Touring - routes

how do you all determine your long distance routes. I am trying to ride from raleigh NC across the US(southern) to mexico(laredo tx). i don't want to spend the money for the adventure cycling maps. on my US road atlas even the least traveled roads on there are decent size with more traffic than i like to ride with. what about finding maps with country roads?

Dude do a search for Greenway US bike project. Supposely the Eastcoast Greenway path is 15% finish. It's not a lot, but you can get a good idea of which roads are safe for bicycles from Greenway locations.

If you not familar witht the Greenway project, it's a Government funded project that will link a whole bunch of bicycle paths all along the East Coast from Maine to Florida I believe.

Realize my friend Realize the Dream.

4130phile

I find the 1/250 000 scale topographical maps about right for cycle touring. They have enough detail for finding smaller roads and not large enough that you are riding off the map within a few hours or a day. As far as planning out a route goes I usually have a vague idea of where I am going and make a dally plan while I am riding and will sometimes adjust the route if the need arises.

You are putting yourself behind the 8 ball before you even figured out where you need to go. Those $11 maps from Adventure cycling aren't exactly a page ripped from a Road atlas. They tell you where to find camping, food or a bike shop ,they generally keep you out of traffic as much as possible. They get feedback from the people that ride those routes and constantly update. The maps that cover Texas and Lousiana would save you at lot more than the 11 bucks each they cost. Texas and Lousiana can be a bear to get across. You often have long distances between service, Many of the roads that may look good on a map absolutely suck to ride on. This is probaly a 1800 mile ride you will need around 30, 60 mile days to get there.

That said, The way I determine my routes is use a road atlas to get a general idea of where I want to go use the old US routes. Then I go to each states website and get a state map (they are free) I also search to see if they have Bicycle route maps for the state. While I wait for the maps I check around on the web to see who else may have ridden that route and either read thier travelogue or email them for thier input.
Once I get the maps I begin putting together a route that goes in the direction I want to travel then I figure in that every 60-80 miles I need to find campsite or a motel and ajust my route to that need. Once I have the accomadations worked out I go to map quest and fine tune the route using the less traveled local routes or points of interest. If I have any doubts about an area I check the aerial photographs and topo maps on globe explorer or terra server.
To give you an idea, If I were riding from Raleigh to Laredo I would get NorthCarolina DOT's map for Bicycle route 2 this will get you through Murphy NC and with-in a day of Chattanooga TN. From Chattanooga I would find a route that follows the Tennessee river through Northern Alabama and connects me with the Natchez Trace parkway . Then South on the NT till it ends on US 61 then 61 to US 84 west through Natchez MS. Cross the mississippi river on US84 (if allowed) to Archie LA. then La Route 28 ( or maybe LA 8) through Alexandria to Leesville LA, Then LA 8 west Across the Texas border to TX 87 south. 87 south through Port Arthur to Sabine pass (on the gulf coast). Then I would hug the coast line as much as possible to Corpus Christi and then probaly US 77 south to Rivera and then west on TX 285 to Laredo.

rick