Once Chuck and I decided to cross the United States on our bikes, there was no going back. Were we apprehensive before the trip? You bet! On the road, though, all those funny feelings disappeared, and we had a great time.

June 28, Rhode Island was the beginning of our trip. 85 Miles later we were in Wollingford, Conn. From here we crossed into Bear Mountain, N.Y State Park where we spent the night. Port Jervis was our last stay in New York. We entered Pennsylvania from Port Jervis. We soon found out that Pennsylvania is a very hard state to cross on bikes. Many, many hills. It was a great challenge, but we did it and felt very proud. Wellsboro was my favorite stop. A typical USA town.

From Pennsylvania we entered Willoughby, Ohio. Contrary to popular belief, Ohio is not a flat state. As a matter of fact, in Ohio we had a 17% grade that we decided to walk. In Bowling, Ohio, a man followed us to the bagel shop because he wanted to know about our trip.

We were constantly amazed at how interested people were in our trip. We entered Kandleville, Indiana from Ohio. Our visit to Indiana was very brief. We stayed in Elkhart, where we crossed into Michigan. We stayed in Allegan, then on to Muskegon, and Ludington. Here we caught the ferry to cross Lake Michigan into Wisconsin.

In Sheboygan, Wisconsin we experienced our first tornado alert. We were lucky we were spared. We rode on to Waterloo, Wisconsin, where we visited the "Trek" plant. We were given a complete tour of the plant. It was interesting to watch the employees work on bikes from the very start to the end. Amana, Iowa was our next state and it is also an Amish center. In Ames, Iowa we visited their beautiful university. Also in Iowa we went to Dennison, home of Donna Reed.

Blair was our first stop in Nebraska. We finally were in a flat state! Nebraska was easy riding. From there we went into Colorado. Eastern Colorado was not very impressive, but things improved as we approached Boulder., Colorado. There we stayed with my son. Boulder is a little paradise and a beautiful city. I really hated to leave.

We rented a car in Boulder and headed home to California. We drove through Wyoming and Utah where we visited our daughter.

Riding our bikes was the best way to see the U.S. It is an experience that will last for the rest of my life.