"Travis, I think we need to buy or rent a tandem bike and ride across the country next summer." - 1:23 a.m. August 6, 2007 - Day 0

A while back I made a life to do list and on a whim put "bike from coast to coast" as one of the items, alongside "summit all of Colorado's 14ers" and "brew my own beer." I knew that biking 3,000 miles alone would be less fun, more dangerous and a lot more difficult than riding with a friend, but didn't know who else would be stupid enough to embark on such an endeavor. Then I remembered my good pal Travis, who had some experience with bicycles, and so with a drunken Facebook wall post at 1:23 on a Monday morning last August, our adventure began.

The whole year we bantered back and forth about doing training, which for me consisted of riding my bike around campus and for Travis riding his bike back and forth to work. But he bought a motorcycle and I went on a month-long vacation, so our strictly regimented training of up to 10 miles a day came to a halt, long before our agreed upon departure date of June 23.

Planning the trip had been on the back of my mind since we agreed to do it, and with time running short before my flight left for Seattle, I was starting to get worried about how we were going to do this. What route would we take? Where would we sleep? What would we need to take with us? I had no idea how to answer these questions, and after reading another cyclist's journal, decided that our plan would be to have no plan. That way everything would go according to plan!

The next question was which bike would I ride. I had toyed with the idea of using my $75 campus bike, fondly known as the "iron maiden" to my triathlon friends, but it wasn't in good condition before I bought it and with only 4 of the 10 speeds working and a good deal of rust having accumulated on it during its 3 years of outdoor life in Tulsa, I decided to look into a new bike. My sister met a guy in New York who was in urgent need to sell a bike that he claimed to have ridden across the country, and without seeing or knowing anything about the bike, I had her buy it for me. Travis, a professional bike mechanic, was not thrilled about the bike, but still agreed to take a look at it and upgrade anything that he didn't think would last the entire trip.  So I boxed up the bike and sent it to Seattle, before hopping on a plane there myself.

I arrived in Seattle carrying my two pannier bags as luggage, and wearing the only t-shirt and pair of shorts that I would have on the trip. We spent the entire day at Travis' bike shop outfitting my bike with a new wheelset, groupo, seat, bottom bracket, cranks, chain ring, and light. By nightfall, the bike was ready to go, even if we were still a little unprepared.

The night before we left we spent going over our bikes, verifying that it was legal to ride on Interstate 90 in Washington, boiling potatoes to snack on, and pondering what the next day, and the trip as a whole would bring.

Travis looking excited the night before departure

Equipment list:

• 1 bicycle
• 3 22 oz water bottles
• 1 2 liter Camelpak
• 1 sleeping pad
• 1 sleeping bag
• 2 camp fuel canisters
• 1 camp stove
• 1 set of camping pots
• 1 knife
• 1 fork
• 1 spoon
• 10 power bars
• 10 packets instant oatmeal
• 2 pairs of socks
• 1 pair of athletic shorts
• 1 paid of bike shorts
• toothpaste
• toothbrush
• deodorant
• credit cards
• driver license
• insurance card
• 2 bike jerseys
• 1 pair pajama pants
• 1 tshirt
• 1 long sleeve shirt
• 1 beanie
• 1 camp towel
• 1 bar soap
• 3 spare tubes
• 1 spare tire
• 9 spare spokes
• 1 multi-tool
• 1 journal
• 2 pens
• 2 pannier packs
• 1 camera