I don’t remember how I found out about Bikecentennial, but I suspect it was a library book (then, as now, I loved libraries). As soon as I found out about it, an obsession with riding my bicycle across the country began to grow, and I nourished it by reading everything I could. I learned about touring bikes, how to carry things on a bicycle, how to find riding partners, and so on.
If I was going to do this, I wanted to start off with the right bicycle, so I decided NOT to buy a car, but to dedicate myself to living car-free. I wanted to buy a Trek touring bike, so I went to the nearest Trek dealer (Adams Avenue Bicycles is still around!), and generally pestered the employees with questions. Eventually, I decided to buy the 1982 Trek 515. I had to put it on layaway, because I didn’t have $450. Every payday, I’d dutifully come in and give them whatever I could spare. And then, a few weeks later, it was mine.
The dream of riding across the country was now well-formed, and I read every story I could find about it. I started saving money and accumulating camping and touring gear, often from Army Surplus stores that were common back then.
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