Besides Haily (my 1998 Civic) I will be taking both Wendy (Surly Cross-Check) and Elizabeth (Rodriguez Limited). They are both beautiful girls.

Wendy and Elizabeth

Tentative Map detailing the route. Took this list from Bicycle magazine bike friendly cities

Bike Friendly Cities

Took this list and did the following on the text file

grep -oE '[A-Za-z]+[.,/ A-Za-z]+' bike.friendly.cities.txt

I removed some states like Kentucky, Idaho, North Dakota, Montana, as I do not have enough resources to tackle all of the states, plus (cross fingers) Europe.

Google Cross Country Map

Items

Besides the car and my bikes I will be taking the following items on my trip

• Panasonic Lumix LX3
• MacBook (Diane)
• USB Drive (to back up the MacBook)
• Nuvi GPS
• Clothes (of course)

San Fernando Valley

Here is the L.A. Bike Map, very handy.

L.A. Bike Routes

More images I took while here in the San Fernando Valley

Around the San Fernando Valley

April 30

I start for Phoenix, Arizona tomorrow. Tempe/Scottsdale here I come.

After that, Albuquerque, NM then Austin, Texas.

Hopefully after Austin I will be here

Titusville, FL.

Date:  May 14 +
Mission: STS-132
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 2:20 p.m. EDT
Description: Space shuttle Atlantis mission will carry an integrated cargo carrier to deliver maintenance and assembly hardware, including spare parts for space station systems. In addition, the second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, a Mini Research Module, will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the Zarya module.

May 03

Well I didn't start traveling to Arizona on May 1. I felt that I wasn't quite ready. So I decided to lend one of my old co-workers some of my precious computer books.

1. Book of Postfix
2. Book of Xen
3. TCP / IP Illustrated
4. Introduction to Networks
5. Linux Administration Handbook (Pink book)

Currently, I am in Tempe, Arizona, after a wonderful sound coming from my engine, both when accelerating and when turning the car on. I stayed in a Holiday Inn in Goodyear, Arizona. A tow truck ride later, I found a Candlewood Suites hotel (wonderful hotel) in Tempe and exploring the city.

Lovely, dry and hot spot, with a lot of bicycle paths scattered about the city.

The drive out here was lovely, as you can see by the pictures. Btw, I have geotagged the images.

In Arizona

May 14

I have seen the space shuttle launch and it was great. I would post more pictures, including all of the pictures I had taken up till now but the internet connection here is extremely slow. Hopefully I will be able to post tomorrow.

May 18

Many pleasurable and memorable adventures are in store for you! - Fortune Cookie

For the first time in about 4 years I have actually received a fortune, and it actually is applicable, nice!

Here are some pictures that I took.

Tempe, Arizona

In Tempe

May 20

Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh reminds me of what would happen if you combined the Los Angeles area (SFV, North Hollywood, West Hollywood, Santa Monica) with Oregon. Very lush and green, and quite a few bike paths, and the drivers are pretty tolerant of the bike people, but not of other drivers. Incredibly beautiful houses.

Word of advice for all would be travelers out there. Candlewood Inn Suites are a very nice alternative to Holiday Inns, Marriots, Fairfields (Marriots), La Quinta. No breakfasts, but they have an actual refrigerator to store food.

Here are some more pictures from the trip.

May 25

Durham, North Carolina

Decided to take a little bit longer break in another bike route friendly city. Here are some pictures of Titusville and the shuttle launch pictures (like I said above). My LX3 doesn't have really great zoom, although it is a great camera.

Shuttle Launch

May 26

I have to start thinking of job searching at some point.

Here is a link to my resume. I wouldn't mind doing computer support (computer admin) again, since that is what I am great at, and I would like to go back to school (and travel more).

Here is a link to my (mobile friendly site) site, and my resume.

May 27

Currently in Sterling, Virginia since there is a Candlewood hotel near a nice long bike routes into Arlington, Virginia and more importantly Washington, D.C. The route to D.C. is about 29 miles (about a 2 hour bike route). Tomorrow and Saturday I will be making this route and taking pictures of all of the notable places.

I really enjoy biking and found out that Park Tools (a great maker of bike tools) is headquartered in St. Paul. Also, Surly is located near the Twin Cities. I never knew that Minnesota had such a large bike community.

Sunset in Gainsville

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania (June 15)

I can't believe it is already the middle of June. Time sure flies when you are traveling as much as I have. The internet connection is spotty, so uploading the photos is a bit harder than I expected. Overall I am enjoying my trip, despite being in the worst traffic I have ever experienced (being stuck on the 405 then the 101 in L.A. doesn't even compare). It was my trip to Philadelphia (specifically the trip from Philadelphia to New Jersey). Currently, I am in Providence, Rhode Island. I decided to skip New York City. A few days ago I made a decision to forget trying to "see things" and just enjoy myself. Great decision Rhode Island has one of the most beautiful bicycle trails I have see. Next stop Portland, Maine.

New Hampshire, Maine (June 17)

I made it to Portland, Maine. A small town in the southern part of Maine. The town itself is poverty stricken as you notice when you drive around, or bike around, as is my case. It is awful to see such a nice town (full of bike paths) with such horrible poverty. Next stop, somewhere between here and Toronto.

Washington/Old Dominion Trail, Washington D.C. (National Museum, Capital

8,000 miles (September 9)

I made it back to California with Hailey (my 1998 Honda Civic) intact and a sense of accomplishment. From California to Florida, Florida to D.C., up to Maine, then down to Minnesota and finally back to California I believe I have traveled a fair bit, and have enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. I spent about a month back in my home state of Minnesota, and after finding a job there, I am moving my stuff across country once again.

Things I learned

• It is impossible to see all of the sights, the United States is incredibly large
• Don't stress over not seeing everything
• Pick a goal for the trip (for me it was finding out where I want to live on a permanent basis)

Here are the places that I really enjoyed

• Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina
• Seattle, Washington (really anywhere in Washington)
• Portland, Oregon
• Providence, Rhode Island
• Boulder/Fort Collins, Colorado (really anywhere in Colorado)

Was it an experience that I would repeat, knowing what I know now? Absolutely.