Miles By State          
Washington                266              6%
Oregon                      252              6%
Idaho                         179              4%
Montana                    784            17%
North Dakota            396              9%
South Dakota            442            10%
Iowa                          683            15%
Illinois                        326              7%
Missouri                    172               4%
Kentucky                   562            12%
Virginia                      478            11%
        Total -              4,540  

Brian’s Top 10 List

1. The “Warm Shower” hosts we stayed with along our route. One third of our nights we were put up in peoples homes along our route. Many of them also cooked meals for us. Sitting around and talking with all these people was fantastic. When you wish you had more time to spend with them, you know you are enjoying the company and the experience. This was by FAR the best part of the journey - the people we met and stayed with.

2. Riding through the Western States (Montana, Idaho, North Dakota) early in the morning while only seeing a car once an hour. We had the road to ourselves and only had to share with all the animals we would see.

3. Columbia River Highway. The stretch from Troutdale to Hood River was some of the most scenic we have ever been on – waterfalls, the Columbia River, the moss covered bike roads, the trees, shade, and the cool breeze coming off the river.

4. Being able to ride a tandem bicycle with Pam for over 15,000 miles. This trip has been the icing on the cake for me as I do enjoy our “quality time” we spend together on the bike.

5. The history you learn by visiting the museums, towns, and visiting with the local people along the way. I learned so much more than I could have in the same amount of time in school. The local people are so much more proud of their local heritage than a school teacher could be. At some of the Forts and museums the guides were so much into the history of their location it was like they still are living the culture they are talking about. And each one thought their location, event, or time period was the most important in American history.

6. The weather. It was not luck that we only rode though 8 hours of rain in 66 days. With today’s modern technology (internet, weather channel) and local forecasters you can get a pretty accurate forecast and can ride around (before or after) the bad weather. Bringing our 2 pound netbook computer was the best 2 pounds we toted across the continent. With the exception of a few days with no internet or TV we had a good idea if we needed to ride fast or procrastinate.

7. Six and eight egg omelets. I never thought about oversized omelets before the ride but luckily we started out West where they had the “Lumber Jack” and “Hee-man” omelets to give me the idea to ask for them along the remainder of our route. When you burn an average of 4,000 calories a day riding the oversized omelets were needed to keep the machine going.

8. MapMyRide. This program was a godsend for us to find the flattest roads possible for Pam and I to ride on. Our Rans Screamer is not easy to pedal up the hills and mountains.

9. Rans Screamer. Our tandem recumbent bike was so comfortable. Before we bought this bike Pam and I could only ride for an hour (or so) and our butts, hands, back, and neck would hurt so much we could not ride any longer. Sure our feet and rears hurt after hours of riding every day but if you just sat in a lawn chair for that long they would hurt as well.

10. Having the time and support group to make this trip possible. Taking 3 ½ months off of life is not easy when you are middle aged. We had friends (the Shaws) painting apartments for us, friends (Karen) and family (Craig and Delores) showing vacant apartments and houses for us, Pam’s mother collecting rent for us, family (David and Emaloy) mailing us bike parts and packages to us when we needed them, and others who helped us in so many ways. You really don’t know how many friends you have until you pull a stunt like this. We were truly blessed to have the opportunity to do this ride at our age and feel fortunate to be able to complete it.

Brian’s favorites:
Restaurant (breakfast) White Stallion – Waitsburg, Washington. I of course had a six egg omelet, but Pam had the largest slice of ham I have ever seen served – it had to be 12 – 14 ounces so I had to help her eat it and it was delicious!
Restaurant (lunch) Ixtapa Mexican Restaurant – Hood River, Oregon. I had a Mexican pizza that was totally loaded and full of flavor.
Restaurant (dinner) HuHot Mongolian Grill– Council Bluffs, Iowa. After a long day of biking an all you can eat dinner with just the right amount of what you want flavored with the best sauces we have found at any Mongolian grills.

Favorite towns; Ste Genevieve, MO; Walla Walla, WA; Fort Benton, MT; 

Most bazaar place – The City Museum in downtown St. Louis.

Best Museums. This is a little different for me because I like the small town museums with the local displays. The Garfield County Museum in Jordan MT and Culbertson MT Museum and especially Hedderich's General Store in Williston ND.

Best BIG city to bike – Portland OR.

Best surprise – being invited to go walleye fishing in Pollock SD with Ron & Mark and catching 5 walleye for lunch.

Favorite Hotel – Drury Inn in Bowling Green, KY. Free all you can eat breakfast buffet and nice rooms for only $60/night on Hotwire – bonus!

Favorite Routes. Virginia state highway 61 was a scenic appellation road that was relatively flat for 40 miles with overhanging trees that gave us a mostly shaded ride.
Columbia River highway from Troutdale to Hood River. Just spectacular! Waterfalls, paved bike paths, tall pines, the Columbia River, just very scenic.
Idaho US highway 12. It was winding following the river, slow uphill toward the Lolo Pass with so many majestic mountain scenes it was like watching a Bob Ross painting special – every half hour a new beautiful scene.
South Dakota state highway 34. It followed the Missouri River with lots of wildlife and hardly any cars.
Katy Trail in Missouri. This old rail-to-trail is so flat and follows the Missouri River valley which is lined with trees. On a hot day the shaded ride is welcomed. In fact we rode the trail on one of our days off for 30 miles. Spectacular!
RAGBRAI – of course the highlight of the roads was the route across Iowa. When you have dedicated roads with highway patrol cars stationed at all the intersections to stop all cars to let you go non stop 500 miles across the state, it is a great route!

The LONG stretch of desolate highway leading
 into Fort Peck MT

Crossing the Ohio River from Illinois to Kentucky

Trees along the Columbia River Highway

Brian and Pam dipping their front tire in the Atlantic 4,529 miles
 into their journey at Virginia Beach Virginia. (Yeah!)

More rolling hills in Washington

Pam gives "thumbs up" to Scott while leaving Indianola Iowa
on RAGBRAI 37

At the end of every RAGBRAI day we had to find our bags

---

Postlude – written August 30, 2010 by Brian Pangburn

 

Well it has been one year since our big BRAA ride. This summer has also been fun for Pam and myself as we remember where we were on certain dates, what we were doing, and the wonderful people we met on our trip. We have ridden our bike 3,095 miles since we finished the BRAA and now have 18,658 miles together on our Rans Screamer. (We also rode Kirk’s Screamer 124 miles in Florida last December – thanks Kirk!) That is not too bad of mileage considering we were out of town 143 days in the last 12 months. Even though that only averages 13.9 miles per day (a far cry from the 69 miles per day we averaged on the BRAA) we feel it is a good effort with the day to day duties.

 

We now spend most of our biking time around Casa Grande trying to think of ways to earn enough money to do more biking trips. “If we only had an extra $3,000 per month coming in, we could ride ALL the time” begins a lot of our conversations. We have been making plans to do the Southern Route across the US. We also have been making plans for the trip after that, from Canada to Mexico along the Pacific Coast Highway (US101).

 

We definitely feel we are not in the great shape we were when we finished the ride in August 2009. Although we both feel fine – but when we do a 3 – 5 hour ride now we feel it in our muscles and feet. But we both still have the craving to do more long distance biking – it just takes time and money – someday….. again!