Farmington receives Bicycle Travel Award from the Adventure Cycling Association

Al's Place - Transamerica Trail Cyclers Inn in Farmington

Farmington, Missouri, received one of three 2010 Bicycle Travel Awards from the Adventure Cycling Association.

The award is for the creation of  Al's Place, a hostel for the use of bicyclists traveling the TransAmerica Trail, which passes through Farmington.

 
Adventure Cycling Association, North America's largest cycling membership organization, today announced the winners of its 2010 Bicycle Travel Awards, which include the City of Farmington, Missouri, Jim Klobuchar (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Bike Newport (Newport, Oregon), and Chuck Pengilly (Missoula, Montana).
 
The 2010 June Curry Trail Angel Award goes to the City of Farmington, Missouri. This community converted the old county jail into a comfortable and well-designed hostel, now known as Al's Place. Named in recognition of local bicycling enthusiast, Al Dziewa, the hostel opened late in the 2009 cycling season and serves cyclists on Adventure Cycling's TransAmerica Trail. There are 14 beds (in three bedrooms), complete with mattresses, pillows, sheets, and blankets. Two bathrooms, a kitchen, laundry, cable TV, lounge area, and free Internet service complete the suite, and bicycles can be stored in a locked room on the first floor.
 
To minimize costs, city employees completed all of the design and construction work and the quality of the facility is a testament to their commitment to this project. Their attention to detail and concern for bicyclists went so far as to inspire them to paint road-surface directions to Al's Place for cyclists entering the city from West and East.
 
One of the people who nominated Al's Place closed the nomination with these words, "All hail the City of Farmington for being so forward-thinking and for being what we hope is the trendsetter among other communities along the TransAm."
 
The June Curry Trail Angel Award is named in honor of June Curry, the famous Cookie Lady of Afton, Virginia. Curry has been assisting cyclists on the TransAmerica Trail since 1976. In this spirit, the Trail Angel award honors a generous individual or group encountered during a bicycle tour that makes the bicycle traveler's journey easier, or in some cases, even possible, by helping the cyclist through an act of goodwill.
 
"This was a record year for our awards program. We received a total of seventy-eight nominations, with our Pacesetter Award winner receiving twenty-one of them!" said Amy Corbin, awards committee chair. "Our awards are an opportunity to recognize some of the amazing people and organizations that make a difference for bicycle touring, and cycling in general. These folks do so much to make America a better, friendlier, and more connected country."