Hi Guys,

I'm from the UK and Currently in the planning stage for my trip next year to the good ole... USA.....

Looking for recommendations and any help or advice you guys can give me.

Coast to Coast West to East on US-50 through the following states 3500 miles give or take each way.....

California
Nevada
Utah
Colorado
Kansas
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio
West Virginia
Virginia
Maryland

I'm planning on doing this trip next year , 2nd qtr of 2011 on my own currently and was wondering if any one would like to come along , only looking for 1 or 2 companions and would also be great to meet up with anyone along the way also and maybe show me the local areas.

I want to explore old towns , faded and jaded and see some of the surviving old time places and not your commercial Wal Mart crap , Camping and Staying in low cost places , blagging some free nights with friends etc etc , It'll follow the old pony express trail on through from Sacremento up into the sierra navada down to lake tahoe and Nevada , this is known as the loneliest road , into Utah the Great Basin Desert over the Wasatch Front and onto the national park–packed red-rock country of the Colorado Plateau.

Continuing east, you cross the Continental Divide atop the Rockies, then follow the Arkansas River.

Across the Great Plains.

After bisecting Missouri from Kansas City to St. Louis, US-50 crosses the Mississippi River And head into Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

Climbing into the Appalachian backwoods of West Virginia, In to Washington DC , then throught to Marylands Eastern Shore for the end...

Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated,

BTW i'll be shipping over my Yamaha Tenere XT660Z , guess there are not too many of them over with you guys in the states if u r in the states reading this

Cheers

Paul

Hi Paul

Me (Martin) and my good pal Mark are doing a RTW trip starting 2nd April shipping from Southampton to Baltimore (we are going west to east). We are heading down the Blue Ridge mountains into the southern states and then across the bottom and up towards Death Valley making a stop in Utah along the way. Then on to Pacific Coast Highway etc etc into Canada. So we might bump into you along the way.

Nevada has some fantastic scenery and trails - we did a couple of weeks off roading in the Sierra Nevada 10 years ago and there are still parts that give off a Wild West feel.


Martin

Sounds like a great trip, when I rode Pacific Coast Highway it was great!

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50 is not all that lonely. The Loneliest Road in America as with many things out in the grate basin you got to look good and hard to find any thing. Most of the time I say do not plan a trip gust go. In this you better know where things are that you want to see.

As far as faded and jaded go, you will get that. Depending on the roads you take more or less out side of Reno it will start, hitting Carson city you will see this run down dump of town, it is the state capitol of Nevada. It is same city in the cowboy movies gust look past the new paint on the buildings, the strip malls and you may see it. Some places to stop are the BLM office in Carson Carson City District Office All that you need will be there camping laws permits where to go what to see and some history of the area. On the way out of town you can stop off at the moonlight bunny ranch (look it up I will not post that here). Looked like a run down jaded dive and I did not stop but there is bar and gift shop inside.

After this the ride down may be a grate idea. I find the road has a stark look about it. The planes you may hear may be from the top gun navy flight school they have been know to give loan riders a show. But if that road sign tell you do not go past this spot dont. There is old building that will be on your left that was a stop on the pony express so I am told. other than that you will need to know where to look to find anything.

One thing may want to look at is a HU meeting the California meeting is a bit north of where you are going but Colorado is on the way. I did 50 back home from a Colorado meeting but had little time to stop and a week before I did some of the Southern Utah parks.

On where to get information [url=http://www.byways.org/]America's Byways

Hi Paul, i may be interesed, how long do you plan on taking and any idea of budget?
cheers Jim

Hi Jim ,

I figure a couple of months probably , ref budget, i have allowed about 2k for shipping, then around 2-3 k spending budget in total, maybe more as i am really in the start of costing up , i may well be well out .

Thanks for your reply and thanks to all the other replies so far.

Paul

Hi,

Thanks for your great responce and info , will certainly look at attending the HU , Thanks for your help.

Paul

The Road trip USA site has some info on that
LONELIEST ROAD: US-50

Hi yes thats where i got my info from originally when doing my research for my trip, great book and it'll be coming with me.

Got maps , books , routes , bike , money and time lol

Paul

I did this journey starting in late May a few years ago. I had a wonderful time. I ran into snow, hail, tornadoes, +100F heat, you name it in the two weeks across the country. I did peel off in KY to head towards the NC coast, rather than ending in DC/MD. Stop for fuel in every town through Nevada or carry spare fuel with you. That book mentioned above was my only source of travel info. I tried camping out for a few days, but soon got tired of setting up and tearing down camp. I wound up staying in small mom-n-pop motels on the edges of small towns, that advertised free internet. I found a bed and a shower much preferable to sleeping under the stars. YMMV.