A couple buddies and I took a CA trip a couple years ago, as we're originally from the L.A. area. We heard the same about Vegas, so we avoided the town. We went from L.A. up the coast to Carmel (Monterey Bay) to the wine country in Napa, then to So. Lake Tahoe. Came back down hwy 395 to Yosemite and to a quieter place in the Laughlin/Bullhead City area and then to the Canyon before heading back to NC.

No problems at the places we stayed as they let us park close to the front by the lobby. We had bag bolts and the bikes were chained together.

 

the time to do the southwest is march, april, october, november.

LV is also hot as heck and the casinos will be open, but many of the shows are dark in the summer- so chek ahead that what you want to do is not closed.

most hotels are good about bike parking- I like the platinum hotel.
as anywhere, lock it and cover the bike, put it where is can be seen.

july is good time to see the northern plains states, CO, WY, MT etc.

mike

 

Good advice, I would add first 2 weeks in May and last two weeks in sept for southwest.

Hard to beat CO, MT and WY in Sept. Aspens are changing to gold. Can be snow on passes in mornings though.

We were in southern UT this past May. I noticed a rental company from LV required renters to use a front wheel lock when parked overnight.

 

We did a similar trip several years ago, except from Illinois down through New Mexico to get over to Phoenix, then took more of a northern route back.


Going through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in July is HOT. We were 2up and loaded and had no issues with our 2009 Ultra. We did mostly state routes and stopped every 100 miles or so to grab cold water.


We had really good luck using Best Western motels. About 90% of them let us park up front and most would even give you extra towels to wipe the bike down if you asked. I added the disk motion alarm, but if they really want your bike they will get it.


Good luck and have a great trip!

 

Never had any issue staying in Vegas even though I much rather avoid staying there plus it's going to be inferno in July , not sure why anyone in their right mind would ride to San Francisco, unless visiting family or friends.Anyway have a safe trip normally my goal is to ride the heck away from CA and NV especially big cities.