Originally Posted by
wrldtraveller
When you are cycling on a highway going to God knows where, it can become monotonous especially if you ride across the prairies. How do you keep going and keep sane?
I've never had any great desire to bike across N. America east-west or west-east, for precisely the reason you cited. I have, however, biked from BC to California, and from Colorado to Jasper NP. Similarly, I pick my overseas routes to take advantage of whatever a country or region most has to offer. I have no qualms about taking a train, bus, or boat so that I spend my time in what my research has convinced me will be the best areas for touring. I've gotten better about this after I've gotten older and had more experience touring. For example, I devised a very nice loop in northern Thailand which began and ended in Chiang Mai. However, the traffic getting in and out of Chiang Mai was bad enough that I decided to take a bus to get myself about 70 km north of Chiang Mai to start riding, and I returned to Chiang Mai taking a bus the last 80 km from the east. In France on one recent trip, my friend & I had limited time but there were some very specific things my friend wanted to see and do. So after biking in the WWII beach landing area of Normandy plus a few other nearby sights, we hopped on a train to get to another region in France.