Cunha Caravan

The Cunha Caravan

I don't have much information on the Cunha's route, so I'll just publish their reports (for now). I'll add a map if I get some more information on the route.

Date	Location	Comments
7/7	Coeur d'Alene, ID	We are now in Coeur d'Alene, ID after biking 450 miles, having spent 6 days on the road. Everything has been fantastic... weather, roads, drivers, local folks. The most brutal day included biking over Rainy pass (4877 ft) followed by Washington pass (5400 ft.) (the passes were within 3 miles of each other). Today we only have to surmount two passes (3000 ft. and 4500 ft). Our highlights have included two fantastic bike paths; one out of Seattle and the other out of Spokane.
7/10	Kalispel, MT	We are now in Kalispell, about 30 miles south of Glacier national park. Tomorrow we will bike over Marias pass (5200 feet) and head into Browning. The weather has been wonderful, except for one night of rain in Idaho. Once we leave Browning, we will be taking route 2 across most of the nation, including 464 more miles in Montana. Thus far we are on schedule to arrive in Rhode Island the second week of August. Feeling very fortunate for good weather, fine roads, and kind drivers
7/18	Willston, ND	We have finished our journey through Montana, which included 3 days of tailwinds and 3 days of headwinds. We also experienced a hail storm in Poplar, MT ("Sin city" of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation). We have logged over 1250 miles and will continue along route 2 through N.D. In Grand Forks, N.D. my sister and Bob's daughter, Taryn, will be joining us. She is traveling from Cincinnati, OH by bus and will bike with us for about 1000 miles (up through the Ontario pennisula). We have to be in Grand Forks by the 22nd, so we are off again.
7/22	Grand Forks, ND	We are now in Grand Forks, awaiting the arrival of Bob's daughter, Taryn. She will be arriving this afternoon and we will bike into Minnesota tonight continuing along route 2. Unfortunately, her bus trip was delayed by eight hours so we got an unplanned day off. This after having to do three consecutive centuries to try and meet her in time on Tuesday morning. Bob needed the help of several car rides to do his centuries. The weather continues to be kind to us. Our problems have been few and solutions were readily available. My 'animal' son, Shane did 127 miles at an average of 18 mph. He claims there was no tail wind. I'm still plugging away at about 10 mph. Well we are off to do some light maintance on the bikes. The Cunha Caravan will be three strong by the end of today, 7-22-03.
7/30	Munishing, MI	We are now in Munising, MI. Taryn met up with us in Grand Forks, ND. It is nice to have a new addition the group. Although the mosquitos and bugs find Taryn perfectly delectable, she appears to be enjoying the trip.At Wakefield, MI, we departed from route 2 and continued along route 28. We have revised our biking route such that we will be passing into Ontario at Port Huron and leaving through Niagra Falls. The weather has been quite agreeable except for a rainy morning in Three Lakes, MI (and quite a lot of mosquitos). The roads have been fine, although Bob feels the bike lane could be wider from Three Lakes into Marquette. Marquette has a great brewery/restaurant (the Veriling, on Front St.). We're 2300 miles into our trip and still going strong.
8/12	Schenectady, N.Y.	We expect to be out of N.Y. today. We travelled through the upper pennisula of Michigan on route 28 and route 2, crossing over on the Mackinac bridge. We were actually shuttled across for $2 per bike. In lower Michigan, we primarily travelled along route 31 until Vassar, from which we headed east along country roads. We entered Ontario, Canada at Port Huron and biked along route 22 (paralleling route 402). We took route 81 to Strathroy, where we camped for the evening at an over-priced campsite (Trout Haven). We proceeded along route 2 to 4 into St. Thomas and then picked up route 3, which we rode all the way across Ontario. We crossed over into N.Y. at Buffalo and stayed at the international hostel on Main St. Taryn departed our trek in Buffalo, having bicycled about 1300 miles. We left Buffalo on route 20, crossing the tops of the finger lakes, until Auburn, where we headed northeast along route 5. We have mostly travelled along route 5 (N.Y. Bike Rt.#5), which parallels the Erie canal. We hope to be in Rhode Island by this Thursday, weather permitting. Unfortunately, we have been experiencing a fair amount of rain (eight days and counting). Fortunately, it has not slowed our travelling, but the bikes are probably more unhappy than we are.
8/15		We have achieved our goal of biking across America according to our original schedule of 45 days despite rain, bike problems and the ever threatening hills. 3400 miles in 45 days equals 77 miles per day. I, Bob, thought the plan of doing 45 consecutive days of 70 miles was a pipe dream. On several days, it felt like a nightmare. However, each day ended on a positive note because we did the best we could given the conditions handed to us. We had some wonderful serendipities along the way which usually involved people being far more considerate, generous or genuinely kind than one typically experiences. Will be back in California last week of August to share more detailed information with any interested club member. We loved upper state N.Y. Also, all of New England has great country roads with incredibile scenery.

Emails Received
14-August	Ben Patrick	Wow! You guys have been on a real marathon. Hope that this e-mail gets to you before your finished. Bob, the Yellowjackets won't be able to keep up with you on your return for sure. Also, have enjoyed the accounts of your adventure. Take care, and we look forward to your return.