Motorcycle Road Trip Planning Resources

[R Doug]

Inspired from a blog post I read, I thought it would be helpful to start a thread where everyone can post links to resources which are handy in planning road trips (day, weekend, longer...).  

Moderators may want to consider this as a sticky thread.

As follows are websites I can think of.  What do you use?  Please post them up.  




ROADS:

http://www.motorcycleroads.us/

http://www.motorcycleroads.com/

http://byways.org/

http://usparks.about.com/od/scenicroadshighways/The_Most_Scenic_Roads_and_Highways_in_the_United_States.htm

http://www.motoroads.net  (STN Garry’s site)


FOOD:

http://ridetoeat.com/

http://www.roadfood.com/


PLACES TO SEE:

http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourceSubmittedFileView?file=museums_museum_guide.htm

http://www.nps.gov/nr/

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/

http://www.warbirdsandairshows.com/gateguards.htm

[Sport-Touring]

[bungie4]

I planned a 3 week trip to Alaska using http://tripplanner.honda.com

It uses google maps (yea!) and outputs GPX files (yea!).  The GPX files need to be edited (boo) to remove the

tags. No biggie though.

I refuse to put up with that Garmin POS Basecrap. MapSucks was even better than that.

[Rammer]

A couple of camping related sites....

National Forests & Campgrounds, http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/list/nflist.htm

National Parks Service, http://www.nps.gov/index.htm

12,000 public campgrounds- entire US and Canada, http://www.uscampgrounds.info/

Free Camping... http://www.freecampgrounds.com/index.aspx

More free camping... http://freecampsites.net/USA/

Camp Scout... http://www.campscout.com/


Interesting things to see on a road trip... http://retroroadmap.com/

Route 66 info... http://www.milebymile.com/historic-route-66.php


I would think most States have a travel related web site... Here's the one from Montana... http://visitmt.com/

[bomber]

Mom and Pop Motels:

http://www.momandpopmotels.com/app/v1/index.php

not all are cheap, but sometime avoiding a bland chain joint is what you want.

[HipGnosis]

There's a bunch of good ones in the Mods & Maint., Best Moto Links thread that is stickied

[R Doug]

There's a bunch of good ones in the Mods & Maint., Best Moto Links thread that is stickied

Agreed, but that is more for mods and maintenance and not so much route planning tools to find great places to stay, eat, see, etc...

Mom and Pop Motels:

http://www.momandpopmotels.com/app/v1/index.php

not all are cheap, but sometime avoiding a bland chain joint is what you want.

This is my new favorite site!

[poffpaul]

Even for people who aren't excited by the pull of staying with completely random people, Couchsurfing is still an excellent way to meet people and find locals with similar interests in all kinds of areas, or even randomly happen across fellow travelers from abroad who are sharing the same space as you. Meeting up for coffee or a drink is very common.

Couchsurfing, http://www.couchsurfing.org/

[bungie4]

Hey,

Lets not forget the assistancelist.com, many make available beds/tent space.

[Mastros2]

Awesome idea, Doug!

For all things New England, go here. Ed put a lot of time into this site.
http://www.newenglandriders.org/BestOfNewEngland/BestOfNewEngland.htm

[sodapop6620]

Here is a directory of the Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds.

http://www.recreation.gov/campgroundDirectoryListByAgencyID.do?contractCode=NRSO&agencyID=70902

[kltk1]

I realize these are obvious additions but I didn't see them mentioned. I find Tripadvisor, Yelp and Urban Spoon to be helpful sites and have found some pretty good food offerings I wouldn't have otherwise located. I user Tripadvisor a lot for comparing hotels.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

http://www.yelp.com

http://www.urbanspoon.com

[UrbanHermit]

I planned a 3 week trip to Alaska using http://tripplanner.honda.com

It uses google maps (yea!) and outputs GPX files (yea!).  The GPX files need to be edited (boo) to remove the

tags. No biggie though.

I refuse to put up with that Garmin POS Basecrap. MapSucks was even better than that.

Just saw your BaseCamp comment.  Couldn't agree more.  Plus the wonderful old, always-visible Zumo 550 won't support it.  On the other hand, MapSource hasn't been updated since the Ark ran aground.

[smithpa68]

I tried the Honda trip planner and maybe I was doing something wrong.  I couldn't push the route around with a mouse.  

I did have an easier time with the Harley Davidson version.  You can still put in the stops by address, but you can drag the route around how you like in between.  They must similar services from Google.

http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/ridePlanner.jsp?locale=null

[Paulie]

I've tried a bunch of the puter based cruz planners. Like tyre, hardley, aaa, and gawd knows lotsa others. They've all had some BIG probs that quickly cried out "Close me!"  

So far, this one looks like it's gonna be a weiner. Sheck it out...

https://trips.furkot.com/ui

BTW, they've added a lil mod that I asked for. Furkot is an impressive outfit!  

[djacobsen5116]

I looked at furkot.com and like it.  Also tried  motogoloco.com which is still in beta but showing a lot of potential.  Both are infinitely easier to use than BaseCamp, don't have all the bells and whistles and that seems to make them a lot more useable.  Will be using Furkot this summer and keeping an eye on motogoloco.  It is UK based but covers the US also.  Both worth a visit just to see how easy and usefull a mapping program can be.

[naustin]

Base camp is not that bad.  (I'm using the Mac version).  It works fine with my old Zumo450.  Like MapSource, it takes time to get used to, and you have to be willing to adapt to its quirks.

I'm not saying I like it, or that it is well developed. But, I have been able to use it to get the job done, and it's easier for me at this point to use BaseCamp that any other combination of alternatives.  

[CanadianBird]

www.destinationhighways.com Riding in BC, Washington, Northern California, Southern California. Book and map for each state & Province. Oregon on the way.

[smithpa68]

I have switched to Tyre.  It works well for me for maps and routes.  The latest version is better with Garmins than before. 


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[Richard85]

Thank you for the links. Great.

[barrypz]

After laying out a pen and ink of the trip I want to take to the Great Lakes, I tried laying it out in Bing, Google, MS Streets and Trips, and Harley Road Planner.
(All for scientific purposes of course)
I thought Harley did the best job and was the easiest to use, even though it is based on Google Maps.  The Harley tool also offers sync to GPS and "share with friend".

[bungie4]

Try MotoGoLoco.com.

Google Maps that dl directly to your Garmin.

[Orson]

Found by DD:

https://trips.furkot.com/ui

http://tourstart.org/

http://ww1.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?association=caa&club=282&page=ITTServices

http://www.motowhere.com/

http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/ridePlanner.jsp

http://www.motoplaner.de/

http://ridewithgps.com/

https://roadtrippers.com/?mode=plan

[HipGnosis]

I've been playing with a few of these.  

motowhere - totally unusable.  You have to register to do anything.  You have to click along the roads you want to take and you have to keep zooming out and in to do it.  If your route is north bound and you don't zoom in enough, you can click on the south bound lane of the highway and then the site puts a u-turn in...  You can't simply undo and you can't drag your route to another road or roads.  The note/description box takes up quite a bit of the map - I couldn't minimize it.  I don't get the purpose or function of the site.  I didn't get to point that I wanted to try export...

furkot - Good.   I checked it out about a year ago when it was first posted here.  Pretty nice instructions and support.  The developers are obviously involved.   A year ago, way to many of the POI's were users 'test' or personal stuff (like: 'Jeff') that was just noise.  I didn't see any this time (but didn't look at that many).  Set start, end and select one-way or round trip.  It generates a route.  Then you (can) drag the route to the roads that look good to you.  Sweet.  LOTs of options for exporting, including a turn-by-turn itinerary (as .csv).

motogoloco - Meh.  Good idea that died in Beta.  It hasn't been updated in years.   Virtually no instructions.  Took me a while to figure out you have to register on the site and ALSO on their support.  I put this in as their first 'tip'.    The 'forum' where users could supposedly help each other is inop.  There are multiple posts in support re: problems exporting GPX w/o answers.  Uses google map (I believe) which I assume means it's current.  You put in start & stop points, it picks a route which you then drag to the road(s) you want.   You can print an itinerary, but not export it.  Will also print the route map.

ridewithgps - been using it (on and off) for years.  It works.

[jlbonnie2000]

I will throw this out and see if it sticks on anyone's calendar.  

Basics:  I am 69 years old, in great shape, retired, love camping, and live on my ST motorcycle.  I am planning a trip this June leaving the central Arkansas area around June 20th.  The actual date is not picked out yet.

Route:  I am planning to travel across the top of Oklahoma, the top of New Mexico, up the west side of Colorado, and then just play it by ear traveling around Colorado.

Length:  10 days approx.  I am planning to camp near every night.  Often, I take MRE's for meals at remote camping places and ALWAYS have fresh morning coffee.  I still LOVE a good burger and an occasional beer.

Riding:  I tend to ride around 350-400 miles a day.  I stop for breaks about every 50 miles.  No iron butt for me!!  I tend to ride around 70-75 Mph on average.  I don't like high speeds.  Or just poking along bottling up traffic.

Camping:  I plan to camp either in state parks or private parks.  I prefer private parks as state parks can get a bit unruly.  By private parks, places like a KOA or privately owned RV park.  Out west, many national forest camping places.

Anyone interested??  Must like out-of-doors.  Must love to camp.  

PS:  My motorcycle is air-conditioned.  I travel cool in the 100 degree heat out west.  You can air condition yours as well.  Price:  FREE!!

[Aero]

I've started using https://kurviger.de/en as recommended by our very own RBEmerson, it's pretty good!