Where did YOU ride this summer...???

[Netnorske]

With summer over and the leaves starting to fall, I think we all are realizing that another long winter is ahead of us. That said, I thought it might be fun to see where everyone rode this summer. Not every little ride you made, but the extended multi-day trips and the destination rides, miles included. I for one had a great summer of riding and will be hard pressed to duplicate it next year! I covered eight western States and one Canadian Province....about 12,000 miles including day trips since May! I may be forgetting a couple, but these were the highlights....starting from Everett, WA.

May- Hells Canyon Idaho. 3 days riding, 1200 miles.

June- KawaNOW National Rally, Custer, SD. 9 days riding, including the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore and Badlands National Parks, Beartooth Pass and Yellowstone National Park, 3100 miles.

July- Lillooet, BC. 2 days riding, 600 miles.

July- Mt. St. Helens National Monument

July- Mt. Rainier National Park

August- San Bernardino, CA. 7 days riding, including Crater Lake and Yosemite National Parks, 3200 miles

August- Osoyoos, BC. 2 days riding, including the North Cascades National Park, 600 miles

September- 2009 Oyster Run, Anacortes, WA

[emu]

Early May rode to Michigan to retrieve the camper trailer.
May 31st headed to Americade for a week of demo rides and just plain old bikeness. June 6th went to gas up in Lake George to continue south ... Credit card had been compromised, so I had to return to Toronto to clear that mess up ... Took 5 days.
June 13th headed south via secondary roads as much as possible to Virginia and over to the Blue Ridge Parkway. With camper trailer in tow, my room for each night was always in sight. Did the BRP from end to end and then headed to the Georgia mountains for a gathering at Two Wheels Only in Suches. Stayed there for two weeks before moving campsites to the High Valley Resort ... about a 1/4 mile away. Stayed there for the next 3 weeks riding the mountain roads and the valleys below. Trips to Tennessee, North Carolina and back were as frequent as stopping for Peanut-butter pie.
July I packed up and headed to Kentucky for this years Braveheart Tour at Natural Bridge. Got there a week early and rode everywhere ... Those Kentucky back roads are sure something Elvis should of sung about ... cold rain or not ;) After the Braveheart, spent a week touring from State Resort Park to State Resort Park.
I headed south again, rode through SGT. York's home town. Set up camp at a motorcycle campground off Hwy.68 at Tellico Plains. Resumed daily rides all over the place ... Until 5:50 PM on August 1st when I crashed and lost my beloved Nomad. And that was all she wrote for me this year.

I'll be back.

[Netnorske]

Holy crap Emu.....you must be both retired AND wealthy to ride and travel so much. I can't even tell you how envious that makes me. What a great sounding summer....at least up until your unfortunate crash. Hope you weren't hurt too bad and that you will indeed be back on the road soon!

[ringadingh]

It sounds like you guys had some great trips, I don't now how you find the time. I ride a lot over the course of the season, but its all riding to work or day trips.
I went to the rally in Bath NY and then to Pa, but that was only three day trips both times. When I get another weeks vacation in four more years it will free me up a bit more.

[Cajunrider]

I rode up to Tennessee in May, National Rally in June, and Arkansas/Oklahoma in August. I didn't ride as much as I would have liked to because of work but down here, our most comfortable riding times are October - November and February - late May or early June. June - September can be miserably hot. There are times from November - February when it is just right and other times when it is too cold and wet.

[emu]

Yes Netnorske, I am retired. If you mean wealth as in doing the life long dream after 40 odd years in the workforce waiting to live on the road from a motorcycle ... then yes ... I'm very wealthy ... If you mean monetarily ... Then no, that's why I live in my little motorcycle camper. This past summer, other than the 5 days of the organized tour at the resort hotel, from June to August I only spent 2 nights in a motel. Campgrounds were from $10 to $15 a night. I cook on a Coleman stove and drink "Cowboy" coffee amongst the trees and mountains before heading out for the days exploration of just about any unsuspecting back road. BTW, If I ever win the lottery, The trailer stays home for a year and 5 star hotels and restaurants will be in order ... Just for one year, to see how the other half lives ... Then back to being Trailer trash in the middle of everywhere. ;)

[ringadingh]

Emu; are you going to replace the bike, or have you already done it?

[waterman]

For me. Hmmm.

May - Memorial Day weekend I took a trip to see my parents. 500 miles each way

June - Kawanow rally. Only did around 1100 miles since it is only 300 miles to Custer.

August - Long day trip in the mountains NE of Denver. Met up with Ells and did some wonderful canyon runs.

September - Did a Labor Day trip to Silt and met up with some VROC'rs for another day ride to the Grand Mesa. Close to 1000 miles.

September - Eureka Springs Reunion Rally. 7 days and close to 2000 miles.

[emu]

Originally Posted by Ringadingh

Emu; are you going to replace the bike, or have you already done it?

Yes ... Replacing the Nomad was my plan as soon as the Ins. Co. told me the Ark was totaled. I wasn't happy to leave the bike in Tennessee ... but the damage to repair was just too much. I still have my old 1982 KZ 750 LTD twin, so i'm not in a great rush to buy. Will take a real good look at the bike shows in Dec. and Jan. and maybe have a Voyager on the road by early spring. There is a small chance that a very low mileage 05 Harley E.G. Standard in the States may become available to me for a price I can not walk away from ... But that deal may not come to be ... So I ride locally on the little old bike of mine of the last 27 years ... for now ;)

[Jared]

July- I went from Utah to Florida on a southern route, then up the east coast to Deals gap, and back to Utah through the middle of the country. All of this was two up with my wife. 21 States and 6K miles.

On this trip we stated at Mesa Verde, CO- Roswell, NM- Dallas, TX- New Orleans, LA- Dothan, AL- Titusville, FL- Charlston, SC- Deals Gap, NC- Nashville, TN- St. Louis, MO- Kansas City, KA- Longmont, CO- Orem, UT (HOME) As I'm sure you can imagine there were a lot of things to see each day.

Aug- I went with a group up to Washington and down the west coast and back home. We stayed in Idaho, Mt. Helens, Oregon Coast, Redwood forest, Mt Lassen, Lehman caves, Home

This summer was awesome. I doubt I'll have the time to do it again in the foreseeable future.

[blowndodge]

Southern Cal to Custer and then assorted short trips to Santa Barbara and San Diego and Palm springs. This summer I put as many miles as I had the previous 2 1/2 years!

I want to do what EMU is doing and tow a camping trailer and just travel everywhere! I did something like that many years ago for about 6 weeks in the greater northwest area and had the best time! Not sure if the old body could handle sleeping in a small tent trailer towed by my Nomad but I'd like to try it!

[bobhamlin]

Did a 2-up counter-clockwise loop from MD through to Springfield, IL, stopped in IA to replace a back tire, then to Hannibal, MO, into KS and up to Fargo, then east through MN, WI, Michigan U.P. and back through OH. About 3K.

Trips like this just reinforce what a great, beautiful county we live in. Friendly people all the way. Great scenery (particularly if you're a corn and flat roads perv).

On another note, I did a lot of thinking about the term "flyover country." I started the ride thinking that Flyover country was merely a descriptive term used by people who travel from coast to coast.

Now, I really believe the term applies to parts of the country some elites deem unworthy of stopping; as if things are so boring/hickish, who'd WANT to stop there.

Their loss.

[emu]

Originally Posted by Blowndodge "Darksider"

Not sure if the old body could handle sleeping in a small tent trailer towed by my Nomad but I'd like to try it!

I sleep on a cot. On that cot is a foam filled air sleeping pad in a linen sleeve ... a fitted sheet if you will. Then there is the top linen sheet in place. All this is on an open sleeping bag that folds over to become a comforter if needed in cooler temps. When packing up to leave, I just zip up the bag with the bedding inside, fold it and store it on the folded cot. Very fast when setting up for the next nights sleep. Oh yeah ... I forgot my two fluffy pillows ... I sleep good in that little trailer ;)

[billz410]

The company I work for came up with a policy that all employees with an excess of 80 hours of vacation time would need to take some time off in order to reduce stockpiled vacation days. This notice came a few weeks after the Custer rally- which I did not got to as I thought I 'couldn't afford it'.

So, I was faced with two weeks laying around the house or trying to find something to do that was even remotely enjoyable, so I decided I would take two weeks to go to North Dakota on the Nomad and visit some old acquaintences, even if the whole blasted trip went on the VISA card. Kind of the 'Screw It, Let's Ride' philosophy promoted by HD in one of their several advertising campaigns....

For the most part, I took Highway 191 North through eastern Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming; up into Yellowstone Park, except for a short sidestep into Colorado to go north on Highway 139 in Colorado, eventually ending up at my sister's place in Lewistown, MT; which is in the central part of the state.

From there I went east into North Dakota and spent 3-4 days between various friends I knew in the Fargo area. I spent a little time on the old farmstead where I grew up, and revisited a farm my brother used to own in a no-longer-a-town called Firesteel, SD, and seen a brother of mine in Rapid City.

Going south towards Hot Springs, SD, I then took Highway 71 all the way south to Rocky Ford, CO, where I spent a night. I had planned to go across southern CO on Highway 160, but the weather forecast prompted me to head a little further south on I-25, (although my original goal was to do the trip with as little Interstate travel as possible) and then head west on Highway 60 at Socorro, NM, and head back to Casa Grande.

All told it ended up being 4500 miles in 13 days. I'm sure there's many that have done more, some who wouldn't do as much. I don't know when I'll be able to do a two-week bike trip again, but if the oppurtunity arises, it'll probably be considerably less miles. Most of the days that I actually rode were close to 500 miles (granted I didn't ride every day) and I was ready to get off the bike at that point.

My return trip was a cool one (to me) with temperatures never getting above the low 50's all the way from ND to southern CO; with a short stretch of 40 degree temps across Raton Pass, NM. It was nice to get back to AZ where it was a balmy 102 degreees. ;)

The bike performed well; a couple of lose nuts and bolts along the way that I took care of as I tend to pack about 50 lbs of tools everywhere I go (OK, slight exaggeration), but the Nomad quickly began to show itself as a cruiser and not a dedicated long-range tour-bike, in my opinion. Opinions will vary on that topic, I know- and I need to remember that this was my first motorcycle trip of any length in nearly 20 years, so I would have been stiff, sore, and tired on the most plush of rides. The 'coolness' of debaffled pipes and an open air cleaner arrangement soon lost their novelty as I listened to the noise drone on and on for hours at a time. There's something about making one's bike noisy and then wearing ear plugs to deal with it that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. But hey, I know a lot of guys like the noise, and that's OK, maybe my ears are just becoming more sensitive.

Along the way a number of people who 'thought' they knew motorcycles asked me how I liked my Victory... not sure what that was all about.

Got to spend some time with a number of friends that are staunch HD guys, and I came away with a stronger belief than ever that we have got a WAY bettter bike for a LOT less money. Interesting how some guys will wear Harley chaps, a Harley coat, and Harley boots, etc., all with a 'Made In China' tag (I looked) and think they're some part of an American Icon. The American Icon ended with AMF and those bikes were mechanical junk to began with. But whatever works....

Would like to do more trips that are shorter in nature, with my wife, but bikes just ain't her thing, so I suspect most of my trips in the forseeable future will either be done solo or with some other bike rider.

Sorry for those of you that live in the northern climates where the bikes will be put in storage soon. I know what that's all about- these upcoming winter months is when the AZ climate really shines.

Thanks for listening- hope everyone else enjoyed their trips! :)

[pronghorn]

We had a great summer of riding. We rode to the National in Custer, made 2, 4-day trips in Colorado. As well as trips to the top of Pikes Peak, over Trailridge Rd. up Mt. Evans, around the state looking at the Aspen trees change. Usually one weekday trip of 300 miles doing the scenic mountain roads and everyday short trips. Looking forward to riding when weather permits and planning and dreaming about next years rides.