10 days tour in NM, AZ, UT and CO

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Ric
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10 days tour in NM, AZ, UT and CO

#1

Post by Ric »

Hello guys,
I'm planning a 10 days trip to the US (ideally from Las Vegas or Phoenix to Denver) during the easter holidays. I'm checking online and it's surely very easy to rent a car, but it seems hard to find motorcycle rental shops that offer the possibility to drop it off in another city/state. Have you got any advice? Is there something like Hertz, for motorcycles?
Thanks
Ric
Last edited by Ric on Tue Jan 24, 2017 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

#2

Post by Sagebrush »

I don't think that I've ever heard of renting a bike and dropping it off at another location although I'll have to admit I'm not very well versed in the world of motorcycle renting. If you can't find what you are looking for maybe a tour with a bike included will fit your needs. Here's a link to North American tours. https://authorizedtours.harley-davidson ... egion%5d/3
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

#3

Post by delling3 »

Agree that there are no national rental agencies that rent motorcycles. I know that many Harley Davidson dealers do rentals, but I thing the dealer owns the motorcycle and you need to return to the dealer you rented from. I would guess that HD is the most likely to have some type of factory supported rental program where you can pick up from one dealer, and drop off with another?
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

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Post by sgwilly »

I've rented HDs before and they're dealership bound because they own them. Maybe if you hit a dealership with multiple locations.
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Ric
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

#5

Post by Ric »

Thanks for the informations!
I've just booked the flights to and from Albuquerque, so I'll be doing a round trip crossing New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. I have time to check and find a motorcycle.
If there are locals who want to recommend tours/roads and things to do and to see, it's very appreciated! I'll be there 8-17 April
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

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Post by Moto nut »

North to Taos and southern colorado over to Moab via telluride is a awesome ride
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

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Post by sgwilly »

Moto nut wrote:North to Taos and southern colorado over to Moab via telluride is a awesome ride
I concur. Then westward on 24 to Torrey, then south on 12 through Capital Reef National Park and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. After Bryce, head south on 89 to Mt. Carmel Junction and take 9 west into Zion National Park. Then back track out of Zion the way you came in (worth it) and head south on 89 to Fredonia and get on 89A across the Kaibab Plateau and Marble Canyon.

After that you can do whatever you want because you will have seen a TON of shit.
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

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Post by Halfnaked »

I've rented from AZRides in Phoenix before. They are a great group, and have a pretty nice fleet of bikes. You will have to return to Phoenix, however.

http://azride.com/rental-fleet/1225218

They also have some nice selections of what to see around the area. All of this is on the website.

Hope it helps. Bob
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

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Post by Sagebrush »

In April you will very likely find the high passes closed or at the very least very, very cold. I recently took a month long trip in May of last year to UT, AZ, CA, NV and found the passes through Lassen Volcano NP, US 120 through Yosemite NP, the road up to the peak at Mt Shasta in California, and the scenic loop road up the La Sal Mountains in UT all closed. That's not to say there isn't plenty of other things to do but to me your trip is too early in the spring. Many National Parks close for the season and don't open till early May so that may be a factor to consider as well. Considering the amount of snow the higher elevations in the west are currently getting it might be even later than normal for places to open this spring.

There are many places that you need to plan at least a full day to explore, not just ride up take a quick look and ride off to the next destination.

As far as places to visit in New Mexico lets start with Albuquerque.

You can take the Sandia Tramway up the Sandia Mountains located on Albuquerque's east side for beautiful view of the mountains and Albuquerque below. http://www.sandiapeak.com/

The ride up:

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At the top:

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Albuquerque at night:

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Located on the east side of the Sandia mountains you will find a treasure of pure Americana in the Tinkertown museum. One man's hobby that got entirely out of control. http://tinkertown.com/

A small sample, probably the best two hours you'll ever spend.

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Located right in Albuquerque just a couple blocks from I-40 is the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. The museum traces the origin of the Atomic age and explores it uses for both hostile and peaceful means. Its a modern museum with well laid out and interesting exhibits and is the only one in the world of its kind. http://www.nuclearmuseum.org/visit/

If you go make sure to check out the back lot where the heavy equipment is on display:

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If you go to Santa Fe make sure and take US550 from Albuquerque to NM-4 to its termination with NM-502 and then south on US-285 to Santa Fe. NM-4 is a scenic highway recommended in Reader's Digest 100 most scenic drives in America.

Sights on NM-4:

Soda dam crossing a stream:

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When you get to the town of White Rock, NM make sure you visit Overlook Park. Once you ride past the ball fields and playgrounds you'll come to the overlook where you can see a spectacular view of the Rio Grande river valley.

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Sante Fe is mostly known for its active artist's community. But if your not into the art scene then a visit to the Plaza in the center of the city is worth a visit. The palace of the governors located on the plaza is the oldest continuously occupied building in the US. It was originally built to house the governor of the Sante Fe territory of the Spanish empire. http://www.palaceofthegovernors.org/index.php.

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Southeast of Albuquerque is the town of Roswell, not much around Roswell but its claim to fame is the alien space craft that crashed there in the late 1940's. Since then the legend has grown and spawned a museum dedicated to the incident located right in the center of town. http://www.roswellufomuseum.com/. Here you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about alien creatures visiting earth.

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Not far from Roswell is the town of Alamogordo. Alamogordo is famous for two things, the White Sands missile test range and White Sands National Monument. http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii21 ... 30e826.jpg. The area between Roswell and Alamogordo is Billy the Kid country as well as the origin of Smokey Bear. https://smokeybear.com/en

White Sands:

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Along the main road the bypasses Alamogordo there are storage sheds and junkyards associated with the missile test range.

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Southwest of Albuquerque is Silver City, NM. Scenic Highway NM-15 heads north from Silver City and terminates at the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument https://www.nps.gov/gicl/index.htm. NM-15 is another route detailed in Reader's Digest most Scenic Roads in America. If you go pack a lunch. There is visitors center with rest rooms but nothing else.

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Coming up, Colorado.........................
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

#10

Post by KYpondman »

Dean, thanks for the wonderful scenic tour.
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

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Post by Sagebrush »

Well, I thought I was done with New Mexico but I found some more pictures this time from the northeast and northern part of the state.

Just outside of Clayton, NM which lies near the border where NM, OK, and TX come together lies Clayton Lake State park. Not much at the park other than a smallish man made lake and a campground but there is one very unique feature located at this park:

Dinosaur tracks:

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Just to the west of Clayton along US-64 lies the Capulin Volcano National Monument. This is an area that features numerous extinct cinder cone volcanoes. There is a road that runs along the circumference of the largest of the volcanoes where you can gain a view of the surrounding high plains and the snow capped mountains to the west.

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Continuing west along US-64 you will come to the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. The most southern appendage of the Rockies. The reason I bring this up we rode through these mountains in May of 2007 and in the higher elevations we hit a spring snow storm. Luckily we were following a dual rear tire delivery truck and the truck was pushing the wet slushy snow away from the tires clearing a path for us to ride in that was exactly the width of the rear wheels of the truck. Fortunately for us the truck crossed the mountains and didn't pull off to make a delivery. I still think April is too early in the year to be riding a bike through the (in many cases unavoidable) high passes of the southwest US. Due to weather conditions we didn't get many decent pictures of the Sangre de Cristo mountains but on the west side of the mountain range lies Taos, NM.

Old section of Toas:

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Just west of Taos on US-64 the road crosses the Rio Grande.

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This truly is all I have for New Mexico. We've been through the state twice on motorcycles and its a very scenic state and has a unique culture.
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

#12

Post by Sagebrush »

Colorado:

A days ride from either Sante Fe or Taos lies Durango, CO. Durango is a nice town to visit but its real claim to fame is the Durango to Silverton Scenic Railroad https://www.durangotrain.com/. Originally built to supply the minors and haul the gold and silver from Silverton the narrow gauge railroad now services the tourist trade. It follows the Animus River a unique route as no vehicle road follows this route. Several different tickets are available at various price points. This is an all day event as you ride to Silverton in the morning, have lunch and have some free time there and then either ride the train back or optionally take a bus back to Durango where (if you take the train) you will arrive around 4:30pm. One of the unique things we did was stay in the historic General Palmer Hotel http://www.reservations.com/hotel/the-g ... rmcid=rcc1which is located right at the train station. Everything in town is within walking distance of this hotel.

Scenic vistas between Sante Fe and Durango:

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Another of the Reader's Digest Most Scenic Drives in America is the triangle formed by US-550 north from Durango to Ridgway, also known as the Million Dollar Highway because of the spectacular views, then from Ridgway to Cortez via CO-62 and CO-145 then back to Durango on CO-160. Again I have my doubts about you being able to complete this route in early April. We made two attempts to ride from Durango to Ridgway in May of different years. The first year we were stymied by hail and sleet in the higher elevations on 550. On our second attempt we were successful.

US-550 from Durango to Ouray.

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If you travel north on US-550 to Montrose then east on US-50 before long you will come to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park https://www.nps.gov/blca/index.htm.

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West of Durango and just east of Cortez along CO-160 is Mesa Verde National Park https://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm. Mesa means table in Spanish and Mesa Verde is like a long narrow table laid at an angle with the low end on US-160. As you enter the park on the only road you will be continually climbing higher until you get to the end of the road where most of the park facilities are located. When we visited in May it was early in the season and we booked a guided bus tour. This is nice because you get fuller understanding of the park then by just riding up to an overlook reading the signs and moving on. An added benefit to our tour was because it was early in the season the bus had few passengers and along with the bus driver/guide we had a park ranger and a guide in training. Because the guide in training was being schooled on the ancient structures we got a greater understanding of what we were seeing.

View of Cortez from atop the mesa:

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Sleeping Ute mountain in the left distance:

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The main attraction of Mesa Verde are the many Anasazi cliff dwellings that line the cliffs that radiate through the park:

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On to Utah.............................



.
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Ric
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

#13

Post by Ric »

Sagebrush, your help and trip report is just amazing, thanks a lot! The plan changed a bit, as I think I will rent a car instead. Bike for rent are (in my opinion) overpriced, as with the same money you can rent a big Suv. I'll save some money and get a random sedan, 25 dollars a day are unbeatable. And my girl is already appreciating the decision :)

The trip will be 8-17 April, and I want to touch the 4 states. Places where I want to be are the Grand Canyon, the Monument Valley, Arches National Park and I have to see with my eyes the Shiprock. I\ll be already very happy, so what comes after, is a puzzle to decide. No big cities, yes ghost towns, mining settlements, hikes, trails, deserts and solitude. We're not the common tourists :D

Waiting for the Utah report, your pics are outstanding

Ric
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

#14

Post by Sagebrush »

I appreciate the feedback Ric, this takes more than just a little time and its nice to know it appreciated.
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Re: Motorcycle rental in the US

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Post by Track T 2411 »

Sagebrush wrote:I appreciate the feedback Ric, this takes more than just a little time and its nice to know it appreciated.
It is truly appreciated by me! I'm most envious, and can only hope I'll be able to get out and see some of these wonders for myself, preferably by motorcycle. You could/should start your own thread...
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