A Widow's Ride

After posting my story on the Stand Up to Cancer, many supporters and well wishers were asking for a map of my trip. I don’t have a set route yet but I do have a general plan of roads that I do want to travel on in no particular order.

http://www.roadtripusa.com/routes.html

• Pacific Coast – This is also known as Highway 1. I have done some of this road in the past but I have not been on any part of it north of San Francisco. I do particularly want to visit the Lost Coast area in Northern California.  I have seen beautiful pictures of that area

•  Border to Border – This is also known as Highway 93. It runs from the Canadian border at Jasper National Park and into south of the border of Mexico.

• The Road to Nowhere – This is also known as US-83. It was once the only entirely paved route from Canada to Mexico until modern history.

• The Great River Road – This route is just a series of roads that was created in 1938. It is designed to show off the 10 states bordering the Mississippi river.

• Appalachian Trail – There is actually a parkway that parallels the pedestrian route of the Appalachian Trail. It winds from the north woods of Maine all the way south to Georgia.

• Atlantic Coast – This is almost a 2,000 miles of two-lane country roads that run along side of the Atlantic Ocean almost the entire way.

• The Great Northern – This is also known as US-2. It was dubbed the Great Northern in memory of the pioneer railroad that parallels the western half of the route.  It is the longest east-west US Highway (2,571 miles) across the northern continental United States.

• The Oregon Trail – This is also known US-20. This is another east-west US Highway.  It starts in Oregon and run the most of the way through to Massachusetts.  There is a break at the entrance of Yellowstone Park since this road was not a planned coast to coast route.  It was extended in 1940.

• Loneliest Road – This is also known as US-50. This is another east-west highway that runs through the heart of America.  It has been dubbed the “Loneliest Road” since it passes through desolate, remote areas with few inhabitants and few communities with minimal services. 

• Southern Pacific – This route follows the old US-80 on the southern part of the US from California to Georgia. It was once known as the Dixie Overland Highway.

• Route 66 – The most famous route of all time is Route 66 that runs from California to Illinois. I have done half of this route and want to finish it.  My late husband and I did it on our honeymoon but we got hailed, snowed and rained on most of this trip so when we got to Albuquerque, New Mexico we decided to head south to warmer pasture.  This is where we ended up on US-60 and encountered people, places and things that we did not knew about.

These roads will be just a starting point but ultimately it will be my heart and the bike that will be the compass in this journey. The thought brings up memory of the best of times my late husband and I had been him always saying “let’s see where that road goes”. I want to continue that spontaneous sense of adventures that we once shared.