As a child growing up in Northern New York, I would watch the traffic travel along Main Street, wondering where the cars came from and where they were going. Eventually I learned that our Main St. was US Highway 11 that runs from the Canadian border all the way down to New Orleans! The idea to cycle this entire distance has been ruminating ever since, and now the research and scouting has been done. From the French speaking province of Quebec to the French Quarter in New Orleans, this route will traverse the country in a SW line through undulating prairie, rolling mountains, winding river valleys, bayous, bistros and bungalows. The tour will be separated into 3 sections, with a layover day between sections. The first section starts on the northern edge of New York, more than 7 hours north of the city, along the border with Canada. To the north lies French speaking Quebec, and to the east is Lake Champlain separating New York from Vermont. We will travel through four states, following the contours of the Appalachian folds, to the northern tip of the Shenandoah National Park. From here, segment two will diverge from Route 11 to take the parallel road along the infamous Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway. Segment three will bring us back to Route 11 as we continue SW through the southern states of Alabama and Mississippi, to cross Lake Pontchartrain and enter the vibrant city of New Orleans and its cultural hub in the French Quarter.
The itinerary for this odyssey is perfect for “training on the road”. The first segment is not very hilly and distances are medium. As we enter Pennsylvania we begin cycling through the contours of the Allegheny Mountains, gaining strength in our legs. By the time we reach Front Royal and the start of the Skyline Drive, our bodies will be well tuned and ready for the hills. And hilly it is, as we squiggle our way through Shenandoah National Park and then into the Blue Ridge Mountains along the entirety of the Parkway. As we exit the Great Smoky Mountains the terrain flattens out and we are able to cover longer distances on our voyage to the Gulf of Mexico.