Shortest Time you would take to cross the US

Hi all was doing some talking with a friend over dinner and seeing if we could squeeze in a east coast to west coast road trip next year and wondering what people think the shortest realistic time it would take to do coast to coast. We would be doing there and back so I guess you can factor that in.

Thanks in advance for your opinion.

The shortest time from Boston to San Francisco, would be Interstate 80 or the Lincoln highway, which takes from 6 to 7 days at 10 hours per day each way.

About 3000 miles / 500 miles per day = 6 days if you are lucky! Or 12 days round trip. Slow down and the trip will be a lot more fun!

shortest way across the US

fleetingyouth said:

Hi all was doing some talking with a friend over dinner and seeing if we could squeeze in a east coast to west coast road trip next year and wondering what people think the shortest realistic time it would take to do coast to coast. We would be doing there and back so I guess you can factor that in.

Thanks in advance for your opinion.

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The Iron Butt folk have a ride called the 50CC... that's Coast to Coast in 50 hours or less.
The shortest route is San Diego, California to Jacksonville, Florida. (2,400 miles one way). [HERE]

I've made the attempt once and got stuck in stopped traffic in Texas.
I plan to try again during spring break.

I would take OCR's advice on this!

Old Can Ride said:

The shortest time from Boston to San Francisco, would be Interstate 80 or the Lincoln highway, which takes from 6 to 7 days at 10 hours per day each way.

About 3000 miles / 500 miles per day = 6 days if you are lucky! Or 12 days round trip. Slow down and the trip will be a lot more fun!

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That sounds like some sort of punishment.

If not time for an interesting route, I'd just go somewhere else.

I did Southern California to Eastern PA in 7 days just to get home (took my time on the way out with 11 days). Would have made it in 6 but got slowed by snow through the Rockies, had to quit early one day for ridiculous winds in NE Colorado and had to take a longer route through Tornado Alley to avoid...well...tornadoes (hint - don't plan your ride in May). Wouldn't want to do that again. If I were doing round trip coast to coast and actually wanted to enjoy it, get off the highways, see some sights and stop to smell the roses now and then I wouldn't plan for anything less than 18-20 days. More would be better. But if you just want to get there and back, like OCR says, it's doable in 12 assuming you have completely clear sailing.

If it is about enjoying the ride, then plan a route off major highways and 300 miles per day. Go as far as time and budget with different off highway roads for return. If it is a personal challenge like iron butt or 50cc just go WOT on the interstate.

Agree with Fuzzy. Take a month if possible. Ride a scenic byway in each state if possible, or a Route 66 type road at least. Otherwise you're just racing by the sights and you might as well drive up and down an interstate near home for a week. But it depends on your objective, and I'm not an Iron But type of rider! [emoji41]

Roborider - NC700x - Southwest Virginia

Thanks for all the tips guys. Im of the feeling its not worth doing although I would like to say Ive ridden across country. Im not an Iron Butt rider but neither do I care about scenery.

I dont own a car just my bike and ride it everywhere everyday year round. I love riding my bike and the ride itself or being on the bike is what I enjoy.

My problem is riding 6k miles isnt something I care about its the overall goal of what I achieved. Like crossing the country. Doing 6k miles in 2 weeks around newengland of the best riding roads doesnt sound at all worth it to me. but saying I road across the country and back seems like something to be proud of. But 2 weeks would probably be a painful trip.

If you want to do it, then don't let anyone here stop you! It would be quite an accomplishment.

Yes it would be tough. Lot of miles in a short time. But you would look back on it with pride, pure maybe shake your head and day "What the hell was I thinking?!" Either way, a lifelong memory and a great conversation starter!

Sometimes the craziest and dumbest things we do are the most memorable.

So just because it's not the way others would do it (and you opened the door on opinions by posting), it's only their opinions and suggestions.

Cheers, and happy new year!

Roborider - NC700x - Southwest Virginia

If it's the challenge of crossing the continent you can do it in a couple of days if you can sit on the bike for 20 or 22 hours and manage your gas and rest stops with discipline. It's called a 50CC Quest.

IBA - World's Toughest Motorcycle Riders

Then take a week or 10 days to return home or Iron Butt it home and do the whole trip in 4 or 5 days as a 100CCC. I did a 50CC a few months ago for the challenge of doing it. It took me 42 hours 30 minutes to travel just under 2400 miles from Jacksonville Beach to San Diego. Not many riders would want to do it but not many riders can say they did it either. I took 7 days to ride back via a different route. I got to ride some bucket list roads in CA, NV, and UT on the way home and spent part of the last two days riding my favorite mountain roads in the Smokies so it wasn't just interstate riding. I made some great memories and the entire trip was worth a "Road to Damascus" moment I experienced in UT on a desolate two lane road.

I like all kinds of riding and much prefer to ride on the smaller back roads "smelling the roses" but if I have to be or want to be somewhere in a certain time I'll take the interstate.

So what was the 50cc ride like? All highway? what was your avg speed? How did you break it up and how much did you sleep?

fleetingyouth said:

So what was the 50cc ride like? All highway? what was your avg speed? How did you break it up and how much did you sleep?

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This thread answers some of these questions: http://nc700-forum.com/forum/non-nc...-dduelins-50cc-fl-ca-quest-tracking-site.html


The link to my Spot Tracker shared page is no longer active so the route isn't shown any longer. I took I-10 west from FL to where I-8 splits off at Eloy, AZ. I stopped the first night in Van Horn, TX where I had a motel reservation. Van Horn is 1510 miles from Jacksonville Beach. I slept about 4 hours but rested about 7 total. The next day I rode to the Pacific Ocean at San Diego. On the way home I headed up to San Francisco first day then I left Walnut Creek, CA and rode to Lake Tahoe, then US50 (the Lincoln Highway) to near the NV/UT state line then took some local roads to Cedar City, UT. From there I headed up into CO and picked up I-70 which I took to St. Louis. Dropped my iPhone at 75 mph outside Colby, KS and lost a lot of pictures From St. Louis I made my way down to Knoxville and rode with fellow NC700X and ST1300 owner kebrider (forum name kebrider) into the Smokies. After seeing the mostly arid southwestern mountains and the earth-toned Rockies I wanted to end my trip in the verdant green Appalachian mountains. From Waynesville, NC I rode home to Jacksonville. All total about 6500 miles in 9 days.

If it is not apparent my plan was to ride my NC700X on this trip. I just was not confident the 2 gallon auxiliary fuel tank I rigged up would maintain its integrity for the 50CC so I switched bikes and rode my ST1300.

fleetingyouth said:

So what was the 50cc ride like? All highway? what was your avg speed? How did you break it up and how much did you sleep?

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I didn't calculate avg speed accurately, but I went the posted speed limit, usually 70 MPH.
In Texas, the posted speed limit is 85 MPH! That was a new experience.

It was all Interstate. I planned to sleep for four hours in San Antonio TX (halfway) then ride the 2nd half. Texas traffic killed that plan, so I took a little longer and slept more... 6-8 hours one night since I had already blown the 50 hr. time limit. I wanted to finish the trip anyway.

It's still an adventure, don't get me wrong... I'm glad I did it... I want to try again... but it's all about covering miles... enjoying scenery happens, but it's secondary.

On a trip like that you see:
1) Interstate Highway
2) Walmart
3) gas stations

That's about it. It got more interesting when the road went along the Gulf Coast. Lots more water there.

On the return trip, I went home via Dallas, and that got me off the interstates here and there. Amarillo by morning? yes... sang that song going along the edge of Amarillo.

If you don't have a whole week, then it's still a fun trip. I have almost no photos because.... it takes time to stop and take them. Getting out of that mindset will make you enjoy the trip more... but Mrs. StratTuner doesn't want to see me gone for two weeks at a time.

It's also more expensive if you take longer as you spend more night's in hotels... at $50 to $100 each... it gets pricey.

It would be fun to tell the GPS Navigator to "don't use highways" and then see how it routes me...

A 50 CC really should take 5 days. two to cross, one to recover, and two to come back. Of course.... if you really like eating up the miles, you can try the 100 CCC.... yep! 100 hours to go coast, to coast, to coast!
Not sure I'm ready for that. I like sleep too much.

Next Spring Break, I plan to take OCR's advice and go along I-40 most of the way there and bck. I'm also going to break down and pay for the smart phone traffic routing that attempts to keep you out of stopped dead traffic.

I don't have this sticker on my top box ...yet... but I plan to.


As they say ... "If it were easy, everyone would do it!"

Most of my pics are from the saddle.

Mountain pass ahead on US 50 in NV

Mountain pass behind



Butte in CO


2000 miles later. Cooler of ice water not so important today.

..................

Great Pictures, Dave! 'hadn't seen those.