Sorry folks, I did it again - I made a minor edit to an old journal and forgot to check the box to not move the journal to the front of the list, so this caused my 2015 Transam journal to be listed up front ahead of the current and ongoing journals - I truly am sorry for this unintentional flub as my old journal should not be getting front page billing.   But perhaps you will find the reason for my editing of enough interest to forgive me this time - we'll see, here goes the explanation.  It's a little bit convoluted, I'll try and keep it simple by pretending that I'm talking to my cousins from Arkansas, but the odds are good that it will take some doing for me to explain things properly.

There is now a church hostel for cyclists in Hindman, KY, but in 2015 it wasn't yet in existence and the lodging options in Hindman weren't very good - but the Quiltmaker Inn had just recently been bought and reopened and they had a $25 special deal for bicyclists.  I stayed there and took a rest day there, and on my rest day I met a Dutch couple in need of lodging and suggested they stay at the Quiltmaker Inn that night.  They were on a very tight budget but could afford the inn for a night.  Sitting out in the common area of the Inn, we enjoyed each other's conversation and tales of cycling tours.  I left ahead of them the next morning and since I was riding further than them each day I didn't see them again on the first half of my "both ends to the middle" ride, and I never expected to see them again at all.  I had to return to work for 7 weeks between the 2 halves of my adventure, and then I flew to Oregon and commenced riding the 2nd half eastbound.  I stayed in Willamina, OR and was eating in the motel diner when in walked the Dutch lady!  She and her husband had already been to the coast and completed their Transam ride and were now riding to Portland for a flight home.  It was an amazing happenstance that we should run into each other, and she was so excited that she was almost unable to use her English and tell me "I must show you to my husband!"  Her husband was minding the bikes outside while she had gone in to see if there were rooms available, and he was equally excited and surprised to see me again.  (But what does this have to do with me editing an old journal?  Patience, we are getting there...)

Okay then, so now we jump 7 years ahead and it's the Fall of last year and I'm riding the Great Rivers South route.  I wasn't able to get lodging at the Cave-in-Rock state park in Illinois, but I was able to reserve a room in nearby Marion, KY at a really questionable motel.  I REALLY didn't want to stay there, the reviews were awful and a phone call with the owner convinced me that I truly needed another option.  Then I remembered that there was a cyclist hostel at a church in Marion. Marion is on the Transam route, but I didn't stay in Marion when I rode the Transam so I didn't get to experience the hostel.  I put out a query for help on Cycleblaze, hoping someone could direct me to the right church in Marion so I could call and confirm that the hostel was still available.  Jeff Lee responded with the name of the church and I found the contact for the hostel and all was well.  (But what does this have to do with me editing an old journal?   I'm looking ahead and I can see the ending, just follow along a bit more...)

While at the hostel I signed their guest register for 2022 and noticed the earlier years guestbooks laying nearby.  I opened the 2015 guestbook and tickled my memory's fancy as I saw the names of many folks I had met - some of them I even rode with for days and/or split the cost of hotel rooms.  And as I perused the guestbook I came upon the Dutch couple I met in Hindman, KY.   I photographed the pages of all the cyclists I had met - many of them had become Facebook friends so I knew they would get a memory lane thrill from seeing their guestbook page from 2015.   (But what does this have to do with me editing an old journal?  The end is nigh, just hang on a bit...)

There was a recent post about your best cycling photo of 2022.  So I went and reviewed the photos I had taken on tours last year, and of course I came upon the photo showing the guestbook entry from the Dutch couple at the Marion hostel.  And I noticed that they had listed a website, so I looked to see if it still existed.  It did indeed exist, and once I used the magic of the internet to translate the text into English I saw that they had made a video and posted it on Youtube.  And so I watched an hour-long video of the Montana-Idaho-Oregon segment of their Transam ride - I couldn't understand the Dutch, but I recognized so many places that it was enjoyable nonetheless.   (But what does this have to do with me editing an old journal?  The next paragraph will wrap it up, I promise...)

As I looked at their website I noticed that I had gotten Gerda's name terribly wrong -  apparently I had heard something entirely different, and I gave her a whole different name (how does one confuse "Lena" with "Gerda?") -  surprisingly (to me anyway) I had spelled Teun correctly.  And so, I went back into my 2015 journal and edited to spell the name correctly both in the Hindman, Ky entry and the Willamina, OR entry.  And it was when I saved the page for the Hindman entry that I realized I forgot to check that darn box.  I jumped over to the journal page hoping that somehow my journal wouldn't be listed on top, but of course it was.  I did it right when I edited the Willamina page and I checked that little box, but by then the damage was done.  

And so now you know.  I am embarrassed by my woeful inadequacy as a fellow Sapiens.  I'll try to do better next time.   Maybe the default should be that the box is automatically checked and you have to purposefully uncheck it?  Okay, I admit that that's just me trying to excuse my negligence, because I don't see anyone else making that mistake.  With egg on my face, I now return you to your regularly scheduled program...

I'm just now reading this - it was a delightful diversion to my morning. I happy to hear (read?) someone else just as long winded as I am!

George, I have a question for you, maybe off topic, sorry. First, I really enjoy your posts. I'm also impressed with our data keeping and photography. Very helpful.

 I'll be flying June 5 from Chicago to Seattle and riding back home to Central Illinois. I still haven't firmed up my route but after reading some of your posts, I'm leaning towards connecting to the TransAm to head east. 

My question is - how do you document your trips? I was thinking about hauling my electronics, (small laptop, charger, maybe solar, etc.) to make entries each day. Now I'm thinking about pencil and paper to just jot down notes each day. Mostly to save weight and the bother of charging too much. Then making a more detailed document when I get home. I don't care at this time to make a publishable document for the world to see, more just to give my family, especially my grandkids something to read and know about granddad's great adventure. 

Your thoughts?

I'm not George, but I do have an opinion. Don't women always have an opinion?

I have tried recreating a journal after the fact. It was tedious. First, the memories of each day had faded. Perhaps a paper journal would make that a non factor. But, when faced with making one night's journal at the end of each day, the task was less onerous than with writing out an entire. tour. 

For me, it was much more of a chore and less of a pleasure to journal after the fact. A big plus for me about live journaling is the live feedback as we pass down the road.

A live journal is one and done, as opposed to adding the extra step of a paper journal. I carry a MacBook Air to journal. It seems most others journal using an iPad, some people using portable keyboards. On rare occasion I have texted my entries, but I tend to be verbose, and those long entries are tough on the thumbs.

On a selfish level, we all love the entertainment of live journals. Please consider keeping one. 

Kelly

Thanks Kelly. What type of computer do you use to journal and how much of a hassle is it to keep charged?

I have a MacBook Air (2.98 pounds is the advertised weight). We motel tour, so charging is not an issue. 

A full size keyboard is important to me. Others tour with roll up keyboards, plug in keyboards, or iPads, etc. I think there's a learning curve to those, if you are willing. 

Another time when having a full size screen is helpful is when route planning. It can be done on a phone, but it certainly is nice to have a bigger screen. 

Kelly beat me to the punch, but that's okay and I do agree with her.  Let me add a few points to what she said.  My first journal was done strictly to keep my family informed of my status - I was going to ride coast-to-coast solo and had no idea what I was getting into and they were concerned, so I promised to keep a daily journal so they could follow along.  I found out that not only were my family and friends following along each day, but lots of other cyclists also followed along and offered welcome advice.  That first journal was on that other site, and has since been moved to CycleBlaze - so you won't see much in the way of comments in that journal here.

It is very easy to write a journal on CycleBlaze - I mean that the mechanics of doing it are quite easy.  I am planning a tour in Aug-Sept this year, and I have already set up a journal to hold my narrative and photos when it happens.  By "setting up" I mean that I have set up an outline of the journal so that it will be easy to fill in each day.  I have written some introductory material, and I have created blank pages to hold each day.  The journal will only be visible when I check the box saying to make it visible to the public -  you control each page of the journal that way, so you could have a trip set up with blank pages titled "Day 1 - Seattle to Mirrormont" or "Day 23 - " set up in advance for your entire trip.  Then, after each day's ride, you can just type in as much or as little narrative as you want and upload some pictures and when you are ready you click the box to make it visible - then your family and friends get to follow along and see some pictures and hear about your adventure.  It really is easy to do - honest, I'm not kidding.  Sometimes during a tour I will use my phone to make notes as I go along - at a rest stop I use voice-to-text and make notes directly into the journal page for that day!  Then at the end of the day all I have to do is upload photos and clean up my notes and I'm done.  It really can be quite easy.   You have to learn how to use the Cycleblaze tools to set up the journal, but it's very intuitive - and lots of folks will offer help if you can't figure out how to do something.

I've left out the most important reason you should do a journal - it's for you!  In the future, you will re-read your journal and your description of the day and the photos will bring back not just memories, but emotions you felt that day.  No kidding - I had no idea how much the journals would mean to me, I thought I was doing them just for others, but when I look back on a particularly challenging day on, say, the Western Express route I find myself re-living it again.   For that to be most effective, you need to do the journal in "real time" or as close as you can - if you can make entries each day that is best so your memories are fresh. 

You don't need to include a map of each day's ride, but if you do your friends and family will love it.  You can import maps from RWGPS that are "live" and allow folks to zoom in or out and really experience your route.  If you have your route fairly well planned out, this is something you can do in advance - I did that on my tour last fall on the Great Rivers South route and it worked great.  Again, that's an optional thing - but once you learn how to do it, it's easy.  It does take a little time, so I like having the maps prepared in advance and already waiting on the page for me - but that requires you to plan and know your route in advance.  Or you can use the RWGPS mobile app and just record your ride that day and then enter the map into the journal.  There's other ways to do it as well (Strava), but I like the "live" RWGPS maps.  

You may be surprised that many of us here on Cycleblaze will also follow along on your trip - I especially enjoy reading about others that are riding a route I have done and seeing how their experience compared to mine - so if you ride part of the Transam I will definitely be following.  Also, there may be others on tour whose path might intersect with yours - they may "learn" of you from your daily entries and then meet up with you on your tour - that has happened to me more than once.  So there are other reasons to write a journal besides just keeping your family and friends informed (although that alone is enough of a reason). 

Regarding giving your grandkids something to remember you by - a journal certainly does that.  One of my daughters took my Transam journal and made it into a book for me!  That was a labor of love that's pretty neat - I have an actual book journal of the Transam trip!  I hope that someday it might inspire my grandkids to undertake their own great adventures. 

About the electronics - I have tried several electronic options (tablets with bluetooth keyboards, "regular" computers, bluetooth keyboard for a cell phone) and have found that a "netbook" is my preferred tool.  I have a Lenova that is very thin and lightweight, and the battery lasts a long time.  It's underpowered as compared to a regular notebook computer you would use - and that's why the battery lasts a long time - but it doesn't need much power to browse the net and write my journal entries.  I use a small USB mouse with it, and I take a thumb drive to back up files.  I paid less than $200 for the netbook in 2018, so I don't worry about it being damaged.  It has ridden in a pannier on the Northern Tier and Great Rivers South routes, so I suppose it's fairly durable.  

I suggest you play around with setting up a journal here on CycleBlaze - set up an Introductory page and write some narrative and import a picture of you and the bike - that way you can learn how it works and decide if you want to do it on your trip.  Best of luck whatever you do. 

Thanks so much George! My first thought was a small ASUS Chromebook CR1. They call it "military grade" but advertise it for kids to use at home. If it's good enough for the military maybe it will survive a fall off the desk?  I would use my phone as a hotspot to get onto the net.

It seems to work fine and isn't too heavy. But then I started worrying about my overall weight of electronics and their batteries. I tend to over pack and end up wishing I hadn't brought so much after the first hard climb.  I'll be taking an overnight trip soon to confirm my new gear so I'll bring it along to prove out. 

Thanks for the inspiration, George!

While those are some very good reasons to write a journal as you go, I'm going to play Devil's Advocate and suggest some reasons to write it later.

* memories don't necessarily fade - Using the voice-to-text method mentioned by Bud works great. I also use Siri so I can take notes hands-free as I ride: "Hey Siri, remind me..." Plus, of course, I take lots and lots of pictures, most of which end up never being used but assist in recalling events during the day.

* extra weight... Why would you want to take 3 lbs of dead weight when you could take something more useful, say, a lawn chair (not that anyone would be stupid enough to take a lawn chair).

* fatigue - At the end of the day, there are times when I can't string together two complete sentences, and just sit alone and drool for a while until I can manage to drag myself out of the lawn chair, erm, I mean the picnic bench where I happen to be sitting.

* less boring - This is a corollary of the fatigue. After the trip I have more time to write. In addition to having more time, I'm not brain dead from riding, and I'm able to tell a better story. Not only do I avoid the misspellings of "they're," "their," and "there," but descriptions tend to be more colorful. Some people can write well on the fly very easily (and a lot of them post on Cycleblaze), but I'm not one of them. I suspect it gets easier/better with experience. I posted in real time with my 2007 journal, but it just didn't seem to be as engaging. 

* less onerous - As opposed to being onerous, it's actually fun to relive the trip as you transcribe your journal into Cycleblaze. It's more of a burden to have to write and post every day. I'm on vacation, and even if it doesn't take very long to post something, I'd still rather be talking to a local, staring at the stars, or even reading a book. I'd rather be making memories than working to share those memories sooner. 

* freedom - We're all (me included) anchored to our electronics, and while it's probably unreasonable to leave a cellphone at home, especially considering it's sometimes our only camera, it's nice to get away for a spell. Once you open that laptop it becomes a magnet for your attention.

* no paper journal - While writing an actual handwritten journal may seem onerous to some people, it could be a prize to your descendents. "Wow, people used to actually write on this stuff.... back when there were trees." I still have my faded, yellowing 1982 journal, and hope that someday it will be a precious legacy for one of my sons. I suspect it will.

I think writing in real time and waiting are both good, and just a matter of personal preference. The most important thing is that it gets done and you share it with us.    :-)

Mark and I seem to have identical methods. Paper journal, take frequent sign photos as memory markers. I also enjoy re-living the tour while creating the journal.

I have great respect for the people who create journals during a bike tour. That's truly amazing. I don't have the energy.