It was a great adventure but it’s always nice to get back home as well. This morning I did most of the remaining unpacking and getting camping stuff stored and also finished up doing the laundry. My riding pants got hand washed and are hanging on the fence to dry along with the tent and the sleeping bag which are just getting an airing out.
The bike is parked in front and the job the restore it to cleanliness awaits. It’s pretty dirty and it will be a major job to clean it up.
As I recap, the first thing to mention is the bike. What an awesome machine! It ran flawlessly through the whole trip and all its features were there when I needed them. I LOVE cruise control! It remains the perfect ride for the kind of traveling I want to do. This is the 4th cross country trip I’ve done on it since I bought it new in ‘21 and it now has 36,770 miles on it. Changing the oil and tires is all that has been required.
So, some statistics before the commentary.
Totals miles on the trip: 5,928
Length of trip: 20 days
Days spent riding: 17
Days spent riding with son: 5
Days spent riding solo: 12
Nights camped out: 14
Nights stayed with son in Pittsburgh: 5
Number of gas stops: 37
Total spent on gas: $388.61
Average cost per stop: $10.50
Gallons used: 108.2
Average gallons per stop: 2.92
Average cost per gallon: $3.59
Miles per gallon: 54.7
Best campground: Devil’s Back Bone in Virginia: hot showers and a brewery. What’s not to like?
Number of states visited: 18 (Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming)
This is not an exact map but is pretty close and shows the general route I took.
OK, now for some general observations. The trip was great and, of course, the best part was riding with my son where we rode the Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Tail of the Dragon. We both have Cardo PacTalk Bold units on our helmets so we can talk while we ride which is really handy and, IMO, improves the safety of the ride as whoever is in the lead can give warning to those behind, like when there was a bear in the road.
The remaining 12 days where I rode solo were also great. I can say that most of the over 35,000 miles that I’ve put on this bike have been solo rides so I must like it enough to keep doing it. I sort of settle into a rhythm throughout the day, the way I get started and packed in the morning, the breaks I take along the way, the stops for photos to illustrate this blog, stopping for lunch, and picking out where to camp and just the doings of the day. After a long day on the bike it’s nice to settle in to some downtime and I get that by writing which is when I make entries in this blog. My son likes his quiet time as well and while I’d be writing, he’d be checking in on his phone with friends, family, and, probably, work.
For the meals at camp I’ve got it dialed in: I make up packets of breakfast oatmeal for the mornings and use a backpacker meal in the evening, both of which only require boiling some water.. Lunch is a challenge because I can’t really carry a midday meal on the bike because I don’t want to unpack to get to it so going out for something healthy and nutritious is the alternative. Of course, choices for healthy and nutritious AND vegetarian are really limited which is why I tend to rely on Subway, where I can get salad and bread (veggie sandwich), or Taco Bell that now has a veggie filter on their ordering kiosks. I gave up trying to find something at any other fast food places long ago.
Now the issue of gear. There are a few things that I brought that I won’t bring again. One is my collapsable stool. I never used it. Every camp site had something to sit on and, for me, a picnic table is perfect because I want to sit and write on my iPad so a bench/table set up is perfect.
Other than the broken tent pole issue, the another equipment issue is that the zipper on my tank bag is failing. The teeth in one part are becoming disengaged from the fabric so I couldn’t zip it shut all the way around. Not a big deal but the failure is moving and eventually will involve more than a few inches. It’s a double-pull zipper and I should be able to find a replacement. Then I plan to cut the teeth out of the existing zipper, leave the attaching fabric, and sew the new zipper to that. I might be able to machine sew part of it but will probably require some hand stitching as well.
Another issue was with my cold weather gloves. When my hands get sweaty they like to grab the liner and pull it out of the glove when I take the gloves off. In Blue Earth that happened and I was able to get all but the little finger of the left hand back into the shell. For some reason the little finger liner won’t go into the shell all the way. I don’t know if it’s twisted or what but I used the handle of my toothbrush to push it into the shell and have it almost perfect but not quite. I’ll have to fiddle with it some more but I might have to cut the liner away from the outer shell, pull the liner out to resolve the problem, and then once back in the shell, hand stitch it back in place.
Clothing was OK but I didn’t bring short-sleeve t-shirts or shorts (other than my running shorts) and wished I’d had both. I had lots of clothing and that took up lots of space but I was packing for 3 seasons since I had winter weather with snow and low temperatures as well as warm days. I had both my thermal and rain gear for riding and used it all. I also packed my running gear (shoes, shirts, shorts, hat, gloves) because I knew I’d get a couple runs in while in Pittsburgh and on the road with my son. I’m glad I had my knit hat, sweatpants, medium gloves, and an assortment of socks. I did do laundry at my son’s place.
On this trip I brought my blue back pack because I want something I can get into on the road without doing any major unpacking. It sits sideways on top of my clothing satchel and lashed with ROK Straps. I used this for carrying my rain gear, heavy riding gloves, and for stashing beer that I bought before hitting a campsite. I am thinking of doing something different the next time out but haven’t thought what that might be. My big satchel that I’ve used on past trips works great for carrying clothing but maybe change it out to a dry bag of some kind that allows easy access and get rid of the backpack. I’ve been using this stuff because it’s what I had on hand already.
In my side cases I’m thinking of changing what I place in each. On the left side, the side that faces down when the bike is on the side stand, I keep my tools and my cooking stuff as well as some of the food. These items are in the FJR liner that came with the bike and works OK but is difficult to get into on the road and it’s the first stuff I want when I set up camp. The bag on the other side has more of my food along with my iPad, Kindle, sketchbook, and a water bottle. I’m thinking of swapping the contents around but leaving the iPad in the right-side bag. Getting stuff out of the bags is no problem but reloading is more easily done my taking the side cases off the bike, laying them on their side, and dropping the packed liners in that way. I’m thinking that if I swap the contents, I might not even need to get into the left side every day.
I do bring my sketchbook and drawing tools but I have never used them on one of these trips because at the end of the day I have a campsite to set up, a meal to prepare, and a blog entry to write. However, I bring them in case I get stuck someplace for a longer period of time such as really bad weather or (Yikes!!) mechanical issues. Besides, I rarely go anywhere without my sketchbook.
The tent, sleeping bag, and air mattress worked great except for the broken pole issue on the tent. I’ll order a replacement but the pipe nipples I picked up worked great and I’ll continue to carry them just in case. BTW, the tent came with a little piece of tubing and I wasn’t clear what it was for but now I am. However, the pole that broke, broke in two places so bringing along these pipe nipples will be extra insurance. I also wanted more rope than what came with the tent and did pick some up when I was in Bloomington.
For lashing things to bike: ROK Straps. Nothing else to say.
Now for the rides. The bike handled great, even over roads that needed some improvement. The new tires (Michelin Road 6 GT) felt exceptionally good and the only times I had issues were hitting tar snakes while on a curve. New blacktop is a joy to ride on and there was plenty of that. Concrete is OK as long as the sections are consistent to one another. I did hit quite a few unavoidable potholes so the tires and suspension got their workouts but that is what they are there for.
With almost 6,000 miles on this trip I can honest say that I had few close calls. One I wrote about early on where a car was passing a piece of slow moving farm equipment did so in a no-passing zone over a hill. She came right at me as I approached the crown and I luckily dodged her. The other was in Kansas the other day when I was coming into small town and the highway was curving to the left. A moron pulling a 5th-wheel was passing a slow moving truck and came across the double yellow line on the outside of the curve in my lane. Vigilance is the life-saver. I can’t think of any other close calls and I’d say that most drivers are aware and quite courteous.
When it comes to other motorcycles, outside what we saw at Deals Gap, I saw very few. It’s early in the season and during the weekdays I’d see only 4-5 in a day with more on weekends. Harleys are the dominant bike and I think that is a regional issue. Two years ago when I did a big tour of the Northwest, I saw very few Harleys and plenty of BMWs.
I generally had decent cell service where I stayed along the way and was able to make these blog entries on a daily basis although once or twice I had to wait for better service to attach the photos. I shoot the photos on my iPhone 14 Pro and they synch to iCloud. My iPad does not have cell service so I use my phone as a Wi-Fi hot spot and connect the iPad to the Internet through the phone. This works but can be slow. Once connected I synch the iPad to the cloud to access the photos for entry here. I suppose that I could carry a StarLink dish….well, maybe not.
While I’m not in my youth anymore (turning 72 in a few weeks) I haven’t found any physical limitations to doing these rides. Keeping is physical shape is a necessity as we age and I get that that primarily through running with the occasional laps in the swimming pool. Hopefully, this will extend the number of years I can continue doing these rides. The only issue I have is the carpal tunnel syndrome, that I’ve had for decades, is tweaked by the use of the grips. My fingers get tingly and numb so frequent breaks to shake them out really help but every year it becomes more of an issue. I’m reluctant to seek the surgical solution (having had 4 surgeries for a different issue in the past 5 years or so) and want to delay that for as long as possible. That said, butt time in the seat gets better with practice and my last day of 400 miles felt like nothing. I have the stock seat and an AirHawk cushion and that seems to be all I need. 400 miles is enough for me.
So that was the big ride (so far) of 2024. I want to do at least one cross country trek each riding season and this is one that I’d planned a while ago. I’ve done 3 of the 4 corners of the lower 48 states with only Key West left but I’m really reluctant to do that one. I’m just not that interested. I’d like to go back to the Ozarks and spend a week there and explore the many routes that I’ve seen on the maps as the short ride I did there last week was only exploratory and whetted by appetite for more. I’d also like to go back to New England and cover more of Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire but right now, I have nothing pending. With the Beartooth Highway opening soon and only 60 miles away, I’m sure I’ll have lots of day rides coming up this summer where I do that with the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway added on.
So, another big adventure in the bag and more to look forward to.
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