Touring - Questions about touring.

Planning a trip from where I live to southern California sometime in the future. This may be 5 yrs from now, don't know just yet. Some questions I have though is about the route going through the Kansas and the desert SW. Yes for the most part it will be flat, this is why I am taking that route for my first trip.

The tenative route I have picked is from where I live SW through the eastern part of Nebraska, then through SW through the western part of Kansas, I will end up in the SW most corner of Kansas near the Oklahoma Pan Handle. Then I will cut across the Oklahoma pan handle and ride across New Mexico in a SW direction ending up in about the middle of New Mexico. From there I will head west to southern California and riding through Arizona in the process.

But when riding through the states of Kansas, New Mexico and Arizona are there towns that are at least 100 miles apart where I can stop and refill on water, eat and maybe even camp in or near? Closer the 100 miles would be more preferable. But I can survive on 70 oz's of water and ride 100 miles before I run out.

This trip is going to be self contained. And I will carry food on the bike but I will still need a places to stop and eat along the way.

Any advice is needed and welcomed.

Thank you.

You might want to look up Adventure Cycling for maps and other pertinent information.
N.Mex. Ariz and the eastern part of Calif. is all desert. Hot and dry. Towns are probably closer than 100 miles, but when you get into Death Valley in Calif it's quite hot. You need to do a lot of homework about self-sufficiency in those conditions.

And welcome to the Forums.

Before you dismiss the mountains as too hard and the flat plains as "easy" get out and try some weekend tours. In my experience, long dead-flat roads are not that easy, and mountain sections are fine and much more interesting if you have the low gears.

Also think about the type of bike you want to use.
A recumbent can be a fantastic tour bike.
Want you want to make sure of is what ever bike you use it it comfortable.Also a Moulton can make a great bike for this.
It can carry loads of luggage and has suspension which can really help over long ditances.

what time of year you are going? The southern route is just too dnag hot to do in summer it is best for late
fall ,winter and spring.

the mountians are not that hard to climb but do require time and patients keep turning the pedals and eventually you will reach the top. we could write a book on climbing tecniques. The decent is something too.
Depending on where you start from you may have 30 or more days of 5-7 hrs a day riding time in beforyou reach the first serious mountian passes and have legs and lungs of steel.

the advice on adventure cycling is good advice for you the maps list all services you are asking about also warn you of stretchres of long distances where there are no sevicess at all well worth the price of the maps but puik upa state map as you enter each state since the adventure cycling maps only cover about a 5 mile or so wide corridor

keep asking questions here a lot of people have done what ypu are thinking about doing and are more then willing to shae lessons learned from their experiance. BUT in the end you still have to make your own decisions. Its not so much the destination but rather what happens to you along the way that makes the tour a success.
catfish

Should have been a little more specific. This will be my first ever half-cross country tour. But not the last. After I complete this one the next will be over the mountains. But for the first I want to take a southern route through the desert. I have nothing against the mountains and I intend on taking a tour across them, just not the first time thats all.

Also after I complete the 2 western tours I will ride across the eastern half of the US. 1 route going along the north and another going through the SE US. I hope to make these tours at least one year apart. So the plan is in 4 yrs time I will have completed 4 solo tours. When I will start, I don't know yet. But I am planning out the first tour now.

I don't know what kind of bike I will use for the tour. I ride a recumbent right now. More then likely it will be a 'bent. But I do know for sure I will be using a B.O.B. Trailer to haul all my gear.