Some final thoughts

And so, the trip is now a memory.

- 27 days, 26 nights on the road;
- 13,596 kms (8,448 mi) for me - more for the others: Dave and Bob were at about 9,100 miles and Manny was at around 8,000 miles as well;
- 17 states visited - more for the folks from Delaware;
- 27 mornings of loading up the bike with gear; 26 nights of unloading the bike with gear;
- 24 different hotels/motels that we stayed in (twice, we spent 2 nights at the same place - once at the Travellers Lodge in West Yellowstone, MT and once at the Extended Stay America in Englewood, CO). Some I'd go back to in a flash (Hullett Motel in Hullet, WY; Mt Carmel Motel in Mt Carmel, UT; Argo Inn and Suites in Idaho Springs, CO. Others I'd make sure to stay away from (Days Inn in Rawlins, WY). Every single place we stayed at, regardless of how big or small it was, had free WiFi included;
- 27 days of eating restaurant food - some better than others, for sure!
- 32 Harley dealerships visited, and poker chips acquired;
- countless National Parks (Badlands, Glacier, Zion, Bryce Canyon, etc), National Forests (Shoshone, Custer, Pike, Lewis & Clark) and National Monuments/Memorial (Mt Rushmore, Devils Tower, Little Bighorn, Natural Bridges, etc.) visited. Well worth buying the $80 Annual National Park Pass before a trip such as this;
- thousands of pictures and 100+ videos taken to try and capture some of the memories of this trip;

- 1 mechanical issue on the 5 bikes (2, 2012 HD ElectraGlides, 3, 2014 HD ElectraGlides) - a water pump went on one of the '14s and luckily we were within an hour of a dealership, so they were able to get the bike back on the road within the day;
- we got to ride a number of "named roads", e.g. Beartooth Highway, Million Dollar Highway, Grand Army of the Republic Highway, Lincoln Highway, Historic Route 66, and the list goes on;
- we got to ride along and cross a couple of the largest rivers in North America - the Missouri and the Mississippi, and we also got ride along the Rio Grande, the Arkansas and the Maumee to name a few;
- temperature extremes handled on the trip - from a low of around 40F climbing the Monarch Pass in Colorado to a high of around 105F while riding through rural Iowa;
- elevation extremes handled on the trip - from around ~400 ft above sea level while riding in Kansas to a high of ~14,500 ft while riding the mountains of Colorado;
- we were blessed with excellent weather for the vast majority of the trip, but we did find some heavy rain a few times - once as we were leaving Little Bighorn Battlefield, another time was we were riding out of Durango, and we did have one day where it rained (lightly) for the best part of the day - between Idaho Springs and Gunnison. We

experienced some strong winds at various points on the trip, but the strongest had to be as we were getting ready to leave the Navajo Bridge National Monument on our way to Page, AZ;

So, now that all the stats that I can think of are out there, some of my personal reflections on the trip:

I am so very happy to have done this trip. I had been tinkering with the idea of doing the trip for a number of years and had actually started making rough plans for quite a while, so I am thrilled that I was able to do it while I still can - physically and financially.

I got to see parts of the USA that I had never seen before, got to experience the drastic changes in climate, scenery and cultures that go along with a cross country trip such as this one. Loved to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyons, Natural Bridges, Old Faithful - we really lucked out on that timing, with it deciding to spout out just as we were getting to the site - and a whole bunch more.

Wildlife was aplenty on the trip - we saw a lot of open range

bison/buffalo and cattle, got to avoid a bunch of deer, saw antelope and elk, a bear cub, lots and lots of prairie dogs, some eagles, lots of hawks and a multitude of kamikaze birds too. Luckily, we were able to avoid them all.

We also had to dodge a number of ignorant members of the human race, a couple of which thought it would be ok to just run out in front of moving motorcycles so they could get a better picture of this or that.

I was quite happy with the pace of the days - some will say that we took too long to do the trip, some will say that we didn't take enough time - for me, it was just right.

I was also pleased with my choice of roads/routes on the trip. Since I do not enjoy doing interstates or major highways, we stayed on secondary and backroads for the great majority of the trip. Even though we had to face the traffic in the large cities such as Denver and St Louis, for the largest part we had the roads mostly to ourselves.

We did wind up doing some off-roading: 13 miles of it in South Dakota where the road was just not maintained well enough between Parmelee and Long Valley, and then again in Indiana for about 10 miles when I was too stubborn to give up on my search for a covered bridge. We also ran into quite a bit of construction activity along the trip, but then again, that's not too unexpected given the timing and distance of the trip.

We basically stayed within the plan for the trip, but were also able to adjust for changes that came up along the way. The biggest change was to Day 21 where we were to head south out of Page, AZ and see Canyon de Chelly and the Ledge Ruins, but instead we went north to the Four Corners Monument.

For me, the highlight of the trip was the day the we rode in Utah, from Dolores, CO to Torrey, UT (Day 18). The ride along UT95 and then UT24 was spectacular in my opinion. The rock formations with its various colours were fantastic - every time I rounded a bend, or crested a hill, I would be saying "wow" and trying to reach for the camera to capture the memory.

The biggest disappointment for me was the Four Corners Monument - I had been forewarned (that was why it wasn't on the original trip plan), but I still found it to be underwhelming.

This was the first time that I had tried anything this long on a motorcycle - I had previously done 14 day trips as maximum - and I had originally thought that I would find a trip of this length physically trying. I was wrong. What I did find though, was that the trip was mentally tiring. I found having to focus on getting the group of 5 bikes (then 4 after the halfway point) through the daily routes, making sure everyone was still back there and still safe, trying to communicate potential hazards, trying to find locations to eat, locations to rest, locations to stay, to be draining. Maneuvering around the big cities was especially tough. So, if I were given a chance to do a "do-over" for the just completed ride, there are a couple of changes that I would make: everyone would have a copy of the daily routes on their own GPS (we did actually have that capability on this trip) and I would pre-book rooms ahead of schedule, instead of trying to find a hotel/motel with a room at the end of a long day of riding.

So, would I do this trip (or a similar trip) again? On a motorcycle, yes. While trying to lead 5/4 motorcycles? No. In a car, yes.

I thank my riding partners - Manny from Florida, Dave and Bob from Delware, and Brian and Jana (aka mom) from London - for their support and companionship on the trip.

I only have one regret, and that is that I was not able to share the experience with my wife Vicki ... guess we will just have to do it (minus the off-roading) in a car ... maybe we will do the loop counter-clockwise this time :-)