Thing is: unlike on a bicycle, you get body armor on a motorcycle. If it's too hot to waer your gear, it's too hot to ride, was what my instructor told me, and that was in south Florida. Situational awareness is vital. You have to take the safety course offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. You have to spend for good armor/gear. Motorcycles are much more stable than bikes, can be leant over MUCH further (which is darned fun once you've aquired the skill for it). I've got approx. 63,000 miles under my belt on a motorcycle since I started riding in 2003. I've never been in a wreck. OK, once I went down in a deserted (and very sandy/gravelly) parking lot between the Waffle House and the motel, at 2:30am, after having been on the road for 14+hours, on the maiden voyage of a new (unfamiliar) bike. I was going about 2mph. But a wreck? Never. (knock on wood.) You do have to ride paranoid. Because you have an engine, all the mercy and consideration you get as a bicyclist from the cagers goes out the window. But wait, you say, we don't get any mercy or consideration now. Exactly.

Still, cost-wise, there's no argument between a cheap, beater, hooptie car and even a quite nice motorcycle. Sure, a REALLY expensive bike (BMW, H-D, Ducati...Mmm, Ducati --drool--) can set you back $15-20k. But unless you're 16 yrs. old w/ DUIs, insurance IS cheaper, you WILL have incredible fuel economy even compared to penalty-box cars, maintenance IS radically reduced (the parts logically CANNOT break if they're not there...pwr. door locks, pwr. steering box, hatchback latch/lock, for examples).

In california, you can lane-share legally on a motorcycle. You can do 99% of the same camping on a moto that you can on a touring frameset. The carrying-capacity restrictions are about the same, but I promise you will get better views on the way there from a motorcycle. Mountains = your friend now.