Hi All,

Is one month long enough to ENJOY a west to east to west coast trip? Here is my back story...

A very close friend of mine that I served 2 combat tours in Iraq w/ passed away 3 months after he married my wife and I due to stomach cancer. He rode his crotch rocket out to visit me in CA all the way from NY and to be apart of my wedding. Upon receiving the news of his passing right before X-mas in 2013, I immediately booked a flight out to attend his funeral. While there I informed most of his family members that I have a ton of video footage of him on deployment and of our down time back in Camp Lejeune. I am finally getting to stripping all of this video footage and putting it onto a DVD that I can give to his family members. The purpose of this ride is to hand deliver these copies of the DVD to his family on my motorcycle (he has a lot of siblings in various states). Along the way I plan to either be camping or staying with other vets I know with the end goal being Long Island NY at my buddies mothers house. My work is allowing me to take one month off in order to do this and most importantly my wife has also agreed to let me do this while she takes care of our three kids and keeps things in order around our house. I either do this now before my other two kids get into sports and school or wait til im old and retired.... Pretty much have a golden opportunity/time window here that I can't pass up.

My biggest question is, will this be enough time to actually enjoy the trip? I don't want to spend the whole time on boring free ways just trying to get from point A to Point B. I have done some research on the necessities and found that over planning it can make it not so much fun as well. A buddy from home will be joining me along the way and we both agree that we will jot down our major destinations but not plan routes until the morning of every day from where ever we may be. In my mind I figure as long as we get to NY by mid point (2 weeks) at minimal, we should be OK timing wise. I understand that I will also have to be self disciplined on how long we stay at each stop especially when visiting old friends. We plan on doing this trip during the month of June. I may need to bump it up one whole week and leave the last week in May. Any thoughts or input is highly appreciated.

Priority Gear:
Rain Gear
Comfortable seat - Mustang?
Sissy Bar Bag / Saddle Bags - Done
Blue Tooth (Never thought i'd get one) Insanely impressed with the Sena 20s EVO.. It doesn't even pick up my pipes and both ends can hear clear as day. - Done
Phone Charger - Done
Windshield - that's a big if on my part
Tire Plugs - I have a tubeless rear and tube type in front...

Feel free to add to my list or give any advice as well on what gear. Thanks again in advance!

 

Sounds like a great and meaningful trip

Depending on what your definition of Enjoy is it should be fine. Many have done the trip in 100 hours

I'd suggest planning your general route and have an idea of how far or how long you plan to ride. That will allow you to keep track of your status and know if you are falling behind so you can still take your time on the return trip.

Also, how far have you ridden in one day? And how many days in a row have you covered any real distance? You may want to do some longer rides before you head out so you know what to expect. It would really suck if after 2-3 days your neck hurts so much you cannot ride.

As for the seat, I have a Mustang with a backrest. Once broken in (takes about 1,000 miles) it has been very comfortable. My limit on mileage is how long I can stay awake and I have done several 24 hour long days of riding on my Sportster

Lastly, have a talk with your riding buddy and be sure you are both on the same page as far as distance/time ridden each day, what each is willing to stop to see and how often/how long, etc. I had a riding buddy for a while and we were in sync on this stuff. I also know two riders who thought they were as they had ridden on day long rides but after two days of the 2017 Iron Butt Rally they quit and went their separate ways never to speak again.

 

Thanks Chris for the insight. I have ridden approximately 9 hours straight from my home to Vegas. My shoulders were so sore I could barely ride to the Laughlin rally the next day haha. This issue I addressed rather quickly once I got home and got rid of the OEM drag bars and got some apes. Never had that problem again. Ive also been on a lot of 300+ mile camping trips and such with friends and typically do a lot of long rides when I ride locally. Just not for such long periods of time, mostly 3 or 4 days...

I like your idea about planning the general route for a ball park idea of timing... I guess I kind of have been doing that as well. My first known destination is going to be Phoenix AZ. So with that in mind I plan on traveling a more southern route and working my way to a major stop of mine in Raleigh NC. Anything in between is either for pleasure (Back roads, friends, landmarks). Working my way up from NC to Long Island to my turn around point. Heading back we have a few stops we would like to hit, one being Wisconsin to his sisters place and the Harley Museum, then its down to Kansas City Missouri to see my uncle. After that it's pretty much a straight shot to home through Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

My idea of "Enjoy" is, Good roads to ride, Landmarks and not being rushed...

I think I may have to get the Mustang with the Back rest as well. I do how ever live close enough to Hollister, CA and could have Corbin custom fit one to me, but I am afraid to do that because I have always heard how hard they can be.

As for my buddy, I think either way we will both be put to the test. Good thing is we're still young. I have ridden on my fair share of long hauls but believe he's only ridden on a few. We have discussed the mileage portion and about how much we would have to do per day to make this work but we do have a lot more to discuss.

 

YatYas
First sorry for your loss.
You are probably looking at around 6000 miles total. make sure to map out each leg, the distance and travel time. Then figure how long at each stop. By the time you reach KC you don't want to have to make a mad dash for home. I had both Mustang and Saddleman seats on Sportsters and found both to be very comfortable. Did a couple of 500+ days on the Mustang. They were long days but doable. I didn't make any long trips with the Saddleman, but lots of round towns around 100 or so and liked it as much as the Mustang. Good Luck. It is a great trip you have planned. Ride Safe

 

Yup, I think I'm sold on the Mustang Vintage Wide Solo W/ Back Rest.... Thanks 5Wheels for solidifying that even more haha.

 

I've done 8000 miles in three weeks. 2100 to and 2100 from Sturgis so 6 days and 4200 miles which left 15 days and about 3800 miles. I want to do the 4 corners but think it would be nice to have 2 months for that.

Coast to coast and back? It could be done with a month and have time for some sightseeing. There will be unexpected delays. Weather, maintenance/repairs, and fatigue. It would be nice if you knew you could extend it by a week or two if you wanted or needed?

 

Seems feasible to me,most consecutive days I’ve done is 16– I averaged just over 300 because couple days we were lucky to do 50 miles(relaxing/sightseeing) enjoy the journey and take many pics
Rocker

 

Two years ago we did 4700 miles coast to coast in 17 days....and we stopped and saw stuff. So barring any weather or murphy's law, you should have plenty of time - and not have to Iron Butt any of it...

 

First off, very doable with your available time off. We did 10,000 miles in six weeks back in 2013, 6,000 in four weeks seems manageable and fun. If you said two weeks, that would start making everyone a little worried.

Based on your bike a windshield will be a tremendous help, big miles will wear you down fast, you will need the protection. It also is worth every penny when (not if) you hit weather, rain or just cold.

As far as your plan to wing it, doesn't work for me. But we are hotel/motel travelers and have more constraints due to reservations etc. If you are camping I think you should have the freedom to stop when you want. A couple of suggestions:

1- I like to use Google Maps for working on my route. Start with inputting your home address and your buddy's mom's address. Now you have the most direct route including miles and hours in the saddle. Next question is how many hours (NOT MILES) do you think you can do in a day? Do not work by miles because 200 miles in the mountains can be a long hard day, 200 miles in the interstate can be done before breakfast. Now do some math and you know how many riding days it takes to get to LI. It will be less then the 15 you have budgeted, now you know how much down time you have for seeing the sights and friends.

2- Figure out your Points of Interest/friends house and see how they work with the basic route. Some may make more sense on the the way home vs the way east. This is all very subjective and up to you. Work it out on the map, adding 100's of extra miles do to poor routing just sucks. Also adjust your route per your POI's, "I want to stop in New Orleans, what does that do?" After you do all of that adjusting, go back to step one.

3- I like to have a day to day itinerary. If you do not want to be super tied down to a schedule OK, but I would want to know "OK today we are riding approximately 300 miles and stopping at Joe's house in Boulder". That kind of thing. If you do not have day to day goals you can easily slip on schedule and then have to do a Cannonball ride home, that will suck. I would also do some looking around at campsites, do they exists where you think you might stop? Eastern Montana as an example, lodging is very, very scarce. Lots of spots like that west of the Mississippi, do some homework.

4- As said before, you need to take a long ride, with your bike setup as it will for the trip, and figure what kind of miles you are comfortable with. Then you need to make your riding buddy do the same. No good if you are OK with 300 miles a day but he is dying and whining. It will ruin your trip. Lots of people on here will tell you we are very selective who we ride long distance with for good reasons.

5- Do a practice bike pack to make sure you can fit what you want to bring. Then ride it and be sure you are comfortable with that weight. Camping = lots of stuff. Over weight bike in the mountains can be bad. Again, have the buddy do the same.

6- Back to your buddy, have the conversation about weather. What is the plan when it starts to rain, and not the light drizzle, I am talking biblical rain. Are we stopping or riding? Everyone needs to be on the same page with that situation before it happens. Make sure he has rain gear, good stuff too not a garbage bag. For me, it starts to rain we pull over, gear up and continue on our way. Twice in over 30 years of touring I threw in the towel due to rain and once was an actual hurricane. Not saying you have to do the same, just that you need to have the conversation before it happens, not on the side of the road under a bridge.

That is it for now, ask more question and we will give you more answers. Thanks for your service and I hope you have a great experience.

 

Great advice. totally agree with using the windshield. I've done trips with it, without and won't go without while travelling now.
It has its advantages and disadvantages but like architect says on those consecetive long days battling the wind is tough on shoulders and back.

One other thing ,when using Google maps estimated time, unless I'm ironassing it, it usually will take 30% more time.

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