Riding a bicycle across country gives you a unique perspective that is different from other modes of transportation. As a general statement, the slower you travel the more you will absorb. But to be honest with you, it’s not the best way to see the country. I was limited to one thin strip of roads. Traveling self powered you are less likely to take diversions, even if only a few miles off route. There were a number of places I would have liked to visit but adding more miles to an already long day was not appealing. A car gives you that freedom. The tradeoff is that unique, slow moving perspective is lost. You also don’t get the interactions with people a bike provides. There are other fellow cyclists to meet but also locals who are drawn to the crazy dude on the bike. Some are curious what you are up to while others know the journey, perhaps they have done a tour or want to do one someday. If you want to see more things, travel by car. If you want to experience more things, travel by bike.
I have a bunch of disjointed thoughts in my head about the trip. I can’t weave them into a coherent post so I’ll list some of them below.
The Route
I began my tour on Camano Island, about 30 miles south of the official Northern Tier start in Anacortes, WA. I followed the Northern Tier all the way to Minnesota where I made my first diversion by riding directly through Minneapolis rather than looping north around the city. I thought the route was excellent so I wondered why Adventure Cycling didn’t map the route either directly through the city or list it as an alternative. At the Mississippi River the route followed Highway 35 south for hundreds of miles. Route 35 is considered a scenic highway, perhaps by car but the traffic took the pleasure out of the ride. I would have preferred a route further east through Wisconsin and Illinois, preferably on more rail trail. In Indiana I began to question why the planners choose the route they did so I started following Google bike directions on a daily basis, roughly paralleling and sometimes overlapping with the Northern Tier. I went back and forth between Google and the Northern Tier route for the next couple weeks. I never intended to follow the Northern Tier all the way to Maine, my preference was to ride home to Danbury, CT so I continued east on the Erie Canal to Albany then south to home.
I would not recommend the Northern Tier to anyone who has not previously done a cross country ride. A lot of the route is very remote passing through small towns with limited services. If you have a mechanical problem the next bike shop may be hundreds of miles away. You really should be prepared to do bike maintenance and repair on your own. I also think there are better ways to cross the country. The 1,000 miles or so of northern plains riding honestly was not all that interesting. I can’t say I disliked the ride, it just didn’t meet my expectations in some ways. In hindsight I would have been better off on the TransAmerica or Southern Tier routes or as some people do, create my own route by combining sections of other routes.
Favorite Place
Washington was my favorite state. I like the diversity in every way, from the people to the environment. You go from the coastal Seattle metro area up into the temperate rainforests of the western cascades and down into the eastern side which is a much drier, high desert like environment. The hardest riding was in Washington with a long climb almost every day but the reward was spectacular scenery.
My favorite state for riding was Minnesota, a state I never gave a second thought, barely even know where it is. The state surprised me with many picturesque small towns and a 100+ mile network of interconnected rail trail. “Land of 10,000 Lakes” is an appropriate nickname for the state with all the small ponds and lakes along the trail. I went off route and rode directly through Minneapolis which was surprisingly easy with all the dedicated bike paths and bike lanes.
I also really liked riding through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. It wasn’t very picturesque, all corn and soybeans, but the route was almost exclusively on back country farm roads with almost zero traffic, might as well have been on rail trails. Super peaceful riding.
Least Favorite Place
I would have to say Montana. Understand I’m not saying “I hate Montana”. I rode a thin sliver through rural areas of the state which didn’t include most major population centers where people actually live. The route was almost all small towns with populations measured in the hundreds to thousands, the one exception being Great Falls. Scenery in the west was very nice, a continuation of what I was riding through in Washington but transitioned to prairie as I descended from the continental divide. The next 500 miles was either rolling hills of grass or wheat. It went on forever. I like the desolate southwest desert so I expected a similar vibe but that wasn’t the case. In the desert I find beauty in rock formations or the sparse vegetation but in the plains there was none of that, just grass and wheat. It just wasn’t interesting.
The small towns were all in various states of decay with crumbling streets and sidewalks. It kept reminding me of various places I’ve visited around the world from Central America to Southeast Asia. I could’t help but conclude I just rode through the developing world.
I was also turned off by the states speed limits, 70 MPH on two lane highways which is just stupid. They don’t even reduce speeds in areas with steep rolling hills and blind spots. The speed limit drops 5 MPH for heavy trucks or when driving at night, like that makes any difference. They want to believe Montana roads are open and lightly traveled which is just not true. There are very few ways to get anywhere so everyone is on the same roads. The roads are not crowded but by no means remote and lightly traveled. The state has one of the highest per capita accident fatality rates in the country. Montana is one of the main reason I would advise people against riding the Northern Tier. It’s just not safe for cyclists or cars. Best avoided.
Help Wanted
Before leaving I knew there was a shortage of help in service jobs like restaurants which was weaponized by both sides of the debate, “people won’t work if they are getting government handouts” or “this just shows these jobs don’t pay a living wage”. Of course both are true but regardless, I can tell you for a fact there are a lot of jobs going unfilled. I even saw a sign for a restaurant willing to pay $22/hour to make pizza! It’s not just restaurants. I saw lots of help wanted signs for everything from truck/bus drivers to skilled trades positions.
Accommodations and Food
I set off thinking I would mostly camp with some motel stays. I started out that way but the heat wave in the west quickly changed things, I wasn’t about to camp in 100+ degree weather. Then I got used to motels. I did some camping throughout the trip but most of my days were spent indoors. The main reason for camping is to save money, it’s a hassle and adds time to your day. Financially I could do this trip without camping so after the heat wave I mostly camped where it made sense for the location and available accommodations. There were times when camping was the best or only option. You absolutely can do this trip without any camping but prior planning and reservations would be required which is not how I like to travel.
With my switch to motels I ended up primarily eating in restaurants for dinner while grabbing gas station food for lunch. I often had second breakfast after a couple hours of riding, usually something like a breakfast sandwich from a gas station. My day was ruled by where the gas stations were located. For dinner I quickly tired of restaurants so I went back and forth between eating out and buying food in supermarkets like prepared foods or just a package of cooked rice and a can of beans. This worked well for me. Traveling with one or more people would make food choices easier since you can buy larger quantities and split, like a rotisserie chicken or a pound of deli meats and loaf of bread.
Farming
About half the route goes through the heart of farmland with endless miles of corn, wheat and soybean fields. Those three crops, along with cattle and dairy farms, make up the vast majority of farming I encountered. Most corn and soybean production is either for animal feed or biofuel production. There were areas where I could smell manure almost continuously for hundreds of miles. I couldn’t help wonder about the amount of pollution created by farm runoff, be it manure, pesticides, or fertilizers. The water in these areas must be terribly polluted with runoff eventually making its way to the Mississippi River and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico contributing to massive dead zones. It’s wrong for me to demonized an industry we depend on for our very survival but I wonder if we are doing this right. Is corn for ethanol biofuel production a worthwhile use of our resources? Should we be subsidizing cattle/hog/chicken farming on such a scale? Do we need $4 cheeseburgers? Chicken Nuggets? In recent years I’ve been trying to eat less meat, both for health and environmental reasons. This ride is more proof that environmental benefits alone are good reasons to eat less meat. These issues are complex, more than I can address in a bicycle blog but something we should all consider.
The People
Talking to other cyclists, the tour is all about the people you meet, there are good people everywhere. I had a lot of offers for help such as water or advice where I should or shouldn’t ride. I stayed in hostels where people offered rooms in their houses asking for nothing in return. I met many other cyclists along the way, all were open and friendly, maybe it’s being part of a small community of other like minded people. There isn’t a profile for the average cross country cyclist, they come in all types. I met many couples riding together, both young and old. There were a lot of solo cyclists, a father and son team, three young women in their early 20’s, and many others. I never managed to meet up with “the girls from UCONN”. When west bounders out west heard I was from Connecticut they usually asked if I’ve met the girls from UCONN who were only a day or two ahead of me at the time. Apparently UCONN has a cycling club and some members do a cross country tour over the summer.
Bike touring like any other form of long term travel tends to lean young (under 30) or older (over 50) as it’s the time in life when taking time off is more practical for work and family reasons. I met many retired, or like myself, recently retired people. A few days ago I rode with a guy from Seattle (Brad). His backstory is he’s recently retired, gay and has been HIV positive since the early 1980’s. He’s making a point to meet and interview people along the way and has a tagline for his tour, “Riding for Connection and Authenticity”. He wanted to prove to himself that people are not as shitty as we tend to believe. His experience matches up with mine, there are good people everywhere. Most people want the same thing, to live a happy, comfortable life with their families and friends. We tend to hear more from the extremes, be it the racist white trash or the self righteous purveyors of “cancel culture”. Even if those extremes are manifested in our political or other public figures, that’s not America. While it’s true people tend to lean one way or the other, it’s more out of ignorance based on their own life experience, we all have our biases. For example, Brad was speaking to someone in the midwest who commented “I think you are the only gay guy I ever met”, certainly not true but he doesn’t know that. In his worldview everyone is straight.
While riding, Brad and I came across a woman taking shelter under a bridge during my only rainstorm of the trip. She had a folding bike with a couple panniers attached. Through conversation we learned she’s out for a day ride and is staying in the same hotel as Brad tonight. The woman gave Brad a card to her room so he can take a shower if he arrives too early to check in. I think we both looked a little surprised by the offer so the woman said “cross country cyclists are always good people”.
Weeks ago I mentioned a Mark Twain quote about travel. I’ll end with the whole quote because it is spot on:
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
In the next day or two I’ll publish my gear review.