My wife & I try to ride every chance we get and as I have posted once before, we try to take one 7 to 10 day trip each summer. Part of the fun for me is planning out the trip over the course of the winter when it's most often not feasible to ride.

I start by picking a destination at which we can "home base" for a few days. I then research out the best routes (scenic, twisty, interesting landmarks, etc.) to and from the destination, each days lodging accommodations, gas stops, and finally places to stop for lunch or dinner.

We generally have friends that join us with 5 to 10 bikes on a trip so I am not against changing up the original ride plan if something comes up or someone suggests something different along the way.

For weekend trips we generally have a plan, day rides mostly plan as we go.

I have heard/seen the tag line, "it's not the destination, it's the journey", but IMO having a plan let's me personally enjoy the journey that much more. I like a plan.

I use and like Harley's Ride Planner online application, but it can sometimes be a little quirky to use for mapping out routes.

Do you like a ride plan or no ride plan for multi-day trips, weekend trips, or day rides.

Is there another online application you feel is better than Harley's Ride Planner to map out routes that can be imported into Harley's Infotainment GPS?

 

If you have riders joining you after the trip starts how do you plan for lodging ? Depending on the trip some stays have to be reserved well in advance such as rallies or there will be no rooms available. That being said we don't plan out our trips to much aside from what we are going to pack and a general idea of where we are going. How we get there is usually the funnest part and we mostly just wing it.

 

I generally share the trip plan well in advance with all details including lodging. If friends are going to join us they are responsible for booking their own accommodations.

You are correct about rallies, reserve well in advance and there could be a penalty/fee for cancellation.

Outside of rallies most hotels will allow you cancel up to some point during the day of scheduled arrival from my experiences with no penalty/no fee. So my advice to those joining me or thinking about joining the trip is to book well in advance if no cancellation penalty exists. I generally look for accommodations with no cancellation penalties.

 

I've had more fun over the years w/out the stress of trying to stick to a plan. I'm generally happiest with a destination and an ETA. Construction can be an avoidable surprise drag but then... so can forest fires, accidents and many other, unforeseeable problems on the road. I do have a trailer to haul behind the bike and I prefer to camp over hotel... but that varies depending on if the bitch pad is filled or not.

Really depends on who's going and how laid back or uptight they are.

 

My wife and I usually take at least one 5-10 day trip every summer.
We have a destination and just go, we do not make any reservations.
Usually hit the road by 7:30am to 8:00am and ready to stop between 3:30pm to 4:00pm. We have never had any problems getting a hotel room at 4pm.
We usually ride alone and stop when we want to stop.
Some days do less than 250 miles, some days do 500.
No stress to get to a certain place by a certain time.
No plans, no reservations, no stress.

 

90% of the time I ride alone, particularly on long trips. Perhaps a general but not a specific plan. I'm lucky enough to not be on a schedule either. If I think I can predict where I'll be in a couple of days I may reserve a room ahead if time if I have any doubts about availability. You can almost always get a discount price that way too. If you show up at a motel in a raging thunderstorm they'll likely fleece you for a room. Watch out for festivals and other events too. More often than not the weather dictates my route. Heading through western Canada last year, I detoured to South Dakota and Montana just to miss some severe storms (i'd much rather ride than hole-up in a motel for a couple of days). Western Montana was beautiful anyway. Greatest advantage of not being a group is that you are free to stop, go and turn whevever the feeling hit you. Travelling with one mate tho is just as good.

 

I take at least one two to three week trip every year. Never take a GPS or maps. I'm pretty good at geography so, I know if I'm going west, I need to hit roads heading, you guessed it, WEST. The longest trip was a shade over 6,000 miles. Left Florida, went to New Mexico, then on to Arizona. Left Arizona and headed to Michigan. From there, back to Florida. Never had a plan, reservations or timelines.

This year I turn 61 so, I decided to take a last trip on my rigid. Going from Florida to Michigan, over to Wisconsin then meander on back to Florida. It will be a two or three week trip, depending on weather and sightseeing. Tried to get a couple of my buds to go but, they have to have a "Plan". Want to know where they will be each evening. I don't ride like that. I may ride 50 miles a day or 500, depends on where I'm at.

 

Love the springer! Did my first cross country on a 97 FLSTS and the last two on an 11 SG. They are admittedly a wee bit more comfortable than your hardtail. I'm 65 and my arthritis has me addicted to cruise control now. My trips 12000 to 15000, 5 to 7 weeks, but I usually visit friends for a couple of weeks in the course of the trip. Hope your last trip on the hardtail isn't your last trip.

 

Hey, I have cruise, its a little screw on the throttle. LOL

My last trip will be to the grave yard. I won't stop riding until then.

 

We are agroup of several bikes last one was with 6 bikes, but having wives with us we generally pre-plan our hotel stays.....we have done lots of point-to-point rides now we are trying out hub rides...3 nights stay in each location then moving to the next location for 3 days....we wanted to enjoy either the city or the rides and point-to-point becomes too hectic for the ladies....last year we did point-to-point in the northeast states, this year we will be doing northeast Canadian cities....we enjoy VRBO rather then hotels....food, road and entertainment on the go, but most of the time we do google some locations to see whats where.......thank god we all get along otherwise what a mess it could become....