I'm relatively new to this having only been on two bike tours, one each in the last two years. I used the ACA maps both times, Western Express to TransAmerica in 2012 & Great Parks from Jasper down to Missoula then Trans Am to Wyoming this last September. My maps arrived yesterday for next years trip (Sierra Cascades) and I started the time consuming task of looking up the hotels listed on the maps in Trip Advisor and what the alternates were in the towns on route and I thought that this is something the ACA forum could add that would be really useful to it’s members.
What I am proposing is that a forum be added just for member reviews of hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, services, etc on ACA routes and that they be sorted by route/panel # for easy look up.
This would helpful in a several ways:
1)The maps themselves are already filled to the brim and several hotels/campsites/restaurants don’t make the cut. And the ones that are listed don't always seem like the best choice once you get to your destination for the evening. This would make for a fuller picture of what’s available.
2) There are things specific to the bicycling traveler that aren’t necessarily as high on other travelers concerns. For instance, is there any group of people more interested in convenient laundry facilities?
3) By increasing internal recommendations between ACA members it would concentrate our touring cyclists dollars to those business’s that go out of their way to help riders out.
I’m sure this would be a fair amount of work for the ACA staff to set up the frame work for so if other members think this is a good idea, please let your opinion be known.
Pete