They say that planning for something you enjoy releases dopamine. If that’s the case, I’m a dopamine addict. I like planning a trip almost as much as taking it. That’s probably why I’ve put off picking an actual route for our journey from Maryland to Oregon. I need to delay that dopamine high knowing that once I start working on a route, I’ll binge on the process until I’ve got every twist and turn set. Still, I probably needed to get started if I want to lock in some choice locations. There really aren’t that many places that can easily accommodate both humans and horses but don’t require sleeping in a tent. And, since I’m planning this trip for me and my old cowboy, I’m pretty sure that asking him to sleep on the ground after a day of driving and/or riding could leave me with a silent, grumpy travel companion. So, I better start mapping this out and making some key bookings.

Here are the factors I’m considering in planning my route:

• Good riding opportunities — open ground and good trails;

• Historical and cultural (preferably horse culture) interest;

• Scenic wonder minus crowds of selfie-takers and tour buses;

• Roads that won’t make hauling a trailer a horror (minimal traffic/tolls);

• Never more than a 5-hour drive between horse-friendly lodgings;

• Weather — this trip is planned for August, so I’m not keen on a Deep South route.

I’ve found a few really great websites. For finding good riding trails and last-ditch camping options, I’ve been looking at Horse Trail Directory as well as individual state horse association websites. For lodging options that accommodate horses, I’ve been using Horse Motel and Horse Trip. For really cool historical interest ideas for itineraries, I’ve been salivating over various ideas based on the national historic trail systems I’ve found on a NPS website. And, for longer stretches of trail, I’ve been looking for ways to patch together a few unpaved rail-to-trail segments using a rail-to-trail website.

Right now, my thought is that we head pretty much straight west on a route that swirls back and forth between historic Route 50 and convenient Route 70. This course would take us from Maryland to Pennsylvania and/or West Virginia, then Ohio and/or Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Utah. From there, I think we will try to miss driving across the Nevada desert and Death Valley – something about a stretch of road called ‘America’s loneliest highway’ doesn’t fill me with confidence. Instead, I think we will head northwest on Route 84 which would take us through Utah and Idaho from south to north and then across Oregon from east to west.

We’re considering an alternative route that follows more along the Lewis and Clark route, heading through the upper Midwest, Wyoming and Montana before dropping down into the Columbia River Valley, but we’ve done that one by car and the Southern Rockies would be virgin territory for us.

I welcome thoughts from anyone interested in sharing.  Email me here.