Going a long way on a cheap bike!

When I was 17, I had a friend named Beth who was one year older than me. She graduated from high school and the next day, got on an old 12-speed (this was 1987) and rode from St. Louis, Missouri to Portland, Maine and back. It was an adventure, but she found most people along the way were either indifferent or kind. No one tried to kill or rape her. The funniest thing to me was her most effective method of begging for alms. She'd stop at a restaurant -- a cheap place but not a chain and speak with the manager. She'd tell them about her trip and that she was hungry, and then she'd ask if they had any dishes that needed washing or whatever in exchange for a meal. She said sometimes they'd just tell her to get lost, and once in a blue moon they'd actually put her to work. But usually, they just fed her. Sometimes it was like she was trading a story for a meal like some latter-day bard.

Related to this, we camp on the north-north shore of Lake Superior for a week most summers at Neys Provincial Park. On the way, between Thunder Bay and Neys, we pass a lot of bikes. There's *nothing* out there and the riders are kitted for a trip, so they're clearly not local. I have the sense that riding the Trans-Canada is a real thing -- more of a tradition than any US equivalent. I think that's pretty neat.

Anyway, with a few skills in maintaining your ride, and maybe a couple hundred dollars, someone who wanted to get just about anywhere on the continent, could. Seems romantic.

It does seem romantic. A couple of things seem different nowadays though.

In 1987 there were 242 million ugly bags of mostly water in the US. Now there are 342 Million+. Non-chain restaurants for people with working jobs used to be able to make a living back then. Alongside their customers.

Before cell phones I don't recall ever seeing a driver cross the center line or drive on the shoulders. Now I see it almost every time I drive. I would not want to be riding a bike on a road any more than absolutely necessary today.

In many places there are more trails to bike on than in '87.

There's only around 40 million in Canada. I would much rather do it with those odds.

I still think it's doable. It's just very very different from 1987 or even 2001.

While my serious backpacking days are over, I still have a dream of taking an extended trip on an e-bike.  It strikes me as fun and doable, even with the physical limitations that come with age.

Going back to a subject you approached and the time period you mention …maybe a little later, a story hit the news that still shakes me.  A man planned out his 2 week vacation from his job … a blue highways kind of thing.  He mapped out a route where he could travel through more remote areas raping and murdering. He was caught relatively  early, but not before he directly and indirectly destroyed many lives.  I don’t let such things control me, but I do keep aware.

Biking is a real sport.

I had a boss who was into biking and would take trips with his Bike Club and maybe some races.

Where we live now we are thirty miles from the nearest gas station.

We frequently see a biker who I assume is training for a race.

By the way I enjoyed the story about the trip the girl took and how she found meals.

And this just popped up too: https://permies.com/t/363707/Free-cycling-cheap-holiday-UK#3656504