Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

How are you getting to the start and how are you getting home? We will be departing Chicago, June 1 on Amtrak’s Empire Builder. We will be able to transport our boxed bikes in the baggage car for $5 extra. Amtrak will take us to Portland, OR where we have arranged a rental truck and driver to take us to Seaside. For our return from Bar Harbor, my wife will meet us there with the car and bike rack .

What is the total distance and what will be your daily mileage? Roughly 4,300 total miles. We will try to average 65-75 miles per day. We will take one rest day per week.

How did you plan your route? Myself and the other riders are members of Adventure Cycling Association: http://www.adventurecycling.org/. Adventure Cycling has detailed route maps for several cross continent routes as well as other regional cycle touring routes. Our trip actually includes 4 ACA routes, The Lewis and Clark Trail from Seaside to Missoula, MT, the Great Parks Route from Missoula to Glacier National Park. The Northern Tier Route from Glacier Park to St Croix, WI, the North Lakes Route from St Croix, WI to Ft. Wayne, IN and back on the Northern Tier from Ft. Wayne, to Bar Harbor, ME. The map of our route on the homepage is well detailed and was created from the ACA maps. You can zoom in to see our route in detail.

Where will you be sleeping? We are planning to camp most nights, with an occasional hotel, probably one night per week. Adventure cycling maps have detailed directions to camp sites and have partnered with communities along the routes to accommodate cyclists in city parks.

Will you have someone carrying your gear? Nope. What fun is that? We will be living pretty much off of what we carry.

Where will you eat? We will eat in restaurants mostly. We will carry some rations for situations where a restaurant is not available. If needed, we will purchase groceries and cook our own meals. We will need to take in somewhere between 3500 and 4000 calories per day to replace what we will expend.

Who will be riding with you? My son Joe, who will turn 17 somewhere around Missoula, MT (June 13), Phil, who works in the printing industry from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Louis, from New York City, a retired public school guidance counselor, David, a nurse by training and businessman from Christchurch, New Zealand, and Robert from Arkansas, who is semi-retired, and is an avid backpacker having completed a number of major trails including the entire Appalachian Trail in 2008. We have 3 or 4 other individuals who have expressed interest, but have not as yet, committed ie. bought their ticket to the West coast. We connected with our fellow riders through Adventure Cycling Association.

What type of roads will make up your route? Generally, Adventure Cycling routes take well maintained rural two lane roads. By necessity, some routes follow busier four lane roads that (hopefully) have wide shoulders. Rarely the routes include interstate highways where it is legal for bicycles in some Western States.