Okay so I meant to do this several days ago but I've been enjoying my vacation (read that as lazy). I left Monday the 10th at about 4:30pm local time from Portland, OR and arrived on Sunday the 17th at about 11:45pm local time in Knoxville, TN. 5.5 days was certainly quicker to do that trip than I had wanted but my vacation kept getting pushed back... and pushed back... and then I just didn't have much time at all. The bike had to move and I wanted to take the trip, so I did it anyway.
So I learned a lot by doing 4k miles in under 6 days. I had done some work to the bike to make it more of a touring machine and to aid in making the trip more enjoyable.
I took things I thought I would need/use and didn't. I took things I thought I wouldn't use and did.
My trip pretty much followed the route proposed by h2o_boy in This thread. Big thanks to him! The only modifications I made was that I didn't go up to glacier and I just made a straight shot on i-40 from flagstaff instead of going up to Chicago.
It was an amazing trip and an incredible experience even though it was quick. I can't stand the interstate though. Everything on I-40 was pretty lame. I didn't realize that Rt-66 didn't really exist anymore :-/
So I pulled an iron butt on my last day and did 950 miles on the 17th.
I had my nice Nikon dSLR with me but forgot the memory card so I didn't get any pics until the 2nd day. :-|
Anyway here's more or less all the items I had.
For the bike:
* Givi V35 side cases and E52 top case (love them)
* Garmin Zumo 660 GPS (worked out really well)
* Throttlemeister throttlelock (LIFESAVER!)
In the Givis:
* Couple t-shirts (never used)
* extra socks and undies
* extra pair of pants (never used)
* chapstick (dude... don't forget the chapstick, I'm not kidding)
* long sleeve polypro shirt
* frogtogs
* down vest
* balaclava
* fleece pullover
* Alpinestars SP2 gloves and Fieldsheers windproof/waterproof
* phone charger
* earplugs
* ibuprofen (wonderdrug! for fever and inflammation)
* pepcid complete (you find crazy food on the road)
* sneakers (never used)
* sirius satellite tuner (tried to use but didn't work out too well at speed)
* nikon d80 with lenses and accessories (would opt for a coolpix instead)
* chain cleaner and lube (i kept forgetting to lube though)
* basic toolkit with socket and screwdrivers
* hex wrenches
* small rag
* sunglasses
* sunscreen
* passport (in case i had decided to go to canada)
* basic toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant)
* toliet paper (always have some on the road!)
Stuff I wish I had (just in case):
* Tire pressure guage
* Tire patch kit
* small bottle of alcohol spray to clean my visor
Everything worked out though. Ijust cleaned my visor when I stopped for gas. My butt didn't really bother me so much.... more than anything it was my knees. Maybe a new set of rear sets would help that but without them I relied on stretching, walking during fill ups and ibuprofen.
I had plans of listening to satellite radio and had what I thought was a decent setup. SiriusXM tuner that had a sony bluetooth transmitter attached to it, that would transmit to my Chatterbox XBi bluetooth headset in my helmet. Problem was I just couldn't hear it very well over 30mph. I don't know if it was the output of the Sirius tuner not being high enough or something with the XBi. (I think my speakers werent mounted well). Regardless it was all a big waste of money on that trip. maybe I can get that sorted out.
I really couldn't have considered the trip without the Givi luggage. It was awesome.
the Zumo worked out pretty well too. I think there was a bug in it though because it pretty much rebooted and deleted all my route history at some point in Utah. I still love it though.
And boy was I glad that I had that throttlemeister!!!!
All in all a great trip. I learned a lot about touring (mostly from how not to try and do it in a whirl wind trip).
Here's a couple select pictures from the trip (more available at my website
Oh... I forgot to mention that the first couple days I didn't have any pics because I forgot the memory card so I had to stop and buy one... and when I did ... weather didn't look so hot.
Somewhere in Idaho.
I ended up getting hailed on twice that day and snowed on once... and then rained on. It sucked
The 32 degree weather while doing 75mph sucked. I thought I was going to get frost bitten but luckily I didn't. I would give a negative review of the field sheer gloves even so. They just started falling apart.
But then weather cleared up a bit to enjoy the scenary
Just north of Yellowstone.
Idea of how cold it was? Try a frozen lake. (yellowstone lake)
Grand Tetons!
So after 6800 miles my tires pretty much didn't have much tread on them. I stopped at this shop in moab,utah to try and buy another pair.
So I learned a lot by doing 4k miles in under 6 days. I had done some work to the bike to make it more of a touring machine and to aid in making the trip more enjoyable.
I took things I thought I would need/use and didn't. I took things I thought I wouldn't use and did.
My trip pretty much followed the route proposed by h2o_boy in This thread. Big thanks to him! The only modifications I made was that I didn't go up to glacier and I just made a straight shot on i-40 from flagstaff instead of going up to Chicago.
It was an amazing trip and an incredible experience even though it was quick. I can't stand the interstate though. Everything on I-40 was pretty lame. I didn't realize that Rt-66 didn't really exist anymore :-/
So I pulled an iron butt on my last day and did 950 miles on the 17th.
I had my nice Nikon dSLR with me but forgot the memory card so I didn't get any pics until the 2nd day. :-|
Anyway here's more or less all the items I had.
For the bike:
* Givi V35 side cases and E52 top case (love them)
* Garmin Zumo 660 GPS (worked out really well)
* Throttlemeister throttlelock (LIFESAVER!)
In the Givis:
* Couple t-shirts (never used)
* extra socks and undies
* extra pair of pants (never used)
* chapstick (dude... don't forget the chapstick, I'm not kidding)
* long sleeve polypro shirt
* frogtogs
* down vest
* balaclava
* fleece pullover
* Alpinestars SP2 gloves and Fieldsheers windproof/waterproof
* phone charger
* earplugs
* ibuprofen (wonderdrug! for fever and inflammation)
* pepcid complete (you find crazy food on the road)
* sneakers (never used)
* sirius satellite tuner (tried to use but didn't work out too well at speed)
* nikon d80 with lenses and accessories (would opt for a coolpix instead)
* chain cleaner and lube (i kept forgetting to lube though)
* basic toolkit with socket and screwdrivers
* hex wrenches
* small rag
* sunglasses
* sunscreen
* passport (in case i had decided to go to canada)
* basic toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant)
* toliet paper (always have some on the road!)
Stuff I wish I had (just in case):
* Tire pressure guage
* Tire patch kit
* small bottle of alcohol spray to clean my visor
Everything worked out though. Ijust cleaned my visor when I stopped for gas. My butt didn't really bother me so much.... more than anything it was my knees. Maybe a new set of rear sets would help that but without them I relied on stretching, walking during fill ups and ibuprofen.
I had plans of listening to satellite radio and had what I thought was a decent setup. SiriusXM tuner that had a sony bluetooth transmitter attached to it, that would transmit to my Chatterbox XBi bluetooth headset in my helmet. Problem was I just couldn't hear it very well over 30mph. I don't know if it was the output of the Sirius tuner not being high enough or something with the XBi. (I think my speakers werent mounted well). Regardless it was all a big waste of money on that trip. maybe I can get that sorted out.
I really couldn't have considered the trip without the Givi luggage. It was awesome.
the Zumo worked out pretty well too. I think there was a bug in it though because it pretty much rebooted and deleted all my route history at some point in Utah. I still love it though.
And boy was I glad that I had that throttlemeister!!!!
All in all a great trip. I learned a lot about touring (mostly from how not to try and do it in a whirl wind trip).
Here's a couple select pictures from the trip (more available at my website
Oh... I forgot to mention that the first couple days I didn't have any pics because I forgot the memory card so I had to stop and buy one... and when I did ... weather didn't look so hot.
Somewhere in Idaho.
I ended up getting hailed on twice that day and snowed on once... and then rained on. It sucked
The 32 degree weather while doing 75mph sucked. I thought I was going to get frost bitten but luckily I didn't. I would give a negative review of the field sheer gloves even so. They just started falling apart.But then weather cleared up a bit to enjoy the scenary
Just north of Yellowstone.
Idea of how cold it was? Try a frozen lake. (yellowstone lake)
Grand Tetons!
So after 6800 miles my tires pretty much didn't have much tread on them. I stopped at this shop in moab,utah to try and buy another pair.
