If you read and take any advice - "Let it be what Hackd has written".
I make a lot of longer,>3000 mile, trips and what he says is "bang on".
Rode Hwy 12 between Idaho and Montana - 50 miles from nowhere got a rear tire flat.
Without an air compressor and patch gear would have waited at least 1/2 day for a HOG recovery. Had the tire patched and back on the road in an hour.
Read Hacd's post then read it again - he knows what he's talking about.
Oh by the way - my trip this year - 7,000 miles.
Ride In Peace

 

so how was the trip? I started reading then went to the last page....lol.

My wife and I are planning a trip to the 4 corners next summer. Figuring 3 weeks Truthfully I want to ride to the coast but time won't permit that, and still get to see things.

 

The trip was awesome... only had one bad day of rain. Went from May 1st to May 19th almost 8k miles. I really enjoyed AZ (Grand Canyon) and Utah better than any other part of the trip. My next trip out west will probalby be AZ and Utah. Utah for me was the most awesome state of any that I visited. Every type of land that you would ever want to see can be found there. I'm going to take my wife to these two states later this year.. thinking maybe in October for our anniversary. Plus October should be pretty nice weather.

Good luck, Ralph

 

Scary-
Old thread I know but perfect for me.
Checking out your thread. I am in Dayton too and have dreams of making a trip out west myself. Maybe solo or maybe with another person.
How was the solo experience? Would you go solo again? I am in need of some serious soul searching so a trip might be the way to go.
I am thinking 2 weeks would be my max time I could get away. My main point of interest is the Grand Canyon and I guess Zion like so many have said. 2 weeks round trip doable?
Also, not to get personal but about how much did the trip cost ya for gas food lodging?

 

Gotta love how the old posts keep coming back; but there's a LOT of good info here, and it would be a shame to miss some of it because you start a topic from scratch again.

Last July I did the East-West trip with my oldest daughter, and we took 3 weeks; but spent almost a week in Billings, MT for a Convention. In 2006 I did a very similar trip solo over 3 weeks (actually rode with some folks for most of the way back); but spent almost a week in Vancouver, BC for a Convention. My Dad had died in June and I hit the road in July, so, yeah, I was able to do some soul searching and have some time to myself. Both times when I got back I told everyone I talked to to add it to their Bucket List - You can watch all the videos, look at all of the pictures, listen to all of the stories & read all of the books you want; but being there is truly an awe inspiring experience.

Seems to me 2 weeks is doable, depending on what your expectations are; but you'll have to make some decisions on what to see and what to put off for another trip, as well as what you plan to do for riding distances each day. There's just too much to see & do to try to do it all in one fell swoop. Roughly speaking, it looks like about 1,900 miles to southwestern UT, and 500 mile riding days would get you there in 4 days or less. Extend your riding distance and you'd get there a day sooner, lessen it and get there a day later. Regardless, that would still give you at least a couple of days in Zion and a couple of days in the Canyon, maybe even with some time to stop & see some sights along the way. Costs are hard to peg; besides the obvious fuel costs & any tolls, depends on what motels you stay in (mine ranged from $50-100 or so), where you eat, how much you drink, etc. Off the top of my head, not including the Convention expenses, I'd guess in the end I spent $1,500-2,000, and the vast majority of it was on credit card (I usually don't carry tons of cash with me on trips). I used to plan on a "generous" $100-125 a day for all expenses (some days might be a little more, some a little less); but with the way things are going with the economy it's probably more like $125-145 now. But if you take the time to do some online searching for motels and such, you can make an effort to reduce that, if you need to. If you've got another person riding with you, then motel costs are split in half, which is a big help over 2 weeks.

For some of us, road trips like this are the trips of a lifetime; so don't let the costs shy you away from doing them (in 2006 I just said, "I'll deal with the bills when I get home!"), and a little pre-planning can keep you on track for a specific time frame, if need be. If you've got any more questions, feel free to ask - There are others here who are actually in that neck of the woods and can help you more than I.

 

With potential gas pricing at or very near $5/gal, we're rethinking our trip this June. With gas pricing near doubling (or more) might just have to put this ride on the back shelf.

 

.
I was surprised with Utah as well. I always thought of it as dry barren state. It is full of natural wonder and beauty and I didn't see all of it .We came up through Zion and Bryce then north on HWY 12 to Torrey. We can't wait to back with more time to explore. The only thing I didn't like about Utah is that you need a note from your mom to get a drink in that state.