No, it's Phil from Camden, Maine. Neither of us has ever done a long tour before.

One of the fun things for me is going to be using my father's sun-bleached old Cannondale panniers on this trip. I plan to travel light so hope to get by with the front panniers only.

Anyway, he was bike tourist. With no prior experience other than local rides in Massachusetts, he rode from Oregon back to Boston in 1985, aged 57. For the next ten years or so he went on a big tour every year, including rides up and down both coasts, a Mexico-to-Canada tour across the plains (accompanied by my mom), a tour from the West of Ireland to the Russian Border, a tour from the Mediterranean coast in France to northern Finland, a tour from Warsaw (Poland) to Istanbul, and quite a few others--all by himself (if not accompanied by my mother, who rode parts of some of the longer tours), with minimal gear and camping most of the way.

What a guy! How I wish he were still alive. I would love to be sending him some postcards.

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes. I not a bloggish kind of person and don't expect to have any meaningful internet access during the trip, but I will try to post from a public library computer or two along the way.

If any forum members within a few miles of the route would not mind hosting Phil and me with a meal, sleeping-bag space, and a shower, my email is jon@redclovercomponents.com. Tell me where you live and send me your phone number (which I promise to keep secret) and maybe you'll hear from us when we're in the area.