US coast to coast on a motorbike - advice welcome

[bendelfont]

Hi

I'm riding from Washington DC to San Francisco in 24 days in August on a Honda Gold Wing motorbike.

My intended route is down through Virginia, Smoky Mountains, then Nashville, Memphis, Ozark Mountains, then not sure about the flat middle bit (any advice?)! Want to end up around Denver/Pike's Peak, then up to Yellowstone, then down to Salt Lake City, Bryce Canyon, Zion Park, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Yosemite and then into San Francisco.

If anyone's done any of this, and can offer any advice/tips, or indeed tips on driving in America on a bike (i've done cars), or any places to go, roads to drive,weather advice etc. then i would be very grateful of any advice...

Cheers

Ben

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America forum.

Most people complain about the flatness of the Great Plains, but that flatness just opens up the vistas, particularly from the saddle. The real problem in the Plains is that almost all the roads go exactly north-south or east-west, so that someone like you who wants to go northwest on a diagonal has to work to find roads that go where you want. Fortunately, there are a few. Also, although not a biker myself, I think you'd be better served by travelling some of the 'back roads' rather than the Interstates. So, for starters, as you leave the Ozarks, try the Talimena Scenic Drive out of Arkansas through Oklahoma. Then OK-1 will bring you out at US-270 to Oklahoma City, worth a visit. From there, US-270 and US-283 head as close to northwest as you'll find and bring you to Dodge City, a little commercialized but still worth a look-see. US-50 would then take you up alongside the Arkansas River into Pueblo, CO and the Pikes Peak area. The eastern portion of this is the old Santa Fe Trail.

There has recently been a thread with a rather lengthy discussion of on-the-road weather resources that you might find interesting. And there are any number of threads on both the eastern and western portions of your trip. Besides the threads listed at the bottom of this page, be sure to try out the search function and take a look at some of those. All in all, though I think you're in for a great adventure.

AZBuck