Underground Railroad Route: Working on the Alternate

Kevin McManigal, Ginny Sullivan, and I are knee deep in finishing the new Underground Railroad Detroit Alternate, due to hit Cyclosource (our online store) in mid-August. Kevin has actually been doing all the heavy lifting on this one; I'm just coming in at the end to help with some proofing, tweaking, and layout work. Ginny will be providing historic points of interest that are 'must see' locations on or near the route.

Due to the clandestine nature of how the historic Underground Railroad worked -- there wasn't one straight course to transport slaves to freedom -- when we released our Underground Railroad Bicycle Route, we always envisioned that there would be alternates and spurs developed off the main route over time. The first of these extensions was the Underground Railroad Pittsburgh Spur (available as a pdf downloadable map).

The section Kevin and I are working on travels just over 280 miles, from Oberlin, Ohio, to Sombra, Ontario, Canada. It passes through some large cities, including Toledo, Ohio, and Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan.

There will be a second section of this alternate available in early 2012 that will go from Sombra to Owen Sound, Ontario.

Now, back to work for us!

P.S. If you're a business or organization located on our Underground Railroad Bicycle Route (or new Detroit Alternate), you might be interested in displaying the route decal to let cyclists know that they're welcome, and that you support the route.

Underground Railroad image by Ed Jenne. Underground Railroad Corridor map by Routes & Mapping Staff.

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GEOPOINTS BULLETIN is written by Jennifer 'Jenn' Milyko, an Adventure Cycling cartographer, and appears weekly, highlighting curious facts, figures and persons from Adventure Cycling's Route Network with tips and hints for personal route creation thrown in for good measure. She also wants to remind you that map corrections and comments are always welcome via the online Map Correction Form.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/06/underground-railroad-route-working-on.html

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