Wherever you go have fun and good luck with the weather. Just returned from 2300+ mile ride from Tucson to Chicago through Monument Valley, northern NM, southern KS, the Ozarks in MO and then north. Weather did not cooperate. Makes for some tough days.

 

I am by no means a "cold weather" rider but with proper gear (leathers, rain suits, heated gear and FF helmets) I can ride in cooler and/or wet weather even if it requires more frequent stops to "warm up" but when riding in extreme heat can pose more supreme conditions such as heat stroke or dehydration that could end up ruining my (or your) trip and possibly landing you in a hospital.

I've rode (once) across Death Valley and a couple of cross-country trips with temps +/- the triple digit range and one one trip to Florida getting a darn good facial sunburn!

Of the two, I'll take the cooler (and longer rides) "hands down" over riding in a furnace with few places to seek some comfort.

 

Its an almost 1400 mile one way trip to get to southern Colorado. He said he was only planning on a 1200 mile round trip so that cuts this in half. I'd just head Northeast(ish) and see where you end up. No set plans....no set itinerary. Just ride and check out what you want along the way. And definitely stay away from West Texas and further West...its dang hot already. My bike is tucked away in air conditioned garage now and only ridden on rare occasion early or late in the day.

 

I have ridden through Death Valley in July (bike computer was showing 120 degrees) and have ridden many times in triple digits in the southwest. Cooling vests or not, those are tough even with a high tolerance for heat. I rode from Chicago to Atlanta to meet a buddy years ago in May, wore a full face helmet, didn’t think to use sunscreen and it seemed overcast most of the day. Pulling into a Cracker Barrel for dinner, the cashier looks at me and says “nice tan”. I looked in a mirror, my face looked like someone had painted a red circle on it! For below freezing it’s all about the gear and you can be ok. Electric stuff is the game saver. Not pleasant but ok. Having moved to a Tri Glide when I turned 70, I’m less bothered by heavy winds than I was on two wheels, but these days, heavy rains do me in. I have trouble seeing (RainX doesn’t solve that) and worry about water accumulating on the road I can’t see (had a bad car accident in the rain which raises my worries). Just experienced this on my TriGlide last week in southern Missouri. Not fun. I’ll take hot or cold over that.

 

The Trace has been suggested. If you get this way, give a shout out, and I can give a few local suggestions.

 

My

Beaumont, TX to Eureka Springs AR is 550'sh miles one way. Beaumont is kinda SE Texas.

There are great roads in the mountains there. The Pig Trail was in a state of "on-going" repair when I/we where there in the spring of 2024 (May). The flooding that happened in 2023 really broke that rode. The ADOT people gave and are still giving a 110% effort in getting that road passable. In the spring of 2024 there were many (more than 6) one way sections, with portable traffic lights and excessively long wait times. In the 5 days we road through that area, the Pig Trail was the only road that had any major damage.

Good luck on you Wind Therapy.

 

Was on part of the Natchez Trace some years ago coming back from a Gulf Coast ride around the Gulf Coast (yes New Orleans, which I’d also pass up now) as close to the Gulf as possible down to Galveston. I thought the Trace was a really pleasant and pretty ride and would like to do it all some day. Since it angles northeast I had to cut off about half way to head back to Chicago. I haven’t looked at the mileage but having a 500-600 miles target before you have to turn around, it’s worth a thought. If you’re interested there are some amazing Civil War sites within your range (Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Chickamauga). That’s some pretty riding areas.

 

@67Shuv Northwestern Arkansas looks like it fits almost perfectly into your allotted time and preferred round trip distance. Harrison Arkansas is a great hub of awesome mountain-ish rides. And Eureka Springs is just a super cool motorcycle friendly town where there are more cool bikes to look at on almost any summer day than just about anywhere I've been aside from Sturgis, SD during the rally. If you end up in Eureka Springs, make a point to eat lunch/dinner at the Cathouse Lounge / Pied Piper Pub. Ask for a seat on the balcony overlooking the street and you can gawk at a ton of bikes parked below as well as passing by on the street while you eat and sip on a mug of cold suds.

 

Just got back late yesterday from an absolutely amazing weekend with a close friend of mine. I had originally planned this trip solo because I don’t really enjoy catering to a passenger on a long ride. Just my own sorta way I suppose. But it worked out in the best way possible.

some back story… if it even matters. I’ve been dealing with a pretty rough divorce for a year and a half or so. Had a childhood friend reach out that I hadn’t spoken to in decades that had gone through one herself, just to say hey this sucks but you’ll be alright more/less. It’s been good to have that old friendship back. She also rides… we’ve done a few things together over the last 8-9mo just to hang out and catch up a bit.

She called me about a week ago and asked if I’d be interested in going on a little road trip to stay with her sister and BIL in a little air bnb in Arkansas of all places, then asked if I had planned on doing any riding.. long story short, she asked to take the bike totally unprompted LOL So Thursday morning she met me at my place, we loaded up the bike and away we go. Took a good portion of the day to get there not being in a hurry. Traffic was light, temps were up but the road was good. I knew 5min into the ride I’d never had a passenger like her. We rode a little in high school together on the back of my old 650 but never more than 20-30mi. She knew when to move, when not to move, helped with watching, ran interference in parking lots. You name it. Just perfect.

We arrived to the cabin situated on a long gravel county road off AR8 between Mena and Norman to a very good meal and cold drinks ready for us. Sat around, watched the stars, listened to music, told old stories and unwound from the day.

Friday we rode down to the Little MO River falls to take a dip and see the sights. I managed to bust my *** on a rock, more on that… lots of dirt/gravel road miles Friday, and ran over to Hot Springs for dinner at Luna Bella on Lake Hamilton. Such a good, relaxing day.

Saturday was the Talimena Skyway, Queen Wilhelmina St Park, Lunch at what used to be Pam’s Hateful Hussy, now “Twister’s Cafe” met a couple on a big Indian Roadmaster and traded stories over some iced tea and lunch. Shopped the little stores in Talihina and took a rather long way back and saw some beautiful country coming home. Arrived back to steaks and cold beers for dinner, more good company and good times. Watched some fireworks from the back porch down the little valley from our place.

Sunday was the ride home. We left early after a light breakfast. Early lunch at a little Mexican spot in New Boston, Tx. Some returning holiday traffic slowed the progress but it wasn’t terrible. Once we hit the 4 lane US hwys through East Tx it lightened up. Cruised on back towards the house and made one last stop at lake Sam Rayburn and just talked about the weekend and what it meant to both of us to be able to share.

It was a pretty amazing trip for just a little 4 day ride. We’re already talking about the next one, another weekend run to the Tx Hill Country to house sit for a friend that works overseas. I do believe she has totally changed my tune about traveling with a passenger. It was so enjoyable! Made about 1350mi total with zero issues. No crazy driver mishaps, nothing. Completely flawless and will 10/10 be making more rides with my old friend, and more miles in that part of the country.

just wanted to give y'all a little punctuation after being given some good input when I asked about making this ride. I appreciate it.

 

Ah, yes… the fall… pretty sure my tailbone is possibly fractured or at least badly bruised. I center punched a big rock pretty squarely in the *** crack when I fell. Didn’t really bother me much until the ride home. This morning it is pretty pissed off. A Dr can’t do much for it so it’ll probably be ibuprofen and time to get past it. My pain tolerance has always been a little silly so who knows how bad it is. My gut says it’s not broken though. I would love to have a seat with a little relief in the center anyway. May be time to look into that.