My wife and I are planning a 3-4 week trip from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest area for next summer in our 2005 Mazda 3 hatchback. We have a locking Yakima roof rack system for our bikes (both hybrid), and we'd love to take them along. At most, we'd probably only use them when were in cities or parks that have paved trails.
Does anybody have experience taking bikes along on a cross-country trip? I'm aware we'll take a hit on our gas mileage and we'll probbaly be more of a target security-wise, (they do lock) but is it worth it?