Bassmanbob

This year has been a huge disappointment for me from a cycling standpoint. I've had three of six cycling events cancelled so far this year. With my suspicions of a resurgence of this pandemic here in the US this summer, I may need to cancel my participation in the Crater Lake Century in August. We'll see; I hope I'm wrong. That being said, I'm feeling depressed with tons of rain out there today, and I just feel the need to go out and ride for days. So I told my wife that I'm doing a short solo 4-6 day bicycle tour next year, thinking that the pandemic situation may be significantly safer by then.

So here are the parameters/considerations:
*Anywhere in the Continental USA
*Sometime from July-September
*4-6 days of cycling; 3-5 nights
*A fairly well known or established route
*Not too much climbing.
*Scenic route preferred
*About 40-60 miles/day on average
*Road but maybe some gravel/packed dirt
*Weather: I live in Florida, so I am used to managing in significant heat. I can handle the cold, but would like to avoid below freezing temperatures
*I have no preference as to an end to end vs loop tour. I would just arrange for travel back to my origin prior to flying home.
*Self Supported vs Supported
. *Self Supported:
. *Trek 520 with front and rear racks, four panniers, handlebar bag, camping equipment with kitchen equipment
. *I prefer this option, but would not rule out a supported tour
. *Would allow me to be solo
. *I like the idea of being self sufficient
. *Supported:
. *No need to carry everything on the bike, so I could take my Bike Friday and take less stuff
. *Less stuff to ship and I could just put my Bike Friday in its suitcase
. *Can't do a solo tour this way unless I do a credit card tour Hmm. Maybe.
*Denver conference at the end of July (possible)
. * I could tag this bike tour onto the Denver conference
. *This would probably add a lot more climbing, being in or near Denver
. *At least the flight could be considered a tax write-off since I would need to fly in and out of Denver anyway
*I enjoy our National Park System and would enjoy visiting one or two of these. I would probably avoid south Utah/northern Arizona as I have vacationed there three times.
*Experience:
. *Very limited to a two day self supported tour on a Florida Rail to Trail
. *I also have some car camping experience

So where would you recommend and why? Thanks in advance.