Port Hadlock man planning to ride tricycle coast to coast

Published 1:30 am Saturday, March 28, 2026

PORT HADLOCK — Tony Lee Harriman plans to ride his recumbent tricycle about 4,000 miles across the United States. The trip will support homeless veteran housing and will correspond with the nation’s 250th birthday.

Originally planned to start in Port Hadlock on April 1, where Harriman lives, the ride’s starting location has been altered slightly to Leavenworth. The change comes following notable snow storms, which made crossing Snoqualmie Pass undoable, he said. His ride will instead begin on April 2.

Harriman’s route will track a series of historic decommissioned railroad tracks, which are popular among bicyclists.

From Leavenworth, Harriman, 84, will ride through the Spokane area. He plans to pick up the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes through Idaho before heading into Montana and South Dakota to ride the 103-mile Mickelson Trail through the Badlands.

After he visits Mount Rushmore, he will ride through Minnesota and Wisconsin and eventually decide whether to push for Washington, D.C., or head toward Buffalo to ride the Erie Canal toward his family in New York.

“(The ride’s) been on my bucket list since I first started thinking about this in 2017,” Harriman said.

Harriman and his wife, Betty, have shared an adventurous life. The two were avid sailors who lived on their sailboat in San Diego.

Sailing is what first brought the two to Port Townsend in 1984. Harriman can still recall coming around Point Wilson for the first time.

“It was a foggy morning, the whole night, we turned the point, we could see Rainier and Baker,” Harriman said of the mountains.

The two docked and went to breakfast at Sea J’s Cafe, Harriman said.

They moved to the area in 1999 and became the owner-operators of LandsFall, a now-closed Port Townsend restaurant which Harriman described as an iconic local dive. The couple also owned and operated a restaurant named Tony’s.

While he has three marathons under his belt, Harriman was not an avid cyclist until a day in 2017 when he was allowed to take a recumbent trike on trial ride from Sequim Bike Studio.

That same year, he imagined riding coast to coast.

Now he rides the bike every day. When his dogs don’t run alongside him, he rides farther.

Harriman acknowledged some level of concern. Betty is concerned too, he said.

“She’s very, very scared,” Harriman said. “But she understands my motivation and she understands that there’s this thing in my heart that I can’t get rid of. So she’s very supportive.”

The recumbent trike is a fairly easy mode of exercise, he said. The three wheels undermine the concern of falling over.

His trike is electric assisted too, he added.

His primary doctor has told him they think he can do it, and his cardiologist, whom he calls a friend, thinks he can as well, Harriman added.

Concerns about the potential for his knee to tighten up will be soothed by getting a cortisone shot.

“That should last,” he said. “I’m more worried about disappointing people if something should happen, but I’m very optimistic and excited. Even if I run up into a situation where I gotta lay off for three or four, five days, I’m determined to make this thing happen. Harrimans are famous for this.”

Proud of his family’s perseverance and grit, Harriman also is proud of his country. His ride corresponds with the country’s 250th birthday.

Harriman is not optimistic that he will make it to Washington, D.C., in time for the 250th anniversary. Instead, he plans to enjoy the celebration in whichever town he happens to be nearest when July 4 comes around.

His final destination will be visiting family in New York, he said.

The trip will benefit Tunnels to Towers Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit which began after 9/11.

Harriman, born and raised in New York, wanted to support the foundation because of its focus on securing permanent affordable housing for homeless or struggling war vets and first responders. It does that by purchasing and renovating old hotels and motels and turning them into apartments.

Harriman’s time in the U.S. Air Force, from 1959-1963, pre-dated the Vietnam War.

“I worked in the largest induction station in the country, which was at that point doing the draft, plus all four services,” he said. “I probably sent a lot of people to the end of their lives in the beginning of Vietnam. So I have a real hole in my heart for veterans.”

Harriman plans to post updates on his YouTube channel, thth1167, on a daily basis. His Instagram account is tonyleeharr and Facebook page is Lee Harriman.

Supporters can donate to the Tunnels to Towers Foundation through a special portal set up for the ride’s benefit. The portal can be found at tinyurl.com/2apten8c.

Harriman’s personal expenses can be supported through a gofundme account at tinyurl.com/59wdt76y.

“I’m not rich, and it’s going to cost money,” he said.

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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.