GhostRider62

Good food is a very important consideration on a tour at my age nowadays. When I was younger, camp gruel was fine. Extremely remote stuff is also in my past.

But there are different types of tours. My last planned tour was to be 20-25 day crossing (fast recumbent bike) on the Southern Tier in March of 2020, which was cancelled for obvious reasons. There are not the best food opportunities overall on that route, so, lots of Subways and McDonalds type fuel. When doing a more leisurely tour with less defined objectives, I want to be able to get a good espresso in the morning and be able to stop for lunch at a decent restaurant for lunch, which is why I love touring in Europe. The towns are not far apart and they have mostly avoided our suburban sprawl, so, the small roads/wegs between towns are often perfect for cycling.

So, the most important part of planning a leisurely tour is the logistics in and out of airports, which is less easy with a 7 foot long recumbent. The rest would be completely unplanned. I go with the wind. Literally.

J.Higgins 

When I toured in the past, my number one priority between stops for the night was easy access to alcohol. My thirst for booze pretty much ruled supreme over all other priorities. I've been sober now for over a year, and I'm marveling over how things have changed so much that its like I'm fresh and starting all over again.

I used to love wild camping. Crawl into a private spot and set up camp. Go sit by a river and drink. Haul my bike and everything up on a ridge and drink. Stop at a campground, shower up, make a fire, sit next to it and drink. The drinking facilitated everything else in that lifestyle because when you are loaded and sleeping, you rarely notice the rocks poking through your sleeping pad, or the 20-degree slope you pitched your tent upon. You don't think of that when you are passed out. You only think of it as being a minor annoyance compared to the pounding in your head the next morning, which is remedied by a bidon full of Nuun and some breakfast. Rinse and repeat this every day of the tour. All my touring partners ever had the same issue, and reflecting back on it now, I chose those partners because they were alcohol and 420-friendly. This is all in the past. Things are different now.

My wife and I now tour together. We don't like camping much - well, SHE doesn't like it, so we dont do it. I'll still camp when I'm bikepacking with my son or my grandson, and I enjoy it much more being sober. My wife and I do inn-to-inn mostly now. We ride shorter distances during the days, and we walk and take pictures and fish the streams along our way. We're enjoying each other's company, and we're enjoying the trip. The roses do smell good if you give yourself permission to smell them.

John N

Subway is the leader, both in the USA and worldwide. In the USA, Starbucks then McDonald's round out 2nd & 3rd. Reverse that order for worldwide.

John N

Good for you!

jamawani 

I once took out an AAA paper map of the U.S. and put a red marker dot in ever place I got wasted. Needless to say, when I finished the map looked like it had chicken pox. Some cyclists can have one beer at the town bar, chat it up with the locals, and head back to the campsite. Others simply can't. I had about 10 years of riding in the morning - the late morning - with a splitting headache. I've had 30 years of getting up before dawn and enjoying the magic of early morning riding with a clear head and a grateful heart. Congrats to you, my friend.

jamawani 

BTW - What's important to me when touring?

1. Empty roads - where the one pick-up driver to come by asks if you are lost.
2. Wonderful small communities - Main St. stores, a little cafe, the library next to the park.
3. Great places to camp - preferably not chock-a-block against a big RV.
4. Backcountry hiking - Yosemite, Grand Canyon, national forest wildernesses.

Services? Phone?? Meh.
To get 1 thru 4, you have sacrifice a few services.