US BIKETREK 1992 part 1

Stubborn Ignorance has served me well

My adventure started started with a phonecall in the summer of 1991. I was 20 years old and very drunk at the time, yet I somehow still remember it. It was Ray on the phone. Ray was a softspoken sweetheart who transferred from Glassboro to Rutgers to get an education.

"Hey man, there's a guy up here who's going to ride his bicycle accross the country. He did it last year with and wants to do it again next summer. He's looking for people to go with him, I thought of you, do you want to do it with me"

It was one of those moments that you just kind of get lost in the dream. The dream that anything can be done by anybody, because we're Americans and that's what we do...whatever the hell we want. With abit of a slur I bought in......"Yes"
(a few weeks later Ray and I would be arrested together in perhaps the biggest farce of shoretown policework....plenty of 'yessir's' 'please' and 'thankyou's'. It's another story, but further solidified our friendship)

"I'm going to Bike accross the United States next summer"
Say it outloud. No really say it so someone can hear you. It's like saying "I'm going to be President" or "I'm going to swim across the Chesepeke" A small percentage of people will tell you why you cant do it, but for the most part everyone else will smile and dismiss you with a 'really? well good-luck'. My own parents later admitted to me that the only reason they didnt try to stop me was that they never believed I'd do it.

There were a million reasons why people didnt believe me. I'm an idealistic dreamer. I'm not athletic. I knew nothing about bicycling beyond a normal two-wheeled childhood on a Blue Ross Eurosport. Ironically, those were the same reasons this would work out......
US BIKETREK 1992 part 2