Monolith

I was creating this to post online for friends and family who have asked a hundred times for it, and I have seen a few excellent reports shared on the alias, so I thought I would go ahead and share mine. First some perspective… I did not own a motorcycle until March of 2009. In August 2008 I decided I wanted to learn to ride, get a bike, go to Sturgis and ride around the country. So I took the class in February and bought the bike in March. I then proceeded to ride it a ton, every day, every weekend. By the time I left in July for my road trip, I had put a little over 10,000 miles on it in 4 months.

My wife rode with me from the start until Bull Head City AZ. She flew home from there and the rest of the trip was just me and my Father. He has been riding since bikes were single digit horsepower. The only bad weather was the day we left Sturgis (oh and every afternoon during Sturgis). The ride was just amazing, I have already planned my trip for next year.

The only state with a helmet law for my trip was WA, but I still found myself wearing my helmet during the main part of the day, just for the shade. 100+ degree’s in the desert, is just unbearable hour after hour without any shade. I15 south through Utah had a posted speed limit of 80MPH. You had to do 90 just to keep with the flow of traffic and not endanger yourself. Interesting fact, I saw 16 highway patrol in the state of Washington in revenue generation mode, 0 in Idaho, 0 in Montana, 1 in south Dakota, 1 in Arizona, 0 in Utah, 0 in Wyoming, and 0 in Colorado. Until you travel like this around the US, you don’t really understand how excessive our revenue generation presence is.

Bull Head City AZ was 119 degrees. There is just nothing you can wear in that kind of heat to make riding fun. 115+ you just need to park the bike.

In Yellowstone, I had to ride through a herd of buffalo that were not moving but standing on the road. I was literally a couple inches on either side to several buffalo. Very intense feeling. Bryce canyon was like something out of a sci fi movie, it looks like it’s another planet. Arches national park in Utah was just amazing.

Hands down, this was the most incredible vacation I had ever taken. 21 days on the road, 7016 miles. Today, I have been riding for about 8 months in total and I have traveled about 19,000 miles through every kind of weather, and terrain and I am loving every moment of it. Oh and the bike is a Harley Softail Heritage.

Tweet

Share

R. Lewis

Sounds like you had a great journey on the road with your wife and dad!! Any pics of the trip??

NEWHD74FAN

Thank you for the post, and like R.Lewis said, would really like to see pictures and details cause it certainly speaks volumes...

__________________
* Please click "Self Help Tips" tab for service tips, diagnostic codes & such * ;o) * Please click "Search" tab and keywords to find related threads *

chefron

Wow! Nothing like jumping in with two feet. You've done more in less than a year than I've dreamed of! Pic's would be nice. Imagine what you could do with a full year of riding! Cheers!

__________________
To those who ride, no explanation is necessary. To those who do not ride, no explanation is possible.

Gas Gauge

Way to go Mono! Now thats riding! Are you retired? I can't wait until I'm retired (8 more years....with 4 years of college and two weddings to pay for in the meantime).

Thanks for sharing (nice map)!

ultrat

id like to do that trip. but id be starting from an eastern direction........

jaceddie

Sound like it's in your blood now, like so many of us here.

Monolith

I wish I was retired! I do get 5 weeks of vacation a year plus holidays which is nice. This summer my wife will be riding her own bike, and we are planning on 3 weeks of riding again. Here are some pictures, I kept them small in size for the board.

sharpscuba

Awesome...I hope to do a ride like that very soon myself. Great pictures.