The "Jim's Mostly South of the Mason- Dixon Line" Trip Pre-Blog report

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It's that time of year again!The snow has melted (for the most part) - and its time to starting clicking off miles on the road.

After two consecutive years of International trips on the bike - I've decided to bring it down a notch or two and stay in the good Ol' USA. I've managed to visit all 50 states by car or plane, but there are nine in which I've not ridden a bike. This trip will help me check off 6 of them: Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware, South Carolina, and Georgia & (The District of Columbia). Leaving North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island, yet to conquer via the bike. (rode a bike to the top of Haleakala in Hawaii with some friends and my wife and kids a few years back).

As length of trips go this will be a mid-range trip at approximately 3,200 miles. I'm planning fewer long haul days and more short hop rides. Since I'll be spending a lot of my time in the south - I decided to give the trip the name "Jim's Mostly South of the Mason-Dixon Line". The trip also has a higher miles to days ratio because I'll be taking 4 days off in the middle of it to fly to a wedding in Cor D' Alene Idaho. Normally, Karen would meet up with me at some point in the trip. But since she will be at the wedding, we'll count this as the way point.

This is a non-charity ride year, but there are a handful of readers who have donated to Cure Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy every year since the I started doing charity rides (Alaska Bucket List ride 2010). Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy hits boys who are typically diagnosed by the age of 8, in a wheel chair by their teens, and many don't make it past their 20's. However, thanks to organisations like Cure Duchenne- progress is being made every year. Please consider going to www.cureduchenne.org to make a donation or to learn more about this fatal illness.

My first blog will from Canton Ohio where I will stop at the NFL Football Hall of Fame. My grandfather (George "Babe" Ruetz) was one of the early founders of the NFL. Grandpa had an NFL team in Racine Wisconsin - "The Racine Legion". Babe was the owner/coach of the Legion from 1922 to 1926. My grandfather died suddenly in 1926 from aliments caused during his service in WWI. Shortly after Babe passed away all the players contracts were sold to a Portsmouth Ohio team. The Portsmouth team (Spartan's) eventually became the Detroit Lions franchise. We still have some of the news articles showing the standings and scores of the Legion vs. the Packers and Legion vs. da Bears. (both of which the Legion had beaten).

I'll report back after the ferry ride across lake Michigan and the 330 mile trek to Canton.

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