markgm
Junior Member
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!
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!