Planning A Long Motorcycle Trip

What to pack, where to go, how long to ride each day? All questions faced when planning an extended ride like the one I have planned in May. Part whimsy, part retirement present to myself - this trip will cover about 3,500 miles over 10 days with stops in southeast Idaho to visit longtime friends and Reno for a banquet for one of the rallies I am completing this year.

When I decided to go on this ride I knew it would be a challenge to narrow down where I wanted to go. I have ridden all over Washington and Oregon in search of dams, airports and random checkpoints for my rally adventures. I would say there is little of those two states I haven't seen, in fact. Surrounding states are more of a motorcycle mystery to me. I have ridden briefly in Idaho, Montana, Northern California (note the capitalization like it is an independent state), and a snippet of British Columbia. I wanted two things out of this ride - to visit friends in southeast Idaho and to ride through southern Canada. Those constraints pretty much dictated the rest of my ride plan. I am very excited!

I am a planner. I am the guy who knows how far he will drive and where he will stop every night. I have taken the less planned route and tried the camping routine before. I enjoyed it but was riding with friends on that trip. Not sure the camping part would be as much fun without the friends. The trick for me is to limit the planned distance each day to allow for frequent stops for hydration, snacking and random photo stops. While I have found that I can ride over 750 miles in a single day, about 400 miles a day is a much better long ride strategy for me.

I used Booking.com to set up my hotel stays. I decided to try to stay in smaller mom-and-pop style places where possible. Yelp has also been a good resource to look at the possibilities. Since I am new to Booking.com, I have tried it out a few times on some shorter over night trips with good success. Some of my friends mentioned nightmare scenarios with this website, but I haven't had any problems so far. I have one more overnight ride planned in April and will test the site one more time. Fingers crossed, especially in Canada!

Here's a screenshot of a loosely planned route I have mapped out. Each letter represents my planned stop for the night. I am especially excited about two days spent in southern Canada. That section of road is supposed to be some of the most beautiful riding. I am also very excited about another trip through Glacier National Park. A full day in Idaho will be spent catching up with long-time friends, Eric and Jodi. Minden, NV is the location of the banquet I am attending. The trip across Nevada will be on America's loneliest highway - US-50. The last two days will be spent returning home in the interior of California, Oregon and Washington.

I tried to minimize time spent on interstates as much as possible.

My planned route during the week leading up to Memorial Day weekend.

I suppose my biggest concern is weather. I know that snow can fall along most of my route anytime into early June - in fact, I have personally seen snow on July 4th in Idaho Falls. I will be watching the weather very carefully as my trip approaches. Rain is OK - snow and ice are not.

I have included some pictures of rides and stuff I have done so far this year. I bought a new bike (a '14 Yamaha FJR 1300) last November and have been riding the heck out of it! I have signed up for three rally events so far this year.

• Big Money Rally: a points based rally where you ride to a location described in a handout and take a picture of your bike with a placard at that location. Nationwide event that runs from January 1st to Memorial Day weekend. This is the banquet I am attending.
• Oregon Airport Tour: picture event where you ride to any of 10 small airports described in a handout and take pictures of your bike at the airport.
• Wing Washington: picture based event where you ride to locations described in a handout and take pictures of your bike at that location.

Although my personal favorite (Dam Tour) was discontinued a few years ago, there are a few die-hard Dam Tour riders who continue the tradition by picking some dams and riding out to them. I participate as much as I can.

I will post updates as my trip approaches, and will try to update while on the road, too.

This isn't motorcycle related - just an obligatory picture of the area behind my house.

Stopped for a picture on a beautiful day along Oregon's coast.

Pine Hollow dam in northern Oregon.

This is one of the airports I am planning to visit - Hood River, OR. The goal is to get out and ride!

Example of one of the Big Money Rally bonus locations. This theme was library. Had to have the bike, the placard and the library signage in the shot.

Another of my airport trips - Florence, OR.

One of my stops for a stretch and picture taking. This is looking down on the US-97 bridge over the Columbia River.

Another example of a Big Money Rally bonus location. This one was described as a "Castle House" and the picture had to be taken from the correct perspective, too.