The local Chamber of Commerce is always a great place to stop and get local maps. This one had a Bicycle friendly map of the whole state and two counties I will be traveling. Jackport! The local US Dept of Agriculture is not bad either.

Asked the local American Legion if they knew where I could set up. After hearing my story they not only got me a hot shower but one of the members is letting me stay on his place. Being a veteran is cool sometimes.  :)

 These two pictures are of the Mississippi at Dubuque IA. Start of the city bike path that leads to the Heritage Trail.

 The start of the Heritage Trail north of Dubuque. About 4 miles from the waterfront.

 About halfway through the day it started to rain. I dived under cover!  lol

Took a nap and the rain ended so I went on up the trail. One of the underpasses coming up.

So what's been happening....

So I’m sorry for the delay on these updates but luckily I wrote notes each time I talked to Tad. So this first post is more of a summary of the trip thus far. I'll update as we go from here on out. Disclaimer: I'm hoping that the time frames and details are

somewhat accurate, remember, I had a few days worth of notes stacking up, so my apologies to the bike gypsy if anything's out of order. :)

The first day he rode 14 miles to Stevenson County. He had to “stealth” camp behind the post office. Unfortunately couldn’t do a fire or anything but at least it was dry out and not too cold. I had to know what he had for his first breakfast on the journey and because he couldn't build a campfire, there was an egg mcmuffin involved. But hey, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Coffee too. Gotta have the coffee… Then Tad made his way to Orangeville. It had started to rain and it was super quiet except for a loud annoying tractor in the middle of the night. Supper: Chunky soup. Yum. So since he’s left Rockford his bike is showing travel distance of over a hundred and thirty miles!

He then went to Wisconsin and headed towards Debuque. Trying always to travel the best route. Work smarter not harder. Avoid hills. He really struggled with the third and fourth days. Almost gave up. I think he pushed too hard too soon and exhausted himself out. I think it was something that was probably going to happen at some point and did at the perfect time because even though he wanted to give up, he took the next day off and relaxed and recouped. Realized that he can’t push himself to the max if he’s going to complete the trip.

Last weekend he got to build his first campfire of the trip. Super exciting I thought. That’s like a milestone to his trip in my opinion. He hasn’t needed to use any walled electricity since he’s left. He’s been using the solar power charging unit that I got him. I think that’s super awesome. Also he was telling me about how he made friends with a biker gang and they gave him a sticker and everything. I think that’s so awesome! He’s been talking to people, people have been talking to him, seems like people are being super friendly. He even made friends with someone on the first night that he hung out with, smoked and just bs’d.

Now he's coming up on two weeks worth of travel time and he's now in his third state. Iowa. Good Iowa. Not Illinois or Wisconsin. Getting some states under his belt some miles ridden. He may have lost a hoody on the way but he's making tons of friends and getting his story out there and that's something amazing. Each person tells a friend who tells a friend who tells a friend. I've told the people I work with and they've been asking how he's been doing so I get to tell his story too. I just talked to him and gave him the weather for Dyresville, IA and where a Mcdonalds

was for when he wants to hop on some wi-fi and rest up before there's more riding into the sunset.

Jen? Jen who?

Hello! My name is Jen and this is my dad's blog. Tad is riding his bicycle across the country from Rockford, IL to Seattle, WA. I  moved to Seattle back in August of last year and my dad and I have been planning this bicycle trip for about a year now. A lot has happened since we initially talked about it in his garage last summer. Never actually thought it'd be possible given the circumstances of life but holy shit, when there's a will...there's a way. And so it is.

I'm super excited that he's finally on his way. This is literally the bike ride of a life time.  He's finally on the road and I'll be updating his blog with how it's goin. I'll be posting pictures he uploads and writing about how he's doing as I'll hear from him often while he's traveling. I have to make sure he's still alive and stuff. He won't always have internet to write or post pictures himself so I'm helping. :)  

So here's me in Washington.

And a gorgeous waterfall, Multnomah Falls, Oregon.

First blog post momentarily. Apologies for the length, it was a few updates jammed into one. 

 Just some random pictures of my trip. This guy was just burning stuff in his backyard. I love the country!

 This is where I joined the Jane Adams Prairie Trail to WI. Just west of Cedarville IL.

 Little Richard Creek looking north from Cedarville.

 This was just there along the trail. An old caboose that over looked the pond below.

 Stopped for the night just north of Orangeville IL about 2 miles from WI. Quiet and very dark. Just awesome!

 Dakota IL. A day of rest. Nice little quiet town. Rained most of the day though.

 Headed out of Winnebago IL

 Just past the Stephenson county line. The trail turned to hard dirt at this point and I was pushing the bike. So tired and just stopped. Land owner came down later and checked me out. Said I was good and if I needed anything to just knock.

Orangeville Il on the Jane Adams bike trail.

A random pony out for a stroll.

Was gonna rain so I put everything inside. Fits really well but a bit tight. Feels like I am in a space ship or something.

On my way Saturday, April 16th! Doing a cpl of trial runs first. This is about 1/3 of the total weight. I went 5.7 miles in 47 mins at an average speed of 6.5 mph. Just taking it easy. I am so ready to go!!!

I have all these items and more! I am ready!