Heart of the West ADV 'Roundabout'

I did just that. Purchased the route a few months ahead of time, looked over maybe a quarter of it through google earth. Then said to myself "self, just wing it and let everything be a surprise."

That little magenta colored line did a great job leading me to and from the unknown with ease.

I did have maps with me, but they very rarely left the ziplock. The file has a ton of meat to it. Camping spots, scenic stopping points, gas stops, lodging, possible hairy terrain spots(weather dependent), etc.

Really kind of spoils you.

Friend from MN here.

A man after my own heart.

Very helpful. Thanks for posting that, bigdon.

Not XFanMan, but five of us. Three XR650s, a KLR650 and my on a DR350. I've been spending the day tossing routing together for us, trying to keep the riding days under or just over 200 and ending with a nice wilderness campground or unique lodging experience. As it looks, we'll not ride the entire thing, but take the route CCW and use the Kemmerer shortcut to include the Colorado routing. At the moment, we'll be skipping the majority of Utah due to time and mileage limitations.

BUT, I haven't heard a consensus from the group yet.

I have a certain mildly irritating distraction during the day that I have to attend to, that greatly interferes with my motorcycling life, for now...

I sense the cure is nigh ...

I'll have to say, Tony has this ride so well laid out that even a novice like me can plan a decent daily itinerary. I've just put the tracts into a spreadsheet and added relevant info like distance, time to complete, average moving speed and min/max elevations. From there I can view the tracts in basecamp and look at the waypoints and Google info page for FGL (food, gas, lodging) and recommended camping sites. Through his detailed info, I'm able to plan each day's mileage and where to stop for fuel, etc. and best places to camp or stay.

I'm not happy with my itinerary layout and will modify that so it's easier to read, but I really recommend anyone planning this trip not to wait until the last minute to get your tracts if you really want to plan a well thought out trip. Plus, it's a kick in the pants to do this planning and you become more intimatley involved in the historic relevance of the various tracts.

TxTiger, et al:

I'm currently drafting descriptions of each individual track in the Heart of the West ADV Route .gpx file.

It's a lot of work, given the scope of the route ... but a useful task for cold winter days. So stay tuned ...

It will help H.o.W. travelers plan ahead, respond to changing conditions, and take advantage of new opportunities more efficiently.

It also will provide more insights into what they will experience along their journey through the wildlands of the northern Rocky Mountains, Continental Divide, Colorado Plateau and Great Basin.

The descriptions will be included in the detailed memo describing the file, the route, and GPS-based backroad travel. It's a continually updated "cloud" document that every licensed H.o.W. traveler has exclusive access to 24/7, via any Internet-connected device.

Is there a washout somewhere? You'll know when I know. Has a road been rerouted? You'll get the latest information -- immediately. This will be in addition to the alerts (email and text) that I will send out as needed during the 2014 H.o.W. travel season.

Yet another Heart of the West traveler's advantage.

Sounds like we all benefit from the fact you live in Idaho instead of here in California. I spent yesterday on my DRZ doing some gnarly single-track at a local offroad park :).

Hmmm ... California ... Idaho ... California ... Idaho ...

24F, gray and snowy today in Idaho Falls ....

65F and sunny today in Borrego Springs ...

Nearly 1,000 miles from here to there ...

I see a ribbon of concrete in my (near) future ...

I would still choose Idaho or Western Montana over CA. But that's just me. Visit CA from time to time but can't stand to stay there.

UPDATE: Descriptions of each H.o.W. track are done! (Fotos, even!)

I guess a snowy driveway and biting wind chill do have their purposes in life ...

Just read through - awesome, thank you!

(For those unaware, Tony shares the living document with you via Google Drive - so when he updates it, you will automatically see the updated version)

I feel like I should leave 'geocaches' at your campsite waypoints for future HotW riders :).

Totally awesome! We will be scrounging up our Christmas money to make the purchase early in the New Year! We were thinking late June, but might be convinced to go in September instead.

Now that would be fun! I say ... Do it!

Yeah, June is too early. Rain, mud, mosquitoes ... just hateful, the latter.

September is usually a great time, on balance. But last September I barely escaped tarring and feathering by storm survivors ...

So what would your best recommended time of year be?

Even though we rode in 3 weeks of rain last September, 2013,it was great.
4 of us had a great time and praise the effort of Tony to build a learning history ride.
Wagon roads, ghost towns and railroads made this a great trip.

I still say mid September. Last September was an odd one ... I hope.