Touring - Need Omaha to Chicago route suggestions

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Nospandexpls
06-25-09, 12:55 AM
Hey guys,

I'm riding from Omaha to Chicago in a few days, and was wondering if anyone knows the highways and or towns inbetween and what they would suggest. From looking at my maps I was going to take 92 but I don't know squat about the area so i'm open to suggestions!

Ideally the highway I take would have good stealth camping spots, cool towns to pass through, and be somewhat pleasant to ride on.



I'm riding my bike across the world. Checkout my travelogue: www.jackandthecitylights.org (http://www.jackandthecitylights.org)

one_beatnik
06-25-09, 10:26 AM
Hiway 92 has a bridge out west of Treynor. Skip that part. That and hiway 6 are both very busy and 6 is narrow most of the way. There is a county road out of Underwood (G30) that's pretty and fairly low traffic. Got to the Iowa DOT web site and download the Iowa bicycle map. It's color coded for traffic count. After you get east of Harlan, hiway 44 isn't bad all the way to Des Moines. There's also the Racoon River Trail from Panora that connects with some trails in Des Moines that will take all the way downtown or up to Saylorville Lake.

I'm not as familiar with eastern Iowa. So someone else with have to chime in on that. Maybe go to the regional forum.

For stealth camping, choose the smaller towns rather than larger. Even small towns usu. have a city park and have no ordinances about camping. Always a good idea to ask the locals first though so no one freaks out, including the local LEO's.
Nospandexpls
06-25-09, 05:03 PM
Cool thanks! I'll check those roads out.

I got a good suggestion from a bikeshop today, they told me to check out the RAGBRAI route. I'm super bummed I'm missing that! I can only imagen all the good food...

one_beatnik
06-26-09, 08:08 AM
Really look at the RAGBRAI route before you do that. It often meanders back and forth to get miles in. That could add quite a few for you.
envane
06-26-09, 08:48 AM
The Illinois part could be done on either leg of the Grand Illinois Trail:


http://www.bikelib.org/git/index.htm