Most of us bicycle tourists love to hear about the routes that others have taken. Everyone has a fabulous surprise here or there, or maybe a warning of a particular stretch. It makes us all better bike tourists. So in this video I’ve recreated our route, so those of you who can’t get enough of routes and maps can follow along.
Probably the most frequently asked question we get on YouTube is “could you guys post a GPX of your route?”. We haven’t done that, because along the ride, sometimes I’d use Komoot, sometimes Google Maps, and didn’t always save the routes (I know, I know. I’ll get better at that) and Julianna’s Garmin had issues throughout the trip. So our records are lousy.
However, I’ve re-created the route on Komoot to the best of my memory (which is pretty good when it comes to navigation), and the link is included below, along with some of the trails and routes we patched together. I hope you find this video useful, and maybe even mildly entertaining!
Cheers!
Our Route on Komoot (Part 1-Rialto Beach, Washington to Great Falls Montana): https://www.komoot.com/tour/959040934
Our Route on Komoot (Part 2 – Kansas City, Kansas to Kittery, Maine): https://www.komoot.com/tour/959054672
Trailink: https://www.traillink.com/
Great American Rail Trail: https://www.traillink.com/great-american-rail-trail/
Olympic Discovery Trail: https://olympicdiscoverytrail.org/
https://www.traillink.com/trail/olympic-discovery-trail/
Burke-Gilman Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/burke-gilman-trail/
Sammamish River Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/sammamish-river-trail/
East Lake Sammamish Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/east-lake-sammamish-trail/
Preston-Snoqualmie Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/preston-snoqualmie-trail/
Snoqualmie Valley Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/snoqualmie-valley-trail/
Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/palouse-to-cascades-state-park-trail/
Trail of the Coeur D’Alenes: https://www.traillink.com/trail/trail-of-the-coeur-dalenes/
NorPac Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/norpac-trail/
Route of the Olympian: https://www.traillink.com/trail/route-of-the-olympian/
Rock Island Spur of Katy Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/rock-island-spur-of-katy-trail-state-park/
Katy Trail State Park: https://www.traillink.com/trail/katy-trail-state-park/
Madison County (Illinois) Trails: https://www.mcttrails.org/
Ohio to Erie Trail: https://www.ohiotoerietrail.org/
https://www.traillink.com/trail/ohio-to-erie-trail/
Erie Canal Trail: https://eriecanalway.org/explore/cycling
https://www.traillink.com/trail/erie-canalway-trail/
Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/delaware-and-hudson-rail-trail/
Northern Rail Trail: https://www.fnrt.org/
https://www.traillink.com/trail/northern-rail-trail/
Rockingham Recreation Trail: https://www.traillink.com/trail/rockingham-recreational-rail-trail-(portsmouth-branch)/
Good Morning America good morning good morning babe how are y’all in our last video we went through and discussed how you can really plan your own cross-country trip on this video we wanted to respond to some of the people who’ve been writing back saying can you share your GPX can you
Share your Garmin info unfortunately we really can’t kept really bad records I was on commute sometimes Google Maps sometimes Juliana was using her Garmin but the Garmin kind of kept conking out it was a new product and they replaced it on the way but again just everything
Is all scattered so we kept really improper records but I am really fascinated with you know maps and routes and if it was me on the other side I’d want to know what route I was taking so yeah I’d like to kind of go through with
How we planned our trip with some of the real successes we had and some of the mistakes we made along the way but first if you’ve enjoyed these videos go down to that little red button down there and hit subscribe hit like hit the alert
Button and we plan to have a bunch more videos coming out and as long as we do really cool trips we’d love to share them with you and appreciate it very much thanks okay on with the show we knew we wanted to start somewhere on the
West coast we figured why not as far west as we can that put us somewhere in Washington state unless we were in Alaska or Hawaii which would be tricky um so we’ve hit the spot just north of La Push which is where the Great American rail trail starts We Didn’t
Start in La Push because they were discouraging visitors due to covid so we started on a beach just north of there called Rialto Beach and it’s almost the furthest west you can get on the continental US a beautiful setting beautiful start to the trip and from there we rode
So from there we followed Washington 110 into Forks the rail trail hadn’t really started yet or any of the uh Great American rail trail hadn’t started yet they’re still developing that section and then we were able to follow County Road 2010 which connects to the the Great American rail trail and in this
Case the Olympic Discovery Trail our goal was to follow the Olympic Discovery Trail as much as we could all across the Olympic Peninsula Olympic Peninsula if you’re not familiar with it beautiful part of the country gorgeous trees rainforests mountains seacoasts it’s just Exquisite not to be missed you
Don’t want to start in Seattle if you’re doing a west to east you know you want to go all the way across to that Far West Olympic Peninsula because you know to miss the Olympic Peninsula is to miss what was arguably the prettiest part of our entire ride and the Olympic
Discovery Trail fabulous so our plan was always to see how the Great American rail trail would sort out we knew we couldn’t follow it the whole way there are places where obviously it doesn’t even exist still a project in development but you know we definitely
Wanted to use as much of the rail trail infrastructures we possibly could our goal was to use commut and Google Maps to really connect the dots between rail trails at a certain point the Olympic Discovery Trail Cuts North towards Port Townsend we headed east and took the Hood Canal Floating Bridge across from
One part of the peninsula to the other over the Hood Canal and then from there we crossed the rest of the peninsula to Kingston I think is the name of it took a ferry over to Edmonds on the mainland and from Edmonds we followed Google Maps
Until we could get to the Burke Gilman Trail which skirts around Seattle and then you’re taking different Trails like the Sammamish River Trail Sammamish Lake Trail I believe which is a Long Lake to the east of Seattle you’re trying to avoid the big urban sprawl of Seattle and we followed that
All the way down to Issaquah which is where things started getting interesting because here’s where we ran into trouble the Great American rail trail the guard follows along the Preston’s Snoqualmie Trail which should lead toward North Bend where you start climbing up into the Cascades unfortunately that trail
Led us into a dead end with no real way out and ultimately managed to get a ride through some real traffic heavy winding shoulderless roads until we got to North Bend at North Bend we were able to take the Snoqualmie Valley Trail into the Cascades through the Snoqualmie tunnel
And across the Cascades over into the eastern half of the state gorgeous Trail we absolutely loved this little stretch and the tunnel itself is something like 2.4 miles and what’s cool is you know you’re in this room really wet part of the state and all of a sudden you pop
Out the other side and it’s a completely different climate so we followed that trail all the way down into clay Ellum and Clay Ellum we had a choice we could follow the Palouse to Cascades Trail also part of the Guard from Cle Elum all the way to Idaho but you’d have to cross
That Columbia River which at the time summer of 2021 the Beverly Bridge had not been completed yet so there was no way over other than taking the interstate which also didn’t have any shoulders so that seemed like a no-go and also there was a long long stretch a
Very high desert with what looked to be no services and we’d heard tales that it’s really not ready for Prime Time really Rocky really tough riding and we cut North over old Bluewood pass North out of Cle Elum towards Leavenworth then East now on us-2 into Wenatchee across
The Columbia follow the Columbia up some of the ways along really nice bike trails and that that’s where we made a big climb out of the Columbia River it was about a day’s worth of riding just getting out of that Columbia River Valley and from then on it’s a straight
Shot all the way across the us2 on Davenport we were able to take a little Sunset Highway kind of byway which was very quiet very beautiful very Serene pretty much all the way into Spokane all along the u.s2 relatively busy road but the shoulders were great at no point did
We feel like it was any kind of an issue at all it was very safe riding Google Maps found us a really nice way from Spokane down to Plummer why plumber because that’s the start of the trail of the quarter lanes and we definitely wanted to follow the trail of the
Quarter Lanes one of the real you know gems of the whole rail trail system in the United States all the way into well pretty much all the way across into Montana just kind of winds its way through the Bitterroot mountains in Idaho through some really cool mining towns Wallace is outstanding now we’re
Following the Great American rail trail again takes you all the way into Milan which is kind of close to the top of the pass actually from there you can connect to the nor path takes a little hunting but you can follow the Nord pack which
Is a a relatively simple trial it is not a steep climb at all maybe two percent great it seems like it goes over the past Lookout Pass and then down the other side there’s a tunnel that we were supposed to take called The Borax tunnel
Which had caved in and that took us on I-90 which we didn’t want to do and it was okay a nice wide shoulders at any rate we got on the the route of the Olympians but the trail deteriorated significantly as we went loose rocks not
At all fun riding and as a matter of fact we had to get off our bikes and and walk it a chunk of the way and this is supposed to be our downhill day catching up on some climbing we managed to get off of that and just get onto some side
Roads and sometimes we had to get on I-90 and we took that into Missoula uh our goal was to go south out of Missoula going south out of Missoula you’re looking at U.S 93 and there’s a bike trail that kind of follows that all the way south to a place called
Grantsdale at grantsdale you can take Montana 38 across the mountains and then it connects to Montana one and goes through anaconda and Butte ultimately going to Bozeman and then you’re kind of following that whole Yellowstone to the Black Hills section and that was our plan we wanted to ride across Southern
Montana and get to the Black Hills and then take the Mickelson Trail South and from the end of the Mickelson Trail we would find highways to connect us to the Cowboy Trail and that would take us across Nebraska unfortunately neither of our apps would allow us to make that
Connection they kept saying nope you have to turn around and go back it wouldn’t allow us to route through it we saw forest fires there on our smoke map and we assumed they must be closing the road due to forest fire activity well how are we going to get around this we
Could take I-90 and just kind of follow the I-90 Corridor but it was kind of a drag following I-90 I thought I’m not into that kind of writing so we were in Missoula where Adventure cycling is so we dropped into their office Adventure cycling headquarters let’s see if
They’ve got free ice cream sandwiches and maybe even um they suggested we take the Lewis and Clark Trail and that would take us Northwest out of Missoula and really reroute our whole situation well we were just struggling we were trying to get the hell out of Dodge I mean the smoke
Was getting worse every day the forest fires were kind of all around us and we were kind of hoping to be done with some climbing so we said yeah let’s go ahead and do that and we’ll take it across North Dakota let’s be flexible let’s be spontaneous and let’s completely change
Our route and and we did and we completely changed everything out of Missoula it was nice for a little bit and then it started getting kind of crappy the shoulders started running out and this was a main road through Montana so a lot of traffic very very fast
Traffic no shoulder for the most part and drivers were just not being polite at all even when there was plenty of room they wouldn’t move over it was really rattling us finally on us-287 coming into Augusta our fund just kind of shut down it’s smoky it’s dirty conditions seem extremely dangerous
What we decided to do was to fly into Kansas City so we had a bike shop box up our bikes and we got plane tickets out of Great Falls and we flew to Kansas City and got our bikes on the other end got them all put back together spent
About a week in Kansas City when we got to Kansas City everything just kind of chilled out it was such a relief and such a stress reliever why Kansas City my daughter Kelsey lived there and it would be really nice to see her I knew at Kansas
City we had bike trails we had rail Trails probably 60 percent of the rest of the ride would be on rail Trails which would be pretty awesome he spent some really quality time with Kelsey and Matthew spent some quality time checking out the city and just loved it and then
We took off through Kansas City and uh the Rock Island Rail Trail we took South through Pleasant Hill and all the way down to Windsor and that’s where it connects to the Katy Trail and then you’ve got the Katy Trail all the way heads up north towards Columbia and then
South towards Jefferson City and then just kind of follow through all these different farm towns just a pleasure to ride very flat very very Scenic I mean when we went through it was 110 degree heat index but it was fabulous fabulous ride all the way until we got to the
Little stop of Machens I think is how it’s pronounced um here we are in Machens Missouri this is the end of the Katy Trail and what we discovered is that we’ve got a little bell you ready and then from Machens you’re on roads and from there it’s fairly easy you have easy
Connections over to Missouri 94 and then you connect to US 67 which is what we took across the Alton Bridge over to Alton Illinois and started following uh Levy Trails uh South along the Mississippi in a Wood River we connected with some local bicycling folks who uh
The next morning kind of navigated us through a really interesting I believe it’s Madison County they have such an extensive bike trail system so they took us all the way through that whole section and then set us loose and we were heading towards the town of Pocahontas
At Pocahontas our next real point on the map is Cincinnati that’s where the Ohio to Erie Trail starts and so we wanted to get to Cincinnati a couple of states away and we knew to do that we’d have to kind of jot South if we wanted to follow
The corridor of us-50 along the quarter there’s going to be hotels motels restaurants towns Services water but we didn’t want to take us 50 we wanted to take uh side roads and looking at the maps there’s just tons of farm roads that you know maybe one to three
Miles off of U.S 50 really quiet gorgeous gorgeous riding hardly ever did we have to be on any stretch of the road that was anything other than super Pleasant from Pocahontas we went South following kind of farm roads to the town of Carlisle which is on us 50. at that
Point we had kind of a more or less a straight shot following a quarter of U.S 50 all the way into Cincinnati so I couldn’t really give you a real breakdown of all those Farm roads that we took through southern Illinois in Southern Indiana other than to say that
Kamut did an excellent job of finding us great routes most of them were paved all quiet never had an issue other than the fact that water was hard to find because there aren’t really any shops or any stores or gas stations along These Old Farm roads so a couple of occasions we
Had to stop and say hey any way we can you know use your hose and fill up our water bottles so from there we kind of kept going through all the way into the city of Vincennes which is a very old city uh located on the banks of the
Wabash River and suddenly We’re in Indiana now and the roads were very very different the way that the land was laid out seemed very different we went through towns like the goatee Bedford this is the area where we found the steepest climbs of our entire trip this
Is kind of Hill Country very kind of remote this is how I would describe it but eventually made our way through Bedford through Seymour through Versailles and Versailles State Park we made it all the way into Lawrenceburg where all of a sudden the only way
Across was to take us 50 and it was busy busy busy traffic there was no shoulder speak of we managed to find a Good Samaritan who took us all the way into Newport Newport Kentucky across the Ohio River from Cincinnati so from Cincinnati cut and dry basically you’re on Ohio bicycle
Route one and it is well signed all the way through through the city and then you’re on the Little Miami Scenic Trail in the Little Miami Scenic Trail takes you all the way into I believe Xenia and at that point you’re probably on the Prairie Grass Trail there’s the camp
Chase Trail there’s the uh Roberts Pass Trail through there a lot of different names of trails but it’s all part of the Ohio to Erie rail trail and just as good of riding as you could possibly find just hats off Ohio what an excellent job you’ve done out of Cedarville which is
North of Xenia it starts to get a little flat a little bit a little bit unspectacular but that doesn’t last for very suddenly find yourself in Columbus and you know the entrance into Columbus on the Ohio area Trail is really gorgeous you know you cross a couple of rivers
You go through a really cool Scenic Park and then all of a sudden boom you know there’s downtown it’s one of these classic kind of kind of Eastern downtowns with the more Art Deco style architecture leaving Columbus was kind of a bear Urban trails along the interstates but then it suddenly dips
Into really deep forest and really pretty trails and then suddenly it kind of spits you out into strip malls where there’s no bike trail to speak of and everything’s very confused and that’s probably the only so-so part of the whole Ohio to Erie Trail was through that Northern stretch of Columbus
Especially through the suburbs but once we got back on the trail it was gorgeous riding again I don’t remember all the trail names coca scene river trail goes through there Berks County I believe but at any rate you go through Mount Vernon really cool little town called killbuck
And this is really this is really the center of Amish Country take that into Millersburg take it in a Massillon Akron and then you’re following the coyo hoga Valley National Historic work just spectacular writing you get these little boardwalks and you’re just thinking I’m crossing the country on these really awesome bike
Trails how great is this this is a particularly spectacular part of the trail and that leads you into Cleveland Now we didn’t follow the Ohio to Erie all the way into Cleveland at some point we broke off and then we headed towards Lake Erie straight on up and we just skirted downtown and once we hit to Lake Erie we were pretty much following Lake
Erie all the way until we got to Buffalo New York we absolutely love this stretch of the road we had Lake Erie to our left most of the time Vineyards all the way through smelled just gorgeous like you could just smell the grapes The Ripe grapes nice little towns friendly people
And for the most part really quiet a couple of times the traffic got kind of uh crazy but very little that whole stretch I think it’s about 200 miles from Cleveland to Buffalo and it was just awesome all the way through you’re pretty much following State Highway 5
Whether you’re in Ohio I think it’s State Highway 5 Pennsylvania New York you’re also on bicycle route C through there and it’s very well signed and they’re used to cyclists not a problem with traffic really really excellent writing from Buffalo we followed the Niagara River Trail North to the falls
And we spent a couple days in Niagara Falls And from there it was an easy little skip to the Erie Canal Trail once we hit the Euro Canal we had smooth sailing Erie Canal Trail how many miles 350 I’m not sure how many miles it is obviously very flat follows the canal great history especially in
This part of the state following the Erie Canal Trail there ain’t much to it it just you just follow it there are stretches there’s a big stretch between Newark or lions and maybe Port Byron where you’re on roads but again never a problem always a shoulder very well
Assigned never was an issue we followed the Erie canal through Rochester through Syracuse through Rome past Utica along the Mohawk River towns like Little Falls Amsterdam and it was at Amsterdam that we decided this was where we would start to cut up towards New England so we
Didn’t follow the Erie Canal all the way into Albany we took New York 67 out of Amsterdam and followed that to New York 50 and then we followed New York 50 North into Saratoga Springs and so from there we followed it was kind of a series of bike paths I don’t remember
Their names but we went through Glens Falls and then I believe at Glens Falls that’s where we ran into a bike path that took us all the way down into Lake George really beautiful little Lake right there at the base of the Green Mountains of Vermont we then had to do a
Little backtracking climbed back out of Lake George and then across state highway 149 into Fort Ann it was too busy that was kind of a busy stretch and it was a little bit nerve-wracking and from Port I am then it was just a quick little jot over to Granville which is
Right on the Vermont New York border this is actually where Juliana where we knew she had coveted mostly at that point we followed the Delaware and Hudson Rail Trail which kind of skirts the line between New York and Vermont Juliana was feeling like hell at the
Time but it was a spectacular Trail just such beautiful color the surface was a little rough but it was a great way to be welcomed into Vermont so we took that into Castleton and then we’re basically following an ALT u.s4 route all the way into Rutland us-4 is kind of a main way
Across Vermont it’s very narrow State as you probably already know so it’s a pretty busy road than in Rutland we followed us-4 up into Killington which is where we head to quarantine for a week or two and then once we were feeling all better we rode out of Killington so we took
Us-4 from Killington all the way down into Woodstock where camut had us take a little side road that went north of the atokuchi river just a gorgeous gorgeous ride mostly gravel but covered bridges and beautiful farms and it was just as good as it gets and then you cross the
Connecticut River and you’re in New Hampshire and you’re in Lebanon South Lebanon is where we ended up we had to hang out there for a couple days waiting out another Nor’easter after a couple of days of rain in Lebanon we kind of emerged and we’re still feeling really
Fatigued and you know kind of sick from the from the covid we thought well we’ll just take highways we’re heading south towards Manchester Concord and Manchester so towards the southern part of the state thinking that the northern rail trail which is what we really wanted to take but thinking that was
Going to be a slog probably a muddy slog after all that rain but you know we found the northern rail trail we took a look at it and we decided no this looks very writable and we took that all the way down to Concord or so it lines
Around it adds a lot of miles but it’s so worth it it goes through a lot of different terrain some really excellent little towns that was one of our longest rides I think we hit maybe 60 miles that day again fatigued with covid and all gravel and you know cold conditions very
Damp but it was one of the happiest funnest days of my life it was just magnificent and I love that trail so much anyway we’ve got down into Concord check out the state capital of New Hampshire and then we followed some roads down to Manchester logging Hill Road Woodhill Road twist Hill Road
Mineral Hills I mean it was a nice little steep climb coming out of Concord I think there’s probably an easier way through but we made it down to Manchester and in Manchester we were able to catch the Rockingham Recreation Trail which you know didn’t get a lot of really good
Reviews when I read about it on trail link but despite the fact that we had some low bridges that we had to contend with I thought it was a really great trail part of it was the time of the year the colors were just amazing like
It was just the peak of autumn beautiful nice smooth gravel with a lot of lakes in between so yeah I think we took that all the way to New Hampshire 108. that’s where we kind of cut down and just followed Google Maps to get us into downtown Portsmouth and then from
Downtown Portsmouth we took the Memorial Bridge over into Kittery Maine where we spent the night again waiting out another Nor’easter until the next morning gone bright and blue and beautiful and we were able to dip our tires in the Atlantic all right here we go to the Atlantic ladies and gentlemen
It was an incredible trip the routing I got the big wins I mean I’d say let’s start with the rail Trails the Olympic Discovery Trail the Snoqualmie Valley Trail or the palusta Cascades Trail going over the Cascades magnificent a little trail that goes over old fluid pass is actually an Old Highway
Abandoned highway but we didn’t see one car the whole way loved taking us to Across the desert the trail of the quarter Lanes was Exquisite and just such a gem get out there and check it out very very nice Montana had its moments and it was definitely beautiful
And it’s very dramatic but Trail wise infrastructure wise uh not much to speak of the Katy Trail you know who doesn’t love riding along the Katy Trail the farm roads of southern Illinois and southern Indiana Southern Indiana less Farm roads more like Hill Country but well those were just a real surprise and
Were just fabulous and we just loved that stretch so much the Ohio is just incredible all the way through every every day seemed different than the last stretch along Lake Erie we loved of course the Erie Canal who doesn’t love the Erie Canal and then I would say boy riding across
Vermont the Delaware and Hudson is a great rail trail the northern rail trail is a great great amazing rail trail and the uh the route north of the otakuchi river if you’re Crossing Vermont that’s definitely something you want to you want to follow and the Rockingham rail trail across Southern New Hampshire was
Really really great mistakes we made you know I don’t know Montana had its moments but Trail wise and not much to speak of it it was really lacking sorely and it was not uh by far was the worst place for us to cycle for all kinds of
Reasons you know the route of the Olympians was just a slog through the loose Stone a lot of times we had to end up on Interstate 90 where we weren’t there was like no shoulders and really really fast traffic yeah not much I can say about riding through Montana I wish
We would have gone South out of Missoula and tried our luck going through that forest fire area but again you know hindsight 2020 maybe there’s no way we could have gotten through I don’t know I second guess it I think that would have been really an amazing part of the state
I think would have been quiet I think would have been very cool I wanted to do the Mickelson I wanted to ride through the Black Hills I wanted to do the cowboy Trail across Nebraska so those were all real misses and uh something that I feel
You know there’s a little bit of a hole in my heart because of it every once in a while we ran into issues Lawrenceburg in Indiana trying to get into Cincinnati that was just a mess the Preston Snoqualmie dead end in Washington that was a real Miss but on the whole
It was an amazing trip and I would hold up my route to anybody’s in terms of crossing the country especially if you want to spend time on rail Trails especially the original route I think that would have been really really great and hopefully we’ll get a chance to ride
That stretch again in the not too distant future maybe Juliana won’t do it maybe it’ll just be me we’ll see but at any rate I hope you all uh start planning your trip uh crossing the country is such an epic experience it’s a life changer start making your plan soon until then
Happy Trails all right one mile down 900 here we go
28 Comments
Hi I just discovered your channel and I’m enjoying your Danube ride. I’m going to enjoy more videos also picking up a few tricks along the way for our own bike adventures in Australia @bitsandgigs
My partner and I have enjoyed all the videos you guys make. It’s been such a pleasure and a helpful process
Thanks so much for all the effort in putting this all together. Like others here, I watched them all. I have a ton of footage from a trip I did with my son, but not sure what video editing software to get. What do you use and would you recommend it?
During your ride you were telling people that you were going to Portland Maine, but ended up in Kittery Maine. Did you change your mind/plan after deciding to finish the ride after getting Covid and just wanted to get to the coast as soon as you could but still be in Maine?
If you did originally plan on going to Portland ME, was your plan to originally take the path that you did up to Tilton NH and then head East/Northeast to the Cotton Valley trail and then Southeast to the Sanford-Springvale trail and then farther east to the Eastern Trail which would then take you up into Portland? Or were you thinking of going some other way?
Funny how things change. I have been reflecting on a cycle tour I did around the Rockies in Canada and the USA in1980. No google maps no Garmin just good old fashioned paper maps and advice from the Bikecentennial publications. It was great. Sometimes I lost my way and made wrong choices of rote but that was part of the adventure.
Ian
Loved watching all your videos. Would like to do something like this in the future. As part of your planning what is a rough estimate of cost calculated for such a trip? And how was it measured? I understand there are unexpected things that arise so what would you consider a high-low estimate for such a tour? Thanks for any info.
Such a fantastic video. Look forward to exploring the entirety of your route in more detail now that I have discovered your channel. I will be gradually building up some long distance bike packing routes over the next eight years or so before retirement. Interested in whether you or anyone else who follows your channel would recommend targeting the east coast greenway or cycling across the US West to East as the ultimate bucket list goal for an international visitor. I had the East Coast Greenway in mind, but have changed my mind after watching your video!
Going back and riding the mickelson trail and cowboy trail would be worth doing; check those off in your mind. We’ve ridden Hiawatha and trails of coeur d’ Alene and love them. Congratulations on such an epic accomplishment. How’s Julianna’s hand? You probably looked into it but there is a good rail trail in southern Illinois called tunnel hill.
Finally! A great video on bike touring across the country. This is very similar to the trek I want to take in 2024. Thanks a bunch!
Thanks so much for sharing your trip and especially how you put the route together. I'm preparing to embark on my own journey and you have inspired me!
Hi R & J. Thanks for the fun and informative video! It was great. I plan to do the ride in 2024. What month did you leave WA?
thanks for sharing the knowledge
Drivers here in Vegas are like that too; Not polite at all.
Loved the video, I have been looking at some of these routes. We did the Route of the Olympian in 2019 and it was pretty rough, we did it again in 2023 and it was much better, only the Saltese Trestle was still rough but we have 55mm wide tires. We did the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route through Wise, MT in 2021, it was really smoky and I doubt if you could have done the more western section of that highway at that time. However, it wasn't too bad once you were south of it. You probably could have taken the Trans American route through that section. 2021 was a really bad time to go through there. It's funny. We live 3/4 of a mile from a trailhead on the Ohio to Erie and have yet to do the whole thing. Based on your review, we definitely need to get out there. You need to give Western Montana another chance but stay off the main highways. They are terrible.
AMAZING !! Thank You 🙂
Congratulations to you two!
My wife and I have devoted countless hours trying to piece together a transcontinental bicycle ride. We live in Missoula and bought all the maps and interactive app info from Adventure Cycling, sought out all the individual State Department of Transportation materials, watched countless YouTube videos but the fact are that a third of the ride across Montana/Dakotas/Wyoming/etc. offers little if anything remotely resembling a dedicated bike trail.
So, what we’ve attempted to do is ride every scenic bike trail we can find realizing we were born too early and maybe, just maybe, someday a transcontinental bike trail may be a reality. Thanks!
precioso ! iré a pedalear USA ! thank u
Dogs?
Great video it’s nice to see you and your wife enjoy such a great adventure together
fantastic video!! When you were riding (and not @ hotel/motel), was lack of cell coverage much of a problem?? If yes, did you then depend on satellite navigation with your bike computer (e.g., Garmin)?? When you came to the closed/gated trail, how did you decide your next move/option?? Keep making those videos!!
Do you have your routes on "Ride w/GPS Mapping System?" If so, how can I get your routes? Specifically looking from Kansas City to St. Louis on the Rock Island and Katy Trails. Thanks
Thanks for the video…lots of great rail trails to ride and bucket list material.
Thank you so much!!
Thank you for your rather thorough documentation of your route. I've been on some of the same roads and bike trails. Your detour that skirted the Cowboy Trail was a blessing in disguise because the Cowboy Trail is weaksauce, with the exception of the trestle bridge just east of Valentine, NE. It's slower than the highway which it parallels and it is rife with goat head thorns in certain areas, which cause tire punctures. If you ever find yourself in Nebraska in the future, consider State Highway 12 as an west-east travel corridor that is superior to US Rt 30/Cowboy Trail. That highway begins at Valentine and goes east all the way to South Sioux City if you want to. It is sparsely traveled in most sections, and drivers are respectful by passing safely.
Cheers to your future adventures!
Interesting video, but hey get real, you did NOT cross the country. Yah, it was a horrible year for smoke. I'm glad I stayed home.
Anyway, WTH is the fascination with BORING rail snail trails thru endless trees and one horse towns?? LOL. That part of Hwy 2 Montana looks nasty alright. I had NO trouble riding N from Cd'A to Cranbrook.
I'd sooner have a smooth 3 foot+ shoulder highway any day.
My last tour in 2018 was a 3,900 mile loop from Edmonton thru Calgary, Banff, BC, WA, OR, WA, ID, BC, AB. I don't camp, so I went thru all the BIG cities. NO problem. My bike is 120 lbs with a Rohloff14. I rode the last 90 miles/ 2 days to Vancouver on the Trans Canada FREEWAY. LOL A couple days on the I 84 too. Hwy 99 a bunch around Seattle. I did get a couple truck rides the last month, because of flats and broken pumps. I had way more too hot days than rainy.
I ride busy highways around home lots, so I'm used to it. Most days I see zero others, even on 115 miles rides. LOL.
I did a little bit of the eary canal trail .. but I was following a different map called (find a spring) .. I was going from spring to spring, refilling my water …. It was Definitely an interesting rout
Thankyou for this inspirational guide. I’m looking for ways to explore the US with my camper and electric bike. These trails are perfect!
Thank you both for all the work put into this set of videos. My wife and I really enjoyed watching the entire series. The filming editing, narrating, and music integration made for an inspiring record of your travels across the United States. We look forward to watching your series on cycling in France.