Another Cross Country Trip - 2026

Around Christmas, I began thinking about what I wanted to do in 2026. I really enjoyed riding across American when I did the Route 66 trip. The riding, the scenery, seeing new places, and meeting new people. After going back and looking at the that trip, I want to do another this year (not getting any younger).

So the next big question is "Where do I want to go?". I began looking at Tran Amerian highways. These are roads that end with a zero (except for US Route 2), go East-West, and span the entire United States. There are quite a number of them. Then I began looking at highways that run North-South. One highway that kind of stuck out was US Route 89.

US Route 89 starts at the Montana/Canadian border and runs to Flagstaff (it used to go to the Mexican border but they decommissioned the section from Flagstaff to Mexico with an interstate). What makes this highway unique is that it passes thru 6 National Parks (7 if you go to Mexico). You have Glacier, Yellowstone, Tetons, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon and Saguaro (again, if you go to Mexico).

That would be an amazing trip. You go through three different geologies and geographies. The Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau, and the Basin & Range. After reading more about these areas and the highway, I am focusing on it right now to see if a trip is doable. Probably start late August and take about 5-6 weeks (of course this is weather dependent as well). Getting to the starting point in Babb, MT is about 2600 miles. that is a lot of driving to just get to the starting point.

I have thought about skipping Glacier and going to Yellowstone first. One the way, I would drive to the Badlands and Mt Rushmore (I drove my family there in 2013). It would give me a few breaks on the ride and make it a bit shorter. Skip Glacier but add two parks to the list. Plus, I would get to drive The Needles on a bike. From there head to Yellowstone. Once in Yellowstone, I would pick up US Route 89 and follow it to Flagstaff.

The US Route 89 is not that long (even if you start from Canada). I would cut off the very northern section and end in Flagstaf. Even though the highway may be less than 1000 miles. From border to border, it is approx. 1600 miles. From Babb, MT to Flagstaff it is approx. 1200 miles. That does not take into consideration all the side driving you will be doing while visiting the parks and other attractions and oddities you may see along the way. I would stilll plan for at least 2 weeks for that 1000 miles - maybe longer.

I am just in the planning phases which basically means generating the routes I would take. Once I have those entered, I will have a better estimate on how many miles and how long it would take. I will also need to plot out ALL the points of interest along the way. Once that is done, I begin to look at places to stop along the route for either camping, hotels, or bunk a biker.

I want to stay flexible during the trip but also have some knowledge of what to expect. I know that when you get close to the parks, EVERYTHING gets expensive. I am hoping to stay just far enough away to help mitigate some of those costs. I also want to experience many of the small towns along the way. On my Route 66 trip, that was a lot of the fun. Trying these out of the way restaurants, bars, etc.

So what it boils down to is to have options. Weather is most certainly a factor. If it gets bad enough or cold enough, I may have to stop for the day or two and wait it out. It just all 'depends'. That is why I want to have knowledge of the route and towns just in case. The last thing you want is to be dead tired, its getting dark and you have no place to stay. If I have to, sleeping in truck stop next the bike is fine (well, as long as it is not raining).

The planning phase is quite exciting and I am actually having fun while doing it. I wish I could spend more time but work and life gets in the way sometimes. I have time so there is no need to rush this part. I will post more articles once I actually know more since at this point, it is just basically an idea that I WANT to do. Does not mean that I will actually be able to do it. I hope I can but time will tell.