I can not speak for the northern routes east of the Mississippi, but once you reach the Mississippi I strongly encourage you to stay on the east side of the river. Also, there are much better options for passing through Minnesota & into North Dakota than those routed by ACA.
I grew up in northern Minnesota, did some bike touring while still in high school and did the Northern Tier last year from the west coast, before turning south along the Mississippi to hook up with the TransAm and following it to the east coast. Here are my recommendations:
Cross Illinois as you see fit, but once near the Mississippi, pick up the Great River Road scenic byway going north. There is a combination of various highways, but north of Moline it's mostly along Hwy 84. *Warning* Illinois roads suck! Poor asphalt & broken edges with no shoulders in many places. However, with a little planning and using the bike trails & back roads, it's really not all that bad.
Wisconsin does it right though! They have an excellent publication for the touring bicyclist for their Great River Road and the route is much more scenic, follows the river better and has flatter terrain than the ACA route on the west side of the river. Go here for their detailed bike map of the route:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/bike-foot/grrmap.htmI highly recommend this route. There are many camping options and interesting places to check out along the way.
Cross into Minnesota at either Prescott, WI into the Twin Cities area or continue north on the Wisconsin side and cross the St. Croix River into Stillwater, MN. FYI - the road up to Taylor Falls, MN is good and the town very interesting.
If you're planning on going through the Twin Cities (Minneapolis & St. Paul), be sure to get good detailed maps of the area. It's a HUGE place and can be a bit intimidating. However, there are some excellent trails throughout the area and good trail maps are available from the local bicycle clubs & such. Here's a good web page for Minneapolis bike maps & info:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles/where-to-ride.aspMinnesota has an outstanding set of bicycle maps (a 2-map set) of the state, which show all of the paved county and secondary state roads that are suitable for bicycling. The map set is out of print, but they are currently in the process of updating and republishing it. Go here for info:
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bike/maps.html The online version of the map is here:
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bike/map.htmlAbout the ACA route in Minnesota:
While good, there are sections that are on 4-lane divided highways. The northern option is better than the main route and does go through Lake Itasca State Park, the head waters of the Mississippi River.
When planning your route through Minnesota, I'd recommend combining one or more of the excellent "rails-to-trails" trails with the back roads for a route that will either follow the Mississippi and the Great River Road or get you north to Lake Itasca State Park some other way. I can highly recommend the Paul Bunyan State Trail. It was fully completed last year and is paved full length from Brainerd to Bemidji. Info for it is here:
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/paul_bunyan/index.htmlI believe the ACA route out of Minnesota into North Dakota through Fargo could be better.
Consider going farther north in Minnesota to Thief River Falls and then going straight west on state Hwy #1 and cross the Red River of the North at Oslo into North Dakota. From there jog up to Grafton on US Hwy 81. In Grafton turn west onto state Hwy #17 and follow it all the way west to just north of Rugby. State Hwy 3 drops down into Rugby, where you can then rejoin the Northern Tier.
This routing gets you off US Hwy #2, which is a busy interstate and onto very nice back country roads with very little traffic. There were days when I don't think I saw more then a dozen vehicles. Still, there are little towns and villages all along the way with options for camping and stuff.
If you're camping, my experience was that from Minnesota w/b most towns, even small ones, have nice city parks or camp grounds where a touring bicyclist can find good camping sites. Some even have swimming pools to cool off in after a long day of hot windy riding!
Check out my journal for other detail, if you like. It's here:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=RrzKj&doc_id=6742&v=3q&term=harrisbrothers&context=allSorry for being long winded. There are several different options for getting through some of these areas. Drop me a note you'd like more details.
--
Curt Harris
Anchorage, Alaska
charris at alaska dot net
