6,001 miles in 17 days

On my 2006 Victory 8 Ball, I just completed my first 2 wheel solo cross country ride. 40th anniversary and 61st b'day gift from my wife; said I should stop talking and do it before I'm too old ;o)

Left southern MD on July 16th, odo 9,913; through VA, WV, and Ohio on Rt.
5o; N. to Duguque, IO, across to Spirit Lake, N. to I-90, W. to Rapid City, SD; S. on 79, then west on 18/20/25/26 cross WY, through Jackson and arrived Idaho Falls, ID on the 22nd, 2,694 miles.

Mostly secondary roads except I-90 across S.D. Spent 2 days chilling, then 2 days touring Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Jackson, WY, 490 miles. Departed ID on the 27th, and arrived home on August 1st, 6001 miles; odo 15,914.

Caught in the rain twice, very hot across SD & WY; killed 10 million bugs, and one truck tire at 70 mph, on I-80 passing S. of Chicago(not a strip, the whole round tread; very lucky)

Great trip, the only way to actually see our country. See album for more pics

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

First, my congratulations, and thanks from middle aged men everywhere, to your wife for the 'boot-in-the-pants' birthday present. I'm glad you got home to her safe and sound. It's never too late to add to one's collection of stories to bore the grandchildren, nieces and nephews with. All that scenery with a 360° view!

AZBuck

Hi there.
Wow, lucky guy! And I'm With Buck, top marks to your wife.

It sounds as though you had a great time and if you'd like to share some of your tales and photos you can post them up direct on here, I for one would like to see and I am sure many others would also. :-)

SouthwestDave, yeah, she's at least a 9.5 ;o). I had posted a link to photos, unaware that was not allowed. I believe the moderators are determining if they will allow the link since it is a photo only page.
Been riding since 1971, the Vic is my 14th bike; total miles to date on all 14 bikes is 263,491.
In 1978 my wife and 2 sons (5&8) drove from S.MD, northern route, Yellowstone, Tetons, Oregon, coast hwy to San Diego, then back through Colorado and across the mid west to MD. No AC, camped for 24 days, a little over 8300 miles; since then always wanted to do it on a bike.
Will attach a couple more as I go. Thank you for the input.

Mostly, we would prefer that commentary about road trips occurs on this Forum -- Members who have contributed more to the lore of roadtripping are allowed to post links to external sites ( including their own blogs). The link was eliminated not because of where it went (a photo collection) but rather that you were a first-time poster.

Here is another field report from another motorcyclist.

Mark

Mark, I read his before, sounded like a good trip also; how did he get the pics to post that big? All I could input was the thumbnails; If I was that young again I'd do it in a heartbeat, but eyes don't see as well at night as they used to; figured discretion was the better part. Besides, when you're retired, you only have a destination, no schedule :o)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by howln

how did he get the pics to post that big? All I could input was the thumbnails;

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There are two ways of posting larger images:
1) I can't remember what your photo service is, but if you have the URL you can load the larger images by clicking on the "photo" icon above (it looks like a mountain range, with a sun) and loading the URL OR -- you can upload your photos directly to RTA and use us as your photo album service (go to your "User CP" (see it in the green navigation bar) and click on Photo albums ("Pictures and Albums") and follow the directions.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3.../WesternCD.jpg
As an example, I went to your photo sharing site, Photobucket.com (which is one of the nicest for being able to easily grab images) and then clicked on the "insert photo icon" above and here it is....

Actually, the PhotoBucket site has the option of delivering the photo in the format we use on this Forum without using our "insert photo tool" If you click on that IMG option it loads it directly and you simply paste it in this forum post -- (I wish it re-sized it to fit our page -- I will work on that...)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...wstoneloop.jpg

Mark

Mark, thanks for the info, I'll give it a shot

Great route, it looks like. Always want to drive through the middle of Wyoming and up to the Tetons and Yellowstone.

Sykotyk

Mark, thanks again, and for inserting the pics. The one overlooking the valley is one of my favorites. Loading up for a short ride (probably a 1500+ mi weekend), S. MD to Cherokee, NC for a Vic rally. My wife says she opened Pandora's box ;o) Will post more pics later.