A cross-country bike tour blog that's highly recommended

Check out Bob Lee's “A Ride for 3 Reasons” blog if you want to follow a cross-country bicycle tour by a thoroughly engaging writer. That's not just me saying that; his blog was named “Cool Site of the Day” by digital goddess Kim Komando.

Lee is a 65-year-old cyclist who is presently working his way up the East Coast on the first leg of a 6,500-mile bike ride to raise funds for three charities — The American Cancer Society, The National Hospice Foundation, and The Les Turner ALS Foundation.

The colon cancer survivor from Barrington, Illinois, is filing almost daily posts with lots of images. He's got a keen eye for the land that he's passing through and doesn't seem reluctant to get off the bike and explore roadside attractions or talk with folks along the route.

For instance, he's been battling headwinds recently while bicycling through Virginia. Along the way, he was curious about a burn-ban sign along the way that said, “No burning 'til 4 p.m.” He wondered about that, so he stopped in at the firestation to ask.

“One last revelation about the wind, I kept seeing these signs about no open burning until after 4:00.   Were people really thinking the smoke would not pollute the air if it was done at night and you couldn’t see it?  Is this like the tree falling in the forest…?   With Earth Day coming this Sunday, I thought I needed the answer so I pulled into a firehouse to ask.  It is all about the winds.  Normally the winds die down after four, so there is less risk of starting a forest fire.”

Lee started his trip in Florida on March 29, and as of today he's in Fredericksburg, Virginia, some 1,080 miles into his bike tour. He already has met his fund-raising goal of $195,000, so he upped it to $500,000.

An email from a marketing specialists at Quicken Loans, which is one of his co-sponsors, assures me that all this money goes to charity; none of it goes to Lee's expenses. Other sponsors are listed at title page for the website, A Ride for 3 Reasons.

Lee plans to ride up the East Coast to Maine, fly with his bike to Anacortes, Washington, then ride eastward cross-country back to Maine.

This is a very worthwhile endeavor. If you'd like to contribute, you can do so by adopting a mile. Each $20 donation helps him to reach his goal.