The wife and I are planning a Harley Trip scheduled for late June, Early July.
We will be leaving San Diego and heading to Stevensville Montana. From there we plan to head to Vancouver Wa.
Mapquest shows we should take I-90.
Is there any other routes or must sees along the way?
From Vancouver we plan to head to the Coast Highway south to home.

 

Hell yes ,lots of better routes and things to see.
It's getting late but I'll post some up tomorrow.
Just a couple real quick though,Highway 12 over Lolo Pass from Missoula MT is outstanding.
Washington highway 14 through the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is a favorite of all the locals in Vancouver and anyone along the OR/WA border.

 

Here's a link to a thread in another forum where I posted up some info for another rider coming into Washington from Montana.

http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/s...242&page=3

In your case I would take highway 12 from Lolo just South of Missoula all the way to just past Walla Walla Washington then drop into Oregon briefly on the 730 along the Columbia River to Umatilla.
Then cross the bridge on 395 back into Washington to catch highway 14 West all the way to Vancouver.
I'm quite sure you won't be dissapointed in this route,bring a camera!

 

Thats exactly what I was looking for. I am not sure of our time line from Montana. will this route take more time/miles etc.?
I may also be leaving Montana from Trout Creek. My friends have a cabin up there and we are not sure if we will be leaving from there or coming back to Stevensville before we leave.
I also need to know good places to stay/availability of fuel/foof etc.if we decide not to push into Vancouver in one day.
I know the daylight is longer up there. I also know it is best to park the bike before sundown. Because the large animals come out.
Up there your deer run around like our rodents do down here.

 

If I was riding from Stevensville, MT to Vancouver, WA ...

Stevensville to Lolo via northbound US-93.

Lolo to Clarkston via westbound US-12.

Clarkston to Enterprise via southbound WA-129/OR-3.
NOTE: Has tight downhill twisties from Rattlesnake Grade to Boggan's Oasis.

Enterprise to La Grande/I-84 via westbound OR-82.

La Grande to OR-244 via westbound I-84 to Exit 252.

OR-244 west to Ukiah/US-395.

Ukiah to Heppner via westbound NF-53 *or* northbound US-395 and westbound OR-74.

Heppner to Wasco via OR-206.

Wasco to Biggs Junction via US-97.

Cross the Sam Hill Memorial Bridge from Biggs Junction to westbound WA-14.

See www.oregonmotorcyclist.com for more info on Oregon roads.

 

That is a great ride if there's enough time in the agenda,love Joseph Canyon on 3.

 

Sounds good I will map it out.
should I plan on 2 days ride on this route or can it be done comfortably in 1?
Any suggestions from Trout Creek?

Another question is the weather during that time. I will be making the trek from Montana on the Sunday or Monday following the 4th of July.

Any suggestions or things I should consider for the Coastal route home?
I am calculating 3 days ride from Vancouver back to San Diego.

P.S. I will turn the big 50 while on this ride. A cool way to do it.

 

Better figure on 2 days,that would be a hell of a long one day ride.

From Trout Creek I think I'd ride 200 up to Sandpoint and take 95 down to Lewiston.
There are lots of other options,I'll get to them later.

Weather is always a crap shoot here in the PAC NW so figure on the possibilty of rain but July is usually very nice.
We had record highs last week hitting nearly 100 degs,it's 80 today but they're calling for 62 and rain tomorrow.

3 days should get you home along the coast but it'll be all day rides each day,101 along the Oregon coast is slow going but spectacular if the sun is out,can't be beat anywhere.
That said the weather can be quite fickle so be prepared,I've seen it in the 90's for temps in Portland with 80's in the coast range mountains and almost to the ocean beaches then in the last mile or two fog and temps in the 40's-60's.

 

I am so looking forward to this trip.
But I know I have to map it out before we hit the road.
Still trying to decide on Half or 3/4 helmet too.
I know alot of areas along the ride or going to be pretty warm.

 

I would suggest taking 200 southeast to Thompson Falls then west on 471 aka NF-7
aka Prospect Creek Rd aka NF-9 aka Prichard Creek Rd aka Couer Dalene River Rd aka
Old River Rd (seems crazy having so many names and numbers) to Kingston at the I-90
jct. It's paved all the way.Rode onit from Kingston to Thompson Falls last summer.

I-90 west to Rose Lake/SH-3 which goes south to St. Maries after which it's SH-5 out
to Plummer then US-95 south. Took that route in reverse direction last summer.

If you've time contraints, the combination of small towns and congestion on the Oregon
coast gets old fairly fast. Can look into doing just the southern Oregon coast rather than
the entire stretch.

BTW, there's tons of great east-west roads btw I-5 and US-97 in the Cascades.