I am in the later stages of planning my 2012 bike tour from Altoona, Iowa (home) to Fort Collins, Colorado (my daughter Jen's home). The route I am planning takes me from my front door to Muscatine, Iowa then south along the Mississippi River on a combination of the Mississippi River Trail and the Adventure Cycling Great Rivers route (Section 1) until it crosses the Adventure Cycling TransAmerica route just north of Cape Girardeau, MO. I then plan to travel west following the TransAmerica route (Sections 9, 8, 7 and 6) across southern Missouri, Kansas and Colorado. In Colorado, the route will take me over Hoosier Pass, the high point of the TransAmerica route at 11,542 feet. Once past Walden, CO I'll leave the TransAmerica route and head towards Laramie, WY then down to Fort Collins.
Total mileage is just under 1,900 miles. I plan to average my typical 60 miles a day and take a day off here and there to rest and take in local attractions. I'll be camping most of the way with an occasional hotel stay where necessary. The trip should take about 6 weeks. I plan to leave Altoona in mid-May and should arrive in Fort Collins sometime in late June. Susi will meet me in Fort Collins where we'll spend a week or so with family and friends. I'll pack my gear and bike in the car and ride with her back to Altoona after our visit in Fort Collins.
This trip leave open a future 1,800 mile tour option of leaving from Fort Collins and riding the western part of the TransAmerica route to Astoria, OR via Yellowstone NP, Montana and Oregon.
I'm also trying to arrange for a 10-day self-supported ride in September 2012 along the Selkirk Loop from Sandpoint, ID, BC Canada and eastern Washington. I'm told this is an "epic" ride.
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