San Diego to St. Augustine

Estacado · Post by **Estacado** » Sun May 28, 2017 9:43 am

: Morning on the Gulf. Ft. Morgan, Ala; 100_1193.JPG (2.46 MiB) Viewed 4141 times

: Yuha desert in California; 100_0689.JPG (2.59 MiB) Viewed 4141 times

: Colorado River that separates California and Arizona; 100_0707.JPG (2.28 MiB) Viewed 4141 times

: Tonto Basin, Arizona; 100_0765.JPG (2.16 MiB) Viewed 4141 times

: Hello Louisiana; 100_1074.JPG (2.06 MiB) Viewed 4141 times

You're not going to believe this one. Starting on March 12th, I rode my bicycle across the country from San Diego to St. Augustine. Ocean to ocean. Pacific to Atlantic. 3055 miles. Took 48 days. I arrived in St. Augustine on the 28th of April. Had a ball. It was fun. It was hard. I saw snow, torrential rain and 103 degree weather. I lost 39 lbs. which was one of my goals. A few of my favorite pictures along the way.

Post by **RetiredSeabee** » Sun May 28, 2017 10:00 am

I was thinking that is one ambitious road trip by car. Then I saw the bicycle.......you are Superman!

Post by **PT7** » Sun May 28, 2017 10:10 am

Good job; and an interesting diet plan. Thanks for the pics.
BTW, have you decided yet if you'll pedal back? That would bring your diet plan/weight loss close to 90 lbs.

Estacado · Post by **Estacado** » Sun May 28, 2017 11:10 am

RetiredSeabee wrote:I was thinking that is one ambitious road trip by car. Then I saw the bicycle.......you are Superman!

Far from it. I am 66 years old. It was a "killer" starting out. As I got stronger, I pedaled farther each day. I am in pretty good shape right now.

Estacado · Post by **Estacado** » Sun May 28, 2017 11:15 am

PT7 wrote:Good job; and an interesting diet plan. Thanks for the pics.
BTW, have you decided yet if you'll pedal back? That would bring your diet plan/weight loss close to 90 lbs.

Heck no, I shipped me and the bike home. It's funny that you should say diet plan. When asked, I told people I was on the Jenny Craig alternate diet plan. Pictures, I took over 800. After all, this was a one time deal.

Post by **JEBar** » Sun May 28, 2017 11:56 am

my respects .... that's something I couldn't do

Estacado · Post by **Estacado** » Sun May 28, 2017 1:26 pm

JEBar wrote:my respects .... that's something I couldn't do

Thank you. I hope this is not coming off as a "look at me!" Instead it was a "my god what fun" trip.

Post by **JEBar** » Sun May 28, 2017 2:30 pm

while camped for a couple of weeks while in Texas in February with Bob Gacke Jr .... he had a similar motivation to make a (one time) ride across the country .... his path was from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border .... being a cowboy, he rode a horse .... we read his book, Ride Across America: The Ride of My Life which is available from Amazon === https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_s ... s=books-ca === he's a great guy, we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him

Bugs · Post by **Bugs** » Mon May 29, 2017 8:10 am

Hope you made it to see the Ice House in St. Augustine. The Vodka they make there and the ice is well worth the trip.

Estacado · Post by **Estacado** » Mon May 29, 2017 8:21 am

Bugs wrote:Hope you made it to see the Ice House in St. Augustine. The Vodka they make there and the ice is well worth the trip.

Yes and no. I took the tour bus tour. Saw the outside of the building. Let's see, it is by the chocolate factory and the police station.

Bugs · Post by **Bugs** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 6:21 am

Estacado wrote:
Bugs wrote:Hope you made it to see the Ice House in St. Augustine. The Vodka they make there and the ice is well worth the trip.

Yes and no. I took the tour bus tour. Saw the outside of the building. Let's see, it is by the chocolate factory and the police station.

Too bad all the good stuff is inside the building.

Post by **RanchRoper** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 3:20 pm

Hats off to you. Great trip.

Post by **DAVIDF** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 8:39 pm

Estacado,

Congratulations! I certainly didn't take it as look at me. I appreciate you sharing and you have my greatest respect for what you have done.

Nice Surly Long Haul Trucker and Brooks saddle. Is that the disc brake version, can't tell from the photo. I love Brooks saddles and have them on several of my bikes. I currently have a Surly 1X1 fully rigid that I use for mountain bike racing. Haven't done any of that lately. I had a Cross-Check for a while. I loved both of them. Cracked the frame on the Cross-Check unfortunately. I have done a lot of cycling and racing, but never touring. That would be spectacular. My wife did a tour with a group of her women friends thru Maryland and Pennsylvania and another trip with her company thru Iowa.

A few years ago I purchased my step daughter a Surly Long Haul Trucker when she started a PhD program at Northwestern University. She has now just finished and her graduation ceremony is in a couple of weeks. She has never owned a car, always using a bike for transportation.

Please share more of your pictures. I think I can speak for most or everyone here that we would love to see more!

Henry88 · Post by **Henry88** » Fri Jun 02, 2017 2:15 am

I knew I guy in college, his name was rick, and he had done the same thing in the mid 70's.

He did it by himself, kind of a self cleansing or healing thing in his case, I think

Amazing though and beautiful picks.............

Estacado · Post by **Estacado** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 10:28 pm

: They told me this was as green as the desert was in several years; 100_0801.JPG (2.4 MiB) Viewed 3790 times

: Big Bend Country. That's Mexico over there; 100_0852.JPG (2.26 MiB) Viewed 3790 times

: It would not be the Hill Country w/o bluebonnets; 100_0987.JPG (2.44 MiB) Viewed 3790 times

: Colorado River with Austin in the background; 100_1007.JPG (2.36 MiB) Viewed 3790 times

: These only grow in one small area; 100_0716.JPG (1.95 MiB) Viewed 3790 times

DAVIDF: Yes, the bike is a Surly Disc Trucker. You will appreciate disc brakes when on a long descent like In-Ko-Pa pass in California. I never pedaled for over eight miles!

Henry88: I did the trip by myself. I would camp out for or five days then get a motel to clean up.

Catherine · Post by **Catherine** » Sun Jun 04, 2017 3:42 am

Good posts and pictures! Thank you for sharing.

Cate

Post by **RanchRoper** » Sun Jun 04, 2017 9:11 pm

Awesome photos, thanks so much for posting them.

Post by **DAVIDF** » Tue Jun 06, 2017 7:58 am

I have disc brakes on my mountain bike and one of my commuters. Yes, they are great on descents and in dirty conditions.

I miss the bluebonnets. I haven't seen them since 91!

Great photos, please keep posting more!

Estacado · Post by **Estacado** » Wed Jun 07, 2017 10:28 pm

DAVIDF, I have lots of pictures. I took over 800! I wanted to be sure I captured the trip. I did not want to return home and say "I should have taken a picture of that".