West coast and back - your "Must see" list.

[PrivatePilot]

I could write a book on this. Been to CA and back by road 15 times. Tell us what turns your crank and I’ll give you a TripTik.

- Road scenery...IE, just nice scenic roads that I can take in while riding them without necessarily needing to stop aside from a quick roadside rest area or pull-off or whatever to take a pee, maybe fly the drone and get some photos, have a nibble, and continue on 5-10 minutes later.

- Cool things to stop and gawk at for 10 or 15 minutes, IE Devils Tower in my avatar pic over there with my old bike in it. <<<<.

- Major landmarks that again are "OK, been there, done that, got the T-Shirt" type things.

- Twisties or particularly cool roads. Riding the black hills for example (Needles highway and iron mountain road were things that will stick in my head forever) are good examples.

I'm not the type of guy who needs to stop at any of these places (IE the Grand Canyon or whatever) and sit in the breeze for 2 hours to "find myself" or "take it all in" either. First time I went to Mount Rushmore for example....3 or 4 minutes looking at it, checked out the interpretive centre....20 minutes later was all like "OK cool, lets go" and I was perfectly happy with that. I like to keep moving...it's just the way I am. Some people say "You should stop and smell the roses!" but the fact II don't sit still well means I've smelled 500 rose beds while others in their life have only smelled 5.

 

[MacDoc]

Waste of time ....fly to LAX - rent bike ...ride 8-9 days in wonderful scenery and roads - fly home. Do it tomorrow if you really want.
Maybe even better fly in and out of San Fran

$425 return. Flight \\

$1000 for a week bike rental

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There is nothing like getting on a plane in the morning, flying west and be riding in the mountains by noon.

BTW there is short term health insurance available from Manulife
COVID-19 Pandemic Travel Plan for Travelling Canadians
...was $120 for 7 days for my LAX stop over on the way here and you are younger.

 

[Wingboy]

And there you go PP. You're doing it all wrong! Lol.

 

[ToSlow]

Waste of time ....fly to LAX - rent bike ...ride 8-9 days in wonderful scenery and roads - fly home. Do it tomorrow if you really want.
Maybe even better fly in and out of San Fran

$425 return. Flight \\

$1000 for a week bike rental

Scooter, motorcycle, bicycle rental in 65+ countries | BikesBooking.com

Motorcycle, scooter, bicycle, quad bike (ATV) rental in 1700 locations worldwide. Compare rental rates. Best Price Guaranteed. Book Online Now. Free cancellation. Easy booking in 4 steps.

bikesbooking.com

Twisted Road: Motorcycle Rentals

www.twistedroad.com

View attachment 46704

There is nothing like getting on a plane in the morning, flying west and be riding in the mountains by noon.

BTW there is short term health insurance available from Manulife
COVID-19 Pandemic Travel Plan for Travelling Canadians
...was $120 for 7 days for my LAX stop over on the way here and you are younger.

Hopefully you’re not planning on coming back to Canada passing on Covid

 

[Iceman]

Terry Fox Memorial outside of Thunder Bay.

I shared a sunrise with him this summer. It was a very moving and inspiring feeling for me.

Sent from my SM-A530W using Tapatalk

 

[PrivatePilot]

Waste of time

Not if you really enjoy the big mile days. Like going to the black hills/sturgis in 2019....even the thousands of kilometers of "boring scenery" roads, well, I still loved the hell out of it.

Not much to see sometimes, sure, but I zen right out listening to music, podcasts, audiobooks...and sometimes, just the sound of the road and the wind.

Not a waste of time if you're enjoying it nearly as much as all the other cool stuff.

I rode to Montreal last summer to watch a DC3 fly for the first time in decades (Any other Plane Savers fans here?) and even that ride was enjoyable to me. Others bemoan riding the 401 as "it's boring". To me, it's zen time. For those familiar with personality types, I'm a hard INTP. Alone time on the motorcycle zenning out (or behind the wheel of a car/truck, surprise surprise given why I ended up in the job I did) is the only thing that sometimes allows me to turn off the constant (and often, exhausting) game of chess constantly going on in my head.

 

[ToSlow]

Not if you really enjoy the big mile days. Like going to the black hills/sturgis in 2019....even the thousands of kilometers of "boring scenery" roads, well, I still loved the hell out of it.

Not much to see sometimes, sure, but I zen right out listening to music, podcasts, audiobooks...and sometimes, just the sound of the road and the wind.

Not a waste of time if you're enjoying it nearly as much as all the other cool stuff.

I rode to Montreal last summer to watch a DC3 fly for the first time in decades (Any other Plane Savers fans here?) and even that ride was enjoyable to me. Others bemoan riding the 401 as "it's boring". To me, it's zen time. For those familiar with personality types, I'm a hard INTP. Alone time on the motorcycle zenning out (or behind the wheel of a car/truck, surprise surprise given why I ended up in the job I did) is the only thing that sometimes allows me to turn off the constant (and often, exhausting) game of chess constantly going on in my head.

Yeah i love old planes, I was at the Rv show last yr in Hamilton at the museum, spent more time drooling over the plane than looking at rv’s

 

[PrivatePilot]

Yeah i love old planes

If you haven't watched the Plane Savers series on YouTube, you really should start at Episode 1 today.

Ditto "Ice Pilots" if you never watched the series. You'll soon see the connection between the two. Much Canadiana.

 

[ToSlow]

When i was in the baker lake mine we had an engine flown in for a 795 rock truck by the company that is in the ice pilot show

Was cool cause i do watch the show on the tube

 

[PrivatePilot]

You'll think Plane Savers is the next best thing since sliced bread then.

I rode out to Montreal for the the big first-flight on D-Day summer 2019. I was in that crowd.

 

[ToSlow]

My buddies father has an old tri plane, he flies it with another guy that ownes one. Every now and then if you’re north of Brampton you’ll see them flying around

I think there’s three of them

 

[regder]

I'm going to go with Mac on this, too much in too little time. Going direct from Toronto to Los Angeles is ~4k km, or about three days if you're hustling. That's not stopping for anything, seeing anything, just covering ground. That's assuming everything goes well and there aren't any hiccups along the way to slow you down. If you just want to iron butt it for the sake of doing it, it's definitely doable, but doesn't give you much time to enjoy anything outside of the interstate.

There isn't much of interest between here and Colorado. I would look into flying there and renting a bike. Or another option is trailer the bikes there, which could be done in about 24 hours straight, each way, if taking turns driving/sleeping. That at least gives you an extra two days of actual riding without missing anything.

 

[Wingboy]

You'll think Plane Savers is the next best thing since sliced bread then.

I rode out to Montreal for the the big first-flight on D-Day summer 2019. I was in that crowd.

View attachment 46707

Love old aircraft. Took my grandson Harley to see Fifi a few years ago. (search here for pics) One of my last skydives was from a 206 at Grand Bend. Students gear took the right elevator off the plane. She was fine, we got out quick. Cool memories.

 

[Mad Mike]

Waste of time ....fly to LAX - rent bike ...ride 8-9 days in wonderful scenery and roads - fly home. Do it tomorrow if you really want.
Maybe even better fly in and out of San Fran

$425 return. Flight \\

$1000 for a week bike rental

Scooter, motorcycle, bicycle rental in 65+ countries | BikesBooking.com

Motorcycle, scooter, bicycle, quad bike (ATV) rental in 1700 locations worldwide. Compare rental rates. Best Price Guaranteed. Book Online Now. Free cancellation. Easy booking in 4 steps.

bikesbooking.com

Twisted Road: Motorcycle Rentals

www.twistedroad.com

View attachment 46704

There is nothing like getting on a plane in the morning, flying west and be riding in the mountains by noon.

BTW there is short term health insurance available from Manulife
COVID-19 Pandemic Travel Plan for Travelling Canadians
...was $120 for 7 days for my LAX stop over on the way here and you are younger.

There is some good in that idea. The cost of gas to the coast and back is more than the price of a flight today. 2500 km between Toronto and the Rockies has some roadside attractions, but otherwise it’s 48 hours of boring seat time - time that might be better spent hitting great roads in the far west. Consider wear and tear on your bike (you will use a set of tires and 3 oil changes), cost/risk of breakdowns or mishaps are also a factor.

Maybe the biggest upside to fly/rent is you can get a Harley!

 

[bigpoppa]

Waste of time ....fly to LAX - rent bike ...ride 8-9 days in wonderful scenery and roads - fly home. Do it tomorrow if you really want.
Maybe even better fly in and out of San Fran

$425 return. Flight \\

$1000 for a week bike rental

Scooter, motorcycle, bicycle rental in 65+ countries | BikesBooking.com

Motorcycle, scooter, bicycle, quad bike (ATV) rental in 1700 locations worldwide. Compare rental rates. Best Price Guaranteed. Book Online Now. Free cancellation. Easy booking in 4 steps.

bikesbooking.com

Twisted Road: Motorcycle Rentals

www.twistedroad.com

View attachment 46704

There is nothing like getting on a plane in the morning, flying west and be riding in the mountains by noon.

BTW there is short term health insurance available from Manulife
COVID-19 Pandemic Travel Plan for Travelling Canadians
...was $120 for 7 days for my LAX stop over on the way here and you are younger.

those are some brave men, lending their tuono's to strangers from the internet

 

[Evoex]

those are some brave men, lending their tuono's to strangers from the internet

nah, just take them to court for any reason under the sun.

 

[justride]

Did you say Vegas?

Bonus - Los Angeles - watch on Youtube

 

[MacDoc]

Toronto and the Rockies has some roadside attractions, but otherwise it’s 48 hours of boring seat time

and that makes 4 days out of "8 or 9" .....I'm okay on slab stretches as well with a good audio book I enjoy it, especially riding east with the prevailing winds but 8-9 days of riding in the mountains..... much more better.
Being able to do the PCH ( believe me you can't or don't want to speed ) ( I'd do San Fran to San Luis Obispo only ). I'd also take a day north of San Fran along the coast then cut inland to Clear Lake.
There are bicyclists, hikers, gawkers and tight corners and lots of cops on the PCH ...better to just sit back and enjoy the scenery.

Pacific Coast

26 new items added to shared album

photos.app.goo.gl

The road into Clear Lake to the north of San Fran ( nausea inducing in a cage,, the winding road up to Sequoia and then down into Death Valley ( mind your brakes ), maybe even a drive by of Yosemite - the road to Glacier Point is a wonder - and across to Vegas and a couple days in Utah - that's priceless....you even can squeak in a Yellowstone visit if you plan well and like to do distance.

Lots have credit card points or flight points stored up and those extra 4 days are invaluable in California which has more national parks and monuments than anywhere. You get to try a different bike and no wear or tear....going to be for sure a set of tires at least going there and back.
Getting through US customs at Pearson is a breeze especially with Nexus. There were like 20 people on the plane to LAX last week.

If you were just doing Colorado and area ...yeah sure, but to consider the PCH in that mix .....not my cuppa ....rather do the Smokies.

•••

as to bringing back covid....not from where I'm spending the next 5 months
No Covid here .....no masks, no restrictions - life goes on as normal - this and New Zealand one of the few places on the planet.


Now California is in lockdown now but so is Ontario....frying pan and fire.
Since tourism is down a lot less pressure on parks and monuments.
I'd go to the west in June - longest days

 

[PrivatePilot]

There is some good in that idea. The cost of gas to the coast and back is more than the price of a flight today.

Cost isn't an issue. I'm frugal which is why I'll camp part of the trip (that, and I actually enjoy moto camping when the body allows), but ultimately, the cost of the gas is the least of my concerns. @6L/100km average (probably more, but to make the guesstimate) were only talking 720L for a 12,000KM return. At about $1/L right now....~$750 isn't even on the radar so far as cost.

2500 km between Toronto and the Rockies has some roadside attractions, but otherwise it’s 48 hours of boring seat time

Better re-read my earlier reply. 1.5 days to Denver = zen time for me. I like that sort of riding.

Anyhow, I appreciate everyones thoughts. It's still in the "throwing Jello at the wall" stage right now - many questions to be answered yet including if the border is even open...and how much of my vacation I want to use for this trip. I have 5 weeks this year - I usually take 4 of them in the summer months and save one for November/December for a cruise, but there's a lot of question on if cruises will even be running again out of the USA by then..and I don't want to put my name on a week in the winter to not be able to do anything with it. Accordingly, if I did book all 5 weeks between May and September I could probably extend the timeline on this sort of trip to 2 weeks, so 12-15 days.

 

[MacDoc]

If you are extending your trip time then that changes things to a degree and you have your own bike. It's really the reach to do PCH on a snap trip that does not make sense to me since there are so many good places and roads in area.
Come to think of it Vegas might be a good fly rent spot to have a look at and I think some renters allow different city returns.