After enjoying the last three years writing and publishing two books, my continued retirement plan is to bike two months from Pierre, South Dakota to North Pole, Alaska departing May 20th, 2018. The first 2000 miles I will bike solo with my wife, Patricia, meeting me with our vehicle, food, water, overnight gear and her bike to traverse upper British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska.

When were bicycles invented? 1800s. What spurred their invention? A volcano. An Indonesian island mountain erupted April 10, 1815, the largest known eruption in modern recorded history. Sun-blocking atmospheric particles caused global cooling "a year without summer". Horses, the main mode of transportation, were being decimated in Europe from lack of feed. As a substitute, a German developed a wooden two wheel, feet-on-the-ground personal mode of transportation. During the 1800s, thousands were manufactured and used in Europe and North America. Bicycles did not develop a chain-driven mechanism until the mid-1880s, shortly before my grandfather was born in 1891, which was followed by the 1890's bicycle craze. Honoring bicycle developers, personal mechanical transportation created independence. I ride on.