Prologue: Why and How would I do this?
Why
I think people grow when they experience new situations. At the start of this trip, or even planning it... one wonders how it is possible. It seems intimidating, yet you will be amazed what you can accomplish and find strength that you never knew was there.
Add to this, the fact that that I regularly bike as a form of transportation and exercise. If I am going somewhere close, I prefer to bike there than take the car.
Add to this, I want to move to a new city but I know not where. This is a good way to check out some places.
So that all adds up to an adventure worth taking on.
How
Such a trip is expensive(you can cut corners by not staying at campgrounds but in a forest... but still). I used to work at a Canadian home grown company named PixStream.; This high tech company was purchased for 530 million dollars CDN in December 2000 by Cisco Systems. On April 27 2001 our whole division was shutdown due to the fall of the NASDAQ and all high tech stocks. Cisco treats it's employee's well and gave us 6 months pay as severance. This came as a surprise but I was not too disappointed. My life needed some change. I could not figure out what to do next. I eventually decided I'd spend money on this trip. I have spent a lot of money. All the gear is new, including the bike. My old bike was a 12 year old Raleigh speed bike. I had a lot of respect for that beater bike but I could not take it on this trip.
I have 2 friends who have done the same trip. Phil Meyers did it twice and Ben LAw once. They also toured Europe. So I got advice there. I also researched info on the web.
About the Rants
I've been told that my rant log sounds rather negative. It sounds as if I did not enjoy my trip. But this is not true. I did enjoy it... I just complain about a lot of things. I find it more interesting to write about road kill and insects than trying in vain to describe the beautiful scenery around me. I don't have any picutres early in my trip because my first roll of film was all black. This means I only had 1.5 rolls of film take for my entire trip.
Overview
| Gear
| Route
| Prologue
| British
Columbia | Alberta
| Saskachewan
| Manitoba
| U.S.A.
| Ontario
