Las Vegas to San Fransisco, bikes or camper?

[KevinB]

Hi all,

I'm new here, but this seems like the right place for some good advice.

We are three Belgian guys (so sorry for my mistakes in English), planning a trip from Las Vegas to San Fransisco late spring, early summer this year. The only thing we have up to now are our plane tickets and a general idea of the routing.
We arrive in Vegas the 20th of June at 22.20 and leave the 6th of July in San Fransisco at 11.00.

This is the routing we would like to follow :

link : http://maps.google.be/maps?f=d&sourc...665527&t=h&z=6

The idea is to do the part east of Las Vegas the first week, come back to Vegas and make the trip to Frisco the second week.

Now for some questions :

1) Did I miss anything you guys consider as a must see in this region?

2) Does this routing seams feasible to you to do in 16days, not to be stressed to much? Make sure we arrive the 20th in Vegas, but we would like to leave only the 22th + we would also like to be in San Fransisco the 4th, so that leaves 12 days for the whole routing. We could easily skip Bryce Canyon or Sequoia nat Park for example, as they are quite of a detour.

3) And this being the major point of discussion between the three of us, what means of transport do you recommend ? Our first idea was to rent 3 Harleys in Vegas to make the loop east of Vegas, and dropping them back off in Vegas after one week. We then would have to take our luggage with us on the bikes, sleeping both on camping sites in our tents or in small motels. For the second week we would then rent a mustang convertible that we then drop off in San Fransisco.
Then we dropped the mustang idea, it being a bit useless and expensive in comparison to a big and comfortable camper, you could say that this counts over the bikes as well, but that's just something we dream to do for about 5 years, so the bikes are a must.
The bit on which we do not agree now, is for which part of the trip to rent the bikes and for which the camper. The easiest is to keep the initial planning, so we can drop the bikes off at Vegas, this being less expensive, and then take the camper to San Fransisco.
Is it possible to arrive for example in monument valley, park the bikes, drop the luggage (motel, camping?) and make a 5hour hike? Or are we gonna have to take our luggage with us all the time? Or is it for example not to hot to drive with bikes trough Death Valley end of June?
On this part I would very much appreciate your comments, because it is for the three of us the first time in the States, and it's difficult to make a good estimation. We would like to avoid that the trip becomes a strain, just because we stubbornly wanted to ride our bikes.


Thanks in advance for all your helpfull comments.

Kevin

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

I think your trip is at a reasonable pace and you have done a good job with your routing, so well done. There are another million and one things you could consider a 'must see' and you will 'stumble' across some extra treats as you go.

Only you guy's can decide on what mode[s] of transport works for you, but the Bikes sound fun ! The 'campers' in the US are known as RV's and if the 3 of you are prepared to share a room, a car and Motels would be the budget friendly choice. You should have no problems dropping your gear at a Motel or setting up camp and heading out on the bikes, but of course it can use up valuable time. A Convertible might not be the best form of transport either, if you are carrying camping gear and all your other luggage, it could get pretty crammed and the back seat are not that roomy. With the bikes could gear be a problem [?] or perhaps you could leave some at the rental depot in storage[?] and travel lighter. A good reason to rent the bikes Vegas to Vegas perhaps.

For me, as the bikes are a 'must,' would be to go with your original plan from Vegas to Vegas. From Grand canyon detour onto route 66 through Seligman to Kingman, it's popular with bikers !

If you are planning on staying in the National parks you need to check availability for lodging or camping asap, it may already be too late and you will have to look at surrounding towns.

To ease up on the pace a little you could drop Sequoia NP [as great as it is] and visit the giant tree's near the South entrance of Yosemite in Mariposa grove.