Trans American East to West

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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Hikoi
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Joined: 6 May 2014, 4:37pm

Trans American East to West

Post by Hikoi »

Kia Ora
I'll be starting my Trans Am ride soon in Yorktown, Virginia and was wondering if any previous Trans Ammers or followers have any great accommodation recommendations along the way? I'm carrying my tent + camping gear and have also signed up to Warmshowers.com and Couchsurfing. Any tips would be joyfully received?

Tailwinds to you all :mrgreen:
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shane
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Re: Trans American East to West

Post by shane »

The state park campsite just after togwotee pass in Wyoming (on the jackson hole side).

ImageP1000446 by shanecycles.com, on Flickr

Though nowadays I'd probably just wild camp anywhere in that area (though the bear boxes at the campsite might be handy :D )
Vorpal
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Re: Trans American East to West

Post by Vorpal »

It's best to ask before wild camping, unless you are on public property that is posted as camping allowed. Trespassing is a criminal offense in the USA.

However, people are generally friendly and helpful, and don't mind campers. In a town, asking someplace, such as at the fire department may get better results than in a petrol (gas) station.

In many states, the state parks are good, and relatively inexpensive places to camp. Some allow free camping, others charge a fee. Some only charge for use of facilities.

there have been a few threads before. I'll see if I can find some later.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
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irc
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Re: Trans American East to West

Post by irc »

Don't miss the free camping in the small town parks in Kansas and eastern Colorado. Tribune has a nice quiet park with an outdoor swimming pool and showers. Free to cyclists I think. Larned also has a pool. In Scott City there is no pool and the park is a bit more in the heart of the town. Still OK though. Free camping in the town park in Eads also.

Don't miss Guffey. There are ramshackle cabins you can rent. A bar that does food at night and a cafe for the morning in an area where it is a long way between towns.

Guffey
Guffey




Further west in Colorado great site is the Red Mountain RV Park in Kremmlings. Many RV Parks are vastly overpriced for cyclists. I was quoted $39 at one place. Red Mountain RV was $8 It had a nice grassy pitch and great shower and laundry facilities.

The town park in Walden is free and is 2 minutes walk from the town centre for with a couple of good diners and bars.

Saratoga. A cheap town campsite 1 mile out of town £5 or so. Don't miss the free hot springs in the town centre.


Lander, Wyoming. Free in town park. Or in 2009 I camped beside the Holiday Lodge (near McDonalds as you enter the town from the east. $10 for a grassy pitch beside the river. Hot showers, laundry facilities, a hot tub, and a coffee and cinnamon bun in the morning included.

In Yellowstone the National Park camp sites have hiker/biker sites at a reasonable price. I used Lewis Lake and Madison camp grounds both good. After Yellowstone I wasn't on the transam.
boblo
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Re: Trans American East to West

Post by boblo »

Just get the Adventure Cycling Trans Am maps, you'll have zero bother with accommodation.
PJ520
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Re: Trans American East to West

Post by PJ520 »

Free camping on municipal lawns etc. is just dandy. Always ask if they have sprinklers and if so what time they come on. It could really spoil your day if you pitch your tent on top of a sprinkler that comes on at 6am. On the whole I've found Forest Service campsites poor, they never have showers (I carry baby wipes for hygiene in lieu of showers). State, county, municipal, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park and private campsites are often very good, the private ones sometimes have a restaurant. I would counsel against wild camping, the buggers over here are obsessed with property and love an excuse to start waving their guns. Well, so it seems to me after living here 38 years. You will be amazed how hospitable people can be. Near Philadelphia a man in a car at a stop sign asked if I'd had breakfast then took me to his home and made me a meal.

The advice about Adventure Cycling maps is golden. Do check their website for the latest addenda. One morning I rode 35 miles for breakfast because a restaurant on the map was closed, it said so in the addenda which I should have checked. If you don't have internet access with a portable device, the AC maps tell you where there's a library. Every library I've come across has free internet access. In small towns they may have limited hours.
You only live once, which is enough if you do it right. - Mae West
Hikoi
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Joined: 6 May 2014, 4:37pm

Re: Trans American East to West

Post by Hikoi »

Thanks for the advice and great pics too. My ACA maps arrived 3 days ago so ive poured over those for the past 3 nights.

In regard to using mobile data/3g did you all use that much? I know it can be handy for GPS and Googling certain things but these maps look so good that im not really expecting to need access to the Net until im in WiFi zones. Your thoughts?

:mrgreen:
irc
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Re: Trans American East to West

Post by irc »

I didn't carry a phone. I used a netbook and wifi en route, Skype for phone calls. Almost without exception every library no matter how small has free public wifi. Usually, unlike the UK the wifi is open (no password required) and left on outwith opening hours. Especially Kansas/Colorado. The maps are good but not infallible for facilities. The odd time places close or stop offering facilities.

Check the latest updates. The best source of info is other cyclists on the road, especially the ones going the other way.
PJ520
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Re: Trans American East to West

Post by PJ520 »

Another resource for places to camp is Volunteer Fire Departments (VFDs) in small towns, they may even offer to let you stay in the firehouse overnight. They are always helpful for water, directions etc. In a small town in Wyoming that was plastered with "No Camping" signs the VFD let us stay in the park just outside their building. It seems they had had bad experiences with motorcycle gangs. If the VFD says it's OK then it's OK, nobody is going to argue with the people who may be coming to put out your house fire.

One snag with ACA maps is their limited scope.Get a state road map, often free at tourist offices, for the state you are in to find out where you are in relation to cities etc. that the ACA maps does a good job of avoiding. There's nothing even remotely close to OS maps over here. Many states have cycling specific maps that indicate traffic density,whether a road has a shoulder or not and so on, you should find these on the internet.

One thing I found was that the profiles that ACA maps provide are less than helpful; the hills look a lot worse than they turn out to be even in the Rockies. Most of them were built for horse or mule traffic to a slope known as "mule grade" not unlike French mountain passes that were built for Louis XIV's horses. You won't run into any hills like Park Rash on the Transam. When you are on a road that appears to shoot up the side of a house in a couple of miles remember they are not as bad as they look. This works both ways. The first time I crossed the continental divide there was such a strong headwind I had to pedal downhill. Last summer's crossing in Glacier National Park it was a different game, the cars were slowing me down on the downhill.

I can't speak to mobile data on the Transam. Didn't have anything that would get it in them days. Where I can see GPS being useful is in Virginia, a surprisingly big state, which has a maze of lanes; follow the route closely. We got lost there a couple of times due to not doing exactly what the AC map said. Once you get to Kentucky and points west route finding vanishes as a problem
You only live once, which is enough if you do it right. - Mae West
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