Preparations take shape: 1. Selecting the route and when to start?

Where did all this start? 

Prior to retirement in July 2020, Christine and I decided to cycle across America from the East Coast to the West Coast. It is easy to make such a decision but there are so many pieces of the puzzle to fall in place. To complicate matters a bit, we also decided to sell our home in Northern Virginia and follow our children to Northern Idaho once we completed our cycling trip. 

We already completed a couple of longer cycle tours along longer trails and fell in love with the beauty of off-road cycling. There are so many dedicated cycling/hiking trails all over the United States. We enjoyed the Allegheny and the C&O Canal with our dear friend Roz Custard and thereafter did the Erie Canal towpath from Buffalo to Albany. Taking these off-road trails mean harder work and slower average speeds due to the mostly gravel/crushed stone surfaces, but you are so much closer to nature with no or very little interaction with on-road traffic.

So many things to do

Which route to take?

Shall we go on-road or shall we follow trails as we move along? There are so many options, each with their benefits and drawbacks, and many of these routes look very interesting. 

Following research and some discussion on the benefits of all of these routes, we agreed on the Great American Rail Trail a cross-America trail promoted by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy - https://www.railstotrails.org/greatamericanrailtrail/. Their vision is to develop a continuous trail on mostly abandoned rail tracks converted into biking/hiking trails. The current GART is about 3,700 miles long with about 2,000 miles of trail already completed. 

The Great American runs from Washington DC to La Push in the Olympic National Park. We added a route from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to Washington DC to have the opportunity to dip our wheels in the Atlantic at the start of the tour. 

We decided to include as many rail trails and bicycle routes as possible in our route. This obviously added some miles and we are now at about 4,500 miles. Some of these changes include route changes and additions;

• Rehoboth Beach-Washington DC leg: Plus 200 miles. Cyclists are not allowed on the Bay Bridge Road. This route will take us north to Elkton and then around the Bay via Havre de Grace and Baltimore's National Harbor to DC. 

• Cycle the complete Montour Rail Trail west of Pittsburgh: Plus 50 miles
  We read that this trail has several trestles and tunnels and we would like to see ALL of them. 
  
  
• Route change: Casper WY to Bozeman MT: Plus 100 miles 
  The preferred route runs from Casper to Thermopolis via Cody and Red Lodge to Livingstone and Bozeman. There are almost no completed rail trails along this section. So we shall cycle the Shoshone-Riverton Rail Trail, cross the Bridger-Teton National Forest onto the rail trails in and around the Grand Teton National Park. Then crossing the Tetons to Briggs Idaho and onto rail trails north vis Tetonia and Ashton to West Yellowstone. We expect some rough sections on the Railroad Right-of-Way trail in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, but the scenery and hot springs are both stronger attractions. From West Yellowstone we shall cycle on the road again all the way to Bozeman. 
  
  
• Add  a Scenic Byway: Rail Trails in the Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota: Plus 350 miles

This 110 mile long trail runs through remote parts of the Black Hills National Forest and we shall do this as a return ride from Chadron Nebraska, a small town on the Great American. We shall also explore Hot Springs SD to find some "medicine water" for tired muscles. 

• Route change: Butte to Missoula MT:  Plus 100 miles

There are only a couple of short rail trail sections completed along the preferred Great American route via Deer Lodge and Drummond. We decided to abandoned copper smelter at Anaconda and cycle past the cross the mountains via the Skalkaho Pass to link up with the longer, completed Bitterroot Rail Trail between Grantsdale and Missoula.

When to start?

We originally planned to start towards the end of March 2021. Both Christine and I were able to arrange COVID-vaccines in early March 2021 and we shall receive our second shot on March 30, 2021. We now plan to start on April 9, 2021. Since we are retired, we really do not have a motivation to finish quickly. However, there are some CRITICAL commitments in August (we have an opportunity to look after our grandkids in Coeur dÁlene, Idaho) and this would probably determine our speed. 😍😍

(This is all for the first chapter of our cycling adventure blog. Please look out for the next chapters. )