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Ride to Great Falls

Ragman2

New member
Will any of you be riding to Great Falls from the Philadelphia area? Looks like it's about 2100 miles on highways. I can't take more than two weeks from work and I'm old (just turned 70). My first rally was the Lebanon rally and I really enjoyed the ride down and camping on the way.
 
Will any of you be riding to Great Falls from the Philadelphia area? Looks like it's about 2100 miles on highways. I can't take more than two weeks from work and I'm old (just turned 70). My first rally was the Lebanon rally and I really enjoyed the ride down and camping on the way.

Enjoy life. Philly to Buffalo to Port Huron (MI) - Flint - Mackinaw City - Duluth - Either Fargo (I-94) or Grand Forks (US-2) - Great Falls.

Did the trip back in 1998 for the Missoula Rally. Beautiful country. Make sure you see Glacier NP and ride the Beartooth.
 
Will any of you be riding to Great Falls from the Philadelphia area? Looks like it's about 2100 miles on highways. I can't take more than two weeks from work and I'm old (just turned 70). My first rally was the Lebanon rally and I really enjoyed the ride down and camping on the way.

I'm in the two week window myself, traveling from Maine, thinking I may head down I90 to Cleveland before heading west. I usually travel on secondary highways staying off interstates as much as possible. What's your plan?
 
I'm in the two week window myself, traveling from Maine, thinking I may head down I90 to Cleveland before heading west. I usually travel on secondary highways staying off interstates as much as possible. What's your plan?

I'm in the initial planning phase. Like, am I going or not. If I go, I will probably camp most nights, weather permitting. As far as interstates are concerned, I don't mind them, especially for such a long trip but getting off now and then is a must. Lebanon was such a short trip, I took mostly back roads. As I look at the 2100 miles (each way) that's a little over 400 miles/day for 5 days if I did the math right. So riding 8 hours for ~5 days will get you there if you ride the interstates. Stopping for pee, gas and food. I took Mountain House on the Lebanon trip and although it's not gourmet, it did fill the stomach and not too bad.

I only wish I had 4 weeks to take some side trips.

So that's as far as I have gone as far as planning.
 
Second Rally and I am in!

Rode to Nashville last year for the Scoot and Boot Rally (First timer here). I've been part of the Iron Butt group and riding for 20 years, last year was my first real rally and I had a great time. I really enjoyed tent camping on the grounds and checking out the vendors and bikes. I am looking forward to the rally in Great Falls this year. I am planning two weeks for the trip and as little interstate as possible. I've ridden out west several times, but never pushed on past Montana and Wyoming. I am looking forward to seeing Glacier and re-riding the Chief Joseph and Beartooth Pass with some great food in Red Lodge.

Maybe I will see some of you there or on the way. Just look for the 2016 GSA with the Michigan license plate H8MUD :)

Be safe!
Keith.
 
Will any of you be riding to Great Falls from the Philadelphia area? Looks like it's about 2100 miles on highways. I can't take more than two weeks from work and I'm old (just turned 70). My first rally was the Lebanon rally and I really enjoyed the ride down and camping on the way.

This is a great opportunity to ride the North Shore of Lake Superior... the route below shows the general idea *except* that instead of going around Lake Huron, you would take the Chi-Cheemaun ferry from Tobermory, ONT to South Baymouth. (that small gap in the middle) The map wouldn't route it.

From Sault St. Marie, you could ride across the Michigan UP or take the North Shore.

<iframe src="https://ridewithgps.com/embeds?type=route&id=31722004&sampleGraph=true" style="width: 1px; min-width: 100%; height: 700px; border: none;" scrolling="no"></iframe>
 
This is a great opportunity to ride the North Shore of Lake Superior... ...
Our first Niagara Falls trip (do the Canadian side) was to Ohio from NC. We've done the Parry Sound side as well as the ferry. The ferry was fun! Continuing around the Lakes we stumbled upon Carolyn Beach Inn and Restaurant on the north shore of Lake Huron. Excellent place to stop for eats or overnight. We'd do it again but we're heading to Nevada on the way to Montana.
 
These are a couple of the routes I've been playing around with. Ian I like the mapping program your using, Ill have to look it up, is it fairly easy to upload those routes into basecamp?

Routes.jpg
 
These are a couple of the routes I've been playing around with. Ian I like the mapping program your using, Ill have to look it up, is it fairly easy to upload those routes into basecamp?

View attachment 76800

I would take I-90 to Niagara and cut across southern ON to Huron. The I-80/90 route thru Northern Ohio and Indiana is the Rust Belt Death Zone.
 
These are a couple of the routes I've been playing around with. Ian I like the mapping program your using, Ill have to look it up, is it fairly easy to upload those routes into basecamp?

Yes, there is a great export tool in the app.

Ride With GPS was one of the first on-line mapmaking apps, started by a couple of college kids. They were strong in tech but not so much in marketing, and that Strava app overtook it. Strava was aimed straight at bicyclists, and RWGPS followed suit.

It still is a great app for motorcycle riding, but if you like this kind of stuff, it is well worth your while to check out Furkot.com
 
I would take I-90 to Niagara and cut across southern ON to Huron. The I-80/90 route thru Northern Ohio and Indiana is the Rust Belt Death Zone.

I know, BTDT way too many times, the route is impossible to see at that scale, but I would be using either 224 to 30 or 18 to 20 in Akron. I thought about going across Ontario and up round Huron and Superior then down to Duluth or cross Sault St Marie into the UP, not sure I want to spend any time in Canada this trip.
 
Yes, there is a great export tool in the app.

Ride With GPS was one of the first on-line mapmaking apps, started by a couple of college kids. They were strong in tech but not so much in marketing, and that Strava app overtook it. Strava was aimed straight at bicyclists, and RWGPS followed suit.

It still is a great app for motorcycle riding, but if you like this kind of stuff, it is well worth your while to check out Furkot.com

I'll have to check it out, thanks. I've gotten pretty efficient with basecamp and it works flawlessly with the new Nav VI Santa left under the tree this year. My other GPS is a TomTom Rider 400 which use's Tyre for Travel, there was a learning curve there, but with the new Google interface it also works well.
 
Sounds like the start of a plan. I have never done 8 hours in the saddle/day.


400 miles a day is not hard to do once you get out of the urban areas. One thing I tell riders is don't think about the last stop of the day, just deal with the next one, then the next, and before you know it you are there.

The farther west you go you can pick up on your average speed because the traffic is lighter. When we are running to make miles we will figure 500-600 miles per day in this area. Interstates in ND you can run 80 MPH and you won't even draw any attention from the HP. 80-85 MPH is pretty safe, much over 85 and you run the risk of a ticket. I rolled by a parked HP doing close to 95 in Montana last summer, I don't think he even twitched.

I am trying to decide if I will run out to the rally from Fargo. I don't get enough vacation time to do everything I want so I have to make sure I make good use of the time I have. If I go I will probably run out Friday and return Sunday. For me that will be a 700+ mile ride, or about 12 hours of steady riding. I run to Red Lodge MT and back every summer, about the same miles, one day each way.
 
I will be heading out from Charlotte, NC. But being retired usually plan about 300-400 mile days allowing me to stop at any interesting sights I may see, take back roads as much as possible and enjoy the small towns. I am not a camper but will motel it most of the way if not staying with friends.
 
I'll have to check it out, thanks. I've gotten pretty efficient with basecamp and it works flawlessly with the new Nav VI Santa left under the tree this year. My other GPS is a TomTom Rider 400 which use's Tyre for Travel, there was a learning curve there, but with the new Google interface it also works well.

I use Ride with GPS mainly to plot out a quick route and embed it into a forum or post it in social media.

Basecamp is still my go-to for actual travel planning because I like making waypoints for key points in my ride. Interestingly, I often obtain the waypoint data from Google Maps, paste it into Basecamp's "Find Coordinates" tool, which converts it to my Garmin's waypoint setup. Very handy when planning European tours.

The interesting thing about Furkot is how it combines route planning with finding POIs near to your route.
 
I will be heading out from Charlotte, NC. But being retired usually plan about 300-400 mile days allowing me to stop at any interesting sights I may see, take back roads as much as possible and enjoy the small towns. I am not a camper but will motel it most of the way if not staying with friends.

You might like US18 west of Sioux City through South Dakota... angling up to I-90 through the Badlands NP or Wind Caves NP areas.
 
You might like US18 west of Sioux City through South Dakota... angling up to I-90 through the Badlands NP or Wind Caves NP areas.

Thanks! I will check it out. I was actually hoping to take highway 61 out if Ogallala up to Hyannis and on to Spearfish Canyon Lodge. BUT ... my wife has a niece in Armour, SD (quite the metropolis) that is on the NE end of SD which would make your suggestion easy to do. Thanks for the suggestion.


HA .... just checked and 18 is spitting distance to Armour, SD.
 
I use Ride with GPS mainly to plot out a quick route and embed it into a forum or post it in social media.

Basecamp is still my go-to for actual travel planning because I like making waypoints for key points in my ride. Interestingly, I often obtain the waypoint data from Google Maps, paste it into Basecamp's "Find Coordinates" tool, which converts it to my Garmin's waypoint setup. Very handy when planning European tours.

The interesting thing about Furkot is how it combines route planning with finding POIs near to your route.

That's my typical planning procedure as well. Google maps is very convenient for locating interesting places and providing gps coordinates for waypoints. I like the road view feature as well. I also use the Kampnik app on my tablet and phone to locate camping areas.
 
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