Saturday 14 March 2015

Summer’s coming – where to ride?

They tell me (and I believe it to be true) that eventually this miserable winter will end and we’ll have some fine summer riding coming up. Which leads to the inevitable question: Do I want to do a road trip? And to where? Actually that’s 2 questions but they are pretty closely related so I’ll beg forgiveness.
If you are lost for ideas, the people over at Discovery News have a suggested route that will take you to all 48 contiguous states and provide an opportunity to visit 50 major landmarks such as the Grand Canyon, Fort Sumter, Mount Rushmore (and, presumably, countless lesser-known landmarks, large lobsters, Paul Bunyan statues, etc. that might be encountered en route). I’ve only seen 11 of the 50 designated sites, which I expect is probably close to the norm, so there are lots of new places to be visited out there.
road_trip
To do the entire trip would take about 240 hours or so of driving, or 2 to 3 months depending on how big a hurry you are in. But since it’s a big loop you can start and end anywhere you like, chopping the route into a multi-year adventure if so inclined, or even a moto-blogger challenge of some sort.
Just something else to consider when making plans, especially if the Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska are on your bucket list. (I had to look that one up – could be interesting.) .
(The route was calculated by doctoral student Randy Olson who’s qualifications seemed to be that he had previously developed a search strategy for finding Waldo. He describes that process here in some detail. Worth a read as well.)

12 comments:

  1. Be still my heart, the work has already been done. This is what I'd like to do one day.
    Oh, and thanks for the Waldo reading. Very educating and entertaining.

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    1. Sonja - Do you have a cross-USA trip mapped out?

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    2. There are some things cooking but nothing's definite yet, it also depends on what the co-owner of my bike likes to do. But nothing is impossible...

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  2. That's a pretty nice find, thank you! Now to just find the time and $$...

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    1. Richard - It's all time and $$, isn't it?

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  3. Right up my alley, just not tonight. Very soon though, thanks, never heard of this before.

    Before you get to Minneapolis, get in touch :)

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  4. Wow, that is some route. I couldn't imagine actually having the time to do a trip like this in one shot, although I know there are a lot of people out there that have.

    Thanks for the links.

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  5. How could he forget about Cawker city and the worlds largest ball of yarn? http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8543

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    1. Robert - Indeed! Clearly a planning deficiency there.

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  6. What a fun route ... okay so my wish list must include San Antonio, Grand Canyon, San Benito and Graceland - Waldo, do you realize it's just too hot in those places to ride a motorcycle in the summer? Where in the world will we find Canajun?

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    1. VSL: Good adds to the list. And heat is an issue - I nearly fried going from St. George to Las Vegas in September; can't imagine July or August. (Sorry for the late posting, but you were trapped in spam land for a while.)

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