Before we reached the coast, I had already decided that I wanted to lead tours for Adventure Cycling. Facilitating a small group experience while traveling by bike is, for me, about as close to a dream job as it gets. When the possibility was raised of leading another under-30 group across the U.S., I jumped at the chance.
It was something special to ride the same route that my dad had ridden 35 years before. When his suggestions led us to places that seemed somehow exactly as he described them, as well as when places had changed so dramatically as to be almost unrecognizable, it grew clear to me that the TransAm is more than the roads it travels along and the towns it passes through. It is just as much the stories told through the years, the people who welcome hundreds of cyclists, as well as those who grace only one with their curiosity or kindness. It is the memories and blogs and zines and guestbooks and photos and postcards and journals seen and unseen. It is a legacy of 42 years and growing, and it is changing all the time.
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