Reply #115: Do you know how to tell the happy trike riders?

[kwassa]

By the bugs in their teeth. (sorry, variation on an old joke).

I've driven cross-country 4 times. There is really nothing worth seeing between the Alleghenies and the Rockies, just wide and fairly monotonous open spaces. It is worth crusing all up and down in the Rockies, and west from there it is interesting. The entire Pacific coast is worth doing, and visually spectacular.

I recommend I-70 between Denver and Grand Junction, as it is visually spectacular in many different ways, especially in Glenwood Canyon and springs along the Colorado River. The environment keeps changing along the road.

All the big national parks are worth seeing despite the crowds. My favorite is Yosemite, the prettiest place on earth that I have seen. The most unusual experience was stopping at Bryce Canyon, where 95% of the visitors are European, most of them French. Only 5% Americans. All the local motels serve European continental breakfasts with French-speaking staff.

I would never do it on a trike because it is too hot, and the windburn and noise would be very wearing. Air-conditioning all the way. I used to be very hard-core, and I've driven coast to coast in 3 and a half days alone, doing several 800 mile days by myself, crossing a time zone each day.