I did AC's Northern Tier group tour. Not quite on the point a to b every day. We had a general idea of where we should be at certain points during the trip in order to finish within the maximum 93 day timeframe without having to pull long days near the end, but we typically planned week by week, and there were numerous times where we changed plans on the fly for various reasons.

Social dynamics were definitely at play in our group of 13, which included the leader. Our original leader was a total dolt (and not physically up to the task) who we eventually had "fired." To its credit, AC handled the situation very well. The trip was finished by two different replacement leaders who were excellent. I have since met a couple other AC leaders who were also competent and nice people. Our original guy was hired at the last minute after the slotted leader had to back out. The only other choice would have been to cancel the trip.

One participant was a racist alcoholic who crashed twice and nearly got arrested twice. Each day, two people were responsible for cooking, washing shared cooking equipment and taking care of the trash at dinner and after breakfast the next morning. One guy apparently believed that cleaning up was beneath him and often left his partner to do the lion's share. Another point of contention grew around the original leader. The older folks in the group expected a higher level of competence and responsibility from an adult who had been hired to assume a leadership position. The younger kids were sort of like "whatever."

But, as noted, it wasn't all bad. People tended to ride and hang with people of similar sensibilities. I became good buds with one guy and we had a lot of great experiences during the trip.