DC to Alaska via Key West
- Thread starter MegaWatts
- Start date
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MEM
Well-known member
Well, we'd tell you but what happens at rallies stays at rallies
Unless there are pictures
majicmaker
Well-known member
Don't Worry Mike! I think your Avatar is Safe!
That Dog looks like it needs Therapy! :lol:
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What are the odds? I too am putting pr3's next week and considering an Alaska ride: too random . July/August for me and maybe I'll miss the snow.
majicmaker
Well-known member
escapefjrtist
Searching for Dry Roads
Sounds like a great trip! Definitely keep us [working stiffs] posted on your progress and adventures along the way.
Have a safe trip!
--G
Have a safe trip!
--G
MegaWatts
Well-known member
Went on my first test ride this weekend in preparation for my Alaska trip. I wanted to load up the bike with all my gear and go camping, just to check things out. I was also hoping for some rain since I know I'll run into it on my trip.
I got a really late start on Sat, leaving my house in Alexandria, VA around 4pm. First lesson: don't try to add a new farkle right before you're supposed to leave. All I wanted to do was add a charging cord for my phone. Well, I've got too much crap attached to my battery terminals already I guess, because after connecting this thing, the terminal screw wasn't long enough to engage the metal thingy that allows you to tighten everything (hope that made some kind of sense). So I abandoned that task for another time.
Here is a map of my route.
My destination was Brandywine, WV, about 3 hours away. I decided to take the interstate so I could just get there, so headed west on I-66 to I-81 south, then 33 west. 33 was a pretty nice road with a few switchbacks on the way over some tiny mountains, so that was fun.
When I got to the Brandywine Recreation area (part of the George Washington National Forest), the campground was freaking' closed! It was about 7:30 at this point, and threatening rain. I didn't really want to ride around looking for another campsite, so I decided to get something to eat. The only restaurant in town was Fat Boy's Pork Palace, which turned out to be awesome. The special was ramps, scrambled eggs, bacon and ham. If you don't know what ramps are, they're wild leeks, and WV is famous for them. Anyway, while I was eating the sky opened up and it started raining like a MF. Lightning, thunder and everything.
Well, one thing I learned from this test ride is that if it rains I'll probably wuss out and get a hotel. Luckily there was a motel in town so I checked in.
So, to the gear. On the way there I tested out my new deLorme inReach satellite tracker. It worked and plotted my course on this map.
(You have to click the plus sign next to the red dot to see the track.
It was also the first time I had used my new large MotoFizz camping bag. It was great--held all my camping gear, was easy to get on and off the bike, and was secure while riding.
Even this short trip was valuable, because I forgot to bring some things and it reminded me to be more careful next time. Forgot sunglasses, chargers for my camera and computer, a rag to wipe my visor off, warmer clothes; little things like that, but it made me aware of all the details to keep track of and prompted me to make a checklist with all this stuff on it. And oh yeah, learned that it's a good idea to put on your rain gear BEFORE it starts to rain. Duh.
The next day, the ride home was spectacular. The storm had cleared the sky, and it was about 65 degrees. I rode on Rt 3 north to Moorefield, WV. It was an awesome road with nice turns and roller coaster like hills. I was the only vehicle on the road most of the time. It runs for 35 miles through a valley with mountains on each side, and follows a river at times. The FJR was running great (as always) and it was blissful. I highly recommend that road if anyone's ever out that way. Oh yeah, another lesson, charge all your cameras and stuff before you take off (obvious I know). I wanted to use my GoPro Hero camera to film this amazing road, but the battery died. Decided I may want to spring for an extra battery as well. I did learn that the suction cup mount works great attached to the saddle bag, very secure actually. See picture.
At Moorefield, I picked up 55 east, which is also a cool road, but in a different way. 55 is an under used freeway that Sen Byrd had built, and is a 4-lane highway but there's really no reason for it to be there since there's no traffic. Well, because of that it's like the WV autobahn, and I cruised at 100 mph for a brief time.
I didn't get to test everything I wanted to, but in the end it was still a valuable learning experience. I'll try again this weekend if all goes well.
I got a really late start on Sat, leaving my house in Alexandria, VA around 4pm. First lesson: don't try to add a new farkle right before you're supposed to leave. All I wanted to do was add a charging cord for my phone. Well, I've got too much crap attached to my battery terminals already I guess, because after connecting this thing, the terminal screw wasn't long enough to engage the metal thingy that allows you to tighten everything (hope that made some kind of sense). So I abandoned that task for another time.
Here is a map of my route.
My destination was Brandywine, WV, about 3 hours away. I decided to take the interstate so I could just get there, so headed west on I-66 to I-81 south, then 33 west. 33 was a pretty nice road with a few switchbacks on the way over some tiny mountains, so that was fun.
When I got to the Brandywine Recreation area (part of the George Washington National Forest), the campground was freaking' closed! It was about 7:30 at this point, and threatening rain. I didn't really want to ride around looking for another campsite, so I decided to get something to eat. The only restaurant in town was Fat Boy's Pork Palace, which turned out to be awesome. The special was ramps, scrambled eggs, bacon and ham. If you don't know what ramps are, they're wild leeks, and WV is famous for them. Anyway, while I was eating the sky opened up and it started raining like a MF. Lightning, thunder and everything.
Well, one thing I learned from this test ride is that if it rains I'll probably wuss out and get a hotel. Luckily there was a motel in town so I checked in.
So, to the gear. On the way there I tested out my new deLorme inReach satellite tracker. It worked and plotted my course on this map.
(You have to click the plus sign next to the red dot to see the track.
It was also the first time I had used my new large MotoFizz camping bag. It was great--held all my camping gear, was easy to get on and off the bike, and was secure while riding.
Even this short trip was valuable, because I forgot to bring some things and it reminded me to be more careful next time. Forgot sunglasses, chargers for my camera and computer, a rag to wipe my visor off, warmer clothes; little things like that, but it made me aware of all the details to keep track of and prompted me to make a checklist with all this stuff on it. And oh yeah, learned that it's a good idea to put on your rain gear BEFORE it starts to rain. Duh.
The next day, the ride home was spectacular. The storm had cleared the sky, and it was about 65 degrees. I rode on Rt 3 north to Moorefield, WV. It was an awesome road with nice turns and roller coaster like hills. I was the only vehicle on the road most of the time. It runs for 35 miles through a valley with mountains on each side, and follows a river at times. The FJR was running great (as always) and it was blissful. I highly recommend that road if anyone's ever out that way. Oh yeah, another lesson, charge all your cameras and stuff before you take off (obvious I know). I wanted to use my GoPro Hero camera to film this amazing road, but the battery died. Decided I may want to spring for an extra battery as well. I did learn that the suction cup mount works great attached to the saddle bag, very secure actually. See picture.
At Moorefield, I picked up 55 east, which is also a cool road, but in a different way. 55 is an under used freeway that Sen Byrd had built, and is a 4-lane highway but there's really no reason for it to be there since there's no traffic. Well, because of that it's like the WV autobahn, and I cruised at 100 mph for a brief time.
I didn't get to test everything I wanted to, but in the end it was still a valuable learning experience. I'll try again this weekend if all goes well.
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dude....
whats your status!
we need the info!
whats your status!
we need the info!
dude....
whats your status!
we need the info!
whats your status!
we need the info!
russperry
Well-known member
On a whim I checked Andrew's DeLorme page and it shows him in Santa Fe New Mexico as of today at 6:32PM. Looks like he forgot to let us know of his progress.
This will certainly require some bitching once he shows his face again here!
This will certainly require some bitching once he shows his face again here!
gixxerjasen
Well-known member
Redfish Hunter
Gone Fishing
gixxerjasen is almost too smart!
Ok. Thanks.
gixxerjasen
Well-known member
Nope, but I did stat at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Ok, no I didn't, but I do surf around a lot and am kind of following his threads so I'd seen that one already. Sometimes you have to be a surf whore to keep up with it all. Sadly I'm sitting in front of FOUR laptops at the minute. I'd say this qualifies me as a geek surf whore!
MegaWatts
Well-known member
Hey guys, thanks for all the interest, I really appreciate it.
Like gixxerjasen discovered, my thread kind of got split in two. To keep it simple I'll be posting everything over here: Other Thread
A quick update though. I'm currently in Denver and will be here a few days visiting various friends. For some reason a lot of them seem to live out here. In any case it's great to be out west--more open space, mountains, less traffic, less people in general.
I've had 2 great random experiences with other riders. One guy, Martin, followed me for a bit in New Braunfels, TX. I pulled over and we talked and he gave me his number and email "just in case I needed anything." How cool is that? Then just yesterday here in Denver a guy saw my FJR all loaded up and turns out he rides a Kawasaki Concourse. He offered to ride with me to WY when I decide to leave Denver. I just think it's so cool the way you meet awesome people on a motorcycle trip.
Anyway, for some riding related info, I've been doing longer days than I thought I would, but it's also more painful than I expected. That is, my ass hurts. I bought my '05 FJR used and it already had an after market seat by World Sport. In all the seat discussions on this forum I have not seen anyone mention it--could be a clue as to my ass pain. I think it's a comfortable seat, I can't imagine any seat being comfortable after 4-6 hours though. So my longest day hours wise was from Tallahassee to Houston. I rode 13 hours including lunch and stops for gas and rest--that covered about 700 miles. I did a 725 mile day from DC to West Palm during my Saddle Sore 1000 ride on the way to stay with majicmaker, but that took less time I think, and I didn't expect to repeat a day like that anyway. In general, I think I'll settle down to 6 hour days, around 300 miles.
I put new Road Pilot 3's on before I left and really like them, but too soon to tell I guess how they'll fare for the remainder of the trip. They seem to be wearing almost imperceptibly at this point though--I think I'm at about 3K now.
I'm using a large MotoFizz camping bag for my camping gear, and it's great. It expands 10cm on either side if needed, but I don't need that extra space and I got everything in there--compact sleeping bag, sleeping pad, small stove, mess kit, etc. I strapped the tent to the outside and it's riding well.
For tracking I'm using an inReach by deLorme. It works if I remember to turn it on, and the 2-way messaging will be particularly useful when I get out of cell phone range.
I'm using a Zumo 550 GPS, and have a few audio books on it which helps get through some boring stretches.
I mount my Android phone using the RAM X-Grip and it works great. I put a powerlet outlet in the right side panel and run power through my tank bag using a kit I got from powerlet. Inside the tank bag are 2 cigarette lighter socket, and I use my car charger to charge the phone. Works well but sometimes the male end of the charger backs out of the socket enough to disconnect the power.
Again I appreciate the interest in my trip, and will continue posting in the other thread. I enjoy answering questions if anyone has any--see you in the other thread here.
Like gixxerjasen discovered, my thread kind of got split in two. To keep it simple I'll be posting everything over here: Other Thread
A quick update though. I'm currently in Denver and will be here a few days visiting various friends. For some reason a lot of them seem to live out here. In any case it's great to be out west--more open space, mountains, less traffic, less people in general.
I've had 2 great random experiences with other riders. One guy, Martin, followed me for a bit in New Braunfels, TX. I pulled over and we talked and he gave me his number and email "just in case I needed anything." How cool is that? Then just yesterday here in Denver a guy saw my FJR all loaded up and turns out he rides a Kawasaki Concourse. He offered to ride with me to WY when I decide to leave Denver. I just think it's so cool the way you meet awesome people on a motorcycle trip.
Anyway, for some riding related info, I've been doing longer days than I thought I would, but it's also more painful than I expected. That is, my ass hurts. I bought my '05 FJR used and it already had an after market seat by World Sport. In all the seat discussions on this forum I have not seen anyone mention it--could be a clue as to my ass pain. I think it's a comfortable seat, I can't imagine any seat being comfortable after 4-6 hours though. So my longest day hours wise was from Tallahassee to Houston. I rode 13 hours including lunch and stops for gas and rest--that covered about 700 miles. I did a 725 mile day from DC to West Palm during my Saddle Sore 1000 ride on the way to stay with majicmaker, but that took less time I think, and I didn't expect to repeat a day like that anyway. In general, I think I'll settle down to 6 hour days, around 300 miles.
I put new Road Pilot 3's on before I left and really like them, but too soon to tell I guess how they'll fare for the remainder of the trip. They seem to be wearing almost imperceptibly at this point though--I think I'm at about 3K now.
I'm using a large MotoFizz camping bag for my camping gear, and it's great. It expands 10cm on either side if needed, but I don't need that extra space and I got everything in there--compact sleeping bag, sleeping pad, small stove, mess kit, etc. I strapped the tent to the outside and it's riding well.
For tracking I'm using an inReach by deLorme. It works if I remember to turn it on, and the 2-way messaging will be particularly useful when I get out of cell phone range.
I'm using a Zumo 550 GPS, and have a few audio books on it which helps get through some boring stretches.
I mount my Android phone using the RAM X-Grip and it works great. I put a powerlet outlet in the right side panel and run power through my tank bag using a kit I got from powerlet. Inside the tank bag are 2 cigarette lighter socket, and I use my car charger to charge the phone. Works well but sometimes the male end of the charger backs out of the socket enough to disconnect the power.
Again I appreciate the interest in my trip, and will continue posting in the other thread. I enjoy answering questions if anyone has any--see you in the other thread here.
