I hesitate to say this for fear of veering into the political arena, but the 2016 election changed the US in a lot of ways. For example here in Florida (panhandle) I noticed an immediate downtick in civility of some drivers toward cyclists. Not all drivers, but the jerks among them suddenly seemed emboldened to yell slurs or maybe even throw things at cyclists, behavior that had seemed to have pretty much have dissappeared in the last couple decades was suddenly back.
I could well imagine this climate discouraging bike touring at least a bit.
Last edited by staehpj1; 05-09-22 at 07:39 AM.