2 Min Read
Published on: 12-22-2020
Persistent pedaling through towns, down canyons, up mountain passes, along rivers, and across vast deserts and farmlands — this is what it takes to cross the beautiful and diverse United States by bicycle.
For several years, Tom Bischoff, a member of Oregon’s Brookings Seventh-day Adventist Church, dreamed of this challenging adventure. As he listened to and read touring cyclists’ stories and pored over maps, his plan took shape. COVID-19 broke out, but Bischoff and his wife, Misti, agreed it was the “now or never” moment.
A camper on their Dodge pickup would serve as the rolling bed and breakfast, affording self-containment and plenty of social distancing. An average of 50 miles (80 kilometers) per day would bring Bischoff to his 50th high-school class reunion at Fletcher Academy in North Carolina on the first weekend in October. Retiring from his 42-year anesthesia career, he celebrated his 69th birthday and embarked on the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail journey.