Well, it’s not exactly my birthday but today is the one year anniversary beginning my epic and historic Grand Slam Plan! adventure (GSP!a).
Historic might seem a little mellow dramatic, but consider this. One leg of my adventure was to bike the entire 3000 mile East Coast Greenway, from the Canadian Border in Maine to Key West, in one go. Since the ECG was established back in 1991 there have only been about 120 people (it’s unclear whether there are any fur babies in the numbers) to officially accomplish this amazing feat. As of now, I’m still the most recent having finished in 2024.12.21 in Key West.
Follow this link on the ECG website and scroll to the bottom of the official thru-riders list and you will see, “Jim Porter Casey ’24.” Yep, that’s me. There are others on the ECG even now looking to make their mark adding their names to the list.
The first leg of the adventure was bike packing around 350 miles from Huntsville to Cape Girardeau, Missouri to witness the also historic moment of the total eclipse. Cape Girardeau was the only area in the United States in the path of the April 8th, eclipse to also have been crossed by the total eclipse in 2017.
From there I headed to north Georgia to backpack the Appalachian Trail. After 700 miles I did a fast forward to Monson, Maine to hike the Hundred Miles Wilderness and Katahdin. I like to joke that I was trying to catch up to the eclipse for another view because it also passed directly over Katahdin.
After picking up my new bike in Millinocket I cycled to Calais/St. Stephen Canada to the start of the ECG. After finishing in Key West I took the Ferry to Fort Myers, Florida and biked home to Huntsville from there, except for taking Amtrak from Tampa to Jacksonville. Total biking odometer was about 5000 miles plus the 800 on the AT backpacking.
When someone asked would I do it again, I said: “I might.” And by that I meant for a second time, not just in the first place. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and mesmerizing adventure. I had a big time!
Check my Instagram for photography from the GSP!a and other socials for more of the story.
©2025 – Jim Porter Casey
