The Route

The question that is always on the lips of those with an interest on the ride across the States is ".....What is the route...?"  Today we can not only answer this but also show the route.

Some facts about the route, the distance is 4,200 miles, 6,720 kms.  the finish date is July 4th., we finish in the Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC after first dipping our feet in the Atlantic Ocean

Tom intends to ride all days with the exception of Sundays.

The average daily cycle distance is c63 miles, 100 kms.

The start is at the Pacific Coast to the West of Seattle WA.

The Recce

The start of the big ride is late April, before then much work and planning needs to be completed.  Tom and I went to the States for a recce starting on the 5th of the month.

More photographs of the US



We flew into Seattle and then to Dallas, Nashville and Washington.

The Space Needle - Seattle in the mist

The scale of the ride soon becomes apparent, being a European I guessed an internal flight down to Dallas from Seattle would be a 90 minute hop, so over four hours was a surprise!  And this leaving another flight and much driving to get to Washington.

The cultural differences soon became apparent, the clear and obvious philanthropic nature of the US was obvious, the question that was most common was ' ....and what can I do to help...?

There were a number of great things to report back as being so good for the organisation, the meeting with the main sponsor in Dallas was good for many things, the atmosphere of Texas and the 'can-do' attitude of our main sponsor, First Command, were both great to experience.

Washington just staggering with the meeting of the Senator for South Carolina a real pleasure and a real help for the charity.

Washington and that'll be DC

What an inspiring and great country the US is and nowhere is this to be seen more markedly than in the countries capital and seat of government, Washington DC

Yesterday, Tom was off 'meeting and greeting' and I had the chance to see the things that Washington is famous for, the Lincoln Memorial the memorial to the fallen of both the Vietnam and Korean wars.

Both memorials are startling in their approach and also quite different but the effect of both is to stop the viewer in his or her tracks and somehow be linked and connected to those wars.

I think I am correct in saying the Vietnam Memorial was built with some controversy surrounding it, why was it to be buried, why just a wall and so on.  In fact when you see the memorial it is the most humbling of experiences made all the more so by the books that index the dead and allow the friends, relatives of those killed in the war to be found on the massive structure.

But as they say a picture is worth etc..

From here it's a short walk to one of the other war memorials and to a war that is often forgotten, that is the Korean War. The statues that make up the memorial are ghost-like and prepared for wet weather, one of the enduring memories of the returning soldiers, but look here is the memorial.....

Water, Texas and people

Regular readers of the Blog will know that Tom and I are on a recce, a trip to meet those in the US involved with the ride and to set up stuff for the trip, this is taking us across the States.  Sometimes by car, as now, and some flights. The last leg was in Dallas / Fort Worth and then on to Nashville.

The Dallas and Texas experience was interesting, amazing, remarkable and very very good.  But why all these things?  Well for an English person to be in the States there are some things that come as a surprise, the food, the size, the scale, the openness of people, and very much more.

In Dallas we met with our primary sponsor, First Command and our contact with First Command, Michael Ritchie and his colleagues. So now we found ourselves in the corporate world but one that made us very welcome.

Our first food experience of Texas though was lunch, in fact I was the only one to eat and I was lucky enough to treated to a Texas delicacy, a Burrito, I have to be honest on say that I thought that was South Pacific fish but no, it's a big Tortilla filled with what ever you want to pout in it and no ' We don't so small'

Then to the head office for a very good and positive meeting, First Command are showing themselves to be very good sponsors, not just providing funds but giving support help and guidance in a number of areas. Great folk.

After we finished we had more to eat. now we had a barbecue meal but again the American way is to have a real BBQ food and a beer in a restaurant, I wanted a small piece of chicken so had the wimps half chicken.

This we followed with a Margarita in the bar down the road. Not just a Margarita but a frozen one with salt around the lip of the glass, just great.

Then back to our hotel for some sleep prior to an early, 5:00 am, start but not before the room above has a flood.  The looe blocked and the water just kept coming, in this case into my room at 12:30. I woke dreaming of water and then saw and heard the mini cascade, a room change needed and then back to sleep. Another day, another city.

Maps and what to do with them...

If it's Wednesday it must Seattle....

A big part of the trip to America is to see the right people and to set up contacts. To this end the trip has been great but as well we have to deal with some important practical issue, like which route do we take and how do we sort that out?

So today we went to the AAA, this for readers from the UK is a sort of AA but for the US, and very good and very helpful they were as well, they supplied us with great maps covering all the states we are to visit with all the detail we need.

And this is one thing that is so evident with the people so far met in regard to the endeavour, people want to help and want to assist in what ever way they can.

So having got our maps then to meet Ian Masek, he is employed by the State of Washington dept of Transportation as a cycle coordinator, a really helpful man who was able to pinpoint our route through the state.  We met in another IHOP, and for those that are aware this stands for International House of  Pancakes, and I have to say the food is good, not small in size but very good, and again for the Brits reading this when you order eggs its expected that you will have three of them. Fantastic.

So here we have a picture of Tom and Ian pouring over the AAA maps.

A good day.

The start and status

Tom and I are in the US at the start of the recce for the ride, yesterday saw us at the, and in the, Pacific at the place that will be the start of the ride in April.  The town is called Ocean City, a good name that tells you what you need to know. A bleak place on a cold February day, but a good place to see.

It was here that you realise the benefit of the trip in the people that you meet, like the lady realtor, or as we would say and estate agent who also runs the tourist office, like so many Americans we meet she was immediately filled with enthusiasm and a willingness, no a desire to help us out. Brilliant.

 The kick off point

   

Great news, Sea2Sea is now a registered charity within the UK. This is such good news and ends a number  of weeks of frustration for us to get the green light that we now have.

Tom has a stiff upper lip in the face of the off ocean wind and rain