Planning a trip from East to West starting in Yorktown Virginia and ending in Astoria Or. Using Adventure cycling maps. Is it best to do the Trans American Trail or Use the Lewis and Clark Trail and avoid Kanas? Any information on either of these routes would be helpful in our planning. I did the Norther Tier in July and it was way to HOT for my Alaskan blood :-)
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If sensitive to heat, the North is cooler than the middle, I might suggest the Southern tier in winter. As you mentioned Virginia, I passed there in late October. Bugs dying off and high temperatures are not as intense. Rode down coast, cutting across Southern Georgia and popped out at Panhandle Florida. Coastal as far as you desire, due to onshore winds, turned inland around Corpus Christi. Hit Laredo on the Rio Grande. Following river to El Paso and then you have some options on either side of border. Mexico is easy riding, a little cheaper, and if you avoid places the road disappears into a cavern, better asphalt than TX and NM.
I just finished my ride in February of this year.
Temperatures are typically perfect for cycling, expect for a section in Texas I encountered lows into the thirties; given I Carried a summer bag, picked up a blanket to be more comfortable.
Happy trails
Thank you for this information, Peter. We are still planning and trying to stay as far north as we can. Already did the Northern Tier so looking a bit south by not as far south as the Southern Tier.
I did the east to west (yorktown to Florence, oregon) using the ac maps.....had a great time and would highly recommend it....started in May and ended in mid August..averaged 57 miles a day..liked the east to west because i started early every day (5:30 to 6:30) and the sun was almost always behind me and the dirvers could see me better as well....had a blog on crazy guy with a bike...if you want more info be happy to share what i can....2 flats over 4300 miles. hardest part was the appalachians in va and kentucky....ozarks too,,
Actually, South Dakota is a bit warmer than northern Nebraska. An anomaly, yes. Possibly due to the fact that the Nebraska Sandhills remain largely unplowed while most of Kansas and South Dakota are heavily farmed. If you want to see the Great Plains in natural grass, then Nebraska is your answer. Hwy 92 west of Broken Bow is the most stunning and has almost no traffic, but most remote. Hwy 2 traverses thru the middle of the Sandhills, but has a parallel railroad and moderate traffic. US 20 is also nice - some sandhills, wide shoulders, moderate traffic. More services than the others.
This would entail taking the L&C west from St. Louis to western Iowa. (Which is a better crossing of Missouri than the TransAm). For Hwy 92 or Hwy 2, cross into Neb. at Missouri Valley. For US 20 cross at Sioux City. In western Nebraska you can cut north into the Black Hill and join the PPP route or you can continue west on US 20/26 to Casper. WY and west to Jackson and the Tetons.