Have time off? Why not bike cross country?

Richmond Beach man goes coast to coast and blogs about it

By Tony Dondero

Enterprise reporter

If you had three months off from your job what would you do?

Pete Liekkio, 60, a women’s clothing salesman, was in that position this spring and he took the opportunity to bike across the country.

Liekkio and his friend Hugh Kimball of Seattle started planning their trip from Seattle to St. Augustine, Fla. last October.

Liekkio talked about his trip Monday at his quirky Richmond Beach home he shares with wife Corliss that overlooks Puget Sound and includes two greenhouses with an eclectic assortment of plants. He referred back often to his trip blog, pliekkio.blogspot.com, which is stocked with daily photos and commentary from the trip. He used an Internet enabled cell phone and keypad to keep his online journal.

It was, he said, the “urge to ride,” and an interest in seeing the country up close, that prompted him to take the trip.

“Once a week is not enough,” said Liekkio, who bikes 50 or more miles every weekend on the usual Seattle-area roads.

They left April 26 to embark on the four-leg trip that took them to Yosemite National Park, the Rockies, the Plains and Deep South, 14 states in all. The trip covered 5,026 miles of terrain.

“It’s a big country, it’s an amazing country,” said Liekkio, who rode a recubment bike, a bike that reclines and has a larger more comfortable seat.

Both avid cyclists, it was the first cross country bike trip for Liekkio and Kimball and they completed it June 29 when they reached the Atlantic Ocean. They stayed with friends in Florida before they flew back home.

Liekkio and Kimball biked together most of the trip, except for five days during the Colorado leg where they separated to visit their respective family and friends.

The pair used Cycle America bicycling maps to plan their route that took them away from big cities and through mostly small towns and rural areas.

The mishaps turned out to be minor and things went smoothly. On the first day near Centralia, Kimball hit some grooved pavement, crashed and suffered a scuffed leg but was able to continue. Riding on roads with narrow shoulders can be dangerous, but Liekkio said the safe thing for cyclists to do is to ride to the left of the white line so cars have to go out of their way to pass. Cars tend not to move at all for cyclists if they try to hug the shoulder, he said.

They ran into some rain at times and snow in Utah, which forced them to take a less elevated route. The oppressive heat and humidity in the South caused them to break for the day in the early afternoon.

“The South slowed us down,” Liekkio said. “It was too hot past one or two with the heat and humidity.”

In the western leg of the trip, Liekkio and Kimball often slept out in the open in sleeping bags in rest areas, campgrounds, and parks or just off the road.

They also took advantage of the “Warm Showers” program for bicyclists that Kimball belongs to. A rider offers up their home for cyclists to stay and in return can stay in any other Warm Showers cyclist’s home across the country. The duo stayed at six different Warm Showers homes during the trip and got home cooked meals, lively conversation from fellow cyclists and of course, a warm shower.

“Definitely worth doing,” Liekkio said.

In Kansas, they stayed in city parks because it’s allowed and is free. The only problem was the mosquitoes. Showers at swimming pools in Kansas were free, too.

After they hit Missouri, they stayed mostly in motels, Liekkio said.

It cost about $40 a day during the trip per person. The total cost ended up being about $3,000 total each or about $1,000 a month.

“I paid for the motels, he paid for the food,” Liekkio said.

The pair crossed several mountain passes, Carson Pass, an 8,574-foot pass in the Sierra Nevada, and Monarch Pass, an 11,372-foot pass on the Continental Divide in Colorado.

Despite those elevation gains, those weren’t the most difficult climbs because they were more gradual. The rolling hills in Missouri were tougher because they were steeper, Liekkio said.

Liekkio and Kimball rode an average of 85 miles per day, topping out at 140 miles on their most prolific day.

“Anybody who can ride Seattle-to-Portland can do an across the country ride,” he said.

“All it takes is time and calories,” he said. “We had to eat a lot.”

The biggest challenge, he said, is finding the time.

“The biggest limitation is having the time to do it,” he said. “I’m fortunate that I did.”

Other noteworthy observations of the trip:

•Liekkio heard many stories about other cyclists and walkers who were going cross-country and even around the world. One of the most unusual stories was about a man who was finishing a bike trip around the world on a penny-farthing, an older styled English bike with a large front wheel and small back wheel.

“Amazing people out there,” Liekkio said. “I didn’t expect to see that much activity. People wandering across the country.”

•Turtles turned up on the road, live ones that Liekkio sometimes moved off the road, and road kill, especially in Kansas.

•Random dogs would sometimes appear and sprint alongside, but they were mostly harmless.

•A sign in the town of Coyville in eastern Kansas that among other things made note of the first marriage of white people in the area and the first hanging.

•Liekkio said the craziest stretch was on Highway 49 in central California. Traffic was especially heavy on the narrow road because people were going to the Calaveras County Fair, the one with the jumping frogs made famous by Mark Twain.

“Everything after that was easy,” Liekkio said.

•Liekkio said he saw a lot of signs of prosperity throughout the country, nice homes with well-kept lawns, or trailers with nice yards. “People cared for the houses where they were living,” he said.

“People were so nice everywhere. It was great,” he added.

Since 1997, Liekkio has been an avid biker and he also swims daily at Evans Pool in Seattle.

He belongs to the Seattle International Randonnurs, the latter word a French name that refers to a group of long-distance cyclists. He’s been on other long trips, up and down Vancouver Island, to Florence, Ore. with Kimball, and a timed ride from Paris to Brest, France and back.

When asked if he would go on another cross-country U.S. trip, perhaps taking a northern route, he said, “Oh, I’m ready to go any time.”