Originally Posted by
valygrl
Look, just make it simple for yourself. Start on the Lewis and Clark. Take that to Missoula. Get on the TransAm, stay on it until Yorktown.
I can see the appeal of building your own route, but you are not from around here, you don't know enough about even the large-scale conditions to choose well, let alone the details. And in bike touring the details are what is important. It doesn't matter if you tick off certain destinations, because you are spending 90% of your time riding on the road, not being at destinations, so you want to maximize your on-road happiness. That means selecting the right road, in the right season.
What would you tell me if I said I wanted to come tour Sweden and I could only do it in February, so I'm just going to do it anyway, I mean, how bad can it be, I have a rain coat?
Haha, fair point. It just seems the more I research (and get given advice) the harder it becomes to plan the route. I totally get that I shouldn't base the route so much on destinations I'd like to visit, but rather the roads that will take me there... so maybe the original plan was better then - Frisco to San Diego and (more or less) following the Southern Tier... Or, like you suggested, reversing the route.
How about starting in New York or Boston in late August and cycling south-west?