An epic adventure. Finishing the East Coast Greenway has without question been one of the most awesome highlights of my entire life. Riding the 3000 mile route from Calais, Maine on the Canadian border to Key West, the Southern most point of the Continental United States, proved to be an incomparable adventure.
When I left out from Millinocket, Maine on my new bike (Cool Roadster Too), and headed for Calais, Maine to the start of the ECG, I had already bikepacked about 350 miles from Huntsville to Cape Girardeau, Missouri for the total eclipse on April 8th, after which I had backpacked 800 miles on the Appalachian Trail ending with the 100 Miles Wilderness and summiting Mnt. Katahdin.
Getting on my bike after cutting all the cords of routine daily life to ride with no end in sight was truly an indescribable sense of elation that I enjoyed for most of my ride to Key West. When finally I had to schedule my arrival and departure from Key West, because I wanted it to be on the solstice, a little chagrin set in because of having to be aware of my daily pace to stay on schedule – and the end of such a glorious adventure was in sight for the first time.
Even still, the sense of adventure persisted for the rest of the trip visiting new places in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and finally actually getting to the Florida Keys and finishing in Key West.
Jim Porter Casey