Milestones

[BikerGeek]

Milestones.

According to dictionary.com:

mile·stone
   /ˈmaɪlˌstoʊn/ Show Spelled[mahyl-stohn] Show IPA
–noun
1.a stone functioning as a milepost.
2.a significant event or stage in the life, progress, development, or the like of a person, nation, etc

For this ride report, we're looking at number 2.

The ride begins Saturday, July 10, 2010.

If you are new to BG ride reports, be prepared for many, many pictures.

[Boss]

Warning or threat...Either way....We are ready. Post up!!!

[BikerGeek]

The steed for the ride....

Ya know, I'm fortunate to have options for steeds in the stable.

Indeed, which steed?

Yamaha FJR1300. That'd be OK – we've ridden that bike all over the place the last couple years. A pic of us (thanks again Bill!) up in Quebec a couple of weeks ago.



Hmm.. Which steed?

How about Sooze's bike? A 2003 Buell Blast! Can't find any pictures of it right now, but … ah … no.

Which steed, indeed!

Last August, after 10 years riding this bike:



In anticipation of this very ride, we traded in for this:


A 2009 HD Electra Glide Ultra Classic.

This will be our 2-wheeled home for the next 3 weeks.

[Crocodile56]

Yippy let's go riding............................................ .....................

[BikerGeek]

The plan for the ride.

We head out tomorrow morning – Saturday, July 10, 2010. We're headed to a part of the country neither Sooze nor I have been – the Pacific Northwest! Our route will take us through 'Sconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and I'm not sure from there...



Sooze and I are both very, very fortunate. We work for the same company which has pretty durn good time off benefits. I've been talking with my boss about this trip for months, planning ahead to ensure my absence from the office doesn't have any detrimental impact. Same for Sooze.


For our riding, we're gonna be hitting the slab more than I'd prefer. But, when ya gotta make miles, that's what ya gotta do. We're gonna miss more stuff than we'll see, and while 3 weeks sounds like a long time, when you start looking at mileages and whatnot, the time seems to slip away.


Normally on a road trip, I kinda like to just 'wing' it, but after the fiasco we went through on our way home from our Canada trip a couple of weeks ago (couldn't find a damn hotel room with less than a $80 premium!), we'll be planning more this trip. Probably a day or 2 ahead. We have the first couple of nights planned as well as a couple of nights next week. We'll just fill in the gaps from there.


For you guys who have taken extended trips before, how the hell do you do it? I tend to be a bit of a worrier at times (and I drive myself nuts doing that and am trying to quit it) and the thoughts of being on the road for 3 weeks is a bit daunting to me at times. I'm doing my best to knock it down to a bunch of mini-road-trips, but still...


So, after months and months of talking about it, buying a motorcycle specifically for it, and compiling lists of stuff to see & do while we're doing it, our 3-week journey begins in the morning. Normally I'd put the ride report together at the end, but I'm trying something so crazy it just might work – keeping the ride report going while we're on it. Dunno how well that'll work out, so bear with me. I'll do the best I can, 'cause these are pretty fun to write!

Departure time in the morning: early, which should be interesting since neither Sooze nor I are 'morning people.'

Destination for tomorrow: Madison, WI.

Thanks for tuning in, and don't be a stranger, y' hear?

[Mrs. Boss]

Check in with us!!! We'll be with you in HERD spirit!!

[Boss]

Nothing better that riding in America with American Iron!!! Now that's a journey at it's best and a great way to get to see our beautiful Country. Too bad that we couldn't help with the planning and given you contact information from our members that you will be passing by. Check out the HERD Map as you will see quite of bit of them.

http://www.hdherd.com/showthread.php?214-HERD-Member-Map

[Mrs. Boss]

... AND we'll be waiting for pics!!!

[BikerGeek]

Check out the HERD Map as you will see quite of bit of them.

Thanks for the reminder about the map. I meant to check that out and it slipped my mind!

... AND we'll be waiting for pics!!!

Beware of you wish for... Although, it's probably gonna take a couple of days to get to anything interesting.

I'm very fortunate - when it comes to taking pictures while on the bike, Sooze rides with a camera on a lanyard around her neck, so she takes pictures of stuff I never see since I'm more focused on driving the bike. So I've come up with a nick-name for Sooze: The Pillion Paparazzi. On our ride up to Canada a couple of weeks ago, she took something like 450 pictures over the week! So get ready, and I hope nobody is on dial-up!

[Mrs. Boss]

Thanks for the reminder about the map. I meant to check that out and it slipped my mind!



Beware of you wish for... Although, it's probably gonna take a couple of days to get to anything interesting.

I'm very fortunate - when it comes to taking pictures while on the bike, Sooze rides with a camera on a lanyard around her neck, so she takes pictures of stuff I never see since I'm more focused on driving the bike. So I've come up with a nick-name for Sooze: The Pillion Paparazzi. On our ride up to Canada a couple of weeks ago, she took something like 450 pictures over the week! So get ready, and I hope nobody is on dial-up!

We can't wait to see Sooze the Pillion Paparazz's picsi

[B-Man]

Have a safe and enjoyable ride!!

[toorglide]

that Glide will look nice in the forefront of yer scenic pics........dont be shy about setting the auto timer on yer camera and jumping in there from time to time
sounds like a great trip, would be cool to camp about half of it

[BikerGeek]

that Glide will look nice in the forefront of yer scenic pics........dont be shy about setting the auto timer on yer camera and jumping in there from time to time
sounds like a great trip, would be cool to camp about half of it

WAYYYY ahead of ya! I always carry a small tri-pod that I can put my camera on, and my camera has a screen that flips out so I can really aim it how I want it. Just give us a few days...

Or, my tried-and-tested alternate method is to hold the camera out and snap a self-portrait. This is me and the missus on the ferry ride from Long Island to Connecticut last June.


Unfortunately, after ... ahem ... a few adult beverages, unintended results may occur.


We have talked about camping. For one, I don't know how where we'd put camping gear without a trailer. Second of all, I don't know how enthusiastic I would be to set camp after spending a long day in the saddle. Third, one of these days I'm gonna put the previous 2 points to the test!

[BikerGeek]

OK, kiddies.

The Geeks are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Well, we're up and about, anyway.

Whattaya say we insert some 'ride' into this ride report, mm-kay?

If ya see us on the road, feel free to say hey or give us the 'salute.'

Since I woke up, I've had the music from the movie "Smokey And The Bandit" going through my head. (Don't ask - I don't know why my mind does what it does, either.)

So, as they'd say in that movie, "This here's the Geek. We're west bound and down."

Over & out.

[BikerGeek]

Day 1: July 10,2010

“They're thirst in Atlanta, and there's beer in Tex-Arcana...”

Ya know, if it weren't for the pre-ride jitters, I just may actually get a decent night's sleep before leaving on a ride. Maybe. Someday. Today wasn't that day.

Sooze and I were up around 6:00-ish and got ready. We loaded up the rest of our crap on the Ultra and were ready to roll.

Minutes before departure:






We rolled out at 7:00 on the nose. The morning started out crisp and clear. The sun was out and it was almost chilly, but not quite – somewhere in the low 60's. Perfect!



As we headed west out of Columbus on I-70, though, things changed...

FOG! We were in and out of this crap for a little while. It went from just being annoying to holy-crap-I-can't-see-a-damn-think thick!



After a while, it either burned off or we just came out of it. We were thanked for visiting the state that's round on the ends and hi in the middle.



And our neighbors to the west gave us a welcome. That's state number 2 for the day.



Sooze said something tonight that I think is fitting to describe today: “You know it's a long day when the most exciting thing to happen is Indianapolis.” We looked for Payton but didn't see him. I guess he doesn't read ride reports.



While going through Indy, the exit we needed to get to I-74 north was closed, so there was a detour. That was all fine and dandy until they got lazy with their signage so I missed the entrance to I-74 north, so we did a quick jaunt on 74 south and turned around. Luckily it was just a short distance to an exit where we could turn around, but 74 is all torn to crap.

Yep, that was the most excitement for the day.

Although, you must admit, you can see some interesting things at gas stations off the interstate.