Wednesday 14 May 2008

The way forward




Dear all,


In the vain hope that someone is actually reading this, here is a very rough itinerary of the ride.


One of the reasons for this is that, although I'm trying to see lots of interesting stuff, the U.S. is a country full of it and I wouldnt want to go straight past something dead good without realising it.


If you know of somewhere cool or have been somewhere along the way let me know. And if you haven't chat to your friends, family, pets, strangers in pubs and, as a last resort, your work colleagues and see if they know anything. Just think, your suggestion could find it's way onto my route. How exciting is that?

Today - Missoula, Montana

Tomorrow - Lincoln, Montana
May 21 - Townsend, Montana (Flesher Pass permitting)

May 22 -Livingston, Montana (via source of the Missouri)

May 23 - Mammoth Hot Springs (Yellowstone), Wyoming

May 24 - Madison Junction (Yellowstone), Wyoming
May 25 - Lake Junction (Yellowstone), Wyoming
May 26 - Cody, Wyoming
May 27 - Greybull, Wyoming
June 2 - Rapid City, South Dakota (Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse)


June 7 - Pipestone, Minnesota (Pipestone)


That'll do for now. Get busy and research stuff that might be along the way. I'm depending on you.


5 comments:

Gordon Inkeles said...

Dear Nigel,

A good way to get cool up there would be to go swimming. On the chance that you've already stumbled on that strategy, I'm putting a link with your request on my SOCIAL BIKING blog, which is read by nearly 6,000 mostly silent people.

So the ball is rolling and you can ride on with no worries.

Jim Kline said...

This brings back some great memories! In 2002, I bicycled from Everett, Washington to Sharpsburg, Maryland, and the initial route out west nearly paralleled your own. Most of my riding was done on U.S. Highway 2, just north of your own route.

Beginning in June, I'll be posting selected video clips from my ride on my own blog. I definitely will be reading your blog for the rest of your ride. Good luck, and be safe!

Flexible said...

Gordn, you're a superstar - let's hope that they're not all mostly silent. Nigel

Anonymous said...

Hello Nigel, ol alf here,

Too bad you're running just about a month too early to get in on RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) www(dot)ragbrai(dot)org/ (that's to hopefully sneak the url thru the system protocol) from west to east.

In any event I'd offer that you might wish to rethink staying so far north and your going around the north end of Lake Michigan.

A ride down The River from Minneapolis/St Paul (or wherever you might reach The Mississippi River) to any point where you could again turn east and pass just south of the Chicagoland Metropolitan area, can be a nice alternative for you.

I'd point out that maybe three decades ago a Brit journalist named Jonathan Raban did that same journey only on The River in a johnboat and wrote a book about the trip, OLD GLORY.

If it's American people you want to meet and see, you'll find a heck of alot more Americans living along The Mississippi and across Central Illinois than you will across Northern Wisconsin and the north shore of Lake Michigan.

The scenery will also be more diverse along the water-level route. And across Illinois you could take advanyage of that State's network of off-road bike paths (some each of paved and packed limestone chips) as much or as little as you'd choose.

History and culture? geeze it'd be hard to beat what you'd find in Red Wing, Wabasha, LaCrosse, Prairie Du Chien, Dubuque, Bellvue, The Quad Cities and then across Illinois.

Whichever direction you go I wish you a safe and delightful journey.
alf

Debz said...

Don't have any suggestions for you, sadly, this late in your schedule. But I want you to know that there are folks out here reading your blog.

I, for one, find it delightful and amusing!