Motorcycle trip from Socal to Maine and back

[blueline]

I am planning a motorcycle trip from SoCal to Maine and back and could use some advice.  I am staying with family for some of the trip but have the following nightly stops tentatively planned; Metropolis, IL., Bryson City, NC., Harrisonburg, VA., Portsmouth, NH., Calais, ME., Edmundston, Canada, Montreal, Niagara Falls, Elkhart, IN., Sioux Falls, SD., Rapid City, SD., Rawlins, WY.  I can alter these about 50 miles on either side but am trying to stay under 400 miles per day.  Your wisdom would be appreciated for the best sights to see, places to stop, places to avoid and safety concerns around the cities stated.  Thank you and stay safe out there.

[MrCabbage]

I can help with some of this having ridden from Chicago to LA deliberately avoiding Route 66. The non-interstate route across Iowa is actually rather nice and much better than Bill Bryson will have you believe. Yes, there's a lot of cornfields. But the people are great and every town is nice and neat. Don't miss the Buddy Holly crash site memorial near Mason City if you're a fan. I chose to stay in Sioux City instead of Sioux Falls simply because it's on the corner of 3 states and gave me some nice options the next day. Tracking and criss-crossing the Missouri River west from Sioux City is nice and very quiet. Obviously the Badlands National Park is worth a ride through and Wall if you have to see the "world's largest drug-store"! Rapid City is nice (try and stay as central as you can as it's a nice place). It's the gateway to the Black Hills, so Mount Rushmore and the (even better) Crazy Horse Memorial, some great roads and the nice town of Deadwood all worthy of your time. I then stayed westwards (via the Devil's Tower) to get to Cody so that I could then take a route through Yellowstone, Grand Teton and onto Jackson. Your route is south of all that. After Jackson, I  meandered through Utah and Arizona before finally crossing into California at Blythe. Happy to provide info on those bits if useful.

[Noel]

Leaving on June 4, 2016 did a 9,700m trip from San Luis Obispo & Paradise CA to the tip of Cape Cod and back, and had a total blast save my brother's crash OTW to Cody, WY on our return ride.  We made reservations the day before each stop, and this gave us the flexibility to change course to weather or other, and never had a problem getting decent lodging.  Rough outline:


SLO > Bishop CA > take the incredible SR168 out of Big Pine to 95 south Nevada around LV to St. George for the night.  Zion/Bryce > Escalante Grand Staircase > Hanksville OTW via 95 to Glen Canyon NP > Durango > Telluride > Golden to visit the daughter & fiance > beeline to the southern entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Up the BRP to Roanoke Valley for oil change in the parking lot of the Yamaha dealer as the BMW shop wouldn't let us!  Brother was on his FJR.  Then up into Connecticut and on out to Cape Cod, Provincetown.  Then up thru the White and Green mountains and loved the fabulous Inn at Shelburne Farms, VT for breakfast.  Then to Niagara, Canadian side only is where you want to be.  Enjoyed a ride up around Niagara on the Lake.  We stay in Ontario on to Sarnia, then take the long coast road around the east side of Michigan on up and over the Macinac Bridge then back thru Wisconsin towards the Badlands & Black Hills.  Devil's Tower, and thru Sheridan over the Big Horns.  Coming down the south side of the Big Horns towards Cody WY my brother hit a big buck on highway 14 going 58mph.  He walked away from it unscathed, by sheer luck largely.  We flew him home out of Cody WY after the ER visit near Greybull WY.  I returned home via Yellowstone/Jackson Hole, then on over Grand Teton pass thru some cool parts of Idaho and eventually made it down the 395 from Burns OR and stayed on various roads in northeastern California, past Chester and Quincy then back to my home in the late town of Paradise, CA, destroyed by the Nov 8, 2018 Camp Fire.

[Noel]

Leaving on June 4, 2016 did a 9,700m trip from San Luis Obispo & Paradise CA to the tip of Cape Cod and back, and had a total blast save my brother's crash OTW to Cody, WY on our return ride.  We made reservations the day before each stop, and this gave us the flexibility to change course to weather or other, and never had a problem getting decent lodging.  We had a grand total of one hour of hard rain the entire trip.  Rough outline:


SLO > Bishop CA > take the incredible SR168 out of Big Pine to 95 south Nevada around LV to St. George for the night.  Zion/Bryce > Escalante Grand Staircase > Hanksville OTW via 95 to Glen Canyon NP > Durango > Telluride > Golden to visit the daughter & fiance > beeline to the southern entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Up the BRP to Roanoke Valley for oil change in the parking lot of the Yamaha dealer as the BMW shop wouldn't let us!  Brother was on his FJR.  Then up into Connecticut and on out to Cape Cod, Provincetown.  Then up thru the White and Green mountains and loved the fabulous Inn at Shelburne Farms, VT for breakfast.  Then to Niagara, Canadian side only is where you want to be.  Enjoyed a ride up around Niagara on the Lake.  We stay in Ontario on to Sarnia, then take the long coast road around the east side of Michigan on up and over the Macinac Bridge then back thru Wisconsin towards the Badlands & Black Hills.  Devil's Tower, and thru Sheridan over the Big Horns.  Coming down the south side of the Big Horns towards Cody WY my brother hit a big buck on highway 14 going 58mph.  He walked away from it unscathed, by sheer luck largely.  We flew him home out of Cody WY after the ER visit near Greybull WY.  I returned home via Yellowstone/Jackson Hole, then on over Grand Teton pass thru some cool parts of Idaho and eventually made it down the 395 from Burns OR and stayed on various roads in northeastern California, past Chester and Quincy then back to my home in the late town of Paradise, CA, destroyed by the Nov 8, 2018 Camp Fire.