2020's First Bicycle Trip

I will turn 60 years old in November of this year.  At the start of the year, a plan was hatched to do a 6000-mile bicycle tour (100 miles for each years of my life) to commemorate turning 60.  The plan was to ride to Seattle, WA, meet my wife, Lisa, there in late August, and go on an Alaska Cruise and spend time at Olympic National Park to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary.  I would then ride down the Pacific coast to somewhere in the middle of California, and then head back east toward home.

Well, a pandemic occurred beginning in about March that brought all those plans to a screeching halt.  This was just a small inconvenience in our lives compared to the very serious effects the pandemic has had on other families.

As you know, idle time can cause one to take drastic measures.  We have been talking about downsizing from our 2400 square foot home in Hixson for quite a while, and we figured this would be a good time to go for it since the housing market was good.  We listed our home for sale by owner, got a contract and closed on it on June 19.  Prior to closing on our home, Lisa's father decided to downsize from his 2600 square foot home in Huntsville, AL.  We moved him into an apartment in Huntsville, and then moved what was left of our items from Hixson to her dad's garage in Huntsville.  We set up a temporary residence at her father's house to help him get rid of items in order to get his house ready to sell.

We closed on a 1300 square feet townhome in Athens, AL (my hometown) on September 14 and painted the entire interior of it. Time to move our stuff again, this time from Huntsville to Athens.  We got her dad's house cleared out, and it was listed for sale in early October.  It was quickly under contract. 

I say all of that to say, "WHEW, 2020 has been strange and busy." It's definitely time for a break.  We rented a condo in Hilton Head Island for 1 week beginning in late October, but we are also going to spend a couple of days with Mike and Melanie, some Chattanooga friends, at their home on Fripp Island, SC.  I couldn't pass up an opportunity to turn this trip into my first bicycle tour of 2020.  I will be heading out about 1week ahead of Lisa, and will meet her in SC.  I plan on reporting, thru this blog, about some of my experiences and adventures during this trip.  I'm sure bicycle touring post-Covid will be quite different from pre-Covid, but I'm still certain it will be a quiet a memorable, positive experience.  I just have to REMEMBER MY MASK!!!

The bicycle is loaded for our departure in the morning.  

I have not used the "Marmot Marriott" since about September 2019.  As a precaution, I pulled it out of the closet and pitched it in my very small backyard and sprayed it with a water hose to make sure the rainfly didn't leak.  It passed the test with flying colors, so accommodations are set for the next few days.