In October the family is heading to Disneyworld for a week. I decided to ride out solo and meet the wife and kids there. We are doing Disneyworld from Wednesday to wednesday. Im taking two weeks off from work, so I have from sauturday to wednesday to ride out and wednesday to sunday to ride home. Plenty of time each way. I initially thought i would just haul *** and do it in three days. But now I'm having second thoughts on that, and might decide to take my time and see some sights.

To get from here to florida, i have three main routes to chose from, 40, 20 and 10. obviously if i take 40 or 20, i would have to cut south at some point. But once i get past New Orleans, I was thinking of staying on any coastal highways or "roads". Once in Florida, cut east to get to Orlando.

Never did anything like this before, but i can't wait. Did a little test recently to see if i could handle an all day ride. Rode through mid Nevada, just a little 500 mile ride. Left early enough that I was back home by 1:30 in the afternoon. After 8 hours of riding, i wanted to head out again, so Im sure i will be able to handle it.

Any advise on which route from Vegas to Florida is the "best", or fastest, or most scenic. Kinda don't want to spend too much time in the western states, as I can always re-visit them on a weekend trip some time. Never been to any of these southern states I'll be passing through, so any tips and advice will be appreciated, thanks.

 

I think I would do something generally like the route below. It gets you through the western states in a hurry and allows you to see the southeastern states.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Las+...3355!3e0?hl=en

 

Soooooooo, no tips or advice on good rides through these states?

And thanks for the google link. Not really what I was looking for though. I know how to get from point a to point b. I know google very well and I know how to use GPS. But I do appreciate the effort, so thanks.

 

With the time limits and miles you gotta do, don't leave much time for scenic rides (prolly why nobody has said much)....that said, I like to make loops outta my rides.....I would go east on 40 and back west on 10 (or vice versa)........40, alittle east of Knoxville Tenn. Makes a turn south that goes thru some nice country.....or, continue on 81(if you don't make the south turn, 40 turns into 81) till you intersect 26....take that south to Asheville and jump on the Blue Ridge Parkway (south) to the end......from there go back to 40 east and go back to 26 south, take 26 to 85 to Atlanta....take the east by-pass around Atlanta, and pick up 75 south of Atlanta into Florida. ...then 4 to Orlando.....the BRP is a nice tour thru some of the best this country offers.......

 

Oh heck take 40 all the way across to TN..and do the dragon, ....so close it would be ashamed NOT to do it....

 

google(shortest way) says that is 2,300 miles each way...well over 700 miles per day. in october, the days are shorter and you will be riding from sun-up to sun-down. just because you rode 500 miles one day does not mean you can handle this trip easily. crawling out of bed and getting on the road is harder each day. even doing it in 4 days is not going to leave a lot of time for sight seeing. not trying to rain on your parade, but you are going to be one tired puppy when you get there--and the return trip will be a grind. why not fly with the family and just use one week of vacation, and save that other week for a more leisurely sight-seeing ride a little closer to home?

 

I'll add a couple observations...Coming across TX is brutal no matter what route. I-10 through Florida is BORING! Not much in the way of scenery unless you jump off in Pensacola and make your way to HWY 98. But its along the coast mostly and takes you through beach communities and toursit areas like Destin, Panama City etc. You could basically stay on that coastal route until time to cut across to Orlando.

Arkansas... Most of, if not all the best riding is in the NW part of state... and is a few hrs north of I-40.

I know I've done 600 mile days before and it whipped my butt...and it gets worse as back to back travel days progress.

 

Thanks guys. Doing the "loop" is a good idea. I wasn't even thinking about that. Maybe take 10 out and 40 back just to see different parts. Shooting all the way out to the east coast then turning south seems too far out of my way for my time constraints though, so I think I'll pass on that one.

As far as being tired, I'm good with that. I'm not one to get fatigued too easily. I've worked plenty of physically demanding jobs with long hours, until just recenty when I upgraded to an office job. So I'm not afraid to just go for it. Initially I was gonna do it with only three days each way, so truly hauling ***, and never stopping fo any sites whatsoever. But with my recent job change, which came with a different weekly schedule (Monday - Friday), I now have five days each way. Plenty of time. I'll still probably haul *** most of the way, take the leisurely coastal roads along the south coast, and probably end up with a day to chill on a beach somewhere for a day before the fam shows up.

As far as taking two separate vacations and spend a week riding around my area, why do that? Then I would never ride through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and whatever other states I might go through. It's something to do, and I'm set on doing it.

 

Ride your ride and don't let people try to talk you out of your adventure. 500 miles a day on interstates is very easily doable. Getting off the interstates riding through coastal towns it will be tough making 500 miles in a day. As a reminder the shortest east to west route across Texas I-10/ I-20 is 800 miles. Good luck!

 

Do the ride, 500 miles should not be a problem. You need a good seat and actual shocks , I windshield really helps over long distance and high speed. I'm guessing I'm a lot older than you and I plan all solo trips at 1000 miles a day.

If you have never traveled by bike, watch out for pump $ holds on non-gas company credit cards. I.e. VISA card used at a pump will generate a $125 hold for 3-4 days. If you match 1000 mile days against a sporty tank that will generate some hold charges that will get the attention of most CC fraud departments. I use cash when I don't have the gas company card unless I only find a closed night station that still pumps for credit cards. The indirect advantage of cash is that it adds another walk into the station so I get twice as much exercise at cash stations. My stops are about 50 minutes apart on the sporty and 1.5 hours on the Dyna.

Have fun.