Originally Posted by
pdlamb
Rather than working your way south from Clinton to pick up the TransAm across Kansas, have you considered heading straight from there toward Denver? While the AC maps across Kansas are pretty detailed, there's not many high points across the state. (Sorry, Kansans, the people are the best part of Kansas!) I think you could pick some state roads that parallel I-70 (+/- 50 miles) and do just about as well as the official TransAm route.
I don't disagree.
Here's a route that follows the I-70 corridor and has enough campgrounds and places to stay for the trip.
Personally, I think the TransAmerica Trail, as well as most of the rest of the Adventure Cycle routes, seem to go out of their way to avoid points of interest. In Kansas, for example, it routes around Hutchinson where there's a very interesting salt mine you can tour. It avoids Dodge City. And once it passes into Colorado, it goes through the absolute least interesting part of the Colorado plains. Eads? Sheridan Lake, where there isn't even a lake? If you were to follow US50, which doesn't have that much traffic, you could pass through Lamar, past Fort Lyon, take a short detour over to Bent's Fort, etc. Touring should be about just riding all day.