We're one week away from the start of the next installment of our plan to ride across the U.S.A. in stages. In 2022, we rode 624 miles from Massachusetts to Niagara Falls, and during an abbreviated 2023 trip, we pedaled 231 miles from Buffalo to Cleveland. 

Milwaukee is our goal for 2024. It will complete our tour of the Rust Belt (aka Tour de Ceinture Rouillée)

The route that we've worked on, and revised numerous times since January, covers about 530 miles. It should take us nine days of riding, though we've added a few rest days along the way to enjoy some of the cities we'll be passing through—South Bend, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; and of course, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  

This year's ride mostly follows a route of our own devising. Aside from starting from our own neighborhood in 2022, a major objective has been to use bike paths whenever possible. As a result more than half of our ride from Cleveland to Milwaukee (roughly 300 miles) will be off road, on a mix of paved and gravel bike paths. The longer term plan for getting across the U.S. involves connecting to the Northern Tier cycling route and other routes curated by Adventure Cycling. At that point, as we cross North Dakota and Montana, we'll be doing much more road riding. 

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. 

Neither speed nor distance are the primary goal. This is vacation, albeit one that we've been training for with progressively longer weekend rides since March, and more recently, several 25 to 30-mile rides during the week. Reservations have been made; plane and train tickets purchased. We are ready but for the packing. 

Whether on paths or roads, we'll get an up-close experience of another part of our country that we've never visited. We'll talk with people who live in the little communities in our path, and we will eat more than we ever would in our "normal" lives. (To that end, ice cream stands, breweries and interesting local restaurants have been identified.) Tickets to see the Cubs at Wrigley Field are in hand, and loose plans to catch a Brewers game are forming. 

It's exciting to think about!