I heard that as a UK national I get up to 90 days in America until they kick me out as an illegal...well I have no idea how long this ride will take me...so I headed to Grosvenor Square to the Embassy for the good Old US of A in London and spent an entire day and a lot of cash to get a Visa B2. This now gives me up to 6 months, so if my legs decide they need a break, if my bike decides to break, or if the heavens break for weeks on end at least I am not fighting a time schedule!

By the way...isn't this what kitchens were meant for? lol!

What's in the bags?

Packing has been fun...well, expensive fun that is! I already had much of the gear I will need from previous tours across Europe but some of it needed updating, and I needed other things like Garmin City Navigator USA maps for my Garmin GPSmap60csx which is fitted to my handlebars for those 'holy crap where the hell am I moments'!

Here you see just some of the basic kit I will be carrying. A basic 2 season sleeping bag from Blacks designed for tall guys like me, A cheap Quecha T2 two man hiker tent from Decathlon, I simple ground tarp from B&Q used as a tent footprint, Solar power kit by Freeloader, Trangia cookset,walkable roadshoes with spd cleats,various cycle shirts, base layer,Travel towel,Overshoes etc. Since taking this shot some stuff has been added like ACA transam 12 set maps, Altura night vision high vis waterproof jacket, DHB waterproof trousers, Altura night vision gloves, Lidl cheapo fingerless gloves, Cycling balaclava, Goretex windstopper bib longs, Endura Knee length bibs, Cycle glasses etc...I'll put up a full list sometime!...What i do know is that it all adds up to Heavy...ooops!

 Well here is the route...looks easy enough on paper lol!

 This is my trusty companion on the road Shinto, a dawes 2007 standard Galaxy with added brooks B17 champion, a proper stem, spd pedals, front low rider racks, rear blackburn rack, schwalbe marathon plus 700x28 tyres, and Mavic rims.

The panniers are Carradice overlanders, I chose them because I thought the orange was high vis...later I came to regret that and wish I'd had enough money to get Ortliebs, but hey ho, these will do, after all they were fine across East Anglia UK, The length of Germany, Switzerland, across France to the med!

Well today is the day I was finally going to decide to do this...but I didnt..I had a last minute rush of anxiety about the weather in september October in the rockies and changed my plan to ride east west to riding west east. I've spent the last month rushing around getting the gear together, buying new kit, servicing my bike and educating myself on matters of GPS and smartphones etc...wow..technology is amazing but sometimes I wonder if life is long enough to master it lol! Now here I sit ready to book the flights, and trying desperatly to master this blog!