Early in 2019 we published a blog post featuring  Tom & Toni Blanken , friends from Mason, MI. They had a very busy cycling season planned for the year, and I caught up with them in December to get the details on all their riding. I knew from Facebook that they were all across the country and would have stories to tell.

We met at their home in Mason, just south of Lansing. I got right into questioning them, picking up from where we left off; they ended 2018 having bicycled in 34 states, with 16 to go to make all 50. How was their progress in 2019?

Toni jumped right in. “We felt we had to step up our game and go on a road trip…96 days, June 13 to October 17. 45 states now! We hit 11 new ones this summer.”

These 11 new states include Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. Get out your atlas and you’ll find that Alaska stands alone; Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Montana, and both North & South Dakota are a group; and Missouri and Oklahoma each share a border with Kansas. But how do you put this into a road trip?

You can’t be gone 96 days without proper planning. This is Toni’s specialty. She starts with google searches, then email inquiries, and finally telephone contact to make the final details stick.  Need ten best things to do in Oklahoma City? Ask Toni, she knows and they did them! The planning is thorough. “We don’t just drive through” said Toni, “We usually spend two nights to get in a ride. Arrive in the afternoon, see the town, and ride the next day. We do the most justice  when we have a tour in the state.”

In addition to several self-guided tours of their own design, in 2019 they joined 7 organized tours. The best part of this, when they join an organized tour, the tour operator already has done most of the planning in advance!

When did this 50-state thing become a goal? “It was kind of gradual,” Tom said, “trying for 50 states. We started in 2012 when we went across the country, 11 states then (southern route, coast to coast with Bubba’s Pampered Pedalers ). We bought that map you just saw and started filling it in.”

When they hit 20 states, the light was turned on for Toni: “Wow, this (50 states) would be a great goal! We’re real goal oriented, and we’ve run into several others with this goal, who were ahead of us. This summer in Alaska we met up with a couple who were finishing their 50th state, and we got to celebrate with them. That’s how we put it on the table-we saw it in action.”

This has been quite an adventure, and there were frequent surprises along the way. I asked them about ‘A-ha moments’ and those things on the road which were surprises. Toni was first to reply. “We knew we had to get many states this year. 11 states, that was challenging. As far as surprises, we’re just ordinary people at the back of the pack. We’re surprised how ordinary people like us can do it.”

Tom had a list of surprises. “Alaska was probably the biggest surprise, just the size of the mountains! And the roads were in really good shape, very little traffic, so it was nice.” He had more to say: “Montana was also pleasantly surprising, and so was South Dakota. There was lots to see in South Dakota that we didn’t know about.”

Changes in equipment-new bikes, brought about some surprises. Bigger tires and disc brakes change how you can ride. As Toni tells it, “We made the migration over to dirt roads (gravel grinders). The Mickelson Trail in South Dakota, and the Katy Trail in Missouri, these crushed limestone trails are a place where you can get really close to nature.”

Tom also had a negative surprise this season. He tumbled and sprained his left wrist, making shifting and braking with the left hand difficult. Fortunately it wasn’t broken, and it healed on its’ own after several weeks.

They also had a little learning curve about car maintenance when away from home. Nothing bad happened, just the excitement of being out of your normal routine for oil changes and tire rotation. And after 7 weeks back home, they’re still catching up on household projects, doctor & dentist visits, and all that stuff.

There are many places they’d go back to in an instant. “We’ve done some repeats” said Tom, “we love Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. We do a lot of riding in Wisconsin, we like Wisconsin…”

“Cheese and beer!” Toni interrupted. “Sometimes we do tours just for the training. We need the mileage, the fitness, so we look for tours that are easy to stage, and you repeat with tour leaders who gave you a great experience.” (Editor’s boast: They toured with Bike Tour Vacations in 2013, ’15, and ’17!).

They each raved about Alaska, and Tom has been looking at a new Alaska tour which starts near Haines, goes through the Yukon Territory, and then back in to Alaska. This tour has long mileage, and the tour sag wagon even gives them the option to skip some of the riding!

These two aren’t afraid to make friends, and they have some in almost every state. This summer they crossed paths with old friends in South Dakota, and also in Victoria, B.C. “We had stopped for a quick rest” said Toni, “and a group of riders was coming past. Tom shouted ‘hey, man!’ at one of them. It was  Paul Guthrie! ” Paul is a fellow Michigander who lives in Portage. They met on tour in the Porcupine Mountains in 2013 and have been friends since then. Imagine your own surprise running into a friend when you’re both 2400 miles away from home!

Only five states remain on their to-do list: South Carolina, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Jersey, and Hawaii. I asked about the plan for 2020, and Toni replied.

“Next April we go to South Carolina out of Beaufort on a week long tour with Carolina Tailwinds. We go up to Charleston and back over a week. On the way home we head down to Savannah, on a 4-day tour out to Jeckyl Island. It’ll be warm there in April, that’s our hope. Gone a month, then home.”

They’ll be in Calgary in mid summer, next stopping in Glacier National Park or maybe Coeur d’Alene on the way home. September will be a big month for them. “A bike tour in Pennsylvania, then over to Rhode Island, then back to New Jersey, on our own. And then back down the Chesapeake Bay for Maryland & Delaware.”

Hawaii will have to wait until 2021, in order to do it properly. Toni is not a fan of flying, so rushing their planning doesn’t make sense. They’ll spend at least two weeks there, and probably have tours on Hawaii and on Maui. Once Hawaii is satisfied, they will turn to the Canadian provinces which border the U.S.

We’d love to hear from you about your tour plans and see the list of states you ride in. We’d also forward any comments for Tom & Toni. Finally, your questions about our tours are always welcome. Please  click this link to reach us. Thanks for reading!

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