drdubb
Site Supporter
Update: I'm placing the links for all of the videos for this trip on this first post for ease in finding.
I'm placing links to all of my videos to make access easier.
Day 1-4 NC, Tenn., Mo., Kansas, New Mexico [video=youtube_share;oxGbGcpE8qo]https://youtu.be/oxGbGcpE8qo[/video]
Day 5 Million Dollar Highway, Silverton, Ouray [video=youtube_share;HttiHkhzLeE]https://youtu.be/HttiHkhzLeE[/video]
Day 6 Moki Dugway, Monument Valley [video=youtube_share;j_YgxE2FPPs]https://youtu.be/j_YgxE2FPPs[/video]
Day 7 Vermillion Cliffs, N Rim Grand Canyon, Zion [video=youtube_share;6U3_AxbihUw]https://youtu.be/6U3_AxbihUw[/video]
Day 8 Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef [video=youtube_share;eFOv9ekDP8Q]https://youtu.be/eFOv9ekDP8Q[/video]
Day 9 Canyonlands [video=youtube_share;I8i-qpb3MHw]https://youtu.be/I8i-qpb3MHw[/video]
Day 10 Arches [video=youtube;Aq5oDf-KMMQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5oDf-KMMQ&feature=youtu.be[/video]
Day 11 Monarch and Independence Pass [video=youtube_share;IYMvgv8l7XE]https://youtu.be/IYMvgv8l7XE[/video]
Day 12 Rocky Mountain National Park [video=youtube_share;RoTriFalElg]https://youtu.be/RoTriFalElg[/video]
Apologies for the dearth of photos in these first few days. My phone died on day 4 and with it much of my video evidence.
Day 1
Firsts: CBX
Theme: Good Friends
Route: Raleigh, North Carolina to Smyrna, Tennessee
Miles: 572
Background:
This idea for this trip began when I suggested to my riding buddy, Tom, that we go to Arkansas (foreshadowing) for about 7-10 days and explore the roads and sites in the Ozarks. Tom’s email reply was a cryptic,
“How long can you get away from home?”
My wife has a physical condition that requires me to arrange someone to stay with her whenever I am traveling. Usually my daughters fill in, but this was an exceptionally long time period. In addition, my wife also doesn’t like to have anyone in the house but me, so a little negotiating was required and we ended up with three weeks as a workable time period.
My email answer to Tom was ...
“Three weeks. Where do you want to go?”
Another crytic reply was issued by Tom stating, “West”.
Ok dude…”How far west?”
“Three weeks worth.”
So began the planning for this trip. I used Furkot to start outlining the route and picking spots I wanted to visit. Furkot assisted in estimating the daily mileage and how far I could travel in three weeks. My first run at a route ended up covering over 9,000 miles. It included Montana, Oregon and the Pacific Coast Highway as well as a tour of the National Parks in Utah and Colorado. Looking at over 400 miles per day (more foreshadowing) in the saddle was daunting so I redrew the route several times until it was about 6500 miles. I published this route to my friends and received feedback concerning “don’t miss” roads and sites. Adjustments were made. I purchased a set of Butler maps which highlight the best motorcycle roads. More adjustments were made. I also found a series of videos made by another rider that covered my route almost to a T. I found these very comforting and even noted the diners and Mom and Pop motels used by this rider. The route was set.
I spent several months purchasing equipment and prepping my Honda NC700XD. New tires, new chain, skid plate, radiator guard, Rotopax mount for extra gas, a new tent, and a Garmin 660 GPS fulfilled the perceived needs.
As preparations continued, Tom’s email grew quiet. He finally revealed that he was having trouble with his shoulder and might not be able to make the trip. Both Tom and I are in our 60’s and we are starting to feel the results of years of abusing our bodies. I have arthritis in several joints and receive Cortisone shots in my right shoulder to keep it moving without excrutiating pain. Tom finally visited an orthopaedist and determined he could not make the trip. I was disappointed because Tom is a good traveling companion and I would miss his company. However, I was going!
June 1 was set as the departure date and it was upon me surprisingly fast. My target for Day 1 was a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, Tom’s home, which he had graciously offered for my first night on the road. He also hoped to ride an hour or so with me on Day 2. That is about all his shoulder could stand.
I woke early and was on the road by sunup in an effort to avoid commuter traffic and to ease my departure anxiety. The route to Tom’s is a mundane slab (Interstate) ride of about 525 miles. It was an ambitious first day. I considered taking some secondary roads for interest, but decided to get there and then relax.
At one of my gas stops, I ran into another motorcyclist riding a Honda CBX. These are older, six cylinder motorcycles that are fairly rare. This was only the second one I had seen in the wild. The owner shared with me that this bike was highly modified and he was using his “second” engine. I also learned the my SUV gets better mileage that his CBX. These are marvelous pieces of engineering and motorcycle history and it sounded soulful as it screamed out of the parking lot on towards a gathering of fellow CBX’s.
After gassing up, I returned to the drone of the interstate, looking forward to a promised change of scenery provided by the Appalachian mountains. As the dark bumps of mountains began to appear on the horizon, other dark bumps began to appear in the sky above. On the next gas stop, I checked my Weather Bug app and noted that pop-up storms were showing orange on my live radar. I’m pretty good at dodging storms, but it looked like I might be hemmed in by the growing orange.
The NC carried me into the narrow gorges of the Smoky Mountains as I watched the clouds build. The rolling hills of east Tennessee replaced the green mounts of the Appalachians and I began to near Nashville. Rain began to appear in the distance as I hit construction traffic near Crossville. I jumped off the interstate just as the stop and roll began and wandered through the countryside towards Nashville. At Sparta, the way ahead appeared to be blocked by a downpour, so I headed back to the slab. This avoidance was futile and into the rain I rode.
The trusty GPS had Tom’s address, so I was able to concentrate on avoiding puddles and the increasing traffic of an urban zone. I turned the last corner and there was Tom, nestled in his garage, watching my approach on his computer screen via my SPOT device. We chatted as I unpacked some street clothes and got out of my damp riding gear. (thank goodness for Goretex)
We then retreated to his back yard, which he has converted to a outdoor living room. We watched the rain, enjoyed a cold brew, and looked for hummingbirds stealing sugar from his feeders.
Since I joined the adult world, I’ve not really had close friends outside of work. It seemed that family, work, grad school, second jobs, and the mundane tasks of the modern world kept me too busy to maintain close friendships. When I started riding again at the ripe old age of 56, I looked on-line for advice on maintaining and repairing my new-to-me Honda 750 Nighthawk. I stumbled upon nighthawk-forums.com and there I found patient advice and support for my amature wrenching on the motorcycle. A few months into my membership in this forum, someone suggested a meet up. Ideas were thrown about and the consensus ended up being a trip to the mountains of NC and Tennessee, to the Land of the Dragon, Deals Gap, one of the premier motorcycling roads in America. I had no clue as to the significance of this road, but I wanted to go.
Since I was a boy, I get big ideas and then as the reality approaches, a hesitation and anxiety start to creep into my head. A story from one of the riders to this gathering, a fellow from Louisiana, best illustrates my trepidation and worry as I approached this adventure.
Wife of rider: “ So, you are going to the mountains of NC, where there is no cell reception, with other riders who you’ve only met on the internet.”
Rider: “yes.”
Wife of rider. “You will be raped and murdered.”
I went, had fun, met great people, crashed, recovered and came away a different person. I now have many new friends, from all parts of the country, all ages, from varied backgrounds, who were united by a motorcycle, a Honda Nighthawk. We are a fraternity of riders with many chapters. I am in the chapter that includes older, more conservative riders. Many of us are returning to riding after giving it up while we raised our families. There are other chapters, younger, faster riders; quiet, peaceful riders; loud, brash riders, but all united at this event. We might not all be friends in a traditional manner, but we trust each other, we support each other, and we wouldn’t hesitate to help one another. My chapter now gets together once or twice each year to ride and camp together. I look forward to those times.
Tom and I discovered that we had a similar desire to explore this country on our motorcycles. We’ve taken several trips together. The Blue Ridge Parkway, Gettysburg, and the Natchez Trace. We attempted to go to Arkansas one other time, but the weather turned us around. That’s another thing, Tom has great judgement. He was a career Air Force pilot, flying helicopters and then C-130’s. He is blessed with wisdom and lots of experience, which I trust. It is always good to have Tom along on a ride. I hope we can find rides that will address his current needs.
That evening trusty Tom grilled hamburgers while Ms. Tom whipped up baked beans, cole slaw, pasta salad and even a little cake for dessert. Twas a good night.
I'm placing links to all of my videos to make access easier.
Day 1-4 NC, Tenn., Mo., Kansas, New Mexico [video=youtube_share;oxGbGcpE8qo]https://youtu.be/oxGbGcpE8qo[/video]
Day 5 Million Dollar Highway, Silverton, Ouray [video=youtube_share;HttiHkhzLeE]https://youtu.be/HttiHkhzLeE[/video]
Day 6 Moki Dugway, Monument Valley [video=youtube_share;j_YgxE2FPPs]https://youtu.be/j_YgxE2FPPs[/video]
Day 7 Vermillion Cliffs, N Rim Grand Canyon, Zion [video=youtube_share;6U3_AxbihUw]https://youtu.be/6U3_AxbihUw[/video]
Day 8 Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef [video=youtube_share;eFOv9ekDP8Q]https://youtu.be/eFOv9ekDP8Q[/video]
Day 9 Canyonlands [video=youtube_share;I8i-qpb3MHw]https://youtu.be/I8i-qpb3MHw[/video]
Day 10 Arches [video=youtube;Aq5oDf-KMMQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5oDf-KMMQ&feature=youtu.be[/video]
Day 11 Monarch and Independence Pass [video=youtube_share;IYMvgv8l7XE]https://youtu.be/IYMvgv8l7XE[/video]
Day 12 Rocky Mountain National Park [video=youtube_share;RoTriFalElg]https://youtu.be/RoTriFalElg[/video]
Apologies for the dearth of photos in these first few days. My phone died on day 4 and with it much of my video evidence.
Day 1
Firsts: CBX
Theme: Good Friends
Route: Raleigh, North Carolina to Smyrna, Tennessee
Miles: 572
Background:
This idea for this trip began when I suggested to my riding buddy, Tom, that we go to Arkansas (foreshadowing) for about 7-10 days and explore the roads and sites in the Ozarks. Tom’s email reply was a cryptic,
“How long can you get away from home?”
My wife has a physical condition that requires me to arrange someone to stay with her whenever I am traveling. Usually my daughters fill in, but this was an exceptionally long time period. In addition, my wife also doesn’t like to have anyone in the house but me, so a little negotiating was required and we ended up with three weeks as a workable time period.
My email answer to Tom was ...
“Three weeks. Where do you want to go?”
Another crytic reply was issued by Tom stating, “West”.
Ok dude…”How far west?”
“Three weeks worth.”
So began the planning for this trip. I used Furkot to start outlining the route and picking spots I wanted to visit. Furkot assisted in estimating the daily mileage and how far I could travel in three weeks. My first run at a route ended up covering over 9,000 miles. It included Montana, Oregon and the Pacific Coast Highway as well as a tour of the National Parks in Utah and Colorado. Looking at over 400 miles per day (more foreshadowing) in the saddle was daunting so I redrew the route several times until it was about 6500 miles. I published this route to my friends and received feedback concerning “don’t miss” roads and sites. Adjustments were made. I purchased a set of Butler maps which highlight the best motorcycle roads. More adjustments were made. I also found a series of videos made by another rider that covered my route almost to a T. I found these very comforting and even noted the diners and Mom and Pop motels used by this rider. The route was set.
I spent several months purchasing equipment and prepping my Honda NC700XD. New tires, new chain, skid plate, radiator guard, Rotopax mount for extra gas, a new tent, and a Garmin 660 GPS fulfilled the perceived needs.
As preparations continued, Tom’s email grew quiet. He finally revealed that he was having trouble with his shoulder and might not be able to make the trip. Both Tom and I are in our 60’s and we are starting to feel the results of years of abusing our bodies. I have arthritis in several joints and receive Cortisone shots in my right shoulder to keep it moving without excrutiating pain. Tom finally visited an orthopaedist and determined he could not make the trip. I was disappointed because Tom is a good traveling companion and I would miss his company. However, I was going!
June 1 was set as the departure date and it was upon me surprisingly fast. My target for Day 1 was a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, Tom’s home, which he had graciously offered for my first night on the road. He also hoped to ride an hour or so with me on Day 2. That is about all his shoulder could stand.
I woke early and was on the road by sunup in an effort to avoid commuter traffic and to ease my departure anxiety. The route to Tom’s is a mundane slab (Interstate) ride of about 525 miles. It was an ambitious first day. I considered taking some secondary roads for interest, but decided to get there and then relax.
At one of my gas stops, I ran into another motorcyclist riding a Honda CBX. These are older, six cylinder motorcycles that are fairly rare. This was only the second one I had seen in the wild. The owner shared with me that this bike was highly modified and he was using his “second” engine. I also learned the my SUV gets better mileage that his CBX. These are marvelous pieces of engineering and motorcycle history and it sounded soulful as it screamed out of the parking lot on towards a gathering of fellow CBX’s.
After gassing up, I returned to the drone of the interstate, looking forward to a promised change of scenery provided by the Appalachian mountains. As the dark bumps of mountains began to appear on the horizon, other dark bumps began to appear in the sky above. On the next gas stop, I checked my Weather Bug app and noted that pop-up storms were showing orange on my live radar. I’m pretty good at dodging storms, but it looked like I might be hemmed in by the growing orange.
The NC carried me into the narrow gorges of the Smoky Mountains as I watched the clouds build. The rolling hills of east Tennessee replaced the green mounts of the Appalachians and I began to near Nashville. Rain began to appear in the distance as I hit construction traffic near Crossville. I jumped off the interstate just as the stop and roll began and wandered through the countryside towards Nashville. At Sparta, the way ahead appeared to be blocked by a downpour, so I headed back to the slab. This avoidance was futile and into the rain I rode.
The trusty GPS had Tom’s address, so I was able to concentrate on avoiding puddles and the increasing traffic of an urban zone. I turned the last corner and there was Tom, nestled in his garage, watching my approach on his computer screen via my SPOT device. We chatted as I unpacked some street clothes and got out of my damp riding gear. (thank goodness for Goretex)
We then retreated to his back yard, which he has converted to a outdoor living room. We watched the rain, enjoyed a cold brew, and looked for hummingbirds stealing sugar from his feeders.
Since I joined the adult world, I’ve not really had close friends outside of work. It seemed that family, work, grad school, second jobs, and the mundane tasks of the modern world kept me too busy to maintain close friendships. When I started riding again at the ripe old age of 56, I looked on-line for advice on maintaining and repairing my new-to-me Honda 750 Nighthawk. I stumbled upon nighthawk-forums.com and there I found patient advice and support for my amature wrenching on the motorcycle. A few months into my membership in this forum, someone suggested a meet up. Ideas were thrown about and the consensus ended up being a trip to the mountains of NC and Tennessee, to the Land of the Dragon, Deals Gap, one of the premier motorcycling roads in America. I had no clue as to the significance of this road, but I wanted to go.
Since I was a boy, I get big ideas and then as the reality approaches, a hesitation and anxiety start to creep into my head. A story from one of the riders to this gathering, a fellow from Louisiana, best illustrates my trepidation and worry as I approached this adventure.
Wife of rider: “ So, you are going to the mountains of NC, where there is no cell reception, with other riders who you’ve only met on the internet.”
Rider: “yes.”
Wife of rider. “You will be raped and murdered.”
I went, had fun, met great people, crashed, recovered and came away a different person. I now have many new friends, from all parts of the country, all ages, from varied backgrounds, who were united by a motorcycle, a Honda Nighthawk. We are a fraternity of riders with many chapters. I am in the chapter that includes older, more conservative riders. Many of us are returning to riding after giving it up while we raised our families. There are other chapters, younger, faster riders; quiet, peaceful riders; loud, brash riders, but all united at this event. We might not all be friends in a traditional manner, but we trust each other, we support each other, and we wouldn’t hesitate to help one another. My chapter now gets together once or twice each year to ride and camp together. I look forward to those times.
Tom and I discovered that we had a similar desire to explore this country on our motorcycles. We’ve taken several trips together. The Blue Ridge Parkway, Gettysburg, and the Natchez Trace. We attempted to go to Arkansas one other time, but the weather turned us around. That’s another thing, Tom has great judgement. He was a career Air Force pilot, flying helicopters and then C-130’s. He is blessed with wisdom and lots of experience, which I trust. It is always good to have Tom along on a ride. I hope we can find rides that will address his current needs.
That evening trusty Tom grilled hamburgers while Ms. Tom whipped up baked beans, cole slaw, pasta salad and even a little cake for dessert. Twas a good night.
Last edited:
