I need to get serious about planning for the ride to California to go to the Treasures of Yosemite rally. The president of the Expresso riders, Bob Morrow, has been my point of contact for the rally and he’s been really wonderful. He helped me track down a roommate to split the cost of the room and even kept an eye out for folks coming from my part of the country to see if I could come up with people to ride with. The latter didn’t pan out, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying on Bob’s part — and he lined up a great roommate. I’m looking forward to meeting him at the rally
http://www.expressoriders.org/2010%20Rally.htm
Since this will be my longest solo ride to date I want to have it well planned out — how many miles I want to do each day and a variety of options of where to spend the night that include motels, hostels, and camping.
It’s a 1,600 mile one way ride if I go straight to Yosemite from home, but I have no interest in blasting out and back on the interstate and want to stop at some national parks, especially Mesa Verde in southeast Colorado. I really want to see the cliff dwellings there and hopefully get some pictures.
I am still trying to add states to my motorcycling resume so I want to take a northerly route out that loops up into Utah and then a southerly route home that will take me through Grand Canyon. Obviously Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico will be repeats, but I’ll be adding Utah, Nevada, California, and Arizona.
One book I used in planning the route to and from Canada last summer and am using again is:
National Geographic Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways, 3d Ed.
A new one that I bought for this trip is:
National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United States, 6th Edition
I would highly recommend both and I’m really enjoying the information in the national parks book. Great write ups on what to see at each park and how to plan for visits of different lengths. And as you’d expect I’m doing a lot of research on the internet and plugging sample routes into MapSource.
I would like to do no more than 500 miles a day. With stops to do some sight seeing and picture taking that should get me to my overnight spot before dark. I’m checking on US hostels to save money on lodging, but the trick will be seeing if I can coordinate that with the end of a 500 mile day going to the places I’d like to see. I want to do some camping while on the trip and other than that I want to find really cheap hotels since I’m traveling on a budget. I should be gone around two weeks for this trip and after splurging on the Tenaya Lodge where the rally is, I’m going to need to seriously watch my nickels and dimes for the rest of the trip.
I’ll post more as the planning progresses.
