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Permalink Reply by Alex Z on July 22, 2013 at 5:38am

Awesome. Have a blast. I rode from DC to Boston last summer and it was the highlight of the year. Sadly, I have no geographic-specific advice, nor do I know anything about camper bikes. :)

 

I believe it's somewhat common for people to FedEx their bikes in advance of a long trip like this. Maybe cheaper than putting on the plane? I'm not sure.

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Permalink Reply by David P. on July 22, 2013 at 5:53am

Since you're quitting your job and will have plenty of time, why not take Amtrak to Seattle? It'll be a baeutiful ride and you can take your bike with you.

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Permalink Reply by Tricolor on July 22, 2013 at 5:59am

Sounds fun.  I've driven most of Highway 1 heading north and it's fantastic.  Getting there; I've been looking at how to get myself and my bike to Pittsburgh this fall and I'm torn between shipping the bike separately, boxing it and flying/taking the train, or just driving there with the bike in the back and leaving the car for a week while I ride.  Amtrak as far as I can determine requires bikes to be boxed except for the coastal California route which has dedicated storage for bikes.  Boxed bikes can only be accessed at 'baggage stations' which don't seem to include many stops.

Regardless you'll probably need some kind of dedicated box (carboard or one of those Pika shell cases) for the bike.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Z on July 22, 2013 at 6:10am

Also, if "I really want to get a camper bike" means that you want to buy a new bike, you could consider buying the bike in Seattle.

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Permalink Reply by WillG on July 22, 2013 at 6:55am

David, along those lines, why not just ride the bike to Seattle. Now THAT would be a beautiful ride.

David P. said:

Since you're quitting your job and will have plenty of time, why not take Amtrak to Seattle? It'll be a baeutiful ride and you can take your bike with you.

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Permalink Reply by Jamais716 on July 22, 2013 at 10:59am

A couple of my friends are in the middle of a ride from Vancouver to San Fran right now!  Check out their blog for info on their adventures and I'm sure they'd be happy to answer questions about logistics - http://swingoutwestcycling.blogspot.com/

I know they shipped their bikes to Vancouver and will be taking the train back with them from San Fran in a few weeks.  And that in addition to camping, they're staying with some hosts using http://www.warmshowers.org 

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Permalink Reply by Jakki Cafarelli on July 24, 2013 at 5:28am

Wow! thanks for all the great advice and links everyone!! I've been looking at adventuringcycling.com as well for tips and maps.  

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Permalink Reply by Tricolor on July 24, 2013 at 6:20am

There's also crazyguyonabike, which kind of fiddly to find some rides but has good documentation for the Pittsburgh-Cumberland (Washington?) trip I want to make this fall.

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Permalink Reply by Jakki Cafarelli on July 26, 2013 at 11:08am

I've been reading this blog daily! Awesome. Thanks so much for the link.



Jamais716 said:

A couple of my friends are in the middle of a ride from Vancouver to San Fran right now!  Check out their blog for info on their adventures and I'm sure they'd be happy to answer questions about logistics - http://swingoutwestcycling.blogspot.com/

I know they shipped their bikes to Vancouver and will be taking the train back with them from San Fran in a few weeks.  And that in addition to camping, they're staying with some hosts using http://www.warmshowers.org 

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