Research Route Planning Consultant

I'm looking for a freelancer to help design the route and community selection strategy for a 248-day bicycle research expedition across the United States. The project will cross approximately 21 states and visit roughly 150 communities. Along the way, I'll be conducting field research on physical gathering in American life—studying where people gather, how gathering is sustained, what institutions support it, and how gathering is changing across different parts of the country. I'm looking for someone who can help think strategically about the route itself as part of the research design. Responsibilities may include: -Designing a safe and realistic long-distance bicycle route -Recommending communities to include along the route - Identifying 15–30 potential anchor communities for deeper fieldwork - Helping create variation across regions, community types, and local contexts -Advising on seasonality, weather, and route sequencing - identifying communities, institutions, events, or locations that may be particularly valuable research sites -Creating maps, route recommendations, GPX files, or planning documents as needed The ideal person is comfortable thinking about both logistics and place. Experience with bicycle touring, route planning, journalism, geography, sociology, field research, documentary work, community development, or regional planning would all be relevant. This is a unique project that sits somewhere between a long-distance bicycle expedition, a field research project, and a documentary effort. I'm looking for someone who enjoys thinking about communities, geography, and how to build a route that will produce interesting observations and comparisons over nearly eight months on the road. When responding, please include: -Relevant experience -Examples of similar work, if available -Your approach to route and community selection I'm open to either a one-time planning engagement or a longer collaboration throughout the project.