Our 2015 Tag Team Bicycle Adventure

We set off from Sedro Woolley, WA on August 1st with our 2012 Camp Inn 550 Ultra camper and 2015 Ford Transit Connect cargo van. For the first two weeks of the trip we were accompanied by our friend Cary Blassingame, who was with us as far as Glacier National Park. We stopped for a long weekend in Grand Forks, ND to visit with Alea's brother Joe, then timed things to attend our first Camp Inn Camp Outt in Wisconsin. From there we mainly followed the Mississippi River to Louisiana, before turning due east to St Augustine, FL. Next, we cut diagonally across the state, stopping for Thanksgiving with Alea's sisters Jean and Ann. From there we continued on to Palmetto, FL, where we've been given the use for the next two months of the vacation home of our friends Teri and Carson Robinson.

A detailed narrative and lots of pictures can be found on our blog, tagteambike.blogspot.com. Our first days on the road can be found here:
http://tagteambike.blogspot.com/2015/08/days-1-2-3.html

Our Transit Connect van had nearly 2,000 miles on it when we started, and is quickly closing in on 12,000 miles right now. Better than 75% of those miles were towing our camper. In total, we bicycled about 5,000 miles (we often had to drive off of our route in order to find a campground, which is why the van mileage is higher).

We spent 125 continuous nights sleeping in our camper, nearly doubling the total number of nights of the previous 3 years.

We'll set off again in February 2016, when we'll be heading up the east coast, then cut diagonally toward the midwest. From there our destination is currently undecided. If the timing is right we'll head for San Diego. If not, we may return to Florida to wait for the right time to head that direction.

 

Very ambitious trip with the numbers miles you biked. Should be nice to have the break in FL.

Bob

 

While in Louisiana, we ran into two couples who were on a similar trip (but supported by a 35 foot RV). They had run into a group supporting a former RAAM competitor (RAAM is a race across America - I think the current record is quite a bit less than two weeks). Anyway, this guy was doing 200+ miles per day in an effort to set a record for the most mileage in a year. So our mileage pales in comparison.

The time in Florida is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because the weather is awesome, we have time to retool for next year and we have a fantastic place to stay. It's a curse because we will have to try to maintain fitness and the area in our immediate vicinity is not the most bike friendly. Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll figure out how to get to some safe riding.

I suspect we'll easily double the bike mileage on next year's trip, though we'll be reducing our daily mileage at first, so that we don't end up too far north before it starts to warm up.

 

You're awesome! Love following your blog! Enjoy Florida!