Ok I know this is vague. But give me some ideas please... A group of friends, 4-5 bikes, are trying to plan a trip. Who has experience making this kind of trip? Roughly, we are thinking jacksonville to New Orleans as one leg. New Orleans to Houston or San Antonio, second leg; then what? How has anyone broken this trip up? What are great places to stop/see? We are planning 2-3 weeks depending on how long we stay in each place. We do want a more direct route, but are willing to ride a little out of the way to see some "must haves". Any help is appreciated

 

Which part of California is your destination?
As there are so many places to see, so I suggest you plot out a trip map with Google map or mapquest, then adding site seeing places in between.
it all depends on how fast/slow and how far can your group will travel.
I say, 2 week is not much time, 3 is better.
I would stop at least at Grand Canyon/Hoover dam/meteorite crater, just name a few.
have fun
Nick

 

I did it in 2007, Jacksonville FL to San Diego, CA in 44 hours 30 minutes Slept on a concrete picnic table in El Paso for a few hours. I-10 til you hit AZ (south of Phoenix) then take I-8 west.

I used the extra days out west.

 

Subscribed! Mike I'll keep eyes on the suggestions too

 

I did Daytona to California and back in 2014. I went generally speaking across 10 to Arizona, then up to Phoenix (with a visit to Tombstone) and over to Tehachapi, CA. Coming back I went over to Las Vegas to Albuquerque, side trip up to Santa Fe and then down to Texas and back east from there. Favourite things - the ride up 14 from Albuquerque to Santa Fe was stunning. The Three Sisters (aka Twisted Sisters) loop in the Texas Hill Country, The Tehachapi Loop (which has a nice twisty run from the bottom of the loop to Tehachapi.

 

We just got back from a trip from PA to New Orleans then up to Fort Smith , Arkansas where we got on 40 West to Calif. Great road and plenty to see on the way out. Winslow , AZ on 40 to see the Jackson Brown Statue, Meteorite Crater is off 40, Petrified Forest is on 40, also did historic RT 66 from Seligman AZ to Kingman, AZ ( also off of 40 ). That road is a must if you take that route. Grand Canyon to Las Vegas to Hoover Dam to PCH at Cambira, CA to San Francisco ( Golden Gate bridge ). Then headed to Oregon ( Rt 84 from Portland to Spokane , Wash. was the most scenic area along the Columbia River), Idaho, Wyoming then south to Yellowstone, Salt Lake City then East back to home. 8500 miles in 3 weeks and 4 days. Stayed 3 days in Winslow and 2 days in Kentucky so you will have plenty of time to do what you want.

Great trip and would leave again tmrw to do it again. Just keep your gas tank full as there are some stretches that do not have a lot of gas stops. Our biggest problem was the weather ( we left mid May into mid June ) Still a lot of snow on the mountain tops that time of year. Keep hydrated this time of year. Every gas stop we picked up several bottles of water to keep us from dehydrating. We also hit several areas of extreme wind so watch for that also.