Dear iPhone,

Dear iPhone,

Please launch early. Thanks.

Your friend,
Zach

It's looking less and less likely that I'll be posting from an iPhone on our upcoming trip, despite some original rumors that had gotten my hopes up. Apple seems to be spreading itself thin these days.

Now to find a phone that is good for moblogging from a bicycle. My current one, a Samsung A920, won't cut it, because it lacks a real email client. It needs to be small, light, easy to type on, have a good camera, functional email client, good battery life and work on Sprint (I realize the iPhone won't work on Sprint, but I think it may be the only phone wonderful enough to make me drop my highly desirable Sero plan for it).

I will certainly be talking more about this issue as the time draws near.

Itinerary

Around June 20th, Katie and I will fly to Seattle, where we will maybe meet a couple of friends who might ride with us for the first two weeks.

After a few days of last minute preperation, we will catch a bus to Vancouver and start riding South along the peninsula route described in this this book. That book was the only kind of guidance I had on my other West Coast tour and it worked great. Bicycling the West Coast is pretty straight forward - you could do it without any maps or books - but it helps to know, in advance, where services like campgrounds, grocery stores, libraries, and bicycle shops are. Especially in the less populated stretches.

We may be detouring into Portland, where my cousin lives, especially if the uncertain friends are with us - they will be flying out from there.

We will also be making stops in San Francisco, L.A. and San Diego, to visit friends and relatives. If you're going to be cycling though the big cities, it's a mighty good thing to have friends there. Trying to find somewhere to camp anywhere near L.A. is nearly impossible.

All together, the bicycling part of the trip should take about five weeks, including a couple days off. 1,800 miles over 32 days means about 56 miles per day, which is about what we averaged on our last trip.