I'm back from my cross country trip: Act IV

markgm · Sep 23, 2014

And just like that, I’m back from my fourth cross country motorcycle trip (Act I, Act II, Act III). There were three of us on the trip this year. I still have my trusty FZ6, and I crossed over the 50,000 mile mark somewhere out West. Brooks downgraded to a Triumph Speed Triple (his dream bike), while the newcomer this year, Nate, joined us on a Goldwing. In the words of a Harley rider we met in Ohio, “that’s like riding a couch, right?”

Planning for this trip was a bit all over the place. Brooks and I wanted Nate to have a good overview of the country, so we took a little from each of our previous trips to come up with a route that sampled everything. The highlight was to be Yosemite National Park, but it seemed impossible to make it work. Next time! Instead we picked a route that would have us meet in Pennsylvania at my parents’, then west to Nate’s uncle’s house in Fort Collins, Colorado. From Colorado we went north into Montana and rode the Beartooth Pass before heading south through Wyoming, eventually visiting Zion National Park, the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Arches National Park, Pike’s Peak, and Garden of the Gods.

Events of the past few years delayed this trip. Brooks and I both got our Master’s degrees, I spent 6 months in Germany, wound up moving, and I went back to school to get my Doctorate. For many reasons, the bike sat longer than it should have! I began planning for the trip by looking into the lighting situation on my bike. HIDs have come down in price enough that I decided to look at putting a set on my bike. They weren’t too hard to install, and they finally eliminated the statement “one of your headlights is burned out!” I also replaced all of the incandescent bulbs with LEDs. The reason for this aside is that the day I left for the trip was the final day a crew was at my place to pave my driveway. One of the guys in the crew rode, and was looking over my bike in the yard when he mentioned that “something is broken off in one of my headlights.” And that is as good a place as any to begin my story!

markgm · Sep 23, 2014

Day 1 – Friday, August 1 – Plymouth, CT to Somerset, PA – 429 miles

My goal was to get an early start to my day despite having the driveway paved. The paving company needed the garage doors to remain open, so I couldn’t get on the road as early as I hoped. It turned out to not matter as I rushed to take apart my headlights and glue together the part that holds the projector lens to the headlight assembly. I assumed Krazy Glue would bond the surfaces together; if you think I’m wrong, you’re correct. I reassembled the bike, closed the garage doors, and hit the road around 11:00 AM. After riding through a tank of gas I stopped into a gas station and saw the headlight lens had fallen off again and managed to scratch everything up inside my headlights as it vibrated around. Go figure! There were a few rain storms I rode through, but nothing heavy enough to warrant rain gear. The best part about the new GPS I had for the trip (Garmin 590LM) is it links to a cell phone to display weather (and more importantly, weather radar) whenever cell signal is available. Whenever I would hit rain I could just look at the map and see if it was something small or an apocalyptic storm.

I rode another tank of gas and made it to my parents’ town around 7:00 PM. I picked up some Gorilla Glue epoxy and before dinner took the entire assembly apart again, epoxied it together, and then buttoned everything back up. As I was finishing Nate arrived, and Brooks made it a few hours later. We sat around and talked for a bit before calling it a night and heading to bed.

Day 2 – Saturday, August 2 – Somerset, PA to Joliet, IL – 553 miles

I woke up pretty early ready to get the trip started. It’s hard to sleep when there’s an awesome trip waiting to be had! After a quick breakfast of zucchini bread (with some for the road) we were ready to hit the road around 7:45 AM. The weather looked like it would be cool with some rain. We hit heavy rain a few times, but it wasn’t too bad on the bikes. Amazingly, for a fairly flat route, there were numerous accidents and even a flipped-over car. I have no idea how people are such bad drivers in this country! Like I experienced on all of my trips, my raingear was hit and miss. The Fieldsheer over-gloves I brought were worthless; they leaked instantly. What I didn’t realize was I must have learned this on an early trip and purchased a different pair, as I have a pair of Aerostitch over-gloves at home. I’ll pay better attention next time! My third pair of Joe Rocket boots leaked a little water into the right boot, but as I found out during later rides in the rain, the water wasn’t consistent. I have no idea if it was finding a way in from my gear, or if this pair leaks like all of the other “waterproof” Joe Rocket products I’ve owned.

My helmet was new this year, a Scorpion EXO-1200. I really enjoyed the helmet in general (I feel like it might be a half size too big), but noticed it was leaking while it rained. Actually, I didn’t have one of the vents closed! Knowing that, I was actually amazed how little water it leaked. Turns out though, that vent leaks even when it’s closed. We hit a quick lunch of tacos before hitting the road again (tacos were the theme food for the trip). My headlight seemed like it was coming apart again, but, in hindsight, I’m guessing the epoxy expanded as it cured, as it held on for the rest of the trip.

We made it to Joliet, Illinois and checked in at a Comfort Inn. Our plan for dinner was Lou Malnati's Deep Dish Pizza. My new Garmin had other plans, however, and said we arrived at our destination… the only problem was that we were on the middle of a bridge! That’s not an exaggeration; someone really messed up enough to give the middle of a bridge an address, and then assign the location of a pizza place to it. Luckily Google Maps didn’t have the same problem and guided us to the actual address. Unfortunately, this location was takeout only. After a group conference we ordered a pizza and went next door to pick up some beer and brought both back to our hotel room. We talked for a bit after dinner before calling it an early (perhaps reasonable is a better word) night.

Day 3 – Sunday, August 3 – Joliet, IL to Omaha, NE – 441.1 miles

Today was another early day, I woke up around 6:00 AM and we were on the bikes before 8:00 AM. The weather looked like it would be nice, but the morning started off very muggy with a hot sun. Unlike the other days, there was no condensation on the bikes as we were packing up. After a few days of high miles I was starting to feel sore, and I was happy today wasn’t a high mileage day. The trip through Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska went smoothly, but not in a literal sense. The roads in Nebraska and Illinois were terrible, with half of the highways feeling like they were lined with speed bumps. Amazingly, the epoxy holding my headlight together hung on, so I felt pretty good it would last the entire trip.

We lucked out and didn’t hit any rain on the ride. The scenery didn’t seem as varied as I remembered from the past, and I rode with a general feeling of ‘blah’ as I rode though scenery that was similar to home. For lunch we stopped at the I-80 truck stop, supposedly the largest in the world (though I’m pretty sure I-70 has something similar). We wound up spending a lot of time here, almost an hour and a half, as Brooks looked for some parts for his bike and we grabbed lunch. The delay allowed us to miss a storm ahead of us. We were pretty much riding tank to tank at this point, and we marveled at the number of truckers who were distracted while driving, and how they were squirming as much as we were to find comfortable positions as the miles went by.

We made it to our destination, a Doubletree (we’re moving up in the world), and relaxed for a little before grabbing dinner at The Drover Steakhouse, home of the whiskey marinated steak. It was excellent! We called it an early night so we could get an early start the next morning.

Day 4 – Monday, August 4 – Omaha, NE to Fort Collins, CO – 553.7 miles

We got another early start to the day, packing up the bikes around 7:00 AM and then grabbing breakfast at Starbucks. We were back on the road around 8:00 AM and it was another tank to tank day. In the morning it looked like we’d hit rain, but somehow we managed to stay on the fringes of the storms all morning. We stopped again for tacos at lunch, this time a Taco John’s, and then got back on the bikes and hit heavy rain as we entered Colorado. Perhaps I’m one of the crazy few who actually enjoy riding through rain. As long as I’m dry (or relatively dry), I feel like I’m mocking Mother Nature by riding through something everyone else in the world tries to avoid. The GPS had us taking different routes than routed when I put the destination in the morning, though the updated route saved us some time.

As we got closer to Fort Collins the rain and gusty winds ended and the temperature slowly climbed as views of the Rockies came into focus. Every time I see the Rockies I realize “we’ve made it to the West!” We were riding in around rush hour, and we spent 30 minutes in stop-and-go traffic before reaching the final miles to Nate’s uncle’s house. Those final miles were more beautiful than some of our national parks. I was amazed and was thinking how the landscape reminded me of the Southwest. Then it hit me, Colorado is only one state away from Mexico!

That night we had a BBQ dinner while sitting around telling stories for hours. The passing rain lowered the temperature to the 70s with low humidity. It was unseasonably cool, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Day 5 – Tuesday, August 5 – Fort Collins, CO to Red Lodge, MT – 515 miles

Continuing on the theme of the previous night, we started our day with a few hours of conversation with coffee and blueberry peach pie. We got a late start, getting on the bikes after 10:00 AM. We backtracked up I-25 into Wyoming, hitting small pockets of rain throughout the day. It’s always amazing to me to ride out West and see sheets of rain from storms out in the distance.

Out trip took us through Boysen State Park/Wind River Canyon, which is an amazing part of the country I never knew about. It was amazingly scenic. We rode US 20 for a good portion of the day, driving through stereotypical western small towns. A few times I would try to hit the last gas station in town (according to my GPS), and there would be nothing there. Clearly more effort needs to be put into ensuring maps are up to date. The worst part is, my Garmin connects to my phone for data, so they should have an option to report inaccurate data.

We stopped at Arby’s for lunch and made it into Red Lodge, Montana just before sunset. We kept our rain gear as the temperatures dropped in the evening. It was cool to see the lightening in the distance, though we didn’t hit more rain. We pulled over to snap a few pictures before pulling into town. Our hotel was clearly a bikers’ hotel; I don’t recall seeing a single car. We parked the bikes for the night and walked into town to grab some pizza and beer. Though it was a cool night, I didn’t manage to get much sleep, only about 6 hours.

Day 6 – Wednesday, August 6 – Red Lodge, MT to Lyman, WY – 450.2 miles

We woke up and spent some time packing and getting ready. This would be our last morning in a hotel for 9 days. As we had the Weather Channel on, trying to see what the weather would be like for the next few days, I realized Direct TV had a good reason for dropping this channel – they talk about everything but the weather! When we opened the door of our room to go outside, we saw the motel staff put towels on all of the bikes to dry off the seats. I thought that was a really nice touch!

Our plan was to ride from Red Lodge to Antelope Island State Park, a park on an island on the Salt Lake. We grabbed some snacks and coffee from the motel as I mentally prepared myself for the Beartooth Pass, getting on the bikes just after 8:00 AM. The last time I rode the Pass I wondered why anyone is crazy enough to do it. I had memories of U-Haul trucks drifting into my lane. This time though it was as if I were on a completely different highway. Traffic was much heavier. The last time we did it we went south to north, and this time was north to south. There were motorcycles everywhere, and for as much as people give Harley riders a hard time, I have to say, a majority of the bikes there (and everywhere else on the trip) were Harleys. At least they’re getting out there and riding (though not enough, as many times we were stuck doing 10 to 15 mph under the speed limit because people were riding on roads way out of their league.

I felt like I rode the road better the first time I rode this highway, but not riding much for 2 years can do that. This time, though, the highway didn’t seem so treacherous. The views were more amazing than I remember, and even Brooks noticed something was different. We think we rode more of the highway this time than last. Soon we were through the twisties and enjoying the expansive views around us when I looked down and realized the GPS had us going through Yellowstone. It was never our intent to ride though there, even though when we later looked, all of our planning took us straight through the park. Instead we headed south, but in doing so we added miles we didn’t account for. The new route had us backtracking over all the highways we rode to get up to Montana, so we once again got to ride through Boysen State Park/Wind River Canyon. The views were even more magnificent as it was sunny out as we rode through this time.

As we were riding through Wyoming, the skies started to darken and streaks of lightening filled the sky. We put on our rain gear and continued to ride. Soon we hit rain and road construction. We were on track for an 8:20 PM arrival to Salt Lake City when Brooks pulled beside me and pointed at me to pull over. I pulled over in a turnout and realized I had my second flat tire on a cross country trip. (We’re 3 for 4 if anyone is keeping track!) There was piece of gravel right in the center of my tread; I didn’t even know it was possible to get a puncture there. We couldn’t get the stone out, so it went in and we plugged and inflated the tire. It took longer to inflate the tire than in the past, but the pump wasn’t making a good seal. Still, things could have been worse, as the rain stopped when I pulled over. We got back on the road, but the GPS was now estimating a 10:00 PM arrival. We rode at a comfortable pace through open expanses with signs warning us of various animal crossings. We passed another one and collectively wondered, “did that say antelope crossing?” Just then a herd of antelope crossed the highway. At least they obeyed the sign! Soon we were on I-80 where we engaged the engines to ludicrous speed. The speed limit was 85 mph, and I was trying to make up for lost time. We pulled off to get gas as we noticed a nearby storm. Instead of pushing on, Nate suggested calling it a night in Lyman, Wyoming. There happened to be a KOA two miles up the street, so we picked up some food from the gas station and rode on over for our first night camping.

We set up the site quickly and ate our snacks. Amazingly, the storm never hit us, though every 20 minutes the wind would really pick up. We actually wondered if it would be strong enough to knock a bike over (we were parked in the grass). We called it a night and everyone woke up around 1:30 AM from an unbelievably strong wind storm. I slept with earplugs and the noise was roaring. My tent was hitting me from all sides, so I had to take my motorcycle gear and line the sides of the tent so I could attempt to sleep without getting clobbered. That too passed, and I slept well the rest of the night.

Day 7 – Thursday, August 7 – Lyman, WY to Virgin, UT – 393.3 miles

We woke up to clear and calm skies. We packed up the bikes and realized by cutting out Salt Lake City yesterday, we have a shorter mileage day today too. The morning started off a cool 54 degrees and remained comfortable all day. I started the ride with thermals on, though the temperature would eventually climb to 103. In the meantime, we rode into Utah on US 189, grabbing an early breakfast at In-n-Out burger. The roads were amazingly scenic, though between my plugged tire and the shifting gouges in the road that grabbed my tires, they weren’t confidence inspiring.

In-N-Out provided me my first cup of coffee of the day, and it was amazingly good! We left Provo, Utah and hopped on I-15 towards Zion. The miles flew by and we were at the Zion River Resort before we knew it. We set up our tents and picked up a couple of six packs while relaxing and playing cards. A family driving a Sprinter van pulled in next to us. This was the first time I was in one, and after seeing how much space they have, I could imagine using one as an alternative to an RV to explore the country.

The ‘resort’ offers dinner, and though it was good in previous years; this time the tacos were a complete letdown. As the evening went on the temperature dropped into the 70s, with a nice breeze. Brooks and I stayed up to do some laundry, finishing up around midnight. While waiting for the laundry to finish, we saw two cat-like animals 300 feet away from us. They were too big to be house cats, but we don’t know what kind they were. I only had my cellphone on me, so I couldn’t zoom in and get a good picture.

Day 8 – Friday, August 8 – Day off – 81.1 miles

Today was our first day off on the trip. Our plan was to ride through Zion National Park. We were woken up by the sun, though the temperatures weren’t unreasonable. The mountains do a great job blocking the sun for the first few hours. I was up at 6:00 AM, though we had a lazy morning, enjoying some coffee and Pop-Tarts before getting on the bikes around 11:00 AM. We pulled into the park and hit heavy traffic. We circled the parking lot for a few days before finally finding a spot. After a quick stop in the visitor’s center, we left the park again to grab lunch at the Whiptail Grill, which possibly had the best burger I’ve ever eaten. A shuttle ride later we were back in the park, and we hopped on another park shuttle to see the northern part of the park, which isn’t accessible to private vehicles. The views were amazing, though I wish the buses had open roofs so passengers could really see all of the views. I wonder if they don’t have them because of the heat, which again climbed up to 103 degrees.

After walking around the park for a bit, we headed back down to our bikes and then rode through the park. After a few hours of exploring we entered the town of Zion again and picked up supplies for dinner. Even though it’s a tourist town, I was amazed by the prices. A pack of Oreo’s was over $7. We settled on cheddar sausages and Pringles.

That night we were surrounded by non-Americans, and it really hit us how sad this is (and this has been the case for most of the trip). We have all these amazing places to visit, and few people in our country know about them! It’s sad that foreigners get it, and spend more time exploring our natural wonders than most of us do. I’m also amused at how unprepared people are to go camping.

Day 9 – Saturday, August 9 – Virgin, UT to Grand Canyon, AZ – 264.7 miles

After a relaxing day it was once again time to hop on the bikes and ride to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. Brooks and I have visited the northern rim on our very first trip, though we didn’t realize you can’t see the water from there. We got an early start to the day; I was out of bed around 6:30 AM. The weather was comfortable again. We packed up the bikes, taking our time despite being swarmed by flies. Yet again the temperature would climb to 100.

The views as we rode through Kaibab National Forest on 89A were spectacular. As the crow flies we were only 40 miles from our destination, but had another 150 miles to ride. We crossed over the Colorado River and stopped on the Navajo Bridge to take in the greenish blue views of the river. This type of view is what I always expected the Grand Canyon to look like. We continued south on US 89, passing Tuba City and grabbing Navajo tacos for lunch, eventually making it to the East Gate of the Grand Canyon. I expected much heavier traffic here, but there were only a handful of cars and two gates. This entrance isn’t very popular, and we had another 25 miles to ride to our campsite. In the meantime we enjoyed the BO from all the visitors as we explored the Desert View Watchtower, where it felt like I split my head open by hitting it on a low pneumatic door closer. I love that things in this country have to be made accessible for all types of people, but tall people aren’t included in this!

As we rode to our campsite we pulled over every so often for views of the canyon. Amazingly the water wasn’t the brilliant green we saw a few hours earlier, but rather muddy brown. The weather remained comfortable, though we saw (and smelled) a forest fire in the distance with threatening storm clouds nearby. It never hit us. After we set up our site we headed to the grocery store to be shocked by the high prices once again. We picked up a bag of carrots, summer sausage, cheese, and crackers. We spent the night snacking and reminiscing about the day.

Day 10 – Sunday August 10 – Day off – 1.3 miles

The weather was very comfortable all night. We went to bed around 11:00 PM the previous night, and I woke up at 8:30 AM this morning. Today was the second of our days off during the trip. We rode to the general store and grabbed breakfast sandwiches, then rode back to our campsite and grabbed the shuttle to the rim. The nice part about the south rim is it’s possible to walk it, and every few miles they have a shuttle bus stop. The bad thing about this is they operate the shuttles on a schedule, not on demand, so a hundred people will be waiting in line to take a bus and it will be parked across the street, idling and empty, waiting for its time to go.

According the ranger station, the temperature was to be a high of 101 degrees. Luckily it didn’t get anywhere near that, and was probably in the 80s most of the day. As we made it to the end of the trail the wind picked up and it looked like a storm was moving in. We sat for a while enjoying the views before taking the shuttle back to our campsite. As we were walking back we discovered a small audience staring into a campsite; a gigantic elk decided to stop by. We watched it for a bit before heading back to the store to pick up ingredients to make hoagies. For the first time on a trip, they were actually good (perhaps because they weren’t premade). As darkness fell the temperature dropped as a bright moon lit up our site as the clouds blew by. We called it a night around 11:00 PM.

Day 11 – Monday, August 11 – Grand Canyon, AZ to Moab, UT – 320.5 miles

We woke up after a refreshing night of sleep and packed up our site and headed out to grab breakfast just after 9:00 AM. We knew we’d lose an hour today as we started to head back east, so we wanted to get an earlier start. Nate’s rear tire was slowly leaking air (my plug was holding up well), and the culprit turned out to be a loose valve stem. He managed to tighten it down with a pair of tweezers he picked up at the general store. We grabbed a quick cup of coffee there and then said goodbye to the Grand Canyon.

There was heavy traffic on all the roads we traveled today, and we were amused by the impatience of drivers, passing us, only to slam on their brakes. Trust us folks, if we could ride faster, we would! We lucked out as road work was in progress on a big portion of the highway near Tuba City, and one lane was closed. The direction we were headed was the lane moving. As we rode past the lane waiting for us to pass we figured it was at least an hour delay.

The views turned great as we rode through Monument Valley. For the third time I rode past Mexican Hat, each time from a different angle. I think I’ve ridden past all the ways I can! For lunch we picked up McDonald’s. We got in around 5:00 or 6:00 PM to the Moab KOA and set up our site, where the temperatures were reasonable for the area, with a strong breeze. We had pizza delivered for dinner and then walked around and met up with a guy on a Yamaha Tenere, the bike I think about getting next. After we ate dinner he stopped over to our site and we all spent some time talking about our trips.

By the time I went to bed the wind had been blowing for a few hours, and the inside of my tent was coated in sand. The sand was all over my pillow, sleeping bag, and air mattress. I’d spend the next few days trying to get it out! Despite the heat, I put the rainfly on the next night. That night remained hot and windy, and I had trouble sleeping. In the distance it looked like a storm was coming, and it would remain that way for the next 36 hours.

Day 12 – Tuesday, August 12 – Day off – 70.2 miles

The winds continued this morning, and so did the heat. It was so windy the KOA canceled the outdoor breakfast. There was a chance of rain today, which is unusual for Moab. We didn’t wind up getting any rain, but the clouds shielded us from the usually intense heat. Today is our third day off in the trip and we planned on spending it exploring Arches National Park, and heading to Canyonlands National Park if we had time (we didn’t). I had been here a few times before, but this would be the most time I spent exploring.

We grabbed breakfast at the Moab Diner and then entered the park. After exploring a few arches we left for lunch at Milt’s, the oldest restaurant in business in Moab. We got to bed around 11:00 PM, though it was much cooler with lows in the 60s.

That evening we sat around enjoying the views, cooler temperatures, and conversation.

Day 13 – Wednesday, August 13 – Moab, UT to Fountain, CO – 438 miles

We woke up around 7:00 AM and packed up the bikes while trying to remove us much sand from everything as we could. It was a much cooler morning, though with my rainfly on I spent the night on top of my sleeping bag. We grabbed showers and had a relaxing morning with a couple cups of coffee. It was a lazy morning and we joked about how people who aren’t from around here would think it would rain at any minute with the storm hanging out in the distance. As you’d guess, the storm finally decided to make a move. We hopped on the bikes as soon as the first drops hit and rode through some light rain for an hour or so until we made it to the Interstate. We dodged some larger storms based on radar. We later heard that it poured the entire day at Arches.

As we rode through the Rockies the temperatures plummeted to the high 40s or low 50s. We pulled off in Idaho Springs to grab some BBQ at Smokin Yard’s, which was very good, and then continued on to Colorado Springs. The day was going well until we hit Denver. I never expected it to be so hot; in the mid to upper 90s. Then the traffic came to a complete stop. It was a draining final hour ride to Fountain.

When we finally got to the KOA I couldn’t wait to get off of the bike. We did some laundry and had a relaxing night as the mosquitoes feasted on me, while we feasted on sardines and saltines that Brooks picked up when we stopped for gas and snacks outside the KOA.

Day 14 – Thursday, August 14 – Day off – 87 miles

Today was our fourth and final day off of the trip. It was an odd feeling to know we didn’t have many miles to ride today, and we have three heavy days of riding ahead of us. We were woken up around 6:30 AM by a constant barrage of train whistles. The KOA must be on the opposite side of a train yard.

We started off the morning by grabbing breakfast at the famous King’s Chef Diner. It was hands down the best breakfast of the trip. After we ate enough so we couldn’t move under our own power, we jumped on the bikes to head up to Pikes Peak. The weather forecast said the temperature was in the 50s and it might get up to 70. When we pulled into the entrance the board said the peak was currently 34 degrees, with a wind chill of 29!

The ride up Pikes Peak was amazing. It has great sweepers with even better views. The trip down was less fun, as car after car crossed into our lane. We spent a few hours on the mountain before heading down to Garden of the Gods. We grabbed a coffee and cinnamon roll and relaxed as a small storm blew through. We got back on the bikes when the rain passed and rode through the park. Once we were done we were going to head out to pick up supplies for dinner. Brooks was behind me, and ever so causally let me know that he could see the steel belts in my rear tire. That’s not good!

Turns out the rear tire was around 24 PSI (close to half what it should be). I’m guessing because it was low on air I destroyed in on Pikes Peak. We rode over to Walmart and Brooks made a few calls and found a shop that would change the tire the next morning as I inflated the tire back up to the recommended PSI. The kicker was the one rear tire installed would cost more than I paid for both my front and rear tire! I didn’t have any other options though, so we planned on getting to the shop first thing in the morning.

While at Walmart the sky opened up again, so we took our time ordering supplies for dinner. We waited out the rain and then headed back to the campsite. Brooks, being the kind of person who can whip up Beef Wellington with a birthday candle, dental floss, and some foil, outdid himself this time. We had beer boiled shrimp with Old Bay on some toasted Italian bread. It was turning out to be the day for good meals! Even the KOA raccoon agreed, visiting us throughout the night as we were eating dinner and sharing stories.

Day 15 – Friday, August 15 – Fountain, CO to Kansas City, MO – 611.7 miles

The plan was to get an earlier start to the day so I could make it to the motorcycle shop as soon as they opened at 9:00 AM. Thanks to all of the train whistles this morning, that wasn’t an issue. We got showers and packed up the bikes. Nate headed on ahead of us, not wanting to get caught riding at night. Brooks and I made it to the shop and were amazed at how well it was run. In Connecticut (or New England for that matter), motorcycle shops generally suck. They have a handful of bikes and very little gear. This place was bigger than some car dealerships I’ve been to. Everyone was friendly, though I wasn’t expecting the two hour wait for the tire change. We explored the shop for a bit and talked with the staff before walking over to a diner to grab breakfast. It was good food, though it felt like we were eating in a library. It was very quiet and hardly anyone was talking.

We walked back to the bike shop (Apex Sports) and saw the bike was ready a little early. They saved the stone for me, though it was solid black. I don’t know if it was coated in a layer of my tire, or if I had a second puncture in it. The piece of stone we saw in Wyoming in the tire was light gray.

We headed out of Colorado and I was in awe of the difference the new tire made. My bike felt like it was on rails, hitting every line exactly as I intended. I wonder if my apprehension earlier in the trip was a result of my tires and not my time off from riding. Or maybe it’s all in my head! Either way, it was $265 well spent (I went from Pirelli Diablo non-strada to Michelin Pilot Road 4).

We rode US 40 out of Colorado and into Kansas. The road was amazing, part of what I was missing this trip. The wind was hitting us hard and at an angle, which made for a challenging ride, but the feeling of freedom and the open road are what cross country trips are all about. Looking at radar it looked like our 2-hour delay saved us from riding in rain; during the entire ride radar showed a storm about 2 hours ahead of us. I loved riding through the grain towns and have great memories of looking for a gas station in typical mid-western America.

We grabbed a late lunch at Arby’s before making the final run for Kansas City. For the first time ever, one of us ran out of gas! Luckily it was less than 2 miles from a gas station, so I was able to fill up a container and bring it back, and we got on our way. We got into Kansas City around 10:30 PM, where people were driving like morons. Our arrival time wasn’t bad, especially since we lost an hour changing time zones. Brooks and I picked up some snacks at the gas station across the street and sat outside our hotel, our first stay at a hotel in over a week, enjoying the nice weather before calling it a night. One thing I wondered about Kansas is, why would anyone want to live here? It’s not that it’s flat, it’s that it’s always hot and miserable!

Day 16 – Saturday, August 16 – Kansas City, MO to Dayton, OH – 609.2 miles

We were on the bikes around 9:00 AM after grabbing breakfast at the hotel. We stopped at White Castle for lunch. We had decent riding until about 2 hours from Dayton when we ran into some light rain. The new tire is excellent in the rain. Around 8:00 PM we stopped for dinner at McDonald’s and then began our final run to the hotel. The sun set quickly and we rode in and out of construction zones. I was again reminded of how horrible the roads in Illinois are. Amazingly for the past few days we saw very few cops with radar on the highways, and it hit us that part of the reason was because of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. I wound up making it to the hotel around 10:00 PM, while Brooks and Nate made it in around 10:30 PM. Nate took a break from the night riding and I wanted to make it to the hotel. Once we were all settled Brooks and I headed to Walmart to pick up some supplies and spent the night reminiscing about the trip. It was crazy to realize it was all about to be over! At some point during the day my odometer flipped over to 50,000 miles.

Day 17 – Sunday, August 17 – Dayton, OH to Plymouth, CT – 725.9 miles

This is it! The final day of riding, and it doesn’t feel like it. Each of us had a different path home, and Nate got an early start, heading out sometime after 4:00 AM. I enjoyed a long night of sleep knowing the number of miles I had in front of me. Today was hands down the most miles I ever rode in a day, beating my previous record by at least 75 miles. Amazingly, I felt like I could have ridden longer. The day started out comfortable, and while I got up early, I didn’t start riding until after 10:00 AM. Brooks and I packed up our bikes and then grabbed breakfast at the hotel. We wanted to have a nicer breakfast, but I was getting nervous about the time. It wasn’t much of an issue in the end, as I made it home around 10:30 PM that night. The ride through northern Pennsylvania was comfortable, and I was able to make pretty good time riding tank to tank. No longer having to worry about the range of the other bikes made it easier to plan stops, as did being closer to civilization. On my last fill-up in New York I was excited that I would be home in 2 hours, and then I got stuck in an hour of traffic. After 600 miles of riding, it was the last thing I wanted.

But before I knew it, I was pulling into my garage, having completed my fourth cross country motorcycle trip. I don’t know how many more trips my FZ6 has left in its future. Every year I spend a little more time eyeing a bigger bike to handle my 6’5” frame, but I have a feeling it’s not going anywhere anytime soon!

Though we hit rain on a majority of the days, it was never a long and steady rain. In previous years there were days it rained for hours at a time. Nothing was more miserable than packing up in the rain. Brooks and I joked this was revenge for a perfect trip last time (the only trip with no flat tires and not a single day of rain).

Here are the stats for those interested:
Total trip miles: 6,543 (6,423 was the estimate, only off 120 miles!)
Max Miles per tank: 202.9
Max Gallons per tank: 4.525
Max Cost/Gallon: $4.189
Max Cost Tank: $16.52
Min Miles/tank: 50
Min Gallons/tank: 1.181
Min Cost/Gallon: $3.199
Min Cost Tank: $4.42

Total Gallons: 140.87
Average MPG: 46
Average Cost/Gallon $3.59
Average Cost/Mile $0.077
Gas Total $503.67

I hit reserve 6 times for an average of 9.68 miles and a maximum of 23.1 miles.

My review of the Garmin 590LM

markgm · Sep 23, 2014

An updated map of the trip.

The lens fell off of the headlight and is resting on plastic housing.

At my parents' house, ready to get the show on the road!

We had to find a way to get pizza and beer back to our hotel room. I'm getting pretty good at this!

Of course, when you have a backseat, it's not too hard!

A typical morning on the bike. All packed up and inside grabbing breakfast.

People have too much time and money on their hands! Inside the 'world's largest truck stop.' I half expected this thing to transform into something at any moment.

See, it says it right there!

Fort Collins, Colorado, it was amazing here.

We went for an evening walk, and these were our views.

I could get used to seeing this out of my back door.

The next morning was gorgeous as well.

Storms off in the distance, I love seeing this, as long as I'm dry!

GPS doesn't show rain, so we're good to go. I had my phone in my tank bag running Waze to alert me to any surprises up ahead. This only worked while it wasn't sunny, as phones overheat in tank bags.

And clouds (making a fist at the rain) on the other horizon.

Eventually our luck would run out. We saw some pretty impressive lightning strikes in this storm. I don't think we got hit too badly from this though.

Soaking up the miles.

It's always amazing to me how quickly the landscape changes.

Outside Red Lodge, Montana.

The final miles before making it to Red Lodge for the night.

Glamor shots.

Doesn't look like it's about to flip over 50k miles!

Our motorcycle motel for the night.

With towels on our bikes to dry them off in the morning.

Ah, the Beartooth Pass!

It looks better not in map form.

Despite the snow, it wasn't too cold up here.

Last stop after we finished the pass.

I think it's trying to box.

Constantly changing views, still in Montana.

markgm · Sep 23, 2014

More of Montana.

Even more Montana.

It's cool to see what we just rode through.

Boysen State Park/Wind River Canyon.

This was our second day riding though this part of Wyoming, it was very cloudy when we did it the previous day, with pockets of rain.

Rain off in the distance, we put on our raingear and prepared to get wet! Somewhere around here I got my flat tire.

Tire is plugged and ready to inflate! The sun came out just as we pulled over.

Camping for the night in Wyoming. The storm stayed off in the distance all night long.

I can't imagine having views like this when I go about my day to day life.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park, as seen from the park shuttle.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park, this was on the walk to the river at the northern end of the park.

Zion National Park, the water cooled things down a bit.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park, I always love the color of the sky here.

Riding through the park, the switchbacks are a lot of fun.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park, it turned out to be a scorcher of a day.

Zion National Park

We saw these things all over a gas station on our way to the South rim of the Grand Canyon. Most of them were dead.

View as we rode through northern Arizona.

And miles to go before I sleep...

Cool place on the side of the road.

More views of the rocks.

markgm · Sep 23, 2014

Another rock.

Navajo bridge. One is for the highway, and the old one is now a passenger bridge.

I love the color of the Colorado River.

New bridge is on the left.

We made it to the Grand Canyon! This is Devil's Watchtower.

The watchtower's ceiling.

Our first view of the Grand Canyon.

We can see water... but it's brown!

It was a really comfortable evening.

The sky was constantly changing.

Another national park, another visit by rangers.

Luckily we never saw anything close to 102.