My exact route

This shows the route I took through the 48 states. I started just outside of Mullan, Idaho.

http://trackmytour.com/5XGf7

Why did I go on this trip?

Why did I go on this trip?
There were many, many reasons. I'd say the main reason is simply that I have always wanted to do something like this. I love to calculate things out to see if they are possible- I had my eye on running across the United States for a while. Around March 2014 I saw that graduation was fast approaching. I still didn't really know what I wanted to do career wise. I find it so intimidating that the major you choose in college pretty much defines what you will be doing for the rest of your life. Who could possibly know what job would be a good fit for them when they have zero working experience? Regardless, I figured this could potentially be the only chance I have to leave everything behind and not have to worry about getting back. I originally planned on doing the Southern Tier, a 3100 miles bike route going coast to coast. However, the timing would have been awful. I'd be battling 100+ degree weather for much of the time. Sure, I could have waited and done it in the fall or winter, but I was set on doing it within days of graduation. So I started looking for other routes. The Northern Tier would have been less blazing hot, but it was over 1000 miles more. It just didn't seem worth it. While I was figuring this out, I knew my parents wanted to take me on a week long vacation right after graduation. I was thinking Mexico, but my sister suggested Hawaii. That got me thinking. I wonder what the shortest route through every state is. 6850 miles. More than double what I was originally planning to do. Finding roads that I could actually bike on along that route will likely make the miles add up even more. At first I totally wrote it off, figuring it was simply too long and complicated. A huge benefit of choosing one of the tiers is the fact that many bikers follow it every year. I would surly meet up with other bikers who had a wealth of touring knowledge. If anything went wrong, help would likely be nearby. The infrastructure is better, there are useful maps. This is all great, but I got stuck on the idea that I could visit every state in one summer. I started looking to see if others had done it. There were several, but their routes were virtually always a big circle. In other words, way more that 7000 miles. And it always took them more than 6 months. Hundreds, if not thousands, bike across the country every year. Going through every state would mean I'd be the first at something. Either I'd have the fastest time or the shortest distance for self supported cyclist, or I'd be the most amateur to do it, or I'd be the first person in 2014 to do it. These potentials are what sold me. I know it wasn't a once in a lifetime opportunity, but it felt like it. I would be in Hawaii before the trip, and I'd fly back to Alaska once I was done. The starting point was in Montana, less than 100 miles from my apartment, so I could buy all my gear beforehand. For the first week, I'd be within driving distance of friends and family if anything went wrong.
When I told people about the trip I was planning, their main concern was that I wasn't traveling with anyone. So I started asking. The answers were almost unanimous. The guys always said they wish they could but they were too busy this summer. The gals always said, "No way, I could never do that!" I'm exaggerating a bit here, but there certainly was an interesting trend. I had earned a women's studies minor, and here was clear evidence of what I learned in those classes- that women and men do not have the same opportunities. This helped form a new goal for the trip: prove that girls can be bicycle tourists too. I was obviously a bit late on that. There are many female cyclists on the road. I met one on my trip who had been cycling all parts of the world for seven years. However, I hope that I have at least inspired a few of the ladies in my life to take a leap of faith and try something new and out of the ordinary.
I'll make this the last reason so that I don't write a whole book. I've always been impressed and a bit envious of people who would come back to school after summer break having grown 6 inches taller. Or the people who came back after college with 80 more pounds of muscle. Basically going away and coming back as a changed person. I've been dreaming about this ever since I can remember. I planned on heading out to our remote cabin to read a bunch of textbooks, or to learn a new language, or to learn how to play the piano. I didn't gain much academic knowledge from this trip, but I grew as a person. I know now more than ever who I am and who I want to be. I guessed before the trip that I would feel the same as always, and that only other people who knew what I did would treat me differently. I'm sure I didn't get that quite right. I'm confident people will see me as the same old Tyler, just with a bit more determination and confidence. And I feel different- I've learned so much about the world in the past few months. I hope I can contribute with my knowledge and eye for improving everything in order to help change the world.

Day 112- Perfect

I woke up around 7. It was warm out again. I hope it stays that way. I packed up and was on the road by 8. My route was 48 miles, but I would get into Maine in about 40. Which means I'd have plenty of time to look for a postcard. I kinda wish I had spent more time in Vermont now, but of course I was also excited about finally getting to the last state. I had some good shoulders, then a long stretch of dirt road. More great shoulders. I got into Rochester and my pulse increased- only a little bit left. I started looking around for the welcome sign. Finally I looked on Google- yep I was past the border. That was it. 48 states and Washington, D.C. About 7400 miles. 110 days, 16 hours, 47 minutes. I know what you're thinking- but this is day 112! Right, but day 1 was technically day 0. And I started at 4:15pm in Washington- a 3 hour time difference. So a new day doesn't lapse until after dark. I kept going and soon found the welcome to Maine sign. I peddled a bit further and found a sign for skydiving. Well that would be a great way of celebrating! I looked them up online, and unfortunately, you have to book a class at least 12 hours in advance. There's no way I could do it. There was a nearby gas station. I wasn't expecting much but sure enough, they had postcards. So much for getting to Maine early! I bought icecream and a postcard, plugged in my battery outside, then filled out the postcard. My last one. Then I was like shoot! I've met some great people along the way. I've been wanting to send them a postcard from Maine, telling them I finished. I went inside and started eating my icecream while I figured out how many postcards I needed to buy. I was able to find 5 addresses. I bought them and filled them out, continuing to eat my icecream. Man it was good. It was interesting to think back to the people who helped me out in California, Oregon, Minnesota, South Dakota. The further the state, the less vivid the memory. The beginning of this trip seems like forever ago. Even the bits in between seem like so long ago. But I'm finally here. The past always seems like it flew by in an instant to me, but the future comes at the same slow, steady pace. I've learned so much about myself on this journey. I'm ready for the next chapter of my life.

Day 111- Not Battleboro

I kept waking up, thinking there was a bear outside my tent. I'm actually pretty sure it's squirrels every time. They are noisy bastards. The stupid slope also did not make for the best sleep. I really wonder how sleeping in my actual bed will be like. I've gotten so used to just a pad. I was really close to Brattleboro, the city I wanted to get a postcard from, so I was obligated to sleep in long enough for the stores to open. On the way in, it was really foggy. The perfect reflection of the fog and the autumn colors was breathtaking.

So was the crazy hill leading up to the town. I checked the local pharmacy and some gas stations. Two people pointed me towards Rite Aid. I haven't had any luck with them in the past, but I might as well check. They had more postcards than I've seen anywhere else! I was so happy. Now Google was telling me to go this crazy long route to get to the next town, but I saw an easier and faster way. I wasn't sure if it was okay for bikes, but I figured I'd take my chances. I wanted to get into Maine as early as possible tomorrow so that I could get a postcard and not have to worry about it the next day. So on I went. The bridge going over into New Hampshire was great- I had a whole bridge to myself (it was for pedestrians, probably a retired car bridge). Then I continued on that highway for most of the day. It was great- I didn't have to worry about turns for the longest time. Only about 30 minutes in, I stopped at a gas station and they had postcards. Yay! One more state, one more postcard. It's so crazy. Even though I had plenty of food, I bought a slice of pizza and powerbars to celebrate. I think it's the powerbar that made me peddle a little faster for the rest of the day- I covered a good amount of miles and my legs got sore. Towards the end of the day, I went through a city and realized finding camp might be difficult. I had my eyes on a spot but a half hour later I knew I couldn't make it. I spent a while trying to figure out where to go when I decided I might as well stop now. It was before 6, but I can't get very far in 30 minutes. The spot here is perfect. It's a wedge of forest between a major road, a creek, and a smaller road. There's no way a bear would be here. I should actually be able to sleep well tonight.

Day 110- Airport

Since I was camped near low bushes, the sun warmed my tent up in the morning and I thought it was finally not going to be a freezing cold morning. I was wrong. It probably wouldn't have been too bad, but since I was practically at the top of a hill, most of the morning was downhill. It wasn't as bad as riding in the cold rain a few days ago, but it was still pretty darn cold. I passed by several no trespassing signs- I guess I picked a good spot. Eventually I made it to a town and I checked for postcards. The pharmacy had a stack. Hooray! I went back to the grocery store nearby because it had a blue post office box outside. I noticed a wall plugin nearby. Perfect! It was looking like I would be about 1 day short with my power supply. I plugged in a battery, wrote out my postcard, then went inside and bought food. Then I came back out and plugged in my phone and ate a sandwich. Here's some insight into how I think- I realized that writing the postcard before buying food was dumb because if I had done it the other way around, I could have charged my phone for longer (I didn't want to leave my phone charging when I wasn't right there watching it). Anyways, when I finished my sandwich, I still needed more charge, so I pretty much just sat there and thought. Which was weird, because I haven't really had a whole lot of time to do that during this trip, in the middle of the day anyways. I messed around with how my gear was packed up, then adjusted my brakes- that was very needed. Finally I got bored and my phone was at 98%. That should be enough. I can always stop again. Unfortunately this stop was just a bit too long. Vermont and New Hampshire are really close together- I was hoping to get both tonight. But it was going to be too far. I wasn't too upset though. Since Delaware, if I'm not mistaken, I've gotten a state every day. And I've camped in almost every state this whole trip. I'll just camp in Vermont and call it good. And Brattleboro will be on the way in the morning. I peddled upslope for a while through a national forest, then I zoomed down the other side for a while more. I made it into the town of Orange, one of the best town names ever. This is where I had to make my decision. There was no way I would be able to make it to Vermont by going up New Hampshire and crossing the bridge, and vice versa. I could pop up to New Hampshire and then come back down and over to Vermont, but it ended up being just a bit too far- I wanted to make it to a good place to camp and the extra miles, in the end, would kinda be just a waste. So I put off the ability to say that I had just one state left for one more day and headed down and over to Vermont. I knew that zipping down through that national forest would come back to haunt me- some of the steepest hills awaited me. I zoomed down for just a bit and hit a dirt road. Just a bit further and I was in Vermont. Two left! I quickly got back on pavement and started worrying about if I would get to the place I wanted to camp at. It was close to dark when I turned onto Tyler Hill Road. Awesome name and not awesome name. I wanted to go about 3 more miles, but even without hills, I wouldn't make it before dark. I looked at my phone and realized if I didn't turn here, there was plenty of land up ahead. And it was a shorter route to Brattleboro. Darn Google. I turned around and before turning back on the previous road, a cop pulled up right beside me. And then promptly turned and went the other way. Phew. I continued on. I quickly discovered that this wasn't exactly ideal. To the right was a river or canal and a slope. To the left was another steep slope. I found a picnicking area where I'm sure I could have found a spot in the nearby woods, but it specifically said no camping. I kept going. Eventually I made it to a sign that said blind drives ahead. Time to turn around. I found a spot that looked as good as any and started pushing my bike up the hill. Of course I picked the one spot with a weird tree that forced me to go around it. I felt like every person passing saw me. Finally I was hidden from view. There weren't a lot of choices, but I picked a spot that looked level enough. I set up my tent in the dim light. Once I climbed inside, I found out that it was very not level. Oh well. I've had worse.

Day 109- Cold

It was really cold last night. I slept in and got up a bit before 9. Once I had everything on my bike, I realized I had been meaning to adjust my front tire. I think the wobble is back. I'm sure it was from when I took it off to try the bigger tube. I took everything off the front and messed around with the tire. Hopefully it helped. Then I realized my back tire finally went completely flat. It had been leaking very slowly for the past few days. I took the tube out and found a hole, but I couldn't find what peirced it in the tire. I thought about patching it but I didn't want to risk it. I just put in a thorn resistant tube. Finally I was ready to go around 10. I guess it'll be a short day. At one point I turned off onto a dirt road that turned onto an overgrown four wheeler trail. I figured I would have to route around it, so I pedaled back to the road. Then I realized that it probably wasn't that way for long- it connected up with another road. I pedaled all the way back and kept going this time. I could actually ride for a ways but then I had to walk it. I passed by what looked like an old train car that I wanted to check out but didn't just in case someone lived in it. Soon I was back on pavement. I'm getting back into hill territory. It's not as bad as Tennessee, but it still makes me miss the rail trails. Eventually I got into Massachusetts. Three more states. I've been through 45. It still seems so unreal to me. I started looking for postcards right away, even though it was a Sunday. No luck. I'll have all day tomorrow. I swear about half the businesses in Massachusetts are pizzerias. At the end of the day when I was looking for camp, I got to the top of a hill that was cleared off for the nearby airport. It was a nice view. I was planning on going another mile or so to get away from some side roads, but as I was going down the hill, the trees blocked so much light that I wanted to just camp here. The area to my right looked like it had been cleared years ago, but now it was overgrown with bushes. I tried to duck in quickly, because I had been waiting for a break in the stream of cars for too long. It didn't quite work. The two trees I went between were just a bit too close together. I kinda just stood there for a bit, feeling really silly, hoping no one saw me. After some effort, I finally backed up and went in the spot beside it. I was instantly greeted with lovely thorn bushes. I had to set up my tent closer to the road than I would have liked because it was so overgrown, but I'm hidden enough. Once I was inside my tent and writing this, I heard some rustling outside my tent. Probably just the usual possum or raccoon, but it was pretty persistent. I yelled at it a few times but it seemed to keep coming back. I heard a really weird yell- hopefully it got ran over.

State number 45!

Day 108- Lost

I wanted to get up early and get the heck out of here, but like always, something always stops me. It was raining. Since I wasn't actually in a rush, I waited it out. Around 8 it seemed like it stopped, although it still sounded like it was raining all around me. I could hear the wind- it was probably just knocking the drops off the trees. When I finally got out of my tent, I found that maybe it was only lightly raining but I was confident it would get better once I got away from the trees. I went back the way I came. I've stayed in some sketchy places, but this past week definitely deserves an award. Once I was on the road, it was just barely misting, but it slowly increased. I was probably riding right into it. I couldn't use my phone much, but the path was straightforward enough- I could probably take highway 1 the whole way. It's kinda funny. Today would have been a great day to stop and eat somewhere to get out of the rain and possibly get my phone charged, but I had enough food and water to last me all day. I decided not to stop, mainly because it was so cold. I knew it would be so much worse if I had to start back up again. My hands were so cold that shifting gears was a pain- I usually just stayed in high gear and hoped for the best. Eventually highway 1 merged with the freeway and there was a sign saying that bikes were prohibited. Drats, I guess I do have to use my phone. I was confused at first because it said to cross under the freeway, do a bunch of turns and then get on the freeway going against traffic. Are you crazy? But then I looked more closely on Google and it looked like there might be a pedestrian walk on that side. Yep. After that, more highway 1, then I had to get over to the pedestrian walk to cross another bridge. The past few days I've been surrounded by civilization- it's drastically different from, well, pretty much the entire rest of the trip. Finally there were some patches of woods as I got closer to the edge of Connecticut. At the same time, the rain finally cleared. I was feeling much better as my feet and hands slowly thawed out. Somehow my pants dried almost instantly. It was looking like I would only get into Rhode Island after 5. I'm planning on spending most of tomorrow going up through it, but it'll be a Sunday, so my chances of finding a postcard are slim. It'd be best if I could find one today, but I only had maybe an hour or so. I finally crossed over just after 4:30 and set to work. The first stop was at a grocery store- not what I usually check, but success! I quickly wrote it, put it in the post office box in front of the store, and tried to figure out where a good place would be to camp. It looked like there were several patches on the way, so I just started going. I was almost tempted when I found some decent spots, but I kept going. Once it was a bit after 6, I gave in. I'd rather quit early and know for sure it was a good spot than have another night like the past few. I headed into the woods. I could still see the cars, but I felt no one would be able to spot me while they were driving by, especially once it got dark. While I was in my tent, I started to hear the weirdest sound. I'm thinking it must have been fireworks, although I don't know why anyone would be doing that. I thought it would just people shooting but it was different. I noticed a light on my tent that suddenly went off. I had seen a street lamp when I was setting up my tent. Still, I sat there nervously for a bit until I finally checked. Yep, just the street lamp. I heard people talking briefly and a dog barking. I guess I'm not as far away from everything as I thought.