"I am James Lupori," says James Lupori. "My wife is Virginia. We have been married 15 years and are still married after riding our custom Rodriguez tandem bicycle from our home in North Seattle, Washington to Bar Harbor, Maine. We began our tour (last year) on May 11th and arrived at Bar Harbor on August 3rd, a total of 70 fantastic riding days."

What else can you say about this couple who, at ages 39 and 37, paid off all of their debts (including their mortgage!), risked losing their jobs (they were both given leaves of absence) and set off to fulfill a dream by riding across America on Adventure Cycling's Northern Tier route? Well, you could mention that they had one heck of a good attitude about the whole thing.

James Lupori begins the tale of his journey by recounting a conversation he had with a woman in North Dakota, who, with her husband, was seriously considering putting an end to their cross-country tour. They were tired of headwinds, and tired of rain.

"With my usual diplomatic (flair) I blurted out 'You can't quit now, you've come too far!'" recalled Lupori.

Following his conversation with the woman in North Dakota, Lupori and his wife vowed to each other that nothing would stop them from completing their journey across America. And as it turned out, the vow was not all that hard to keep.

"It's interesting to look back and see that everything we worried about before we left turned out to be a non-issue," wrote Virginia Lupori. "Everything always worked out for the best."