Ummmm.....I am planning a C2C tour for the summer of 2016! I don't rush into things..LOL! Actually, it's the first summer after my youngest graduates from HS.
In short, it's an East to West route starting in Hilton Head, SC going through, Augusta (pay homage to the Masters and dip my tire onto the the asphalt of Magnolia Lane! :-) to Northern Atlanta then make my way up to Marion, Ky where I will hook up with the Adventure Cycling Associate (ACA) Trans America (TA) route to Pueblo. Then off the route as I head north to friends house in northern Colorado Springs, Co. Then "mountain bike it" (jeep road) from Monument to Woodland Park. From there, head West on 24 making my way to Fairplay and over Hoosier pass via the ACA TA route. Then off the TA at Dillon making my way to Estes Park and over the Trail Ridge Road (12,000+ ft of elevation) and down to Granby....back on the ACA TA route all the way to Jackson, Wy, up through the Teton park roads and onto Yellowstone NP. Circle counter clockwise from "6:00" (South entrance) on the Grande Loop Road. Exit YNP at "9:00" (West entrance) and back on the TA from YNP to Twin Bridges....from there I will make my way to Waterton Park in Canada via Helena, then to Shelby and into Canada towards Del Bonita then West to Waterton. Then from Waterton return South in the the US towards St. Mary where I pick up the ACA's Northern Tier route. Proceed through Glacier NP over Logan Pass and stay on the NT until Anacortes, Wa. Then south on the ACA's Pacific down to Florence, Or. where I end.
Yes, I have given this some thought...I have even created an Excel sheet with all the beginning and ending points (cities or campsites) for each day, the mileage, how many over night stays, rest days and time to leave with an estimated time to arrive. It's all linked together so when I change the start date from June 1, 2016 to August 8, 2016 all the dates following will change as well. Allowing me to "see" where I will be on a particular day. I would like to visit the YNP after the summer rush, mid to late August? If so, what date doI need to leave South Carolina? I have five years to play with this, watch and learn the weather patterns of the places I really want to see and then play around with dates. If I change a place (destination) and change the mileage, all of that is tracked and modified as well. I can "set" and "estimated average mph" and it will change the number of "hours in the saddle" column and the arrive time. I have the leave time for each day being at 9:00 a.m. It's still in it's rough form and I am trying to figure out a way to link it to an actual map.
I also have a list of everything I need for my trip on another sheet, with the item numbers, descriptions, manufacturer, model, color, etc. Where to buy it and how much it cost and of course, keeping a running total of costs. This list gets modified every so often as new products come out or as I learn about them.
I then have a third sheet of my "Ultimate" wih list of bike and components and equipment and well, everything....as if money were no object so to speak.
This is my little get-a-way each day. Bring it up and play with the dates and lists and check it against maps and I reference journals from
www.crazyguyonabike.com.
Yes, I'm a nerd with no life. LOL! eh-hem.....guess that's not really funny.
I have way too much time on my hands.
Guess I should go out to the garage and finish assembling the Miyata 710 I just got back from the powder coaters...... Bengal Tiger Red baby!