Having been cooped up by the pandemic for two years, I can't take another summer of riding around in circles near home. My niece is getting married in the suburbs of St. Louis in mid-May. As luck would have it, the wedding is only a few miles from the Katy Trail.

Where should I ride? I had originally thought about following a series of Adventure Cycling routes: the Lewis and Clark Route and Parks, Peaks and Prairies with a return on The Cowboy Trail through Nebraska. This would take me through three states that I had never ridden in: Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.  I thought of several other routings, but then I was made an offer I couldn't refuse.

On my 2019 tour, I followed US Route 66 from Dwight, Illinois to the Transamerica Trail in Marshfield, Missouri. After an unplanned trip to Springfield, Missouri to buy a tent that didn't leak I rode back to the TransAm at Ash Grove, Missouri. 

In Ash Grove I stayed at in a bike hostel in the town park. There I met Corey and Mark who were riding the TransAm from Yorktown to the Oregon coast. We rode more or less together from Ash Grove to Pueblo, CO. 

A couple of weeks later, Mark and Corey continued on the TransAm but abandoned their tour in the high Rockies north of Silverthorne, Colorado. Sad face. After Pueblo, I rode the Western Express through Colorado, Utah, and Nevada instead of the TransAm. I had planned to ride the Sierra Cascades Route to my final destination of Portland, Oregon. When I reached western Nevada the thought of riding hundreds of miles over countless mountain summits through rugged terrain no longer seemed appealing. I instead continued on the Western Express to San Francisco.

In January 2022, Corey contacted me to see if I would join the two of them as they complete their TransAm this summer. 

I'm in!

They will start in mid June at Colorado Springs, CO. My tour route practically designed itself.

After the wedding, I will ride the Katy Trail to Clinton, MO where it ends just east of Kansas City. From Clinton I'll ride south to Ash Grove. Next, I'll follow the TransAm to Hutchinson, Kansas, a bit northwest of Wichita. At Hutchinson I'll go southwest to Medicine Lodge where I will pick up the Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway, supposedly one of the best day rides in the country.

The scenic ride ends at Clearwater after which I'll ride northwest to Dodge City and Cimarron. Then it's back to the TransAm until Pueblo, Colorado. Colorado Springs is a day's ride north of Pueblo. It also over 2,000 feet higher in elevation. I plan to spend at least a day there to acclimate to the thinner air.