ihatemybike
Explorer
My wife primarily works as a school photographer, as such she's laid off for a couple months each summer. In 2012 and 2013 she's taken this time to fly to Alaska and volunteer at some farms in exchange for room and board. I was fortunate enough in 2013 to drive one of my vans up with my Husky chilling on the floor next to me, pick her up in Homer, cruise Alaska for a week and drive back, van-camping the whole time.
In 2014 she's made plans to volunteer at a Chestnut tree farm in Oregon and an artisan lumber farm in Washington this time driving her expedition prepped Jeep Liberty to the farms. Originally we talked about me flying out and driving back together, but then my own adventure bug bit me. Why don't I ride my motorcycle out? My wife can take the motorcycle hitch carrier with her, allowing us to return together. Brilliant!!
The trip West is planned to start after work on July 11th and hopefully not take over a week. I've never ridden a motorcycle that far, my longest being a one day trek just over 200 miles. The KE has a top speed of roughly 55 mph and seems to cruise happily at 50 mph, has roughly 1.75 useable gallons in the tank and has averaged 42 mpg for me thus far. That mean without carrying extra fuel it has a range of roughly 70 miles. The KE is a self metering 2 stroke, so I'll need a ready supply of 2 stroke oil as well. I really should start keeping track of it's oil usage as well. Knowing the miles per quart will definitely be helpful in the planning.
Last night using DeLorme Street Atlas and Google maps I started planning my route. Eliminating interstate usage, both agreed with primarily routing me along US-2, giving me a route of roughly 2200 miles. This route will have me pass through Glacier National Park on the Going to the Sun road. I truly enjoy the Glacier area and this will be my third time through, and knowing my wife, my forth time through will be on our way back.
Since fuel will be a big issue for me, I'm taking a close look to see the distance between towns and searching for fuel stops in those towns. Based on the overview, North Dakota and Montana will be the states that will give me the most trouble, so they are the states I'm starting my research with, Montana first. East to West I've researched about halfway across the state so far. I've found sections of road labelled "Old US Hwy 2" that I may just have to take and so far no distances between stations that I shouldn't be able to make with fuel to spare. I'm also taking into consideration that fuel stations actually close outside of metropolitan areas. Not sure if that will affect Sunday travel plans.
For sleeping, I'm torn between bringing lite camping gear or couch surfing. Camping will let me not have a set daily destination, which is how I've primarily traveled the past several years. Couch surfing will mean less to carry and most likely shorten the daily miles covered to ensure making the destination, but will increase interaction with locals. My KE currently has no provisions for carrying gear.
So, there's the plan so far. Feel free to make suggestion of things to see and do, planning and gear tips, offer me places to stay, etc.....
In 2014 she's made plans to volunteer at a Chestnut tree farm in Oregon and an artisan lumber farm in Washington this time driving her expedition prepped Jeep Liberty to the farms. Originally we talked about me flying out and driving back together, but then my own adventure bug bit me. Why don't I ride my motorcycle out? My wife can take the motorcycle hitch carrier with her, allowing us to return together. Brilliant!!
The trip West is planned to start after work on July 11th and hopefully not take over a week. I've never ridden a motorcycle that far, my longest being a one day trek just over 200 miles. The KE has a top speed of roughly 55 mph and seems to cruise happily at 50 mph, has roughly 1.75 useable gallons in the tank and has averaged 42 mpg for me thus far. That mean without carrying extra fuel it has a range of roughly 70 miles. The KE is a self metering 2 stroke, so I'll need a ready supply of 2 stroke oil as well. I really should start keeping track of it's oil usage as well. Knowing the miles per quart will definitely be helpful in the planning.
Last night using DeLorme Street Atlas and Google maps I started planning my route. Eliminating interstate usage, both agreed with primarily routing me along US-2, giving me a route of roughly 2200 miles. This route will have me pass through Glacier National Park on the Going to the Sun road. I truly enjoy the Glacier area and this will be my third time through, and knowing my wife, my forth time through will be on our way back.
Since fuel will be a big issue for me, I'm taking a close look to see the distance between towns and searching for fuel stops in those towns. Based on the overview, North Dakota and Montana will be the states that will give me the most trouble, so they are the states I'm starting my research with, Montana first. East to West I've researched about halfway across the state so far. I've found sections of road labelled "Old US Hwy 2" that I may just have to take and so far no distances between stations that I shouldn't be able to make with fuel to spare. I'm also taking into consideration that fuel stations actually close outside of metropolitan areas. Not sure if that will affect Sunday travel plans.
For sleeping, I'm torn between bringing lite camping gear or couch surfing. Camping will let me not have a set daily destination, which is how I've primarily traveled the past several years. Couch surfing will mean less to carry and most likely shorten the daily miles covered to ensure making the destination, but will increase interaction with locals. My KE currently has no provisions for carrying gear.
So, there's the plan so far. Feel free to make suggestion of things to see and do, planning and gear tips, offer me places to stay, etc.....