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Seattle or Bust from FL, my first bike trip ever. Route Suggestions?????

C

CORNDOGS

Guest
I have been working at the fire dept for the past 8 years and have not taken a good vacation in a while. I just bought a 09 R1200 GSA. Jumped all in. I will be leaving August 4th from sarasota,fl heading towards Sturgis then finally onto to Seattle. I have been racking my mind with routes on mapsource. ( i hate the program ) I am trying to avoid long stretches on the highway. I want to basically take my time and see all the small towns etc..... I have my basic route planned but I'm wondering what way is the best way to go...

thanks in advance.
JC
 
The start of a grand adventure. Avoid interstates, pickout some sights you want to see along the way and don't become a slave to a schedule and daily mileage goals.
 
Sturgis to Seattle......

you can head west and go through Yellowstone then back roads through Craters of the Moon NP, then continue west into OR through John Day, then through Fossil (and the fossil beds), up to the Columbia, over the Bridge of the Gods then 14 to Carson and up past Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier. (check road conditions before heading up Wind River out of Carson, FS 25 is closed for snow, hopefully it'll melt off soon.....)

Or you can head north through Belle Fourche then 87 to Miles City. from there you can head west over 12 or 200.

Or if you want, Yellowstone then north on 93 through Salmon and up towards Missoula (there is a really good Mexican restaurant in Gibbonsville, ID about 50 miles north of Salmon). Then from Lolo, highway 12 west.

Done all of those, mostly on back roads as I HATE the slab.

There are many, many different routes to take once west of Sturgis. Just depends on if you want slab, paved 2 lane, graded dirt, or goat trails. :)
 
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IMHO - Beartooth Hwy (US 212) and Lolo Pass (US 12) are not too far out of the way for the Sturgis/Seattle run. One possible fly in the ointment - US 212 was washed out just inside the northeast entrance of Yellowstone NP two weeks ago when I made a similar trip and had to backtrack from Cook City, MT. Fortunately the backtrack route along the Chief Joseph Hwy to Cody, WY was a nice ride also. Subsequently went through Yellowstone from the east entrance. The northeast route through Yellowstone may be reopened by now, not sure. There are also some good roads between West Yellowstone and Lolo Pass; I didn't get to ride those (long story.) If you take the Lolo Pass route, I suggest staying on US 12 west through Walla Walla and Tri-Cities WA wine country. Feel free to PM me if I can provide more details on any of this.

Marty in Spokane Valley, WA
 
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