Seattle to Savannah

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The journey from Seattle to Savannah came to an end on August 21 when Jay cycled down Bay Street and rolled his bicycle into the lobby of the Savannah Marriott Riverfront Hotel. 

We traveled together on this epic adventure, but we both have our own story of this trek across America.

Helen was the trip’s SAG (Support and Gear) driver. Including our travel from our home near Atlanta to the west coast, Helen drove our Prius a total of 10,834 miles.  As Jay cycled, Helen drove ahead to that evening’s campsite.  She made all arrangements to pay for the campsite (or hotel), set up the tent, shopped for food, ice and drinks, did laundry and took care of our dog Nando.  More importantly, she kept on eye on the weather. Especially in Montana and North Dakota, clear blue skies could change rather dramatically to dark, dangerous wind and rain-filled skies. Dangerous weather appeared twice and Helen needed to jump into the Prius to retrieve Jay. Helen’s support kept Jay safe and kept the fun in our arduous trek across this huge country. 

Jay cycled 3,867 miles. Those miles included climbs over the Northern Cascade Mountains, endless hours alone surrounded by wheat, corn and soya bean fields, cycling the rolling hills of Kentucky horse farm country and keeping his focus each day to roll another 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90 miles down the road.

The seed of this epic journey was sown 40+ years ago, during Jay’s high hippie days in the mid- 1970’s when he hitch hiked across the US and Canada and saw a cyclist riding across Canada. “I need to do that someday.” Thus, an item was added to Jay’s bucket list. 

The Facts:

States Jay rode through: 11. Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia. 

Flat Tires: 3

Days of Cycling Trip: 82

Average Miles per day: 60 – 70

Longest Ride: 98 miles (on Jay’s 67’s birthday)

We admit it is hard to believe that the journey has ended.  We are now back home, sleeping in our own bed and updating our smartphone calendars with committee meetings, doctor’s appointments and other sundry items of everyday life. It was a great adventure, and we have many fond memories of people, places and experiences that we cherish. 

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Open Road to Savannah

Welcome to Savannah

Jay and Helen in Savannah at the Marriott Riverfront Hotel

 

Note From Marriott Staff

 Champagne, Cheese and Fruit Provided by Marriott

Rest Stop in Roswell, GA

A most welcome sign after three months!

In our last post we were ready to leave Kentucky and enter Tennessee. Well, that seems like ancient history now. We crossed Tennessee and entered Georgia.  Last night we slept in our home in Roswell.

Getting here required some tough rides by Jay. His rides of 60 – 70 miles have included elevation climbs in the thousands of feet. The weather has been all over the road (pun intended). Some days we have temperatures in the mid 90’s, other days we have mild temperatures with threats of rain.

We are now in the final stages of a bike ride across this country that started in La Push, west of Seattle, Washington on May 31.  

Jay will start the final part on this journey on Sunday, August 19. He will ride solo this time, staying in hotels for the three days anticipated to complete the 260-mile ride to Savannah. Helen will then drive to Savannah and meet Jay for a final end-of-ride celebration. In Savannah, we’ll mount the bicycle on the back of the Prius and drive back home.

Road sign in Tennessee

Drizzly campsite at Sweetwater, TN KOA Campground

We'll just bring our cell phones.

It took four days for Jay to ride through Tennessee.

Tomorrow - Tennessee

We are near the home stretch of our adventure across America (Seattle to Savannah). Tomorrow we will say good-bye to Kentucky and enter Tennessee.  

Stream next to road

Kentucky has revived Jay's spirits. Before Kentucky, many of Jay’s recent rides were on roads through open cornfields. Those rides dished up more than their fair share of heat and unfavorable winds. That environment has now been replaced by a break in the heat with rides in heavily forested roads or on small country lanes hugging gently flowing valley streams.  

Jay noted that one can tell when they are cycling in the backcountry when more dogs chase you than cars pass you. Such as been his experience. 

Jay’s rides have been shorter (45 - 60 miles) in the Kentucky mountains. With flatter terrain ahead he will soon resume riding 60 – 70 miles a day.

We will keep you posted as we approach Atlanta. Our plan is to head to our hometown of Roswell.  Helen will then conclude her SAG support and Jay will start a three-day solo ride to Savannah. Helen will drive to Savannah and join him for an end of ride celebration.  

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Daniel Boone National Forest Signage

Gravel Forest Service Road
1.3 miles - but not a bad ride

Tree-shaded road on Kentucky ride 

Kentucky

In our last blog we were in a Sandusky, OH campground near Lake Erie. We are now more than 300 miles south, just east of Lexington, KY. 

Rails to Trails Path

Jay has been riding 60 – 90 miles per day and has had mixed experiences. One day he had miles of pleasant riding on a smooth surface rails-to-trails path that provided gradual climbing grades and protection from the winds.  Another day was a hot, humid ride with endless hill climbs and a maddening headwind that followed him on every turn.

For most of this trip Jay has been following routes provided by Adventure Cycling.  Those routes have now ended and Jay has switched

Road Closed Signage

over to Google Maps for Bicycles to navigate the last few hundred miles to Savannah. Google Maps for Bicycles is something of a crapshoot. More than once, Jay has been directed to turn onto non-existent roads. On his last ride he turned as directed and was greeted by large sign overgrown with vegetation announcing Road Closed!

To paraphrase Forrest Gump, “Biking across the country is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”

As Jay rode through Amish country in Ohio, the landscape was filled with farms worked by white hat brimmed young men guiding horse-drawn equipment through fields. He had frequent opportunities to exchange hand waves with Amish passengers in black carriages pulled by a single horse clopping down the same road he was riding. Jay was able to map the extent of his Amish country experience by the condition of the road surfaces he rode. Those clopping horses tear up the asphalt road surface. Jay has generally been impressed with the high quality road surfaces he has found in Ohio, but apparently Amish country has challenged even the best intentions of the Ohio DOT.

Benson and Dawn

Nando’s well-being has again risen to our top priority. Back in Minnesota Nando was vomiting and we took him to a vet, who directed us to a specialist when she couldn’t find a problem. That episode was successfully resolved. Now he is suffering from diarrhea. We have jokingly renamed him “Soupy Poopy,” but our concern paused our riding trip in Mansfield, OH for another vet visit and meds to solve the problem. We hope our sweet boy Nando recovers soon.

Open Flat Terrain

With a hotel stop and rest day in Winchester, KY we had an opportunity to have dinner with Helen’s brother Benson and his wife Dawn. We also took advantage of the rest day to work on Jay’s bike. With the flat terrain of corn and soybean fields now replaced with the rolling hills of Kentucky horse country, smooth gear shifting is a must that Jay’s bike was no longer providing. Jay did some maintenance on his bike and then visited a volunteer, co-op run bike shop called the Broke Spoke for some validation of his work. With a little adjustment we are back on the road.  We estimate we could be rolling into Roswell in about 10 days.    

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Inside Broke Spoke Bike Shop

Milan, OH
Birthplace of Thomas A. Edison

Display in a Broken Down Building 

Ferry Across the Ohio River
Ohio to Kentucky

Sandusky

Charlie and Amber Lange

We had a marvelous stay in Montrose, MI with Helen’s brother Charlie and his wife Amber. It was also a rest day for Jay. He had ridden nine of the previous ten days. While in Montrose we celebrated Amber’s birthday with Bob, another one of Helen’s brothers, and his significant other as well as Charlie and Amber’s son Jeff and two of his children. It was a happy event all around! 

Family gathered around the table

With strong unfavorable winds, Jay opted for a reverse ride from Ann Arbor back to Montrose. This part of the ride is not supported by Jay’s Adventure Cycling maps, but Helen’s nephew Jeff offered a “most excellent” suggestion of roads for Jay’s ride.  Helen drove Jay to the start point near Ann Arbor and he enjoyed strong favorable winds. Family. Just precious!

Country road in Ohio

The following day we drove from Montrose to Ann Arbor where Jay got on his bike and continued his ride. He had a 90 mile ride from Ann Arbor, MI to Maumee Bay State Park in Ohio. The ride was long, hot and took Jay through downtown Toledo. Holy Toledo! At the end of the ride Jay was tired, and for the second time on this cross-country ride suffered from a “butt rash” that required a day off for healing.  

We took advantage of the day off and visited the Toledo Museum of Art. There is no entrance fee and the $7.00 parking fee was waived due to our membership in Atlanta’s High Museum. 

Helen with sculpture of Eve 

What a gem! We toured collections of medieval, Renaissance, European impressionists and modern multi-media visual arts. We could have lingered longer, but Nando was in the car. Fortunately, he was not in the sun due to the covered parking provided by solar panels installed by the museum to reduce its carbon footprint. We tip our hats to the Toledo Museum of Art for its preservation of historic art and its active role in confronting today’s challenge of climate change. 

 On Sunday Jay rode 65-miles from Maumee Bay to a nice KOA campground in Sandusky, OH.  

Tomorrow Jay will ride to Oberlin, OH and then turn southward again towards Columbus, Cincinnati and then enter Kentucky near Lexington where we have planned another family visit with Helen’s brother Benson. 

More photos: (click to enlarge)

Jay with giant chess set at Museum

Audio-Visual art display at Toledo Museum of Art

Our route

Trying to make shade in a  camp site with no trees

Turning South

Welcome to Michigan sign

In our last blog we were on the eastern side of Wisconsin. As we completed our crossing we had dinner with Jay’s cousin Bob Khouri in Appleton. It was a happy occasion punctuated by laughter, reflection and many stories. 

We are now on the eastern side of Michigan (see our route map below).  Our crossing of Wisconsin ended in Manitowoc, WI where we did two things. One, we visited the location where a piece of a 1962 Soviet Sputnik crashed onto the sidewalk outside the Rahr-West Art Museum. Secondly, we boarded the S.S. Badger, a four-hour ferry to cross Lake Michigan.

Nando in car going onto the ferry

The biggest adventure of the ferry ride belonged to Nando, our 70-pound Polish hound. He and all other large dogs were required to remain in their cars for the crossing.  The ferry service, however, handled everything well. Cars with pets were loaded last and offloaded first, allowing good airflow. Nando was a real trooper. He was well behaved (as usual) as a ferry staff member backed the Prius onboard. Needless to say, he was happy when we rejoined him at the end of our lake cruise.

After landing in Ludington, MI we drove 30 miles to Baldwin and spent the night with

Pere Marquette Trail Sign

Helen’s brother Rick and his wife Linda. The next day Jay started his ride across Michigan. Jay was really pleased to see that the Pere Marquette rails-to-trail started in Baldwin and ran all the way to Midland. Unfortunately, the first 17-miles was just loose gravel, so Jay opted for the nearby Route 10.  After that it was smooth sailing on the rails-to-trail path. After riding 82 miles on Monday, Jay’s 55-mile Tuesday ride was envisioned to be a “piece-o-cake.” However, the route on Michigan’s rutted back roads resulting in a really tough ride.

Jay and his bike

His ride ended in Montrose, MI where we are staying with another one of Helen’s brothers, Charlie and his wife Amber.

We sorted through our clothing and gear and shipped home the unused dishes and warm clothing needed during our chilly crossing in Washington state.

From Montrose we finally turn south to start our journey home. We estimate Jay has about 900 miles to ride to reach our home in Roswell, GA. We anticipate the journey will take about 15  - 18 days. 

As a member of our church’s Ministerial Search Committee, Helen needs to attend a weekend retreat at the end of August.  Once in Roswell, Jay will ride solo to Savannah (he’s done that before) to complete the full Seattle to Savannah cycling adventure. Helen will then drive to Savannah to join in the final celebration and bring Jay home.

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Our Route WI to MI

Other 60-something riders
and Edie, their SAG support

Pere Marquette Trail

Road Closed
Not an Uncommon Problem 

Crossing Wisconsin

Welcome to Wisconsin

In our last blog we were still in Minnesota and reported on Nando’s intestinal problems. We can now report he is back to his old self! With Nando’s recovery we got back on the road.  We are now on the eastern side of Wisconsin.

Jay opted to forego a Wisconsin northern loop outlined in his Adventure Cycling maps and took a more direct path across the state on State Road 64. Today he completed the last eight miles on SR 64. The crossing was a mostly pleasant experience, but we did have some unexpected discoveries.  

Sign with Balloon

On our first full day in Wisconsin, Jay rode 80 miles from New Richmond to Cornell. Helen drove the same route. Jay thought, “Hey a State Road . . . there should be a plethora of gas stations and convenience stores.” As she drove ahead, Helen texted back to Jay that this state road was devoid of towns, stores and any source of water. Egad!  Cell coverage was spotty, but Helen was able to update Jay with the short text that she had left a large bottle of water at the base of a road sign (“Cornell 42 Miles”). Per the protocol that we established in Washington state, another low cell coverage area, she tied a balloon with pink nylon cord to the sign.  Water retrieved. Jay completed the ride.

Campsite in National Forest

Typically we select campsites near the road, but the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest was nearby and we opted to camp there. Our senior pass gives us a 50% discount, so we paid only $7.50 for a campsite.  Well, Helen had the day from hell finding the campground. Signage was poor to non-existent and she drove for two hours on dirt roads in search of the campground. More egads!

We were in favor that evening of a low cost option at a national park based on our experience the previous night at the Brunet Island State Park.  We discovered that out-of-state residents pay a premium at state parks.  Our campground was pleasant, but cost $44.00.  A recommendation on another park was declined due to a higher cost.  

Overall, our crossing of Wisconsin was pleasant and pretty quick with Jay putting in several 80-mile rides.

Tomorrow we will be near Appleton where we plan to have dinner with Jay’s cousin Bob.  Another ride will put us in Manitowoc, WI where we will take a four-hour ferry ride to Michigan.  In Michigan we will visit some of Helen’s family.

Once we cross Michigan, Jay will end his easterly riding and turn south and start heading south to Savannah. 

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Our Journey

Tin Man On Tractor

Dog Delay

Tenting in the Pavilion in the
City Park in Bowlus

After two days of rest while visiting friends in Minneapolis, Jay was keen to get back on the road.  So we drove from Minneapolis back to Bowlus, MN so Jay could resume riding.  Unfortunately when we got to Bowlus, rainy weather greeted us, requiring another delay.  At the time we thought “Okay, a delay, but nothing serious to be concerned about.”  Well, how wrong could we be?

The next day the weather cleared and Jay rode 65 miles from Bowlus to Dalbo, MN. Our “campsite” for this evening was the Adventure Cyclist’s Bunkhouse maintained by Donn Olson. The bunkhouse is a spacious, renovated 1880’s barn with private rooms, an upstairs dormitory, shower,

Donn's Bunkhouse for bicyclists. What a treat!

kitchen, refrigerator, microwave, etc., etc.  What a perfect place to spend an evening! Then our troubles began.

Our dog Nando, who had not been his regular self all day, vomited shortly after Helen arrived at the bunkhouse.  He threw up again and again.  More importantly, nothing was coming out his back end.  We grew concerned there was some obstruction in his intestinal tract.

At 8:00 Saturday morning Donn came over to the bunkhouse with a cup of coffee in his hand and a smile on his face. We immediately told him of Nando’s troubles and he recommended a vet in Cambridge, about 20 minutes away. We called and got an 8:30 appointment, jumped in the car

The vet Donn recommended

and were off.

The tech asked for details. The vet came in and offered Nando a treat. No dice. How about some yummy canned food? His nose turned up at that, as well. He wouldn’t drink any water. X-rays revealed a lot of air in his intestines, but the vet couldn’t see anything that would cause a blockage. She recommended we go to the Blue Pearl emergency clinic in Blaine, MN, about 30 minutes away.

By a stoke of very good luck, a surgeon and an expert at finding blockages on ultrasounds both studied Nando’s X-rays and ultrasound at length, and the only thing they could come up with is that he may

Waiting, waiting, waiting

have swallowed a piece of cloth. He has a cloth chew toy so that wasn’t out of the question, but we doubted it.

Regardless, since he hadn’t drunk any water or kept down any food for two days, he was dehydrated. We left Nando in the good hands of the staff at the Blue Pearl who started an IV almost immediately. We went back in about four hours to visit him before the hour ride back to Dalbo and he was already peppier. Helen took him for a walk outside and he had a bowel movement (the first in two and a half days), a good sign, so we were thrilled. That eliminated the need for exploratory surgery.

While sitting in the vet’s office, Jay was paging through a book of dog breeds. Much to our surprise, there was Nando’s picture under the name “Polish Hound.” Who knew? His new name is Nandoski!

Tomorrow morning is another trip to the Blue Pearl emergency clinic to pick up Nando. Hopefully all will be well and Jay can resume riding his bike.

A Polish Hound. Doesn't this look like Nando?

The sign in front of the barn welcoming bikers