(July 4, 2016) Last Sunday night (June 26) I returned home from a 17-day, 7,494-mile ride through 22 states (including ten state capitals):
- Arizona
- Arkansas (Little Rock)
- California (Sacramento)
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana (Indianapolis)
- Iowa (Des Moines)
- Minnesota (Minneapolis)
- Montana
- Nevada (Carson City)
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
- Oregon (Salem)
- Tennessee (Nashville)
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia (Charleston)
The primary goal of the trip was to ride the Pacific Coast Highway (CA 1 - US 101) from Half Moon Bay, CA into Oregon, thus completing my goal of riding to and through all of the Lower 48 states. I achieved this goal and then some. Secondary goals included:
- Spend a night in Taos, NM
- Visit my mother at her home in St. George, UT
- Ride US 50 across Nevada to Carson City
- Spend a day in San Francisco with my cousin, Ray
- See Mount Ranier up close
- Spend a day with my niece and her family at their new home in Bellevue, WA
- Ride US 2 across Montana, Idaho, and North Dakota
I also achieved all of these goals. The only objective I did not manage to complete, due to dangerous weather conditions, was riding US 2 through Minnesota from Grand Forks, ND to Grand Rapids, MN.
I had quite an adventure and will spend the next couple of months documenting some of that experience on this web site. Among what I want to share with you is what products worked well at keeping me comfortable and functioning for so many miles over 17 days, especially the last three in which I rode from Havre, Montana to Cary, NC -- nearly 2,300 miles.
Here is a final summary for the itinerary and mileage (a new ride duration record for me, both in days and miles):
Day 1 - Friday, June 10: Cary, NC to Hendersonville, NC (270 miles)
Day 2 - Saturday, June 11: Hendersonville, NC to Marion, AR (540 miles)
Day 3 - Sunday, June 12: Marion, AR to El Reno, OK (520 miles)
Day 4 - Monday, June 13: El Reno, OK to Taos, NM (530 miles)
Day 5 - Tuesday, June 14: Taos, NM to St. George, UT (609 miles)
Day 6 - Wednesday, June 15: Rest day in St. George (0 miles)
Day 7 - Thursday, June 16: St. George, UT to South Tahoe, CA (570 miles)
Day 8 - Friday, June 17: South Tahoe, CA to Redwood City, CA (213 miles)
Day 9 - Saturday, June 18: Redwood City, CA to San Francisco, CA (65 miles)
Day 10 - Sunday, June 19: San Francisco, CA to Langlois, OR via the PCH (500 miles)
Day 11 - Monday, June 20: Langlois, OR to Bellevue, WA (523 miles)
Day 12 - Tuesday, June 21: Rest day in Bellevue/Seattle (0 miles)
Day 13- Wednesday, June 22: Bellevue, WA to Spokane, WA via US 2 (346 miles)
Day 14 - Thursday, June 23: Spokane, WA to Havre, MT (513 miles)
Day 15 - Friday, June 24: Havre, MT to Grand Forks, ND (649 miles)
Day 16 - Saturday, June 25: Grand Forks, ND to Peoria, IL (813 miles)
Day 17 - Sunday, June 26: Peoria, IL to Cary, NC (Home) (831 miles)
Keep the shiny side up!
The Long Rider
P.S. My experience with Crestline Road at the Utah-Nevada border deserves a blog post all by itself.