Vacational Indecision

Spring fever has set in. There is less than a month remaining in the semester, and I'm looking forward to a two-week break that I have before my summer "school" begins. That summer school is in Omaha, Nebraska. Since I'm in Saint Louis and I will be traveling to Omaha for school, I had a thought: why not ride bike along the Adventure Cycling Lewis & Clark route up to Omaha!?

This sounds like a great adventure. I've done lots of tours and self-supported trips before, so I thought this might be fun. But this trip is different. First, it's not all on paved roads. A large portion of the route I would ride is on rail-trails, which are covered in small gravel. There may even be gravel roads, but I'm not sure. I'm waiting for the detailed map to arrive in the mail.

In addition to being partly gravel, this route supposedly goes through some long stretches where there are no services such as C-stores, restaurants, and motels.

This all appeals to the part of me that wants to bring the tent on my bike and really rough it. But the idea of roughing it alone in campgrounds and along the trail makes me a bit nervous. The one time I remember camping alone in a city park in 2001 I didn't sleep a wink. The town teenagers decided to have a big party in the park. And then there's the wildlife. Very early in the morning deer (I think?) were walking near the tent, keeping me up wondering "WHAT WAS THAT NOISE!?" and pondering whether I should sleep in the pickup. On this trip I wouldn't have a pickup to retreat to.

And what about the weather? In Missouri, it may be very humid and hot, or wet and cool, in May. May is early for a bike tour, in my experience. But I'm also much farther south than North Dakota, where it can be mighty cool on those May mornings.

To make a long story short, I'm indecisive on what to do for a short vacation. This sounds like a great adventure. And it's likely I could stay in motels, but I'm not sure.

To prepare for possibility that I actually do hop in the saddle and head down the Katy Trail, I am working to fit some training in my schedule. I've been sitting at a desk since August with my nose stuck in a book.

Fueling my excitement for another bike trip are other cycle tourist travel logs. Jayme Kohler is a biker and marine from Bismarck who rode the Lewis & Clark route in its entirety. His web site is very nice. And apparently Russel, a relative of mine who I've never met, is just now finishing a west-to-east ride of the Southern Tier route. That's the route Jesse and I have ridden from San Diego to El Paso. His web site is also interesting.