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It’s awfully early to start planning a motorcycle trip that’s at least nine months away, but it’s turning cold outside and I have to keep myself excited about something.  So after looking around on Google Maps I’ve come up with this, which is one of two ideas for my 2011 motorcycle trip.  This trip would be a tour through the heart of the Rocky Mountains, both in the United States and Canada.  Here’s the map:

This ride would take me past the Sawtooth Range of Idaho, then into Montana through Missoula.   Next it’s northwest to Idaho’s  Lake Pend Oreille, then north into Canada, to the mountains of  British Columbia and Alberta.  This route will be along the Ice Fields Parkway through incredible Banff National Park.  There will be a lot of this:

Glaciers in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta

In Alberta, coming out of the Rockies for a while, the route turns east toward Edmonton, then south to Calgary, through the northern Great Plains.  Out there, there will be a lot of this:

Lush northern plains outside Calgary

From the plains the route turns southwest back into the mountains, into British Columbia then Montana.  Just past Kalispell is huge Flathead Lake, familiar territory for me, then past the beautiful Mission Range and back to Missoula.  Out of Missoula the route turns southeast along a bit of interstate, then along the west side of the Teton Range to Jackson, Wyoming.  From there I’m home free, riding through Star Valley and Afton in Wyoming, and back to the Salt Lake Valley.

The route is about 2,700 miles which is about right for a week long ride.  I think the route should generally be straighter and faster than my route along the California coast, so I’ll cover a lot of ground quickly.  Still, I’ll have to check each road carefully before departing.  One 25 mile winding road can set me behind schedule.  Like my other trips I’ll have to ride in July or August because up there I could run into snow.

This Rocky Mountain trip is one of two places I’m considering for my 2011 ride.  The other is a desert ride through Arizona and New Mexico, and I’ll update with a proposed route.  Hey, maybe I can do both next year…

My 2010 motorcycle vacation is taking shape.  This year I plan to follow this route, starting in Salt Lake City, counter-clockwise.  Stopover locations are shown as blue pins:

This year’s trip will be very different from last year’s route, when I headed out across the prairies of the Midwest.   I plan to cut through the arid central regions of Oregon, through the forests of western Oregon, and all the way to the Pacific shore.  Once on the coast, I’ll head south into California.  No proper Pacific coast trip can avoid San Francisco, so I’ll cross the Golden Gate Bridge and make my way through the city.  I’ll also ride through Greenfield, CA in the Salinas Valley where I lived for a few months in 2001.  After that I’ll cross the California central valley and then the Sierras near Yosemite on a winding mountain road.  The following day I’ll travel on US Hwy 6 through central Nevada, which is an extremely isolated road traversing the great basin desert.  I’ll bring extra gas!  Then after a night in Delta, UT I’ll return home to Salt Lake City.

Last year I did everything I could to avoid cities and I’ll try to do that again, with some exceptions.  Boise can’t easily be avoided, and neither can San Francisco.  The California coast has many smaller cities and I’m going to ride through those as well.  The vast majority of the route will avoid interstates and cities, and the last leg of the ride will naturally avoid humanity altogether.

This will be a solo ride.  Well, that is unless I can find any volunteers to come along!  Anyone is invited.  All that is required is a motorcycle and the nerves and insanity to make the trip.  The route will be about 2,500 miles over six days of travel, starting Sunday, July 18th.

I’ll make updates and post a finalized itinerary before leaving.  During the trip I’ll make daily updates and post pictures.  Stay tuned!

Tomorrow morning I leave for my summer motorcycle trip.  My saddle bags are ready and the route is planned.  If you’re following my progress, I’ll be spending the night in the following cities along the way, and updating my blog each night of the trip.

Aug 3rd:  Casper, Wyoming (The largest stopover city on this trip)
Aug 4th:  Winner, South Dakota
Aug 5th:  Geneva, Nebraska
Aug 6th:  Garden City, Kansas (Possibly Syracuse, Kansas depending on my mood)
Aug 7th:  Gunnison, Colorado (After traversing an 11,500 foot mountain pass that day)

I’ve tried to avoid interstates whenever possible, although most of Day 1 will be on I-80 in an attempt to gobble up some miles that first day.  I accidentally scheduled my trip during the Sturgis rally, so I’m sure there will be plenty of Harleys riding east on I-80 with me tomorrow.  While I’m not riding too close to the town of Sturgis, I’ll grab some photos of the Harley groups if I can.  Hopefully this little scheduling oops won’t be too much of a problem.  It’ll be a real pain to try to pass a group of 50 Sturgis-bound riders on the interstate.  We’ll see what happens.

I love small towns and I’ll visit lots of them on this trip.  I’ve seen this part of the country from the air, but never from the ground.  When flying there are fields everywhere with farmhouses at the corners and tiny towns here and there.  I always meet interesting people when I visit these little American towns and I’m sure I’ll meet more next week.  I’ll keep the updates coming each night!

I’ve been planning for a motorcycle trip to the midwest this summer and I think I’ve almost decided on my route.  I’ve made some changes to the itinerary, cutting out Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico from the route, but I’ve added South Dakota and placed a bigger emphasis on the Colorado mountains.  I’ve also shaved a day off the trip, shortening it to six days.  The entire trip should cover about 2,200 miles and I’m planning to ride about seven hours per day.  Here’s the updated route:

With a seven hour riding day planned, I can leave the hotels at around 8:00 AM each morning which will give me four hours of riding time before lunch.  Most of the day’s riding will already be done by lunchtime.  I’ll have time for a long lunch break and have the rest of the afternoon and evening to make the remaining three hour run to the next hotel.  It’ll still be a taxing journey, especially if it’s windy, but it’s totally doable.

I’m targeting Monday, August 3rd for the beginning of the trip.  It’ll be exciting!

Summer is here and it’s time for touring!

This summer I’m planning a solo motorcycle touring trip through Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, and New Mexico.  I haven’t made any final decisons on the route, but it’s going to be close to the map shown above.  The trip will focus on exploring rural back roads and trying to steer clear of highways and interstates.  The blue pins shown on the map indicate where I plan to stop for the night, and the stopovers are naturally in small towns, not cities.

There seems to be a whole lot of America that I’ve never experienced, especially in the Midwest.  Endless farms, tight-knit towns, flat ground, and epic thunderstorms are foreign to me and I’m headed out there to see it all.  I have such a small view of America from my little Salt Lake City home and I always want to expand that view so that I might better understand my country and it’s people.  I can’t think of a better way to do it, especially from a motorcycle and getting almost 60 miles per gallon.  That’s only about $15 per day in fuel!

This is a longer ride at about 2,500 miles but it’s going to be great.  My target week is July 25th-31st.  I’ll post updates as I know more.