Starting in Birmingham go to Chicago and do the mother road all the way to Santa Monica taking my time. Then head back to Birmingham cris crossing I10.

 

I agree with several of the OPs which said New England. Riding the BRP in May is optimum and you can take in all of the beauty of New England.

 

Maybe, maybe not. Until you are retired I would think a month off would be hard to come by. Was for me anyway before I became a non-producer in society!!!

Anyway, one thought is this. In order to travel you have to work around your availability , time off, family obligations, etc etc. What I did when I worked was decide what I wanted to see and just hammer down to get there. (I know it is about the journey not the destination, but whomever said that didn't have a freaking J-O-B!) Then I would just enjoy the area I am touring until time to go home. Then I would hammer *** home. Not ideal but better than not traveling at all.

I don't know if you have been west but a lot of people from out east don't grasp the concept of how VAST it is out here. We measure distance in hours and days not miles. I have lived in Colorado my whole life (53 years next week) and there are parts of it I have never seen. You could spend a whole month on the 100 mile wide stretch of the Colorado Rockies and never take the same road twice. Then there is the rest of the states that have Rocky Mountains. As someone said they spent 7 months in the PNW alone! "Touring the West" takes a lifetime not a month.

According to Google Maps, Atlanta is about 2600 miles away from Seattle thus 6200 RT. At 500 per day, which is really hard to sustain, that is 13 days right there. And that just allows you to grab some fresh seafood, get a cup of coffee and turn back. I have done things like that and I will likely do them again but not really immersing yourself in the culture.

My advice is to pick something you want to see and go see it. Each state west of Nebraska has some signature destinations and you can catch a couple of them each visit. Or if you are lucky enough to have that month, pick a couple more.

As for May, I would stay south. Colorado and other parts of the mountain west is a bit unsettled in May and you can have anything from a spring blizzard to blue bird perfect. I would pick maybe Central Arizona/Grand Canyon, Utah national parks or Texas Hill Country. All windy in the spring but definitely nice temperature wise.

Don't know why I wrote so much but I hope it helped.

 

I live in Central Maine. I would caution you that the weather here in May is very unreliable. It can get warm but is quite likely to be cold and wet. I think NS, Cabot Trail etc. best left for when the weather is warmer.

 

Being from Illinois and having been out west a number of times I too can admit to the hit the slab and haul *** to get through Illinois, Iowa & Nebraska so I have more time to enjoy the mountains. I do not believe in the old saying, "its the journey not the destination" especially when I have 10 days to get to Colorado, explore and get home!


But on weekend rides I can do the journey thing, just wandering around Illinois looking for that odd ball thing or road.


Anyway I digress, given 3 weeks I would go to the Canadian Rockies but I do not think that is a very good idea in May.


North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia & northern Georgia all offer some great riding and with so many small towns I could easily spend 3 weeks wandering that part of the country

 

no matter where you go it's going to be a great trip .
my favorite thing to do is just pick a direction and ramble . stop and have a look at anything that looks interesting . old buildings , museums , small town graveyards can be interesting ! after you've ridden as far as it feels good or 4pm find a motel near a restaurant and stop for the night . sitting in bed have a look at maps and travel guides and pick a direction for the next day . or if you get along easy with people ask in the restaurant and motel what interesting places are nearby .
the hard part is always heading back towards home , often i'll just keep going and have to race back in the last 3 or 4 days

about the North rim of the Grand Canyon , awesome place to visit but you should know a couple of things

1) they don't even open the road until May 15 . when i was there a couple decades ago there was still a bit of snow in the shade under trees a week after that .
2) when the road does open this year there's a water conservation warning due to a broken pipeline , probably not a problem for you but may affect the restaurant being open .
3) if you do end up there you must eat at the restaurant
http://www.grandcanyonforever.com/dining
food was decent , but the view may be one of the best in the world !

have fun !

 

Check out the Butler Maps for the Ozarks; we had a legendary holiday there for two weeks. Bikes were hauled to Memphis to start.
We came from up in Canada exactly this time of year, it was still too cold to ride far here (as it is now)
Can't say there's a better value for finding good roads than the Butler map set I've had for a few years.

 

Rever now includes Butler Map overlays in their premium service for $5.99 per month. I think it's a great deal to have access to their maps on my iPhone and computer.

 

Colorado and Utah. Both are beautiful. Utah is amazing and I have yet to make it to Monument Valley.

 

" I'll have to decide if I'll keep it on the east coast and really explore, or hit the Ozarks and then haul *** through the midwest en route to the good stuff, but go only as far west as you suggested. "


Go For It Bud! The Grandeur, the Incredible Wide Open Spaces, the ability to see not Miles but Hundreds of Miles, the low humidity of the desert and the high desert, incredibly clear night skies where you can see constellations with the naked eye, ... I could go on and on. For someone from Atlanta or living near New Orleans as I am the West and Pacific Northwest are too wonderful to be believed. You are closer to the East Coast, and surely you have enjoyed the Smokies, save them for when you have less time. I sure would like to hear that you have had at least a breath or two of air with humidity less than 20%. The high desert night sky alone is worth the trip. Pause a bit in Arkansas, not just the Ozarks but the Ouachita Winding Stair range near Mena (Talimena Scenic Drive) then get your tail on the other side of Oklahoma / Texas Panhandle or Kansas as quickly and painlessly as possible to enjoy New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and/or Utah. Leaving a crowded city like Atlanta you will be amazed at the wide open spaces. What I saw of the East Coast was very pretty, and the winding roads were fun, but the East Coast just left me feeling crowded. Admittedly, I never made it as far North as New Hampshire or Maine, but after my Western tours I was already feeling crowded on the coast of Virginia, and knew I did not want to experience the traffic I was hearing about in Maryland and New York East of the Hudson. I turned Left.


PCH is Wonderful, especially up around Crescent City, but Oregon 101 and Washington even more wonderful. Save them for when you have more time. Yes I trailer through Texas and the Mid-West Great Plaines. Drive like Hell till I get to Albuquerque. After Albuquerque, something is wrong if I do more than 300 miles on any day.


Would Love to see New Hampshire, Maine, Newfoundland, but too much East Coast between me and them, just too many people. "Good clean air from East to West and room to go and come, I Love my fellow man the best when He is scattered some". Even the Smokies, when I rode them in November, although beautiful, felt crowded after DeMott Meadow Kaibab Plateau. Being from Atlanta, have you ever in your life seen a night sky at 8,000 feet or higher elevation with very low humidity (15% relative humidity on the Kaibab) and No City Lights within 100 miles? Desert Southwest you can do that.