Either last summer or the one before I talked for a few minutes with a couple of younger women bicycling cross country together. They'd stopped at a local Dollar General store to pick up a few necessities. They said they started their trip on the SE coast and were headed west. As I recall, one said she was headed to up around where you are now and the other said she was going all the way to a NW coastal state.
Several years back I talked with a man in his '50s (he was a school teacher, as well) who said he was bicycling cross country also. Said he had his bicycle and traveling gear shipped out to Washington state, then flew out there and started his trip from there and was headed back to NY state where he lived and taught school. As I recall he said he swung down through the SW states partly to see country he hadn't seen before and partly to avoid trying to pedal over the mountain ranges out west. Said he was hoping to make it home in time to rest up for a week or so before the next school semester started up.
We generally get quite a few cross country bicyclist pass through this area ever summer riding anywhere from singly to groups of several traveling together. A Protestant church in a local town hosts touring bicyclist needing a little R&R break. They can cook a warm meal, rest up and sleep inside with A/C, watch TV, shower, shave and wash clothes, etc, while there. I've seen as high as about a dozen or so there at one time.
Apparently there's quite a few folks of all ages and backgrounds that are into cross country bicycle touring nowadays.
