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Where are we now? It’s tough to believe that nine months have gone by since we last wrote, but writing the blogs to catch up has refreshed our memories on the phenomenal amount of progress we’ve made. We’ve downsized our furniture and household goods to almost nothing except what’s being stored (which is almost nothing). We’ve scanned thousands of photos, rescued data on old floppy disks, researched and purchased new gear, kept up with our house maintenance, helped family members move, celebrated holidays and birthdays, sold our beloved trailers and bought panniers, and increased our weekly riding mileage under freezing, rainy and blistering hot conditions with a few nice days thrown in. Chelsea spent three months in California, while I maintained the home front; we’ve copied several hundred movies and even more CDs to our portable hard drives; we created a slideshow of Alex’s life and set it to music. Our house is still up for sale and looks to close in late October. We just posted eighteen travel journals with stories about our accomplishments, accompanied by five photo albums. If you want to read sequentially, start with “Since We Last Wrote” and work your way forward. Meanwhile, we are…
Follow Our Adventure
Travel Journals
Photo Gallery
We have set up our photo galleries on Picasa Web Albums. Follow these links to see our photos by section. We will add photos to the galleries as we go, so be sure to check back until we are out of each section. Each link will take you to that exact photo album in another window, so you can close out the window and come back to this page to click the next link. Once you are in an album, you can click the slideshow button in the upper left corner above the photos. The slides will automatically start. You can then click through the photos using the left and right buttons, or click the “play” button and the photos will scroll through. The slideshow is set to give you 4 seconds per photo; you can set them to scroll faster or slower by clicking the plus or minus symbols on the left and right of the number of seconds. To the right of the display time controls, you can click the link to hide the captions if you choose. The last button is an X which you can click at any time to leave the slideshow. Upon clicking the…
Map Page
[caption id=u0022attachment_713u0022 align=u0022aligncenteru0022 width=u0022300u0022 caption=u0022Adventure Cycling Mapu0022][/caption] The map above was provided by Adventure Cycling (www.adventurecycling.org), and shows the route for the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the US, as well as our 2006 cross country route. The route highlighted in yellow is our 2006 completed bicycling route. The route highlighted in orange is our 2007-2009 route. You can also always follow us on the Google map below. Each green bicycle represents a place we stopped for a night or more. For details about how to use the Google map, click here. View Bicycling the World’s Beaches in a larger map
Route Schedule
We will visit most of the following cities as we head up and down the coasts of the USA. We’ve already completed the Atlantic and the Pacific Coasts, and are part way through the Gulf Coast of the US. To go to any coast directly, click one of the following links. United States Gulf Coast 2011 Gulf Coast 2008-2009 Pacific Coast Atlantic Coast Gulf Coast 2011 City State Arrival Date Lafayette LA Abbeville LA Gueydan LA Oak Grove LA Port Arthur TX Winnie TX Galveston TX Brazoria TX Palacios TX Port Lavaca TX Aransas Pass TX Kingsville TX Raymondville TX Progresso TX back to top Gulf Coast City State Arrival Date New Orleans LA May 1st, 2008 Norco LA May 15th, 2008 Edgard LA May 19th, 2008 Vacherie LA May 20th, 2008 Oak Alley LA May 21st, 2008 Donaldsonville LA May 22nd,…
In the News
We had a great article written about our story and our current adventure by Mike Clary, in a big South Florida newspaper, the Sun Sentinel, a few days before we left on our ride in June 2007. Since then we’ve had exposure in various news media, from personal appearances to newspaper interviews to television stations. The original Sun Sentinel article was also picked up by newspapers and radio stations around the country, in Europe, and in Latin America, but to keep it simple we didn’t include those here. In the News Schedule Who What Where When Winter Silks Newsletter – www.wintersilks.com Newsletter Online, Email November 2nd, 2009 Port Lavaca Wave Newsprint Version Port Lavaca, TX July 1st, 2009 Lake Arthur Sun Times Newsprint Version Lake Arthur, LA July 24, 2008 The Gueydan Journal Newsprint Version Gueydan, LA July 24, 2008 Growing Bolder- www.growingbolder.com Email Newsletter Email September 20, 2007 Channel 6 News Television news News channel in Orlando FL July 19, 2007 Growing Bolder- www.growingbolder.com Radio/ website Internet June 25, 2007 Adventure Cycling – www.adventurecycling.org Bike Bits Vol. 9, No 12 Email newsletter June 20, 2007 97.9 WRMF – www.wrmf.com Radio South FL June 11, 2007 W Radio – www.wradio.com…
About Our Trip
FAQs Bike Specs
FAQs
Chelsea and I have now been cycling for some time. We do get a lot of questions, and we’ve answered the most common ones here. Check for updates as we get into Mexico, as things have already changed for us over the last two years. 1. Where are you going? We’re cycling the coastlines of the US, Mexico, and Central and South America. When we finish in Venezuela, we’ll be we’ll be returning by way of cycling the Caribbean Islands. 2. Where??? We cycled and hitch-biked up the east coast of the US from Key West FL to Bar Harbor ME, and then we flew over to Seattle where we hung out for a month. We flew down to Los Angeles and spent a month in Santa Ynez, CA (above Santa Barbara), riding and waiting to get our old bikes sold and buy new ones. From Santa Barbara we cycled to Mission Viejo, CA before heading back to Delray Beach for more cleanup and organizing. We took a bus from there to New Orleans, and we cycled our way from New Orleans through Louisiana and Texas. We’ll cross the border at Brownsville, Texas and head into Mexico. From there we…
About Us
Rosemary Chelsea Rosemary I am Rosemary, the “responsible adult” as Chelsea puts it. This trip was my idea, as are most of our crazier adventures, like moving to the Czech Republic, and riding our bikes across the US. I love travel; I absolutely love adventure; I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole adult life; I love projects; I am extremely organized, though it doesn’t seem like it sometimes as I’m usually in the midst of some massive adventure or project; I love looking at different cultures and cultural values. I love thinking positively, and I really enjoy being around positive people. This trip is awesome so far, and I just can’t imagine how much more so it will be by the time we finish. And who’s to say what “finished” is? We are already talking about doing the Greek islands and the Mediterranean countries after this. Favorite Quote: “Success is still dreaming and feeling positive in the unfolding.” Abe-Hicks Favorite Sports: Cycling – I rode 350-500 miles a week in the early 80’s, going on a number of centuries and metric centuries; rode from the Oregon border to San Francisco pulling Chelsea in a kid’s bike trailer (she was 22 months…
International
We will add information about the international aspects of our adventure as we gather more information ourselves, and as we travel through the different countries. Countries and Territories Visa Information
Bike Specs
Current Bicycles Burley Trailers Previous Bicycles Current Bicycles We rode our beloved Dolces that we used for our cross country ride, and they have been great for the US portion of the ride, but we realized that we needed something a lot different to handle the hardscrabble and the sand, gravel and mud that we’ll be running into in Mexico and Central and South America. We finally decided on the Novara Safari bikes – an REI store brand. They are the only adventure touring bikes that we could find that were reasonably priced. They are a really different experience to ride, but we like them so far. We’ll post any new input as we go. So here are the specs on them, and a link to REI to read even more about them (and see the cool pictures). Novara Safari Touring Bike – 2009 Novara Safari – New Bikes Picture of Our Novara Safari [caption id=u0022u0022 align=u0022alignleftu0022 width=u0022384u0022 caption=u0022Rosemary's Novara Safariu0022][/caption] Aluminum alloy, double-butted frame is strong yet lightweight; chromoly, double butted front fork is built for solid steering under heavy loads Shimano 27-speed drivetrain designed for ease of use and reliability with low maintenance; ideal for the loads and…
Financing Our Journey
Keeping our trip alive financially has been a roller-coaster – we can certainly qualify as poster children for the saying “believe it and it will happen”. Our original intent was to write travel articles for publication. That was superseded by a contract we landed to help develop a real estate website, but only two months into our trip the website group lost its funding. We turned to a small amount of rental income we had, which disappeared several months later when the real estate crash hit south Florida. Throughout the subsequent two years we’ve done a wide variety of odd jobs; we’ve set up an affiliate income program on our site; we created an Amazon store on our site; we had a small amount of income for a few months from my youngest son renting rooms in our house; and we’ve lived as frugally as anyone can imagine. Throughout all of it we’ve had cash donations and product donations trickle in, often just when we really needed it. The kindness and generosity of total strangers has been astounding to us, and made continuing the trip possible, especially during our really tough times. We’ve been offered water, food, transportation, and places…
Resources u0026#038; Affiliates
Affiliates Other Resources and Links Having traveled actively and extensively for nearly two decades we know that one of the most important things in planning a trip is to know what you need, what’s available, and where to get it. We look for sites and locations where we can get the best quality, the best prices, knowledgeable staff (who can answer the many questions we sometimes have), good return policies (essential when you’re shopping online), great product variety, and innovative products. On the following pages are most of the ones that we use – and we’ll be adding more as we run across them. We have listed the name of the company, the website address, and a short description of the site, along with our comments on the company/store/website. We’ve divided them up into major categories so you can find things easily. Have fun scrolling through the sites – you’ll get some great ideas, and you’ll learn a lot.
Affiliates
If there are companies that have an affiliate program and they meet our criteria, we have signed up for their affiliate program. We are only choosing companies that we ourselves use regularly, or with whom we have had great experiences. We look for sites and locations where we can get the best quality, the best prices, knowledgeable staff (who can answer the many questions we sometimes have), good return policies (essential when you’re shopping online), great product variety, and innovative products. We’d love to have you use our affiliates. Every time you purchase something from one of our affiliates (be sure to click the link from our site), we get a small commission, which helps support our website (at no cost to you). Besides that, they are great companies or we wouldn’t have them as affiliates! Be sure to check out our Other Resources and Links as well. Clothing, Gear and Equipment Cycling Specific Food and Nutrition Health, Fitness, Personal Hygiene Finding Places to Stay Women Specific Virtual Office Clothing, Gear u0026#038; Equipment REI – an outdoor gear and apparel store, offering just about everything you can imagine for the outdoors and outdoor sports. REI is a cooperative, which means…
Other Resources and Links
We have quite a number of great companies we’ve found and we want to get the information out about them. They offer great products and/or great customer service and prices. In some cases the products are unusual and really effective. We look for sites and locations where we can get the best quality, the best prices, knowledgeable staff (who can answer the many questions we sometimes have), good return policies (essential when you’re shopping online), great product variety, and innovative products. Follow the links below to go right to the categories you’re interested in, or check them all out (which we would recommend) to get a good overview of some great places to get great products. Clothing, Gear and Equipment Cycling Specific Finding Places to Stay Food and Nutrition Health, Fitness, Personal Hygiene Resources and Maps Virtual Office Women Specific
Cycling Supporters
In addition to those wonderful folks who have provided products and services, we’ve had a number of people donate cash, and we have a long, long list of “angels” who have provided us with food, transportation, and places to stay. Each one of you amazing supporters will be in our hearts and memories forever. Products Burley Trailers – www.burley.com – great discount on two Burley Nomad trailers, and on a replacement trailer cover Bike America – www.bikeam.com – great discount on parts, supplies, and tune-ups Unknown benefactor – spares tubes, patch kit, water TBA, Sebastian, FL – Arbonne products Greg Bailey, Bogue, NC – denatured alcohol stove; tent mallet trade; tent stakes Unknown benefactor – SPF 15 sun umbrellas Kittery Trading Post – www.kitterytradingpost.com – discount on products Primal Wear – www.primalwear.com – 4 women’s cycling jerseys Alex Jackson – Seattle, WA – Aveda body wash and hand cream James u0026#038; Jaron – Santa Monica, CA – back rack bag, slime liners Anonymous, Gueydan, LA – SealLine Boundary Pack 115L dry bag backpacks Services Alex Taugher-Dias, Delray Beach, FL – helped moving to storage Mike Clark, St Augustine, FL – pedal wrench, bike shipping Greg Bailey, Bogue NC – taught…
Articles
Clothing Health u0026#038; Nutrition Gear u0026#038; Equipment Virtual Office Reflections From the Road
Clothing Articles
ExOfficio: An Awesome Shirt for Adventure Travel WinterSilks: Another Awesome Shirt for Adventure Travel
Gear u0026#038; Equipment Articles
Plates u0026#038; Mugs on the Road – Titanium Silk Sheets u0026#038; Down Comforters – For Traveling? Travel Pillows Travel Towels Travel Chairs
Health u0026#038; Nutrition Articles
A Few Good Food Bars Tibetan Refugee story Vegetable Juice – “Vitamin Cocktail” recipe
Reflections From the Road
1. It’s an amazing experience to see yourself reflected in the waves of shiny heat coming up from the asphalt as you’re cycling. 2. The United States is an awesome place – the people, the weather, the geography, the variety – it is truly an awesome country. 3. Bicycling is a totally awesome way to see the country. 4. Bicycling across the country is not for the faint of heart (or faint of butt). 5. Anything is possible one day at a time. 104 days of one-day adventures got us across the country on a bicycle. 6. Stepping or sitting in fire ants on rest breaks will get you back on the bike almost as soon as you can say “fire ants”. (This brings whole new meaning to the expression ” ants in your pants”.) 7. Staying in a truly awful hotel will get you back out on the road with record speed and efficiency. 8. “Hilly” is a relative term. So is “flat”. 9. Getting up between 4:30 and 6 a.m. every day and riding 4 to 7 hours a day in some combination of heat, high humidity, wind, cold, and challenging terrain leads to early bedtimes. 10. It’s…
Virtual Office Articles
Business Cards – Two Inexpensive Solutions Choosing a Laptop Ten Useful Laptop Accessories
2006 Cycling Adventure
2006 Cycling Blog 2006 Photo Gallery Cycling Map 2006 Bike Specs Dolces 2006 Cycling Schedule
u0022Cycling Across Americau0022 Schedule
City State Approx.Dates St Augustine FL 4th June East Palatka FL 4th June Citra FL 5th June Gainesville FL 6-7th June White Springs FL June 8th Madison FL June 9th Tallahassee FL 10-11th June Tampa – FREMA FL 12th June Midway/ Quincy FL 14th June Marianna FL 15th June DeFuniak Springs FL 16th June Milton FL 17th June Pensacola FL 17-18th June u0026#038; 20th June Orange Beach AL 18th June Bayou La Batre AL 19th-22nd June Mobile AL 19-20th June Vancleve MS 23rd June Perkinston MS 24th June Poplarville/ Picayune MS 25th June Bogaloosa LA 26th June Tangipahoa LA 27th June Norwood LA 28th June Destin FL 29th June St. Francisville LA 30th June Natchez MS 1st – 4th July Jackson MS 5th – 6th July Jeff Busby campground MS 7th July Witch Dance campground MS 8th July Tishomingo MS 9th – 11th July Meriwether Lewis MS 12th July Centreville MS 13th July Loretta Lynn Waverly TN 14th July Kentucky Lake, Land Between the Lakes TN 15th July Gatlin KY 16th July Hillman Ferry KY 17th July Goloconda IL 18th July Cape Girardeau IL 19th – 21st July Burfordville MO 22nd July Cherokee Pass MO 23rd July Glover MO 24th…
u0022Cycling Across Americau0022 Photo Gallery
We had two digital cameras (a Fuji FinePix S5000 and a waterproof Pentax Optio WP) with over 2500 photos to start, before we trimmed them to 1400. We then organized them chronologically, and put them into albums by state. We are using Google’s Picasa to sort, organize and view the photos. Click a link below – listed by state. The link will take you right to that particular album. Once you are in our photo gallery, scroll to the bottom, click “Show All”, and scroll to the bottom again. You’ll see all the albums listed in order from oldest (at the bottom) to the newest (at the top). We did have our photos arranged chronologically within each album for our 2006 albums but when we moved them from one account to another, the order changed. We haven’t yet had the time to go back and rearrange them correctly. You’ll have to guess at the order until we have time to get things sorted again. A few more notes – there are several challenges in taking photos on a ride like this. Sometimes some of the greatest photos are at times when we are totally unprepared to stop and take a…
u0022Cycling Across Americau0022 Map
The map above was provided by Adventure Cycling (www.adventurecycling.org), and shows the route for our full 2006 bicycling route.
u0022Cycling Across Americau0022 Bike Specs
Specialized Bicycles Many folks have asked us what bicycles we rode on our tour. We had bought Specialized Dolce bikes – a women-specific design – in summer of 2004, and we used them on our trip. They were truly awesome bikes – very light and very responsive with great gearing. Keep in mind that we didn’t have panniers on them – we were on a supported ride, so we only had a handlebar bag and our Camelbaks. That being said, we had absolutely no mechanical difficulties with them whatsoever (well, except for when we crashed once, but that was us and not the bikes…). Our bikes came with the padded handlebar tape that some cross-country cyclists were trying to hunt down in the middle of their trip! We quite literally just started out with the same bikes we had been riding, with no changes at all, and we loved our bikes every bit of the way. So, for those techies among you, here are the specs. You can check them out online at http://www.specialized.com Dolce Elite – Chelsea’s Bike Specialized Designs For Women proportionally designed smooth-welded A1 Premium Aluminum alloy frame with replaceable derailleur hanger Specialized Carbon-3 carbon fork Shimano…
Need A Website?
Increasingly, more and more consumers are turning to the Internet for all their needs, including identifying companies for services, products, and information they need. Why have a site? I know that I always do a Google search online when I’m looking for something – a local plumber, glass store, vitamin shop, or a professional like a doctor or lawyer. If the company or individual I’m looking for has a website, my decision-making is much easier. I always search for products online to assess pricing levels, features, quality and availability before I make a decision of what and where to buy. I really appreciate having a company website I can check, even if I’m only looking for location or hours of operation and holidays. I want to inform myself as much as I can before I spend money. I always educate myself online before I choose a professional. I also love reading online – I read blogs about the latest technology, changes in the real estate situation, news articles, and travel blogs (particularly blogs from those who have traveled the geographical areas we’re heading into). If I need to check calories on a food, I go online. If I need to…
Policies
This Privacy Policy Is Effective as of: October 29th 2008. This notice describes the Traveling Roses website’s privacy policy. The website is owned and operated by Traveling Roses, LLC, whose mission is to provide a great website where our supporters can track our adventures and stay in touch with us easily. We aim to provide quality information and resources for those interested in cycle touring, especially expedition cycle touring. We also aim to push the envelope on expedition cycling. By visiting the Traveling Roses website, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Notice. What information does Traveling Roses gather? The Traveling Roses website is an internet tool designed to ease the difficulties of planning for and executing long distance cycling adventures. Through the website users can read blogs, and get information and tips directly from the road. In order to achieve its purpose, the Traveling Roses website collects the following information: Information Provided By Users: The Traveling Roses website receives and stores information entered onto the website, including personally identifiable information such as names and email addresses. The information will be used to create user accounts for posting comments to blogs and discussion forums. How can users review…
Contact Us
If you’d like to join our email list, please send us an email with “Add to List”, or “Join List” in the subject line. If you’d like to receive our newsletters, please send us an email with “Add to Newsletter”, or “Join Newsletter List” in the subject line. We’ll be bicycling for the next 6 years. We will be checking our email whenever we can, and we will attempt to respond to our emails, but if we don’t respond right away, please be patient. Check our blogs, as we may respond through a blog post if we aren’t able to respond with a personal email. We love hearing from everyone, especially if it’s inspirational and encouraging. 🙂 You can contact us by: Email: ontheroad@travelingroses.com
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