Mapping

Mapping the 3200-mile route takes a tremendous amount of time and is tedious work.  Our base map is the Race Across America route (RAAM), which was originally plotted west to east. We will be traveling in just the opposite direction, east to west. 

The RAAM route also passes through some large cities for race publicity.  When you have a follow vehicle with flashing lights as the RAAM racers do, the city is no problem to negotiate.  But running unsupported, as we are the big cities need to be avoided.

Because of this we had to go over almost the entire route and make changes.  After the changes have been made we plot the route street by street turn by turn onto our GPS software. After this is done and reviewed we load the route onto Micro SD cards that fit the GPS units.

We have two of the bicycles equipped with Garmin 60CSX GPS navigation systems.

These will be our main mode of navigation. This avoids the need to carry paper maps, which are bulky and heavy. Paper maps also slow you down.  You are always stopping to review the map and which way to go, this takes time.  With the GPS we will be looking at a real time moving image on a screen.  Of course these devices need batteries to run.  We could use as many as 130 AA batteries on this trip!

It all began by plotting the various known cross-country cycling routes onto a large map of the USA at the Eliminator Cycling shop.  From this we were able to estimate the amount of time required to traverse each of the proposed routes.

The Northern Tier, which goes up near the Canadian border, is the longest.  The Southern Tier that starts in Savanna Georgia is the shortest.  There are several routes passing through the middle of the United States called the Trans-America routes.  RAAM is one of these.

After deciding on our approximate route we then plotted them onto individual state maps.  Again looking at which route would have the least amount of traffic to deal with.  We always choose small rural roads whenever possible avoiding most state roads and all highways of course.  We also have to take into consideration where we can get food and sleep along the way.

There is an exception to staying off the interstates when we get out west.   That exception is in Arizona were we enter into California.  We have no other choice but to ride on the interstate highway crossing the Colorado River into Blyth CA.  This part of the interstate has a wide shoulder and unlike here in the Northeast bicycles are allowed to use it.  As soon as we enter California we will drop off the interstate onto rural roads.