Our (Cycling) Story

We are Robert and Bliss Sawyer and for some reason decided to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in June 2026 by riding bicycles across the country from Bellingham, Washington (where our love story began in 1985) to New Jersey. As with our marriage, our cycling adventures have evolved over the years.

         1986 Engagement Photo

In 2000 we started riding bikes together, and would periodically participate in 60-100 mile supported rides. Bliss likes to have goals and loves to travel so she set a goal to bike at least 50 miles in all 50 states. In the beginning we would drive to nearby states and ride to get our miles in. When it became impractical to drive we flew with our bikes to Chicago. Robert put the bikes back together in a hotel room, we rented an SUV and were able to get our miles in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. 

2016 in the mountains of Utah

Then Bliss decided she wanted to try bikepacking. The next year, we flew with the bikes to Minnesota and rode from Minneapolis to Fargo North Dakota over a week's time. Our next trip was through 5 states in the Northeast to celebrate Bliss’ 50th birthday. For these first two trips we carried our clothes in panniers and did what they call credit card touring. At some point, at a cafe somewhere in Massachusetts, we were talking to an older man about our trip. He asked if we were camping and we told him that we were staying in hotels and AirBnBs. As he was walking to his car he turned to his wife and said “did you hear that, they’re staying in hotels”, and then he just laughed. 

Having been shamed by an old man, Bliss’ next big plan was to try bike camping. As a trial run we rode from Payson Utah to Zion’s National park with our friend Greg. The 2 nights of camping were fairly successful, except we learned that we needed warmer sleeping bags. With an investment in better gear, we did a one week trip in Florida and Georgia, and a 3 week trip from Georgia to Virginia along the East Coast Greenway (which is more of a concept than an actual bike route). We tried to limit it to about 50 miles a day so we wouldn’t be exhausted at the end of the ride. We were able to do a lot of sightseeing and enjoy the rides a little more. On this trip we stayed with our first WarmShowers.org host, Liz. We had hosted cyclists before, but had never been hosted. Liz did so much for us, which felt a little awkward at first. We thought about how we enjoy helping people that stay with us, so we learned to embrace her kindness. 

Headed to Zions National Park - 2017

Then, Robert decided he wanted to ride across the US, as it seemed like the logical thing to do since we are bike packers from the US. However, Bliss thought it might be too hard and take too long, so we decided to try bike packing overseas.  The first trip was to the UK in 2023 riding from the southern tip of England (Land’s End) to the northern tip of Scotland (John O’Groats).  Over 6 weeks there were many adventures, from Bliss’ ambulance ride to the emergency room, to meeting up with Meg who we had hosted 6 years prior and spending a lovely time with her family. Several wonderful Warm Showers hosts, a broken derailleur and the heroes that helped us continue the trip, to many castles and so much more. 

Cycling past the castles of Scotland

Since we conquered the 59,000 feet of climbing in the UK, and Bliss loved the mossy green of Scotland, she set her site on cycling in Norway in 2024. Our toughest challenge yet!  Constant hills (almost 84,000 feet) and rain were the norm. However, the good out weighed the bad. So many great views of the amazing fjords and mirror lakes, trusting that the ferries will get you to where you need to be, sleeping in a cave, hiking Preikestolen, and kayaking in Geiranger. The best was meeting 82 year old Willy at a gapahuk (free camping shelter) and being invited to stay at his grandparent’s homestead that happened to be on our route. 

Bliss chatting with our new best friend Willy in Norway

Finally it was time to start planning the ride across the states in 2026. Bliss, needing a purpose or cause to get more motivation, decided we should raise money for charity. We are calling our ride Hope Across the USA, because of our hope to help people through our efforts, and to give hope to others (and because we were able to create a cool logo 😀). Bliss has been in the mortgage business for 35 years, and Robert has volunteered at Tabitha’s Way food pantry for the last 3 years. We are dedicating our ride to raising funds for Habitat for Humanity and Tabitha’s Way (or your local food pantry). Early in our planning we came up with the slogan, “Everyone Deserves a Warm Bed and a Full Belly”, and that is inspiring us to take on this formidable task. Cycling together brings us so much joy and brings us closer together. Our love has grown through the miles. We are excited to share this trip with you and to make it about more than just us.