are probably a dozen or so potential hosts we'll be contacting as we progress, seeking shelter and company.

Barb and Ron have hosted several riders in the past year or so, perhaps the most memorable a gentleman who was riding with all of his worldly possessions from Montreal to Costa Rica.  I only mention it, because we were in the small town of Kingsley, IA on our recent tour, when we stopped at a local diner to grab our second  breakfast of the morning.  Outside we were approached by an ex-rodeo bull rider who had just moved to Kingsley, just checking to see how we were doing.  The conversation progressed to a point when he mentioned that he'd had another rider who'd stopped to work with him for a few days trimming trees for cash.  The rider was from Montreal, riding with all his possessions and heading for Costa Rica.  Small world.

I mentioned that we had a few bike adjustments to make.  Shortly after I wrote those words, the bike shop called.  My rear wheel, that I thought just needed to be trued after a surprise encounter with  a nasty speed bump, actually has a cracked rim.  So I'm hoping to pick up my bike with a new rear wheel later this afternoon.  $200 well spent now, rather than on the road.  I can hardly complain.  I've been riding the same rear wheel without a broken spoken and nary an adjustment for about 30,000 miles.  I guess I'm due.

Welcome to Barb and Jerome's Southern Tier Blog

Many of our friends and family have asked if they can keep track of us as we start out across the Southern US on bicycles next week.  So I've created this blog.  It's going to be pretty simple, but we'll try to add journal entries and some photos every few days.  Barb's flying in to RDU on Saturday.  We have her bike and her panniers already here at the house.  On Sunday, Aug 31, we'll be driving to St. Augustine with Cheryl to spend a day or two relaxing on  the beach and touring the area.  Then Sept 2, Barb and I will load our bikes and will take off on the Southern Tiers route with our intended goal of riding to San Diego, CA by sometime around November 1. 

We're both riding Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bikes which have been equipped with front and rear racks, and I expect we'll have our panniers (bags) packed with 40-50 lbs of gear each.  We've already taken them for a trial tour of 300+ miles from West Union, IA to Sioux City, IA in early August.  We rode through more hills that we'll see in the first half our trip, but certainly not as many as we're likely to encounter  in the last half.  But things went surprisingly well and other than a few bicycle adjustments we think we're ready to go.

Perhaps the proximity of leaving has made us more acutely aware of our upcoming adventure and how it relates to our everyday lives. Both Barb and I have seen messages this past weekend that have focused us on our upcoming adventure.   The one I spotted was someone's bumper sticker here in the Cary area that simply read  "Courage to begin.  Strength to endure.  Resolve to finish".    The message that Barb saw was the back of a T-shirt that some woman was wearing.  Though it really relates to running, you can simply substitute cycling to make it apply to us.

Whether you are 17 or 67,

the desire to hit the road

is not easily understood to those who

do not run.

We understand the pull of the road,

the joy of losing yourself in the solitude

of a good long distance run,

or the sisterhood you experience

when you find that great running partner.

Running is more that a feat of athleticism.

It is therapeutic.  There is an

exhilaration that we experience

having challenged our personal limitations. . .

finally proving to ourselves

that we can indeed make it to the finish line.

Whether you are here to win or here to

experience a little more of who you are,

we salute you.

And so in a week we'll be off and on the road, seeking the exhilaration, challenging ourselves, and learning about who we are.

Jerome