Coast to Coast 2006

---

---

8,252 miles, 2 oceans, 23 states 13 days of riding with an average of 600 miles a day with the last day being 1003 miles in 18 hours.

Chapter I, "Three states a day"

On Saturday morning I left The Asbury Park area and headed south on the Garden State Parkway to meet the NJ and PA gang from the XL Forum for lunch on the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ. It turned out to be a great day even though rain was called for. After having a decent cheesesteak at Hot Spots, I headed south to take the Cape May Ferry to Delaware. Taking the ferry is always a great way to break up a long trip by covering some ground without actually riding. It's also a lot more scenic than riding I-95.

Once in Lewes DE, it took Rt 9 to 13 in order to head south towards Virginia Beach/Norfolk area. Rt 13 and 113 is a popular road for bikes and your arm tends to get tired from all the waving. Within a few hours I'm through Delaware, Maryland and in Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is also a great bridge to ride over. It's 19 miles long and has 2 tunnels to allow cargo and Naval ships through. The rest of the bridge sits very low and large ships can't pass under it. When you get on the bridge you can't see the far side. Kind of weird riding without seeing land.

In Norfolk, I picked up Rt 58 to head west, my plane was to pick up up the Blue Ridge Parkway for a while. Rt 58 is a pretty nice road to ride once you get passed I-95. divided 4 lane road with nice trees and some rolling hills. I stayed in Franklin VA that first night.

Once on the Blue Ridge Parkway it was a different kind of ride. It was a beautiful day and lots of bikes out for a nice Sunday ride. As many of you might know it's a simple two lane road through some of the most beautiful country on the east coast. There is no shoulder on the road although there are many turnouts. In many places cars just pull onto the grass for a rest or picnic.

As it was getting later in the day and just before I was to pull off the Parkway at Asheville a dense fog rolled in. The visibility turned to near zero but in this are there was no turnoffs that I could see. I was lucky in that the car behind me stayed just far enough back to give me room but was still within distance where I could see his lights and he could see my tail light. It would have been one of the nail biting rides if I could pry my hands of the controls.

Once in Asheville I gassed up and got ready for the long haul on I-40 west. I would be on I-40 for close to 2,000 miles. At least Tennessee is a pretty state to ride through. I came across a lot of bikes returning from Myrtle Beach on this leg of the trip. Newport TN was the next place I set in for the night, A group of bikes including one Sportster came in about 4 AM from the rally I am guessing, there was some rain that day so I guess they were taking advantage of the clear skies we had in the evening.

Chapter II, Gas and Tires.

The rest of the trip heading west on I-40 was pretty boring until I hit the Oklahoma/Texas stretch. The wind was strong and hitting me head on, my gas millage was dropping something awful. I was hitting reserve at about 133 miles before that now at about 117 miles. West of Amarillo I had about 100 miles on the tank and I saw a sign for Glenrio TX in 17 miles. Good I thought, I'll gas up there. Just as I took the exit for Glenrio I had to switch to reserve and I was on borrowed time. Glenrio is Exit 0 in TX and for a couple of reasons, one it the first exit in Texas heading east on I-40, second it's also the population. It turned out that it was a Rt 66 era ghost town. This town has not had a gas station since gas was 29 cents a gallon.

Shit! I head back on I-40 and start heading west, the next town with gas is San Jon in NM and it's at least 18 miles away. I am doing about 50 MPH in the slow lane with my fat ass trying to duck behind my windshield. At about 15 miles I start to run out for good, now I'm on the shoulder rocking the bike back and forth getting that last bit of fuel into the carb. I see a weigh station ahead and manage to make it there under power, well partial power anyway. One of the inspectors had a gas can and took me to San Jon so I could fill it up for the bike. Thank you guys!

Well I made it to Albuquerque by dinner and stopped at one of my old haunts for a burger with green chili. Central Ave in ABQ is part of the old Rt 66 and some of the old buildings are still there and now host pubs and the like. I did not want to stay in the city so after dinner I headed north to get on Rt 550 and maybe make it to Cuba, NM to spend the night there. I was having trouble with one of my credit cards and at one of the gas stations the attendant came out, not to hassle me about the card being rejected but to look at the bike. We talked about bikes since he was in the market for one, he had just returned from Iraq and he wanted to live a little I guess. Before I left I shook his hand and thanked him for his service to the country, I think it caught him off guard a little, but he said you're welcome and I headed off.

The ride to Cuba was nice, it was a nice clear night and as I got away from the city the stars came out in all their glory. I had to stop and enjoy the night sky. Cuba is a nice little town and I got a room in a nice motel. I prefer the old motels that you can pull your bike up to the door and unload easily.

In the morning I load up the bike and check it over as usual. My rear tire already had about 10k miles on it and I knew it would be due soon for a replacement. It still looked OK that morning, although the Avon Roadrunner does not have any tread in the center of the tire so it's hard to judge it sometimes.

Around noon I was riding through Farmington NM, and I decided to stop at the local HD dealer. Not for a T-shirt or anything but to use the restroom. Say what you will about the new boutiques but they always have nice clean restrooms and we all know how important that is on the long rides. Anyway when I got back to my bike I was checking the wing nuts on my home made luggage rack when I saw two cords showing through on the rear tire. Damn that was quick, so I walked into the service department and asked if they could change a rear tire real quick. They were not that busy and they had it changed before you could say "250 dollars please" yikes! That's why I usually do my own tire changes when I'm at home. A lot of the roads out west are paved in tar and chip stone, a cheap easy road to put down but are really tough on tires.

With a new tire on board I head towards Shiprock where I will pick up 491 to start heading north to Cortez Co, and then on to Monticello Utah where I will pick up 191. RT 191 is one of my favorite roads out west it goes through some of the prettiest part of the country. The weather has been great but a lot hotter than normal. That is fine as long as I keep moving on the bike. I did get caught in some road construction but I was able to find a nice big truck or RV to stay cool in the shade.

Right after Moab, Utah I took RT 128 that runs east of Arches National Park I have never taken this road before and it turn out to be a great one that runs along the Colorado river. I was able to get back on 191 and continue my trek north. After a night stay in Price I headed toward the Wyoming border. The rest of the ride to Dubois was very uneventful but beautiful. I never seem to tire of the landscape in the west, between the endless shy, various rock formations and the smell of sage brush I was really feeling great.

It took me 6 days and 3,332 miles to get out to Wyoming, I like taking the long way. It would have been about 2000 miles straight through.

Chapter III, Don't mess with the bike!

After about a week fixing up my place out there, I was ready to head farther west to California. I took Rt 26 to Idaho Falls then I-15 and I-84 to Twin Falls in order to catch 93 south into Nevada and I-80. Idaho Is another beautiful area to ride and my route from Moran Jct WY to Twin Falls follows the Snake River most of the way.

When I entered the "Casino State" (Nevada) I had a hard time finding any business that did not have a casino as part of it. Bills Gas 'N CasinGO, and the like. In Wells NV, I had stopped for gas and a nature break as I came out of the restroom I went to grab a soda and out of the corner of my eye I see someone circling my bike out in the parking lot. This young kid then made a move to grab something on the bike. I was too far from the door so I banged on the window of the Flying J/Casino and yelled for him to keep away from the bike. I must of scared the crap out of all the people in the store. As I head out to confront this kid, he comes right in the door. I say something to the effect that if he wants to keep his health he won't mess with the bike. He walks right by me without even looking at me, then he walks around the store and then it's back to the parking lot. As I calm down and have my coke and beef jerky, I watch this kid as he wanders around the lot picking up pieces of trash and other debris. My guess is that he was not 'all there' and that he was harmless in general. But it was enough excitement for the day.

I spent the night in Battle Mountain NV and headed on to CA in the morning. The rest of the trip to San Jose was uneventful and the weather was petty nice. It was kind of hot in the Sacramento area but cooled down once I hit the bay area.

Chapter IV, On the Left Coast

When in the Bay area I always like to stop and say howdy to the gang from the Bay Area Sportsters, they are an active group that meets at least once a week. For this weekend the were all down at a campsite in the Big Sur area called Fernwood. So Saturday I took a ride down the Pacific Coast Highway to say hello to them. I've been on CA1 a few times in cars and a rental bike (EG) but this was the first time in on my own bike. It was a great ride on a sportster. When I rolled into the Fernwood there was only two people there, the rest had gone on a ride. Thats OK, Jose, Mike and I went down the road for some lunch. Unfortunately I could not stay the whole weekend but it was great meeting the group again, even for the day.

The hotel I stayed at in Milpitas let me park the bike under the covered entrance in plain view of the front desk, an added bonus for the security minded. Riding in California is not too bad. Believe it or not the drivers are a lot better than the morons I deal with in NJ the rest of the year. And lane splitting can really be nice during those bad traffic days. Not being to used to it I was a little hesitant to do it at first, but soon it was becoming second nature. Unfortunately I was getting temped to do it in other states after that....

After about 6 days I had to head back to Wyoming. I stayed there for another week and then on back to the east coast. It's weird riding only the bike for a whole month. You learn to carry about anything on it from groceries to plumbing supplies. A couple of time I needed some 8 foot length of pipe and since I was only going a few blocks it was the bike or nothing.

I also got a lot of comments about the Jersey plates on the bike, the question was usually, "Did you really ride it all the way?" By this time I had about 6,000 miles on this trip alone. One day I had two older ladies, 70's, sitting on a bench right behind the bike when I came out of a store. They asked that question and we chatted a bit. They said they were waiting to go to lunch at the Cowboy Cafe across the street but they wanted to hear me start the bike and take off. The one lady says "Nothing sounds like a Harley!"

Chapter V, Heading Home

My trip back to NJ was a "OK, lets get home quick" type of run. Not that I was tired of riding the bike but I needed to get back to work so I could afford my next bike trip. My battery was also starting to act up, slow starting and I knew it would be only a matter of time before it would fail. I took Rt 20 east all the way to the Chicago area. Rt 20 not a major road and I like that, still is 65 MPH but it goes through some small towns so you have to slow down to 35 or so at every town. Towns like Lost Springs WY, population 1 and Harrison NE that sports the sign, "Harrison next 4 exits" which I accurate since Harrison only has 4 streets!

Outside of Chicago I stayed with a friend of mine who lives in Elburn IL. I left his place at 9AM on Saturday morning. By 9PM at night I was already in Western PA so I decided to ride all the way home that night. I wasn't tired and it was a beautiful night with the moon starting to rise and the bug and animal activity fairly low. I pulled into my driveway at 4 AM after a little over 1000 miles in this 18 hours.

In all it was a great trip, never felt beat up even after long days in the saddle. There is certain equipment that I won't ride without anymore. here is a list. Mustang touring seat, Handlebars that fit me for the long haul, The cruiser bag for back support, you know the hard plastic insert with a removable back rest. Full face helmet for the Highway and gel gloves. Good rain gear (Nelson Riggs) and this time I also had some rain boot covers, I found some on Ebay for about $20, new!

See ya on the road

---