Route in More Detail

As we get closer to our departure, our route continues to come together. I (Jesse) have been researching in many places but the two sites I owe most of my knowledge to are these:

www.expedionportal.com
www.advrider.com
www.pasdansunfauteuil.fr -our original inspiration and well worth your time to skim through.

If you want to see where we get our ideas, information, gear and inspiration, you should check them out. That said, most of my routing is original, though with input from local adventurers, and has been painstakingly viewed through Googlemaps, then Google Earth and finally Benchmark or Delorme Atlases. Here is what the trip will look like; the off-pavement  travel begins outside of Des Arc, Arkansas and ends in Grand Island, Nebraska where we will high-tail on pavement for home so I can get back to work.

And a warning about bears as we move through Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.

 Come join us for a section!

Preparation: Route Selection

Here are the initial routes of I've come up with during free time. They are Google maps, so you should be able to easily open them.

Section 1: Undetermined
Section 2: Des arc, Arkansas to Warloop Rd.
Section 3: Warloop Rd to Walsenburg, Co. (taking the kids to Bishops Castle)
Section 4: Rye, Co. to Del Norte, Co. via Great Sand Dunes
Section 5: Del Norte to Telluride, Co.
Section 6: Telluride to Fruita, CO. Undetermined
Section 7: Fruita, CO to Moab, UT on Kokopelli
Section 8. Moab to SLC
Section 9. Undetermined but probably stick to Northern UT and very southern OR and northern NV (here is a possibility that I came up with on the fly but want to better think through)

Return
Section 10: Bend, OR to Jordan City, OR
Section 11: Trans Idaho trail (this is not my map; it is from the Trans-Idaho Expedition here on Expo that is set to leave this July)
Section 12: Trans Wyoming - undetermined
Section 13: Sandhills, Nebraska to Grand Island part 1 and part 2

My atlases have just started arriving from Fleabay so these routes may change (alot) and I am always interested in anyone who has experience in any particular region. Looks like my hope of a below average snow year in CO has started to be dashed.