"Plan the Ride, Ride the Plan" or something else?

[Mwether]

Interested in your general approach to multi-day trips. (It's been on my mind a lot for some reason! )

Wondering how many of you get a solid sense of the day's itinerary, with an endpoint (hotel, campground, etc.) as a goal, versus how many of you wing it and look for nearby accommodations on the day, as they're needed?

There are certainly many variables. The chief one of which may be whether you have a limited number of days to cover a certain mileage, but I'm more interested in open-ended trips.

Thanks for whatever you feel like sharing! 

[inditx]

You might be overthinking this lol, but here’s my $.02

I have done it both ways and each has its merits but I think a hybrid approach best. At the end of the day, or ride as it were, you must be prepared to change your course/plans due to weather and/or other events that may occur along the way.
Flexibility is the key and you are fortunate to be able to take your time, enjoy the view and get back relatively at your leisure. In other words, have a plan and hold it somewhat loosely while smelling the roses along the way After all, some of or maybe most of the adventure is in the unknowns, at least in my adventurous albeit weird motorcycle riding mind.

Hope this helps, if not, well it was free after all. 

inditx

[guzzisteve]

If you are afraid of the heat, rent a trailer & go get it. Nothing like turning on the air, save your body.

[Tkelly]

If you are retired just go and play it by ear,obviously if you have a deadline to get back to work more planning is needed.Just check out some paper maps and chart thr most scenic route,usually plenty of motels and campgrounds in this country.

[Mwether]

You might be overthinking this lol...

Oh, there's no question about that, Jack! 

...At the end of the day, or ride as it were, you must be prepared to change your course/plans...maybe most of the adventure is in the unknowns...

Sure thing, which seems to be an argument against making reservations very far ahead of time (to avoid cancellation fees).

Hope this helps...

Sure does!

At the end of the day, if you tend to be a worrier (and I certainly can be), I think you have to pick one of the following to be concerned about:

1) With a reservation, will I make the mileage to my host/hotel/campground, etc.?

2) Without a reservation, will there be "room at the inn" when I need it?

The sweet spot then is probably to start looking at midday. Make some calls over lunch for that evening. You'll probably have a sense at noon or 1:00PM where you'll be at 5:00 or 6:00PM.

Since I like the planning, I throw myself into it and have a tendency to choreograph every stop. Then I can wind up painted into a corner and have to follow a certain plan, regardless of the realities on the road. Better to have more uncertainty.

Whether we approach that uncertainty in a spirit of anxiety or in a spirt of adventure is up to us.

[Clifton]

....The sweet spot then is probably to start looking at midday. Make some calls over lunch for that evening. You'll probably have a sense at noon or 1:00PM where you'll be at 5:00 or 6:00PM.

When motelling it that night I generally stop somewhere around 2:30-3:00 to book one 3-4 hours ahead. If you know at noon where you'll end up that's even better.

[rocker59]

Interested in your general approach to multi-day trips. (It's been on my mind a lot for some reason! )

Wondering how many of you get a solid sense of the day's itinerary, with an endpoint (hotel, campground, etc.) as a goal, versus how many of you wing it and look for nearby accommodations on the day, as they're needed?

There are certainly many variables. The chief one of which may be whether you have a limited number of days to cover a certain mileage, but I'm more interested in open-ended trips.

Thanks for whatever you feel like sharing! 

On multi day trips, I've done it a couple ways:

- Pick a destination town and head that direction.  Stop for lunch at whatever place looks good around noon.  Roll into town with no reservation and walk-in to a hotel/motel for a room.  Route planning is flexible, with only the town at the end of each day planned.  I've done these in groups of up to six riders and it usually works fine.  Sometimes the food and accommodations are less than satisfactory.

- Plan the route with daily hotel reservations and preset plans for lunch stops.  With the advent of the internet, it's much easier to plan the roads, the restaurants, and the hotels.  Over the years, I've learned how long and how far I can go each day, so this way has become easy.  I kind of enjoy the planning online before the trip.

[michaell32]

My best rides have the least amount of planning.  I usually have an endpoint with no time in mind and no planned roads.  Just head East and then North style directions.  It adds time but I find random things along the way that I wouldn't have if I followed a GPS.

[Motormike]

While I'm old enough that my long-distance riding is mostly behind me, I used to plan (over-plan?) everything.  To me, the road taken is the most important thing.  It's usually the reason I am taking the trip in the first place, to ride unique, scenic roads. I HATE droning along the interstate and do it only when I need to make fast time instead of a good time.  I also almost always have my reservations along the way all made.  This has caused problems when the wx conspired to prevent me from reaching the days destination.  But I hate looking for a hotel room at the last minute, even with the internet. The surprise of finding out there is a special event in a town that I didn't know about, and every hotel room is taken is far worse than getting rained on and losing my room deposit.  Occasionally, I also like to stay in famous lodgings in national and state parks, etc. and you HAVE to reserve those six months to a year in advance.  Many years ago, I was riding towards Yellowstone with a cheap room just outside the park.  On a whim, I called the Lake Yellowstone Hotel.  The clerk told me they had been full, but just received a cancellation and did I want it?  It wasn't cheap, but I booked it anyway and had a wonderful stay inside the Park. Occasionally you get lucky.

[Mwether]

...usually the reason I am taking the trip in the first place [is] to ride unique, scenic roads.

This is really helpful. My ride is a bit of an oddball in that it's really about doing a job. Sure riding motorcycles is great fun, and I have SOME ability with routing choices to turn it into a pleasure trip, but riding across a hunk of the Midwest during a Heat Advisory would not be my first choice. I've had some helpful suggestions to trailer the thing, but I really don't have time to drive both ways. A fly-n-ride is the most efficient way to get it home.

I HATE droning along the interstate and do it only when I need to make fast time instead of a good time. 

"Fast vs. good" is a great distinction. I really don't mind highway miles. I need to think carefully about which (fast or good) is my priority at any given moment during this trip. It may even shift within a given day; I may favor fast in the morning to get to good in the afternoon.

Occasionally, I also like to stay in famous lodgings in national and state parks, etc. and you HAVE to reserve those six months to a year in advance.  Many years ago, I was riding towards Yellowstone with a cheap room just outside the park.  On a whim, I called the Lake Yellowstone Hotel.  The clerk told me they had been full, but just received a cancellation and did I want it?  It wasn't cheap, but I booked it anyway and had a wonderful stay inside the Park. Occasionally you get lucky.

That is a great story! 

[Mwether]

I kind of enjoy the planning online before the trip.

Me too, Mike.
I think I enjoy it too much and wind up doing too much of it!

[Motormike]

Me too, Mike.
I think I enjoy it too much and wind up doing too much of it!

I'm so OCD I'm already doing route planning for a trip in the UK next year!!!   I don't even know if I'll be alive then!

[AirPirate]

I'm enjoying your question and the responses. The challenge for me has been struggling to relaxe and pull over to check things out. The pre-arranged hotel reservation can sometimes make me reluctant to stop and smell the roses. I'm working on it, but the problem is in my head, not anything else. On my next trip this summer, I'm going to try the "no reservation" plan. Being retired certainly helps. Let us all know how you proceed.

[guzzisteve]

I wonder how far he got in 6hrs and how he likes the ride on an EV.

[rocker59]

Me too, Mike.
I think I enjoy it too much and wind up doing too much of it!

I've got rides planned which I may never take.  LOL!   

[Moparnut72]

I resemble that statement and now with my broken ankle it will be worse than ever.
kk

[Scott Carpenter]

Depends on where I am going and how long I have. In the European trips a few years ago there were 2 of us on bikes, and we booked our first night off the ferry in the Ardennes then winged it after that, started to look for accommodation on line at around 4PM each day to arrive at 6ish. We were only ever caught out once, and ended up getting a place at 8PM in the Black Forest. This approach allowed us to really enjoy each day, no pushing on to get somewhere we HAD to get to. Just chilled touring.

When i am by myself on shorter trips, or on my recent trip with a friend to Scotland, I booked as many of the nights ahead as I could and had a "base" in the Dumfries area for a few days and rode out from there.

My first ever solo tour back in 1996 was totally freewheeling. I carried a sleeping bag and had planned to camp out in a high country hut - that didn't work out but I found somewhere good each day. Couple of times in Youth Hostels, a few times in country pubs.

[Mwether]

Grateful for all the responses here; lots of wisdom, for sure!

My return from KS was only two nights, and I planned them both, but the planning did wind up limiting my options.

On Day One, from west of Kansas City, I wanted to stop at Harper's for a photo of the sign (they were, of course, closed on a Sunday) and at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art in Sedalia, MO. I had a reservation at an inn in Versailles, MO, about 120 miles east of KC.

However, I also had a new tank bag and had never run my phone in the clear map pocket on top. (There's a reason people say you should test new gear BEFORE a long trip, but I didn't have the option in this case.) Turns out it gets roughly to the temperature of a neutron star in the map pocket, and my phone shut down in an act of self-preservation. I motored on blissfully unaware. The screen goes to sleep all the time, and the phone still talks to me, so I was waiting for a prompt. Instead, I ran out of road! It turned to gravel, and I pulled over to discover what was wrong. Probably burned at least 30-45 minutes as a result.

With the nav error and weather coming, I scrapped the stops and went directly to Versailles, where the heavens absolutely opened up, just after I got into my room. I was bummed to miss the other two points of interest, but that's the way it goes sometimes. (Especially when you force your GPS out of its comfort zone!)

On Day Two, I had Bunk-a-Biker hosts in Springfield, TN who were going to put me up. Springfield is about 465 miles from Versailles. I really couldn't dawdle too much. I stopped at a winery in Paducah, KY to get a gift for them, and that was it, other than gas/Gatorade stops. Rolled in to their place about 7pm, very wary that it was "deer moving time." I was on the road probably an hour later than I'd prefer.

So in both cases, making it to a specific destination limited my options, but I traded that for the certainty of where I'd be staying. As I posted before, no matter the planning approach, you're either going to worry about 1) will I make the miles or 2) will I find a bed. Guess there's no free lunch!