Can you believe we did it... WITHOUT A CLUE?

My sweetheart and I just crossed the entire United States of America on $129 Wal-Mart bicycles, a trip that lasted 7 months and over 4,000 miles!

Neither of us had ridden a bike more than 20 minutes at a time, to go to the store or library or what not.  What's more, my butt hadn't touched a bike seat, in over 15 years!

We took this trip without any training or preparation.  We simply got on the bikes and started going.  Bicycling enthusiasts and bike mechanics we met along the way would shake their heads in disbelief upon meeting us.  After getting a good look at us and our bikes, and hearing that we had absolutely no experience riding or repairing bikes their disbelief only grew.

Over and over we heard, "those bikes aren't intended for anything but bike paths in the park, they're for sidewalks, not the open road," and, "they'll die on you in a couple of hundred miles, you don't know how to fix them, you'll get stranded in the middle of nowhere - what then?"

Maybe our lack of knowledge kept us from being worried about all the things that could go wrong or break down.  I like to think that if we'd started with preconceived notions, we couldn't have had some of the wonderful adventures that we did, nor have met some of the unusual people that we did.

We met many wonderful people along the way who befriended us and helped us to continue.  We had many adventures, most of them fun, and a few harrowing, but fascinating in their own right.

We had strong reasons for wanting to take this trip, as you'll see.  Our adventures, mistakes, the knowledge we gained, and some important truths we learned along the way will all be here, and even more is planned for the book we're gonna write!