You thought maybe yesterday was my final post ? Well now that I’ve had some relax at home time, here I am again. I thought I’d summarize some highlights as I now sit and reflect back. 

My favorite State, I’ll stick with Kansas. The pace of living really reflected in the people’s friendly welcoming attitude. I will say the bread belt,  mid west, and plaines states were so impressive to bike through. Watching the farmers and ranchers in action was really great. 

My favorite town or place? Well that’s hard to pick just one. I’ll summarize a state by state version of how I experienced them. 

The Mojave Desert and crossing California and into southern Arizone was in one word, harsh. All of the boys from the UK came over very afraid of our desert crossings. As a touring cyclist you need to be well prepared, we quickly learned. 

As we started gaining elevation inArizona  the riding and scenery went into a different mode. We started seeing green vs dry brown and trees emerged. One of the premier days of the entire trip was between Wickenburg and Prescott. There we did our first mountain pass and then an epic descend down into Jerome. Both of these towns are really a must see if you can. We also went thru Yarnell a very cute town and we saw the memorial to the 19 hot shot firefighters who lost their lives battling a fire. That was very sad indeed.  Our Sedona ride and thru Oak Creek Canyon was another highlight for sure. Then Winslow Az. Rounded out the best of that state as I found Flagstaff way too crowded. 

New Mexico was spectacular as our rest day enabled us to get the feel of the southwest in Santa Fe. We climbed to higher elevations leaving there,  up and past Santa Fe Ski Bowl which was super. The high deserts on NM were great with mountains along side. Great, great riding. As a biker you’re always looking for, and riding on the smoothest pavement.  I recall riding solo and for periods of an hour or longer riding the yellow line in the center of the road. No cars, no worries and just peddling away. It blew my mind actually. We continued to ride The old historic Route 66 for weeks !

We crossed Texas in 1 day with an overnight in Dalhart. It was more hot, dry, desolate and depressing to pass the huge feed lots of cattle and hogs. 

Oklahoma was great but same thing, a short crossing with an overnight in Guymon. Pleasant place but trying to hang on economically. I got the feeling it was a failing town but a small college helped provide a small economy. 

Kansas oh Kansas. My fav, Dodge City was a standout as was the Eisenhower museum and home. 

What’s Mossouri like as a cyclist? Rolling hills. One day we rode the famous 148 rollers and the endless ribbons vistas of roads ahead. Very fun. 

Illinois, it’s all about Abe, oh and quaint pleasant and green

Next up Indiana, corn and more corn. A trip highlight with the visit from Debbie and Kristen. 

Ohio, Amish country. So really cool traveling thru their farmlands and towns. Seeing the Amish traveling in their horse drawn buggies and working their lands is like seeing history. Amazing to witness people living like a hundred years ago. What a lasting impression it was. 

My memories of Pennsylvania include the classic old open seating root beer stand and Erie. Both the town and lake. I liked them both except for the lone hangover ! 

Five days of New York brought us north and into upstate. This was another highlight. I really liked the riding, scenery, and people. Especially memorable was the town of Canandaigua and the Finger Lakes. My numero uno town was East Andover NY. That was a really nice town 

I won’t bore you or bring you back thru Vt, NH or Mass as we just went the that.

But cheers and thanks for coming along on the trip down memory lane 

I’ll post one more highlight soon the before signing off. 

I do want to once again say a sincere thank you to everyone who made a donation to Team Godfather and our ALS foundation. Your donations exceeded our expectations. Thank you so much. Bike 4 Mike and this Coast 2 Coast ride are close to my heart as you know. Thank you all.