Graduation Tour 2022
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- sgwilly
- Gold Member
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- Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:43 pm
- Location: Clayton, NC
Graduation Tour 2022
My daughter Katie graduated from high school in June and I volunteered to take her on a tour across the country (absolute genius move on my part, if I don't say so myself). Eleven days to get from Raleigh NC to San Diego CA via the Black Hills, Devil’s Tower, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Yosemite, Monterey, and the Pacific Coast Highway. While I would have rather have taken 21 days to go at a more leisurely pace - truth be told, I would have just roped in Alaska (it's a sickness).
Decided on pulling a trailer since we're looking to camp at least half the time out on the road. I've done camp packing for 2 before on this bike but it is exceedingly difficult. Given the miles I was planning, I needed it to be easy packing. Throw it in the box and go. Having a cooler is also a huge bonus.
We stopped for a picnic lunch in WV where we hit a bit of fog and rain. It gave us a chance to try out the new rain gear purchased for the trip. I really like the Nelson-Rigg boot gaiters I picked up for the both of us. Even though we have waterproof boots, we only brought one pair and I didn't want to deal with soggy boots at any point. Those gaiters delivered. Bone dry in every downpour we encountered.
Katie is not impressed with my selfie skills and is letting me know about it.
As punishment, I gave her the extended Roebling Lecture. The man was a master of suspension bridges. This one bridging the Ohio river in Cincinnati was completed in 1867. He went on to design and build the Grandaddy of them all in Brooklyn. I’ll let you guess the name of that one.
Day 1 got us 616 miles out of Dodge and just West of Cincinnati. The plan is to keep that pace for 3 days until we reach the Black Hills. We live in the East and have seen a bunch of it already. We're headed for Different.
Decided on pulling a trailer since we're looking to camp at least half the time out on the road. I've done camp packing for 2 before on this bike but it is exceedingly difficult. Given the miles I was planning, I needed it to be easy packing. Throw it in the box and go. Having a cooler is also a huge bonus.
We stopped for a picnic lunch in WV where we hit a bit of fog and rain. It gave us a chance to try out the new rain gear purchased for the trip. I really like the Nelson-Rigg boot gaiters I picked up for the both of us. Even though we have waterproof boots, we only brought one pair and I didn't want to deal with soggy boots at any point. Those gaiters delivered. Bone dry in every downpour we encountered.
Katie is not impressed with my selfie skills and is letting me know about it.
As punishment, I gave her the extended Roebling Lecture. The man was a master of suspension bridges. This one bridging the Ohio river in Cincinnati was completed in 1867. He went on to design and build the Grandaddy of them all in Brooklyn. I’ll let you guess the name of that one.
Day 1 got us 616 miles out of Dodge and just West of Cincinnati. The plan is to keep that pace for 3 days until we reach the Black Hills. We live in the East and have seen a bunch of it already. We're headed for Different.
Steve
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
- Whiskerfish
- President
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Re: Graduation Tour 2022
Awesome!! Enjoy the time with her. They start their own lives too fast!!
"Agreement is not a requirement for Respect" CDR Michael Smith USN (Ret) 2017
"The book is wrong, this whole Conclusion is Fallacious" River Tam
2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
1975/6/7/8/9 Arthur Fulmer Dressed Road bike
1975 Naked Noisy and Nasty in town bike
and a whole garage full of possibilities!!
Psst. oh and by the way CHANGE YOUR BELTS!!!!
"The book is wrong, this whole Conclusion is Fallacious" River Tam
2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
1975/6/7/8/9 Arthur Fulmer Dressed Road bike
1975 Naked Noisy and Nasty in town bike
and a whole garage full of possibilities!!
Psst. oh and by the way CHANGE YOUR BELTS!!!!
- 5speed
- Honored Life Member
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- Location: Nova Scotia Canada
Re: Graduation Tour 2022
have a great trip
1982 1100 standard. (sold)
1986 Yamaha FJ1200
2000 Yamaha Roadstar
1976 GoldWing. running but not on the road
1978 Goldwing. future cafe project.
2019 Can-Am ryker (boss's new ride)
2002 Shadow American Classic(sold)
1983 Shadow 500. (sold)
1986 Yamaha FJ1200
2000 Yamaha Roadstar
1976 GoldWing. running but not on the road
1978 Goldwing. future cafe project.
2019 Can-Am ryker (boss's new ride)
2002 Shadow American Classic(sold)
1983 Shadow 500. (sold)
- Fred Camper
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Re: Graduation Tour 2022
Wow, great plan and only one shot. Nice.
Proud member of the NGW Cartel (Rochester MI)
1977 GL1000 BADDOG (April 2012 BOTM)
1976 LTD - '993 LTD...and so it begins'
You should remember that it's peace of mind you're after and not just fixing the machine. R.Pirsig
1977 GL1000 BADDOG (April 2012 BOTM)
1976 LTD - '993 LTD...and so it begins'
You should remember that it's peace of mind you're after and not just fixing the machine. R.Pirsig
- Sagebrush
- Run Executive
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Re: Graduation Tour 2022
Had a friend that took his daughter on a similar trip after she graduated. Something that they will always treasure together. Have fun, be safe. Slow down a little and smell the roses. Its not imperative that you ride 700 miles every day
Dean Spalding
Raleigh, NC
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
'82 Yellow GL1100
'81 Blue GL1100
My Gallery
My 1100 Build Thread
Raleigh, NC
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
'82 Yellow GL1100
'81 Blue GL1100
My Gallery
My 1100 Build Thread
- Whiskerfish
- President
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- Location: Norfolk Va
Re: Graduation Tour 2022
Make sure to document all of it and back it up somewhere. My Cousin did the Cont Divide with his Son when he graduated and then he had books made of the adventure. He gave one to my Parents and I have read it any times. Great stuff.
"Agreement is not a requirement for Respect" CDR Michael Smith USN (Ret) 2017
"The book is wrong, this whole Conclusion is Fallacious" River Tam
2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
1975/6/7/8/9 Arthur Fulmer Dressed Road bike
1975 Naked Noisy and Nasty in town bike
and a whole garage full of possibilities!!
Psst. oh and by the way CHANGE YOUR BELTS!!!!
"The book is wrong, this whole Conclusion is Fallacious" River Tam
2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
1975/6/7/8/9 Arthur Fulmer Dressed Road bike
1975 Naked Noisy and Nasty in town bike
and a whole garage full of possibilities!!
Psst. oh and by the way CHANGE YOUR BELTS!!!!
- sgwilly
- Gold Member
- Posts: 1029
- Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:43 pm
- Location: Clayton, NC
Re: Graduation Tour 2022
I guess one thing to note is that we did this in June - spoiler alert - we survived. As far as documenting, I literally brought a note book along to write daily logs but true to form, it never happened. I did push out Facebook posts every day or two with a few notes. Both as a public service announcement to my family as well as a crude record. I'm figuring this thread will serve as the next iteration where I can expand a bit and I figured y'all would enjoy it. Will it ever be a book? Odds are low but I have been thinking of a hard copy form. Maybe a road atlas with our route highlighted and pasted in pics and text. Anyhow, thanks for the comments. Onto the show...
One of my riding habits is to run the gas all the way into reserve - every time. Maybe it's my little way of living on the edge in the middle of everyday suburbia. My old 1100 used to hit reserve at around 156, which gave me a respectable 180 or so on the full tank. Living in the Eastern US means there's a gas station within 20 miles in any direction just about anywhere (which also contributed to my learned risk behavior). Moving over the Valkyrie dropped my range to about 135 before reserve - which I would routinely ride about 20 miles before a fill up. And yes, this is going to end up biting me.
Day 2 was another big mile day heading due west. We ran into scattered rain throughout the morning as we got off the Interstate for a few hours. Since most roads run east-west and north-south out in this area, spending an extra hour for the day on smaller state highways is much more enjoyable. You get to see so much more of the natural lay of the land not to mention the occasional town.
To break up the day (and avoid any mutinous talk) we stopped at the Lincoln home in Springfield Illinois. Katie wasn't terribly impressed but I found it amazing that they arrested a block or two of downtown Springfield in permanent 1860. Step one foot outside of that perimeter and you're back in reality.
I did manage to get Katie to pose by the display of a casting of Lincoln's face and hands.
Katie then suggested that this was my chance, "Kiss Abe on the lips!" - I passed. You never know where those lips have been.
One of my riding habits is to run the gas all the way into reserve - every time. Maybe it's my little way of living on the edge in the middle of everyday suburbia. My old 1100 used to hit reserve at around 156, which gave me a respectable 180 or so on the full tank. Living in the Eastern US means there's a gas station within 20 miles in any direction just about anywhere (which also contributed to my learned risk behavior). Moving over the Valkyrie dropped my range to about 135 before reserve - which I would routinely ride about 20 miles before a fill up. And yes, this is going to end up biting me.
Day 2 was another big mile day heading due west. We ran into scattered rain throughout the morning as we got off the Interstate for a few hours. Since most roads run east-west and north-south out in this area, spending an extra hour for the day on smaller state highways is much more enjoyable. You get to see so much more of the natural lay of the land not to mention the occasional town.
To break up the day (and avoid any mutinous talk) we stopped at the Lincoln home in Springfield Illinois. Katie wasn't terribly impressed but I found it amazing that they arrested a block or two of downtown Springfield in permanent 1860. Step one foot outside of that perimeter and you're back in reality.
I did manage to get Katie to pose by the display of a casting of Lincoln's face and hands.
Katie then suggested that this was my chance, "Kiss Abe on the lips!" - I passed. You never know where those lips have been.
Steve
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
- sgwilly
- Gold Member
- Posts: 1029
- Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:43 pm
- Location: Clayton, NC
Re: Graduation Tour 2022
After we got back on the road the sun came out and everything was looking swell. Except I was back in reserve again and getting antsy as I was seeing less and less stations. I started getting panicky when I was was 20 miles into the reserve and I still hadn't come up on an exit with an obvious gas station. After getting off the interstate following the lure of a purported gas station that was actually 5 miles away in town, Calamity #1 hit.
Katie seems to enjoy the fact that I ran out of gas 3 miles from the nearest pump.
After struggling with a call to AAA, random dude (Jason) drove by and asked if I needed anything. I told him I just ran out of gas and he went down to his farm and came back with a can a gas in about 5 minutes! Said he was a fellow rider who wasn’t about to drive by a bike stopped on a road shoulder. Awesome! This was WAY better than the time I waited outside a rest stop bathroom to ask random truckers for a gallon of diesel.
To make up time and stay on schedule we road into the evening ending our day on the Missouri River at St. Joseph.
Another 560 miles in the books.
Katie seems to enjoy the fact that I ran out of gas 3 miles from the nearest pump.
After struggling with a call to AAA, random dude (Jason) drove by and asked if I needed anything. I told him I just ran out of gas and he went down to his farm and came back with a can a gas in about 5 minutes! Said he was a fellow rider who wasn’t about to drive by a bike stopped on a road shoulder. Awesome! This was WAY better than the time I waited outside a rest stop bathroom to ask random truckers for a gallon of diesel.
To make up time and stay on schedule we road into the evening ending our day on the Missouri River at St. Joseph.
Another 560 miles in the books.
Steve
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
- Whiskerfish
- President
- Posts: 36850
- Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2006 9:34 pm
- My Album: http://www.ngwclub.com/gallery/v/wingmans/whiskerfish/
- Location: Norfolk Va
Re: Graduation Tour 2022
Someday she will be telling her Grandkids about you running out of gas on a wild adventure. Then they will ask her "what is Gas?"
"Agreement is not a requirement for Respect" CDR Michael Smith USN (Ret) 2017
"The book is wrong, this whole Conclusion is Fallacious" River Tam
2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
1975/6/7/8/9 Arthur Fulmer Dressed Road bike
1975 Naked Noisy and Nasty in town bike
and a whole garage full of possibilities!!
Psst. oh and by the way CHANGE YOUR BELTS!!!!
"The book is wrong, this whole Conclusion is Fallacious" River Tam
2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
1975/6/7/8/9 Arthur Fulmer Dressed Road bike
1975 Naked Noisy and Nasty in town bike
and a whole garage full of possibilities!!
Psst. oh and by the way CHANGE YOUR BELTS!!!!
-
- Billet Alum. Member
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- Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 3:03 am
- Location: Italia
Re: Graduation Tour 2022
real! it will definitely happen !!Whiskerfish wrote: ↑Tue Jul 12, 2022 6:48 am
Someday she will be telling her Grandkids about you running out of gas on a wild adventure. Then they will ask her "what is Gas?"
- sgwilly
- Gold Member
- Posts: 1029
- Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:43 pm
- Location: Clayton, NC
Re: Graduation Tour 2022
Day 3 was devoted just about entirely to Nebraska. I decided to take the more remote route diagonally through the state on route 2. A somewhat dicey proposition as I was still working on my fuel management game. I was only slowly becoming aware of the need to look for gas before I got into reserve. On top of that was the fact that my mpg had plummeted with being fully loaded and pulling a rather full trailer. But in the end, I was getting bored of the slab and decided to roll the dice. I will say that remote has a new definition for me now.
This unmanned, single gas pump, appropriately named “Oasis” saved my bacon.
Katie was also not too happy in my food selection for lunch. But as I told her, “Food is fuel. Eat up, Chuck!”
This unmanned, single gas pump, appropriately named “Oasis” saved my bacon.
Katie was also not too happy in my food selection for lunch. But as I told her, “Food is fuel. Eat up, Chuck!”
Steve
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
- Brant
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Re: Graduation Tour 2022
Thats a beautiful ride through Nebraska, through the Sandhills. Wonderful plan you got there,
83 GL 1100 bagger Ugly Betty
ALL WE WANT TO DO IS DRINK OUR ESPRESSO, RIDE OUR MACHINES, AND NOT BE HASSLED BY THE MAN
Owning a motorcycle is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that.
"Don't sweat the little things, guys, take care and appreciate all that you have around you!" - Fewman
NGWclub on Facebook
ALL WE WANT TO DO IS DRINK OUR ESPRESSO, RIDE OUR MACHINES, AND NOT BE HASSLED BY THE MAN
Owning a motorcycle is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that.
"Don't sweat the little things, guys, take care and appreciate all that you have around you!" - Fewman
NGWclub on Facebook
- sgwilly
- Gold Member
- Posts: 1029
- Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:43 pm
- Location: Clayton, NC
Re: Graduation Tour 2022
I really liked that ride in Nebraska. It was fascinating to watch the land slowly change from one biome to the next. The Sandhills were mesmerizing with their expanse.
Steve
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
'09 Yamaha FJR1300AE
'99 Valkyrie Tourer
'89 Isuzu Trooper 3.4L
'83 GL1100 MonkeyWing (on IR)
'75 GL1000 (in the queue)
'70 Suzuki T500 Titan (in the queue)
'64 MGB
IBA #58082
All my stuff is old. It makes me feel young.
SGWilly Gallery
- Sagebrush
- Run Executive
- Posts: 6465
- Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:35 pm
- My Album: http://www.ngwclub.com/gallery/v/wingmans/album269/
- Location: Raleigh, NC
Re: Graduation Tour 2022
Of all of Honda's flat six bikes the Valk definitely gets the worst gas mileage and shortest range. Did you take the time to attend the Hologram theater at the Lincoln museum when you were there? If not, too bad its really cool.
Dean Spalding
Raleigh, NC
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
'82 Yellow GL1100
'81 Blue GL1100
My Gallery
My 1100 Build Thread
Raleigh, NC
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
'82 Yellow GL1100
'81 Blue GL1100
My Gallery
My 1100 Build Thread
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