east coast to st louis via motels?

[jfurlong]

hi all... because of some back troubles, camping out is not an option. we plan to be inito st louis around july 1st, starting somewhere on east coast.... which  route(s) would be best? thanks

[John Nelson]

There's probably a million routes that would do. A recent post here mentioned doing the entire TransAm in motels (see http://bicyclelife.topicwise.com/doc/Yumadons1), so you could do the same thing, deviating off the TA when you get close to St Louis. The TA is a nice bike route. Obviously, riding on or close to the major highways would make easier to find lodging, but also would make for miserable riding, so I don't recommend that.

[hem]

From Baltimore to St. Louis along the National Road(US 40) I have laid out a credit card tour with maybe a max of 70 miles between lodgings. I'm pretty sure any of the national routes like US 30 would work well too.

[indyfabz]

I'm pretty sure any of the national routes like US 30 would work well too.

I would definitely not ride U.S. 30 west from Philadelphia into Montgomery, Chester, Lancaster Counties and into York, PA. Lots of traffic. A little ways east of Lancaster it becomes a limited aceess, divided highway. Most sections in the immediately Philadelphia suburbs have no shoulder.

[Pat Lamb]

Major U.S. highways in the east aren't usually the best choice, for the reasons indy gives.  I'd second John Nelson's advice on the TransAm, followed by Great Rivers north into St. Louis.  It's worth the price of the maps for the routing.  Get them early and start looking for motels.  There's probably no more than a couple hundred miles from Yorktown into Chester, IL that you might have problems finding a motel.  I suspect you'll be able to find something within 10 miles of the route if you can manage 50-60 miles per day.