"Never Say No to Adventure" : Route Update! Exciting!

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Route Update! Exciting!

Alright, I figured out my route from here and future plans. As you recall my original plan was to go to Brattleborough, VT via a fairly direct route after RAGBRAI. I was also going to catch a ride to Steven's Point with the Team RoadShow bus saving me three days. However, since Mark isn't moving to Brattleborough, I'm changing my goal a bit. I could have made it, but this will be more fun. Instead of shooting across Michigan and taking the ferry, I'm going to do some exploring and go to places that I've been meaning to visit, like Mackinaw Island. My new goal is Tunbridge, VT where another RoadShower lives, but I doubt I'll make it in time.

My new route, barring any meandering, is 1,563 miles. I have to be back at work on the 26th, and would prefer to get back around the 20th so I can readjust to stationary life before work. When I originally planned this trip I didn't think I had to get back to work until Sept 1st, but my district decided that spending time on meetings was valuable or something so now I have to do that. Tomorrow is August 1st, so that would mean 20 days at an average of 79 miles a day. If I ride up to the 26th that's 60 miles a day. I would prefer 60-70 mile days for this part of the trip with at least a short day in Mackinaw and maybe other cool places, so that's not going to work.

However, I think I'm still going to head towards Tunbridge anyway. I'm not sure where I'll stop, but I'll figure that out as the days pass. I should mention that this trip will be longer miles than any of the other x-country trips I've done, even though I won't make it to the coast or likely even Vermont this time. I've done the ocean to ocean thing twice, nothing wrong with meandering around the inland states.

I'll be on Adventure Cycling routes for most of it, but only 1 or 2 days will be a repeat of 2003. The rest will be brand new which I like. The AC maps do feel a bit like cheating, but when I find my own routes I often end up on AC routes by accident anyway because, well, both AC and I know what we are doing and great minds think alike. I don't have lots of time left, so I'll let them think for me. Plus Iris has done some of this Great Lakes stuff before and I miss her so maybe this will help.

From here I head almost directly to Escanaba, MI (about 2.5 days) to get on the Great Lakes Route map 2 and ride 153 miles to Mackinaw. From there I get on Great Lakes Route Map 3 and do about half that route (220 miles) to map section 26 near Wolf Lake. Then I head straight east on the Lake Erie Connector 504 miles partially through Canada to Fort Erie by Buffalo, NY. There I cross at Niagra Falls (this is the part I've done before) and get on the Northern Tier map 10 (which overlaps part of NY State Bike Route 5, my originally planned NY route) 421 miles to Ticoderoga, NY which is 66 miles from Tunbridge, VT. Likely I'll run out of time somewhere on this last section, especially if I detour which could happen, and have to fly back.

I'm thinking of getting in contact with Michelle, the Great Divide rider who I met in the jail in Ovando, MT and who lives in Rochester, NY, and ending there. It seems soon, but time is time and I'll still have done enough miles to have gotten to the Atlantic if I'd gone straight there.

I'm gonna try and link the map routes in pictures here, but if they don't show up just click on the links in the paragraph above to see the routes.