Is this the best route?

[-Holiday]

Can anyone that is familiar with this area let me know what they think about this route as part of my cross country motorcycle trip?



Its just what google maps tells me when I do denver - san diego. I need to be able to make good time, so I cant go too far out of my way, but it looks like there might be some other options as far as routes to take for this sector.
Do I bascaclly have to go through the LA area to get to SD? What about the other parts, are they semi motorcycle friendly?

If it matters, this would be happening in late July.
I've posted all this stuff in my blog too, but I just thought more people who might be able to help me would see it here.

Thanks in advance!

[basshole]

The 15 will take you directly to SD. Depending on what day of the week taffic will be a nightmare. If it's on a Sunday you'll be in stop & go traffic from about Las Vegas all te way to SD. On a weekday, you'll hit traffic when you get to the bottom of the Cajon summit. Hope this helps a bit.

[Bachstrad37]

I bought a car 4 years ago (exact same date in June 2002) from San Jose and drove it back to Minnesota using 90 percent of your route. I didn't go through the San Diego/Los Angeles, so I won't be able to provide any input there.

Around California City to Denver, I have some insight. From CA City to Vegas, it's hot as hell and very limited in gas stations on Hwy 15. Fuel up with at least 50 miles left in your tank. Gas price is inflated heavily due to lack of stations.

From Vegas to St. George is somewhat hilly and again dry. Pretty barren with little residential housing along that route.

From St. George to and through to I6, the hills get a bigger and longer. Few small towns and decent ride.

State of Colorado is an amazing ride. My car really had a hard time breathing while climbing those mountains.

I didn't travel too much heading to Denver, but I did go to Colorado Springs and up to Denver. I think your first half of the trip will be very nice. Second half will be hot, dry, and deserted until you get past I95. Then bring on the traffic!

[-Holiday]

thanks for the replies.

if things go according to plan, I should be doing that last leg somewhere on either july 26-27 or 28. Thats a wednesday, thursday or friday. So traffic might not be bad those days?

Is this the best way to get to SD from denver? would it make more sense to go more southernly, maybe through flagstaff to phoenix first, then west? I know that will be really hot too, but I'm wondering if I'll avoid more traffic that way?

I was just in phoenix last December and it was kinda hot, so I can image what its like in late july

actually, now that i think about it, riding through sedona and flagstaff area might not be a bad idea if it doesnt add too many miles to my trip, or if i'm ahead of schedule...

[dieziege]

I posted a bit in your blog, but... there are a lot of options around that area. Fuel may be/probably will be an issue, but there are stations around (people live all through the desert) and your GPS should find them.

The stretch from western Utah into Nevada (up to about Mesquite...in other words close to the border) is beautiful canyons... an awesome drive in a car and probably better on a bike. Not sure about further east along the 15... I've only gone into Utah that way.

Northern Nevada is nothing but grasslands, ghost towns, and brothels... all beautiful in their way, but they get a bit tedious. Southern Nevada doesn't have any of those charms. Many towns in Nevada survive on speeding tickets (they'll drop the speed limits from 70 to 25 in half a mile)... 200 residents and 5 traffic cops on duty seems like the norm.

Through the desert there are a lot of interesting routes, most of them a bit forlorn in their way but beautiful. As a minor caution, my GPS throws me onto dirt roads in that area all the time... I once crossed most of the Mojave from Baker towards Goodsprings or something like that on dirt roads... perhaps 100 miles of them... following the GPS routing... some of those roads were sand and dust and it was all my Jetta could do to keep rolling.... and the alternative is backtracking 50 miles.

[-Holiday]

I posted a bit in your blog, but... there are a lot of options around that area. Fuel may be/probably will be an issue, but there are stations around (people live all through the desert) and your GPS should find them.

The stretch from western Utah into Nevada (up to about Mesquite...in other words close to the border) is beautiful canyons... an awesome drive in a car and probably better on a bike. Not sure about further east along the 15... I've only gone into Utah that way.

Northern Nevada is nothing but grasslands, ghost towns, and brothels... all beautiful in their way, but they get a bit tedious. Southern Nevada doesn't have any of those charms. Many towns in Nevada survive on speeding tickets (they'll drop the speed limits from 70 to 25 in half a mile)... 200 residents and 5 traffic cops on duty seems like the norm.

Through the desert there are a lot of interesting routes, most of them a bit forlorn in their way but beautiful. As a minor caution, my GPS throws me onto dirt roads in that area all the time... I once crossed most of the Mojave from Baker towards Goodsprings or something like that on dirt roads... perhaps 100 miles of them... following the GPS routing... some of those roads were sand and dust and it was all my Jetta could do to keep rolling.... and the alternative is backtracking 50 miles.

great info, thanks. good to know about the dirt roads thing, although im not sure how to get around that since i wont know if they're dirt until i hit them. hmmm.

i think im going to stay pretty close to the route i posted above, becuase im thinking phoenix in late july is not a good idea.

[dieziege]

Phoenix isn't a good idea at any time.

Your route is fine as the "fastest"... I'd probably take the 215 where it splits off of the 15 in the Cajon pass since it is a little closer to scenic and rejoins the 15 after shaving a couple miles off the route to San Diego, but that's a detail.

What sort of side trips do you want? Mountains? More desert-ish places?

On the southern side you can loop off the 15 at the SR169 in Nevada and go through Fire Valley state park on the SR167... ending up roughly in Henderson (a suburb of Vegas really). From there you can meet up with US95 and go into California through Searchlight, meeting up with interstate 40, which you would follow west back towards the 15. If you take National Trails Hwy off that you can even stop in Bagdad, or better yet take Amboy road down to Joshua Tree, which is a beautiful area. If you do that, you can meet back up with the 10 and take that west to the 15 to rejoin your initial route. Or better yet take the 86 through Mecca to the 78, go through Julian, and meet back up with the 15 in Escondido (in San Diego County).

If that's too much (or you want more mountains) you can keep going on the 15 to Barstow then take the 247 to the 38 to Big Bear... then follow the 18 to the 330... there is some breathtaking scenery through there and AFAIK all the roads are reopened after the fires in '03... you'll meet up with the 215, take it south to the 15, and be on your way.

If you want to be more coastal and ride one of the best known motorcycling roads in the area, take the 215 to the 74 west (better known as Ortega Highway), and ride it to i5... traffic will be a little worse on the 5 but you'll have some ocean views as you cruise down the coast.

I could go on...