This year, I get to ride west back to my home state of CA to the northern coast of San Jose. It'll be my chance to return to the Golden State for the first time since February and it'll be the first trip home for Eleanor since she left in late August 2009.
I don't have a lot of time to take off for this journey, and with this year's Ride-In being clear across the country I have to cover a lot of ground and attempt to get to the West Coast in four days or less. I have covered this distance before (in reverse from Los Angeles to Columbus), taking a little over four days so this won't be too much of a stretch. To try to make the push a little more rewarding, I will attempt a second Iron Butt run, either a BunBurner 1500 (1500 miles in 36 hours), BunBurner Gold 1500 (1500 miles in 24 hours), or a SaddleSore 2000 (2000 miles in 48 hours). After my successful SaddleSore 1000 in August 2010, I know that I am capable of this task, and I think the comfort adjustments I made to Eleanor will be a huge advantage in eating up the distance.
On the return, I will be crossing through several states I have not ridden a motorcycle through (or been): Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Wisconsin. This trip will bring my total number of states crossed with Eleanor to 43, leaving Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana to finish the Continental 48 states on the same motorcycle.
Here's the current itinerary:
6/30 - Depart from Columbus, OH
7/1-7/2 - Green River, WY (BunBurner Gold 1500 7/1, BunBurner 1500 7/2)
7/3 - Reno, NV
7/3 or 7/4-7/7 - San Jose, CA
7/8 - Navarro Redwoods State Park, then ride to Portland, OR (or as far as I can in that direction)
7/9 - somewhere between Spokane, WA and Billings, MT
7/10 - Chamberlain, SD
7/12 - Milwaukee, WI
7/13 - Return to Columbus, OH
Approximate distance (assuming no by-ways or tourist-like stops...yeah, right) = 5700 miles
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More to come soon as plans develop. This year's ride will be a doozy, but it'll be lots of fun!
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