Grüezi Castlehe:

I rode from Los Angeles to Houston last year. It is a long distance, about equivalent to Zürich to Casablanca. But, due to the nature of the interstate highways, you can cover a lot of ground in one day - imagine spending the whole day on a road that is more or less the same as the A1 south of Lake Neuchâtel, that will give you a good idea of what to expect.

But, if you take the interstate highway (in particular, I-10), you will die of boredom before you get to your destination. But, you should not ever need to ride the interstates, 5 weeks is more than sufficient time for a relaxing, meandering, interesting tour along secondary roadways.

Be aware that the land rises to quite a height (1,500 to 2,000 metres) as you move east (take a look at this image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...SA_topo_en.jpg), that means it can get quite cold at times along your route, even though you plan to ride in April and May. Do not underestimate how cold and windy it can get.

Lastly, the Americans have a rule that permits their immigration officers to stop any vehicle traffic that is within 160 km (as the crow flies) from the US border of Mexico. When I rode the above-mentioned route, I was stopped about 5 times along the way and asked to provide my passport and answer questions, etc. The law is such that if you are not an American citizen, these 'inland' checks are allowed to be as thorough as the check you would encounter entering the USA. So, have your passport handy (not buried in all your gear), and be sure all your papers are in order, you will get stopped. Most of the time, the officers are polite, but not always.

Michael