Riding road trips range from a simple out-and-back overnights to meandering multi-year globe-girdling vagabonding experiences. But for most who are reading this a typical summer road trip will involve crossing several states and riding thru deserts or mountains or to one of the borders or coasts.
I’ve ridden cross country a few times. The main issues are: How much time (?), and if you want to camp (?), and what time of year (?). If you don’t have much time, you’ll probably need to go via freeways and maybe some toll roads. This isn’t my favorite for a bunch of reasons, but it is efficient. You can get across the entire country in four days fairly easily. With more time, say a week, you can take smaller state highways. It’s much slower, which might be too slow for some kinds of bikes at 60-65 MPH speed limits(?), but the scenery and roadside food and accommodations are much nicer. Thru most open country it’s also not all that difficult to move along a little…ahem…faster, should you want to. Time of year influences how far north or south you want to route yourself. If your bike is pretty protective from cool weather, you should be fine just about anywhere after mid-June.
For example, a summer cross-country route west from NYC to Seattle I like and have done a several times goes into Canada and over the Great Lakes, crossing via a small car ferry near the east end of Lake Ontario, then angles northwest to Peary Sound and Sudbury, then west to Sault St. Marie, then along the lower part of Lake Superior to Duluth, then west across the northern prairies on Highway 200 to Helena or Missoula Montana, then on down the western slope toward the coast by a mix of freeway and two lane roads. You’ll be on two lane roads almost the entire way. US200 is about half way between I-94 and US2 and begins about 30 miles NW of Duluth. The only concern before mid-June is the weather can still be uncomfortably cool in parts, so for the next few weeks I’d still plan a second more southerly route in case the weather looks cool and rainy the day of departure. After you’ve committed to this route you are sort of stuck up north around the Great Lakes at least as far as Sault St Marie.
Continuing this example, within the USA there are few great ways to get from NYC to the Illinois-Iowa border. Most of the freeways and toll roads are crowded with trucks and cars, the freeway road-food usually isn’t great and the road surfaces are not well maintained in many places. Alternatively most of the two lanes across this part of the country have little towns every twenty miles so the routes and road foods are very nice but can be quite time consuming. After you get west of the Mississippi River population density goes way down and both the freeways and two lanes open up nicely. The northern route described above avoids all the people since almost the minute you enter Canada and start angling toward Peary Sound you are crossing fairly sparsely populated country, and this holds all the way out to the west coast.
This is the time to get out the old road atlas or some maps, take look at your available time, sort through your gear, check the bike’s service needs, and get ready. We all wish you a truly great road trip, and…uh, if you need anything for riding and possibly camping, please give us a call.
—Mr. Subjective
Yes, the trip heading west in Canada is an excellent choice. Outside of Metropolitan areas the roads are empty, even on the Trans-Canada after getting off the Manitoulin Ferry to Sault St. Marie. From there I did the Lake Superior Circle route, which is fantastic. In third week of August I was able to swim comfortably in Gitche Gumie in Grand Marais MI.
Like Jim Thurber mentioned above, riding a smaller bike works just fine. I did the above trip on a 650r Ninja-which I also rode to NS and Newfoundland. Last summer I rode NS, NF, then the Trans-Lab on BMW F800 GT. I used Ortlieb dry bag saddle bags, an AirHawk seat cover, and used a couple’ one-gallon RotoPax on the TransLab.
Like Jim I also mostly stayed in roadside motels-I would stop before the deer came out to forage along the road. I camped a few times but the bugs were fierce (It’s an age thing!)
I’m getting the maps out now-I’ve got the Badlands on my mind.
Safe travels everyone and see you on the road!
Love ur: Ride fast take chances”
June 9th 17 went on VStrom 650 in 9days south FL to Fairbanks AK
lot of rain
National Geography trip
Back to Ft LDE Jul 24th 17
Crossed the U.S. coast to coast multiple times on all sorts of machines and, to tell the truth, by the time I’m 3/4 of the way I start PUSHING the daily mileage.
There are tons of ways to get from NYC to Indiana / Illinois / points west that do not involve the (dammed) interstate system. If you’re on a Gold Wing or FL something – or – other the interstate system can be “tolerated.” But I prefer smaller bikes, even scooters. In my Citybike writing career I loved riding the Suzuki 650 Scooter and the Piaggio three wheeler (500 cc) all over the western United States – finding tiny roads that led me hither and yon.
Do I have a suggestion? Yup. Go touring in a SMALL motorcycle. You’ll be searching out the teeny, tiny remote roadways and having a total blast doing it. Twists, turns, spectacular views, they’ll be yours for the taking.
Sometimes remote hotels can be awful, other times awesome. You can even camp if you like (but I love having that warm shower every morning after a GOOD night’s sleep in a bed) (lazy) (yup, it’s an age thing).
My current choice of rides is the lowly Honda 250 dual sport – the Rally Version – which is a CRUMMY freeway bike but off the beaten path there’s nothing better (OK, maybe a KTM – maybe – but Honda’s reliability is unmatched).
Regardless, have a GREAT ride and remember: Ride Fast = Take Chances
Like you I have made the hwy 200 route from Oregon to Maine and all four corners (as far as the roads go) of the US, Alaska included, and Canada, plus much in-between. Just returned from 4700 miles from Oregon to Big Bend NP, Texas. Not on the perfect bike (F800GS) for this trip, mid-30s — mid-90s and always windy, camping and motels , very little freeway, very little gravel. I’m old, short, and fat and I hate cold hands, which I had even with your big Ropers.
Cheers,
Art
Good note on the route. Except it’s spelled PARRY Sound
We did lower shore of Superior from SSM to Duluth, mid-July ’17. It was cool even then….
Ride safe.
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