Earlier this year, I took my first long-distance group motorcycle trip. Unlike long drives in a car or a coach with one vehicle and one driver, a group of bikers needs to do some rather detailed planning. You need to ensure you understand each person's equipment, abilities and also their limitations. You need to agree on a route, mileage between stops, and establish riding protocols such as who leads, where everyone else in the group will ride, your preferred formation, and shared knowledge of proper hand signals. It's an important planning task.
 
One of the best parts of the planning process is determining the route. A motorcycle trip isn't about getting somewhere where you hope to have fun. I hear of too many vacations and trips where people plug their destination into their GPS navigator, select the "fastest route" option, and then haul off down the interstate like it's a death race to get there. They paid for their all-inclusive on the beach, and, by God, they are spending every minute of their holiday at the beach. The kids only see the country side as it flies by at 75 miles per hour. Each gas/food stop looks like the last five gas/food stops.