Cross-country road trip day 1 is in the books! Tyler picked me up in New Hampshire and we spent the night in Maine at his place. After some last-minute packing, we hit the road for Burlington, Vermont.

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Leaning on a huge Rand McNally atlas and a highlighter, we plotted the path for some analog navigating. Key stops included Schilling Brewery in Littleton, NH and The Alchemist in Stowe, VT.

Our traveling partner, Lady, Tyler’s golden retriever, blew absolutely wicked fish breath into our faces the entire way, music was blasted, and pictures were taken. NH Route 302 is highly recommended for maximum scenic enjoyment.

After landing in Burlington, we unloaded the HeyBike e-bikes and took a spin from downtown over to Zero Gravity Brewing. Burlington’s Island Line Trail, seemingly tailor-made for this, was an absolute blast on the e-bikes. Highly recommend. Sidebar: The food at Zero Gravity is top notch.

Looking forward to evaluating the CrossClimate 2 tires that Michelin seeded us with and sharing more news from the road!

First up, a huge shout-out to Michelin for seeding us with a set of CrossClimate2 tires for the drive. Looking forward to sharing what we learn on this trip and beyond - they’re all-weathers :) Also, thank you to Tyler for throwing said tires at me.

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And another thank you to HeyBike and Hollywood Racks! HeyBike has provided a pair of e-bikes - the Ranger 3.0 Pro and Mars 3.0 - both of which magically fold up for transport!

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Why not put them inside the car for the drive you might be wondering? Because we shall be joined by Lady The Wonder Dog for this 3,000-mile adventure!

So, it’s a rack for the bikes, specifically the RV Rider heavy-duty beast of an e-bike setup from Hollywood Racks. These e-bikes, they’re not lightweight. The plan is to stop at Rocky Mountain and Capitol Reef National Parks to do some fat tire e-bike exploration!

Stay tuned for more stories from the field! ICYMI, this road trip will be our third cross-country boondoggle. The first time in 2004, the second time in 2013, and here we go again.

Stoked for the next road-tripping chapter and for recreating some of our more…iconic photos of yore.

About the author: Niel Stender is an automotive journalist. More of his work can be found at muckrack.com/niel-stender