Chaco Canyon NM

Planning a long trip (FL - Grand Canyon - Glacier - Badlands - Vermont - Back down Blue Ridge Parkway - Fl) I'll be gone for about 4 months and it will take me near Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. Their web site at http://www.nps.gov/chcu/index.htm says "The route includes 8 miles of paved road (CR 7900) and 13 miles of rough dirt road (CR7950)." Anyone ever been there? Can I make it with my Honda VTX 1300C? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Milton Keilitz on April 6, 2009 at 9:20pm

Never mind, I just saw that they are closing the camp ground May 1. Sorry

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Permalink Reply by Seenu on April 6, 2009 at 9:29pm

Wow! Milton, That sounds like mother of all rides, I wish I can take a ride like that. will you be spending 4 months on this trip? How many miles in total and how are you preparing for this? What about the gear and stuff you are taking on the trip? Can you list the details for us. Any maps etc.

Sorry too many questions.

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Permalink Reply by Ben on April 7, 2009 at 7:56am

Hello Milton,

Welcome to the site. I have never been there personally, may be some else will will chime in. One of the rides that comes close to yours is Ron's ride, here is the link to the video http://www.ridesnroads.com/video/our-4-points-trip-around-north . May be he can give you some inputs.

Good luck with the ride and please share your ride reports, videos, pics etc with us once you are on the ride.

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Permalink Reply by Milton Keilitz on April 9, 2009 at 10:38am

BadAzBiker said:

Wow! Milton, That sounds like mother of all rides, I wish I can take a ride like that. will you be spending 4 months on this trip? How many miles in total and how are you preparing for this? What about the gear and stuff you are taking on the trip? Can you list the details for us. Any maps etc.

Sorry too many questions.

You have to remember that this is just a pipe dream until I actually ride it, I may get 100 miles from home, have a sore butt and say "Screw this, I'm going home" but I'll try to answer your questions.

To be honest, if I had a time restraint for this thing, I don't think I would do it. This will be my first tour, I first planned to ride out to the Grand Canyon in 2010, after I turned 66 (full social security benefits) but my employer laid off a bunch of us in Oct 2008 so I decided to move it up a year. I have done a lot of backpacking so I have experience preparing for a trip, motorcycling seems to be simpler because I don't need to carry as much food and I'll be washing clothes regularly. I am still in the process of narrowing down my checklist so that it all fits on the bike, hopefully I will finish that later today. I just sent my seat to "Mean City Cycles" for a seat modification but that should be the last change to the bike for the trip.

"...will you be spending 4 months on this trip?..."

The first leg of the trip is from Melbourne FL to the Grand Canyon. I plan on leaving Melbourne 5/1 and my girl friend is flying out to the Grand Canyon on 6/3 for a week. That gives me a month to go about 2,200 miles. that is less then 100 miles a day, so I have plenty of time to rest and explore. I'm planning to take a rest day every 7th day but I can easly take one every 4th day. Keep in mind that I'm retired and my only time restrain is getting to the Grand Canyon by 6/3 and getting to Vermont to visit my kids and grand kids some time in July. When I get to VT my schedule will be probably be short trips (2 - 3 days) from a base camp at a friends. Maybe a trip to Nova Scotia for a week or two.

"...How many miles in total..."

No way of knowing. In general, I plan to avoid the interstate highways and plan to zigzag my way around. For instance I'll be visiting Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Canyonlands NP, Bryce Canyon and Zion on the way to he Grand Canyon and maybe afterwards too.

"... and how are you preparing for this?...

I used MapQuest and DeLorme Street Atlas to rough out the route, my laptop is coming along with me but I have every intention of getting lost. A friend that tours alot suggested that I let the motorcycle decide where we are going, I like that concept. I removed my wristwatch in preparation for this trip. I will be taking a few 2-3 day dry runs as soon as I get my seat back (I should have done that much earlier) to see what I still need and what I don't need. Keep in mind that this isn't a backpacking trip up the Appalachian Trail, thank goodness for WalMarts :)

I do ride a lot and don't plan to ride more then 300 miles a day. I will at times but I don't plan to.

"...What about the gear and stuff you are taking on the trip?..."

I'm still refining that and I'll post my upddated check list but I started with the list at

http://micapeak.com/checklists/mclist.html

and went from there.

"...Any maps etc..."

I have AAA maps of every state and my laptop but since I'm camping the most important resource I have is a HUGE "Parks Directoryof the United States." It has every National AND State park and forest in the USA with a state map of their general location.

I'll get back to you with an updated checklist.

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Permalink Reply by Seenu on April 9, 2009 at 8:22pm

Milton Keilitz said:

BadAzBiker said:
Wow! Milton, That sounds like mother of all rides, I wish I can take a ride like that. will you be spending 4 months on this trip? How many miles in total and how are you preparing for this? What about the gear and stuff you are taking on the trip? Can you list the details for us. Any maps etc.

Sorry too many questions.

You have to remember that this is just a pipe dream until I actually ride it, I may get 100 miles from home, have a sore butt and say "Screw this, I'm going home" but I'll try to answer your questions.

To be honest, if I had a time restraint for this thing, I don't think I would do it. This will be my first tour, I first planned to ride out to the Grand Canyon in 2010, after I turned 66 (full social security benefits) but my employer laid off a bunch of us in Oct 2008 so I decided to move it up a year. I have done a lot of backpacking so I have experience preparing for a trip, motorcycling seems to be simpler because I don't need to carry as much food and I'll be washing clothes regularly. I am still in the process of narrowing down my checklist so that it all fits on the bike, hopefully I will finish that later today. I just sent my seat to "Mean City Cycles" for a seat modification but that should be the last change to the bike for the trip.

"...will you be spending 4 months on this trip?..."

The first leg of the trip is from Melbourne FL to the Grand Canyon. I plan on leaving Melbourne 5/1 and my girl friend is flying out to the Grand Canyon on 6/3 for a week. That gives me a month to go about 2,200 miles. that is less then 100 miles a day, so I have plenty of time to rest and explore. I'm planning to take a rest day every 7th day but I can easly take one every 4th day. Keep in mind that I'm retired and my only time restrain is getting to the Grand Canyon by 6/3 and getting to Vermont to visit my kids and grand kids some time in July. When I get to VT my schedule will be probably be short trips (2 - 3 days) from a base camp at a friends. Maybe a trip to Nova Scotia for a week or two.

"...How many miles in total..."

No way of knowing. In general, I plan to avoid the interstate highways and plan to zigzag my way around. For instance I'll be visiting Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Canyonlands NP, Bryce Canyon and Zion on the way to he Grand Canyon and maybe afterwards too.

"... and how are you preparing for this?...

I used MapQuest and DeLorme Street Atlas to rough out the route, my laptop is coming along with me but I have every intention of getting lost. A friend that tours alot suggested that I let the motorcycle decide where we are going, I like that concept. I removed my wristwatch in preparation for this trip. I will be taking a few 2-3 day dry runs as soon as I get my seat back (I should have done that much earlier) to see what I still need and what I don't need. Keep in mind that this isn't a backpacking trip up the Appalachian Trail, thank goodness for WalMarts :)

I do ride a lot and don't plan to ride more then 300 miles a day. I will at times but I don't plan to.

"...What about the gear and stuff you are taking on the trip?..."

I'm still refining that and I'll post my upddated check list but I started with the list at

http://micapeak.com/checklists/mclist.html

and went from there.

"...Any maps etc..."

I have AAA maps of every state and my laptop but since I'm camping the most important resource I have is a HUGE "Parks Directoryof the United States." It has every National AND State park and forest in the USA with a state map of their general location.

I'll get back to you with an updated checklist.

Excellent ride. It seems like you have plenty of time for the trip. Good luck with the trip and keep us posted of it, I know many of us can not take that kind trip in near future, at least we get to enjoy it vicariously :). I look forward to ride reports, pics and vids etc from the trip.