We are not alone

So I forget who asked us if a book could come of this trip. Yes, this trip is interesting enough to write a book about. However, I think people underestimate the relative ubiquity of this trip.

Some people, upon seeing our bikes, know exactly what we doing. Adventure cycling association ppublishes maps that are quite popular, and back when we were on one of the routes we would see multiple groups a day.

Even, when we were in the middle of South Dakota, far from any routes, we met a couple from Alaska who were doing the trip.

The groups we have seen generally come in three flavors: two young men, a college age couple, or a retired couple. Of course, there are exceptions. We met a father son pair, a married couple between jobs, and even a large group of retired people.

Yesterday, we were lost getting out of st. Paul and a commuting cyclist, Mike, offered to guide us in the direction he was going home (he also let us use his computer to check our route and fed us pizza. Thanks.) He was wearing a cycling shirt that had a cross country route on it. It turned out his wifes family had done it as a big group.

A NY times columnist is doing the trip solo for his second time.

So all types of groups do it.