The NEW Bike

After riding the Sportster for nearly three years and over 5,500 miles, it was time to look for a bigger motorcycle. I had my eye on several bagger bikes at my local Harley-Davidson dealership. These were bikes that had just come out of the rental pool and were for sale.



Pioneer Saloon and General Store
Goodsprings, Nevada

I started riding with a group from the community I live in called the “Sun City Anthem Riders” on several day trips to locations. After riding with the group for a couple of years, we took a short trip to the PioneerSaloon in Goodsprings, Nevada. This is a small mining town and place is 100 years old and is famous and been featured on several TV shows and Movies. It has a museum honoring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. The General Store next door is neat and you can get something to eat or drink there. My favorite is the “Cowboy Burger” with chips and a soda.



Kuryakyn Exhaust and Direct Intake

 

On that ride, I spoke of the desire for a new ride and the group’s leader told me of one for sale by another member. I was intrigued by the description and followed up with the owner on it. It turns out that I had been doing business with this man and we knew each other by sight and had spoken to each other about bikes a few times. So on March 22, 2013, Eddie and I came to terms and I became the proud owner of a 2010 Ultra-Classic Limited.




The custom paint job can be blue or purple depending on the lighting.

Custom rear lighting package

 

The middle pair are the Ultra Classic (new) and the Sportster (old).
Notice the size difference!!!

This motorcycle is considerably bigger than the Sportster (about 300 pounds heavier). It has a number of features that Eddie and his son did to improve the looks and performance of the bike. It has loud pipes and the engine has been tuned for performance. With cruise control and anti-lock brakes it is a dream to ride. I finally put a taller windshield to reduce the buffeting at high speed. I have put over 6,000 miles in the first year as I worked on determining if a long marathon ride was possible. I needed to determine the range and capabilities of the motorcycle as well as my endurance.



 

A' Le' Inn Restaurant
Rachel, Nevadad

The longest ride so far was a trip around the Nevada Test Site (Area 51). I stopped and had lunch at the Little A'Le'Inn restaurant in Rachel, Nevada. It is located on the Extraterrestrial Highway. The Test Site includes the area where nuclear weapons were exploded. In the 50’s the tests were above ground and the mushroom clouds were visible from downtown Las Vegas. It is also adjacent to the Groom Lake site where top secret military aircraft are developed and tested there. The Air Force also has a bombing range there as well. I then cut across to Pahrump, Nevada, Baker and Needles California, Kingman Arizona and then finally home. This trip was over 700 miles which I completed in 14 hours. This was the test that showed me that I could do the Four Corners trip.

The Extraterrestrial Highway Sign
Nevada Highway 375 near Rachel

In my next posting, I will describe the final preparation tasks that I need to accomplish before leaving on July 24^th, 2014.