I wanted to ride across the U.S. Supported tours were $$$ and too high mileage/day. So at 34 I did ACA's unsupported Northern Tier group trip from Seattle to Bar Harbor, ME then rode home solo to Philly and on to Ocean City, NJ. Nearly four months on the road.

The first day of the trip was the second time I had ever ridden a fully loaded bike and the first night I ever slept in a tent. No hypothermia to speak of despite some cold days with snow on two passes in WA.