We are alike in that regard. In general, I do believe in redundancy. I like to have a backup for anything that is important. I was taught with any mechanical or electronic device the way to look at it was "mean time to failure". The underlying assumption is of course that everything eventually breaks down, some sooner, some later. I accept that. If I can easily avoid it, I don't like going without at those times, thus a backup.

Michael

 

Nice list!!! We rode through the Badlands and Black Hills last year, such a good place to ride! Near Mt. Rushmore try to hit Rt 16A, great road. Not sure how north you are going on the west coast but the redwoods and Crater Lake are worth seeing. I linked our map from last year below, we hit a bunch of the same parks along with a few others. Going over the lakes through Canada on the way back was a bit nicer then highway below the lakes. Might be an option for you on the way home. Good luck and have a safe trip!!

-Jason

Our 2015 CC Map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=14z...5E&usp=sharing



Crater Lake from our 2015 cross country ride.




Rocky Mountain National Park from our 2015 ride.

 

I'm excited for you. I'm counting days myself, until the day I leave. (39 days) hehehe

 

sounds cool, planning on shipping my bike out to Salem OR, I just checked out Federal Motorcycle Transport and noticed they ship bikes w no gas, empty saddlebags... What's the deal with that? Just booked my flight which only includes 1 carry on and as you can imagine Oregon to Cape Cod I'm gonna need more than I can fit in 1 backpack I guess unless I just box and ship my gear out there.

 

It seems they are pretty lax on that. They seem to want the gas under 1/3. My saddlebags locked up and full with all my camping gear and such. I did not have a problem last year with that either.

 

I was hoping to update this some while on the road but taking a break from just about all forms of a computer was a nice change. Starting to go through pictures and will be posting a bunch over the next few days.

We lucked out weather wise, not too much rain at all except a small downpour or two. As usual I over packed again....

Riding Day 1, Mt. St. Helens and Rainier. We got totally lucky this day. We started by picking our bikes up at Colombia Harley in Vancoover, WA. These guys were amazing!! We showed up a bit before opening and they were able to roll our bikes out early so we get everything packed from the flight. After we rode to Mt. St. Helens once into the hills it was all fog all the way to the Mt. St Helens viewing area. about a mile or 2 out the weather cleared and it was amazing!! We had the similar issues at Rainier, near the top of the road you could not see the mountain but on our way east we found a great viewing spot!!

Mt. St. Helens


Happy to have my bike back!!!


Mt. Rainier

 

Looking forward to seeing the rest. I'm glad everything went well. I like to read a good trip report right after I see a I hit a .... And thanks for the work of creating the pic posts

 

Day 2



This was a bit of a travel day getting from the middle of Washington State to Glacier.

Camping in Glacier was perfect! Our campsite was right on the lake, waking through the trees we were greeted with an amazing view!!! This may have just become one of my favorite places.

Arrived at the campsite in Glacier National Park


What a view!!


Beers of course while camping!!


The mountains we will be riding over tomorrow!!


-Jason

 

Day 3





This may have been one of the best riding days I have ever had! Going to the Sun Road was AMAZING! We were on the road super early so we did not have to deal with much traffic. The views were out of this world! Maybe the best scenic road I have ever been on! After glacier we road south through Montana and the riding was amazing. No traffic, great roads and amazing weather! As we neared West Yellowstone it did sprinkle a bit but nothing too crazy.

View from Going to the Sun Road


Going to the Sun Road


Going to the Sun Road


More great Montana riding!


-Jason

 

Day 4

Yellowstone Day 1

What an amazing place. We were in the park by 7AM and the traffic was not too bad getting through the gates at the West Yellowstone entrance. The national parks pass was a huge help here as there was a line for pass holders that was very fast! We hit most of the bottom loop this day and the sights were amazing! We were able to catch Old Faithful and Castle Geyser while in the area! As the day went on the weather started going south and by late afternoon it started to pour buckets. We were near Canyon Village so we decided to see if there were rooms available instead of riding 40 miles to the campsite and setting up in the rain. We got lucky and grabbed one of the last rooms. Hot food and beer at the lodge was a bit better than sitting in the rain all night long!





Castle Geyser




Old Faithful







From the bottom of "Uncle Tom's Trail"


This climb back up the stairs was fun!


-Jason