ride along hotels or B&B

[peterschaapman]

I am a Dutchman and I do not know much about cycling in the USA but did hundreds of trips in Europe. Mostly I went by train to a town some where in Germany or France, then ride about 60/70 km and look around for a hotel, or sometime in the afternoon on booking.com. I always find a bed. You can ride all around Europe in this way.
I read alarming things about the infrastructure; long distances. Most people I read on the forum are camping, I prefer a hotel, I am too old for a tent......
Is that possible in the USA somewhere.....?
Peter

[zzzz]

Hi Peter:

You can absolutely do this in the US where the terminology for it is "credit card touring".

If you're planning on riding in the eastern half of the country it probably won't be that different than what you've experienced in Europe in that you can probably start looking in the afternoon for your night's bed. I believe (but not have personally done) that the same is true of the Pacific Coast route.

If you're planning on riding out in the rural west (where the best US touring is), you will want to research your route fairly carefully. There are specific stretches which have 60-80 miles between towns and even a couple with 100-140 miles between towns. Where the population/infrastructure density is much less it will be safer to verify where you'll be staying that night in the morning or the night before.

I have done 5 trips that were a month long each this way. On my first 2 trips I took an emergency bivy with me just in case and never used it but there were days I went longer than I wanted to in order to avoid sleeping in the bivy. Now, for the last 3 trips I've taken a ultra-lite bag and tent and used them maybe five times total. A couple of times the wind was way up in the afternoon and I was spent before I got to the next town, another time I was going over a big pass and a storm blew in. They are insurance and give me piece of mind but are not required.

Pete

[John Nettles]

If you are looking for specific recommendations as to routes, please give us all the pertinent information, i.e.miles per day you ride, number of days you want your tour to be, type of tour (cultural, scenery, flat, mountains, beach, etc.).  Best, John

[RussSeaton]

You will likely be able to tour this way in the northeast corner of the USA.  More risk involved with the south and Midwest.  Impossible to tour this way in the west.  There are a lot less people and much more space in the west half of the USA.  So density is low.  And towns are somewhat sparse.  Its not like Europe where you have a billion or so people in a space half as big as the entire USA.  The USA has about 300 million people and twice as much space as Europe.  Much higher density and many more towns in Europe.  Europe also has the advantage of having many small, informal bed and breakfast, pensione, places to stay.  These do not exist in the USA.  You will find only official, commercial, somewhat big motels, hotels that are regulated formal businesses.  Or very expensive boutique bed and breakfasts that are also official businesses.  The pensiones I found all over Europe were just houses that rented out a spare bedroom to someone who needed a place to sleep and a bathroom and breakfast in the morning.  Less formal and official, but plenty good enough.  These do not exist in the USA.  If you plan your route a week or two or three in advance and religiously stick to it, then you can call up all the motels and reserve rooms for a specific night.  Just riding into a town and hoping to find a place to stay will be risky.  Any accommodations may be full and the next town may be 50 miles away.  There is a lot less flexibility when touring the USA by bicycle and trying to stay in a motel every night.

[CMajernik]

There is a website that lists B&Bs along biking routes. It's http://www.bbbiking.com/