Motor-Biking around the USA

Hey Road Trip !

Jamie, your website is excellent.

We are coming to the US in early August, we are going to buy two sports motorcycles in Monterey then ride across and back – Salt Lake City, Mt Rushmore, across to Chicago ending in Niagara Falls (maybe New York -- outskirts not city).

Then down to Indianapolis, North Carolina (Dragon's Tail Ride) then Nashville, Memphis, and onto Route 66 through Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Vegas, and back to Monterey via LA.

We are unsure about fuel seeing as these bikes tend to need a top up after 200kms and also whether accommodation is readily available given that it’s the summer months. Do you have any advice of this?

Regards

Sandra

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Hi Sandra --

Thanks for writing in to Road Trip USA -- and glad you like the website. (And I hope you'll check out my Road Trip USA book -- which has even more info and images and ideas!)

Your trip sounds very adventurous, and I think you'll find fuel and lodging are pretty much available everywhere -- America is dependent on cars and trucks (and bikes!), so gas stations are abundant, even along the smaller roads that I recommend in Road Trip USA.

One thing I would suggest is that you aim to find your nightly motel or hotel (or campground?) before sun-down, however -- which I suspect you'd want to do for visibility and safety sake, anyway. Even in summer, you can usually find a clean and comfy room at some family-run motel, including a few very characterful / classic ones (like the one in the picture above -- the Wigwam Motel on RT66 in Holbrook AZ!)

Rather than ride at night, try to get an earlier start - you've got a lot of miles to cover, judging from your itinerary. The Dragon's Tail is an unforgettable road! Another great road you haven't mentioned is the Going-to-the-Sun road, winding over the Rockies across beautiful Glacier National Park in gorgeous western Montana -- see if you can veer north and add that trip to your plans.

Thanks again for writing, and hope this helps a little -- please fell free to write me again as you get closer to setting off.

Happy Trails,



Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA

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