A Long Ride

I’m going to use a mixture of camping, hostels and hotels. I figure that after a few days of camping, I’ll be ready for a hotel room. Hotels make me lonely though, and hostels are great for meeting interesting people. Then I’ll want to get out on my own and camping sounds good again. I’m just guessing here, but I think that’s how it will work.

For those that aren’t familiar with hostels, here’s a short explanation. I’ve used them a lot in Europe, and a few times in the U.S. They’re cheap and usually clean, but once in a while I find a bad one, just like anything. There are some great ones, too: the hostel in Seaside, Oregon, for example, was excellent. For less than $20, I got a shared room right off the beach in a clean, rustic little cabin. Breakfast is often included, and there’s usually a well-stocked bookshelf and internet access of some sort. I’ve seen prices ranging from $5 for a backwoods location to $30 for a centrally located big city hostel. I have the Hostel Handbook, which contains every hostel in the United States and Canada in a thin pamphlet.

I plan on camping as much as possible, but I’ve never camped while motorcycling, so I’ve been reading up quite a bit, including quite a few online guides. This book looks interesting too. I’ll be careful to not carry too much stuff. I don’t want to weigh the bike or myself down and I don’t want to worry about anything being stolen.

Then there are hotels, which are easy but lonely and expensive. I’ll save them for the rainy days.