Chris Bennett's 40th Birthday Trip

It's a male thing ... that's the best way of describing my decision to cycle across the USA to celebrate my 40th birthday. Or at least that is how my long suffering wife Lis would put it. Crazy is what some friends (and at times myself) put it. Irrespective of what had spurred it on, I found myself on 30 May 2000 in San Francisco, California at the Golden Gate Bridge ready to head east. On 2 August I reached the Atlantic ocean at Kittery, Maine. The journal was written as I travelled and uploaded with the digital photos a few times a week. It has been edited into a book which is available for $USD 25 including postage and handling. To order a copy please contact or you can download the book as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file here.

It was a fantastic trip across a great country and I met many wonderful people. For those thinking of doing it all I can say is that you should go for it. It is an experience second to none... unless of course you want to try north-to-south from Canada to Mexico along the mountains of the Continental Divide. But that's another story which was written in 2002 as was an excursion along the Lewis & Clark trail in 2003. All of my cycling trip journals are at www.lpcb.org.

Travel Journal by Week

Week 1: Auckland NZ to Yosemite CA

Week 2: Yosemite CA to Ely NV

Week 3: Ely NV to Vernal CO

Week 4: Vernal CO to Sterling CO

Week 5: Sterling CO to Centervilla IA

Week 6: Centerville IA to Berrien Springs MI

Week 7: Berrien Springs MI to Dundas Canada

Week 8: Dundas Canada to Waterford NY

Week 9: Waterford NY to Auckland NZ

Questions and comments are welcome to: