Where are you going?

I absolutely love maps. Ever since I was a kid I could sit for stretches just absorbed by the details of geography, finding my place in the world (so cliché) and imagining new places to visit that would in turn begin and continue to define who I am (so true).

I am intimate with the time suck that is Google Earth/Maps and can sit for hours searching terrain--from the coast for hidden remote breaks to the peaks and their quiet alpine lakes. I've even spent a good chunk of time as a Google Maps contributor putting up many of the trails in the Chuckanuts. So it would only be natural for me to plot out our entire trip. And in doing so it helps to answer the question when people ask, "Where?"

Here is what it looks like from Google space with every day a different color-

And you, too, can view it on Google Earth.

--ph
Grand depart - 96 days!

Paul and his mapping! He makes it sound so simple, but in reality he spent many, many (many) hours--early mornings and late at night and any free time in between--to plot out our course with such exactitude.

After losing 75% of his work one night (accompanied by more woe and frustration and angst than you can imagine... "Paul, it'll be okay...!") he figured a simpler (and swifter) way to save his mapping. Whew!

We have the overall image that shows the entire route, color-coded by day, here, but he's also made each day's elevation profile, which I've included in our daily "trip narrative" so that we can be prepared each day. He also made a 10-hour (or something like that) google earth "movie"! We've watched, what, the first week so far? Amazing, the technology, but also P's commitment to research this trip so much. (Every time he gets quiet in the office, I ask what he's doing and it's usually either checking maps, or checking blogs of riders past, current, and future.)

Paul-- working so diligently to make this all a reality.

--Alaine