Plans to Ride Across U.S.

Hi everyone. This is an initial post to let you all know that Penny and I plan to launch our cross-country tandem ride on April 24th. We plan to do the trip in two phases. On the 24th we will leave from our home in Colorado Springs and ride to Mashpee on Cape Cod, hopefully arriving there in mid-June. We will be self-contained, hauling our clothes, etc. in our BOB trailer attached to the back of the tandem. We are taking camping gear but mainly plan to use motels where available. This part of the route will take us through eastern Colorado, across Kansas and most of Missouri. Outside of St. Louis we will turn north along the Mississippi River, crossing into Illinois then into Iowa and back to Illinois again from Muscatine, Iowa. The route then goes across central Illinois and Indiana into Ohio, where it runs along Lake Erie from Huron all the way to the Buffalo, New York area (including through downtown Cleveland including the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame). From the Buffalo area the route turns east across New York state, not too far from Cooperstown. We plan to spend at least part of a day there visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame. I also forgot to mention that in Illinois and Ohio we plan to spend a day with Steve's brother and sister, respectively. Once across New York state, we will enter Massachusetts near Pittsfield, where the Berkshire Mountains will present our toughest climbs of this leg of the trip (they tend to be not very long, but very steep). We will stop in Amherst to visit Penny's niece and her husband, then finish the trip leg 3 days later on Cape Cod. This part of the trip will be over 2,500+ miles, as the route winds around quite a bit in an effort to take in the sights and avoid major highways.We plan to return to Colorado Springs and rest up for a couple of weeks in late June-early July, while entertaining several of Penny's sisters, brother and their families. Then we will either fly to Oregon to begin the second leg of trip (back to the Springs) or take off from home again for the Oregon coast. More on that part of the trip later..I will be periodically posting updates as our trip progresses, including photos, so be sure to check this site from time to time for updates. Once I figure out how to do it I will add a link that shows our route more precisely.