Live the dream: ride your bike in all 50 states. Below you’ll find an incredible ride in each of the 50 states, whether you’re looking for twists and turns or a long road that will take you right to the horizon.
New England
New England’s landscape offers motorcyclists gorgeous rolling hills, plus twists and turns on bike-friendly rural roads. Try Maine’s Western Mountains Loop, New Hampshire’s Hurricane Mountain Road, Vermont’s Route 12 from Hartland to Morrisville, Massachusetts’s Route 116 with its gorgeous hill towns, Connecticut’s Route 77, or Rhode Island’s Route 138, which offers lovely coastal scenery.
Mid-Atlantic
Leave the I-95 corridor behind and get out on some great rides: the Hudson River Valley, Pennsylvania’s Route 125, Schley Mountain in New Jersey, State Route 9 in Delaware, “National Road” in Maryland, and New River Gorge in West Virginia.
Midwest
The Midwest offers just about every type of scenery you can imagine, from South Dakota’s Badlands to Minnesota’s many lakes to Iowa’s country roads. Don’t miss these, whether you live in the great Midwest or are just visiting: Touring Wisconsin’s Wildcat Mountain, going around the tip of Michigan at Cheboygan, riding Routes 45/50 in Illinois, seeing southern Indiana, or cruising Ohio’s State Route 26. After that, you’ll want to bike Nebraska’s Platte River, see Missouri’s share of the Ozarks, ride North Dakota’s Route 1804, and tour Kansas’s Flint Hills Scenic Byway.
Southeast
The South is full of good company, good food, and good riding. Start in Virginia with the Shenandoah Valley; then move on to some rides in the Smokies in North Carolina and Tennessee. More stellar riding can be had around Charleston, South Carolina, in northern Georgia, and in the Florida Keys.
Route 89 in Kentucky is another good bet, as is the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. North Tuscaloosa in Alabama, the Scenic 7 Byway in Arkansas (with thermal springs!) and the Natchitoches Loop in Louisiana are well worth a trip.
Southwest
Check out Utah 261 for spectacular scenery. The Apache Trail in Arizona will show you a good time, as will the roads near Big Bend in Texas. You’ll find unforgettable journeys along the Top of the Rockies (Colorado), among the Jemez Mountains (New Mexico) and throughout northern Oklahoma. California’s coast, especially Highway 1, is legendary.
Northwest and Hawaii
While you’re out west, ride the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, cruise through southern Idaho, take a peek at some fossils along the Montana Dinosaur Trail, and view Nevada’s desert beauty. Washington’s North Cascades Highway and Oregon’s unbelievably blue Crater Lake make fantastic destinations.
Last but most certainly not least, put the Alaskan backcountry and Hawaii’s Highway to Hana (for a grand finale of hairpin-turn-induced adrenalin) on your list.
If you have any road condition updates or know of any other great routes, please post in the comments!
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Thanks for the great compliation of resources for planning a trip ! As for me – I’m planning some roads trips over to Pa next season and I will make sure to find PA125 and many of the other places on the blogs and other websites you linked.
+1
You outline some very cool trips on here. I road tripped to Philly last year with the fam, and I spent the whole trip wishing I could have taken the bike. Easy riding!
A college of friend of mine told me he was planning a motorcycle trip across the states after retirement. He and his wife ride together every weekend, and I think he would definitely be interested in your site. Great post!
Careful to check the whether before those long roadtrips. You DO NOT want to get stuck in nowheresville for an entire afternoon waiting for a storm to pass.
Wondering if there is a good area for motorcycle ride training in Florida (near Key West)? Cheers.
Hi there (your contact form was not working so i am contacting you here)
I recently rode a motorbike to Argentina from my hometown Whistler in Canada. When I returned I started a blog and am currently writing a lot of original content about my experience (mainly motorcycle tips, articles and reviews) that I would love to provide exclusively to your site in exchange for a couple backlinks to a product review page on my site. You could suggest a topic or any of the ones listed below…
5 important lessons I learned when traveling with friends by motorbike
Are motorcycle headsets dangerous?
What kind of intercom system is best – Wired /Wireless or Helmet?
How to properly store a motorcycle for winter
My site is http://www.theadventurelifestyle.com and it is still young but I hope to develop it quite quickly and make it a great resource for camper and outdoor enthusiasts.
Please let me know if you would like me to get started on these articles or another you have in mind.
Cheers,
Sam Miller