Saturday the 18th Matt was in town, so after a great Moroccan dinner we retreated to my bachelor pad to review the maps Matt received from Sam, the "discoverer" of the Trans-American Trail (TAT). Since we can only afford to escape from real life for about two weeks we decided to focus on the Colorado and Utah portions of the TAT. Both of those states are fairly close to California, and they offer some tremendous riding and scenery, so they seemed like a good choice. Also, riding across them should take about a week, which leaves us a week to get there and back, plus a little extra in case we decide to take some time off along the way. Matt ordered the maps for both states and brought them with him when he visited.
We examined the route to get a feel for how far from civilization we'd be and kept an eye towards camping opportunities. Sam's maps are pretty focused on the route itself, and only show about 40 miles per map, but we were able to follow its general path on a couple of road maps I have to get an idea of what parts of the states the route flows through. We'd like to camp out during our trip, both to save money and because we simply enjoy camping. However, I'm not sure how enthusiastic I'll be to pitch a tent and cook a meal after 10-12 hours of wrestling my KLR over a couple hundred miles of dirt.
It looks like we won't be straying too far from civilization—or at least a hotel and a diner at the end of each day. Similarly, we're rarely very far away from potential camping spots, either. So, we decided to play it by ear.
We also decided to ride our bikes from California to Colorado instead of trailering them to Utah. We'd initially thought about trailering the bikes part way, but somehow it just didn't seem right. I mean, these are dual sport motorcycles, supposedly as adept at pavement as they are on dirt. The idea is that you can ride your bike on pavement to the fun off-road areas, ride the off-road areas, and then ride back home again. So, why haul out the trailer and miss the fun pavement on the way? (Yes, we know that there's no fun pavement in Nevada.)
So, the initial plan is to head out from our respective homes and meet up in Sparks, Nevada on day one, then travel to Delta, Utah on day two. Day three would see us heading towards Grand Junction, Colorado, but with Moab so close we might have to stop by and see Fred at Arrowhead Motorsports. It would be an ideal time to ditch our street-oriented tires in favor of some Dunlop D606's, which are better suited to our upcoming off-road adventures. Lastly, day four would end around Trinidad, Colorado and the start of our Colorado leg of the TAT.
Colorado should take about four days to complete and Utah should take about three days if we stick to Sam's schedule. That leaves about five days (maximum) to get back home at the conclusion of the TAT ride.
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