Thursday, August 13, 2015

Traveling Man, Voluntarily Homeless

Starting next week I'm going to kick off an approximately six week bike tour from Hartford, CT to Southern Indiana and back.  It will be a wandering route.  Looks like about 2,500 miles if I don't get lost.  I always get lost.


See below for a list of cities along the way.  Know anyone who can put me up - send me a note?  Or anyone that would like to have a meal with an odd bike tourist.  I'll be doing a lot of camping, but it's nice every couple of days to have a shower and a meal with friends (potentially new ones).  Will also be using WarmShowers.org for hosts, but friends of friends are best!  Bike tours are fluid and changing, so hosting days move around.  Typically I try to confirm (or reschedule) the day before if someone has offered to host.

  • *Starting - Hartford, CT on August 18th or 19th*
  • Schenectady / Albany, NY - Jumping on the Erie Canal Bike Trail
  • Rome, NY
  • Syracuse, NY
  • Rochester, NY
  • Port Byron, NY
  • Brockport, NY - Leaving the Erie Canal and heading into the mountains
  • Youngstown, OH 
  • Akron, OH
  • Columbus, OH
  • French Lick, IN (really!)
  • Cincinnati, OH
  • All along the OH River in Southern OH
  • Marietta, OH
  • Wheeling, WV (Hills - OUCH!)
  • Pittsburgh, PA
  • Along the Great Allegheny Passage​ (my favorite segment ever!)
  • Along the C&O Canal
  • Washington DC - Starting East Coast Greenway Route
  • Baltimore, MD - East Coast Greenway
  • Wilmington, DE - East Coast Greenway
  • Philadelphia, PA - East Coast Greenway
  • Newark, NJ - East Coast Greenway
  • Long Island, NY
  • *Ending - Back in Hartford, CT.  Before Oct 4th.*
  • [Or anywhere in between - I'll be passing through a lot of cities.]

So excited!  I've been playfully thinking about this tour for a couple of years, and now the rubber hits the road. You can follow my progress on the Beat Bike Blog

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool! I'll definitely follow along. Any particular reason why you're going to southern Indiana? Seems like a non-traditional touring destino.

Wish I could say that I knew folks you could crash with on your route, but don't. But Warmshowers is definitely a great resource!

Tony C said...

I have a family reunion in Santa Claus, IN on Sept 5th. All the reason I need.

bikeculturetheory said...

Looks like an awesome, big trip! Good folks in Erie if you end up wanting to / needing to crash there -- https://www.facebook.com/BikeErie they have a slow roll as well. I'll be curious to hear how the urban route up the eastern coastline goes. J