Hi, I thought some of you might enjoy hearing about my upcoming adventure: a cross-country bicycle ride to talk to guys like Fred Anderson, Larry Hatfield, Bob Lee and others face-to-face about what it was like making all those great bows over the past half-century.

Sometime next week I'm throwing my bike and all my gear in the back of my brother-in-law's Piper Comanche, and we're going to fly from Maine out to Utah. After a bit of visiting with family in Bluff, UT and bike touring together, he's going to drop me off somewhere around Yellowstone (I hope). From there I hope to ride around the Northwest; camping in national forests (if they haven't all burned up by then), talking with a bunch of bowyers and collectors, and then heading back to Maine. All in all I'm thinking it'll take me six weeks-- provided my body holds together in the face of a lot of 150-mile days.

Undoubtedly the high point of the trip will come when I roll into Austin, Minnesota-- home of not only the Spam Museum, but also of America's two greatest bows... if we can believe what Frisky tells us. He has promised to let me shoot both the Holy Grail Drake and the Bow of Bows Deathmaster.

Anyway, I will be riding through some great country and talking to some neat guys, and will try to post some pictures and stories to Leatherwall as I go. I would welcome the chance to stop by and talk archery history with others who I don't know yet; by all means feel free to suggest people or places I should see. For that matter, if you'd like to ride a few miles with me, I'd welcome the company. Don't exactly know my route yet... it all depends on who I need to see!

Here's a look at my transportation, a Jamis "Aurora" model touring bike.

You'll need a gas mask if you're in Austin Mn. and the wind is wrong that day!

You want history you should plan a side trip to the Pope and Young museum in Chatfield Mn. That's my neck of the woods!

That sounds like a great adventure, good luck

Bluff, Utah? I shot doves in alfafa fields along the river in 1967. They would drop off those bluffs and by the time they leveled off above the fields they'd be going 100 mph. There was a Saloon/Store combination, if my memory is correct, called the Silver Dollar Saloon? It would be a ghost town during the week and on weekends it would fill up with cowboys, sheep herders, hard rock miners and other hard cases. :) The dangest barroom fight I ever experienced outside of something seen in movies happened their one weekend.

I roamed all over that area from 1966-1968, from Cortez, Co to Lake Powell and Green River down to Farmington, NM. If I could have figured how to make a living in the Four Corners area, I'd still be there. Wonderful place and was the home of some of the largest mule deer I ever laid eyes on.

Beautiful country and I plan to take my wife through there in the next year or so.

I have done a bit of bicycle touring in the west. You can expect good stable weather, though still warm at times. With the low humidity I was able to ride hard at 100 degrees of heat. But you will need gallons of water a day, and electrolyte replacement.

You don't need a national forest to camp in, there is a whole lot of BLM, Bureau of Land Management, land with free access. Just step behind a sage brush, out of sight of the road and settle down. Or on private range land; ranch folk are the salt of the earth people. Wave your hand and show them a friendly face and they will give you any help you need.

Unlike in the Southwest, grades in the Northwest are not severe but may be long. 50 miles at 6% is possible. I would consider stashing an emergency quart of GatorAde in your luggage. Beg water from tourists and locals at every opportunity. Chug the first bottle and hand it back for a refill. Top up all the others. Take a lot of original PowerBars. Not for food; for fuel.

No.1 light weight, high calorie, cheap fuel/food source? Italian dry salami. No.2 peanuts. No.3 cheeseburgers. Hydrate, hydrate; think 100 degrees with 5% humidity. If you find groundwater lie down in it. How hot could it get up there this time of year? 105 is uncommon. 110 is rare.

So be prepared. But expect to have a wonderful adventure of a lifetime. There is some archery history around Yakima, Washington. Kindly keep us informed. - lbg

Fantastic idea

DDave

What a great trip but you'll be missing some prime hunting time!

You could spend six weeks just in Montana. Be sure to add Dale Dye to your list- -he's in the Bitterroot valley, I think.

While in the neighborhood, stop in the Trout Hunter flyshop in Island Park, ID, just over the hill from West Yellowstone, and see the tooth marks in the Dale Dye bow Rich Paini was carrying when he was attacked by a grizzly bear. Maybe Rich will show you the severed finger he kept as a souvenir from the incident!

Well good luck on your adventure,,if ya get around North Central Ohio you're welcome to hot meal on your way through.

You should try to interview Kurt with Bigfoot Bows and Eaglewing archery. Both oare in Oregon. good luck, wish I could go:))

Wow, thanks for the advice and encouragement-- and Ron LaClair, you're one of the guys I want to talk to!! Don't know if I'll have time enough to make it all the way up to the U.P., but it's a possibility. Plus I think some guy made bows in Grayling, didn't he? Heheh.

I do plan on crossing Oregon, on my way to see Fred Anderson near Seattle, so I'm definitely interested in other Pacific NW guys too. I've been in touch with Neil Tarbell in Roseburg, too.

SB, no worries if the wind is wrong at the Spam plant; I'll be with Frisky, and he generates some powerful wind of his own to push it back the other way.

LBG, thx for the good suggestions on food and drink. My longest one-day ride when I lived out West (my wife was a nurse practitioner at Hopi rez) was from the north entrance of Yellowstone down to Jackson Hole-- but that was in early May; 50 degrees and six-foot snowbanks still, so hydration was a lot easier.

I definitely appreciate the offers of hospitality, Mike-- I may wind up writing a travelers' guide to the couches of Leatherwall, LOL!

Also, in addition to posting on Leatherwall, I'll be posting to a blog aimed more at my friends back home. It's called "Crooked Sticks & Honest Men"; check it out if you'd like. I expect the first real scenery and stories will begin around September 7th or so; my first postings are up already but they're just background. (http://crookedsticksandhonestmen.wordpress.com)

Thanks, Kerry

And here's what Liquid Amber was talking about; the Bluff area is really beautiful. This is McElmo Canyon, halfway between Bluff and Cortez, looking up at the Sleeping Ute mountain. I ate my first prickly pear right near here... and learned about those teeny little hair-like spines the hard way!

Boy, do I envy you. I would love to do that someday. Nice bike, good gear. Have fun and most of all stay safe.

Kerry, wife and I did what you are doing from Washington to Maine. We broke it up into three summers. 150 miles a day is a hump on a bike especially when your bike is loaded. We averaged 64 miles a day . We camp behind churches, camp grounds and peoples back yards. Country cemeteries make good over night stops. Most have water and they are quiet at night.

We rode the northern tier which included the Cascade Mountains and the Rockies. We used adventure cycling maps which were spot on with information.

We could write a book about our adventure as could you when you are done. If you want more info on our trip, what we carried and what we ate you can PM me. I would also loan out our Adventure cycling maps.

It will be a great trip and you will meet Americas best in people.

Why did you wait for this time of the year? We have already had snow in Glacier Park and big game season will be open in many of the mountain states as well as Oregon, Washington. How many of those guy's will be home? Bob

I rode cross country in 1988 when I was 42 years old. Started in Seattle and ended up in New Jersey. Followed Rt.2 into Wisconsin then down along the lake. The Northwest is the best of the best for bicycling; rather shallow grades...we came across Going to the Sun Road, and crossed the Cascades at Stevens Pass. Enjoy yourself and meet the folks in the little towns. They are what makes the trip worthwhile.

Outstanding! You certainly listed some giants in archery. Enjoy. Jawge

Bob, My job is as the land steward for a land trust on an island in Penobscot Bay; summer is our very busy season, so I'm just now able to sneak away. Since I've already been told that both 105º degree temps and snow are likely, I figure that I'll mostly see something between those extremes, LOL! Plus you can't scare Maine guys with weather stories anyway;I've bike commuted year-round and loved every day of it. And having hunters out in the woods makes it all the better; dem's my people! I may even try and ride by the LW elk camp that's going in the San Juans-- I'm a pretty good cook and game dragger. I figure it'll be what it'll be, and that will be good enough for me.

George-- still hoping I have enough oomph to ride by and visit you in Pennsylvania. I just learned today that my pilot has a few extra things to wrap up at his workplace, so our departure may be as late as September 10th. The good news is that we'll be flying from Bluff straight up to Yellowstone, so I'll be there to see (and hear) the peak of the rut-- which should be spectacular.

Jon--Thanks so much for the offer to loan those maps; I know the ones you're speaking of. I'll PM you in the next day or so, and I may do some brain picking of guys like you and George who have done this before. That's the great thing about Leatherwall-- experience and generosity in spades!

Kerry

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