Georgia biker visits several ‘middles of nowhere’ in cross-country trip

During his 67-day, 4,287-mile bicycle trip across America, Dan Miller experienced beautiful scenery and beautiful weather (and some days, not-so-beautiful weather), met interesting people, stayed in quirky communities, passed through a dozen states and briefly visited Canada.

He also stockpiled a trove of tales he’ll be able to recount to friends and family for years. And along the way, Miller learned there are varying degrees of being in the middle of nowhere.

“I usually talked to somebody (on the phone) once a day,” said Miller, 63, who left Washington state on Aug. 1 and arrived in Bar Harbor, Maine, on Oct. 6. “Sometimes I’d have an inkling my night stop would have no (cell) coverage, so I’d call my wife in the middle of the day and let her know that I’m in another version of out in the middle of nowhere. And there were lots of versions of in the middle of nowhere. That phrase started to lose meaning.”

Miller, who kept a blog while on the trip (which can be perused at www.danmillerrides.com) and was able to be tracked via satellite, said that his main takeaways from the sojourn centered on the visual beauty of the country and the organic beauty of the souls that reside within.

“This is a very big and very beautiful country, even the parts that people might describe as not beautiful,” the long-time Berkeley Lake resident said. “They are in their own way. When you hit the vastness of North Dakota or eastern Montana, it takes your breath away how expansive it is. I rode into New England in the fall with the leaves changing colors. It’s the indescribable beauty of things.

“And the other part is the people. I had no negative human encounters. Everything was positive and everybody was helpful.”

Miller said he met a man at the 2,000-mile mark with whom he and his wife Marian later had dinner at the conclusion of the trip. He also stayed with former Berkeley Lake neighbors at their home in San Point, Idaho, and then as he was pedaling into Bar Harbor, Miller met the sister of one of his Sand Point friends.

“They live in Blairsville and were on vacation,” he said. “She had talked to her sister about the trip and followed the blog and the satellite, so they pulled over and waited for me on the ride up.”

The former longtime Brookwood High School teacher also endured extremes in temperature, often on the same day.

“I had it all,” he said. “The day I rode into Great Falls, Mon., it was 109.5 degrees. And 24 hours later, same time of day, it was 50 degrees and raining. I was only 75 miles away from where I’d been the day before.

“I’d experienced 55-degree changes in the weather when I flew someplace. You don’t expect those kind of temperature changes when you’re basically in the same place you were in the day before.”

In addition to checking a sizeable item off his personal bucket list, Miller – who was able to ride for a week with his brother in Wisconsin – sought to raise money for Duluth-based Rainbow Village, which for 30 years has served homeless families in metro Atlanta. In recognition of Rainbow Village’s 30th anniversary, Miller set a goal of raising $30,000, but he remained more concerned about his daily ride than the status of the fundraiser.

“That went amazingly well,” Miller, who has two daughters and one granddaughter, said. “To be honest, I kept my goal at $30,000 because it’s their 30th anniversary, so I thought that was a good number, but I didn’t think I had all that great of a shot of getting there. I got to about $22,000 about the time I entered New York and donations had stalled and I figured I had done pretty good. Then a $5,000 donation came in from a former student and then it kind of caught a second wind and (now) it’s at $32,680.

“I was going to enjoy the trip from a personal standpoint, but that made it so much more meaningful. I enjoyed i,t but we also expanded awareness of Rainbow Village’s mission and brought some new donors who weren’t aware of them before.”

A few days after his return home, Miller – who amazingly avoided any injury while on his ride (“I never even took an Advil,” he said) – had yet to ride again.

“My bike is still at a bike shop in Portland, Maine,” he said. “And when I dropped it off to have it shipped back to me, like everything else associated with bike shops, they’re way behind and overcommitted on maintenance and repair activities. I think it will ship out (soon). I haven’t had my bike to ride.”

With no bike trips on the horizon, Miller looks back on his two-wheeled voyage with the knowledge he’s accomplished a feat that is a decidedly solo operation.

“I enjoyed what I did; I wouldn’t give the experience up for anything, but it is limiting as to who can participate,” he said. “It’s demanding.”

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