Bike Trip Details

Well, I realize that I haven't put any real details about the trip up yet. So here is the plan:

It looks like we have four riders: Me, Rachael, Michael, and Shira. Four is a good number, and I am now not being overwhelmed by girls.

We leave from DC to New Orleans on the train on July 4 evening (maybe we can catch some fireworks from the observation car?). The train was chosen because it provides a relatively cheap way of transporting bikes and gear. For $400 total, I can transport Rachael and I and three checked bags each (the bike counts as a checked bag) from DC to New Orleans. Included in the price is our own little 2-person room where the chairs fold into beds, and all of our meals. Compare this with the airlines, who only wanted $100 per person to take us to New Orleans, but wanted $200 per bike plus surcharges for the other checked bags. The train takes 24 hours to go from Dc to New Orleans, but we should be pretty comfortable with a room, the ability to walk around, and a laptop computer. Shira is taking a slightly different transport scheme and is getting a ride with Kelly, who just happens to be driving through the area at about the same time.

We will probably spend a few days around New Orleans doing the tourist thing, then we will set off for the Underground Railroad Route's official starting point of Mobile, AL. We will follow the official route the whole way up into Owen Sound (see map). As on the last bike trip, we will carry our food and camp essentially the whole time.

The only difference is that this time we plan on going a little slower. When Jason and I went across, we kept feeling the pressure of Time=Money and went quite fast (I recall biking through a Shaker village in New York, but merely slowed down enough to grab a quick picture). The whole trip should thus take us about a month if everything goes well, putting us in Owen Sound around 10 August. Of course, lots of things can change on a big bike trip like this, so don't expect the schedule to be clockwork-perfect.