It was the summer of 1976. As a young teacher I had requested a year's personal leave from my assignment, crated up my ten-speed, and flew from Eugene, Oregon, to the east coast. The challenge I had issued myself was to spend the summer bicycling the back roads of the U.S. in hopes of resolving two nagging questions: Could I actually make it from the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia to the Pacific Ocean in Oregon? And, what is the country I see on the nightly news really like? The roads I travel and the people I meet provide interesting discoveries and the crucial answers.