ON the eve of adventure, or, a humble beginning

Tomorrow I embark on a 2-week, 500+ mile camping trip, armed only with the following invaluable tools:


A bike.
This bike belonged to my late grandfather, Kirk Stadtlander, and holds a special significance for me, which I'll explicate later and hopefully understand more fully in the days to come. I'm borrowing it from its current owner, my uncle Erik. I can't thank him enough for trusting me with the responsibility of keeping this bike out of harm's way. Without him, this trip would not be possible, so I'd like to take this opportunity to give him a special shout-out. Propers.
I've outfitted the bike with as many bags as it can hold, stuffed them with food, tools, rope (you always need rope), duct tape (you always need duct tape), first-aid necessities, soap, toothpaste, lotion, and other essentials, an extra t-shirt and pair of pants, the absolute minimum of socks and underwear for changes, a stove and extra propane tanks, a zippo, 6 backup lighters, three indescrutible metal bottles, a rear-view mirror, an additional spare tube and patch kit, a hammock (to stay off the ground on nights when it is dry), a sleeping bag, a pad, and a tent.
With all of this, I hope to keep myself fed and sheltered for the duration of my journey.


But a bike's no good without someone to ride it, and that's where I come in.

My name is William Stadtlander and, if you're reading this, you already know me. You may know that I've done something like this before -- my good friend Nick and I went 4 days and 300+ miles from Hoboken, NJ to Provincetown, MA. We stayed in hostels and ate in restaurants. It was grueling, but in a way luxurious. We had each other, after all.

This time I do it alone. And I do it without a roof over my head. I'll have to rough it like I've never roughed it before. I'll need to shelter myself, feed myself, expend all my energy on basic survival.

And on top of that, I'll have to cover between 50 and 80 miles a day on my bike. For that I'll need these...

My feet is my only carriage.




I'll keep up this blog as much as I can to track my journey. Updates will come as they can, and will relay route information, successes and failures, and general mental well-being.

I'm catching a 9:50 train to Fitchburg tomorrow morning, and I'll have to spend all afternoon getting to Erving State Forest for my first night. The next day I'll go as far as North Adams, MA and Clarksburg State Park.

My next entry will be from the North Adams Public Library.