Back in 1977, Tim joined eight total strangers for a 90-day coast-to-coast bicycle trip that started in Virginia and ended in Oregon. The map above shows the route taken by this group. The total distance was about 4700 miles.
This is the group that began the bicycle trip in Virginia. From left to
right:
Given that we were traveling from east to west, against the prevailing winds,
we decided to name our group "the Windbeaters."
Missing from this photo are the following people:
The latter two people were
unable to begin the trip on time but would join the others in a week or so.
Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway provided some challenging terrain for our legs
as well as some spectacular scenes for our eyes.
The Natural Bridge of Virginia was one of our "must see" stops as we made our
way toward the Kentucky border.
Here's a splendid view of some of the scenery near Honaker, Virginia.
We spent a night camping at Breaks Interstate Park on the Virginia-Kentucky
border. It was raining as we departed the next morning and entered Kentucky.
We were a group of nine people, and we shared various responsibilities such
as buying and preparing the day's meal. This day was my turn to buy groceries.
I was daring enough, or perhaps foolish enough, to embark on this adventure
using a 6-year-old 10-speed department store bicycle (Montgomery Ward, to be
exact). Carrying all that gear and traveling all those miles was a bit much to
ask of the old machine, so I found myself in situations like this one from time
to time.
After fighting the coal trucks of Kentucky, briefly cutting across the
southern tip of Illinois, and traversing the Ozarks of Missouri as well as the
Great Plains of Kansas, we finally reached the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Just
to the east of the Rockies, the land tended to be barren but still beautiful in
its own way.
The cool temperatures of the Rocky Mountain passes provided a dramatic change
from the hot, sunny days we had experienced in the Great Plains only a handful
of days earlier.
We had found the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and Kentucky to be
challenging, so we were expecting the Rockies to be even more so. But they were
not. They were fun because the grades weren't as steep as the Appalachians, and
the roads were also wider and generally in better condition.
In Wyoming, we caught our first glimpse of the Tetons. We spent two nights at
Yellowstone National Park before continuing northward to Montana.
Chris rode his bicycle across this bridge as I was admiring it from the side.
The late afternoon sun gave a serene look to the town of Virginia City,
Montana.
The hills of northern Idaho provided a physical challenge as well as many
visual delights.
A cyclist can feel rather small when surrounded by mountains, canyons, and
many other of Mother Nature's awesome structures.
Catching my first view of the Pacific Ocean was an emotional moment. It
marked the realization of my goal to traverse the nation from one ocean to the
other on my own physical power.
It's hard to find enough words to adequately describe the beauty of the
Oregon coast. My photo collection includes many scenes like this one.
The Windbeaters arrived at the Pacific coast in Oregon. We would continue
traveling northward to Astoria on the Washington border before saying our
farewells. The astute observer might notice that I have mentioned nine members of the
Windbeaters up to this point, but there are ten people in this photo. A fellow
cyclist named Craig Diehnbostl happened to find us in Virginia as we began our
journey and asked whether he might tag along for a while. Well, he did tag along
for the entire 90-day trek. He is the leftmost person in the line-up in this
photo. We are, from left to right, Craig, Chris, Bill, Tim, Sue, Kathy, Garry,
Roland, Dean, and Keith.
Twenty years later, the Windbeaters got together again in Denver to renew
acquaintences and ride for a few days in Colorado. Here's the line-up, minus a
few absentees. From left to right, Guadalupe Escárcega (see below), Roland,
Keith, Chris, Dean, Ian McConnell (brother of Chris), and Garry. The lady on the left, holding the tandem bicycle, is Guadalupe, an internet
pen-pal with whom I had been corresponding for six months over the internet and
by mail, and who had a great deal of difficulty deciding whether she wanted to
take the risk and meet me for the fist time face-to-face on this occasion. But
she did take the chance, and things worked out. We married six months later.
This is a close-up of the youngest Windbeater, Chris, during our Denver
reunion in 1997. Chris was astounding his doctors by continuing to ride his
bicycle in spite of having contracted a rare form of cancer that deteriorates
muscle tissue. Chris said his final farewell in 2002. We miss him.
Western USA
The Windbeaters 90 Days Later
The Windbeaters 20 Years Later
Christopher McConnell
