Sgt Bilco`s USA Adventure Summer 2010

Sgt Bilco

Dream Maker
Mod Squad
Moderator
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
16,790
Reaction score
319
Location
Evesham, England
Sgt Bilco`s USA Adventure Summer 2010

I will be bringing my 1100 back from the US in the summer of 2010 and will be travelling cross country from San Francisco across to Baltimore for shipping home.

So, my thoughts are to organise a proper tour with a bunch of you tossers. I’m more than happy to arrange shipping/insurance etc and put the trip together if there is enough interest. I`ll also act as a tour guide and lead the tour. It could well be the opportunity you`ve been waiting for to take that trip of a lifetime in the US:D.

My initial thoughts for the trip would be for a duration of 4 weeks and the following basic itinery:

San Francisco CA to Yosemite National Park
Yosemite to Las Vegas NV via Sequoia National Park and Death Valley.
Las Vegas to Monument Valley via Zion and Bryce Canyon’s, Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon. I have friends who are Navajo Indian so will arrange proper local guides for this area.
Monument Valley to Albuquerque NM via Canyon de Chelley.
Albuquerque NM to Denver CO up through the Rockies and some very high mountain passes.
Denver CO across the central plains to Tulsa OK.
Tulsa OK to Memphis TN via the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas
Memphis TN to Nashville TN via the Jack Daniels Distillery.:beer:
Nashville to Knoxville TN and Deals Gap which is one of the most famous roads in the US (318 curves in 11 miles).
Knoxville to the East Coast via the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Smokie Mountains.
Dip your toe in the Atlantic at the outer banks and up the East coast to Baltimore.


This route takes in all the famous landmarks and the big “must see” canyons, roads, passes and mountain ranges. This route is all road but can organise some light trails if anyone wants to.

I’ll design it so anyone on any bike will get a lot out of it. It will suit experienced and beginners alike but you must have a sense of humour and be able to do basic repairs to you bike as there will be no back up truck.

I have ridden most if not all of these roads and done many miles in the US. It’s neither a difficult or scary place to ride and is a lot cheaper than Europe by and large.

Accommodation will be motels unless anyone really feels the need to sleep under the stars. Bear in mind I’m looking to do this in the summer and it gets very hot and won’t probably dip much below 85 degrees anywhere and will get to 110 degrees plus in Death Valley and Las Vegas. No fun in a Tesco tent.;)

The big costs will be the Shipping and I would suggest the bikes are flown out and shipped back which will be the cheaper option but I will investigate all options. Dedicated US insurance is essential and I’m estimating this to be around £1500 all in. Other costs will be motels, fuel, food and cold beer. My estimate for the whole thing will be around £3000 minimum so it’s not cheap but it could be the trip of a lifetime and gives you plenty of time to organise a pass out from SHMBO and to fill the piggybank.:augie

Total mileage will be around 5500 mile but it won’t be an Iron Butt rally and the longest days would be in the region of 400 miles with a few rest days. All bikes will be made welcome but would like to keep it to a maximum of 8 bikes.

Please let me know if anyone has any interest and I’ll start planning proper.:beerjug:
 
Stoppit.....! Stoppit NOW, I tell you....! :nono

Besides which, I've done the first four and a bit of those already.....:augie
 
Well, I have just had a long phone conversation with Chris and have signed up for his trip. Yee-haa. :)
 
Well, I have just had a long phone conversation with Chris and have signed up for his trip. Yee-haa. :)

And by special request, it looks like the Jim Beam distillery is on the itinery....:beer:

Best make sure there is a rest day after the visit:augie:D
 
Aidan....

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
Wow.



Once in a lifetime trip, there better be a lot of pics from this one.:D

I'm so so so feckin envious ! :eek: and speechless, well done lad. :clap
 
Sarge,

Great idea - could you confirm what is included in your estimate costs of £3000 please - the way I read it is -

Flying and shipping the bikes to and from the States.
US Insurance
Motels
Fuel
food and drink

It does not include the rider's return flight.

Am I correct?

Is it for solo riders only?
 
i am interested as well

hi sgt
i am very interested as well in this trip
are the flights included in the equasion
what dates are you planing to go
and how do you actualy book
& how much is us bike insurance
& would you need breakdown insurance as have 1200gs:nenau
:thumb2
 
Could you put me down as VERY interested in the trip.
Have been looking to do a US tour for the past couple of years.
Will PM you later.
Managed to post in the trip report thread rather than here.:rolleyes:
 
USof a

Put me down sounds great been there before a few times but it will be a gas
any one who's not done it before you will love it nothing to worry about just enjoy it. You must make sure your travel insurance covers motorcycles as
111 cards do not work in the states!!.
Dave ( I hate christmas but love America!) GS.
 
Sarge,

Great idea - could you confirm what is included in your estimate costs of £3000 please - the way I read it is -

Flying and shipping the bikes to and from the States.
US Insurance
Motels
Fuel
food and drink

It does not include the rider's return flight.

Am I correct?

Is it for solo riders only?


No flights are included in the price as I have no idea what they may be in 2010!! Pillions are more than welcome but I`m trying to limit this to 8 bikes as IMHO any more is unmanageble and greats havoc when trying to get a motel!
 
hi sgt
i am very interested as well in this trip
are the flights included in the equasion
what dates are you planing to go
and how do you actualy book
& how much is us bike insurance
& would you need breakdown insurance as have 1200gs:nenau
:thumb2

No flights quoted in this. Bike insurance is around £200 maximum depending on what cover you need and breakdown insurance isn`t much good in the middle of Oklahoma:augie

The 1200 will be perfect and there are a few Beemer dealers littered around the US. I`m sure between us, we can fix most problems but there is always a tow rope:D

Biggest thing is personal insurance and your stadard holiday cover will be useless. You need to take out specialist "dangerous sports" type insurance because medical bills are horrendous stateside!
 
Seems I have enough interest to put together a proper trip plan with more exact costings so I`ll get on with that in the next few weeks.

No financial commitment will be required until late next year when I will have to pay for the shipping etc but if anyone can commit wholeheartedly as soon as they can, I can really get to work on it and we can come up with a superb itinery to suit all tastes.

I`m thinking about June 2010 as it`s cheaper for flights and out of season for motels etc and there won`t be zillions of doddery old farts in their Winnebago`s but I`m open to other times to suit everyone!

This is looking like a plan:D:D:D
 
Insurance

No flights quoted in this. Bike insurance is around £200 maximum depending on what cover you need and breakdown insurance isn`t much good in the middle of Oklahoma:augie

The 1200 will be perfect and there are a few Beemer dealers littered around the US. I`m sure between us, we can fix most problems but there is always a tow rope:D

Biggest thing is personal insurance and your stadard holiday cover will be useless. You need to take out specialist "dangerous sports" type insurance because medical bills are horrendous stateside!

send me a pm if you want some I can reccomend Direct travel insurance by AXA I've used these for years and are brilliant as their standard policy covers bikes about £40 for up to multiple 30 day trips anywhere in the world. Last years trip from Alaska to Ushia (Argentina) was £160 six month trip along a lot of dirt roads. Will post the address tomorow when sober and I can find it!
Dave (I hate christmas) GS.
 
I have been playing about with the route that Chris posted above, just to see roughly what was involved in this trip. It looks pretty good to me. :bounce1:bounce1

2010map.jpg
 
That`s pretty close Aidan. Did you do that on Map Source?

Confirmed so far:

Aidan1150
Mad Moose
Panman
 
That`s pretty close Aidan. Did you do that on Map Source?

No Chris, I just took the main place names mentioned in your first post and put them into Google Maps to form a route. It was just to give me an idea of what we are taking on. :)
 


Back
Top Bottom