This trip evolved after a friend became aware of a bucket-list trip I had planned for many years to tour the Florida Keys starting in Ft Lauderdale, biking to Key West, taking the ferry to Ft Myers, and returning to Ft Lauderdale via Alligator Alley. I always wanted to do this trip in February as a winter get away but when Happy (aka John Burlison) got wind of it actually coming to fruition in 2015 and I learned of his interest in biking Florida, we collaborated to see what we could make of it. But he wanted to go in March. Initially, that was a conflict in my mind as that is the start of good cycling weather in Washington, DC, my home town, and not the time I wanted to be in the Florida Keys. But then he pointed out that we wouldn't want to get to Canada too early . . . and would I be interested in extending the trip and biking the east coast to Canada.

I gave that about a five-minute ponder and said yes! For two reasons: 1) my touring goals were falling behind schedule and 2) this would be my excuse to "semi-retire" (something I've been debating for the last year). So this met two goals in my life (maybe three): I get a check for a bucket list tour, it "forces" semi-retirement (my company let me go to part-time status), and this will be my longest tour to-date (almost three months versus three weeks).

My name is Tom Flournoy. I'm 59 as I write this but turn 60 on March 31, 2015, about one week into our tour. I'm a Professional Engineer specializing in transportation projects from planning to final design. These projects have varied over the course of my career to include roadways, highways, bridges, transit facilities, commuter rail, and bike and pedestrian facilities. Most of these projects are in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Over the course of my career, I have noticed the increased attention to the accommodation of bicycles and thank all those who have worked hard to make that happen.

I have toured since 1988 when I first went to France with my significant other and two other friends, all of whom have unfortunately passed on. But since then, I have returned to France and also toured in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and, within the United States, Montana and Wyoming (an extension of Cycle Montana), Rhode Island and Massachusetts (Providence to Provincetown), Virginia and North Carolina (Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway), Tennessee to Louisiana (Natchez Trace and Mississippi River Trail), Vermont and New York (around Lake Champlain), and have done many shorter day rides and trips throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. This endeavor, however, will be my longest trip.

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Happy can tell his story here when he is ready!