A Family Bikepacking Vacation (On Less Than $20 A Day!)

Image Gallery Here's good old Mom and the boys taking a break, and-as you can see-Ben and on are still pretty refreshed in their ""Bugger""

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"I only know one way of finding out how far one can go and that is by setting out and getting
there." (Henri Bergson)

It's a shame to think of all the families that will doggedly set out on "vacations" this spring and summer in cars filled with bulging suitcases ... comic books ... spilled food ... Dramamine pills ... costly fuel ... and headaches. After all , there's a whole world out there just waiting to be explored—with greater freedom—from the seat of a bicycle ... and you don't need a lot of money or pedaling expertise to do it, either!

Last August, my husband Tom and I took our two sons, Ben (4-1/2) and Jon (2)—along with our miniature poodle, Rowdy-on a 12-day, 570mile bikepacking vacation in southwestern Wisconsin. And the total cost of our family adventure was only $220!

We first decided to undertake the trip because ... well, just because it seemed like a natural thing for our family to do (the cash savings influenced our choice, too, of course). After all, we love the outdoors (and had gone camping together several times) ... we already had two good ten-speeds (Tom's custom Trek and my Raleigh Gran Prix) ... and my husband was familiar with the basic jobs involved in keeping a bike in shape (changing a tube, fixing a broken chain, and general tune-up techniques). However, despite such "natural resources", we still had to tackle a lot of preparation before we actually hit the road.

CHARTING THE COURSE

Our first step was to write to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to request county maps (the ones that indicate types of road surfaces) and to the Department of Tourism to get maps showing bicycle routes ... points of interest ... and possible campsites. Every state offers these, although the fees charged will vary.

To get topographical maps of some of the areas we planned to go through, we wrote to the Branch of Distribution, U.S. Geological Survey, Dept. TMEN, 1200 Eads Street, Arlington, Virginia 22202. (Folks who live west of the Mississippi or in Alaska or Hawaii can get the same services from the agency,s office at Dept. TMEN , Box 25286, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225.)

[EDITOR'S NOTE. You can obtain both eastern and western maps from either office, but you'll first need to ask for a free in the state(s) you plan to visit so you can the appropriate quadrangles. Each map will cost $1.50 to $2.00. They cover only small areas, though, so the price could add up if you were to collect all you'd need for a long trip.]

Once we received our maps, we spent weeks poring over them to plan our route. Fortunately, Wisconsin encourages bik tripping, so we were able to incorporate miles of bicycle trailways into our course ... including the Wisconsin Bikeway and the Sugar River and Elroy-Sparta Trails.

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