 Best Sellers | | Home Bicycling Guide To The Mississippi River Trail: A Complete Route Guide Along The Mississippi River | |
|  | |  | | | Bicycling Guide To The Mississippi River Trail: A Complete Route Guide Along The Mississippi River | | | | | SKU:
ING0981895204 | | In Stock | | Availability:
Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | From Itasca State Park in Minnesota, to the southernmost point in Louisiana, on the Gulf of Mexico, Bob Robinson guides you along the designated route of the Mississippi River Trail, turn by turn. The Mississippi River Trail follows the mighty river's entire 2000-mile journey across America's heartland. Whether you are planning on cycling the entire trail across the country or just looking for a weekend adventure, this guidebook includes the services, route directions, bike shops, and maps you need to plan your adventure. The narration accompanying each section of the guidebook includes points of interest and history of the area, so that cyclists can better appreciate the communities and scenery they pass along the route. Many of the quaint picturesque communities along the Mississippi River have long been popular destinations for travelers, and are well equipped to accommodate their needs. So grab your bike and get prepared for the adventure of your life! | | | |
List Price:
| | |
Our Price:
| $16.95
& eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
| |
You Save:
| |
| | |
|
| | Product Details | | Author: | Bob Robinson | | Paperback: | 200 pages | | Publisher: | Spirits Creek | | Publication Date: | August 07, 2008 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0981895204 | | Product Length: | 0.55 inches | | Product Width: | 0.85 inches | | Product Height: | 0.04 inches | | Product Weight: | 0.53 pounds | | Package Length: | 8.4 inches | | Package Width: | 5.4 inches | | Package Height: | 0.5 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.65 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 7 reviews |
| |
| | Features | ISBN13: 9780981895208Condition: NewNotes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
| |
| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 7 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 found the following review helpful:
 After 1750+ miles Aug 13, 2009
By BigDog
We used this book as our lifeline for a 5-week bike trip covering over 1750 miles from LaCrosse Wisconsin to New Orleans. No support vehicles, no GPS, just paper maps.
This book has the MRT broken into sections of 75-110 miles with 3 parts in each. Step-by-step direction, map, commentary.
First, the book has excellent step-by-step directions, with a few typos. I remember at least two places where the Right-Left were incorrect. Unfortunately, those same two places did not have MRT signs. I believe one is near the Dorena-Hickman ferry in Tennessee, the other is in Lacrosse Wisconsin. The shoulder info, mileage estimates, and overall quality of these sections is nearly perfect.
Secondly, while the step-by-step directions are generally excellent, the maps are useless. The maps do not show all of the towns (something critical when bike touring) and they don't mention towns that are off route (even if it is only 1/4 mile). When you hit road construction (or any other difficulty), the book leaves you stranded because it shows no cross streets and no parallel roads. The maps simply show a single line with dots showing some of the towns. Sadly, this means you will need to carry other sources.
Finally, each section comes with commentary by Bob. There were a few mistakes in this area too, but it mostly was quite helpful and informative. I actually would have enjoyed these sections more had he listed better traffic/hill commentary, and described a few more unique places. These sections are quite good however.
The book is good, the route isn't great. I would not take this route again, and I wish we had picked a different route. Many sections are barely passable by bike (including most of Missouri and Louisiana). Most of Missouri was under road construction and they seemed to be making less bike friendly. Any roads on the MRT route should have to be up to a specific standard. There are many areas that are simply unacceptable to bike on, even for an experienced rider.
Do not buy this book for the maps, buy it for the step-by-step directions and the commentary. Buy county maps for road construction and to help when you miss turns. The route is not always marked.
Oh, and in Memphis Rob has you go under a "primitive path". This is currently overgrown with kudzu, requiring you to carry your bike over your head for quite some distance. There is an easier way, with a sidewalk and nicely paved shoulder, but it is hard to find via bike. It takes you right to the pedestrian walkway into Arkansas. Also, once across there is a gravel MRT trail which seems to have changed since the book was published. It is gravel, but it works.
Lets hope another version of the book contains better maps, with more lodging listed. In several areas where he lists long stretches without lodging we biked right past hotels or cabins (the cabins were usually a bit pricier than hotels, but could hold more people).
We used the Adventure Cycling Great Rivers South maps along with the MRT guidebook. That helped a lot, but we still needed to pick up local maps at times.
Enjoy your journey. If you want help or advice on any confusing stretches, [...]
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Nice book Sep 12, 2008
By M. Mc Kinnon
The Mississippi River Trail is really a great cycling route, filled with lots of history and beautiful scenery. This guide book includes everything you will need to make it an enjoyable experience. As the author states during the introduction, this is a guide book not a personal journal of his ride. With this book you are not hauling around several hundred pages of the author talking his friends along the ride and personal issues. But it does provide detailed route description, services for both camping and lodging, and points of interest along the route.
I highly recommend the Mississippi River Trail for any weekend or cross country cyclists, and I would definitely recommend this guide book.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Good Work! Oct 17, 2008
By J. Cole
When I first heard about the bike route along the Mississippi River I loaded up my bike and headed out for a multi-day tour on part of the trail closest to me. I tried using the directions posted on the MRT website, but got lost. When I saw the link for this guide book on my bike club's website I ordered a copy and attempted to ride the MRT again. I'm happy to report that my first two rides using the guide book have been a total success. I didn't miss a single turn. The author really did his work researching this guide book and provides easy to follow directions and places to stay along the route.
This is really a interesting trail to ride. There is plenty of history and scenery. I look forward to continuing to follow the route all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
The book is pretty good, but the trail is not great Jun 07, 2009
By M. Heldt
Hey, this is important! The book says turn left on 77 to get to the Dorena ferry. TURN RIGHT! If you turn left there is a whole lot of nothing.
This is a great guide for the Missouri section of the Mississippi River Trail (though understand you will never actually see the river south of St. Louis), but once you get into Tennessee the directions become pretty annoying, as you are led block by block through neighborhoods (some with unmarked streets) and down long stretches of Highway 51, which is not ideal. It is not the book's fault, but there is not a really great way to get through Tennessee by bike. There are better long rides. Also, the trail in Missouri is often on state highways with no shoulders. The drivers are usually friendly enough, but I did encounter a little hostility along the way.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Decent first draft Sep 23, 2010
By Sig
After reading through this book (using it to help plan a fall ride) I think most of the text is fine but the books layout leaves a lot to be desired. The Maps of a section are at the end instead of at the beginning which is awkward. Many times the beginning text of a section faces the map from a previous section which is confusing.
Also, in the mileage charts, the author shows the mileage to turns but doesn't seem to indicate mileage to the campgrounds along the route... so it's impossible to figure out how long your day will be without additional resources.
Being familiar with some of the route this book has you take, yes the roads are crummy but thats what you get when the US has a history of not bothering to invest in roads that are safe for all legitimate road users.
See all 7 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| |
| |
| |  | |  |
|
Recently Viewed | You may also like ... |
