You have to start with a plan. My plan is to ship my bike to a shop near Boston, fly to Boston, pick up the bike, and ride back to Seattle. In general, I will follow the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier route. I will do my own routing from Boston to the Adirondacks, since the Northern Tier ends at Bar Harbor, Maine, so it heads too far north for me.
When I get to Niagara Falls, I will have some choices on how to get past the Great Lakes. Bob has advised that the route through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the best choice, so I will take the Lake Erie connector and the North Lakes route, which eventually will get me near St. Paul, Minnesota. From there, it is pretty straightforward to continue west across Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and finally into Washington.
Judy's Bike Ride 2017 