Biking from Maryland to Alaska after high school graduation

April 10, 20192 min read
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High School

In the summer of 2015, my family of 7 packed all our belongings into a U-Haul and drove from Anchorage, Alaska, to Maryland. We made this drive in about 14 days, a duration I belived to be too short to truly see all the sights along the way. This is where the diea to bike back along the route came about.

By senior year, I had told a few too many people that I wanted to bike to Alaska. No turning back now. TweetTweet

Baltimore

So when I graduated, I took a gap year and moved to Baltimore. I had some savings from working as a math tutor and used this to live in a shared room in downtown Baltimore. I paid for a week, and thus began a ticking clock to secure a job and an apt.

The cribThe crib

I earned an EMT license during high school, so I had actually applied to a handful of EMT jobs before moving to Baltimore. Unfortunately, I was completely ghosted. Thus, I longboarded to the first company's HQ (AMR), changed into a dress shirt in the woods, and knocked on their door asking for an interview. That day, I was given an interview and hired.

This was great headway, but according to the google spreadsheet i had created to budget out what I actually would need to do the trip, i was still in desperate need for more funds. So i walked down a random baltimore street (North CHarles st) with a dress shirt and went into each store asking if they would hire me until I reached Cazbar (a turkish restaurant) and was graciously hired.

The time in Baltimore was a whole adventure of its own. But ill leave it offline for now.

By the time April rolled around, I sold everything I owned, and headed off.

Day 1

Chicago

Chicago to Regina

Broken pannier - day 67, somewhere in CanadaBroken pannier - day 67, somewhere in Canada

The Alcan Highway

wild fire - day 57wild fire - day 57

Made itMade it

Arrival

Numbers

Start: April 4, 2019 (Baltimore, MD)
Finish: June 16, 2019 (Anchorage, AK)
Distance: ~4,500 miles
Duration: 74 days
Average: 91 miles/day
Budget: $25/day (on a good day)
Bike: Fuji Touring