Pic Heavy Ride Report - MS to Bella Coola & Back 11,000 Miles Heat, Hail & Bears

[DK Custom Products]

Day 33 continued.


Despite the heavy rain last night, and the weather forecast for today...it is beautiful weather (for now) as we travel across the Old Santa Fe Trail.

The Tri-Glide is running great! Got the cruise on 68 and we're getting 41.9 MPG on this tank so far.

We're pretty much out of the curvy mountain roads now....lots of relatively flat land between us and home.

Passed by the NRA Whittington Center. Should have stopped.

Leaving Raton, it looked like we were just going to get a few sprinkles...

...but a couple minutes after the above pic we got dumped on! Lots of rain AND hail. Camera was tucked away, and Mary was bunched up behind me. lol

It was a good chance to test the new front (rear) tire in deep water on the road for hydroplaning. It did much better than the stock tire.

We weren't in it long, maybe 10 minutes, but a few times we were slowed to 15-20 mph.


After we were clear of it, here's a look back. Does not look like much, but it was a whole different (colder) world in that little storm cell.

It wasn't long before we saw this!

After what we just went thru a few miles ago...this time we stopped and got the rain suits on. Mary likes her new pink one.

It is very windy/gusting, temps have dropped 15+ degrees in a few minutes time, and this is what we are looking at, straight ahead of us...

...camera got tucked away, and we rode thru some sporadically heavy rain, as this cell moved south of us.

When Mary pulled the camera back out, this is the view behind us.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 33 Continued...we only made it as far as Borger, Tx.



For about 100 miles we ran in and out of storm cells. Here is one we missed, off to the right of the road.

Looking ahead, it is relatively clear for awhile.

Then as we are crossing into Texas, it starts up again.

Fixing to get dumped on again.

Mary takes a pic, in-between cells.

We finally broke thru all the storm cells for the rest of the day...

...All the while, the TG is running great, handling everything well. Texas is nice, even the two lane country roads have a 75 mph speed limit.

Check out Marys' arm stretched out for the pic in the gas cap cover.

The rain storms provided some variation to the relatively long, flat, straight roads in Texas!

We did not make it to Elk City. During the heavy parts of all the cells we passed thru, we had to slow down quite a bit, due to visibility...well, actually the LACK of visibility. lol

Here we are dropping down in to Borger, TX, where we stopped for the night.

We got a motel right across from the grocery store. Walked over there for supplies.




The rest of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and then home, coming soon.

Kevin

 

[peteg59]

Your road trip is a real pleasure to view from far off here in NH!ThumbUp
Maybe someday I'll be able to take a real roadtrip myself, but in reality I know it will likely never happen for me. As a lot have already said, Thanks for posting your adventures here.

Back a page you refer to a "2014 Touring Handbook". Is that still an annual HOG publication?
I've been a lifer HOG member for 20+ years, but stopped receiving their annual roadmap, pin, etc years ago with no explanation from corporate...

 

[DK Custom Products]

Your road trip is a real pleasure to view from far off here in NH!ThumbUp
Maybe someday I'll be able to take a real roadtrip myself, but in reality I know it will likely never happen for me. As a lot have already said, Thanks for posting your adventures here.

Back a page you refer to a "2014 Touring Handbook". Is that still an annual HOG publication?
I've been a lifer HOG member for 20+ years, but stopped receiving their annual roadmap, pin, etc years ago with no explanation from corporate...

Glad you're enjoying the view! Ya never know on the road trips...we started out small many years ago, and they have grown.

Yes, when I got the TG in 14 they gave me a one year HOG membership, and that Touring Handbook came with it.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 34 to Van Buren, AR

We hoped to get closer to Little Rock today, but only made it as far as Van Buren. 420 mile day, 300 of it on I40.


At the motel in Borger, TX, punching in some waypoints on the GPS.

Rolling across about 100 miles on the 152 in Texas...

...There's very little variation in the road or scenery, one of the most interesting things we saw was some pasture land under water...

...the nice thing is, that even on this 2 lane road, the speed limit is 75 MPH.

About 14 years ago Mary and I sold our hay farm...not this big though, and we did square bales...always interesting to us to see hay farms. lol

Entering Oklahoma!

The 152 looks the same...maybe a little more hills, and a little more vegetation.

Soon after, we hit Elk City, where we were on Old Route 66 for a bit...

...before getting on I-40.

*600 miles on I-40 will take us within 50 miles of home. We could've powered thru and made it home sometime tonight, but decided to take it a bit easier. End of the trip blues are setting in for me. Mary is ready to get back to her nest, but does not want to ride 13 hours today. lol

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 34 continued.



Cloud pic on the I-40 in Oklahoma.

Coming up on OKC...that is interesting.

Lots of cars and lots of lanes...we're not in Canada anymore!

After getting past OKC, the 40 narrowed down, and the traffic thinned out to close to nothing.

Put it on cruise at 78 mph, turned on the MP3 for the first time in thousands of miles, and sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Crossing Snake Creek, it was about this time that it started turning humid. To us, while riding, the same temps in humid weather feels much cooler than dry weather. I know many say that dry heat is better than humid, but Mary and I much prefer the humid heat.

Rolling across that last bit of Oklahoma, we have the 40 all to ourselves.

Crossing into Arkansas, our 3rd State for today.

Shadow pic!

5 miles into Arkansas we decided to stop for the night. There's a Super 8 here, and that is Mary's favorite. According to the POI on the GPS it is another 2 hours riding to the next Super 8. So, Van Buren it is.

Today was a relatively easy day of 420 miles, tomorrow will be even easier, 350 miles to home.


Kevin

 

[Amputee55]

Awesome pictures !

What were the dates of your travel ? You should post a MAP that shows your entire route.

Ride to Durango Continued.

Climbing out of Ouray we see these signs...they were not kidding.

Soon after, we see this sign...it can only mean fun road ahead!

I like curves plenty, tunnels, not so much. But this is a short one.

Soon after we come to a scenic stop where there are a few waterfalls. Pic of an old Sporty and a dirty Trike.

This is a panoramic shot that Mary took of me taking a pic of a waterfall.

The pic I was taking of the waterfall while Mary was taking the panoramic.

After taking a bunch of pics of all the waterfalls, reading the amazing history of the Million Dollar Highway, & talking to an Amish guy about how he would not have taken his horses on the road...he figured they would get too spooked by the edges with the drop-offs and no rails....we sat in some shade and had our lunch.

Back on our way.

Yeah, the edge really looked like that. Sheer drop-off...notice that I am in the left part of my lane. lol

Looking behind us....I don't know how far she was leaning out to take this pic...but it looks scary to me!

Beautiful country....

...and super fun roads!

More coming soon.

 

[desertclassic]

Been trying to keep up with you and Mary. I have enjoyed the trip. I live in Las Cruces, NM and missed you as you were heading out. I have spent a lot of time in Taos. Northern NM is full of good riding. Be safe as you wind down the trip. Next time you are thru NM, we will do a link up. Jim

 

[DK Custom Products]

Been trying to keep up with you and Mary. I have enjoyed the trip. I live in Las Cruces, NM and missed you as you were heading out. I have spent a lot of time in Taos. Northern NM is full of good riding. Be safe as you wind down the trip. Next time you are thru NM, we will do a link up. Jim

Glad you are enjoying...yes, some great riding in NM. Definitely would like to meet up next time we are out that way.

Kevin

- - - Updated - - -

What were the dates of your travel ? You should post a MAP that shows your entire route.

Will try and get that together and post it up soon.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 35- heading home to Red Banks, MS



Setting up the video camera, at the Super 8 in Van Buren, before hitting the road.

Mary's stash...plus my breakfast.

Mary in the mirror as we're rolling down the 40.

For the first 150 miles or so we did not have much traffic, and the surface on the 40 in Arkansas is MUCH better that it has been in previous years.

As we get closer to Little Rock, traffic increases some...

...Arkansas used to be a great State to travel in. *They used to strictly enforce the 70 mph speed limit & they have/had a law, that was strictly enforced, that the left lane could only be used for passing...

...because these laws were enforced, most of the drivers on the road would follow it, and it was very rare to get jammed up going 55 or 60 in a 70 mph zone, or get tail-gated if you were doing the speed limit...

...not anymore. Don't know where the LEO's are, and why they are not enforcing them, but it is a free for all now and we got stuck behind folks more times than I can count.

That looks like a fun ride!

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 35 continued.




That's an interesting load!

One of my least favorite places to be...and I had one behind me, and another one tail-gating the Longistics truck.

Crossing the Mississippi River, leaving Arkansas for Tennessee.

We were in Tennessee for about 20 minutes...

...before crossing into Mississippi! 5 minutes after being in Mississippi...

...we got off the interstate and took back roads the rest of the way home.

Almost home!

11,500 miles later, we are back in our driveway.

After getting the TG unpacked. I tucked it into the shed. Will be doing a well deserved fluid change before riding it again.

It was a great trip, packed with memories, met some great folks, and it will take some time to digest everything we saw.

I am going to try and make a map, showing the roads traveled, by day.

We were gone 50 days. This trip we spent a lot more time visiting family and friends than on previous trips. Out of the 50 days we have only traveled 35 of them (plus one full day riding around GJ with Fuzzy, and a half of a day with Trent & Barbara in Idaho).

Our mileage traveled is 11,543 miles...about an average of 320 miles per day. Some days were 500 miles or more. Other days, more sight seeing, were less than 200.

It's been a blast! Thank you all for riding along with us.

Kevin

 

[kybigmac]

Not ready for this thread to end, so after a short nap get back on the road !

 

[consitter]

Thanks for taking us along for the ride!! It's been very enjoyable. Can't wait for the next trip.

 

[Whopper Stopper]

Any idea when and where we are going next?

This has been a true highlight following along on your trip. I can't imagine the time you spent sorting and posting pictures let alone the daily written journal. You and Mary deserve a big hand for all the enjoyment you so willingly shared:clapping:


WS

 

[Gorilla]

Thank you Kevin and Mary. As stated the trip was memorable for all of us getting all the pictures. Now rest and get back to work.

 

[olddawg]

Enjoyed every mile Thanks great trip

 

[Amputee55]

Awesome man !

Enjoyed every mile Thanks great trip

I think you would make a great wing man.

when is your next trip ?

Sign me up.

 

[Zammy]

Many thanks to both of you for a very enjoyable trip, it really felt like we were riding along. ThumbUp

 

[desertclassic]

Glad you and Mary are home safely. What a trip. It was like watching a good movie, knowing it would end. Waiting now for the release of the next movie. Jim

 

[nova]

absolutely enjoyed YOUR trip lol. I will probably look at it again. Hopefully i will have my own trike by the first of the year....spend some time making sure i can ride it lol, and then i hope to get some trips under my wheels. it will be after i retire before i could take 50 days and just ride like you guys did, but that just gives me something to dream about as i spend this part of my life working spreadsheets....

i wish you and Mary many more fabulous miles and i hope you document them right here on the site. epper: