My story begins last year, when I got home from one of the
most epic trips I'd taken in two or four wheels. As soon as I got back I began thinking "Where to next?"
A few ideas came up, a monsterous 10-n-10 (10k miles, 10 days; alas I learned I burn out after three days hard riding), a National Parks tour (truck broke that caused my wallet to break also and lack of time), a trip down US Route 6 (tricky as the route back East nearly vanishes into the confusion of small town history). In the end, decided on a lot of mini goals vs one major goal.
GOAL: I'm attempting the Four Seasons Saddlesore, which is a SS1K on the day of the solstices and equinoxes. Since this is my summer vacation, the summer solstice is when I must be riding to claim credit. For 2015, those dates are:
Seasons of 2015:
SPRING EQUINOX: March 20, 6:45 P.M. EDT
SUMMER SOLSTICE: June 21, 12:38 P.M. EDT
FALL EQUINOX: September 23, 4:21 A.M. EDT
WINTER SOLSTICE: December 21, 11:48 P.M. EST
GOAL: Nevada started a
State Park Passport program to encourage locals and visitors to get out to the various parks throughout the state. The cool thing is once you collect 15 stamps, you earn a free annual pass. I already have a park pass for this year, and decided since I haven't been paying for my visits I'll make up for it by promoting the parks on Twitter and Facebook and to anyone I meet along the way. NevadaWolf = unofficial roaming Nevada Tourism supporter.
GOAL: Meet up with @
fishdip in Phoenix and head out to a road he recommended; The Devil's Highway,
formerly Route 666, in eastern Arizona. Reportedly one of the, if not THE,
twistiest road in the nation. How can you resist that temptation?
GOAL: This year is also the biennial
Iron Butt Rally, officially starting on June 29th. As I now know many of the Riders I wanted to be there to support and cheer on my friends as they took off on the Olympics of the long distance riding world; 11 days, 11,000 miles.
GOAL: Since I'll be in New Mexico anyway for the IBR start, why not continue to add to my collection of
In State Saddlesore pins? I already have Nevada, California, and Utah, plus planning on an Oregon one for the solstice ride. That'll leave Arizona, Idaho, and Washington to "complete" the West Coast.
GOAL: Ride the
Pacific Coast Highway from somewhere just south of San Francisco (so I can ride the Golden Gate Bridge) to the
Redwoods National Park since I've never been to either of those highly scenic places.
Ambitious? Totally, but I have two weeks and a Ninjette that loves to eat up miles faster than I can feed them to her.
In the end, just over 6200 miles were put on the bike. I had some issues, the biggest of which was a snapped clutch cable, but had a fantastic time seeing a lot of places I'd never been, meeting several Ninjetters and fellow LD riders, and reaching most of my goals for the vacation.
