planning a road trip out west

[wicked]

the SigO and i are planning a road trip out west (grand canyon) and we are trailering the bikes...any suggestions on great rides between here and there?

[Riceburner]

start here, ride there.. solved

[BlueLghtning]

Although I'm big on big trips, when time is limited, I hate rushing the trip. Both times I went out West with a limited time, we trailered to CO so that we could skip the plains states in between. Heck, driving across KS or TX or where ever sucks. That gave us plenty of time to enjoy all the places out West.

Once you get to Denver or somewhere around there, you have plenty of choices to visit. Why are you focusing just on the Grand Canyon? Look up Utah, there are some amazing places to visit like Bryce Canyon, Glen Canyon, Escalante, & Canyon Land NP etc. Maybe you can incorporate the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but there is some awesome riding out there. Co has some awesome places to visit and its worth either going up Pike's Peak or Mt Evans, both of which go over 14k ft.

[wallypiper]

There's the Ozarks, just past the Mississippi. After that, not much.
A lot of this:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g43/wallypiper/Colorado06/kansasinanutshell.jpg
That's Kansas but it pretty representative of everything between Fort Smith, AR and Albuquerque, NM.
Plenty of stuff to see in the breadbasket, but no much opportunity to lean your motorcycle, unless you have to lean into the wind to go straight.

[joemama]

What route are ya taking? Northern New Mexico (Eagles Nest) is beautiful! Another cool site is the NRAO Very Large Array...also in New Mexico. I rode out there a few years ago so I may be able to give you a few more tips. Have fun!

[The Lazy Destroyer]

In Colorado, Hwy 550 (Million Dollar Highway) through Silverton and Ouray is awesome. The road up Mt Evans is awesome and mildly challenging as well, get a feeling of accomplishment when you reach the top. You really can't go wrong with any National Park in Colorado, all the ones I rode through were great.

Utah is also great. There are lots of long straight roads there but the scenery is hard to beat. Something about the desert out there is just beautiful. Arches was fun to ride through and the hikes in the area have some awesome views.

On my last big trip I road through Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado... to be honest there was nothing I didn't like. You won't be able to see all the good stuff so just pick a few out that look interesting and have fun :) It seems like I took a million pictures on my trip and if I had more time, I would have taken even more pictures ;)