stop at dayton ohio go to the us air force museum .well worth the time .it will take a full day or more . their is a koa just west of dayton on i 70 .
retired
havin fun with 1999 georgie boy 3515
and the wife too .
V-10 ford It's hard to make a come back if you haven't been any where ? !! North Hampton Local Weather
horizon451 wrote: Regarding the Grand Canyon which rim are you going to visit. If you have not decided I would suggest the North rim as it will be easier to get to considering your other stops. It is also quite nice and the roads in lend themselves to a bike ride nicely. The South rim is much more crowded anc commercialized.
I've never been there so now I'm planning on visiting the North Rim
I hear the southern rim get pretty congested! Thanks for the insight!
2008 Damon Outlaw Scorpion edition toy hauler
2009 BMW K1300GT with it's own toy hauler Our Photos Page
ArchHoagland wrote: We just did a 10,000 mile trip from Calif to N.J. Hit about 30 states. Took three months.
June will be warm in the west (100's) and you will hit rain in most of the states. You will hit road construction almost every day and that will slow you down. If you have problems with your RV you need a backup plan to shorten your route.
I don't think the direction clockwise, counter clockwise makes much difference. Head winds when you go west, tailwinds when you go east. As a biker you are well aware of that I'm sure.
I had a small business and we waited to do cross country trips until we retired. We did lots of two week trips out in the west and Canada where we could enjoy some time at a destination and saved the long trips till after retirement.
There is a ton of stuff to see east of the Mississippi. My suggestion is cut your trip length in half and check out the eastern part of the country.
I had a very good friend pass away 3 months prior to his retirement. Strong as a bull and full of life. Saved all his life to retire down south and was counting the days. His widow is now very well off although she doesn't have him around any longer.
I've always been a traveler and prefer to enjoy life while I can. We travel so much that we're hitting the same locations on the east coast again and again. It became time to spread the wings a bit farther.
Thanks for your insight. All of the feedback has been greatly appreciated.
A lot of driving for a 9 day vacation. Does not leave much time for seeing the sites. We took a caravan through the National Parks last fall for 33 days. As someone mentioned above, you will definitely not make good time once you hit the mountains west of Denver. Steep grades, switchbacks, and slow traffic. I think there are more than 15 switchbacks just entering Moab. Personally, I think the Grand Canyon is something everyone should see, but I think Brice, Zion, and Arches are magnificent.
brianseay1 wrote: Sounds like you travel the same as we do. The wife and I still work, we are in our mid forties and love to travel. We did a loop down across the lower side of Texas and on to Tombstone, Az then up to Williams, Az for a few days and then while in Williams we rode the bike to Laughlin, Nv, the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert and the Petrified forest. Loaded up and headed east, dropped off in Ft. Sumner, NM for a day, then on back home with small stops along the way. We hate to rush our trips, but we see what we can see in the short time that we have. We are heading back out west next month for another nine day run. Going to see what we can and have a good time doing it.
A man after my own heart. I just turned 50 and started RVing last year. Until now all our vacations have been by bike. in 2004 we logged over 20,000 miles and I never used it to commute to work
Sunrise06 wrote: A lot of driving for a 9 day vacation. Does not leave much time for seeing the sites. We took a caravan through the National Parks last fall for 33 days. As someone mentioned above, you will definitely not make good time once you hit the mountains west of Denver. Steep grades, switchbacks, and slow traffic. I think there are more than 15 switchbacks just entering Moab. Personally, I think the Grand Canyon is something everyone should see, but I think Brice, Zion, and Arches are magnificent.
When I retire I'll be doing a lot of sniffing of the flowers, right now I just want to travel west to ride the bike. We take a lot of weekend and extended weekend trips in the Northeast where we go just to relax (of course the bike is always loaded).
Having driven an Outlaw across the country several times, I think yer gonna be spending a lot of time each day behind the wheel and not so much relaxing...
I used to plan on doing about 450 miles per day or so. Then I got to where I don't like to do more than about 300 at most. I end up leaving earlier in the day to get a good start, and I like to be at the day's destination by about 3PM or so. I find I seldom would unload the Smart or sidecar rig for an ovenight and stopped trying to find pull-through sites or sites long enough to get the toys in and out on the ramp.
I do not like to go more than two days on the road without spending a two or three nighter at some nice destination. It breaks up the trip much better than spending 4 to 5 days on the road in a row.
These days we are driving a tag-axle Tiffin coach and towing a little car. We take our time and see the sights. I seem to end up liking the state truck routes better than the super slabs. More interesting stuff along the way. I get tired of looking out and seeing nothing but slab for several days and all the stops are the same. Small towns are more interesting by far. Ya end up not driving at the upper speed limits anyways, so why stay on the slabs?
just a thunk
Have FUN and ride SAFE..
Jay and Joyce
2009 Tiffin Phaeton 42 QBH
Spartan MM tag-axle chassis
Real-deal-steel-2WD-military-sidecar-rig: The dreaded Frog-of-War
AND
Smart Cabrio for when goggles and rain gear are beneath our dignity.
Thanks for the thought. I've read quite a few of your posts relating to your Outlaw and sidehack.
As I originally posted, my problem comes from not being able to separate myself from my shop for very long. All me trips have to be compressed by driving like an animal to and from my destinations to be able to enjoy my bike for a little bit.
This one is a little long so I might try to squeeze in a few more days because I really want to get out there.
dgshaffer wrote: Among all of the weekend and extended weekend camping trips we've been taking I try to squeeze in something more ambitious. Having my own small business I'm limited as to how long I get to separate myself from the everyday operations. I like to see what can be done in a 9 day stretch.
The reason we've taken up RVing is because we found ourselves locked into the northeast with our bike trips although 3000 mile riding vacations were common to us. With the Damon Outlaw we've opened ourselves up to riding in the Midwest. Last December June we rode for 4 days in Savannah Georgia and in June we rode 4 days in Wyoming and Montana.
This June I've decided on the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Arches National Park. This is 5 days of driving the RV round trip with 4 days left over for riding the Bike which is why we go in the first place.
My questions to the seasoned travelers familiar with these places would be:
Is June a good time of year?
Are there places other than these that are more worth a visit?
Is traveling counter clockwise better than clockwise? (see map)
Is there so much to see that I should plan on doing all or each at different times with my limited schedule?
Answers to these questions would be helpful as well as any other insight you can offer.
Bikes motor or pedal – will assume pedal – june could be HOT. Really HOT 100+ is not uncommon – would it be possible to go earlier? If not have you thought about Colorado? Or a little higher in elevation, can bring cooler temperatures. Slick rock or just any off road?
If the mission is to ride, then you should just select one location – if you are looking for the best road bike spot it would likely be Moab and the surrounds.
In June the direction of travel would have little to do with the travel – as the distance would be great and likely the speed would be very rapid, not allowing you to see anything along the way –
There is so much to see that, if I were you, I’d select one location and see and enjoy it – you might do one trip, with just the exploration of the areas as the goal, allowing you to do this with much more – satisfaction.
My suggestion – would be to drive the rig out to the Denver area and catch a flight back, on Southwest, store the rig and then fly back out for a few exploratory trips of 9 days each. The drive to Denver -- +- 1750 miles is about 25 hours of driving in about 60 hours of time (Friday 1/2 day Saturday and Sunday flying out on the last flight back east. Depending on the time of year that you can get away this might allow you combine a number of trips out of Denver or SLC or Vegas as home bases. Storage facilities in these locations have generally been easy to find. ( In my past experiences doing the same thing)
So much to see and do you just need to figure out how to spend less time getting out to the heart of the RV world.
Last thought is to look hard at the New England options. Up-State New York and the Finger Lakes offer you a lot of great options – with some unbelievable country and wild areas that rival many places in the West.
Hope this was of some Help,
Busskipper
Maryland/Colorado
Travel Supreme 42DS04
MDX-FMCA--M&G Brake
States traveled in this Coach
I've never considered leaving the MH out there, interesting concept though. The bike is motorized however and I would have to leave that there as well since riding the bike out west is why I bought the Damon.
I've pounded the northeast for everything it's got over and over again. You are correct in describing it as having a lot to offer. I love the East Coast and New England.
I've played hard as a kid and don't have a lot of faith that the body will be in terrific shape come retirement so I'm traveling while I can. I'm being as aggressive with my trip planning as I am with pretty much everything I do. This past June we were in Wyoming for 4 days on a 9 day vacation. Driving close to 5,000 miles (side trip into Minnesota) in 5 day's wasn't that big of a deal for me so what I'm planning here is just outside that last trip.
The multiple sites are planned for after the MH is anchored and to be done on the bike which the wife and I have a 400 mile per day endurance with.
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