I've been wanting to do this since i first started riding. I figure now is about the best time to do it since there is nothing saying i can't (25, single, no kids, able to take the time off work). Plan is to ride from Raleigh, NC to Los Angeles, CA in 10-13 days. Doing this in May so looking for places to pin on the map so i can plan the route around the best roads and cool things to see. Only staying in hotel every other night.

I want to fish and camp on the Mississippi river
Route 66
Friends in Dallas
Million dollar highway
grand canyon
Vegas
LA

So far that's all i got. Any other ideas? Doing this on a Hayabusa so space is limited. Whatever doesn't fit in a backpack or cant be strapped to the back gets left at home

 

Sounds like a fantastic trip. My best advice is to make sure you have very warm clothes and a good rain suit. You will find some very cool temps, espcially in the higher altitudes in May. Maybe even some snow.


Dennis

 

Route 66 is not all it is made out to be anymore, and there are some pretty boring/ugly parts. What is left of it anyway.

Like many, I would suggest HWY 50, but that you would need to check weather daily because May can be very sketchy in anywhere west of the Mississippi really.

Regarding riding a Hyabusa cross country with only a backpack? Well, wear what you are planning on wearing for the coldest part of the ride, which might be in the 50s/40s depending on where you are going. But you will be damn hot in other places. Bring a big back pack! lol

 

Will probably be 120 in AZ an NV. Make sure you hit Lake Havasu before you go to Vegas or on the way back.

 

HWY50 looks good. Is Looks like it goes right by the million dollar highway. Is there a better time of the year to go?

really? that hot? Lake Havasu would be great. I'll add that to the list.

I forgot to add, this is going to be a one way trip. Plan on having the bike shipped back home so i can spend more time checking out that side of the country

 

Mountain states are more safe in June. I have hit snow as late as Memorial Day weekend and as early as Mid-August.

Regarding 50, you can cut over to Million Dollar Higway and then swing southwest from there to see the Arizona desert, and some nice parts of Historic 66 and still end up near Lake Havasu, etc.

 

If you want a great Pacific Coast experience, I'd sacrifice some of your L.A. time and spend a day running up the Big Sur coast on PCH-1 from about Morro Bay up to Monterey. This makes a lot of people's top ten lists for best all time motorcycle ride.

 

wow that's crazy. Guess i should plan on early June. 50 to MDH to AZ sounds really good. I like that

I did that ride 2 months ago, but rented a street glide out of vegas. rode through death valley to Monterey, down the PCH to LA and back into vegas. Best ride i've ever been on. That's what has me so hooked on riding in the western part of the country. Only thing that sucked was that I tried to ride too much in the short amount of time I had the bike and didn't REALLY get to take it all in and enjoy it like we should have. I want to ride that again for sure.

 

Instead of Hwy. 50 through Colorado, I would follow it to only La Junta and then veer south to Hwy. 160 at Walsenburg. Follow Hwy 160 to Durango which takes you over Wolf Creek Pass, quite a ride.

Then from Durango go north on Hwy 550 (the road to the Million Dollar Hwy.) all the way to Ridgway. Before Ridgway you will go through Silverton where the Million Dollar Highway begins on up to Ouray which is the end. It's just a few more miles north to Ridgway. From there go west and then down through Telluride and Delores (nice highway) on down to Cortez.

From Cortez you hit Hwy 160 again which you can follow to the Four Corners monument on to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Just a suggestion. See this map:
http://mapq.st/YPT9dJ

 

Early June is going to be extremely hot in the southwest. expect 105°-110°. This heat will extend from southern Utah south to the Mexico border and from New Mexico west to the Inland Empire. Lake Havasu will be very hot.