Discovering the US on a Bicycle

<p>With $250 in his pocket a bicycle and a pack weighing thirty-seven pounds author Edward Abair set off for this adventure of a lifetime in 1972. Twenty-seven years old this teacher and former Army medic bicycled 5800 miles alone from Long Beach California to Miami Florida to Boston Massachusetts.</p> <p>In Discovering the US on a Bicycle Abair shares a recap of his travels on that trip. He tells how he burned in 110-degree Southwest deserts crossed the rugged West ascended the Continental Divide fed Mississippi mosquitoes poured sweat in the humid swamplands of the South and witnessed the devastation of a hurricane in Pennsylvania. On the way he slept in river washes abandoned motels fire stations jails a river park with water moccasins barns and under porch roofs.</p> <p>Forty years later Abair kept a promise to travel the northern United States on the Lewis and Clark Trail in reverse from Astoria Oregon to St. Louis Missouri. This time he used modern equipment and had a wife supporting him in an automobile. At age 68 he tackled the rollercoaster roads of the Missouri River watershed with painful knees and a sore rear end. With age and experience he shares observations of finding the people and adventures from small town America to the St. Louis Gateway Arch.</p>