Motorcycle road trip planner how to#

Motorcycle road trip planner how to#

If you decide to camp, make sure you know things like how many bikes and tents can be on a site, how much it is for a site and how to pay if you show up after hours.Įven with all of the major stops planned, we aren’t done yet. If you’re looking at getting a room somewhere, think about how important things like pools, AC, heaters, secure parking, and other amenities are to you, given the location and time of year. Regardless of the route you choose, your next stop should be Yelp, TripAdvisor, Expedia, ADVRider, or whatever your preferred method of search is. A mixture of the two can work well for slightly longer trips where it’s still worth taking your camping gear for most of the nights, but you make one of the nights a stop in town to re-supply, get a shower, and enjoy a brew and a burger cooked by someone else. With the destination and daily mileage planned, the next question is: camping or motel? Some will say camping is the only way to go, but there are a lot of people who do incredible trips and don’t want to carry the extra supplies or deal with the hassle of finding places to pitch a tent. Buy a Butler Map to see if any of their favorite roads are nearby and worth taking (hint: it’s worth it). Squiggly lines equal fun, green areas equal plant life (for us So Cal people), blue equals water. I’ve never been a fan of arriving at camp at midnight totally burned out, so I usually plan shorter mileage so I can arrive at a decent hour and enjoy the evening.

On the tail end of a six-day trip in Death Valley, nothing will sound better than a run-down motel’s pool.įinally, build in some buffer so you can get lost, stop at an ATM to get money for an entrance fee, or hang somewhere longer than expected just because you’re having fun there. On the way out, you’ll probably have the energy to camp somewhere awesome, even if it’s 40 miles out of the way and at the end of a rutted dirt road. Consider your state of mind for that time of the trip. Look at a map for fun places to stop for the night along the way to your destination. Remember, it’s supposed to be fun, not a death march. Just because you can easily do a 500-mile day, that doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy six of them back to back, so don’t try to cram a 3,000-mile trip into your one week off from work. Photo by Lance Oliver.Once you have a destination in mind, break the mileage down by the number of days you have. I have the rest of my life to work up to doing an Iron Butt ride.

I felt like a n00b, but it was a great trip and my trips these days have gotten quite a bit longer. I did my first trip years ago on a Triumph Bonneville and knew I was only good for 200 to 250 miles per day, given how much that bike beat me up and my need to take breaks. Consider how far you’ve ridden previously and be honest with yourself about the kind of mileage you’d like to do in a day. Pick a destination that is interesting, but also within the limits of your riding abilities. The Earth is a beautiful place and there are an infinite number of natural attractions or events that make it worthwhile to get out of the house. I can’t tell you how many photos I see on a friend’s Instagram or on some motorcycle blog that get my wheels spinning. Photo by Lance Oliver.Picking a destination is one of the most fun and frustrating parts of the process. It’s just the process this research-obsessed nerd has learned after a few years of doing this sort of thing. It’s not meant to be list of required steps. Consider this the obsessive-compulsive rider’s guide to planning a trip. To you, I say kudos and part of me is a bit jealous, but I'm warning you now: I’m at the other end of the spectrum. For a lot of people, making it up as they go along is the adventure. Many of you are able, and would probably prefer, to pack a few pairs of clean underwear and socks and a sleeping bag and hit the road. This trip is forming up to be one I'll remember for the rest of my life, in good part because of the planning that went into it.ĭisclaimer: Please excuse my, uh, let’s call it “enthusiasm.” While I was never in the Boy Scouts, I may as well have “Be Prepared” tattooed across the inside of my eyelids. Days spent on the open road in places I've never been with a few friends and the attitude of adventure. Few things in life make me more excited than a good motorcycle trip. I'm leaving for the Grand Canyon in three days.