Monolith
Member
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.
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.
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