And, it covers a big turf! The term "Small Heartland" refers to: North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio. If you add in the "Large Heartland," it includes: Montana, Kentucky, Idaho, Colorado, Oklahoma, Nevada, West Virginia, Wyoming, Utah, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

Whew, I'm tired already. Fortunately, given the above, a tour entitled "Into the Heartland" can pretty much go wherever you want, and that's how this tour may very well fall out.

It started with an invite from a friend to bike the C&O Canal and Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) to Pittsburgh over Memorial Day weekend. It now being June 1, we obviously did not make that start date. And, for various reasons, that friend is no longer going with me (too much drama for these pages). But, in the interim, I had already thought out my summer tour, continuing beyond Pittsburgh to visit friends and places I have never been but need to see.

So, I was already planning to strike out solo for most of this trip when 1) my original friend bailed, and 2) Mark, my trusted biking buddy, agreed to do the first day with me to Harpers Ferry. That turned out (or I planned it) to be a Saturday. And that allows him to bike home Sunday to ride with his brothers while I will continue on my way to Pittsburgh . . . and the Heartland.

My first night, technically, will be in the Heartland (West Virginia), but the next five biking days, plus whatever time I spend in Pittsburgh visiting, will, alas, not be. But the plan from there is to bike down the Ohio River, specifically to see Cincinnati and visit a long-time friend who lives in Oxford, Ohio.

From Oxford, the dream is to finish the Ohio River, stopping in Louisville along the way, and ending in Cairo at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Tornadoes and flooding could stop me, I guess, but if they don't, it's up the Mississippi to St Louis. From there, it's into Iowa to visit with my twin (yes, twin) brother and my nephew, both of whom live in Fairfield, Iowa, and from there, continue up the Mississippi to Muscatine, Iowa before turning west to visit another friend in Iowa City.

The last leg will be to Chicago, where I also have friends to visit and am likely to stay a bit longer before returning home. And from Chicago, it will either be by train or by bike, depending on how I feel and if there are other pressing things to do back home.

If "successful," the whole route can be seen below, but I've broken the blog into sections, as I may change my mind as I go along. For example, from Cincinnati, I could train to Chicago, visit with my friends, and then bike to Iowa City, reversing the route a bit. Time will tell . . .