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V-Tom heads out to western USA May 2018

9K views 61 replies 24 participants last post by  Griff 
#1 ·
Early in 2018 I was planning a trip to Arizona to visit my Daughter and see some more of the south-western USA. Turned out I had training on the New Cayenne with Porsche (I have been Porsche's for about 24 years) in Albuquerque at the same time so I added it to my trip. My wife couldn't come so this ended up being a solo trip which meant little sitting around and lots of riding. Three days were spent at my daughter's and two full days training in Albuquerque.

Left May 12th and arrived home May 29th.
Ended up doing 10,828 Km or 6,728 miles.

I will try not to bore you with videos and hopefully not too many pictures.

..Tom
 
#30 ·
Great write up, thanks for sharing! I drove a car up Mt Evans in Colorado and it was scary as heck. There were people on motorcycles and bicycles while it started snowing. barely enough room for two cars, no guardrail, straight drop, slippery. I didn't envy the riders that day.
 
#31 ·
Thanks for the nice trip report! My son and I are headed down that way in September from Massachusetts and I was very interested in your route to get down there. I had been wondering if the Natchez Trace was worth a slight detour and it's good to know it isn't all that (I'll skip it) but it seems the Ozarks are definitely a worthy destination so we'll plan to check them out.
 
#33 ·
If I may interject here. As I recall, the first bit of the Trace in Tennessee and Alabama is nice and scenic, but as you get deeper into Mississippi in becomes a little boring, straight roads in between rows of pine trees on either side of the road. There is a bit of history to be had though. I'll say this much, it's worth one trip at least.
 
#32 ·
Nuns are a bad habit to get into!

Out on Hwy 50 I noticed a dust devil working its way up one of the valleys as I was coming across it . My timing was perfect. Just as I was getting to the far side of the valley the dust devil met me and forced my sidecar rig into the other lane quite abruptly. As it was the Loneliest Road in America, there was no oncoming traffic, thankfully.
It's hard to determine the size and intensity of the dust devil from a distance.
 
#35 ·
@V-Tom
Thanks so much for this excellent thread and report. The pics are great, and it really helps a touring noob like me to have the distance, time and route map. Even starting from further west, this really helps me visualize what I could do in two weeks or so. Amazing also is the mileage you have on your bike. Looking at the combined total is staggering. That is a lot of seat time. The most mileage I ever put on a car was about 133K kms and that took 13 years.

Am I correct in reading the map as showing your sleep stops, as well as fuel, sights, meals etc? I'll look into Furkot as well.
 
#36 ·
Furkot can actually make reservations for you (that is how the they have made money up until now. They just this last week have added a subscription service for premium services that looks interesting.)
When you setup a trip you tell it when you want your day to start and end and/or the max mileage per day you want to do. It will then propose where you should stop for the night (you have the ability to over-rule it for any day if you want. There is a spot in the fiel for each "Sleep" icon tht yo ucan put a confirmation number. if there is anything in that spot the icon colour changes. (I'm a bit colourblind, I think they are blue when they don't have the confirmation and red when they do so you can quickly tell if you have confirmed the reservation.) The food stops I put in for places I wanted to eat (first three days were Southern fried chicken places!) and you can also put "maybe's" in there that will show on your way-points but not on the route itself. (It also can find twisty roads and all kinds of interesting things if you want.)

It took me a while to learn it but for me it has been well worth it!

..Tom
 
#40 ·
It's never too early to think about riding!

I only have the 2015 DL1000. The 650's have been gone for a while now. The DL1000 has 159,473 km or 99,091 miles when I last gassed it. (I may have done a little bit of riding since.) Unfortunately there has been too much ice and snow on the roads around my place over the last few weeks to ride it. :(

..Tom
 
#45 ·
Happy New Year, Tom! Thank you very much for the fine report, and the wonderful photographs.
Clearly, you had a fine time, and I reckon you rolled over invisible tire-tracks I laid down while out west
in 2006 and 2008 and a couple of times in 2010. Heck, you probably crossed my route hundreds of times.

I hope to see you in 2019's summer.
Best wishes to you and yours.
Keith
 
#48 ·
Hey Keith nice to hear from you!!! How are you doing?
I am honored to have both followed some of your footsteps and crossed some of your routes!!!

Hope to see you this year!

..Tom
 
#51 ·
Wow, V-Tom, excluding the days you were working and the days at your daughter's, I figure you rode an average of more than 500 miles per day. That's a lot of time in the saddle especially when taking in all the sights. I rode to the east coast and back and put in one day of 1070 miles but what you did would be tough. Hats off to you!
 
#55 ·
1070 miles is a big day, especially if it is in the middle of a trip! (Tip of the hat back to you!) I'm going to the Ironhorse meet up this spring. If my wife doesn't come I will slab down there in one day to save a bit of vacation time for bigger rides later in the year. (She rides her own bike and if she comes I wouldn't expect her to ride that kind of mileage so would take two days.) it would be my furthest single day.

When I'm riding solo there isn't a lot of reason to stop early and I am comfy on the bike so I can happily keep riding. I just make sure to **always** take a break every two to three hours. Consecutive 500 to 750 mile days are pretty easy for me to do if slabbing but I enjoy the shorter days on secondary roads and twisties much more.

..Tom
 
#52 ·
Tom, awesome trip man....that kind of mileage is right up my alley. It's all about seeing the sights and having fun. Back in 2000 I rode from Ft. Lauderdale out to Sturgis and did Needles, Black Hills, Crazy Horse, Devils tower, Rushmore, etc on my RoadKing....fantastic area!

You missed the Little Big Horn Battlefield....I had always wondered what happened to Custer and how he let himself get in what must have been a bad tactical position despite the overwhelming number of Indians. When you stand where Custer fell, you understand...it was an eye opener. Anyway, i want opt go back and see that area again,...on my DL650 ;)
 
#54 ·
Thanks for the comments!

I rode right by the Battlefield on I90 but didn't stop.

A Road King would be a great ride for most of the trip! (Not as fun in the twisties though.) A few years ago I had the distinct pleasure of spending most of a week on a Road King in Arizona and New Mexico ... great bike for out there for sure! (Actually first time I went north on the Coronado trail ended up being on that Road King. We didn't plan to rent Harley's but the place we had arranged to rent bike from in Phoenix totally dropped the ball.)

..Tom
 
#58 ·
Thanks!

When I get some time I'll post a ride a ride I did this past July. Toronto area, Salt Lake City, Vancouver and back though Canada to home Stay tuned!

..Tom
 
#59 · (Edited)
Nice ride report.

17 days and 10k km .....oddly that's almost exactly my pace this last June

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Wqmhzqmuy8FADp6X9

Flew the bike to Calgary, lovely if white knuckle ride over the Rogers Pass the same day, a few days riding Southern BC mountain routes and visiting in Vancouver. Then a ride back home to Toronto with the wind on the northern Trans-Canada route

I find 750-850 km a day is "okay" when daylight is long and I'm solo ....seems I should take the time to write it up as it's likely a popular bucket list ride.
With two riders it seems 5-600 km is more practical.. found that with my son on a similar 2015 ride to the west coast also flying the bikes west. We had 22 days and used 20 but then Yellowstone, Beartooth and Port Albernie/Vancouver Island and the Inside Passage Ferry added time in a good way.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/w8nAPy3PetxdYyt38

We originally spec'd out 700+ per day trip but then I knocked it back to 525 per day and that worked out well. He's a type one diabetic so his energy levels vary and we did want to smell the roses. We only averaged over 700 on the plains on the way home.
With ferries and some sight seeing - 500 km a day average was fine - I always build in a rain day or two.....900-1000 km day is about my limit and that may be dropping.

Talking to ST riders in Australia ...I was a bit surprised they averaged 450 k km per day on their jaunts but I suspect that's maybe a consequence of both more riders in a group and strict speed laws in Australia.
 
#60 · (Edited)
Nice ride report.

17 days and 10k km .....oddly that's almost exactly my pace this last June

...
Actually there was 12 days of riding and 5 days where the bike sat. Two of those days were training and three days were spent at my daughter's. I averaged a bit over 800 km per riding day but a few days were just over 1,000 km. I'm at the point now where (on solo rides) I can plan on 1,000 to 1,200 km days if slabbing and the bike is setup well for me so slabbing is no biggy. (My personal record is just short of 1,600 km.)

..Tom
 
#61 ·
Too far for these old bones tho doing less than 700 I think is costly on accommodation on longer trips....adds up to an extra night.

Like the Vstrom the CB500x has long range and I tend to push too far and pay for it especially if I'm within a 1,000 km of home.
 
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