Plans are made to be changed, aren't they?

...my actual route

I couldn't just stick to my plans, now could I?

I did follow my planned route for a good part of the trip, but there were sections where my original plans just didn't fit with what I felt like doing at the time. So - with help from state road maps, and suggestions from faithful readers of my journal - I changed my plans.

Map & information sources

• Adventure Cycling
• Rubel Bike Maps for cycling in Massachusetts)
• Automobile Association of America, AAA
• State tourism / department of transportation maps: I picked these up at visitor centers as I entered each state. On other trips I've had good luck with requesting the maps from the state's web sites.
• US National Park Service, for information on Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks
• Hostelling International USA for hostels along my route.

My actual route From my house in North Andover to Plum Island and back
I traveled via back roads, using Rubel's Bike Map of the North Shore (Boston)

From North Andover to Brattleboro, VT
Route 114 to Route 110 to Route 113 to Route 119

From Brattleboro, VT to Ticonderoga, NY
Route 30, then I followed the signs to the ferry to New York

New York and Ohio
Adventure Cycling Northern Tier, sections 10, and 9: Ticonderoga, NY to Monroeville, IN

Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri

• US 24 through most of Indiana & Illinois
• Adventure Cycling Great Rivers South from Quincy IL to Hannibal, MO
• Route 61 from Hannibal, MO to Bowling Green, MO
• Route 54 from Bowling Green to the intersection with route 73
• Route 73 south to Route 32
• Route 32 south to Route 65
• Route 65 south to join with the Transamerica route in Fair Grove, MO
• Adventure Cycling Transam section 9 to Girard, KS

Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana
Adventure Cycling Transam sections 8, 7, 6, 5, 4: Girard, KS to Missoula, MT With 2 deviations from the Transam route:

• US 50 from Pueblo to Canon City
• CO I-15 North to I-90 West from Dillon to Missoula, MT

Driving from Missoula, MT to Eugene, OR

• I-90 West across Idaho and into Washington
• US 395 south to Tri-Cities (Richland, Pasco, Kennewick) WA
• I-82 South into Oregon
• I-84 West along the Columbia River Gorge
• I-205 South to I-5
• I-5 South to Eugene, OR

For folks looking for more alternate routes...
Larry Mitchell also gave me some suggestions from his trip in 2001. He and his wife rode state route 28 through Indiana. They used US 136 on the eastern side of Illinois, and US 24 on the western side of Illinois. Their routes ran parallel to mine, just a bit further south.