Hello new guy with a few questions

[Sparky 2311]

I ride a motorcycle most of the time, and I have finally made up my mind to try the 48 states in 10 days thru the IBA. I plan on trying in 2015 so I have time to plan. Any help on how to map out my route to hit all 48 states. Also any good advice will help too.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

You might want to start by checking this link out by fellow member and bike enthusiast Rollin'.

He also wrote a report on the IBA plus trip.

As you plan and questions arise, just ask away. Good luck.

At what time of year are you planning to do this trip ? For now I have moved your thread to summer road trips.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

The first thing you should go out and get yourself is a really good, large-scale atlas of the U.S. such as Rand McNally's Truckers Atlas. Since you won't be looking for the simple Interstate routes between coasts, but are going to be wandering off onto some relatively obscure state, and even county, routes to connect dozens of 'dots' on your trip.

The second thing you'll need is a plan and/or an objective. There are several different ways to go about hitting all 48 contiguous states. For some it's simply a matter of being in them all, however briefly in each one, in as little time as possible. This is the only objective for which there is even a simple plan. You start out in southern California at the Nevada state line. drive eastward through the southern states, up the east coast and back across the northern states zigzagging as necessary and end in northeastern Oregon. It's something over 6,000 miles and can be done in a week or slightly less of non-stop driving with three experienced drivers working as a speed run team.

Other people prefer to actually spend some time in each state, see a major attraction or visit the state capitol. All of these options are open to you but take considerably more time than a week. If you actually want to experience a state rather than go through it at night, asleep, while someone else is behind the wheel, then I'd start with a minimum of three weeks and add more days as your desire to see things grows with your planning.

So, go get yourself an atlas, start dreaming, and then the broad outline of what you want to do should start to become clearer. At that point you'll be ready to incorporate some more specific advice and suggestions.

AZBuck