And thank you for considering a generous donation to the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). Thousands of children receive life-saving medical intervention every year through the fine and dedicated work of numerous doctors, nurses, and staff. We are proud to have access to such great medical care for kids across our region. Please help CHOA do its job even better to save lives and give so many infants and children the opportunity to live healthier more productive lives. Every donation is meaningful from the heart, regardless of how small or large. Thank you from us Norsemen to everyone!
A heartwarming thank you to our support crew who will be joining us for various sections of our journey and driving our van en route. Because of their presence we will have access to refreshing and replenishing ice cold water and nourishment (especially through more remote areas), bike supplies, periodic planned route relocations, and availability (hopefully never) for any potential emergencies. Thank you to Judy Bergman (my loving wife of 25 years), Sonya McMichael, Api Firoozi and Peter Loeb (Api and Peter are returning veterans from our previous cross-country journey in 2017)!
As I write we are just about four months from wheels down and rolling from Cape Flattery, Washington State, a rocky cropping overlooking the Pacific Ocean - the farthest northwestern longitudinal point in the continental United States. We are heading east cruising along the jet stream until we run out of land at the farthest easternmost longitudinal point in our country at the West Quoddy Lighthouse on a peninsula adjacent to Lubec, Maine. Google image it - you'll see the stone marker at the lighthouse. That's our destination! Just a little jaunt across our beautiful country with the Canadian Rockies blended in as a generous thank you to our very friendly Norse-most neighbors. 'Norse' means north if you haven't figured that out just yet - as in the Viking (Icelandic and Scandinavian) lineage who, after our Native American tribes who settled from the west, were the first bold souls to arrive to the New World sailing from the east.
The "Norseman's Passage" is also in tribute to a PBS documentary series I had watched in my adolescence titled, "Fat Man on a Bicycle Goes Norse" - about a jocular British middle-aged open-hearted sojourner, Tom Vernon, who solo-journeyed (with film crew) on a bicycle through Scandinavia. His kind befriending personality and sense of humor inspired the hospitality of many on his adventures through the Norselands and instilled within me a passion for cycling throughout my own life. Thanks Tom! I wish I could have met you. Tom passed on in 2013 and is likely now enjoying circumnavigating the cycling cosmos. In his memory I am forever grateful for his influence and inspiration on my life.
As of today, the hundreds of hours of planning have consummated into a grand journey ahead. All nightly accommodations have been booked along the route. Our day-to-day network of roads and scenic byways has been mapped. We are chiseling into top shape - stronger, faster, determined, stalwart and mentally steeled for the journey ahead. Hiking, swimming, tennis, pumping iron, and yes, plenty of cycling miles across the beautiful and undulating hills of the north Georgia region.
Some trip highlights - here's a list of some of the scenic terrain we will be traversing through to whet your appetite:
OLYMPIC
NATIONAL PARK, Hoh Rainforest (WA)
Dungeness Spit, Whidbey Island (WA)
NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL
PARK (WA)
CANADIAN ROCKIES (Jasper/Banff/Lake
Louise)
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK (MT)
Big Sky Ranch (MT)
GRAND TETON NATIONAL
PARK (WY)
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL
PARK (WY)
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
NATIONAL PARK (ND)
Lake Sakakawea (ND)
Mississippi River
Headwaters (MN)
VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK (MN)
Apostle Islands National
Lakeshore (WI)
Mackinac Island (MI)
Sleeping Bear Dunes
National Lakeshore (MI)
NIAGARA FALLS National
Heritage (Canada-NY)
Finger Lakes Region (NY)
Lake Placid/Whitefish
Mtn/Adirondacks (NY)
Mooselookmeguntik/Rangeley
Lakes (ME)
Got to go now. It's a windy wintry 46 degrees out there, a bit brisk but too beautiful an afternoon to be indoors. A 50 mile (half-century) bicycle ride awaits with Sherpa!
Check back
periodically for some pre-ride postings from me, Soaring Hawk, and my fellow
Norsemen. And place a reminder on your phone - our ride begins May 25th! Follow
the ride daily thereafter!
Come and join us vicariously on our adventure through the Norselands................
Come and join us vicariously on our adventure through the Norselands................
With an open heart,
-Soaring Hawk-
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