Celebrating 25 days on the Road

This trip spanned a total of 25 days, 40 states, over 11,500 miles, 2 oil changes, a new front tire, nearly 240 hours of riding time, and three half-days of light rain. Most days were sunny skies and the temperatures were warm with no serious weather.

I learned a great deal about myself. I was able to adapt when obstacles occurred and when the schedule slipped two days in the second half of the trip I was able to gain one of those days back in the final segment.

I want to offer my sincere appreciation for all of the support and encouragement that I received as a result of my blog postings during the course of this trip. This came from family, friends, coworkers, my wife and most importantly my God.

 Trip Highlights:

• Driving through the California Redwood forest
• Driving a mountain road at night
• Spending a short period of time in Sturgis
• Having two quality days with our daughter in Madison and dinner with my granddaughter
• Attending my 45th high school class reunion and visiting with my Junior High 87-year old mentor
• Spending time with my brothers, nieces, nephews and celebrating some birthdays
• Watching the full moon setting and the sun rising while driving to Key West
• Taking three weeks off work and really taking a vacation. Special thanks to my Teradata co-workers who finished the project in my absence.
• Traveling through 40 states and seeing so much of the United States
• My wife is great for letting me take this trip without her
• Getting home safely

Lessons Learned: 

• The hardest lesson that I learned was that if you have spare gas tanks you need to fill them before you need them
• Plan travel better through major cities in order to avoid rush hour and make those days shorter
• Plan for a very short day going through New York City or find a way around it
• Cracker Barrel Restaurant's have rocking chairs that can be used for a quick nap
• Putting the rain suit on is a guarantee that you will barely need it
• Gold Bond Medicated Powder is your best friend
• Develop a better method for trip directions on days when not traveling on the Interstate highways
• Blue painters tape has many uses: temporary sun visor, fixing my helmet visor, protecting my rear speakers, and holding shirt sleeves down.
• Use sun screen that doesn't stain your clothes
• When you open something make sure it is secured when finished
• Empty pockets before doing laundry (lost a gold chain)
• It takes 30-45 minutes to check out bike and get ready to roll every morning

Special Gear I bought for Trip:

• Saddlemen Dresser Back Seat Bag
• Indoor/Outdoor Motorcycle Cover
• Reda 1-Gallon Gas Cans
• Wallet and Key Chain (so I won't loose it!!!)
• Slime T-Handle Tire Plug Kit (not needed)
• Slime Rechargeable 12-Volt Tire Inflator
• Accutire MS-4021B Digital Tire Pressure Gauge
• Locking Glove Box w/Cup Holder

The Trip's Statistics:

One of the things that I did throughout the trip was to track the travel costs and times. So most of the pictures that I took were of the odometer and the gas pump displays. I also found out the the metadata on the pictures that the phone captures contains the Longitude, Latitude and Altitude. This was helpful since I misplaced or didn't get a number of receipts so I was able to pinpoint my purchases.

Category	Value
Trip Start	July 22nd	7:45AM PDT	Odometer 28,743
First Corner:     San Ysidro, CA	July 24th	11:30AM PDT	Odometer 29,200
Second Corner:     Blaine, WA	July 26th	8:30PM PDT	Odometer 30,876
Third Corner:     Madawaska, ME	August 5th	6:30PM EDT	Odometer 35,125
Fourth Corner:     Key West, FL	August 10th	7:30AM EDT	Odometer 37,351
Trip Finish	August 15th	10:00AM PDT	Odometer 40,332
Total Miles	11,589 miles
Gas Stops	74 times
Gas Mileage	34.9 miles/gallon
Gas Consumption	332 gallons	Average: $4.019	Total: $1,333.74
Hotels	19 (22 nights)
Daily Mileage	2 days	800+ miles
	1 day	700-799 miles
	2 days	600-699 miles
	9 days	500-599 miles
	2 days	400-499 miles
	3 days	300-399 miles
	1 day	200-299 miles
	3 days	of REST ! ! !
	Average: 530	Minimum: 286	Maximum: 845

Maps:

These were the Google Maps I used and updated as the trip progressed. I broke the trip into six segments and have modified these many times before the trip and several times during the course of the trip. I have captured this for historical reference for your review.

Trip Segment
Henderson, NV to San Ysidro, CA
San Ysidro, CA to Blaine, WA
Blaine, WA to Madison, WI
Madison, WI to Madawaska, ME
Madawaska, ME to Key West, FL
Key West, FL to Henderson, NV