Hi Kelly.  Nice question.  Rhona and I crossed the US in 1996.  It took me 10 years to talk Rhona into agreeing to ride with me. I knew I couldn’t be away from her for an extended length of time. We did our tour on a tandem.  I resolved to never let an angry word pass my lips on the tour because we couldn’t get away from each other on the tandem.  I kept that resolution, we never argued although there were some long periods of silence.  In spite of her reluctance to do the X-USA tour, after completing the tour she is always looking for the next long expedition tour. I anticipated that after finishing the tour I would have gained some profound wisdom about myself. I’m not sure I did although I did come out of the tour with a different attitude and respect for America and Americans.  I think Rhona did change. Prior to the tour she was a very timid person but on the tour she found herself engaging with strangers in a way she had never done before. I realized my wife was as tough as she needed to be on some of the difficult days. That tour clearly helped cement our marriage, we’re coming up on our 50th anniversary this month.  We were a good team on that tour and continue to enjoy our time together on bicycle tours. 

Hi Kelly.  Nice question.  Rhona and I crossed the US in 1996.  It took me 10 years to talk Rhona into agreeing to ride with me. I knew I couldn’t be away from her for an extended length of time. We did our tour on a tandem.  I resolved to never let an angry word pass my lips on the tour because we couldn’t get away from each other on the tandem.  I kept that resolution, we never argued although there were some long periods of silence.  In spite of her reluctance to do the X-USA tour, after completing the tour she is always looking for the next long expedition tour. I anticipated that after finishing the tour I would have gained some profound wisdom about myself. I’m not sure I did although I did come out of the tour with a different attitude and respect for America and Americans.  I think Rhona did change. Prior to the tour she was a very timid person but on the tour she found herself engaging with strangers in a way she had never done before. I realized my wife was as tough as she needed to be on some of the difficult days. That tour clearly helped cement our marriage, we’re coming up on our 50th anniversary this month.  We were a good team on that tour and continue to enjoy our time together on bicycle tours. 

Kelly,

I have cycled across the USA three times, each time a somewhat mosified route. Northern Tier in 2002 leading a group for Adventure Cycling. We did not stray from the published route as per Adventure Cycling recommendations at that time.

The Southern Tier in 2012, if memory serves, was done by Adventure Cycling leaders, and other friends. Our crossing can be found in Crazyguy..search Chris Mullen and titled COBB.

My wife and I rode an abbreviated TransAm in 2017 on our Bike Friday tandem. Also Crazyguy..search Jo Hodgin. 

Keep in mind your flexibility, weather, fires smoke, routing changes, as soloist tourist are free to do. Family visits can be a big reason to deviate from printed map. 

Every crossing has renewed my faith in human interactions, the beauty of our country, the almost inherent belief--from both political sides--that this country is wonderful, and we ALL need to help each other. And the tater tots never got old in the myriad of bars that somtimes were the only close food sites.

Larry

"For all that Americans insist that the USA is varied, the truth to my eyes is that figuratively you're never more than 20 minutes from a Coke machine. The money doesn't change, the language doesn't change, the culture doesn't change."

It wasn't always this way.  I remember road trips as a kid, mostly from Chicago to Florida in the 1960's.  Long stretches of interstate highways were not yet complete forcing us on sections of two lane roads in the middle of, what seemed like, no where.  Chain restaurants were not common and I recall some interesting and delicious meals of local foods (Fried Chicken, Grits, Collard Greens, etc) in places like Kentucky and Tennessee.  It really did feel like different cultures.  It was certainly much harder to understand some of the accents.  One year we drove west to California and then down the coast, with similar experiences.

Those times have changed, of course.  The closest I have come to that as an adult is riding cross country.  There were not many fast food places in the small towns through Kansas for example.  In some ways it felt like going back in time.  But I agree its not close to the same degree of "different" that you find in Europe.