In the beginning. . .

We got Ben into cycling when he was about ten, and ever since he was twelve he has wanted to ride his bike across America. So, after he finished with The Academy of Art University, he set off from California on his way to NYC. This will be a second-hand chronicle of that journey.  He will give me updates, and I will post them here.

Ed made a set of super strong wheels for his ride.

Before he headed off, we did some family camping on the Coast and with my sister in the Sierras.

Then we dropped him off in Jackson, CA on a SUPER hot day, well over 100 degrees, with a steep climb up the Sierras.

He said he pedaled and pedaled and pedaled and felt like he was getting no where. Finally, at the end of his rope, he pulled over to ask a retired couple who were in a rental RV if they knew where the closest campground was. Kind souls that they were, they loaded up his bike and drove him to the next spot, Silver Lake, and even let him share their camping space.

From there he climbed up to Carson pass and on down into Carson City, NV.

The next day he stayed in an RV park in Fallon, NV, paying too much money for a spot of grass on which to set up his tent (but at least they had showers!)


From Fallon he headed to Middlegate, but once he got there he realized it was not going to be a good spot for him to stop. As he put it, "I walked into this totally dark room from the bright sunlight, and I couldn't see anything. A woman with some freaky name starting with "T" grabbed my arm and started talking to me. The more she talked, the more I knew I had to get out of there before she raped me."

So he headed on a few more miles to Cold Springs Station RV park and bar. Made friends with a generous woman who gave him a free Hard Cider with his dinner and fed him a great breakfast the next morning. We like Cold Springs ourselves because they have the cleanest bathrooms you will ever find.

He had planned his next stop to be Austin, but he felt good enough when he got there that he rode on to Bob Scott campground several miles further down the road. This is a free BLM place that has always had running water, but when he arrived the water was turned off. He rode on to the Petroglyphs, another free site without water, hoping to find other campers from whom he could bum some water. He was able to from a generous British couple from Durango, CO, but he also met a rather odd man named Robert who was carrying SO MUCH stuff on his bike, from a full floor pump to a bike stand to a hard-back college dictionary.

Yesterday he arrived in Eureka, with his knees killing him. So I pulled the Mom card and told him to stay there two days to rest and ice them before his 78 mile ride to Ely.

More to follow.